Itachi's Crow Owns the Akatsuki
Summary: It was practically a sacred, if never mentioned, fact in the Akatsuki that everyone abated to. Itachi and his crow were a team. Not even Kisame could come between them. No one knew Itachi better. And no one could get him a better birthday gift.
A/N: Hello there! Here's a short story that popped up into my head. Now I know it's not even near to Itachi's birthday, but I just had to write this. I hope you like it! Please r&r!
It was practically a sacred, if never mentioned, fact in the Akatsuki that everyone abated to. Itachi and his crow were a team. Not even Kisame could come between them. No one knew Uchiha Itachi better than his forever loyal bird.
When the Uchiha first came to the organization known as the Akatsuki, he had been thirteen years old, slight in figure and fragile looking with his robes practically swallowing him up and too big to be scary black eyes. No one gave him a second thought and just assumed he'd die on the first mission he was sent to. So when Itachi returned from his first mission, with his first partner Juzo, as the one who was responsible for their success, the others became a bit wary. They still didn't think much of the raven haired boy, all until the day Itachi returned alone from a mission to Kirigakure after fighting and winning against the Mizukage, the Jinchuuriki of the Yonbi. That day, they had to acknowledge that there was a lot more to Itachi than they knew. The wariness grew when Itachi chased away Orochimaru when the Sannin tried to take over his body and it reached a maximum when they all saw Itachi in action, one by one.
Kisame's testimonies to his strength didn't help much. When the blue man, Itachi's new partner, tried attacking the Uchiha once, he ended up trapped in Tsukuyomi, an illusionary world created by Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan, and he couldn't escape, despite him actually having ten times more chakra than Itachi on a good day. He was stuck there for only a second in the real world but in Tsukuyomi, he had been tortured for 72 hours mercilessly. When he was finally released, he didn't dare look at Itachi for hours. However, he tried attacking him again the next day, avoiding his eyes and face altogether, but Itachi could still easily defeat him.
After that, Kisame dedicated himself to protecting the Uchiha. Itachi didn't really need it, but Kisame wanted to and it didn't help that the younger ninja was somewhat attractive ... Okay, he was lying to himself. He had the hoots for the very handsome teen, despite the age difference. In fact, he most of the time forgot Itachi was actually not older than him with how serious and mature the Konoha shinobi was.
The rest of the organization wasn't as inclined to stop trying to attempt to kill Itachi, though, particularly Deidara and Hidan when he was especially masochistically oriented every other week. They tried attacking him in all sorts of silly situations, trying to catch him off guard, but the Uchiha seemed to be constantly alert, even when he was asleep. It took him less than a second to respond to any threat, so Deidara and Hidan usually ended up needing some serious medical attention for their injuries, or if Itachi was having a really bad day for some reason, they were shaking messes for hours until the residue effects of the Tsukuyomi faded.
Yep. Itachi was a very dangerous fellow, despite his slight frame and young age.
But even he was human and even he had weak moments. That's when he needed support and assistance, perhaps even protection and while he has come to greatly rely on Kisame for all three at those times, there was one situation where Kisame apparently just wasn't enough.
That's when they all first saw the crow with their own eyes. Itachi had overused his eyes on one of their missions in order to protect himself and Kisame from some attack that would have killed them both if it had hit and was now out of commission for at least a couple of days. He had a headache, was almost completely blind and his already very low chakra reserves were almost all dried up. In other words, for the first time since they've all set eyes on the feared Sharingan no Itachi, he was vulnerable. And Deidara and Hidan were crazy enough to decide they were going to take this one chance they got to kill him.
They had stealthily crept up on the resting Uchiha, having sent Kakuzu to distract Kisame and Sasori their Leader, since they knew those two would definitely stop him. Leader was for some reason a bit fond or even protective of the Uchiha and Kisame had completely aliened himself to Itachi. The weasel had unlimited protection within the walls of the Akatsuki and outside, he didn't need it as he could stop any threat to himself or his partner with a single look. But in his weakened sate, Pein and Kisame were bound to check more regularly on the youngest member of the Akatsuki.
Itachi was so out of it that he didn't hear or sense them enter the room he shared with Kisame, so they thought this was going to be easy. Only they then saw a strange looking crow standing over the weasel's head and it blinked it's red eyes at them. Hidan moved to kill it for fear of it to waking up their prey, thinking it had just got in through the open window, but the crow gawked at them, spreading its wings in a threatening manner, as if to intimidate them or warn them to leave. The two obviously suicidal ninja deducted it must be one of Itachi's kuchoyose, since he used crows, and both moved to get rid of it, only to find themselves set on fire with black flames they couldn't seem to stop. Their screams woke up Itachi and the raven haired young man had just blinked at them, his eyes still a bit blurry but he could tell what was going on.
The rest of the Akatsuki were drawn by the scrams and ran into the room just as Itachi ordered the crow to stop its Amaterasu. The scares from those burns never faded and it taught the Akatsuki that even Hidan wasn't as immortal as they thought him to be, since an Uchiha doujutsu could kill him. Hidan avoided the Uchiha ever since. What they also learned was that the crow was not a kuchiyose but it was gifted with the Sharingan by Itachi inserting another Uchiha's eye into it's socket. They presumed that Itachi just stole one of his victim's eye during the massacre, but Kisame did eventually learn the story behind the eye. He never told anyone, of course. He didn't want to betray Itachi's trust. Plus, the crow kind of freaked him out.
They started seeing the crow a lot more after that. They had always been oblivious to its constant presence before, but now that they knew of it, they saw that the crow was never too far away from Itachi. It tended to fly overhead and seemed to be sending images to its master. It was protective of the young teen and it didn't like anyone, not even Kisame. It could take care of itself without and problems and it took care of its master by gawking anytime Itachi didn't eat enough. Kisame had never noticed that before. Crows were common enough birds to turn a blind eye to. The crow was the perfect spy, even, because of this trait. Anyone who learned of all the ways Itachi used his bird would lie if they say it wasn't ingenious. The crow was also a decent fighter for a creature its size. It had managed to knock out Kakuzu once, when he tried to kill it. It had managed to make him tie himself up with most of his own string and then one of his heart creatures to attack him with an earth based attack. Kakuzu never saw it coming when the mud ball hit him in the back of his head.
The crow was truly Itachi's, as it could also use genjutsu. Sasori was the victim this time, instead of Deidara. That's what he gets for trying to use his chakra strings on the crow. And the crow was extremely intelligent. The Akatsuki soon became as wary of Itachi's crow as they were of Itachi himself, although not quite to the same extent. After all, Itachi was Itachi. They were just glad that the bird couldn't use Tsukuyomi. That would have definitely been too much.
Surprisingly enough, though, with the knowledge of the crow and wanting to learn more about it (either to somehow find its weakness and use it against it or out of pure curiosity), the Akatsuki all started talking and spending more time with the genius. Itachi was at first, of course, wary of the sudden change of heart, but they had no doubt that he had figured them out from day one. Still, he let them stick close to him and talked about his animal companion and how he got him in the first place. They learned a lot about Itachi through his stories about his crow and all the things the pair of them had been through in Itachi's life as an Uchiha, as a Leaf shinobi and as an ANBU. They somehow all ... just bonded over time. Even became somewhat friends. Although, none of them would ever admit to it. They'd kill you if you even suggested it, but it was the truth, one they all secretly acknowledged. In a matter of a few weeks, the Akatsuki had even become somewhat of a dysfunctional, crazy family of S-rank criminals who wouldn't give each other out no matter what was offered in return.
That, however, brought on the difficulties of birthdays, holidays, anniversaries and even bad days. The Aktsuki had always been weird in their birth villages, one of the reasons they left it. Quite a few of them had had real families, but even fewer of them had celebrated holidays. It was mostly up to Itachi, Sasori and Deidara to teach them about the customs of each holiday, although Konan and Pein seemed to have at one point tried celebrating, too, and they helped a lot. Kakuzu bemoaned the loss of money and Hidan complained about these 'heathen rituals', but they both secretly, or maybe not so secretly, enjoyed them. They made sure never to forget why someone might be having a bad day and when. Anniversaries became practically sacred and birthdays ... Well, those were the craziest times of the year, to say the least.
And that's what brought on this particular situation. Namely, one Uchiha Itachi's birthday. And everyone had almost forgotten about it had Kisame not asked them what they were planning to give the Uchiha this year. The others had disappeared for hours on end, searching for a gift and they all returned sometime around four, all claiming to have bought the best possible gift for the genius in the whole wide world. Kisame kind of doubted it. Itachi could find a perfect gift for every one of them, but despite everything that they had learned about the Uchiha, they didn't really understand Itachi. Not even he did and he spent every day with Itachi, sometimes just the two of them for months on end. Well, the two of them and the crow.
So, yeah, it was hard getting something the weasel would like or want, let alone need. Itachi had ways of getting everything he needed on his own, scrolls, weapons, information, anything. So getting him a gift was hard enough without killing each other when one of them realizes they found something Itachi might like. The rest of them were pretty easy gift-wise. Kisame didn't really care, Deidara wanted more clay or some other type of explosives, maybe a hair product here and there. Konan liked girly things for her birthday. Pein just wanted a few hours of peace and quiet on his birthday. Kakuzu either wanted money or information on some dude who had a bounty on his head. Hidan usually went out and got him the guy. As for the zealot, he only wanted the permission to kill a few dozen people and some booze. Sasori liked getting things for his puppets and Zetsu wanted some raw meat or maybe a big plant lamp. You were okay if you could get Tobi some sugar or candy.
But Itchi was a lot more complicated, which is why there was always a sort of panic in the headquarters whenever his birthday comes along. That was also the time of year everyone somehow manages to end up in a fight or something. Usually over who got Itachi the best gift.
This year, for Itachi's sixteenth birthday, the competition was between some rare book collection, a new katana from the Takumi Village, some special shampoo, a sought-after scroll, a new kunai set, a new thigh holster for his shuriken, a new set of twenty hair ties, a new set of explosives and a pack of dangos that ought to last him some three weeks. Yet they couldn't be sure if he would like any of those. Sure, he would be genuinely grateful, but that's just the type of person Itachi was. He'd never tell them if he got new holster himself just the day before or if he'd already read those books or if he was allergic to that shampoo.
But they tried and that's what mattered to him.
They still wanted to be the one to give him the best gift ever, especially Kisame, since he kind of had a crush on his partner.
Which is what lead to this current situation. That is, the big Akatsuki group dogpile, minus Itachi, since they had all but wrestled each other to the ground as soon as Itachi had entered the house, back from his brief trip to Konoha to check on his little brother, like he did every once in a while, especially on his or Sasuke's birthdays. Itachi was currently staring at them as though they were crazy, which very much could be the case but they weren't going to admit to that, either.
''Happy Birthday Itachi!'' The all called out, trying to thrust their gifts to the Uchiha and only manging to get even more tangled up in the process.
''Sasori! Get your fucking knee out of my gut, Jashin damn it!'' Hidan yelled while poking Kakuzu in the back with his elbow, much to the banker's displeasure. He had had to kill three people in order to get his hands on that sword. If anyone was going to give Itachi his gift first, it was him.
''Deidara, if you don't move your ahnd, I am going to kill you.'' Konan threatened and the blond squeaked.
'Sorry, Konan, un! But Tobi pushed me and I didn't see where my hand landed!''
''Tobi is a good boy!'' The childish, orange mask wearing Akatsuki yelled, flinging his arms up.
''Please get off,'' Kisame begged from the bottom, Pein unintentionally pushing his head down as he tried to lift himself up but Kakuzu was too heavy. Itachi just watched for a minute before sweat dropping. These were some of the most feared criminals in the world? He wondered what everyone would say if they could see the Akatsuki like this.
His attention was drawn away by the familiar gawking and everyone froze in their struggles when the flap of wings followed the sound. They watched as Itachi extended his arm for his crow to land, a curious look on his handsome features. The bird had in its beak a small black bag with a single Akatsuki cloud drawn on it and it held it out for its master. Realizing that a stupid bird was going to end up giving Itachi his first gift, the Akatsuki started struggling anew, Kisame especially, even though he had the lowest chances of winning.
''What's this?'' The Uchiha asked, taking the bag and ignoring the cries from his colleges not to open it. He knew his trusty crow would never do anything to harm him so he had no qualms about opening the small bag. His gasp of delighted surprise had everyone freezing up again, even though Kisame had just managed to fling everyone off of his back at last.
''What is it, un?'' Deidara asked when no one spoke. A small smile started creeping onto Itachi's face. He dug into the little bag with two of his finger and pulled out an ordinary, simple necklace. It was on a very thin chain that almost looked like an ordinary string and it had three rings attached so they would be visible on the collarbone when worn. It was simple, yet elegant, very much like Itachi, although Itachi had his own beauty that was not plain at all. It wasn't expensive looking and wouldn't satisfy other people, but the smile on the Uchiha's face spoke just how much Itachi appreciated the gift.
''It was a necklace I got for entering the ANBU when I was eleven. A congratulations gift from my brother, parents and cousin.'' He answered in a gentle, affectionate voice and made to put the necklace on. The crow flapped around him as he closed the clasp behind his head before Itachi held out his arm for the crow to land on again. He immediately started petting its head and it preened at the attention. ''I thought it was lost to me forever when I forgot it back in Konoha. Thank you. I couldn't have received a better gift.''
Anime tears fell down Kisame's cheeks as he realized he just lost to a bird. The others were looking away uncomfortably or glaring at the black bird. When it shot them a smug look, they glared even harder that, had they had the Sharingan, the bird would have caught aflame by the Amaterasu.
But there was nothing they could do but give Itachi their gifts. He thanked them and wore a smile, yes, but it was clear they lost to the damned crow. It wasn't fair, but they understood. The crow knew everything about its master and they had only scratched the surface of the mystery that is Uchiha Itachi. The loss still stung. Damn that crow.
And that's how Itachi's crow owned Akatsuki.