Criminal Love.

A young child pretties herself, preparing for her shift in her family store in the bottom floor of their residential building. She straitens out her dress dusting off the dust bunnies and fluff that it has picked up from the floor. Flickering around her long black hair, tying it up in a tight ponytail, moving her fringe away from obscuring her eyes.

"Kirei get those apples out!"A female voice sing-singed throughout the halls, Kirei turned away from the distracting mirror and ran to the kitchen picking up apples from an open box into a oval shaped straw woven basket.

"Yes Mother!" A Kirei called back, carrying the basket in her arms she turned down the hall walking quickly down the wooden floor turning to the stair case leading into the store. As soon as she got to the store she was surprised to see someone standing in front of the plain counter. He was looking at the various vegetables and fruit in the open containers with small fans and irrigation systems. He was young about the same age as Kirei, he had long wisps of hair that draped just past his neck, he had a long fringe that almost covered his dark eyes. His face was cute looking but the expression showed that he was not one that would simply tell people what he was thinking. He turned to her taking his hand off the counter brushing off the dust from the counter that had attached itself to his hand. Kirei walked up past the counter to face the boy.

"How may I help-"The girl's sentence was cut short as the strange boy smoothly picked an apple and started to walk away.

"Here" Without looking back the boy threw coins towards Kirei all perfectly falling into the basket of apples.

Stunned by the stranger the girl could only watch the boy walk away.

Tuesday.

"Kirei! Apples!"Kirei's Mother nagged her only daughter to prepare their shops special apples from far away.

"Of course Mother!" Kirei stepped out, turning to face the entrance door, only to be face to face with the boy from yesterday.

"Huh?!" Kirei thoughts jolted in surprise as the boy had snuck up behind her without a sound. Silence echoes throughout the shop, while Kirei recovers from her slight daze.

"b-but b-b-b-but…" Kirei stuttered.

"H-how? You-" Kirei, confused checked behind her for any other surprises, mumbling gibberish then turning back to the boy only to find that he has gone. In a sudden flurry of shock confusion the once held basket, topples onto the floor, as apples bounce, spray and roll over the floor. Kirei quickly scans the area flicking her head left and right, her black ponytailed whipping as she checks behind towards the counter. Her eyes bulge out a bit as plainly standing there was the boy, apple in hand, cash in the other. Slightly leaning on the counter waiting for the stunned girl to finish panicking and serve him.

"M-Magic!!" She yelled accusatively at him.

"You're using magic!"

"That's why-"Kirei shouted at him as if in sudden revelation to the answer to everything. The boy only answered with silence and a face that physically, pretty much said, 'No-I-don't-know-what-your-talking-about-please-stop.'

"You can move without anyone seeing you!!" Kirei pointed her finger at him. Still the boy only answers with silence and raised eyebrows. Kirei holding up her finger of all knowing justice, waiting for the boy to confess his secret to teleportation. The boy only twitched a smirk and sighed. Kirei only more infuriated, gasped for air. Eyes slightly bloodshot while small beads of sweat slipped down her forehead and cheeks. The boy saying nothing smirked and waved his money at her. Kirei put down her finger of might and made a frustrated face at the boy. Then slowly side stepped her way behind the counter facing the quiet customer.

"That'll be 120ryo. Thank you." As practiced every day. Kirei repeated the line to the boy only without the always charming smile. The boy merely passed the cash towards the shop clerk girl.

"Thank you. Your change is 880ryo, Please shop here again." In shop clerk mode Kirei passed the required change to the customer.

The boy chuckled softly to himself with a slyly half lidded grin.

"What?" Kirei inquired almost annoyed.

"…I'm not magic" Finally the boy speaks, his words slip through his etching smirk in an almost utterly teasing way. Suddenly with a flashing blur of black accompanied with a sound of zooms and whooshes, the boy disappears in blink of an eye. Now in an even more of an unbelievable state Kirei remained positively frozen in shock and awe.

Wednesday.

With stealth of an average child Kirei poked her head round the corner at the bottom of the stairs leading towards the shop. Silently scanning the area for any magical creatures with mystical properties of silent movement. Slowly tiptoeing backwards into the quiet shop she kept her ears on high alert keeping her prized basket in arms. As she continues to creep into the cool vegetable shop a dark shadow looms over her hunched over figure. One last step backwards then suddenly, the slightest bump onto something or someone foreign. With her heartbeats increasing ever so slightly, she peered down behind the obstructed foot and what she saw was a pair of two blue open toed sandals, with the ankles up wrapped in bandages. Looking up even more to identify the perpetrator, praying to god it's not the boy of magic. The light blue shirt, one shouldered bag with hands in the pockets of the white-ish-grey three quarter pants made Kirei's already fast paced heart speed up even more. With one last daring gulp Kirei checked further up to see whose face was the owner. To her almost fated demise the owner would just happen to be the boy of magic. At the moment of that fateful eye contact Kirei's heart pounded very hard within her tight chest, then as suddenly as I started it stops at the most indefinitely. Dropping everything in the surprise Kirei only stares and remains frozen. The boy only looks over her frozen image, as the silence falls over the shop once again. Magic boy then picks the most un-bruised apple of the fallen then continues to the counter, ruffles through his pockets to pull out his change, Proceeds to leave the required amount rolling and twirling about on the counter. Then makes his leave, walking past the frozen girl and out the entrance, Kirei unable to confound what had just happened remained that way for another couple hours.

Thursday.

Rummaging in the cupboards underneath the shop counter, Kirei pulls out the basket of new apples and places it on the wooden counter. Hearing the first shuffles of the morning shift, Kirei looks up to see the first customer of the day. Frowning as the person walks softly onto the wooden floor of the shop in front of her counter.

"So…He walks…" Slyly Kirei addressed the person.

"Yes." Magic boy coolly answered hands in his pocket with a board look on his face.

"…What are you" Softening, Kirei decided to indulge a little with the strange boy. Bang! Magic boy slammed his hand onto the counter and leaned in menacingly.

"One apple please." Locking eyes with Kirei, Magic boy was demanding and almost frightening.

"Alright…One apple is 120ryo please. Just take one out of this basket." Magi boy scanned over the apples, Kirei made a face watching the boy point over all the apples stopping once and a while at some of the shiniest. Then Magic boy picked a large red shiny apple.

"This one." Magic boy held up the apple for proof.

"That'll be 120ryo. Thank you."

"There." Magic boy pointed at the counter where he had slammed his hand down earlier, there lie 2 50ryo coins.

"…uh…That's only 100ryo…Your missing 20ryo" Kirei stated while staring at the lone coins. PING! The girl looked up to identify the ringing sound. In a flash of spinning shine, a circular object started flying towards her speedily. POP. The remaining amount of payment due stuck to the top of Kirei's forehead.

'OW' Kirei silently cried in pain as the coin remained there. Without another word the coin slipped off her forehead and into the basket of apples. A small vein popped out from the temples of Kirei's head.

'WHAT?' In anger Kirei thoughtfully questions the boy's sanity. Magic boy merely smirks and makes a Hmph sound.

"In a few more months, it'll be an obvious…" Magic boy slyly grinned in her obliviousness.

"What will?!"Kirei yelled angrily from the now painful headache pulsing from the area where a red circular bruise gleamed it's way to the surface.

"…What I am." And with that the boy turned and left the girl with a slight frown.

Friday.

A Pair of blue open toed sandals stands in front of a plain wooden counter. 'Free apple Friday!' Says a small cardboard sign sitting in a basket full of fresh apples, silently a dark figure looms over the sign in an aura of annoyance.

"I wonder what to do today." Kirei wonders as she stalked around the village with a lollipop stuck in her mouth. Unaware that a sinister character is watching her small childish figure weaves in between the crowds of shoppers and peddlers. Lifting his cloaked self off the building side wall and slyly stalked her careful to keep a good distance away, as she visits the various stalls and stores. A pair of blue open toed sandals steadies itself on top of a tiled roof, watching the consequential event unfold.

'Idiot…' Magic boy sat in a slight fright, worrying if he is ready for something like this. He's been training for the past months for things like this only more dangerous and supervised by a fully trained teacher. Magic boy gulped and prepared himself for what's to come.

"Hey lil' girl…" A dark voice slithers into her ears from the dark corners of a small fenced off area between two buildings. Facing the menace Kirei encountered a man dressed in a long closed trench coat, face hidden by a straw hat and long blonde fringes with the help of the tall collar of the coat.

"Come here" The man signalled the girl to approach him. Kirei remained silent, wary about the stranger.

"…Why…" Kirei spoke almost as a frightened whisper keeping her distance in the moving streams of people that can watch and alert the police of anything suspicious.

"I have something for you…" Smirking at his confidence he was pretty sure that this little girl was his. In a swift scrambling moment Kirei scraped up the dust underneath her black sandals making a sprint towards the larger crowd ahead. The man lifted his straw hat to allow some light to see, smirking he watches her attempt to run.

Her heart pounded in her tight chest, gasping as she squeezed air into her lungs, running as fast as she could. Legs burning with pain, as she covered as much distance from the stalker as possible, huffing and puffing Kirei slows down to a stop, staggering around until she couldn't continued, heaving over she leans on her knees taking in deep breaths. After catching her breath Kirei checks behind her just to see a large crowd of people chatting, shopping and some even staring at her. Up, down, left, right Kirei checked everywhere paranoia keeping her heart rate was speeding, when she had decided that the area was clear. Kirei took a large gulp of air then exhaled, amazingly kept the lollipop in her mouth the entire time.

'Did I … get away?' Kirei thought, swiping the beads of sweat slipping down her forehead sweeping her fringe to the side. The dark shadow smirked as his prey has tired herself out, all the more easier to catch.

'That was creepy.' Kirei walked about through small streets with less people, still checking behind. Turning into an even less populated street she wondered down the street. A sudden flash of arms stretched out to grab the un-suspecting girl, dragging her tiny body into a tight dark alleyway, beating her along the way. Clamping his much larger hand over her mouth, squeezing her cheeks and with a constricting grip keeping her screams, yells and squeals muffled. While using his other arm to hold her up off the floor so she started to flail and kick him.

'Why?' Kirei began tearing up in sheer terror and panic. Squeezing her eyes shut she repeats her thoughts as they echoed in a swirling violent doom. THUD! Kirei is suddenly freed from her constricted prison, still squeezing her eyes shut as her body fell violently to the floor, slamming her face to the dirt.

"Huh?" Kirei found herself fallen on the floor, pushed herself up and looked behind, there stood Magic boy holding up a beat up man in a large coat, hat fallen off, the one from before. Silence falls on the alley way as Kirei can only stare. Magic boy made a more annoyed face at her then in another blur of black and fuzzy swish, magic boy is gone.

Saturday.

"Welcome." Magic boy stood in the family owned store staring at today's shop clerk.

'This is…-' Magic boy quietly contemplated to himself while watching the much elder woman, fair haired with headband pulled back her while her long hair laid on her back. Hands folded on top of each other charmingly smiling at the customer, she was dressed in a large plain apron making her look like a dedicated house wife, similar to his mother.

'-Is not the same person.' Itachi stared at the woman with contemplating face.

"How may I help you?" The woman spoke in a smooth loving tone, much cheerier than Kirei.

'Who…? Is this? Where is she?' Magic boy wondered if Kirei had walked into the village again. Little did he know that Kirei was sound asleep in her room.

"Um…Sir?" The woman began to worry as the boy just stood more silent and still than ever.

"…Where is the girl who was here on Thursday?" Finally the boy speaks and with glee she immediately answers.

"Oh! That was my daughter she works after school and sometimes the mornings, but today is her day off, do you know her?" As she speaks magic boy comes to the sudden realism that this woman is the usual counter girl's mother!

'Mother…? What to do now?' Magic boy sweated a bit, worrying if he should make some kind of good impression though his slight panic attack gets interrupted.

"Um…Would you like me to call her?" The woman tilted her head to the side, inquiring that he may be one of her daughter's friends.

"Yes please." Magic boy gave a sly grin, as the mother went off to call her sleeping daughter.

"Kirei!! Wake up!!" Kirei eyes snapped open, as she flies upward shoving her blanket off her upper torso.

"What Mom?!"

"Get down here now!!"

"Why?!" Magic boy made a face as he realizes how much the two were related, screaming down the halls at each other until they reach some kind of understanding.

"There's someone here for you!!" Suddenly loud stomping footsteps quickly run down the stairs of the building. Appearing before Magic boy only wearing her plain cream , upon eye contact Magic boy gave a small smile at Kirei.

"I'm going back to bed!!" And with that Kirei stomped back up the wooden stairs to the residential area. A loud door slam echoes throughout the street with the company of a gentle shake of the building.

"She's just shy." Kirei's mother clasped her hands together, reassuring the young boy.

'Sure….' Itachi secretly thought.

"By the way, who are you?" The curious mother inquired. The boy gave a slight smirk and answered politely.

"Uchiha Itachi"

"Do you mean that ninja child prodigy, I heard from my friend?"

"Yes"

"Oh my, a ninja asking for my daughter?" Kirei's mother blushed and put her hands to her cheeks in a dream like state.

"Don't worry, wait here, I'll get Kirei for you." The ends of Itachi's lips twitched upwards. He was going to have fun today after all.

"Kirei wake up! There's a ninja for you!!" More loud bangs and slams echoed throughout the house.

"What?!" Itachi frowned as he rethought about the situation. 'What did I just get myself into?'

Sunday.

"Kirei! Come down!!"

"Huh?" Itachi face planted his palm in a slight depression as he questions why he keeps coming back.

'Why?' Sighing Itachi looks up to see Kirei now dressed walking down the stairs.

"Alright, Alright I'm down…"

"O.K now you and-"Kirei's mother got cut off as Kirei raced past her grabbed the boy by the shoulders, twirled him around on his heels and pushed him out the door.

"'K. mom be right back!!" Kirei's mother stood there watching them walk away in silence.

"…They grow up so fast." She put her hands to her cheeks, reminiscing her younger days.

"O.K Why are you doing this? And who are you?"The boy gave a soft chuckle before replying cheekily.

"It's polite to give your own name, before you ask for one." Kirei finally stopping takes her hands off Itachi's light blue high neck collared shirt. Noticing the large fan like symbol on the back of the shirt, seemingly very important. Itachi turned around to face the annoyed girl. Kirei only greeted him with creased brows and a frown.

"Hmph, well you're not getting it."

"It's Kirei isn't it?" Surprised Kirei retorted, unfolding her arms in defence.

"You're mean."

"Now, now, No need to throw insults."Itachi keeping his cool, against such a person with a short temper, though with every word he says, she only seems to get more annoyed.

"I have every need to insult you!" Taken back, Itachi decided to start things off. Rather than agitating the small ticking bomb.

"Usually you start out like this…"

"Hello. My name is Itachi Uchiha." Kirei stood there more uninterested than ever.

"Now it's your turn." Kirei stepped back thinking whether to take a risk. Annoyed she couldn't just ignore good manners and as politely as possible replied.

"Hello. Itachi Uchiha…My name is Kirei Kaai."The attempt was very good for a 7 year old girl, but her cheek twitches were noticeable.

"So it's Kaai. Huh."

"O.K I told you my name! Now why are you here?"

"I don't know if I want to tell you, if you're going to be so mean." Infuriated Kirei clenched her fists as she tried to hold her furry inside without exploding.

"Why…Do you keep coming to this shop looking for me?"Her voice was whispered in large puffs of breaths.

"To buy your apples."

"That's not true!!" Itachi flickered back to the squealing little girl.

"You stalked me on Friday with that creepy guy!!" Itachi contemplated his answer, fact is he was stalking her but Itachi would never tell her that, He would never confess something like that.

"Stalked you? ... I was just passing by-"

"Liar!!" Kirei screamed at Itachi, demanding dominance driving through his ears. Kirei rewound the moment in her mind, thinking back to what had exactly happened. Taking a deep breath she confessed.

"No-one else was there!"

"I was there, I was on the roof." A surprised, confused look emerged on her face, Itachi carried on, describing the scene that unfolded underneath him. Kirei, shocked at the incredible detail he described, gasped in surprise.

"Yup, I saw you in trouble so I helped." Smiling in pride at his skill and strength Itachi waited for Kirei's reaction.

"S-so why did you come today?!"

"To tease you." Itachi smirked at the panicking girl, her skin went slightly pink after the pale it was before.

"Then why did you come on Monday?!"

"...I was hungry" Both the children fell silent, after Kirei regained composure and coldly spoke back.

"Just buy your apple then leave."

"Tsk, so mean" Itachi smirk twitched as he cleverly caught the attention of the now more ignorant girl.

"Do I get no thanks for saving you?" Even more frustrated Kirei screamed aloud the more or less empty street.

"FINE YOUR APPLE IS FREE!!!"

Back at the store Kirei stands next to her proud, cheery mother watching Uchiha Itachi investigate every apple in the basket situated on the counter in front of her. Itachi picks up a red apple up to his eye level, twists it, inspecting the entire apple then places it back.

"Just pick one already!!" Kirei's harsh tone forced Itachi to look up from the basket and picked up a random apple in the middle.

"Hmph, Impatient much." Itachi shoved his hand into his pocket, keeping the one with the apple near the other pocket.

"Well then-"Itachi turned around grinned gave a flickered wave and finished saying.

"-See you on Monday." Itachi continued to walk off pushing his other hand in the empty pocket. A little taken back Kirei could only watch him go past the entrance and turn down the street. Brows furrowed Kirei's anger began to build almost swearing to herself never to approach him again!

Walking up to his house Itachi opens the wooden sliding door, greeting everyone inside.

"I'm home." Taking a big bite of his free apple Itachi listens to his mother.

"Welcome home."A young female walks through the opening to the front entrance.

"Ugh. Itachi every day you come home with an apple and ruin your appetite." Itachi just continuous to munch away on the red apple.

"Where on earth do you keep getting those apples?"Loud thumping sounds rush down the stairs near the front entrance.

"YAY!" A small boy about the age of 2, who looks similarly to Itachi, ran past his mother grinning wildly.

"Big brother!!" The boy squealed and ran to his beloved elder brother, cuddling him as far as his arms could reach.

"Sasuke." Itachi put his arm around the young boy. Their mother sighed giving up on Itachi's habit of buying apples before dinner.

"Come on in Itachi..." Itachi smiled taking off his shoes, placing them in the corner, walking in following his mother and placing a hand on his bother leading him after their mother.

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