Title: Show Me Heaven

Rating: M

Genre: Angst/ Romance

Character(s): Uchiha Itachi and Inuzuka Hana

Summary: She whispered in his ear, the sound of her voice sending shivers up his spine, but it was her words that shook him the most. "Show me heaven…"

---

Fire crackled and he watched the wood burn and hiss as sparks flew into the air. It was night. Well after midnight and though he wanted sleep, it was still his shift, or at least until Kisame finally arose and took his.

He prodded the fire with the stick in his hand, never turning away from the scene. Of the flames slowly engulfing the wood that he knew would leave nothing but a pile of grey ash in its wake. They flickered before his eyes and the fire crackled, sparks cascading down upon him, but he never flinched and he never tore his gaze away from the flames.

Fire had always been an attraction to him. Whether it was because fire ran naturally through his veins due to his blood or because of the dazzling spectacle they gave, he didn't know, but fire never ceased to amaze him. It was a ravaging beauty. Stunning as it destroyed everything in its path and left a barren wasteland as its passion died with the wind. It reminded him of something and he felt something in his heart warm much like the fire before him did for his body.

A wind crossed the forest area where they camped and the barest of shivers ran through him as the sparks carried off into the grass. Laying his stick down, he walked over to smother the would-be fire when he spotted something.

"Hana?" he asked, plucking the flower from the ground. Turning on his heel, the red clouds on his black cloak rippling in the firelight as he walked, he sat upon his log to study the anomaly in his hand. Strange due to the fact this was neither the climate nor setting for any flower to grow, but something else as well.

It was fall, just when the first chills of winter were starting to appear and the forest terrain was full of hardy plants and trees that blocked out the sun, but they camped in an area where the trees gave way slightly to the visage of the moon, so there was a possible chance that it could survive, but that wasn't all. This flower was a dicot, characterized by its broad leaves and four petals. It was similar to a pansy in appearance, but in addition to the standard purple and white, red streaks ran down the white coloring.

He spun the flower, experimentally. The lush petals caught the light and reminded him of a rose. He let his guard drop slightly, resting his head on his shoulder as he spun it lazily, entranced by the swirling colors when he hissed suddenly.

He looked down as the flower with minor disdain as he brought his finger to his lips and licked the blood from the wound. How long had it been since he had seen his own blood?

"Another flower with thorns?" he mused to himself as he watched the blood droplet quiver on its thorny hold and held the flower over the fire as the fire swallowed the red droplet and reduced it to little more than a memory. Now he knew why the flower had entranced him. It reminded him of her.

In their childhood, she had always been by his side. He did not mind her company. She was neither unwanted nor unneeded. She was quiet and supportive of all he did and he admired that. Where his family had demanded all he had shown and more, she seemed to demand him and him only, and he was, oddly, thankful for that.

It was a fine summer morning when they shared their first kiss. He had just finished training and as she came up to him with some lunch and smiled at him, he leaned forward to kiss her. He didn't know why he did it; it just happened unexpectedly, but it wasn't entirely unpleasant and she didn't seem to mind it either.

Everything seemed to snowball from there. Afterwards, they hung out more. Not for training, but just as friends and more kisses were shared as the summer waned. Any time he could spend away from his family when he wasn't on a mission, he spent with her. They were some of the fondest memories of his home. Her smile was so beautiful back then.

The day he killed his family, he spent his last hours as a citizen of Konoha with her. Unfortunately, he had spent most of the time looking for her, but the last minutes before he did what he knew he had to do, he shared one last kiss with her. It was bittersweet. She seemed to know that and she didn't question him, just looked at him with large unblinking eyes. He simply gave her a sad smile before kissing her cheek and inhaling her scent before leaping into the trees.

After the deed was done, they all assumed that he had stayed away, but he hadn't. He was just good at covering his tracks.

He met with her, on the crest of the hill of the memorial stone on her birthday and at the abandoned compound of his former home on the day they met. Christmas and New Years were out of the question due to all the shinobi off-duty wandering about, but she didn't mind. All she wanted was him and their midnight meetings gave her that.

During the first year of his absence, he met with her once every four months, but a close call forced him to limit their meetings to these days. As the years passed, he found that the glimmer in her eyes had faded. Apparently she thought this needed to stop, that this was wrong, but they never stopped their meetings, but the guilt always shadowed her smile and made him rethink of his choice to kill his clan. But the feeling, like their meetings, would never last long.

He was fifteen when she asked him. It was the anniversary of the day the met and they were sitting on his bed. A thin layer of dust had settled over his belongings as it had the rest of household. The blood staining the floors was gone. Only the fact that where the blood had been spilt was a shade darker than the rest of the floor betrayed the fact of murder.

She sat cross-legged on her bed, wearing nothing but her pajamas, a pair of sleep pants and a tank top while he wore his cloak and ring, his hat resting on the edge of a chair in his room. His legs hung over the edge of his bed as he looked at his bed sheets. They still looked new, as if time had not touched this room, but in reality, she had kept them clean, trying to preserve it as she remembered from years ago.

The moon filtered from his open window. It was full that night and fireflies danced in the gardens outside. When they spoke that night, it was in whispers, even though Sasuke was still away from the compound as he was every year for the mandatory Academy camping trip. It was that night, in the light of the full moon that it happened.

She whispered in his ear, the sound of her voice sending shivers up his spine, but it was her words that shook him the most.

"Show me heaven…"

He stared at her in shock, no trace of his trademark devil-may-care stare on his face as she cradled his head against her and brought her lips to his. The kiss was sweet, but left him aching for more and he pulled her fully against him and relished in her surprised gasp as she felt just how badly he wanted her.

Things became blurred after that. Clothes were shed and words became useless. They couldn't have spoken more than a few words even if they wanted too. Want had them too far in its control for them to do anything but feel and God, did he feel. She felt unbelievable. Things he thought impossible, he felt. The way her breasts pressed against his chest and the feel of her body as he thrust into it made him moan without shame.

Her arms wrapped around him as he would lick and nip and claim, wanting to brand her forever his. He was her first, but that wasn't enough for him. He wanted to be her only and make any man foolish enough to want her to pale in comparison to what he gave.

His Sharingan spun lazily as first, but became wild as his thrusts became more frantic, desperate to show her what she had asked of him before the dawn came and separated them.

Time, he needed more time to be with her, but as her face contorted and she cried out in pleasure, it seemed that time had stopped just for them.

He watched her orgasm, watched as she arched her back and exposed the porcelain skin bearing the small red marks branding her his and screaming his name, and it wasn't long before he felt his control slip and he let go, spilling himself inside her with a bare whisper of her name.

When he woke, the first thing he noticed was that their hands were clasped together. Their legs were tangled together in the sheets and her head rested atop his chest, a small smile on her face. She looked so serene, so fragile. He wanted to stay--desperately, he did, but the dawn was fast approaching and he knew he had to leave.

He also knew it would be their last meeting.

As he got dressed, slipping his shirt over his head, he leaned down to kiss her tenderly in her sleep and it saddened him to know that she would believe this goodbye to be a dream.

And that was the last he saw of Inuzuka Hana, hair spread around her in a purple halo with a smile on her face as she lay tangled in his bed sheets, bathed in the morning light. The last he had heard, she had become a hardened kunoichi and engaged to someone within her clan.

As Itachi spun the flower in his hand, its colors reminiscent of hers, he had to wonder how she felt when after showing her heaven, he showed her hell.