who elena & itachi what cooling down after training where itachi's dojo! when 1/3 warnings nada! status complete on posting!
Training had been exhausting. Glad she had come in prepared, having warmed up prior to arriving at the designated address, Elena still found herself sore all over. Learning how to fight on the sly was just the outlet she needed to expel the problems in her life, but it was definitely a hefty price to pay. She was, however, nothing if not resilient and eager to keep going.
Eventually.
Laying flat on a mat, a warm bottle of water tipped over on its side next to her, Elena stared up at the ceiling in a temporary daze. The last time she’d worked this hard must have been years ago when she was still a cheerleader. At least Elena did have some built-in skills that translated over into the martial arts arena. Sightly.
“That was crazy hard, but… kind of fun,” she said, inwardly marveling at being able to speak. “Thanks again for this, Itachi. If you’re still sure you don’t mind, I really would like to make this a regular thing!”
Itachi sat on a bench near where Elena lay. "I don't mind." Itachi spoke with a half smile on his face, "I'm glad you kind of had fun." He chuckled, taking a sip of his own water before he brought a towel up to wipe off his face. Itachi lowered the towel, eyes still closed for a handful of moments.
Ever since his dreams had began, Itachi's eyes had began to hurt, and his vision blurred badly an hour or so after he awoke. Slowly he opened his eyes, taking in a deep breath through his nose. "You have a natural talent for it though. I think you'll pick everything up quickly." Itachi offered with a nod over at her, before reaching over to pick up a clean towel from the end of the bench. He held it out to her, "As I said, I'm free every Saturday."
“I don’t know about that,” she laughed. “Think that’s being too nice, but… Thank you.”
Elena sat up and scooted closer to the bench so she could grab a hold of the towel. Dabbing her face absently with it, she glanced up at him, contemplating what to say. She didn’t know him very well at all, but he was nice enough to teach her how to defend herself. Suddenly reminded of their arrangement, she hopped up to her feet and hurried over to her bag to rummage around for the book she’d brought him. Text in hand, she moved to sit down on the bench next to him and held out a copy of World War Z. “I brought this for today. I’m not sure what your stance is on fiction, but this one kind of went along with my major, and… It’s really good, I promise!”
Reaching forward, Itachi took the book from her with a smile. "I've seen the movie." He offered, a wry smile pulling up one corner of his lips. He knew how different the book was from the movie, or at least, that was what he'd heard after he'd watched the movie. "Fiction is fine with me, though. I had been meaning to read this one, but just hadn't yet." Itachi glanced down at the cover of the book, loving the weight of it in his hands as opposed to a digital reader.
"Thank you, though." He gave a nod in her direction, "I'll give it a read this week, and let you know what I think." Itachi was sure that he'd enjoy it, "So are you looking forward to the starting semester?" He put the book into his bag as he spoke, and then glanced back over at her.
“I’m just the opposite,” she laughed. “I am not much for watching horror movies, but reading isn’t so bad. It’s less… in your face?” And once her life had started being immersed in vampires, she’d seen a greater decline in any interest in the genre.
Propping her chin up on her hand, Elena wrinkled her nose a bit at the question. “Yes and no? It’s going to be a ton more writing-intensive, which means I’ll be at the library… probably every day.” So, it was fortunate her social life was limited to her friends and she lacked a boyfriend to entertain. More time to focus on her studies. “And brain dead by spring! What about you?”
It was true. While some books went into descriptions of graphic violence or even gore it was different reading about it than seeing it. "It was on one night, and there wasn't anything else on." Itachi lifted a shoulder after he spoke.
He leaned forward, bracing his arms against his legs as he laced his fingers and let his hands dangle down in between his knees. The summertime itch always got to people as the weather started to warm up more, and as the semester neared to an end. Itachi would be lying if he said he didn't suffer from brain deadness around that time either. "I'm looking forward to it. I'll be in the library a lot as well, for study and work." Itachi didn't mind spending time in the library. It was a place of peace for him, especially now with the dreams. "But I'll be ready for Spring Break when it comes around."
“Not judging!” She assured with a laugh. “I’ve had many nights like that, believe me…” Especially lately, what with her moratorium on dating. Sure, she’d been out to clubs with her friend, but apart from that, Elena had become a homebody. Anything to avoid seeing her ex.
That was the grim truth of school, wasn’t it? A break from studies inevitably led to boredom, then the return of classes promptly led to a desire to be away from academics all over again. It was a never-ending cycle until graduation (or so she’d guess), but for the most part Elena looked forward to the ups and downs. They were ideal distractions, productive ones.
“Think you’ll go anywhere for Spring Break?” She asked, toying with the towel in her hands absently. She’d need to go have a shower soon, but sitting around chatting was nice in the meanwhile.
Itachi had many nights like that himself. He wasn't exactly anti-social, but he prefered quiet evenings at home and unlike a lot of his peers he didn't party. He'd never really had any desire to party, even when he'd been younger, and after the accident with Shishu he'd really had no desire to go out partying.
"I doubt that I will." Itachi gave a small shake of his head, "If Spring Break falls during the same week as my brother's I might have him come stay the week with me. That rarely happens though, so most likely I'll probably go visit them." His family was local anyway, Itachi only lived away from where his family was because he did not want to deal with his extended family day in and day out.
"What about yourself?" He asked, head tilting slightly to the side.
“Depends on the OC,” she admitted with a helpless shrug. There was no telling what would happen when she continued dreaming either, Elena didn't know a whole lot of her dream future, but she did know it wasn't going to be sunshine and roses.
“That'll be nice to visit them though, right? Your family?”
Itachi gave a small inclination of his head with a soft laugh, "That's true enough." The OC was definitely something else when it came to the strange things that happened there. Itachi wasn't sure what was going to happen next, and neither was anyone else. They could only prepare for the worst case scenario.
"Yes, I enjoy visiting them. They're local, I see them as often as I can, although I'm sure my brother would prefer it if I came by more often." He didn't want to talk about his dreams in which his brother hated him for what he'd done. There were times when Itachi had a hard time believing the things that happened in his dreams too. The idea of harming anyone in his family hurt him deeply, and even in the dreams he felt their loss deeply, but he'd done what he had to do to make sure that his brother survived. "Still, spending a week with them would be nice. Just to have some time to relax."
“That’s the most important thing,” she agreed. “That you get some rest.” Finals wouldn’t be that long after Spring Break, the semester was going to go flying by. With that in mind, Elena hopped to her feet, towel slung over her shoulders. She was in dire need of a shower, no doubt.
“I’m gonna get going, if that’s okay. Let me know what you think of the book when you get to it,” she continued, smile on her face. “And… same time next weekend?”
It would be nice to have something to look forward to on a regular basis.