So here's the second chapter. I'm having a hard time choosing what to include and what not, cause there's so much I could write about Itachi, but I don't wanna get too carried away, least I lose sight of the story's plot. I still don't know if the story is only gonna deal with pre-massacre or if I'm gonna cover some post-massacre too… we'll see. I guess it depends on the attention it gets. Thanks for fav/follow/reviewing!
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I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.
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Uchiha are a clan grounded on discretion, branded by tradition and blood. It is no surprise then, that despite being but children, rumor of a halfblood befriending the clan heir would spark apprehension. For all that it's worth, Shisui only laughs at the growing whispers.
"For a people who pride themselves in combat skill, they have surprisingly skilled tongues to match", he jests, shuffling his hand in his pouch searchingly as he stands before Izumi. Itachi listens from a short distance, lifting the length of his hair to press a wet cloth at the back of his neck. Specks of water mingle with sweat drops down his shirt.
"I don't care what they say," Izumi retorts, "they're all lies." Shisui grabs hold of a blindfold.
"I bet they'd give you far more credit if they… knew of your talents," he grins at her, before adjusting the blindfold over her eyes. "Let's see what you can do in battle when your gifts are not at your disposal." Izumi bristled. Credit she'd be given, certainly, but what else she'd receive, Itachi wasn't sure of, nor did he want to know, in truth. He'd been the first to witness Izumi's blood boil in the form of a spinning tomoe in her eye. Sharingan. For all his genius, not even Itachi had unlocked still the most prized legacy of his clan. You'd think they'd be more open to sharing all knowledge of it, but Itachi had long become aware of the secrecy surrounding the Sharingan. Fugaku was not a man to shy before inquiries, but every time Itachi had brought up their kekkei genkai, his father had turn somber. "There are things better left unknown, Itachi." So Itachi had ceased asking, and looked for answers elsewhere. He got the best one from Izumi. When Itachi had first told Shisui that he'd saved her life, Shisui had not pressed the matter further, sensing Itachi's mood darken. Izumi was not yet Izumi to them back then, and so Shisui was left to unravel the words on his own. It took several months for Izumi to concede. The tale was short and grim. Itachi had stood between the heavy blow of a building's wreckage and Izumi's lithe body the day of the Kyubii's attack. She'd been too shaken by fear to make it to the village's bunkers alone, but luckily Itachi had crossed her path and led her firmly to shelter, baby Sasuke squealing in his arms. Others, like her father, had not suffered such luck.
"We were making our way towards the underground tunnels when…" Izumi had held her breath, gory images of her father's corpse blurring her thoughts. Shisui had placed a hand on her back then in understanding, and she'd said no more. Shisui learned two things about Itachi and Izumi from the account, that Izumi was bound to Itachi by grattitude and tragedy alike and Itachi bound to her by tragedy alone. From Konoha's longest night, Itachi only learned one thing. As he stood behind a girl, blood dripping from her raven hair after kneeling next to a dead man, he understood. Her charcoal eyes were marred by red, irises lost to geometrical figures. She screamed then, tears and blood running down her cheeks, and Itachi took her hand to make haste for their lives. He understood. His father had been right. Some things are better left unknown.
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Some might say that all Uchiha are gifted. They are unique after all, of the bloodline of the Sennin himself, although scarce possessed such knowledge today. Uchiha Izumi was not. That's not to say she was useless, seeing as she trained almost daily with the clan's own prodigies, but fighting did not come naturally to her. She had to work for it harder. What she lacked in strength and skill, however, she made up for in flare. Not surprisingly, Mikoto quickly took a liking to her. It was through Izumi's conversations with her mother that Itachi learned she had been a Jonin once, before she'd changed the battlefield for the delivery room.
"I've always wanted a daughter," Mikoto confessed one day, fingers splitting Izumi's hair in tresses to braid, "girls are a mother's comfort. Boys… well, they're too much trouble at times" she winked at Itachi, who sat in front of them, trying to pry Sasuke's hands off his shirt's collar. Tell me about it, Izumi started, rambling about her classmates' childishness. Mikoto would listen to her outbursts till the end, and offer advice when heeded. Itachi was thankful to his mother, for treating Izumi with kindness when others would not. Her mother had been branded anathema, and so Izumi was deemed an outcast as well, yet she was welcomed to Fugaku's household, even if Fugaku himself did little to acknowledge her. It became a sort of routine, having Izumi home after their sparring seessions. Mikoto would serve tea and dango and apply salve to their tattered skins. Sometimes even Shisui would join, which tended to bring even Fugaku out of his study. Shisui had awakened his Sharingan at a young age and made Jonin recently, still a kid, and so commanded awe and respect. Izumi though, was another matter. When Fugaku learned that Izumi had unlocked her Sharingan, the news was not well met. That someone lacking pure Uchiha blood, living off Uchiha limits could bear the Sharingan… well, it was dangerous to say the least. Oblivious to politics, Izumi and the rest thought the knowledge was looked down upon merely because of her status as a pariah. They could not foresee the darker truths lying behind it yet.
"I heard Hatake Kakashi holds a Sharingan too. His teammate gave it to him when he died," Izumi marveled.
"Uchiha Obito," Shisui smiled sadly. "He was a good kid, not suited for the shinobi life." Izumi's mood sombered. Is that what they thought of her too?
"I can't believe their other teammate was able to transplant the Sharingan with so little time and means," Itachi revealed, "Medical jutsu requires excellent chakra control."
"I guess that's what it's like, to be trained by the Yondaime," Shisui pondered. "Don't worry kid, you have me," he grinned at Izumi and poked her side with his elbow mockingly to which she jumped a little and protested. Itachi half smiled at their quarrels, as there teasing had only increased with time. He would have envied such familiarity, the easiness with which they could both address people, so unlike him, if not because he held Shisui in too much esteem for there to be room for jealousy in his heart. Izumi, he thought, was made for smiling, despite all she had seen, and for that, Itachi too could not resent her. If he'd known all that was to come, he might have tried to make her smile more often.
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As a newly anointed Genin, Itachi is swept away by missions, albeit non-challenging ones, like he had foretold. What he finds challenging though, are his teammates. He thinks that if it weren't for Shisui and Izumi, who had in a way, ingrained in him the patterns of friendship, he would fair far worse with them. Tenma is loud and brash and Shinko doesn't fall far behind. They're both older than him, which was to be expected, seeing as he graduated a year early. Instead of inspiring protectiveness, his precociousness only makes things worse. It's not as bad with Shinko, as she adopts a somewhat sisterly demeanor towards him, only it makes Itachi despair, her taking so many friendly liberties with him, even if he knows she means well. He's glad his mother's wish for a daughter was not granted. Tenma, however, is another matter altogether. He's but another exasperating boy fresh from the academy, fueled by envy and a mind set to prove the world his worth. Shisui merely chuckles at Itachi's explanations and Izumi rolls her eyes, legs dangling over the village's lake as they share dango amidst the woods.
"I bet they're nicer than you say, Itachi, you're just impossible!" Izumi blurts out. Itachi narrows her eyes at her and Izumi snatches the dango stick from his hand before he has time to react. She grins mischievously and plucks the last sweet from the sticky chopstick.
"Now, now, boys, behave yourselves," Shisui jokes, laying one hand on each of their shoulders, his voice full of mockery. "You can't blame them for not being as cool as us. I'd be more worried if Itachi actually liked them, that would be even more, um, disturbing?"
It was Itachi's turn to roll his eyes, as he swatted away Shisui's arm playfully.
"What do you say, Izumi? I think we should meet those two, maybe tell them a story or two about our dear Itachi..."
"Like when granny thought he was a girl and tied a ribbon to his hair?" Izumi chirped.
"Or when he took a glass of shochu thinking it water and threw up all over the place" Shisui recalled.
Itachi was blushing madly by then, a rare sight to behold, as both kept on conjuring embarrassing moments of his life. He stood up to leave, Izumi clinging to his arm laughing as he walked away and Shisui trailing behind them with a wide grin, but still coming up with ways to tease him nonetheless. It would have been amusing to say the least, for the five of them to meet, brought together by the least unlikely to. It might have been great, had things not come to pass as they did. Shisui and Izumi never got to meet Tenma. He was killed on the road to Konoha, blood spurting all over as he fell to the ground, slain by a foreign masked shinobi. That is how Itachi saw it happen, right before his eyes as Shinko lay unconscious, hit as well, yet alive, by the same man. If only Itachi had known then, what was yet to come at this stranger's bidding. Izumi wept silently once Itachi told, sheltered in the village's domain, but away from curious ears. Taking his hand in his, Izumi glared at him. In the blink of an eye, Sharingan met Sharingan, and their gazes held as much crimson as agony. They spoke the language of pain now, the three of them. Behind them, Shisui closed his eyes and bowed his head.
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If you have any suggestions as to any scene you'd like to read between these 3 or any other characters, please let me know. I'm always open to incorporating new ideas :)