Chapter 3: Izumi Uchiha
The mission had not taken that long, and there was plenty of time left in the day for Itachi. However, as he approached the Uchiha compound, a voice yelled at him.
"Itachi! Where have you been?" It was Izumi. Itachi knew he'd been forgetting something these past few weeks. His mind had been focused on the ANBU exams. Time began to slow down as a rather large text box appeared in front of Itachi. He braced himself mentally for what was to come.
"Itachi Uchiha… a man so focused on his goals that he's left his beloved to waste away without his love. His heart, now heavy with regret as he's realized the folly of his actions. Itachi just stands motionless, unsure of what he can say in his defense." It only took up a small part of the box.
"I'm sorry." Itachi said. Another paragraph slowly faded in beneath the first one.
"Izumi Uchiha, the girl who feels as if she has been forgotten by her beloved. She hears his apology and gives pause. He's been a selfish fool these past few weeks, but… but! She thinks back upon all the time she's spent with him. After a long moment, she responds."
"I'll accept your apology." Izumi said.
"Itachi let out an inaudible sigh of relief. His beloved was not going to leave him alone out in the street. A faint smile began to form upon his lips when his love said something that shook him to his core."
"But…" She continued.
"No.. not that dreaded word. There could be any number of things attached to this acceptance. But Itachi would not falter, for he couldn't let leave his life. He took a deep breath, and braced himself for what was to come." The text box that took up a good portion of Itachi's vision was about half full now.
"We have to go on a date," she finished
"Itachi blushed furiously. There'd never been a doubt in his mind about Izumi. She'd been infatuated with him ever since the academy. But this, this was different for him. She'd never openly called their little visits to shops 'dates.' He had to accept, he had to rectify his mistake."
"Where shall we go?" Itachi asked of her.
"Tea and dango, at our favorite shop." She replied.
"And so it was the two began walking. Izumi reached out for Itachi's hand. He recoiled, unsure of what to do. She responded by snatching his hand using an inhuman speed. Itachi resigned himself to this, and relaxed. He looked at her.
He found it comforting that the two most important people in his life, Izumi and Sasuke, both had onyx eyes. But unlike Sasuke, Izumi was pretty. The way her mocha hair rested on her shoulders, the smile that was always on her face. Itachi was soothed by her very presence.
They wandered. And wandered. And wandered. Eventually they came upon the shop that was the desire of Itachi's beloved. He pulled out the seat for her, letting her sit. He pushed her in before taking his place across from her…" Itachi dismissed the text box as soon as he could after the last paragraph faded in.
It was an oddity of Itachi's power. Whenever he interacted with Izumi, it abandoned its usual demeanor for… whatever this was. The series of text boxes that plagued his life seemed to have their own personality. At least, for anything that wasn't this. Itachi was vaguely reminded of a romance novel he'd once read whenever he had to put up with this.
DATE START!
Oh yeah, there was also this. Izumi and Itachi may not of called their little excursions dates, but apparently his power thought otherwise. Itachi didn't mind the numerous bars and such that appeared though, because at least now he didn't have to put up with the giant text box.
"Izumi, my absence warrants that I do something special." He told her.
"Oh?" she asked. A bar labeled Intrigue filled up a bit..
"I shall have a word with the chef. Today, you shall eat dango that I have made myself!" Itachi just barely stopped himself from covering his mouth. The earlier text had apparently gotten to him. He noted the Attraction bar had filled to nearly half, so it wasn't all bad.
"Itachi…" Izumi blushed harder than Itachi had earlier, but, Itachi was already halfway to the actual shop.
The shop owner had been quite understanding, and allowed him into the kitchen. Itachi took a deep breath and his eyes swirled into crimson. He'd need the Sharingan for what was to come. The dating display had changed into a display that consisted only of circles.
ROUND 1!
MIX!
And so it began. Music from an unknown source drifted into Itachi's ear. The song started off slow, with some gentle string sounds. Itachi gently poked at the circles as they lit up. At the very least, with this method of cooking didn't require that Itachi actually measure out ingredients or even know what they were off the top of his head.
Then the percussion came in. The circles began to light up faster. A blue circle caught his eye, and snapped to it and he held it down. There were 10 circles before Itachi, one for each of his fingers. To anyone looking at him, it'd appear as if he were just mixing, thanks to his power. A large 50 COMBO! rolled through Itachi's vision. He ignored it.
The tempo increased. If anyone else was attempting this, they'd swiftly lose. It took a sharingan to match the speed of the game. Or maybe it was customized to every user? Itachi hadn't actually thought about that. The owner came in to investigate the noise, only to quietly back out when he saw the ferocity of Itachi's stirring. With one last punch from the instruments, the song was over. Itachi let out the breath he'd been holding.
174 COMBO!
PERFECT!
Exactly as Itachi had hoped. This was a special occasion. What point was there to going through all this effort if he didn't make it perfect? He loosened up his fingers in preparation for the next round.
ROUND 2!
SHAPE!
Before Itachi were a number of lumps of dough he knew to be perfectly portioned. A plucked instrument was the lead for this song. Within the first 30 seconds, he'd achieved a 50 combo. Itachi knew there were far more things within his vision that reacted to his performance, but he couldn't be distracted by them, or anything for that matter.
Left pinky, right index, left ring, right thumb, right middle… the game just continued. He was doing good by his definition of it. However, this was the easy part. He only had to worry about single circles at a time. The third and final round is what would really get to him.
Itachi monitored his breathing, ensuring even it kept pace with the rhythm. He enjoyed the music, wishing he didn't have to concentrate so much on the circles before him. Left pinky, right pinky, right middle, left middle, right thumb, left thumb, and done.
366 COMBO!
PERFECT!
He willed the game to pause. This was it. Three minutes of hellishly difficult circle pressing. He took a moment to be thankful for his high DEX from all his training before unpausing the game.
FINAL ROUND!
BAKE!
Itachi didn't even know what the last song sounded like. He had kicked up the power of his sharingan to slow the passage of time. The sound was too distorted to make any sense of it. But it didn't matter, for all of Itachi's focus was on the ten circles before him.
It had started off simple. Only one circle to press at a time. Then after about a minute, two circles to press at a time. This he could handle. His eyes were directed at the space between his hands. He both saw nothing beyond that space and everything within his field of vision.
This was what he lived for. But then the last part of the song kicked in. Now it was three circles. He'd been wrong, this is what he lived for. It was a true challenge. It wasn't succeed or fail like the rest of his life. This rode solely on the him that was in this moment. If they could, Itachi was sure his fingers would've cramped up by now.
Time resumed its normal flow. He'd done it. His hands fell from the interface. Yet it didn't disappear. Itachi looked at it with confusion, until he heard a single note play, the last note of the song. Despite his speed, there was nothing he could do to reach the circle as it lit and unlit in a fraction of a second. He was confronted by a message, as if the game was taunting him.
COMBO LOST!
Followed shortly by the usual ending text.
628 COMBO!
ALMOST PERFECT!
A whirl of crimson, and his eyes had returned to normal. Before him were two plates of dango. He knew that they were near perfection. But they were only near. Itachi took a deep breath, and headed out the door. He ignored the odd looks from the staff as he left to rejoin with Izumi.
"Here is your dango." Itachi said flatly. He sat down in his chair, lamenting his one error. Perfection would allude him… for now. Izumi looked at him. "What?" he asked.
"Itachi, where's the tea?"
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