"Yes!" Two small fists pumped into the air as the four-man team crossed through the gates and back into the village. Asami looked like a mess, truthfully, but that grin made it clear that she hardly noticed at all. "Our first mission as a team was a success!" Her arms fell back to her sides as she straightened up some, walking past the guards at the gates with a dignified look on immature pale features, trying to look like the strong, confident shinobi she was going to grow to be. Crimson orbs sparkled with excitement at their recent completed mission, turning themselves to her teammates. "We should all go celebrate together. You'll buy us all some ramen, won't you, Zenn Sensei?"
The man was quick to turn his eyes away from that pleading look that he was attacked with, struggling not to fall victim to it. "I'm sorry, Asami, I've got to go report to Lord Hokage about our mission. I'm sure Shisui and Itachi would love to join you though, right boys?" Dark brown orbs flickered between the two Uchiha.
Before either could give a reply, their collective attention was captured by a small voice calling out, "Nii-san!" Asami's heart noticeably melted at the sight of a little boy with spiky black hair racing toward them, a few steps ahead of an older woman with gentle dark eyes. It was easy for her to surmise that this little boy had to be Sasuke, the older woman their mother.
"So cute." She breathed out as the child ran straight up to Itachi in spite of Shisui attempting to greet the mini Uchiha as well.
"He really wanted to come see you after your mission," Mikoto explained as she approached the small group, a warm smile directed toward Shisui before the sight of an unfamiliar face sparked interest and curiosity within her eyes. "Hello there, my name is Mikoto. You must be Itachi and Shisui's new partner."
A bit of a shy look entered the young girl's eyes, so unfamiliar with talking to new people since she usually tried to keep to herself. "Hello, Mikoto Sama, my name is Asami Sasaki." More Uchiha. She wasn't supposed to be friends with these people, but they seemed so nice to her. Why was her brother so adamant about keeping her away from them?
"It's wonderful to meet you, Asami." The matriarch ignored the hand Asami held out to shake with her own, gently pulling the smaller form into a hug that seemed to catch the child off guard.
After a moment of being too shocked to speak, Asami eagerly returned the hug, seeming relax with the affectionate action. "It's wonderful to me you as well, Mikoto Sama."
"Please, just call me Mikoto." The woman insisted, something about the way the chibi clung to her making her hold on just a little bit longer than normal before pulling away.
A murmur to the side caught Asami's attention, glancing over to see Shisui gently ushering the three-year-old over to greet her and she could hardly contain her excitement. She managed to keep from squealing, even when the child crossed his arms over his chest and declared in a voice as stern as he could manage, "You better take good care of my brother, ya know."
The matriarch looked ready to scold the boy and remind him to mind his manners but Asami chuckled quietly before the woman could do so, clearly not offended by the demand at all as she knelt down to be on Sasuke's level. "You know, you're brother is pretty amazing. He doesn't need me to look out for him; in fact; it'll probably be the other way around. I promise you, though, I'll watch after him as best as I can, okay? I've got a big brother, too, so I understand what it's like to want to make sure he's safe."
Without missing a beat. "My big brother is better than yours."
An irritated eyebrow twitch cracked the normally friendly composure at that declaration from the little twerp, unable to let that direct insult to her brother slide- even from a three-year-old. "Well, my big brother's in ANBU, you know. Yours is only a genin." She poked his cheek with a sly smirk.
"My brother can use the Sharingan, though," Sasuke countered stubbornly, making a face as he tried to get away from that probing finger.
Said poking turned into a pinch, pulling on the child's cheek until he swatted away her hand. "My big brother is the best swordsman ever." An exaggeration, naturally, but this was a child she was arguing with after all.
"Well, Aniki is even better than our father at shuriken jutsu."
"My brother practically raised me."
"I think that's enough you two," Shisui declared, placing a hand to both of their heads to ruffle their hair and silence their bickering no matter how amusing it was to watch Itachi trying not to get all flustered about the praise he was receiving from his baby brother. He knew this boy's words meant more than anyone's, truly. "Both of your brother's are incredible, there's no need to fight."
The older Uchiha earned himself two adorable little death glares at the ruffling before Asami's faded away to a soft smile, directing the sight back toward the pouting chibi. "You know, your brother is pretty great. You're a lucky kid."
Those words seemed to appease the little punk, a grin returning to childish lips as he glanced over at his brother. "He's the best. I'm super lucky." The chibi agreed at last before glancing up as his mother placed a gentle hand to the top of his head.
Mikoto really was very pretty, Asami mused faintly, kind of hoping that she looked pretty when she was that old, too. Just like her own mama had. God, she missed her mama…
The woman's dark eyes looked down at Sasuke first, then endearing orbs turned to Itachi. "Let's head home now, shall we? I've got dinner all set."
Asami could hardly help the slightest deflating of her shoulders as she stood up once more. Itachi gave a faint nod with his mother's words, easily giving in to the small hand that snuck within his own. "But, wait…" Her voice was a whispered mumble, the only one able to catch on to it being the older Uchiha male standing at her side still.
She looked disappointed, Shisui gathered rather easily, also quick to decide that such a sentiment didn't suit her very well. He rested a hand on her smaller shoulder, drawing her attention to the large grin on his lips though his eyes were fixed on his cousins. "You guys enjoy your dinner, Asami and I are going to get the best stir fry in Konoha to celebrate our mission without you." He stuck a childish tongue out at Itachi with a playful wink, earning a faint upturn of Itachi's lips.
Really, Shisui was one-of-a-kind.
"Enjoy." The Uchiha heir murmured, a hint of a smirk tugging at his lips.
And that was it. The instant Asami decided that smiling suited Itachi very well- far more than such a serious disposition he'd adopted to keep in line with the stern Uchiha stereotypes.
"Goodbye!" What a relief to see her smiling again as she waved to the departing Uchiha before turning pleading eyes to their sensei. "Are you sure you can't come with us?"
Zenn's affection for the young girl who looked so much like his former teammate easily slipped within the regretful smile that crossed his lips. "I'm sorry, but I really can't. Lord Hokage wants a report of this mission as soon as possible since it's the first one you've joined us on. You did splendidly, Asami." He ruffled her hair, the girl trying to pout without much success. "It didn't go exactly according to plan, but that's something that we need to be prepared for as shinobi. We'll work more on how to handle situations we can't predict tomorrow, alright? I'm very proud of all three of you."
"Thank you, Sensei." Humility flickered within Asami's gaze, a slight flush to her cheeks as she averted crimson eyes to the ground. With a gentle squeeze to the kunoichi's shoulder and a nod in goodbye aimed at Shisui, Zenn's chakra vanished. He might not have been that far just yet; sensing chakra wasn't something Asami was skilled at with her current level of experience.
A peaceful moment of silence passed between the two before Shisui started to walk, capturing the occasionally absent-minded girl's attention once more as she loyally shadowed his footsteps. "We should make Itachi really jealous he didn't come along and stop for dango after dinner." The grin on his lips was nothing short of conspiratorial as he led her along to his personal favorite place to get dinner.
"That's not very nice." In spite of her initial objection, though, an amused grin flickered across her features.
"Neither was ditching us for his little brother. How dare he!" An obvious teasing air was about the older Uchiha, causing Asami to snicker softly before blinking a little as her teammate slung an arm around her shoulder to pull her closer as they walked as if to tell her a secret. Eager eyes looking to him in a silent request as to what it was. "Since you're new to the team and all, I'm going to give you a special job, okay?" His grin held an obvious edge of mischief at the eager nod he got in reply from the younger shinobi, allowing the tension to build with a dramatic pause before declaring in a low tone, "You're going to be my new partner in crime."
A pause. Crimson eyes blinked up at the taller male before an excited smirk crossed her lips. "We're gonna pull lots of pranks on Itachi and Sensei, right?"
"Precisely." Naturally, they were going to cause lots of havoc for the other two members of the team, and he for one was happy to finally have a teammate willing to help him do so. With that all settled, he released her shoulders, a more respectable distance between them now.
The air about the two comrades was calm and carefree in spite of the slightly more serious persona each adopted when out on missions. They'd been together about a week now, the team having been given a small reprieve from assignments during that time in order to acquaint themselves with the new dynamic of the team before being thrust out into the field.
Still, Asami had yet to figure out exactly what it was about the Uchiha that made her brother detest them so much. Shisui and Itachi were patient, something she could hardly express how grateful she was for. As someone fresh out of the academy, she lacked in the same kind of experience her teammates had, resulting in a certain lack of confidence that didn't escape anyone's notice in spite of her attempts to hide such an unsightly attribute. Regardless, they encouraged her to do her best, another quality she was appreciative of.
Shouldn't Taisuke want her to have kind, supportive friends in spite of their last name?
"Shisui," the moment of silence is broken by her hesitant voice, glancing over at the older's curious expression out of the corners of her eyes. "I… don't think Itachi likes me all that much." Her admission was sheepish, an uncertainty both the Uchiha had become rather good at picking up on sparking within the slight frown that tugged her lips downward.
"That's not it, don't worry." The assurance was automatic. It truly was important that their newest member understood his cousin's increasingly odd tendencies. He'd hate for the current situation to cause a rift in their teamwork. "It's hard to explain, really. He'll warm up to you soon, it just takes a little longer for him to get comfortable around people, especially after what happened."
There was a small pause, the young woman hesitant to bring it up but in the end, she did anyway. "Do you mean what happened with your old teammate? I don't know how he… you know. No one will tell me. Was it really that bad?"
Shisui was hesitant, honestly. Not because talking about Toshiro hurt too badly to manage it, but he would almost rather not tell their new teammate of the tragedy that had befallen their former. One on hand, he didn't want to frighten her any more than she already needed to be in their world, but on the other, maybe if he told her, she wouldn't ever make the same mistakes.
"I'll make you a deal." Shisui declared after a moment's pause during which Asami patiently waited for a reply. "I'll tell you about what happened to Toshiro if you'll tell me about what happened to your parents first."
An almost indistinguishable pain flickered across the younger's features at the not so subtle reminder about her parents though she still gave a slight nod. "Yeah, that sounds pretty fair to me. Let me see…" Her lips pursed a little in thought- either that or she was buying a moment to build up the courage to broach such a sensitive topic. She exhaled a quiet sigh before a small nod signaled that she'd found a place to begin her tale.
"I don't remember much, to be honest; about that night- about them. Everything seemed to happen so suddenly, there was no time to process what was going on. My brother was out on a mission when the attack occurred. Once minute my parents were going about their daily activities- my mama was making dinner and papa reading the paper- then the next, they both looked out the window, at each other, then said they had to go. There was some trouble that they had to handle and I was to stay put in that house no matter what." Her eyes wouldn't meet his own, a far odd look within them as it was clear that she was seeing this all happen once again before her very eyes.
"I don't know exactly how much time passed by, but all of a sudden, everything started to shake and I heard people screaming. It was so scary, so I hid under the table with my stuffed lion until my parents or brother came back for me. I was so relieved when mama and papa finally did, but it didn't last too long. I tried to ask them what was going on, why there was so much chaos, but before I could get my answer, there was a huge crash and the roof collapsed. Papa used an earth style jutsu to protect me and mama from the debris, but he… couldn't save himself." Asami's teeth dug into her bottom lip a little, the beginnings of tears burning within her eyes at the memory. "I don't think I'd ever seen mama cry before. She tried to be tough when she picked me up. Maybe it didn't help that I kept screaming that we had to go back for papa."
The haunted expression that was rather vivid within crimson orbs when they slipped shut nearly compelled Shisui to tell her she could stop if she didn't want to finish that story, but if she was willing, he believed that it was important for them as a team to understand each other as much as possible. This event was one that made Asami who she was in the same way Toshiro's death had shaped who he and Itachi had become. He did place a hand to her shoulder, though, guiding her over to a set of steps in a more secluded part of the village that would lead them to the Hokage Mountain should they take them. He motioned for her to take a seat in a place in the shade of the mountains, Asami giving her teammate a grateful look before lowering herself to the place he offered.
She didn't get why people went around judging others based on their last name. Shisui wasn't anything like the stereotypes most branded the Uchiha with. He was kind and caring, maybe a tiny bit condescending at times, but when it came to her and Itachi, he almost had the right to be considering he had much more experience than either of them. "Your father must have cared about you and your mother a lot to protect the two of you like he did. He really was a hero."
"He was. I wanna be a hero just like him one day- like both of them." Asami declared with a determined nod before Shisui prompted her to go on with a quiet question of what happened next. "Mama carried me away from our house. Your family was trying to evacuate all the civilians, so when she ran into one of them, she gave me to him. I think he said his name was Inari or Inabi- something like that. I was hardly paying attention when he told me. He was muttering something about not wanting to babysit as he led me away from mama. She vanished to join the fight and that was the last time I ever saw her."
Shisui had been there just like she had, so some of the details that she included weren't exactly necessary, but he was hardly going to stop her regardless. "It took a while, but someone finally managed to help me find Taisuke. Apparently his team hadn't been too far, so they'd turned around as soon as they saw all the chaos. A different Uchiha helped me find him, but I don't remember who it was." She shook her head a little, wishing she could recall these two men who'd helped her more clearly so that she could thank them for helping to keep her safe. "We got to the shelter and aniki held me until I fell asleep. By the time we were allowed to leave again, the sun was coming up and things got a little crazy again. There were lots of parents looking for their children, but there were also lots of kids left behind. Aniki refused to accept that they were gone; I could tell he was really hurt. We tried to look for mama at the hospital, but the nurse said she wasn't there and we were forced to leave because of how crazy it was."
There was a slight falter to her speech, the young girl rubbing at her eyes a little bit as a shaky breath slipped past her lips. "When we tried to go back to our home, it was completely destroyed." She tried to swallow back the lump in her throat trying to choke up her words. "All of our things were gone, our parents were dead… We must have spent hours sifting through the rubble. We had nothing better to do. Aniki was exhausted, but he didn't want to stop. He was determined to find something, anything from our old lives. It was as if he needed this something to confirm within his mind that it was real. He managed to find my papa's prized katana- I guess whoever had taken away his body had left that where it was. We also found an old photo from the day I was born and a necklace that belonged to mama." As she spoke, Asami pulled the necklace out from under her shirt. It consisted of a simple silver chain and a purple, heart-shaped pendant. "I'm pretty sure papa gave it to her for some reason or another. I really miss them sometimes, but I try not to be sad since they're both wonderful heroes and that's no reason to cry. It just hurts not having them here."
A gentle gust of wind stirred some dust on the ground, a few leaves dancing among the mini tornado is created before all became settled once more. By the time it had, Shisui turned a sympathetic smile to the youngest member of their team. "It's okay to miss them, you know. It's even okay to be hurt because they're gone. But if you let that hurt keep you from moving forward, then you'll be making their brave sacrifices in vain." He reached over to gently take the pendant from her hand so that he could get a closer look at the object. "I believe that a person never really dies so long as we remember them and always strive to honor wishes. Do you know what your parents' dreams were?" Charcoal orbs moved from the purple heart to meet her with that question, his full attention back on her once more.
"I… They wanted to help a lot of people." Asami declared after a moment of thought. "Mama was a medic and papa was a really important part of Intel because he had Osamu. They did so much good for our village." Sadness tinged the smile that crossed her lips though an undeniable edge of determination was burning within her eyes. Her hands clenched themselves into fists, the serious look in her eyes still completely adorable just because it was Asami. "That's why… I really need to get strong. I've got important things in my life that I need to protect, things that I don't intend to be weak enough to die for. It's easy enough to swear to those I care for that I'll protect them with my life, but that means whoever gets left behind will be in an immense amount of pain. I… don't think that's how to protect someone. So that's why I'd like to become a powerful shinobi who can keep the ones I love safe without throwing myself on a blade for them being the only way to do that."
Was this the Will of Fire he'd heard Lord Hokage speak of? The strength to carry on not in spite of those they'd lost but rather move forward for those they could never again have back? Either way, it was a relief to hear her say those words. He believed there would never be an end to all the self-sacrifice that ran rampant within their world; so long as people loved one another, they'd be willing to die for each other. Through her pain, though, Asami learned that allowing oneself to die isn't always the only way.
Shisui, for one, appreciated this new understanding he had for the younger member of their team. In order for them to fight side-by-side and grow together, it was important to understand what it was that drove them all forward to begin with.
"You're going to do lots of good for Konoha, you know. I can just tell." The older Uchiha ruffled her hair with a proud grin on his lips, rising from the steps they were sitting on. The hand that had previously been making a crow's nest of her hair removed itself, offering her a gentle hand to help her back up. "Let's go get dinner now."
"Hey wait, you said you'd tell me about-" She began to object, a quiet chuckle cutting her off and causing her to pout a little.
"I'll tell you once we sit down to eat. Don't worry, I don't go back on my word." He assured her honestly, pulling her back to her feet by the smaller hand that placed itself within his own, giving her hair a gentle pat before nodding for the younger to follow him once more.
He shared in his cousin's fears, if he was being honest. After losing Toshiro, it was only natural to be wary of new friends who might one day be taken away in the same maner he had been. It was a hesitance that would die away with time as Itachi- and himself for that matter- slowly came to understand that such losses were always going to be part of their world. They shouldn't let those fears keep them from ever caring about anyone again.
Healing would take time, though, and in the same way that he now had a new understanding of Asami, she needed to be made aware of just why it was that Itachi seemed so distant.
She needed to understand how Toshiro's death had been his fault and how the two of them didn't have such different goals. He refused to allow another to die on his watch.
A/N: Sorry for taking a little longer than planned with this chapter, but here it is.
Special thanks to Aniki for looking over the chapters for me and constantly reminding me that transitions are important. I'd be able to buy Naruto if I had a dollar for every time he said that freaking word XD Oh, and if you'd like, I made a page for Asami- it's a role-play page that you're all more than welcome to like. You'll find it at /chibicherrychan
Thanks for reading!
