Itachi looked at his toes again. One of his toenails was split and he'd plastered it back together. His shoes were dirty, and he had a leave caught between his toes from calling through the trees all morning. Itachi took a moment to dissect his nebulous feelings for Ashiko.
"She's polite without being bland, and clever with her words," Itachi started slowly. Of course, he was attracted to people who could hold intelligent conversation. "Her loyalty is admirable, even if it's to a man who doesn't deserve it." She was elegant to, and Itachi was oddly attracted to ideals. She'd caught his eye with her formal kimono and neat manners the first time they'd met, after all.
"I think it's partly..." Itachi paused. This was something he wasn't sure he wanted to admit. "I wasn't anyone to her but a random stranger. I had no significance beyond the time we shared and the words we said to each other. I didn't...whatever I said, it mattered to no one but myself and her. It wasn't colored by my bloodline or my affiliation, nor until recently did it seem like our relationship had any importance to the duties I have to those things. She enjoyed my company simple because she did, not because of what she could gain."
Itachi kept on, the slow dissection of his thoughts aloud something he would only do for Shisui. Everyone else got the perfected words he thought over, not the wondering verbal trickle Itachi was reasoning his way through now. "She made me feel normal." Itachi spoke more quietly now, some unspoken longing in his voice for an unguarded moment.
"I liked spending time with her--I liked her because she liked me even though I was no one special. Even though I was just another face in the crowd..." Itachi paused. "That's not admiration is it? It's infatuation."
no subject
"She's polite without being bland, and clever with her words," Itachi started slowly. Of course, he was attracted to people who could hold intelligent conversation. "Her loyalty is admirable, even if it's to a man who doesn't deserve it." She was elegant to, and Itachi was oddly attracted to ideals. She'd caught his eye with her formal kimono and neat manners the first time they'd met, after all.
"I think it's partly..." Itachi paused. This was something he wasn't sure he wanted to admit. "I wasn't anyone to her but a random stranger. I had no significance beyond the time we shared and the words we said to each other. I didn't...whatever I said, it mattered to no one but myself and her. It wasn't colored by my bloodline or my affiliation, nor until recently did it seem like our relationship had any importance to the duties I have to those things. She enjoyed my company simple because she did, not because of what she could gain."
Itachi kept on, the slow dissection of his thoughts aloud something he would only do for Shisui. Everyone else got the perfected words he thought over, not the wondering verbal trickle Itachi was reasoning his way through now. "She made me feel normal." Itachi spoke more quietly now, some unspoken longing in his voice for an unguarded moment.
"I liked spending time with her--I liked her because she liked me even though I was no one special. Even though I was just another face in the crowd..." Itachi paused. "That's not admiration is it? It's infatuation."