CHAPTER 2

"It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake."

-Frederick Douglass

Needless to say, Itachi Uchiha and I developed a mutual dislike for each other right after our unfortunate first meeting. He was more subtle about it than I was, though. When we came face to face on the first day of the ninja academy, he gave me a curt nod of recognition and just appraised me coldly. Although his eyes were impassive, I could perceive hints of mockery in them, almost as if he was measuring me up with that penetrating gaze of his. I promptly went a bit red, remembering my grandmother's embarrassing declaration about how she expected me to surpass him and then glared at him, silently demanding him to free me from his stifling scrutiny.

In the end, he was forced to break the eye-contact by a commotion of fan-girls that surrounded him like a riptide, clasping their hands together and squealing pathetically. I almost gagged with disgust and stomped away. What did they see in him exactly? Couldn't they see that behind those dreamy black eyes and long eyelashes, he was just a bully who derived pleasure from tormenting others?

Apparently not, I thought as some girl shrieked "Itachi-kun!" loudly in my ear.

It was unthinkable, that all he had done was to sit broodingly in the corner of the classroom and yet, he had successfully managed to capture attention of every kid and every instructor within thirty miles radius. The instructors couldn't seem to stop singing praises of the 'prodigious Uchiha Itachi', the 'great Uchiha Itachi', the 'well-deserving heir to Uchiha clan' whose skills far exceeded even those of the chunins. Worst of all were the hordes of fan-girls that couldn't seem to stop eyeing him and then giggling stupidly whenever he was nearby. Nobody seemed even remotely interested in the plain, old, gloomy me, sitting there in my best apple-green dress with my chestnut-colored hair tied in a ponytail. If anything, everybody seemed to be avoiding me, probably because I was too busy glowering at everything in distaste. And it was all 'Itachi-kun's' fault who was sitting there smugly on his desk, acting oblivious to all the attention he was getting.

"It is annoying, isn't it?" Someone said. I turned around to find girl with wild, dark hair sitting beside me with three little gray canines. She had unusual red pattern painted over her cheeks and was petting one of the dogs absently.

"What is?" I asked.

"For these girls to fawn over that Uchiha over there." The canine under her hand began growling at Itachi Uchiha and she scratched it under its ears affectionately. "I think only dogs deserve this kind of attention, not some random boys! After all, dogs are the most loyal to you!"

"Of course!" I agreed fervently. "These dogs certainly deserve way more attention than that Uchiha! What is your name, by the way?"

"It's Hana Inuzuka, from the Inuzuka clan and these canines are the Haimaru brothers, my companions for the lifetime."

Since we were both somewhat more unruly than other girls and shared the same eccentric, unfeminine interests, it was only inevitable for us to become inseparable from day one. Of course, our mutual dislike for Itachi Uchiha played a big role in that. And besides, her canines seemed to like me as well and would start barking with displeasure whenever Itachi Uchiha was around; Hana seemed to trust their judgement a lot. Living in the remote Nisshoku shrine meant that I hadn't been able to interact with many kids of my age and so I was, of course, really glad to have made the very first friend.

"Fukuro Miyuki!" The instructor bellowed one day, "Stop daydreaming and pay attention!"

Several people snickered as I woke up from my reverie of socking that insufferable Itachi Uchiha in the face. "Yes, Yagari-sensei?"

"You will engage in the sparring match with Uchiha Itachi. Now on your feet!"

Half self-conscious and half excited, I went over slowly to stand right in front of Itachi Uchiha, who looked too nonchalant for my liking, almost bored, with his arms casually bound across his chest. "Would you," he drawled as he executed a seal of confrontation, "quit glaring at me like that? It is like you hold some vendetta against me."

I glowered at him even more in response and raised my fingers into my own seal of confrontation, secretly imagining gouging those haughty eyes of his out with them instead. "Last time, I went easy on you," I lied, "this time I won't."

Again that insufferable smirk. "Hn. I am looking forward to you surpassing me then."

"Now then, start!" Yagari-sensei shouted.

It was even more humiliating than the last time and ended with me groveling in the dirt and him sitting on my back, holding both my wrists prisoners. All the boys burst into applause, the fan-girls started cheering and hooting and those instructors immediately began applauding his legendary Uchiha taijutsu prowess, much to my indignation and mortification. I began struggling under him. "Let me go now!"

He released me slowly, almost as if savoring his victory and then sprung into standing position, without even a scratch on him.

As if in red haze of shame, I too stood up, not even bothering to brush the dirt off my clothes. "Now make the seal of reconciliation!"

Itachi held out his two fingers, waiting for me to grab them with a patronizing smirk, his eyes unrepentant. Quickly, I hooked my two fingers around his and wrenched them with all my might until I heard a satisfying crack. "You—" He grunted softly, more in surprise than in pain and glared at me, holding up his throbbing fingers.

It was my turn to smile at him cheekily.

"Fukuro Miyuki!" Yagari-sensei cried out admonishingly. "Would you kindly refrain from acting like such a sore loser? You lost fair and square!" He went on and on about the importance of seal of reconciliation for the shinobi of the leaf village and how I needed to take it seriously and how I was dishonoring the most revered gesture. "I am simply appalled by your behavior! To think that you belong to a peace-loving and honorable clan such as Fukuro! You should be ashamed of yourself!"

"But you said that a ninja must strike when the other least expects it!" I countered hotly. "It is his fault for dropping his guard!"

"That's right," Itachi said who seemed a bit impressed now, albeit against his will. "I shouldn't have dropped my guard at the last moment, not with her at least."

Everyone booed at me and some even went as far to threaten me for doing something like that to their precious 'Itachi-kun' but Hana beamed at me approvingly, flashing me a thumbs-up, her three canines jumping up and down, giving me congratulatory woofs. "Honestly, that was the best thing I have seen out there in the sparring matches," she chattered on as we made our way through the crowd at off-time. "I mean the look on that stuck-up Uchiha's face! It was priceless! I hope you snapped his fingers into half. And I don't think you should pay any heed to that horse-faced Yagari sensei. He's just—hey, where are my Haimarus?"

"There they are!" I muttered, pointing. "Those traitors."

Sure enough, the three Haimaru brothers were now wagging their tails happily around Itachi Uchiha who stood there in the middle, giving them dog-biscuits.

"Don't call my dogs traitors!" said Hana sharply. "He… He just bribed them into accepting him, that conniving jerk. That's all."

"Still," I scowled at them. "That still makes them traitors."

"That Uchiha is cleverer than we thought."

"You have no idea."

…..

It was half an hour trek from ninja academy to the Nisshoku shrine and usually, I enjoyed that time of the day, walking alone through the grove of spruce trees with golden sunlight trickling down from the mesh of branches and washing over me. The air was always fresh and crisp up there, away from the bustling village of Konoha and skylarks and mockingbirds were always a welcome company as they sang and twittered on my way up. The trail meandered over the hills, through the thickets and trees with full view of the valley of Konoha on one side where our founders Madara and Hashirama had probably once sat daydreaming about the village they would create one day. Being just six years old at that time, I was, of course, still unaware of what went through in creating the village. The village was just there and everybody told us that it would be our duty to protect it in the future. Why and for what reason, I had no idea.

That day, I was walking back home as usual, without paying any heed to my surroundings, too busy humming a song and thinking of the ways I could defeat Itachi Uchiha, which seemed to be my favorite pastime those days. I didn't even realize that the woods had gone ominously silent. No cicadas, no sparrows, even the gentle rush of the Naka River seemed to have quietened.

And then, suddenly, the woods were filled with shrill, obnoxious sounds, so loud that I had to cover my ears in panic. The cheery sunlight abruptly disappeared and I looked up to see a huge murder of crows descending from the sky, like a dark thundercloud. "No!" I screamed as hundred crows started pecking at my flesh almost vengefully, cawing, cawing, cawing incessantly all the while. I started thrashing my arms desperately, trying to free myself from their sharp talons, their beaks, their ugly wings.

"No, get off!" I cried out, almost on the verge of tears. I have always had an irrational fear of crows. "Get off now or I will... I will pull all your feathers out!"

Just then all the crows stopped their pecking at once and left me abruptly almost as if they were called off by someone. I lowered my bruised arms slowly from where they were wrapped around my head, shuddering violently and cracked open my eyes, to see a familiar figure standing eerily with the black halo of crows surrounding him. Itachi Uchiha.

"Y-You!" I choked out, violently rubbing my arms, panting. As I stared at him, I felt like I was trapped in a dreadful, inescapable nightmare; his eyes seemed so callous as he stared back at me, imprisoning me in that terrible moment, with black crows all around him like a dark cloak. "You!"

He gestured to the murder of crows behind him, murmuring something to them softly and to my astonishment, they disappeared into the woods, leaving us alone. He stepped forward then, his face inscrutable. "You alright, Fukuro?"

"Did... Did you call these crows on me?" I sputtered out, my eyes burning with tears.

He took another step, holding up his hand in an almost placating gesture. "Calm down."

"No, stay back!" I yelled, taking up a defensive stance. I was terrified of his black, black eyes like smoldering coals, of what he was capable of. "Is this a payback? You did this to harm me, is that it?"

His eyes widened for a moment as he assimilated my words and then narrowed menacingly; I could feel the waves of quiet fury emanating from him. "You think I sent these crows to attack you in spite?"

I gave a stiff nod.

"Is that what you think of me?" Now he sounded almost hurt as he took another intimidating step forward, his eyes swirling with intensity.

"I…" Suddenly, I wasn't too sure.

"You know nothing about me."

I hung down my head abashedly and said nothing, feeling as if someone elder was chastising me.

"I called them away from you. It is because I have always been able to talk to the crows. I didn't send them to attack you. I would never..." His voice trailed off.

So now he was a freak who could talk to crows. Go figures.

"Then why… why would they attack me?"

"That is what I would like to know." He stepped right on the edge of the hill overlooking the valley and gazed down, his midnight-black tresses billowing around his face in a gusty wind. "The animals in the woods have been...restless lately. It's almost like a premonition of some storm."

His words sent icy chills slithering across my back. "But there are no clouds." I said rather meekly.

"Which is even more suspicious," his dark eyes, too mature for his age, narrowed. "Like calm before the storm."

Uncanny silence filled the heavy air between us as I stared at the back of his head. Even as I desperately searched for something in my mind to dispel the sudden tension, I couldn't utter a single word. I wished I was warm and snug in my bed and not standing here, having this strange conversation with him.

Suddenly, he tilted his face over his shoulder to look at me, his eyes like calm lakes at midnight, compassionate and reassuring, almost as if he understood my deepest, darkest fears. "Come on," he said, "I will take you home. We are neighbors after all."

"I don't need your company, Uchiha," I snapped, smoothing my hands on the goosebumps over my arms.

"Yes, you do," he sighed as he reached towards me with his hand. "You look terrified."

I slapped his hand away. "I said I don't—"

Unfazed by my rebuff, he took firm hold of my wrist and began dragging me along with him. "Let go, Uchiha. I can take care of myself!"

"What would you do," he said, never relinquishing his vice-like grip, "if the crows decided to come back? Don't you need me to protect you against them?"

That shut me up and even though I should have taken umbrage at the note of amusement in his voice, I grudgingly let him lead me through the suddenly unfamiliar, ominous woods and slithering shadows in silence. Even now I remember that though he was just a kid like me, I had never felt safer than I did then, almost as if no harm could possibly come to me when I was with him.

We stopped in front of the large red gate of Nisshoku shrine. He looked a bit distracted and kept glancing at the lurking shadows as if expecting something. "Stay inside today." He said with his eye boring into me. "Something is going to happen tonight."

"But… what?"

"I don't know." He admitted.

"You must be imagining things."

"Perhaps."

Just as he turned around to walk away, I asked him to wait. "What?" he said, almost wearily.

"Um…" I fidgeted with my hands. "I am sorry, for breaking your fingers earlier. I just—"

"Don't worry." He smirked over his shoulder. "You didn't break any finger of mine."

"I… didn't?"

He flexed his fingers which I had supposedly broken earlier. "You almost sound disappointed."

I was, but of course I didn't admit that. So, he really was as formidable as they all said. How annoying. "Well, then," I said stiffly, unable to keep the disappointment from my voice. "Take care."

He nodded and then disappeared in the trees, suddenly leaving me alone. I heaved a sigh and started climbing the endless stairs of the shrine, trying not to think about what could be lurking in the shadows of the woods all around. Those hundred owl gargoyles around me seemed even more eerie and unnerving than usual as they stared at me with their shadowed eyes, as if they were trying to speak to me, to tell me something, something dark, something I didn't want to know. Or maybe Itachi had just messed me up with his pointless warnings. Anyhow, I made a mental note of destroying all these stupid gargoyles the first thing after I inherited the shrine from my grandmother, although she would kill me for it even if she had to rise from the grave.

As usual, she started nagging me as soon as I reached home, thrusting a mortar and pestle in my hands.

"How do you expect me to surpass Itachi Uchiha if I keep doing errands for you?" I grumbled. "I am pretty sure that he is training right now, not grinding some stupid herbs!"

"Shut up!" she said crossly. "Your tongue has been getting really long lately. You are begging to be caned."

"How can you even think of caning me when my parents are dead?" As always, I decided to guilt-trip her. "Don't you have any conscience?"

And as always, it didn't work. "Such impertinence. Sometimes, I think have spoiled you too much, Miyuki." she sighed in dismay. "If our ancestors saw your insolent, shrewd ways, they wouldn't be able to believe that you are their own descendent. They would think—"

Suddenly, her words were swallowed by an earth-shattering explosion and the shrine shook as if with some catastrophic earthquake. "Obaa-san!" I yelled, flinging the mortar down and reaching out for her wrinkled, yet firm hands. "What's happening?"

Suddenly, air was ringing with a crescendo of horror-struck screams, the reverberations of which settled in my bones chillingly. I clung to my grandmother, whose eyes too were wide with fright and panic as more explosions shook the world. "Calm down, Miyuki!" she kept saying. "Don't let go of me, understand? Just—"

She slid the old window open and stepped outside, dragging me with her.

The sky was ablaze. It was burning and melting with blood, so much that we could not even see the blue of twilight. Embers fluttered all around, almost beautifully as if they were fireflies, but I knew that they only represented devastation, doom, death. The whole valley of the village was shrouded in haze of putrid smoke. Few trees had caught fire and the tongues of flames danced in the darkness to some terrible melody. The world was ending.

"Something is going to happen tonight."

"Obaa-san!" I whimpered.

"Don't you worry, child," she said fiercely. "I am with you."

Suddenly, a masked ANBU appeared in front of us. "You need to evacuate this area immediately. Lady Fukuro, you have been summoned by Hokage. You can leave Fukuro Miyuki in my care."

"What's happening?" Grandmother asked urgently.

"The village is under attack," the masked man said. "It is the nine-tail fox."

Far off in the distance, I heard a deep, loud, blood-curdling roar.

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-AnEveningMoth