It was a gorgeous day in Konoha. Warm and the only clouds were about a day off. Sasuke sat in a Ramen shop reluctantly, with his teammates, Naruto and Sakura. Naruto was slurping noisily, while Sakura was babbling to him about their next date. When did Sasuke become such a...third wheel?

He sighed deeply, standing and wandering out of the shop alone. How it should be. Loneliness and him...Went hand in hand. It was what fate had condemned him to...What Itachi had condemned him to. Ever since Naruto and Sakura had started dating he'd been all by himself. No, that was a lie...Ever since his parents died he was all by himself. It didn't matter if he was immersed in fangirls; none of them cared for him like he needed to be cared for. Like family. Like a brother, sister, mother, father...Or anything. You couldn't get that kind of love from anything but the real thing.

Saira, a transfer ninja that was helping out on their team, ran up to him, her long auburn hair back in pony tail, and she was carrying a letter bag. She was unique; her eyes were aqua, with five small silver orbs surrounding her pupil. She blushed immediately; she was almost constantly blushing. She had fair skin, and that was probably why. She was pretty, but no one paid much attention to her.

"You have a letter, Sasuke-kun..." she said, and handed him a scrap of paper. "I really have to go deliver the rest..." and she was gone again. Sasuke went home to open his letter...alone.

Kayla sat on a tree stump, examining her nails, while Itachi and Kisame talked- well, argued. For the third time today.

"Itachi-san, for the eighty-fifth time," Kisame screeched. "WE'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!"

"Hn," Itachi grunted, glaring harshly at Kisame. "We're following the path, you dumbass." Kayla snickered. Kisame was pretty dumb, but he could count; that was the eighty-fifth time. They were trying to get to Konoha, and failing miserably. Itachi said he had someone to meet there, but Kayla doubted it. Itachi and Pein weren't getting along well, so

Itachi made up random pointless 'missions' to go on just to get away from the pierced wonder.

Kayla looked up. It was overcast and the light breeze carried the scent of rain. That would be nice; it would calm Kisame's ass down, at least.

"How do you know the path leads to Konoha?!"

"It said it at the beginning of the path."

"Well maybe it lied, or maybe it's a trap!"

"Hn," Itachi grunted, annoyed by Kisame's stubbornness.

"Itachi-nii, maybe we should go a different way. Kami-san knows, if we go along the path we might run into that blonde hyper kid, or Sas-" she twitched a bit as Itachi glared at her, and smiled innocently. Itachi sighed in aggravation, and stalked off to sulk. Kayla smiled at Kisame, and he shuddered in response. Kayla had always creeped him out.

Maybe it was because she was so powerful she could strike fear into even Itachi's heart. She giggled, thinking that. Kisame was so unmasculine.

The wind fiddled with her pigtails of ebony hair, her eyes glossy and ready for anything. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything to be ready for just yet. Not until they got to Konoha. Not until she finally met her baby brother.

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Sasuke stared at his ceiling, crippled by hatred and fear. Of who?

Who else? His brother - only by blood - Itachi. He glanced down at the note again. It read:

"Dearest Baby Brother,

I'm coming for you, nii-san...you, and those pretty little eyes of yours. Be ready or die."

He shuddered as a violent spasm of hate flowed through his mind and body. That bastard! He took a deep breath. He's doing me a favor, he thought. No hassle. He's coming right to me. And I'm ready. Right? Of course.

There was only one thing that seemed odd about the letter...The handwriting was...girly.