Chapter Three – Dealing With The Uchiha

Everything fell back into the mundane pace of my life I was used to. Exactly how it was before Asahi gave me his too-gory guilt-trip speech about how my life is better than his because everyone in the generation before me worked super hard for me to have this peaceful life. Only, I was not very peaceful. I was still stuck with these annoying pre-teens and their lazy-assed sensei (who gave himself a free invitation to access all of Asahi's books in the living room). Hirana still carried on with her duties at the hospital. She had explained once to me that her job entailed overseeing doctors and nurses under her, a job she assumed was very safe. And, Asahi continued to be sent away for periods of time (though they were getting shorter and shorter), and I was still stuck worried for days, pleading to the skies that he was still alive. Well really, I just wanted both Hirana and Asahi to survive their shinobi lifestyle and die naturally of old age – something that was remotely "normal".

The only significant change was, after Asahi had come back from his latest mission, getting surprised with the fact that I was going to be an older sister. I was a bit iffy on the pregnancy. Asahi was overjoyed and so was Hirana. I tried being super excited and happy about getting a new sibling (like a normal child), but secretly I was worried for the little bean inside Hirana's belly. He or she would be born into a world that trained children to be shinobi. A world where an enemy may kill you the moment you step out of the village's gates. Or they may infiltrate and kill you in your sleep – though Asahi assured me once it was highly unlikely because Konoha has the best shinobi and defense. But then again he was in charge of homeland security, so I may have offended him a bit when I questioned the village's security.

The exchange between my parents when Hirana announced the news was super adorable though. She had cooked all of her husband's favorites that night – grilled squid and fried rice cakes – which were also mine so I didn't have any objections. After dinner while Asahi was putting away dishes, she casually dropped a slip of paper beside him while he was working. Suspiciously, he had asked what she was doing hovering over him and she had replied in a sing-song voice "Oh nothing." He then shot me a look for help but I only shrugged, equally confused. When he resumed putting away the dishes, he noticed the slip of paper beside him. In curiosity, he of course picked it up to read it before deeming it as trash. It took a while but when he realized it held the contents of Hirana's pregnancy he instantly whipped around to lift his wife up in the air by her waist.

"Careful the baby!" Hirana blushed as she warned him.

Asahi paled. "Oh right, sorry!" He immediately set her back on her feet gently.

The two of them embraced like any couple and that was when it got awkward for me because they started making out quite heatedly.

"Ahem," I coughed to get their attention before it got too far.

I mentally smirked at their flushed faces while I tried maintaining an innocent one physically. Not entirely sure I succeeded, though. I was sure my face was equally as red as theirs.

Asahi's eyes glinted at me. "Jealous Miyuna?"

Spluttering, I quickly responded with an offended no.

He untangled his arms from Hirana to step closer to me. "There's no need to get jealous, you're still daddy's favorite."

I looked away once more in embarrassment. I didn't know why I continued to try to convince him otherwise. It was honestly making my situation worse. "That's not – I'm not jealous!"

Asahi laughed. "Sure." His word dripping with joking disbelief.

XXX

"I think Hirana-san and Asahi-san should name their daughter Narumi, seeds of beauty." The same 12 year old girl from last time suggested to her other two teammates. I found out that her name was Tenka, not that I really cared for her name. I actually had learned all of their names from Asahi. The three 12 year olds (Tenka, Wakaro, Ren) sat in our living room with Asahi's books spread out all around us. Their sensei, Genma, stood in the corner of the room with a book of scenery poems in his hands. I was rather annoyed that they weren't taking much care of the books – leaving them faced down with the pages creased – but Asahi had given them permission to use the books just this morning, before he left me pouting in their care. At least they promised Asahi to put away the books when they're done. I'm hoping they kept that promise or else I would be giving them a good scolding. I bet that would be a sight to see – a four year old scolding three 12 year olds to clean up their mess.

"How do you know that it will be a girl?" Wakaro complained.

"I just know. It's called a woman's intuition." Tenka shot back.

"You're not even a woman yet!" Wakaro teased.

That was the wrong thing to say.

Expectedly, they both burst out in a verbal war. I shied away from them into the corner where Genma stood. Ren and Genma paid no mind to their squabbling, not even making an effort to tell them to be quiet. Me on the other hand, I had to get away from them.

"Hm, what is it Miyuna-chan?" Genma looked down at me.

"I'm going to go pee."

"Alright then."

With that, I tiptoed out our front door and broke into a sprint away from our apartment building. It was exhilarating. I had been a "good girl" for Hirana and Asahi for the past four years, meaning I did everything that they asked without much whining. So, I decided that I deserved to enjoy a bit of freedom. Besides, if children only a few months older than me were allowed to attend the ninja academy and learn to become shinobi then I should be allowed to explore the village by myself.

Oof. I guess I was a little too excited with my newfound freedom.

I winced at the receding pain in my bum. "Are you alright?" Still dazed from the harsh impact, I blearily responded with an apology instead of the answer to her question.

"It's quite alright, but be careful now." Her voice was very gentle, similar to Hirana's. She was pretty too. Her dark, ebony hair had this navy glow under the sunlight and her eyes were extremely dark but curved with kindness and a bit of worry. She appeared to be around Hirana's age too. Perhaps all mothers in this world were pretty.

"Ah, your groceries! I'm so sorry, ma'am." I pointed to her brown paper bags that were spilling out groceries onto the ground.

"Oh don't worry about them, they're just vegetables. They can take a few hits." She chuckled.

I offered to carry some of them back to her house in payment for running into her. At first, she refused, commenting on how cute and polite I was. Her reason was that she lived very far away. I thought it was strange that she lost some of the happiness in her eyes and smile when she mentioned the fact that she lived far. I shrugged it off quickly when the look disappeared. It could've been because she was simply upset with the fact that she lived far from the markets. Eventually I got her to agree when I told her I'm used to helping Hirana carry groceries all the time now that she's pregnant.

"How fun, I bet you'll be a great older sister." She smiled down at me.

We talked about miscellaneous stuff which made our trek to her house entertaining. I learned she had two sons herself, Itachi and Sasuke. Itachi was eight and Sasuke was the same age as me. The walk to her house was much longer than I had expected. In fact, her house was in an enclosed private territory reserved for the Uchiha clan close to the outskirts of the village on the west side. There were no tall gates or walls that separated the village and the "outside" in this part of town. Asahi explained that there was only a dense forest there that protected the village. It had done well in keeping enemies away because of the booby traps. The denseness of the trees also prevented an invasion, often strangers to the forest got lost or confused. Asahi had assured me that I was perfectly safe within the village. He was in charge of homeland security so I suppose I should trust him. Also, I constantly saw people flying through rooftops in the village brandishing a shiny headband with a leaf symbol embossed in the middle of the metal plate. I had learned just recently that this meant they were full-fledged and capable shinobi. With this many ninjas running around I reckon I was pretty safe.

The Uchiha territory was like another village inside of a village. There were cute little tea and weaponry stores. It seemed kind of fun. The streets were decorated with red and white fans; I thought it was almost like a secret festival just beginning to emerge for an all-night party.

It was near her house, or should I say her mansion, when I met her two sons – Itachi and Sasuke. Sasuke came running out to hug his mother around her legs while Itachi went to grab her grocery bags before she accidentally dropped them due to Sasuke tackling her.

"Itachi-kun will take care of the groceries. Thank you for helping me with the groceries. Would you like to come in and have some juice and play with Sasuke-kun?"

"It was no problem, Uchiha-san. I'm sorry for running into you. I would love to stay but I kind of ran away from my babysitters and I should get back to them before they freak out too much." I shyly admitted as I handed my bag of groceries to Itachi's awaiting arms. Our eyes met briefly. They were kind of unnerving to look into unlike his mother's kind ones. They reminded me of a dead fish's. We broke apart at the same time and I was left staring stiffly at Itachi's back as he went into their mansion with Sasuke toddling after his big brother.

She laughed and beckoned for Itachi to come towards us when he came outside again. "Itachi-kun, why don't you take Miyuna-chan back to her house?" I was about to politely decline but then realized I did not remember the way back to my house. Itachi gave his mother a silent nod and stuck out a hand for me to take.

I took it shyly. His gesture took me off guard. He seemed like the classic stone-faced shinobi I was acquainted with like the apathetic Genma or the ones that sometimes approached Asahi during our walks. The kind of shinobi that seemed to have no caring bone in their bodies.

"How old are you?" He questioned, starting the conversation out first.

"I just turned four."

"You're the same age as Sasuke, but you're incredibly well spoken for someone so young. Sasuke still lisps through some of his words and can only form simple sentences."

I noticed how his tone shifted when the topic changed to Sasuke, his younger brother. I giggled lightly; I had been terrified of this guy but it turns out he was a big softie when it came to Sasuke. It was honestly super cute.

"Care to share what you're giggling about?"

"I can tell you really love your younger brother."

"How so?"

"You changed the tone of your voice when you started talking about Sasuke. You sounded really happy."

"You are very perceptive. Are you going to enroll in the ninja academy this spring?"

I groaned a bit at the topic. It was a fair question, but I hadn't thought about that topic in months.

"Hm? What's wrong?"

"Well, I don't have any desires to become a ninja."

"Why not?"

I had an answer but I did not feel like telling him, or rather I did not feel enough trust to tell him. He was certainly a shinobi himself. Would he laugh at my response? Or maybe he's one of those naïve people who continue to attempt to convince me that the life of a shinobi is full of "glories and adventure," as if they were purposely dodging the blood and other gory violence or they're just stupidly ignorant.

"Sorry, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I didn't mean to pry. I was only curious. I sometimes wonder what it means to be a ninja and then I find myself questioning why I want to be a ninja myself. The only answer I come up with is because I was born into the Uchiha clan and we have a certain reputation in the village as promising shinobi."

"Well perhaps underneath everything, you know you want to be a ninja because you want to make sure Sasuke has a bright and peaceful future."

He paused, forcing me to stop as well. I panicked a bit. Maybe sharing my inner thoughts was not a good idea after all. I realized a few weeks ago, coming off as distantly-advanced for my age apparently really frightened people. Had I frightened Itachi? Not that I took him as someone to get easily frightened. He was truly stone-cold. God, I really had to reign in my words and think carefully about how I old I seemed.

"I guess so. That's a very good reason. Most shinobi must understand that their job connects tightly to the futures of later generations. But many–" he trailed off as if to gather the direction of his sentence. "I've known many who kill because they like it."

It was a chilling sentence, especially with his monotone. I knew more or less that there must be some shinobi out there who walked down the path of a ninja for dishonorable reasons. These thought really frightened me – people who kill without remorse, someone who takes lives so lightly.

"That's what I'm afraid of." I murmured as I stared at the ground.

"It's something that every shinobi should be afraid of, but most aren't." Itachi responded.

I wasn't sure if he was speaking about death or killing, but the two subjects were equally morbid in the context of his sentence.

"Miyuna Shimewari, where have you been, young lady? Just because you're four years old now doesn't mean you can go running around the village by yourself without telling someone first." Asahi appeared in front of Itachi and I in a poof, something that I was slowly getting used to. But nonetheless, it scared the crap out of me still especially since Itachi and I were having a rather dark conversation. Mr. Dead Fish Eyes remained stoic however.

There was a moment of awkward silence when Asahi met eyes with Itachi, perhaps he was getting the dead fish vibe too from his eyes. "Thank you for bringing her back, Itachi-kun. Sorry for any inconvenience she may have caused." I blinked in surprised at the fact that they knew each other. They were both shinobi so it shouldn't be a huge surprise, but their cold exchange was a bit worrisome. Bad blood definitely ran between them. "She helped my mother with groceries, and I had the pleasure of conversing with your daughter, Shimewari-san. So it was no problem at all. Good night." Poof. His hand suddenly disappeared from mine, making me flinch and blink confusingly at the space Itachi once stood. Is this a normal thing for shinobi, to disappear fancily in puffs of smoke?

"You are in a lot of trouble Missy; you get back to our house right now and apologize to Genma's team. They've been looking all day for you after your disappearing act."

"Sorry," I mumbled.

"Don't say sorry to me, say sorry to them. Why did you run away anyways?"

"They were annoying," I bluntly said.

Asahi gives me a sign before pushing me inside our apartment where Genma and his team were waiting. "Oh and one more thing, I want you to stay away from the Uchiha clan."

"Why?"

"Nothing you should really worry yourself about. They just don't particularly like our family, that's all. They must not have really known who you were, otherwise they would not have treated you so kindly."

I was in bit of shock in hearing Asahi's words. They had been so kind to me because they didn't know who I really was?