I don't own Naruto okay? If I did Itachi would still be alive and I wouldn't pull a Rowling and kill off the favorite characters. Yeah there is some I'd kill off but not Itachi! Okay that mini rant aside, on with the fic.

Also this fic is dedicated to my favorite cousin. He was most of the insperation when I wrote this.

"Kisame what is tomorrow's date?" Itachi asked while he sipped some tea near the fire that they had made to try and rest for the night. "I know it is June but I forget the exact date."

"Today is the 8th. That would make tomorrow the 9th." Kisame said bluntly. "Geesh the Uchiha prodigy doesn't know the simple thing as the date." Now Itachi is never going to let me live that one down. I am in for it now. However, much to Kisame's surprise, Itachi did not do anything to him.

"Tomorrow is the 9th." Itachi repeated to himself. "Tomorrow is June 9th. " He stretched back and basked in the fire and just stared at it. Tomorrow was going to be his 20th birthday and he felt so much older at times. "It's amazing how much can change in a few years let alone 20."

"Why do you care?" Kisame asked.

"It may not matter to you but it does to me. Time is a precious thing. To one a day can be a year and a year can be a day. Sometimes I wonder if I already lived my life's worth." Itachi sighed putting the tea down and eating the meager meal he was sometimes lucky to get. "You have yet to see as much as I have Kisame."

"Itachi-san I am nearly 10 years older than you. You can't tell me I haven't seen as much as you have. I really doubt someone of your age can compare to someone of mine." Kisame said.

Itachi looked to the sky and sighed. 'People live their lives bound by what they accept as correct and true. That's how to define "Reality." But what does it mean to be "correct" or "true?" Merely vague concepts. Their "Reality" may all be a mirage. Can we consider them to simply be living in their own world, shaped by their beliefs?' Having spent most of his life following orders and doing what was good for everyone else and never himself, he knew his existence wore thin rather fast. "You know, I never gave myself any rest these years." Itachi sighed.

Kisame looked away from Itachi in disgust. I could never hope to understand you Uchiha. The only thing I do seem to know about you is that the ladies like you more than me. He placed his sword down and went to sleep. "I could do so much better if I hadn't had that weirdo weighing me down. I know he's better than me but we could capture the Kyuubi." He said to himself as he went to sleep. He knew Itachi was the one more powerful but he also wished Itachi wasn't there at times; now happened to be one of those times.

"Forget it." Kisame said looking over at Itachi.

"Forget what?" Itachi asked. "Something's worrying you isn't it Kisame?"

"You're just getting too weird again." Kisame said. "So I thought if you forgot that tomorrow is your birthday, you would stop acting so distant."

"Just go to sleep Kisame." Itachi sighed and walked into the wood where he thought he would find some peace and quiet to think. Life was so fragile and took so much from some and so few from others. His whole life was dedicated to giving more to those who had so much taken. The massacre was to save the rest of the village. Sasuke was left to keep the Uchiha tradition alive. So much he gave and never got anything in return. He closed his eyes and sighed. No matter what he could tell his time was coming due. "I am going to be 20 tomorrow and yet I doubt I will see 21." He sat on a tree stump and looked around that the leaves. The leaves never know what the truth is that keeps them safe and the Village Hidden in the Leaves was no exception. It's for the greater good. Some of us are not meant to have it all and I am one of them. Itachi kept walking deeper into the wood, thinking of all he became. He was a shadow of his former self. He had good memories as a young child but things changed. The clan massacre was 7 years earlier "7 years ago I was 13. At 13 I was thrust into so much."

He looked towards the west and towards the village. He knew that Sasuke was out there somewhere and knowing that he was lost in the world. "Sasuke has had too much thrust upon him too. I just wish I could have stopped this madness from happening."

The early summer winds reminded him also of what he gave up. He gave up so long ago the dreams that he grew up with. At 13 he killed a part of himself and now as the 20 year closed in he knew what he missed out on. He missed out on a normal life, the normal life that everyone wants the life with family friends and happiness. He even wanted a family of his own before everything began but now he knew that all he wanted and dreamed for was taken from him never to be seen again.

7 years had past and Itachi felt alone. Kisame was his partner not his friend, his only living family didn't seem to care nor was he going to find anyone to really care about, to love him. He was trust into this against his will. If there was some way he could have stopped the Uchihas without killing them he would have. Yet the sad truth was that Itachi was a marked man from birth. Fate chose him to be the whipping boy.

Itachi sighed and walked back to the camp. "I guess today is not a very happy birthday. I haven't had a happy one in years."