Prologue 1: Kiritsu
A tall, black-haired, onyx-eyed teen walked down an abandoned alleyway towards a secluded area, away from all civilization. Holding his hand and walking with him was a teenage girl, a little shorter than him, with pale red hair and silver eyes.
"How have you been?" The girl asked, looking questioningly at the boy.
"Fine. You?" He responded shortly.
"Good. How's your brother?" The girl responded.
"He's fine. Pushy as ever." He answered, turning to look at the girl with a slight smile. She smiled back, then randomly questioned, "How far is it?"
The boy chuckled. "We're almost there, Kiritsu. You're as impatient as ever."
She attempted to glare at him. "Shut up, Itachi."
This time he actually laughed out loud. She pouted. "You still can't glare to save your life Kiri. I think for once I actually agree with Koori, you're too nice."
"And?" She questioned, daring him to make fun of her further. Not that anything would happen. She never took offense at anything, and it was almost impossible to make her mad. The only person who had ever been able to get under her skin had died years ago.
Itachi grinned. "You admit it too. Why in the world did you want to be a ninja if you can't even glare?"
Kiritsu's eyes hardened. "You know why. If I can't protect the people close to me, I might as well not even bother living." She had spoken harshly, with bitterness.
Itachi sighed, then scooped her up in his arms and darted towards their destination. "Hey!" She yelled as he flew over the rooftops. He grinned down at her. She sighed in resignation. When the grin turned into a smirk, she gulped. "Uh oh..." she muttered as Itachi started laughing at her, the sound echoing in the treetops they now traveled through.
-Backstory-
The two had met when Itachi had found Kiritsu beat up in an alleyway several years ago. He had taken her to the hospital, and when she was well enough to go be released, he had made sure she made it home alright, to her annoyance. A few days later, they met again. The girl was running errands around the town, anything from dusting to dragging huge boxes to shopping for someone. She collected a small wage from each of these jobs, putting the meager earnings in a small pouch she carried at her waist. Itachi had scolded her for working so soon after being let out of the hospital, and she had quietly responded that she had to work if she wanted to eat. This had shocked the boy.
"Don't you live with your parents?" He had asked. "Why can't they get you food?" The girl responded with a sad smile, saying, "My parents died before I came to this village." The boy had stared at her for a few moments in surprise, then grabbed her wrist and dragged her after him. She yanked on her wrist, trying to get away, and yelled, "Let go! Where are you trying to take me?" No one even looked at the two. The boy smirked at her, and her eyes widened a little in fear. Then his smirk softened into a smile.
"I'm taking you to my house. You're going to stay with me until you're better." The mysterious girl had frozen in shock, then started frantically pulling on her wrist, trying to wrench her hand free and run. As fast as she was, even if she had gotten free she wouldn't have gotten away. Itachi was a ninja at this point in time. The younger Itachi looked at her confusedly, then pulled her a little closer, trying to calm her down. The girl had panicked at this and started thrashing, bracing her feet against the ground and twisting while hitting the young Uchiha's hand. As she was doing this, her eyes flashed red. Itachi, surprised, almost accidentally let go of her arm. Then, he quickly grabbed her other wrist, tightening his hold on the first, and pulled her towards him so she would have to look him directly in the eyes.
"What was that?" He had asked her, trying to hold her eyes. Her eyes were frantically darting around his face, terror evident on her features. He squeezed her wrists harder, making her wince, and she locked eyes with him. They were, at this point, in an abandoned alleyway, Itachi having been taking a shortcut. She started pulling backwards again, once more trying to get away. He growled at her and she froze, her eyes wide as saucers, staring straight into his.
"I asked you a question. What was that? With your eyes?" He asked her in a low, slightly threatening voice. She just continued staring at him, terrified. "Tell me." He growled again, activating his sharingan. The girl let out an ear piercing scream. Itachi let go of her wrists, holding his ears, and she stumbled back and fell down against the wall. He took his hands off his ears and stood up straight again, cautiously walking towards her. She squeezed her eyes shut and covered her head with her arms, pulling her knees to her chest. Itachi walked over to her and gently but firmly pulled her arms away from her head. He held her wrists in one hand and pulled her head up with the other. "Who are you?" He asked softly, trying to calm the strange girl. She pulled back into herself as much as she could with Itachi holding her, and squeezed her eyes shut tighter.
"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you." He told her soothingly, trying to get her to open her eyes and stop fighting. Her arms tensed, her hand clenching into fists, and she abruptly snapped her head up, pushing herself slightly off the wall, and locked eyes with him again. This time though, her eyes were a brilliant red, slightly lighter than the sharingan, without the black dots. She glared angrily at him, screaming, "That's what they all say! Every single one of them, right before they beat me up! Leave me alone!" She threw him off, now completely enraged. He got back up and started to come towards her again, but she growled at him, a feline, throaty sound, and he stopped, staring curiously at her. "If you come within five feet of me I will beat the living crap out of you." The girl threatened. Itachi just stared at her, waiting for her to calm down. He had ascertained that the girl did not have the sharingan now, but he was still curious as to what she did have.
Her eyes slowly started to fade from the brilliant red back to the pale silver and the anger faded from her features, all of her muscles relaxing. She looked warily at Itachi, seemingly having lost the ability to fight. He approached her cautiously. She showed no signs of movement. The boy stopped about a foot in front of her. "What was that? What you just did?" He asked her gently now, afraid she would become upset again. She continued to stare straight back at him, silently, but now a hint of a different kind of fear from before hid in her eyes: the fear of being hated. The now silent girl turned and began to walk away. Itachi was in front of her in an instant. She looked up at him, her eyes dull, and tried to step around him, but he grabbed her forearms and forced her to face him. She did not try to pull away this time, seeming to not care.
"Who are you?" He whispered, almost as if asking himself. She stood there passively. "Answer me." He ordered the girl, who merely turned towards the alley exit and started walking again, not even bothering to try and get him to release her arms. He jerked her back, and stepped towards her. She mimicked his movement, stepping back. This process repeated until the girl's back was to a wall. Then, Itachi put his face right in front of hers, their noses almost touching, and said, "You are not leaving here until you tell me who you are and what you did back there." He told her, having realized that trying to coax it out of her wasn't going to work. The girl leveled her gaze with his, then her eyes slowly drifted closed, her body going limp. The girl had fainted. Itachi sighed, then picked her up and carried her to his house. He locked his bedroom door and laid her down on the bed.
When the girl woke, she sat up on the bed in a kneeling position. Itachi watched her in secret from the corner of the room. She took in her surroundings, then sniffed the air. This severely confused Itachi. Why was she sniffing the air? He couldn't smell anything weird, and his room was spotless. After a few moments, she crawled out of the bed, still lightly sniffing the air, and slowly walked over to where Itachi was. She put her hand out and started running it along the wall. It was pitch dark in his room, there was no possible way she could see. The only way he could see was because he had activated his sharingan. Right before her hand touched his face, he grabbed it and stepped out, flicking on a light. "How did you find me?" he asked in astonishment. Terror filled her eyes and she jumped away from him. He stayed put.
"What?" he asked, confused. "What did I do?" The girl cautiously raised a hand and pointed at his eyes. He remembered her reaction to the sharingan the day before and switched it off. She visibly relaxed. "Why are you afraid of the sharingan?" He asked her curiously. She smiled slightly.
"You ask a lot of questions." she said quietly. He growled at her. She studied him curiously. "You are human, right? You smell like one."
Itachi gave her a weird look and said, "What else would I be? Of course I'm human." The girl smiled softly and said, "I wasn't sure. You growl a lot and the red eyes are abnormal for humans, are they not?"
Itachi gave her a suspicious look, then said, "You talk as if you aren't one." She smiled again and said, "That is for another time and place." Itachi sighed and walked towards her. She stepped back, keeping a safe distance away from him. He followed. After a while of this, he asked her, "Why do you keep running away from me? I think it's been established that I'm not going to hurt you. Why are you afraid of me?" The girl seemed slightly angered by this statement, and increased the distance between the two and closing her eyes, speaking silently to herself. Itachi was tempted to re-activate the sharingan so he could read her lips, but he didn't want to make the situation worse. After about a minute, the girl looked up, now completely calm again.
Itachi asked the question he had asked multiple times the day before. "Who are you?" The girl smiled at him and said, "My name is Kiritsu. What is yours?"
"Itachi Uchiha. What's your last name?" The girl shrugged her shoulders. "I don't remember."
"Don't lie to me. How could you forget your last name?"
The girl sighed, then said, "I haven't used my last name the entire time I've been here. I believe I was three when I became a citizen of Konoha. I don't remember my last name, though I'm sure I have one." Itachi studied her face for a sign of lying, but none was present. She stayed at the Uchiha household in Itachi's room for a week before he allowed her to go home. That was when Itachi was 9, and Kiritsu was 7. Seven years ago. Their acquaintance soon became friendship, and their bond slowly but steadily strengthened as time went by. By ages 13 and 11, they were best friends. Three months before the present time, they had begun dating.
-End backstory-
The two continued traveling towards their secret place, a beautiful clearing at the top of a large slope surrounded by trees. No ninja patrol ever came out quite this far, so they were never interrupted, the beauty never marred.
They landed in the clearing, and Itachi set Kiritsu gently down, making a big show of it. She rolled her eyes and flicked his forehead. He laughed, poking hers back. They sat down side by side to watch the sunset, Kiritsu leaning her head on his shoulder while he set his chin on top of her head. As the sun lit up the horizon, Itachi sat up, making Kiritsu turn and stare at him confusedly. "Kiri, I need to talk to you about something serious." Itachi told her quietly.
"What is it?" Kiritsu asked, now slightly concerned. She sat up on her knees and faced Itachi.
Itachi took her hands in his and held them tightly. She waited patiently. He took a deep breath, then said, "Kiritsu, I have to leave."
Kiritsu failed to see the problem. "We can just meet here again tomorrow. Don't worry about it. If you have to go, go." Itachi smiled sadly.
"No, Kiri. I'm not going to see the Hokage, or even on a mission. I'm leaving Konoha. Forever."
Kiritsu stared at his face for a moment, not being able to comprehend what he was saying. Then a tear slid down her face. Itachi placed a hand on her face and wiped it away with his thumb. Kiritsu grabbed his hand, holding on tightly.
"No..." she whispered. "You can't... what about your family? Think this through Itachi, if you leave you'll become a missing nin. Don't do this to yourself. Please, don't leave." She pleaded with him, tears now flowing freely down her face. Itachi took her other hand and whispered, "I can't stay, Kiritsu. I have no choice. I have to leave."
"No..." she half-pleaded, half-denied. "Itachi, you always have a choice. I'll help you, I'll make sure whatever happened isn't held against you, I'll-" Itachi cut her off by putting his finger to her lips. He pulled her up into a standing position.
"There's nothing you can do, Kiri." he said.
"Then take me with you!" she whispered desperately. Itachi shook his head,
"It's too dangerous. You have to stay here." He told her firmly.
"No, I-" he cut her off again, this time by kissing her. She felt her back land gently against a tree trunk, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, trying to hold him to her, make him stay. He placed his hands on her face, and pulled away a little. He gazed sadly into her eyes, and whispered, "I love you." Then he disappeared. Kiritsu fell to the ground, sobbing violently. She cried herself to sleep that night, and returned to the village the next morning.