We used to be like every other family.
The image of a young girl with her family appeared. There stood a boy not much older than her with short spiked hair standing halfway in the doorway. She and the boy were hugging a boy much older than either of them. He had shoulder length raven hair. His face reflected one of kindness and warmth as he gazed at his two younger siblings grinning at him. Their mother, looking much like them with their raven hair and onyx eyes, smiled lovingly at the adorable exchange between siblings from the kitchen. Their father, however, was not there to see them, seeing as he was on a mission for the hokage.
But then….
The image switched to one of a little girl in the rain with tear stricken crimson red eyes.
Everything began to fall apart.
"Aru?!" called her elder brother frantically.
"I-Itachi-niisan?" sobbed the young girl quietly.
"Aru!" he called again hearing a faint sob.
Catching sight of her through the rain, he hurried to cover her with an umbrella.
"W-what's wrong with me?" the small girl whimpered looking into her brothers eyes.
His eyes widened slightly at the crimson color.
"Sharingan…" he muttered under his breath, scooping the child into his arms.
My father….
A slightly older girl could be seen training furiously with her father, blocking almost every lightning strike her father shot at her.
Was upset, that I, as a female, could acquire the sharingan at such a young age.
The girl lay panting on the ground, quickly ushered up by the older male.
So, he trained me harder than he ever trained Itachi.
"Itachi-niisan!" screamed her slightly older brother, Sasuke, running down the hallway.
Aru, distracted by her older brother, glanced over to be able to catch sight of Itachi. A grin started to overtake her face as her activated sharingan allowed her to see his chakra enter the house. Her joy was short lived when she felt excruciating pain take over the left side of her face.
The scream of a young child resounded through the uchiha compound.
And then….
Aru was swinging her legs back and forth happily as her mother brushed through her messy raven locks. A white bandage adorned her place of injury: the left side of her face. On the other side of her face, blinding her, was a black eye patch covering her 'frozen sharingan'. No one knew why but when she was hit, her sharingan froze. In order to maintain her chakra, she was given the eye patch. Sasuke stood on the side of her bed talking to her to distract her from the soreness of the side of her face. Itachi walked in, successfully distracted them from their conversation about the dango from the dango shop.
"Itachi-niisan…" Sasuke muttered dejectedly at the hard glare set on his face. Aru immediately grinned.
"Itachi-niisan!" she exclaimed reaching out in a random direction that she assumed he was in. His face softened when he saw his little sister. Greeting her briefly, he called his mother outside to talk. Leaving Sasuke to keep Aru company, they walked outside. His mother explained the operation that had to be preformed to replace Aru's left eye. When Aru and Sasuke were chatting in the hospital room, they heard a certain blonde knuckle head sneak in noisily through the window. Aru laughed loudly at his pathetic attempt to be sneaky. Naruto, looking up at the noise, noticed Sasuke in the room and glared. Sasuke, returning the glare equally. "Naruto-kun!" cheered Aru happily. He glanced away from Sasuke to grin cheekily at her.
"Wow, Aru! Can you even see!?" he gawked obnoxiously. She pouted.
"How rude…" she mumbled as Sasukes glare intensified.
I could hear Otou-san and Itachi-niisan argue as soon as I was allowed to return home….
Sasuke held Aru's hand for comfort as they quietly crept down the hallway. Itachi and their fathers booming voices heard from their room. All they could make out from far away was Arus name but as they crept closer they could make out whole sentences such as, 'She's too young to fight' or 'Let her enjoy her childhood' However, when they were close enough to actually clearly hear them, the argument was almost over.
"Don't bring her into our world yet" argued Itachi.
"Then if you do her share then I'll leave her alone" said their father.
There was a temporary silence.
"…ok"
Then the door was opened and out walked Itachi only giving the two a brief glance each. Aru, however, noticed his gaze linger on her.
After that, we rarely saw Itachi-niisan, but when we did, he was cold to us.
Sasuke and Aru laid on the ground, bored. They were waiting for Itachi to get home, but he was extremely late.
"What are you guys doing?" giggled their mother.
"Waiting for Itachi-niisan to get home" groaned Sasuke, Aru nodding in agreement.
"Huh? But wasn't he called in on another mission?" the older woman wondered aloud.
"EHH?" the two bolted up from their spots.
"When's he going to be back?" asked Aru.
"Three days if I remember properly." replied their mother nonchalantly, stirring the stew for dinner. The siblings looked down in disappointment. She, noticing it, smiled.
"How about I take you out for dango to make up for it then?"
They both grinned and nodded.
Three days later, when Itachi came back he didn't give the two a second glance. Aru, however could see the pain in his eyes and visited his room later that night. When she knocked he opened the door and closed it when he saw her.
"I-Itachi-niisan… I know you don't mean it….I know you don't hate us…I love you nii-san" she sniffled, wiping away a few tears. She heard a few footsteps stop at the door. She looked away and headed back to Sasuke's room where she snuggled next to him.
Then, that night, I knew why my brother was so pained.
Aru was awoken from her early nap by the presence of someone else in the room. She groggily rubbed her eyes and looked up to see her brothers' sharingan activated.
"Itachi-niisan? You're home?" she said stared back with pained eyes.
"Itachi-niisan? Are you in pain?" she worried lightly touching his temple.
"I'm sorry…" he whispered using mangekyo to knock her out.
He carefully picked her up to finish his mission on the other side of the house.
What I didn't understand was why he did it, Why? I knew there had to be a reason. What was it? Everything was hidden from me though. As I said, we used to be like every other family.