Cat's Notes

Okay, so I've made one little tweak to the story line-extremely minor but could prove essential. And that is the fact that the Mangekyou sharingan is a well known-though nearly a mythical-idea in the village. Yup, I think that's the one tweak I made; there's a few assumptions I made as well, but I'll explain those when they come up. As for Itachi's actions, they are explained a bit later story. Everything that doesn't make sense initially will get an explanation eventually-Promise!

Anywho, next chapter is when the wheels seriously get set in motion. Woot!

ReadEnjoyReview


Wolf Thief

Chapter 7: The Uchihas


Kakashi was lying. At the rate he was going, she was pretty much part of the team. He made sure she attended every single one of the E-rank missions he had promised for three weeks. The hotel kicked her out at the end of the second, but the Hokage was kind enough to give her a temporary apartment until she could find something better. Kakashi made her stay after to give her extra lessons on chakra control and new fighting skills. He noticed her weak hold in ninjutsu and genjutsu and gave her a book to read on it. Sasuke insisted that she taught him how to fight with a katana in the morning or in the evening (depending on what was best). Occasionally she'd meet to spar with Naruto and eat dinner with the blonde. Sakura joined them for dinner every time they went. She was beginning to set a schedule.

"I'm beginning to set a schedule!" Aiyana screeched. She grabbed the nearest thing and slammed her head against it. A schedule! She was becoming conventional! "Gah, I can't believe it!"

"That's what happens when you live in one place for three weeks," Haka commented.

"Shut up. You're comments aren't needed."

Aiyana rubbed her forehead and looked at the object she had hit her head with. The book Kakashi had given her. Now that she thought about it, he had mentioned it belonged to the library and she needed to return it for him. If it was late, he swore that he would make her pay the fine. Sighing she looked at the clock and knew she had just enough time to get to the library and back before she met Sasuke for evening training.

After asking a few people for directions, she and Mingan found the library. The lady at the front desk told her that Mingan had to sit outside. Mingan left with his tail and head hanging low and Aiyana returned the book. Then she noticed the one sitting beside the old lady at the desk. Uchiha Clan: A Complete History. Wasn't Uchiha Sasuke's last name?

She snatched the book and walked out with it in her hands without the old receptionist noticing.

Once she returned to the apartment, she settled into the nearest chair and pried open the book. The first few pages were an introduction which she completely disregarded. The next two after that was a massive family tree. She scanned the bottom of it to find Sasuke's name.

"Ah! There it is Mingan!" she exclaimed and pointed to it. The name beside it was Itachi Uchiha. The two of them had the same mother and father. Brothers. That guy Itachi with the weird red eyes was Sasuke's brother. "Wait a second, Mingan, Sasuke wants to kill his own brother!" She stared at the family tree to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Yup, brothers. "There has to be a reason!"

Aiyana flipped through the chapters till she was at the end.

Part III: The Final Years.

Okay, now that was strange. She read on and learned more about Sasuke's mother, father, and brother than she cared to know. Apparently Itachi was some kind of prodigy who activated his sharingan when he was four. She had to flip through the book to figure out what the hell a sharingan was. She found it in the glossary because a history book needed a glossary.

Sharingan-a genetic eye technique that naturally occurs in members of the Uchiha clan. It is not immediately present from birth, and first activates in a stressful situation in battle; after this occurrence, the user may utilize the Sharingan freely. When first acquired, the Sharingan has only one tomoe, and as its power increases, two additional tomoe will eventually appear.

The author had even been nice enough to include a drawing with color! The crimson eye stared up at her, three black commas circling its black pupil. If she stared at it long enough, she swore it would move. So instead, she slammed the book shut. "Damn, creepy ass, demon eyes!" she muttered under her breath.

She opened it up again a few seconds later and continued to read. Sasuke was barely mentioned until he was eight. The majority of the author's focus was on Itachi and his amazing growth through the ninja world. She had to give the guy credit. ANBU captain at 13 was pretty impressive. And then she found the page where everything began to go downhill. Apparently Shisui Uchiha, Sasuke and Itachi's cousin, committed suicide. Blame was pushed onto the person closest to him-Itachi.

In all honesty, she felt like she was reading a drama story.

Many believe that Itachi murdered Shisui in order to obtain the unthinkable-the mangekyou sharingan.

"Exciting! A plot twist!" Haka chimed as Aiyana flipped through the book to find the definition of mangekyou sharingan.

"Didn't I tell you that your comments weren't necessary?" Aiyana growled as she stared at yet another drawing. It was creepier than the last, she had to admit. Blood red again, fitting considering he murdered someone for it, with an odd shuriken looking thing in the center.

Mangekyou Sharingan: a heightened form of Sharingan. It is rare among the members of the Uchiha clan, present only in those who have killed their closest friends.

She stared at the strange eye for a bit longer before flipping back to her original page.

Over the next few weeks, Itachi Uchiha further distanced himself from his clan. On October 11th, he took it a step further and massacred the entire clan once dusk fell. The only survivor was his younger brother Sasuke Uchiha.

Many theories have been contrived to explain Itachi's sudden, destructive behavior. We shall consider some of these in later-

Aiyana slammed the book shut. She had already learned too much about that man to even want to think about what he could have been thinking. On the other hand, Sasuke…was waiting for her!

"Shit!" Aiyana shouted grabbing her things and running out the door. She locked Mingan inside without realizing in her rush. He whimpered and pawed at the door to no avail. She was already gone. As Sasuke was when she reached the training the field. Aiyana kicked up dirt but couldn't blame him. He probably had enough waiting to do when it came to Kakashi-san and she was half an hour late.

Aiyana stuffed her hands in her pocket and took a longer route back to her apartment. Along the way, she found a road that she had yet to explore. Well, there still was some light and she had nothing better to do. The road led away from the heart of the village and through a residential area. She was about to turn back when she noticed a crumbling wall at the far end of the road. When she reached it, she looked to the left and right and saw the boarded up entrance. A plaque beside it read Uchiha Complex.

"You're kidding," she muttered under her breath.

Glancing up and down the road, she made sure no one was watching and began to pull off some of the boards. After a couple of minutes she had made a hole big enough for her to squeeze through. And there she was, standing in the exact place she had been reading about nearly an hour earlier.

She got goosebumps up and down her arms as she wandered down the dirt road. The place had been abandoned for five years and it showed. Houses were beginning to cave in on themselves. Web like cracks crawled through any form of glass and rotting wood. A few rats scuttled across her path as she walked. The tops of the walls were eroding. Some of the doors hung of their hinges and signs had fallen. She got the feeling that she didn't belong. It was as if the abandoned houses themselves knew she wasn't an Uchiha. She was simply a curious trespasser.

And the house at the end of the road was the most imposing building she had ever seen.

It had to belong to the head of the clan. Itachi and Sasuke's father. Yes, that was right. Itachi was set to be head of the clan. Man, it was creepy how much she knew about him now. Yet she didn't even notice when he was standing right behind her.

"What are you doing here?"

Aiyana screamed and whirled to face her stalker. His red eyes stared at her curiously and she immediately backed away from him. "I-I was just…uh…I…was sight-seeing." Her back pressed against the wood of the gate. Was that a spark of amusement in his demon eyes? "You're Itachi Uchiha."

Itachi cocked his head as if he was cat.

"I've been reading about you." She flushed, realizing what she had just said. "In a non-creepy, non-stalkerish way, I mean. But, it wouldn't matter, cause I'm a thief and my whole career is centered on information." It took her another minute to realize her mistake. "Shit."

"Aiyana-chan," Itachi said calmly. She was really crept out by the fact that he knew her name. Of course, what crept her out even more was his next question. "Do you want to know why I killed my clan?"

Oh God, maybe she should have read farther into the book; it could have given her a better idea on how to approach possibly (or probably) clinically insane, murderous men. After all, his reasoning behind the murders must be very shallow if he was willing to share with a complete stranger. Like, for example, his twelve-year old girlfriend broke up with him and he went on a killing spree or something of the sort. She'd be better off just not hearing anything at all.

"Honestly," she said after a calming breath, "I don't. I already know enough about you. I don't want to know about how your twisted mind works. How about I just leave you and your little complex in peace and we'll pretend this encounter never happened, okay?"

She attempted to leave, but Itachi place an arm in front of her path. He was taller than her and his outstretched arm reached up to her eye level. She followed the lines of his arm back to his face. "Did I not say it last time? Akatsuki wants you."

"I do not want Akatsuki," she answered flatly, looking into his red eyes. Red with the blood of his victims, she thought. The very idea that she could be standing in the spot that someone died sent shivers down her spine. Itachi noticed and frowned.

"Are you cold?"

"What?" Did he seriously just ask her if she was cold? What was this? Murderers Give Sympathy Day? Well, if he wanted to give her sympathy, then he should let her go. "No, I'm not. But I would like to leave."

"Aiyana-chan, please do not make this difficult," Itachi said with a note of tiredness.

Difficult? This man was being difficult! Was it that difficult to understand that her answer was no? Another calming breath with her eyes closed this time. "Me? Make this difficult? You're making it difficult by ignoring the fact that I'm telling you no!" She shoved a finger into his chest and he actually seemed a bit startled. "I like it here! And I won't be going with you and Sharky to this Akatsuki gang or whatever it is! So how about you just let me go on my merry way and ditch this town, okay, Itachi-san!" She paused, perhaps for dramatic affect or just to breathe, and added as an afterthought, "By the way, I want my katana back!"

He looked away, not as if he wanted to avoid eye contact but as if he had heard something. "Kisame-san is returning. If you are not out of sight by the time he returns, then you will be coming to Akatsuki whether you want to or not." Her mouth dropped open in shock. His eyes narrowed at her. "Do you want to come?" He asked simply because she hadn't moved.

"Of course not!" she snapped and immediately dashed away.

That was the second time that Itachi Uchiha had helped her. Intentionally or not she had yet to determine.