A/N:
I'm sorry but this will not only be a short chapter but also the only one I'll post for a while . My school's deadline has been moved an entire month EARLIER and I'm FREAKING OUT! So please excuse me for this short update…
Lots of feelings in this chapter, you've been warned.
An 8 year old Sasuke sighed deeply. He had finally, finally, managed to shake those fan girls off and now he could walk home without being followed by any them. The moment he noticed that those girls had started following him around at the academy he started to take all kinds of different routes home. He'd run as fast as he could and took every detour he could find, he'd go through alleyways, over the roofs and go aimlessly left and right. And as soon as he'd notice he wasn't being fallowed anymore he'd head straight home without any problems. The last thing Sasuke wanted was for those girls to know where he lived.
In fact he was surprised no one knew where he lived. It wasn't that unnoticeable to see the 'last Uchiha' walk into a house with orange painted windows. Orange, of all colours why that one?
However Sasuke does have a secret fondness to that colour. Every time he saw the familiar colour he'd get a warm feeling. Like the hugs Naruko would give him whenever she'd leave for a mission or when she saw he had a bad day. She was the only person who could provide such a simple thing for Sasuke. And he would be sure to make it last as long as he could.
Sasuke walked towards the front door of their house and opened it, but before he could walk inside he felt a familiar feeling. And it was not a welcomed one. It was a cold and dark feeling, as if he was being watched.
As if he was being watched by him.
He looked around the street but couldn't see anyone. When he looked to his side he saw a crow sitting on top of the potted flowers Naruko put next to their door.
'Tsk.' how could he be so anxious because of a stupid crow? He made the crow fly away and stepped inside.
"I'm home!" He called when he entered and took his shoes off. He could hear a Naruko shouting something like 'Welcome back' from upstairs.
It has been her first day off since weeks. If she wasn't on a mission she'd be doing errands or would be training. But today she decided to rest herself a bit. However, if you know Naruko well enough you would know she just can't rest for more than 5 minutes if she isn't injured. So eventually she started to turn this day into a cleaning day. After making a few shadow clones and dividing the chores she started with cleaning her own bedroom. But it was when she was cleaning out a drawer she found one of her most cherished possessions.
It was a simple dried flower, a buttercup in fact. She truly loved this little keepsake. And she hated that she loved it.
Little 9 year old Naruko was sitting near the riverbank plucking the grass around her. She didn't stress about going home. Nobody was there anyway. And she didn't want to go look for Iruka-sensei. It would mean she had to go to the academy and after today she didn't feel like it.
Naruko looked at a strand of bright coloured hair that fell in front of her eyes. Earlier today some of her classmates had made fun of her hair. It wasn't the pretty pale blond hair the Yamanaka clan had. But it was more like a bright yellow. One of the girls said that her hair was almost blinding her and that no shinobi could have hair like that.
"What if I just cut it?" Naruko had tried. She just wanted the teasing to stop.
"It wouldn't stop that ugly colour from blinding me!" the same girl replied.
Naruko hiccupped. She wished she didn't look this weird. Her hair was weird, her eyes are weird, her clothes are weird and not to mention those weird whiskers on her cheeks. Kiba always said he liked her whiskers. But she was sure that he could fall in love with a dog if he wanted to.
"Why are you crying?" A sudden voice interrupted her thoughts. She looked up into the face of her classmate Itachi Uchiha.
Naruko looked away from him. "Does it matter?" She said.
"Yes." Itachi said.
Naruko frowned. Who does this guy think he is? "Just leave me alone." Naruko whispered, almost too quiet to hear. It was silent for a moment and Naruko began to believe he had already left.
"I heard what they said about your hair."
Naruko stiffened. Was that why he was here? To rub it in her face? She clenched her fists and refused to look in his direction.
"It's pretty." Itachi said. Naruko was surprised and looked at him to see if he was lying. Itachi was looking to the side with… a blush? Was he blushing? Was the Itachi Uchiha blushing?!
"I like that it's a bright yellow. It's warm like the sun or-" Itachi plucked a flower beneath him. "-like a buttercup." He finished. He held the flower towards the baffled girl. For a moment he was afraid she wouldn't take it and he looked like an idiot. But when she finally took the flower from his hand he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Naruko looked at the flower with a blush on her cheeks.
Naruko's memory came to an abrupt end when she heard Sasuke yell from downstairs. She hurriedly put the keepsake back in the drawer and welcomed Sasuke home. She shouldn't be thinking of Itachi anymore.
It just hurts her too much.
He wasn't sure if he should keep spying on Naruko and Sasuke with the crow. He was glad to know they were alright. That they were living their lives and still had each other. But it hurts him to know that he would never be part of their lives. At least not in a positive way.
To them he was the one who killed the people they cared about, who betrayed their village, who betrayed them and left them with only each other. There were a lot of things he wished to tell them. Things he never had a chance to tell and never will.
"Are you done staring at those flowers? We have to move." Kisame almost growled at him. Itachi gave one last look at the plant and moved on.
A/N:
Once again so sorry for this short chapter! I first had other plans for the third chapter but those will have to wait for another time… For those of you that want to have some more action in this story don't worry, I'm planning for some but please don't expect this entire story with that. This is a family/drama story! Not a fight in every chapter and lots of kunai being thrown around story.
Thanks for reading and let me know if you enjoyed it!
