First Flight

[A/N: I almost put this in the main story as a chapter (or several), and it opens directly after Chapter 1. I eventually decided not to include it in Turning Points proper as there are a lot of OC's and a major sideplot. It's not entirely necessary to the rest of the story, but it establishes some rather important things.]

I.

Once outside Konoha, Itachi headed north; there was less chance of being trapped against a coastline or natural barrier in that direction. He had to get as far away as quickly as possible, while Danzou still thought he and Sasuke had been killed in the collapse of the burning house.

The autumn rains began on the second day that he and Sasuke were on the run. This meant that their trail would be harder for pursuers to find, but also that Sasuke was rarely dry and Itachi never. Also, they could glean next to nothing from the already-harvested fields. When Itachi had been arrested by his one-time comrades, everything he had had been taken, which meant that he had no money even if he dared to stop at a town.

"I want to go home," Sasuke complained finally, after a few days of bravely withstanding the misery.

"So would I, Otouto-chan," Itachi replied, sighing as his fire flickered out again. He had been able to find a little dry wood, but the wind whipping into the little cave they were sheltered in foiled every attempt to get it lit. There was only a little way to the border, but he still didn't dare use any jutsu unnecessarily.

"Then why can't we, Nii-san?"

"Sasuke, please, I can't explain that right now. Just be patient, okay? Everything will be fine, you'll see." He tried to smile reassuringly, and Sasuke gave him a trusting smile in return as he huddled against Itachi for what little warmth there was.

Itachi could almost regret not taking the last mission Danzou had given him. He could have left Sasuke behind in the village, protected by the threat of Itachi revealing Konoha's state secrets to their enemies. Perhaps it would have ruined the child's innocence, but what better life was this for someone so young? Sasuke trusted his brother implicitly to care for him, but Itachi was beginning to worry that he would not be able to live up to that trust.

The next morning, Itachi left Sasuke in the cave for a few hours while he made his way into a nearby village to see if he could scrounge up anything for them to eat. This aim went unfulfilled, but as he was taking the opportunity to steal a child's coat someone had dropped off outside a laundry, he caught sight of a small, elegantly written notice on a nearby wall.

Most missing-nin found their employment by word-of-mouth, or coded advertisements in a newspaper. Simply putting up a poster and hoping it would be spotted by someone passing through was at the best unwise and at the worst a recipe for disaster. The delicate calligraphy looked as if a woman had written it; intrigued, Itachi took note of the address before heading back to where he had left Sasuke.

"Nii-san!" Sasuke shouted as his brother returned. "Did you get anything to eat?" he asked hopefully, looking at the bundle Itachi was carrying.

"I'm afraid not," Itachi replied, "but I did bring you something."

It was a testament to how far they had fallen that Sasuke was thrilled beyond measure to receive a nearly worn-out parka several sizes too large. Still, Itachi was glad he had been able to do something for his brother. "Come on, we have to get going now," he said after zipping Sasuke into the parka.

"But I'm hungry!" Sasuke protested.

"Just a bit farther," Itachi coaxed him. "There's a place where I think I can get a job, and then we'll be able to get you something to eat, okay?"

Sasuke obligingly began to walk beside his brother, but Itachi soon picked him up so they could go faster. It wasn't raining at the moment, but from the gray clouds overhead Itachi knew that the downpour wouldn't hold off much longer.

The town they were headed for was less than fifty miles away from the village where they started out, a trivial distance for any competent ninja in good condition. Itachi wasn't in the best of shape since their flight, but he had started out as much more than competent so things evened out. However, it was still almost dark when Itachi stopped outside a large walled enclave on the outskirts of the town.

"Otouto-chan, you stay here, okay?" Itachi said quietly, setting Sasuke down behind a corner of the wall where he couldn't be seen from the entrance. Whoever was inside would probably be much less likely to hire someone burdened down with a small child. Sasuke curled up sleepily against the wall, and Itachi ruffled his soft hair affectionately before heading for the gate.

At the second knock, a woman opened a small hatch in the gate. "Yes?"

"You advertised for a job—" Itachi began, but the woman cut in before he could finish.

"I'm sorry," and she did look very sorry, which made Itachi wonder how pitiful he looked after a week running for his life in the rain, "But…this job is only for a kunoichi."

"Oh," Itachi replied, feeling empty inside as he politely acquiesced. "I see. Very well then, I'll be going."

It began to rain in earnest as Itachi walked away, the heavy droplets quickly soaking him to the skin and plastering his bangs against his face. "Come, Sasuke," he said as he reached where he had left his brother. "Let's go."

Itachi was too exhausted to keep up the pretense that everything would be fine, and Sasuke stared up at him worriedly. "Nii-san, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Itachi replied, trying to smile but feeling sure he was failing. "We've just got to go. Maybe we can get something for you to eat tomorrow…" He had picked Sasuke up and was turning to go when he heard someone whistling at him from the top of the wall. "What—?"

A girl was looking down at them over the wall. "Hey," she whispered, "you did want that job, right?"

Itachi looked at her in bewilderment, a little too used to failure by this point to realize what was happening. "But she said—"

"Well…we'll fix it, okay? Ouf!" Suddenly, the girl lost her footing and clung desperately to the top of the slippery, wet wall to keep from falling. "Hotaruko, watch it!" she whispered down to someone below her. "But Natsume-san would have seen if we got the ladder," she continued a second later.

Itachi held Sasuke with one arm and vaulted up to the top of the wall, grabbing the girl just before she fell the rest of the way and flattened the other girl whose shoulders she had been balancing on. "What do you want me to do?"

The two girls—who quickly introduced themselves as Wakana and Hotaruko—ushered Itachi and Sasuke briskly across the grounds inside the walls and into a spacious traditional building. There were three other girls inside, and all of them pounced on Wakana, buffeting her with questions. "Who are they?" and "What are you up to now?" seemed to be two of the most popular. Judging from the elaborately ornamented hairstyles and bright kimono that all of the girls were wearing, Itachi guessed that he had ended up in a geisha house. This did not do anything to resolve his confusion, however.

"So," Wakana said, after she had extricated herself, "who are you two, anyway?"

"I'm Sasuke," Sasuke said with a shy smile, before Itachi could signal him to be quiet. Itachi sighed inwardly, making a mental note to teach his brother about aliases. Hopefully these maiko were sheltered enough that they wouldn't realize who Sasuke and his brother were. They had come a long way from home by this point, after all.

"That's a nice name," one of the other girls said, bending down so she was closer to Sasuke's eye level. "I'm Chouko. What's your brother's name, Sasuke-chan?"

"I'm Ichirou," Itachi supplied quickly, before Sasuke could give anything more away. "Can someone tell me why a ninja is wanted here?"

"Sure," Wakana said. "Make yourselves at home."

She knelt with surprising elegance for a girl of her exuberant personality, and Itachi settled himself across from her. Hotaruko and one of the other girls began to practice with a koto and shamisen, and Chouko found some toys somewhere for Sasuke to play with. Luckily Sasuke was not a picky child, but Itachi wondered if he should be worried about the alacrity with which Sasuke took to the porcelain dolls. The fifth girl (who Wakana had referred to as Shiori) had vanished.

"Okay," Wakana began, "First off, you're not from around here, are you?" Itachi shook his head but did not volunteer any further information. "This is the Tenjikubotan okiya," Wakana continued. "Natsume-san—she's the one in charge here—is looking for someone to protect Masuyo-san at the big festival we're going to in a few days. So far, she hasn't found anyone, and she can't go to any of the villages because, well, there'd be a scandal and all, but also she doesn't have the money right now. Natsume-san wanted a kunoichi so that no one would suspect anything, but that doesn't mean it has to be an actual girl."

"That is the general definition of the term," Itachi pointed out.

"You know what I mean," Wakana retorted. "So I figure that if you make a nice enough 'girl', and I bet you will, Natsume-san will agree to let you have the job."

"I found some food!" Shiori announced as she dashed back inside, carrying a steaming tray. "It's just cup ramen though. Is that okay?"

By this point Itachi was hungry enough that he wouldn't have cared if they were serving fried tanuki, although he circumspectly didn't say this. Sasuke also perked up immediately at the mention of food, setting the dolls aside and hurrying over.

Wakana continued to explain as Itachi ate. "Masuyo-san is our top geiko right now. She used to be part of an onna-nin clan, but she's the only one left now, and she was injured. That's why she doesn't do ninja work anymore. One of her shinobi clients has been trying to get her to run away with him, but she doesn't like him very much; it's just that he pays really well, you know, so we can't throw him out or anything. So anyway, Natusme-san is worried that he might try to kidnap Masuyo-san to get her skills for his clan. That's why she wants a bodyguard for the festival."

"She would be most easily accessible then."

"Yeah. So, that's about everything. Now, let's see…"

Itachi felt someone tugging on his hair tie, and glanced over his shoulder to see Shiori again, this time holding a comb and an assortment of pins. "What are you doing?" Itachi demanded.

"Makeovers!" the girl announced cheerfully, with a brilliant smile.

[A/N: There will be one or two more parts after this, depending on how it goes. I've had this sitting around for a while and decided to post it since Part II is going to take a while; I started the first chapter but need to do rewrites as well as rearranging the outline a bit.]