"Oof!" Neji crashed to the ground, wincing. He tried to stand, only to have a shooting pain rush through him
and fall again. "Ow!"
"Are you okay, Otouto?" Shirohi pouted, going over to him. "I guess I was a little rough, huh?"
"No, it's fine." He smiled up at his sister. "If you go easy on me, I'll never get strong enough to protect Hinata-sama."
Shirohi smiled, placing her hand on his head. "Yes, that's right," she said. "Now stay still for a moment." She placed her hand
over the boy's ankle. Using her skills from the Juuken, she sent her chakra into his body. Neji shivered, the area feeling cold now.
"There, you should be okay now." Shirohi said with a smile. Neji stood up, quickly testing his ankle before getting back into proper stance.
Akane looked out the window as the two children resumed their training. She grabbed some tea, setting it on the table in front
of Hizashi. "It's amazing that she can do that..."
"She may be targeted for such a power." He replied. "To heal with nothing but chakra... not even medical jutsu... Should word of that get out-"
"She'd be taken. But I wonder if it's a fair trade-off? Her sight for this power..." Akane muttered.
From faraway, another pair of eyes watched the two children. "The power to heal with nothing but chakra," a dark voice muttered, "will be
a powerful asset. I should take her now while she's still easily manipulated."
"What does it look like?" Shirohi asked, lying on the soft grass of the training field. Itachi blinked in surprise, looking over at the younger girl
in front of him. He sat down, looking up at the cloud-filled sky. It was going to rain soon, by the looks of it. He thought hard of a way to
describe this sky to Shirohi; a girl who had been blind since birth.
"Well," he started, "the sky itself is smooth and open like the wind. Usually it's light and thin, but today it's dark and thick, kind of like hot chocolate.
Also, the clouds are usually like cotton, but today I think they'd be more like wool. That's the best way I can describe it for you."
"Thank you, Itachi-kun." Shirohi smiled, closing her eyes. She could almost imagine it; the milky sky with wool clouds. She wanted to see it, even if
it was just once. "For almost nine years I've lived and never had anything to imagine the sky with... Now I have something."
The Uchiha smiled, feeling sorry for the girl beside him. He had since he discovered her well-kept secret of being blind. Before that, it had only been
her hair that distinguished her from the other Hyuuga. Nevertheless, here she was, blind, and almost mastering the Juuken. He still didn't know how she did it.
In fact, he really admired all of her har-
His train of thought was broken as he sensed a malicious chakra nearby. It seemed so familiar to him, yet he could not place it. The chunin jumped
to his feet, grabbing his *tanto and a kunai, his Sharingan active. Only a moment later did Shirohi jump to her feet as well, immediately getting into
the Juuken stance.
Whoever this was, they were quick. Itachi was barely able to follow the movements of the enemy shinobi as they charged forward at them. They went to
punch him, and he dodged, only to realize that it was a feint. By the time her turned to counter, he was gone.
And so was Shirohi.
(A/N: *Tanto is a miniature Katana held in one hand. It's common for the ANBU to have them, Itachi included. BTW, this takes place in about early September, when Itachi is 10 and recently made Chunin. Please review!)