"Sharingan can only be shared between brothers? Does that mean you can't have my eyes, Itachi-nii?"

"Fortunately so."

I half rolled her body whilst resting my head on my brother's lap in order to meet his eyes. "Why is that good?"

"Don't worry sister," Itachi said, poking my forehead. "It just means that I have to take care of it."

I scrunched up my face, trying to swat Itachi's hand away. My brother was sometimes like that, cryptic and annoying. From my experience, I knew pushing the matter would just be more annoying.

There was a lot of fighting happening these days between father and Itachi. Always yelling about something. Even out in the clearing of the house, I could hear the arguing.

"Why are they fighting Shisui-nii?" I asked, trying to aim at the tree trunk. Everyone made shuriken throwing look so easy, Itachi could throw several of them without looking and all hit the bullseye.

Shisui grabbed and tilted my wrist, changing my posture to a more comfortable position. "Probably because our clan is about to plan a coup d'état and your brother disagrees with all the fighting."

"Cou-? What does that mean?"

"Don't worry." Shisui held my hand back and flicked forwards, helping me through the throwing motions. The shuriken landed in a satisfying thunk. "We'll take care of it."

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" Forming a Tiger seal around my mouth, I breathed out the fiery ball.

It was relatively small compared to the demonstrations that Itachi and Shisui showed but still hot and deadly. The orb lazily moved across the training field and hit the tree, dispersing and turning into dancing orange flames.

I stared expectedly at father, barely containing my excitement. I hoped that this would cheer him up seeing just at how angry he was these days.

"As expected." He said while turning around to go back to talking to Itachi. "You are my daughter."

I beamed. I've received the highest compliment that father could give.

It was my seventh birthday. Mother said she would make my favourite chicken onigiri, Itachi had promised to spend the whole day with me, father said he would teach me another jutsu.

When woke up, I darted to the living room filled with excitement. Not wanting to wait for even a second, I used the body flicker technique which Shisui taught me.

Not being so adept at body flicker, I overshot my destination or the hallway and arrived on the I arrived in the living room. The first thing that caught my attention was the dead body on the floor. I saw some black hair and the pool of blood staining our tatami mat. He looked familiar but at that moment, I couldn't quite place where I saw him from.

I had privy to the sight for maybe tenth of a second before being snatched up by my mother. She immediately covered my eyes.

"Let her see." My father said.

"She is too young for this." She hissed back.

I felt another pair of hands grab me and I had sparred enough with him to know that it was Itachi. "You have been spending too much time with Shisui." He positioned me on his chest so I couldn't see the body.

"You were four when I took you to the battlefield, Itachi. This is the reality of the world we live as shinobi. Let your sister see."

I could feel by the tense muscles in his arm that he would rather die to let me down. His arms felt like steel cables, tightening around me.

The tension escalated in the room. Although a dead man was on the floor, the attention was on me.

I blew a puff of air into his chest, hoping the hotness would make him uncomfortable enough to let me go. "I want to see," I said. "I want to be a shinobi."

For a moment, I thought Itachi would never let me go but slowly, he set me down. Just before I could turn around to see, he grabbed my shoulders. His piercing red eyes met my determined onyx ones.

"Sayuri." He simply said. Even without words, I could tell what he wanted to say. That he was sorry that this day had come, that he wanted nothing more to hold me and run away.

"It's okay, brother," I said, placing my hand on his cheeks. There were brown flecks of blood speckled throughout his face, blood of his own mixed with others. His normally immaculate clothes were tattered throughout and his arm had a very nasty gash.

As I turned around and properly assessed the figure on the floor, I knew exactly who he was and why Itachi was trying to shield me from seeing him. I had seen him come to the compound and talk to father on some occasions. Even with all his injuries and blood covering him, his black robe was distinctive- his bandages even more so.

"Danzo-sama."

"It was between him or our clan," Itachi said softly.

I watched as Itachi and father seem to fight without words, staring at each other. Obviously, there was some previous context that I did not understand.

But what I understood was simple. Itachi had killed Danzo because he was a threat. Konoha-nin or not, he was threatening our family and Itachi saved us.

There was a man dead and bleeding on our floor and I wasn't horrified. I wasn't scared. On the contrary, I had never felt safer in my life. To know the extent which Itachi would go to keep me safe- physically and mentally. I felt the warmth pass over me traveling to my chest, my head and to my eyes. As the warmth pricked my eyes, I knew what had happened.

I smiled my brightest smile, the one that crumbled even my austere father.

He looked stoic as ever with his red eyes staring at me. "Congratulations on unlocking your Sharingan." For the first time in my life, I met his Sharingan with my own.

"Next time, you won't have to do it alone," I said while grabbing Itachi's hand. It felt rough and sticky with blood. "I'll be next to you."