Itachi looked at the girl before him, taking in her form one last time. She was a tad taller than him now, a handswidth perhaps. She wore her dark golden hair the same way she had since he had met her on his third birthday, pulled back and high up, so she could wrap her fur pelt headband around her crown, she always wore it proudly. She wore it proudly even before she had the Konoha metal plate embedded in it after her graduation.
She had a few strands of hair that hung from her band, and they framed her tanned face. The complexion of her skin brought out her amber irises, as well as the small freckles that lined across her nose and the top of her cheeks.
She wore a simple kimono, it was a light brown color, and she walked around barefoot-he would never forget the aghast expression his mother wore when the girl stumbled into his party with the fourth hokage, who then was still a jonin. She walked clumsily, and held tight to the mans hand and looked around at all the children in confusion, as if she had never met another child before.
His mother offered her a pair of shoes, trying her best to be accepting of the child. The girl refused politely though, saying "I would love a pair of shoes ma'am, but... I would never wear them, they make me feel... uh... Namikaze-sensei! What's the word again?"
The blonde man had laughed and offered softly "Confined."
"Yeah! That's the word! Confined!" She smiled widely at the man, exposing her sharp baby canines.
Looking at her now, her baby canines were now replaced with adults, that now protruded past her upper lip slightly, and Itachi wondered when the change had occurred without his notice.
"I'm leaving, Itachi..." She spoke finally, her eyes growing darker and sadder by the second.
"I know. I also understand. You have your family traditions to uphold just as I do." He said, he also felt his own facade slowly fading as he began to fully accept his only friend was leaving him behind.
She smiled sadly. "I will return, Itachi. Do not be sad. With me here, you have grown so strong, you're already a genin! Just imagine how much stronger you will become when I am not here."
"I will only progress more, with or without your presence. I would prefer your presence though, so I know you are safe. However, you have explained to me before how dangerous your training will be, just as the fourth had before he passed... "
The fourth Hokage had passed away the previous year in October.. October 10, the day of the kyuubi attack. It was now nearing spring of the next year, and of all involved, the girl was impacted the most by his death, aside from his students. The girls idol, Kushina had passed away as well, and they had left behind a child, who the girl had tried spending every waking moment with.
"I am becoming too dangerous to be around Naruto-kun..., I nearly killed him just the other day when he got too close during one of my training sessions..."
Itachi inwardly cringed. He could only imagine the horror she had felt.
"Nikoru Kemono, I will wait for your return. I will watch over Naruto-chan to the best of my abilities."
The girl, Nikoru, smiled sadly.
"You won't leave the village, Itachi?"
He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
"Why would I abandon my village?"
She laid her hand on her stomach and grimaced. "It is only a bad feeling I have had for the last two weeks. I have had dreams, Itachi, terrible dreams. Please promise me, that you will not leave the village. You will not leave Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun here alone."
His eyes widened slightly and he nodded without much thought. "I promise, Nikoru."
Nikoru stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the boy, even though she boasted of him becoming a genin, she graduated not long after him as well. Though, she was not assigned to a team like he was, and it bewildered him at the time. Their forehead protectors clashed and rang dully, singing the sad song of farewell that they themselves were humming in their own minds.
"I will return,-" She spoke softly as she moved to nuzzle her cheek against his own, a gesture she had developed over the four years they had known one another. "-and when I return, we will fight with each other again as comrades, and I will amaze you with my newfound strength." She boasted with a half-hearted laugh as she pulled away to show him her teary smile.
And with that, she was suddenly gone.
He could sense her sneaking away through the gate, but if she wanted to leave dramatically, he was not going to spoil her fun.
He did not dare turn back to watch her leave. He instead turned to look up at the sky, to memorize the night. It was hardly cloudly, but the puffs would float by every so often to cover his vision of the bright full moon that shined down on him, looking as sad and lonely as he felt.
He looked ahead of him once more to find the third hokage standing there, looking at him just as sadly. It hurt the old man to watch one of his suffer, but it was for the best.
"She has a bright future ahead of her, Itachi-kun. You know it just as well as I do, how one day, she will surpass the brightest minds of your generation."
Itachi nodded, he had known that ever since she stumbled into his backyard with Minato Namikaze.
"Would you like for me to walk home with you, son?" The third offered, only to recieve Itachi falling back into his emotionless facade. Going home meant facing his father, and surely by now his father already knew of Nikoru's departure. He has had the police force watching her ever since she arrived in the village.
"No, Lord Hokage, I can manage on my own. Thank you for the offer though, it does not go unappreciated."
the Hokage smiled sadly, having already deduced what brought on the boys' facade.
"Do not let Fugaku-san bully you, Itachi-kun, Nikoru-chan will return, she will come back to us."
Itachi gave a faint smile, and nodded.
"I know, Lord Hokage, though she was only here for a short period, this is her home."
You are her home. The Hokage admitted within his mind as he and Itachi moved to take seperate paths through the village.