It's been hard to try and figure out what Itachi can do with his time here in the town of Kirinono, before he moves onto the Leaf Village. Eventually I came across an idea that has been used enough if not ALL the time - involving music. Simple but still touching.
Chapter Four
A Blind Man's Tune
Through his bandages over his eyes, he had to admit he was pleased with what he was seeing. This place reminded him of Konoha, but it wasn't as great. He could live here, but he had a goal to fulfill. After this, who knew what would happen.
He was aware of the stares he received when he passed through with the three wolves sniffing the air and holding their heads high. The pups were sound asleep in his arms beneath his jacket. His staff was the perfect display of his disguise. If there were no Shinobi around, he would sell without difficulty. He gave a slight smile, just to show the people around him he meant no harm - or so he hoped.
This smile doesn't feel like it belongs to me.
All his life, he pretended to smile; more often, he did not smile at all, except around two people: Shisui and his little brother. He did smile sometimes around Kakashi and Tenzou in ANBU - how were they now? Often in front of his father and the rest of the clan, he was forced, having begun practicing since he was four years old.
Sasuke used to smile as a child - but as a teenager, he looked upon those around him with hatred or indifference.
But now, as a man?
The longer Itachi pondered these questions, the more eager he was to see his brother regardless of being rational in his thoughts. He had made the vow to love him beyond the grave even if he did follow through in destroying the very village that his elder brother sacrificed everything he had for - if Sasuke hadn't changed at all...
"Sir, what business brings you and these...animals -" The voice was male, middle-aged maybe, and the wiser to step up and greet him. The stranger was to his left, and keeping the pretense that he may be "blind", he continued to smile, feigning ignorance. "- here to our little town?"
"Forgive me," Itachi answered politely, "I am simply a blind stranger seeking my way back to the Leaf Village."
No one else seemed to hear him, or they simply didn't care - but a handful who heard looked on with wide-eyed surprise. The man speaking to him gave a hearty laugh. Then he reached to offer a hand to Itachi before a growl from Shiranui caused him to step back by one. "Oh, don't mind my friends," the former Leaf-nin assured him. "They are very protective of me. I'd have been dead if not for them."
Ryujin and Amaterasu went up to the kindly man and sniffed at him, then whimpered. It was odd for the alpha male himself when it came to his own family. Through the sheer shadows of his eye bandages, Itachi took in the gray hair at the temples of the dark brown hair which was in a buzz, and the matching eyes reminded him too much of his kin. Keeping his hand on his staff, he offered his free one out. "If it's not too much, and given you are the first face I have come across here, could you kindly take me to a tea house - if there is one?" For some reason, he found himself craving for his favorite dango which he had not had the pleasure of for ages...
After all of this...I suppose I could let myself indulge in an old part of myself, like dango.
To feel a warm, human hand was strange, but welcoming. He nodded down to his companions, then remembered the sleeping babies in his embrace, glad they'd been wrapped up in addition to his arm support. He apologized to his guide and let go to cradle the pups beneath his jacket, which the man noticed at once.
"Oh, I see little ones. What are you doing here? Moving in with a pack?" he asked jokingly by the time they stopped at the destination Itachi never thought he would find.
He chuckled lightly. "More like I am returning home after being away when the...war began. I seem to have lost track of much of the time," he lied, softly and smoothly. "I've lived on the move since losing my eyesight during the fighting, and these friends of mine saved my life not that long ago. They are my family; I never go anywhere without them."
Suddenly, a shrill voice called from inside at him. "Excuse me, you can't bring those things in here!" The voice belonged to an elderly lady whom he noted was dead-set on making sure her prized place was spotless and safe from wild animals.
Itachi turned his face downwards. "I suppose that means to listen to her, my friends," he said sadly, earning whimpers and bows of the heads. Sighing, he knelt down, keeping his hand on his staff and using his "free" arm to open his jacket down the front to reveal the waking pups being offered to each adult. Their parents and uncle each took turns taking them by the back of their necks before laying them down on the ground to nestle against their mother while their human member went inside with his unnamed new "friend".
~o~
"I admit, I never thought I'd meet another young face who loves dango as much as I," his new friend told him with a guffaw as he watched the younger man eagerly snarf down the entirety of the tri-colored piece he never thought to expect here. This was a longtime favorite of his before his death; it was a miracle to be blessed and given a chance to savor his infamous sweet tooth at a time like this. "Name's Hotaka, by the way, my new friend. Hotaka Yoshida."
"Pleasure," Itachi answered after a swallow, forgetting his manners and cursing to himself. "I do not know how to thank you for this. It's been so long...and you are the first I have met in that time." He "looked" up at the other face, giving a smile.
Although, inwardly: I am not used to being given something and not giving back.
The other man took a small sip of green tea. "I see you're not used to this kind of attention. What have you been up to since you escaped from the blood, death and fighting so many years ago?" He seemed to suspect more than he let on, Itachi could sense, but he also wasn't quick to judge based on appearances - but if that was the case, then he had to keep his guard up more than he thought.
Hotaka leaned over then and there by a few inches. "Are you a Shinobi in disguise, my friend?"
Itachi felt his insides freeze at the question before he broke free from the ice. "No, of course not," he said evenly. "If I was, I would never trust a stranger unless I absolutely knew for sure." But I can see that he is trustworthy enough - and he doesn't do a good job hiding anything from me.
"Sorry I asked then." He chuckled and took a piece of his second dango stick. "We've had some trouble recently."
"So I must have heard before I arrived here. Do you recall any details?" Itachi swallowed the final piece off his third stick. If he didn't know better, he'd say he was having a craving that might very well match that of a pregnant woman.
The elder sighed and rubbed his temples. "Eh, I have seen a lot despite this small town of peace, and let's say that it was a first time since I was still in my prime - maybe about your age. I heard those guys were from Snow Country, trouble as they are," he said with a scoff. "You hardly see them much these days, given the great tragedies were over since eight years ago." Eight years...the war ended then. "They thought they could take our way of life; luckily, the Leaf arrived and chased them away. Hopefully they won't come back, but who knows."
Itachi found himself thinking about Hachi and how his comrades left him, unable to find time to return and find his body, to which Itachi had buried him at the man's request. The pang in his chest returned.
"Anyway, I remembered: how rude!" Hotaka chuckled. "I never asked your name, yet I told you mine."
He swallowed. He hadn't had the time to think of an alias yet, but the first came to mind. "Ryuu Kaze." Dragon wind. "And as I told you, I am from the Leaf Village." He downed the last of his green tea, feeling like he was going to lose his appetite suddenly, when he didn't even finish his treat.
"Interesting name. Do you have family that you plan to return to in your condition?" Hotaka scratched his chin in thought. "You must be brave and strong enough to return this way, and with your furry friends still waiting for you outside."
Itachi smiled. "You don't know the half of it."
"Say...you have nowhere to crash until you carry on, do you?"
He felt his brows furrow in a frown. "I never thought you would ask -" He is offering me and the pack a place to stay. This is too much... "- but I am not sure if I can accept your offer."
Another scoff and wave of the hand. "Please, it's been a while since I have had guests. My son left me to go get married and start a family of his own, and so has my daughter. My wife passed on three years ago. I could use some company for as long as you want to."
Itachi did not know what to think about this. He tried to decline before he reminded himself that this was his show - deceitful as it was, and for the first time since Sasuke, he truly felt guilty of tricking this man who was treating him with such kindness and generosity. It's necessary...but it feels like old times. Shisui...the only one besides Sasuke who cared about me.
In addition, would the local inn or anywhere else accept him with the wolves? He didn't want to take the chance. This was the closest town several hours from Konoha, and he didn't feel like traveling for now.
Sighing, he accepted.
~o~
To be in a real home...he could not remember the last time he felt truly welcomed. All his life of moving and staying in one place only for a night before moving on, expanding to a few days or weeks at most, and the only real home had been the Uchiha complex, followed by the Akatsuki hideout...
I've never felt safe in one place too long.
As a woman would say - and a good Shinobi, on his part - if some things seemed too good to be true, they were.
"You shouldn't have done this for me, Hotaka," he insisted, playing the role of the humble blind man. "I could have made my way around..."
"Nonsense. I was raised to never leave a human being in need, and I taught my children that lesson," the man replied, leaning down to pet the snout of Ryujin, who growled gently and licked the back of his hand. Amaterasu had taken to laying down at the foot of the long lounge, her pups cuddling into her warmth once again, and Shiranui was sniffing around as he explored their new surroundings. "And speaking of which, Ryuu, what do you intend to do for some good money? Surely you don't wish to beg for it?" he teased, making Itachi laugh.
He shook his head and sat down, putting his staff in his lap, not sure if he should part with it yet. "I honestly have no idea. I don't wish to disappoint a soul seeking permanent hired help."
"But something is better than nothing," Hotaka insisted. "I am a member of the local tavern, of a band to be exact. Depends if you can play the flute or not. Our lady left due to maternal leave. Might be your luck."
The question hit home for Itachi. Mother taught me to play as a child, and then Sasuke learned... "I may..."
Hotaka exploded with excitement. "Just your luck, Ryuu my boy!" he bellowed, making him jump in his seat, before he vanished faster than the Sharingan behind the bandages could detect, coming back several seconds later with a box - and inside was none other than the instrument itself. Itachi allowed his hand to be taken and placed over the polished bamboo stick, reveling in its natural scent and the craftsmanship. He could only imagine what magic would escape once he put his lips on the end, unleashed his heart and soul through the holes...
A memory took him back to the time he first played for Sasuke, right before the bamboo fountain of their compound, which he was aware of leaving through the space between the pads of his fingers and the smooth edges of the holes in the stick. When he was finished with the relaxing melody, the wolves looked him on with lifted noses, and the host himself was speechless before gasping out and falling to his knees.
"Oh, Ryuu...that was beautiful. I've never heard such heart before..."
Feeling the tear that escaped one corner of his eye - I've never felt like this before. I never felt so...free.
Later on when he was brought to meet with the other men in his group - a total of five, Hotaka included; two young to be his own age and the other two were also in the middle-aged range - he was told the same thing and was rewarded when he played the flute that night with them, amidst an exciting beat of drums and a celebratory song of the enemy driven away from their peaceful grounds.
In the event of time, let's see if "some things are TOO good to be true" proves fruitful as Itachi suspects.
I figured Itachi would do something that wasn't fussy for him, such as playing the flute, and I believe I know a couple shorts in existence where he does play the instrument, but I can't remember which ones. The song he played on the flute was indeed "Zen Garden", actually composed by Derek Fiechter.
