AN: Happy New Year, I lied about this being posted in January. It's good lie, at least? I want to thank everyone for reviewing, it made my heart swell to get eleven review in such a short time. But there's something I need beg of you this chapter:

PLEASE READ UNTIL THE END AND THE SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE.


Seeking Peace

Chapter VII


The incident in the road left me so exhausted that we were already in Saboten by the time I awoke, having slept for almost an entire day. My silence had frustrated mother, and she wasted no time in heading to the doctor while I waited, unwilling to escort her and get more questions from for my trouble.

Obviously I wasn't going to answer her. She could guess well enough on her own – and did, naming Kojiro right in the beginning. I turned away before she began questioning me so I'm not sure if I gave it away that her guess was right, but I was sure Kojiro would be in for a row when we got back home.

Good. He could answer her, because I wasn't going to, not as long as she kept secrets from me.

These eyes…

My father was a Uchiha, these eyes left no doubt but who was the important thing here… I understood perhaps mother was worried for me. Itachi, judging from my visions, was a monster. If he found about me, I'd be dead. Right?

And the visions were the worst of it all. Obviously they were connected to Sasuke and the Uchiha in general, and maybe if I knew who my father was I'd understand why I was getting them.

I hoped.


"Heiwa, please, you can't not talk to me forever." Mother said from the other side of the swaying caravan. It was sunset, and we would probably make it to the Hovel by nightfall. Kaa-san hadn't said anything about her doctor's visit to me, not that I asked, and returned with a bag of some sort of medicine. I just ignored her, slept, and focused on my thoughts the best I could in the creaks of the swaying caravan.

Mother groaned, putting her hands to her face and rubbing her temples, all while glaring at me in irritation. I looked away again, not bother to show any reaction and keeping my face blank.

"Heiwa, you're being ridiculous, you can't ignore me like this." She tried again, crawling closer. I turned around, facing a bag of feed and ignoring her.

"Ugh! You can't be serious- Heiwa, if you don't stop sulking and acting like a brat, I will forbid you to even see Kojiro, much less whatever continue you've been learning from him." Mother raised her voice. I cringed, bringing my hands up to cover my ears so I could stop hearing her.

Mother groaned, and I could hear her bang her head against the caravan floor. I eased my hands, catching her whispers.

"Heiwa, I'm trying…" She said. "I don't know how to deal with you like this, to deal with this…Can't you just try and make this easier by not ignoring me?"

My mother was very young… not yet 21, having me a month before she turned sixteen. This time in the caravan was the first time I realized how, even though she was so old compared to me, young she was. How having me was probably unexpected.

I wondered why she did.

Mother sat up again, but didn't say anymore to me. We sat in silence for hours, the clopping of hooves and the creaking of the wagon our only music, until the countryside I could see in the cracks of wagon's walls began looking extremely familiar. We were almost there.

I eyed the exit, thinking of what would happen. It was late, mother would hopefully not disturb Kojiro's night with accusations, instead she'd head to bed and creep out at dawn to forbid him from teaching me. I couldn't let that happen, I know she'd completely neglect to mention my red eyes.

Mother didn't know I knew I was an Uchiha, and because of my silence, she didn't know Kojiro knew as well. I wonder if the fact Kojiro was a shinobi frightened her too. Shinobi were the boogiemen of our tales, a bad-luck sign, and having lived through a civil war started by them, my mother was a civilian and had the same superstitions and views on them as the rest of the Hovel. I couldn't leave this up to mother.

I wouldn't.

Mother was lying back on a bag of feed, looking through some papers she had bought in Saboten. I cast another brief look at the countryside. We were probably a forty-minute walk from the Hovel.

Less by chakra. I steadied myself, aware that this was a little dangerous and if it went wrong, I would be in so much trouble, but I had to do this. Deep breath and –

I stood up and ran out to the exit. Mother looked up and sent me a look of fear, understanding too late what I was doing.

"Heiwa, don'-"

I ran out and jumped from the caravan, landing wobbly on my two feet.

"STOP THE WAGON, KIMINORI-SAN!" My mother screamed, head poking out of the caravan. It stopped but before my mother could leave it, I pushed off again, channeling chakra to my legs and running down the dirt road to the Hovel.

"HEIWA!" I could hear Kaa-san scream behind me, her shouts and yells getting fainter and fainter as I got farther.

What would have taken us forty minutes took me ten as I ran straight for Kojiro's house. The moon was high up in the starry sky by the time I reached his yard, jumped over the fencing and sent the chickens sleeping in the yard squawking and shrieking. The noise must have alerted Kojiro that something was wrong, as he came bursting out on his porch immediately.

"Who the-…Heiwa?" I eyed him, panting from how hard I had to run… Using that much chakra…But I had to show him before Mother got there…

He came closer, dropping the knife he'd picked up along the way out of his house.

"Heiwa, what's goin' on?" Kojiro asked, concern quite plain on his face. "Where's your mom? The caravan?"

I blinked and called chakra forth to my eyes, hoping this was the correct way of awakening it, opening them and taking the strange world that they showed. A world slower than our own, where every visual detail was seen in higher clarity, overwhelming my sight with the strange shining radiance of every living thing. Kojiro glowed brighter than my mother had, and more so than the men I'd defeated, appearing to me as a bright beacon more than a person.

He took a step back, shock etched on his facial features and mouth left hanging open.

"Y-you…that's the…shit! Get inside!" He whispered, grabbing me and dragging me up the porch and into the kitchen. He placed me gently on one of his chairs, muttering to himself as he lit a match and then his wooden stove. Kojiro slammed the teapot on the burner none too gently before turning to me.

"Who else saw you? What the hell happened, Heiwa?" I moved the chair closer to the table and set my elbows on it, signing as I did so.

"Two men attacked. Hurt Kaa-san, now dead." I signed the best I could… Kojiro frowned and got out a notebook and pencil, throwing them down at the table. I picked them up and began writing.

"Two men, highway robbers, stopped us on the way to Saboten. Tried to steal and hurt my mother. Mother wanted me to run but I came back and these eyes happened. I killed them both. Mom knows about the eyes and guessed about the training. I ran away from her before she could get back."

Kojiro picked up the notebook and read it once I was finished, joining me at the table. He set the book down and gave a deep sigh as he did so.

"I never thought you'd get those eyes this young… It's called the Sharingan. Remember I said I could sense you were part of a clan? The Uchiha? They'd use eyes like that durin' battle, I'm sure you noticed some of the changes."

The Sharingan. The mirror wheel eye?

"I don't know the specifics of gettin' those eyes but the one time I saw an Uchiha get them, back in the First War, her boyfriend or teammate was 'bout to be killed. We decided to retreat, when she just charged in, eyes blazin', and knocked everyone outta her way. Didn't really realize what happened until later. Whatever triggers it, it probably has to be stressful."

I nodded, since I was very stressed when I awakened it. The sight of mother laying on the ground…

The water behind us bubbled, and Kojiro went to quickly turn it off. I peered out the window, wondering when Kaa-san was going to arrive. I didn't hear the sound of a horse trotting down the dirt yet. Kojiro got back my attention by placing a cup full of some brown liquid that wasn't tea in front of me. It smelled amazing.

"Hot cocoa…I keep a secret stash and you look like you needed some." I mouth my thanks and sip it, letting the smooth richness and warmth of the drink wash down my throat.

"So, your mother knows you're bein' trained in ninjutsu? She already guessed it's me, right?" Kojiro asked.

I nodded, sipping my cocoa and observing his reaction. It was Kojiro who would best manage to settle down my mother, after all.

"Well," The old man groaned over his cup. "This is definitely not how I wanted to have that conversation, Heiwa, but I guess we have-"

"We? Don't bring my daughter into this." The front door opened, letting in the sound of shrieking chickens and my mother into the room. She looked over the room, obviously the first person in Kojiro's house besides me, and her glance landed on some of the older, Uzu artifacts before she coldly regarded Shishou.

Kojiro immediately got up.

"Suiren-sa-"

"Heiwa, get up. We're going home." I shook my head, remaining seated and choosing to instead sip on my cocoa.

"Come now, Suiren-san, it's no good to be hasty. Pleas-"

"I didn't come here to talk, shinobi-san." Mother bit out, voice full of venom as the word 'shinobi' rolled out. "We shoulda guessed, with that wooden leg and how standoffish you are. A nuke-nin, of all things."

"Can't be a missing ninja of a country that don't exist anymore, Suiren-san." A wide, fake grin spread tiself over Kojiro's face, and his wrinkles deepened. "Anyway, I really do think we need to discuss Heiwa's future."

"Her future?" Mother laughed coldly. "You mean the fact you enticed a little girl and showed her 'cool' things in order to train her to be a paid killer? A lonely, crippled old man like yourself…probably wanted to relive your glory days so you used my daughter to do so."

My eyes widened, and Kojiro's smile slid off his face.

"If you think insulting me will make me back off," He spoke, voice rough and in the same strange dialect I heard him use when we spotted the Suna-nin a year back. "You're mistaken. If anything, I'm saving her – or did you want me to condemn an Uchiha child to her death by letting her go untrained and unprotected."

Mother glared at me before sneering at Kojiro. "So she told you about the eyes."

Kojiro gave out a round of harsh, grating laughter. "Told me? No, no, Suiren-san, any shinobi who knows what to look for can guess what clan her father's from. And in the case of sensors like me, we don't even need to guess."

Mother shook, her eyes darting towards the exit. "S-sensor?"

Kojiro leaned over the table to stare my mother dead on in the face. "Yes, sensors. Didn't hear 'bout that in your civilian gossip, did ya? A good sensor can trace chakra signatures to ancestry, and anyone who's got a whiff of Uchiha could tell you that right there is one of their bastards." He pointed to me, smiling angrily. "And so I trained her, you know, instead of allowin' her to remain unprotected and defenseless when there are hundreds of people willin' to do anythin' to get at her and her eyes."

"Don't fool yourself, Kojiro-san, you've ruined the only chance she has to remain hidden!"

"And what, let her be killed? From what Heiwa said, it sounds like you owe your life to her kunoichi trainin'!"

"I would gladly die if she had remained unremarkable and far from anyone's notice!" Mother screamed out.

"No, you would have died and she would have gone on the black market, only to be snatched up and sent to the breedin' pens of Kumogakure! But you're not worried 'bout other shinobi, are you, Suiren?"

Mother closed her mouth, her whole frame shaking from anger.

"Distance and a tiny village off the map won't protect her from Uchiha Itachi, Suiren." Kojiro spoke again, softer now. Mother made a strangled noise in the back of her throat at the moment he said 'Itachi'.

"He'll never get her! I'll hide her!"

Kojiro heaved a sigh before sitting down and rubbing at his wooden leg.

"If Itachi ever found 'bout her, he'd be here sooner than you can say 'hide', Suiren. The only thing that could help Heiwa is a village, a village unwillin' to lose an asset like an Uchiha girl."

Mother started laughing again. "A-a village? Like that worked out well for his family! He killed them all anyway, and you think a village could stop him from killing her? They'll deliver her to the gates to be rid of him!"

"Itachi's massacre of the Uchiha was unexpected. The element of surprise is a one-time advantage. A threat you're aware of is easier to manage than a surprise threat from home. A village could shield her, train her until she's able to surpass him."

I felt my hands go slack…Surpass him? Did shishou just say what I thought he did? He wanted me to surpass that monster? Who killed his family?

"Surpass him? You want her to surpass him? Heiwa can never do that!" Mother shouted. "You'd be raising a lamb for slaughter!"

"Your daughter might become one of best shinobi of her time!" Kojiro snapped. "And its kill or be killed for her. She won't have a moment's rest if she grows up with Itachi alive! It's either her or him, and I want to give her a fightin' chance!"

Mother broke out in laughter once more, and for a second I was worried that she might go into another seizure, with how hysterical she seemed.

"You want her to kill him? No, she can't! You can't ask that of her!"

Kojiro looked as calm as an evening in the still canyons as he took a swig of his cocoa, eyeing my mother nonchalantly.

"Is it because he's her father?"

All became quiet. Mother stopped the frenetic laughter and her frightened eyes landed on me.

No.

Her lip trembled again.

No. He can't-

"She will never meet him." Mother whispered, to me more than Kojiro. "Itachi doesn't know of her. And he never will."

I slammed my fists on the table, grabbing my notepad and angrily scribbling out a question. I need to know, I needed confirmation.

I was so tired of these things being kept from me. I was so tired of Kaa-san pretending nothing was wrong.

"Who is my father?"

I raised the page with the question up for my mother to see. She looked back at me, in tears.

"A man you'll never meet." And mother was gone, running out of the kitchen, and leaving us behind. When the wooden door slammed and the chickens finally stopped squawking, Kojiro got up from the table and walked over to a bookshelf. He retrieved a small thin book and placed it in front of me.

"That's a recent bingo book. Look under Konoha." I opened it up, noting that it was really recent, only printed out a few months before. I flipped until I noticed the leaf symbol that signaled Konohagakure's shinobi, stopping and carefully turning page by page until I saw him. He stared back at me, younger than he was in the vision I had seen him in, but much older than the given age for him the photo. He was only thirteen in that? He looked much older.

"Six years ago, the Uchiha clan in Konohagakure were murdered by the clan's heir, a prodigy named Uchiha Itachi." Kojiro said to me. I stared at him, looking over those features I had noted last year while dreaming. Sasuke's features came close, but that eye shape was different, the lashes elongated. The lower lip bigger than his brother's, the nose more prominent.

Just like mine.

"I didn't want to believe it at first, since thirteen goin' on fourteen is on the young side to be visiting prostitutes…but then the new Bingo book came out and listed his partner." I read part of the entry about associates, saying he traveled with a man named Hoshigaki Kisame. I raised my eyebrow at Kojiro, unsure of what he meant.

"A couple years ago, Daichi wrote me that Hoshigaki Kisame had been spotted visiting the yukaku in Saboten. I checked my letters for the date, and around eighth months after I got that letter, your mother arrived, holdin' you."

I looked back at the teenager on the book, his eyes like black holes. He didn't look like a thirteen-year-old in the photo, but there was youth in his face, and something softer that had been missing in the vision.

Itachi. Sasuke. Mother. Saburo and Yakuto. This was…

This was too much.

I burst into tears over the page, feeling like some dam I'd built up just shattered and allowed all my feelings to flood me. Instantly, Kojiro drew me up into a hug, but that only made me sob harder. Rough hands patted the back of my head as I cried into his shoulder.

It took a couple minutes to stop my tears, and Kojiro set me back down gently.

"Want me to walk you home?" He asked. I cast a glance towards the door and shook my head.

"I don't want to." I signed, deciding that I didn't want to deal with mother tonight.

"That's fine," Kojiro agreed. "I'll go put up the couch for you, wait here."

He left me alone with the bingo book, still opened to my father's face. My father.

No.

Uchiha Itachi was a former client of my mother's, nothing more. And he was dangerous.

I felt something stick in my throat as I imagined him coming after with those gleaming red eyes, after the Hovel, and anger replaced my earlier bewilderment and sorrow. He wouldn't come close to hurting them.

I had the epiphany that changed my life over a cup of lukewarm cocoa that night.

'No,' I thought as I was laid to bed by Kojiro, the uncomfortable couch cushions keeping me awake, 'Itachi's death was long overdue.'

It all made sense now, these visions. I understood now that some higher purpose was helping, guiding me along the right path. And why they were centered on my paternal family, on Sasuke. I was meant to help him.

And so I swore to myself that night that I'd find him when he was ready. Surely the visions would tell me when he was ready, when I needed to be ready.

I'd become as strong as I could be in the meantime, regardless of what mother wanted. I was doing this for her, anyway, so she didn't have to fear for me, or spend her life running away from the mistake she made by having me.

And when it was time, my uncle and I would kill Itachi.


The smell of eggs frying woke me up. I groaned as I sat up, sore from Kojiro's lumpy couch. Shishou was in the kitchen, attired in an apron as he stood over the burner.

I raised my eyebrow at how relaxed my teacher looked. He was usually alert and dressed normally when I came around for lessons, except for the slippers, and this was my teacher in pajamas and an apron. I knocked on the wall to get his attention and he turned away from the pan, giving me a small smile.

"Mornin', Heiwa. You sleep any last night?" I nodded, frowning down at the horrible couch. Next time, I'd prefer the floor.

"Nice to know someone did," He muttered and turned back to the stove. "Breakfast'll be ready in two. Go wash up." I tiptoed over to the sink, hefting myself on top of the counter before cleaning my hands and face.

Kojiro eyed me with caution, and I noticed the black bags under his eyes, and just how tired he looked. He looked as bad as I felt. My vengeance-filled thoughts and dreams did little to improve my mood from last night or the past few days, really. I felt like I was somewhere between feeling too much and feeling nothing at all.

I didn't like it. Not at all.

The sizzling of the pan combined with Kojiro turning off the stove told me it was time to eat, so I hopped off the counter and back to my chosen seat. A minute later, I stared down at a bowl of rice with a fried egg and some daikon on top, feeling slightly impressed at Kojiro's cooking. He must have been feeding himself for years. Rei had made very clear her belief that 'as an old bachelor, Kojiro's house must be a pigsty and he must survive on canned food', and I guess I never thought much about Kojiro outside my lessons, besides the strangeness of his origins. It was strange, breakfasting with him.

I broke the yolk, watching it fall down rather than eating.

"What's the matter? Not hungry?" Kojiro asked, once more seated across from me. I shook my head and began slowly eating, wondering why I felt like this. Kojiro noticed.

"You alright?" He asked.

I shook my head again.

"Of course you ain't," the old man agreed with me gruffly. "You just had some really bad days. Listen, I know you may be broken up about those robbers you fought-"

I shook my head again, harder this time, sending my hair flying.

"I don't. They had to die." I set my face to look as serious as I could make it while signing, trying to convey how much I believed in that.

"Had to, eh? What makes you think that?" Kojiro eyed me thoughtfully.

Fingers around my mother's throat made me think that, huge bulking bodies threatening and leering at her made me think that. I had little remorse for killing Saburo and Yakuto – if I hadn't, I'd be short a mother, even if she wasn't my favorite person right this second, that loss… I didn't want to imagine it. I didn't know how to express all of that in signs, so I just clarified it simply.

"It was the right thing to do." Finished with my concise explanation, I returned to eating my breakfast.

Kojiro leaned back, frowning at me. "We don't always know what's right, Heiwa. And it's okay to not feel much 'bout what happened, either…Look, Heiwa, I need to tell you about yesterday…" He broke off.

I continued eating, occasionally pausing to look up at him to show that I was waiting as he struggled to get his words out.

"The stuff I said, about Itachi, forget it, okay? You ain't obligated to do anythin' 'bout him or ever meet him. I still think Amegakure's the best shot you have, but as to Itachi, well, we'll deal with how to make sure you escape his notice, alright?" I swallowed another spoonful of daikon, wondering if this was what made Kojiro lose sleep last night.

"No, I think you were right." I signed to him. "I looked up the Uchiha last year, in the library. I know what he did. Killing him is the right thing do."

My shishou looked severely uncomfortable at that. "Heiwa, it's the right thing to do, but it ain't somethin' you should be worried about. Itachi's an S-class criminal."

"But you said it's kill or be killed-"

"I know what I said last night, but damn it, your mother made me angry and I wasn't thinkin' right!" Kojiro shouted. "You're five, Heiwa! You outta not wetted your first kunai, you outta not have those eyes! You can be amazin' one day but bein' hasty will only get you killed, and I…can't watch you go off to your death, girl…"

There were tears at the corner of his eyes.

I looked away, unsure of how to react. I had to make sure Itachi never came after me or my family (Kojiro included), but here Kojiro and Kaa-san were both telling me not to, and yet I wouldn't be safe with him alive. I couldn't live my life in hiding! What was I supposed to do, not use the red eyes for the rest of my life?

I shook my head again and tapped the table to get Kojiro's attention again.

"I won't until you feel I'm ready. That I can promise."

Kojiro rubbed at his eyes. "Bah, foolish thing! You might never be!"

I said nothing, not wanting to argue what ifs because it had to happen at some point. And I was sure Kojiro didn't know about Sasuke.

As I was about to finish my bowl, a sharp rap on the door brought our attention to the outside, where Rei was waiting, looking unpleased.

"Oh, wonderful, I'll be gettin' a tongue-lashin' from Rei-san, I suppose." Kojiro groaned while opening the door for her. "Mornin' to ya, Rei-san."

Rei snorted while entering, looking around. "It's cleaner than I thought, must be that shinobi trainin'."

Kojiro gave a wry smile. "I like to think of it as good manners and breedin' myself." Rei harrumphed again before her gaze fell on me.

"Heiwa, it's time to go home. I know you're mad at your ma, but you can't bother Kojiro like this."

"She ain't botherin' me, she's my student."

"And she has a home." Rei answered sharply. "Come on now, it's not like we can really stop you from seeing this ol' codger anyway. Though why anyone would seek your company, Kojiro-jii, I can't say."

"Ah, you just broke this old man's heart. Go now, Heiwa." He said. I shook my head, instead reaching for my pencil and the notebook. Quickly, I scribbled out a question for Rei. Kojiro took it from me and read it aloud:

"What do you know about my father?"

Rei's lips thinned and she crossed her arms. "How much did Suiren tell you?"

"His name, and then ran out."

"Figures." Rei sighed. "Well, I don't know all that much, but I guess shinobi like you know what's he done, right? You probably filled Heiwa in."

"Yeah, she knows about the clan." I nodded, curious.

"Like I said, I don't know too much, only what Suiren would tell me. But we get shinobi customers around the Yukaku, and we keep quiet, unless someone pays well for some info. Especially with bigshots. I heard through the grapevine that two 'scary' shinobi visited Miyu's, and a month later saw your mother lookin' all frightened. We were friends back then, and so she told me that she had to entertain a scary shinobi, moment's notice. She, ah, wasn't sober when she did that."

Kojiro frowned.

"Suiren was hittin' the pipe pretty hard back then. She was young too, fifteen. Anyhow, she said her client was young, like her, and…well, reluctant."

Kojiro raised his eyebrows as Suiren went on.

"I don't know what she did, we're taught to make the clients comfortable, and if nothin', just talk. She wouldn't tell me anythin' 'bout it, but I think they just talked at first – she mentioned him not bein' in the right state of mind. I think she didn't know who he was until she realized she got pregnant. That's when she got scared and wanted to go into hidin'." Rei sighed.

"I don't know much more about it, only that man killed his whole family at the age of thirteen. Sounds like some demon possessed him, if you ask me."

Kojiro chuckled. "Sometimes demons and curses are better alternatives than realizin' monsters like Uchiha Itachi are completely human."

I walked over to Rei, aware that this was all she probably knew or wanted to say in front of Kojiro, and that it was time to go. Rei put a hand on my shoulder.

"Well, we've dallied here long enough, and I think your ma wants to see you. We'll be off, Kojiro-san."

I bowed, thanking him the best I could, before taking Rei's hand and steering her out and through the yard. Looking back, I could see Kojiro watching us from his window, uneasiness plain on his face. The hand holding mine gripped tighter as we got further away.

"Your ma's not happy, but for what it's worth, Heiwa-chan, I'm proud that you saved her." I looked up to see a small smile on Rei's face.

"This shinobi stuff is beyond me, or your ma, but…your ma was in some real trouble back there. So she ain't upset you saved her…we're just scared you'll grow up too fast."

"Just give her time." Rei said, opening the door of our home. Mother, seated on the table with a few new pill bottles, said nothing, only stared at me through red-rimmed eyes.

"Well, she's home. Anythin' to say, Suiren?" Rei asked. I looked at her, noting the bags under those eyes.

"No," Kaa-san rose up from the table. "I said all I wanted to last night." She exited quickly, slamming the door to a bedroom and leaving me alone with a stunned Rei.

I tugged on Rei's sleeve, unsure how to even react to such a rebuff from my mother. Perhaps, our roles from yesterday had inadvertently changed. I just hoped this wasn't a permanent change.


AN PART TWO:

STORY TIME. This was originally a one shot about Itachi breaking down and crying after killing his family, I want to write that because I refused to believe he kept it all inside. But then I started brainstorming the woman he'd confess, or cry in front of (I wanted this to be in a brothel), and my mind just came undone with this strong teenage girl who walked across a country to flee a war (among other things that will be revealed in upcoming chapters). Then my mind ran away with - what if Itachi had a kid? This was summer '14 when I thought of it, and things started to come into place. I finished the first two chapters in early August, coinciding with Heiwa's birthdate.

I'll address a few things here:

1. There's more explanations, explanations that can come both soon and towards the end of this story. This is a story about family most of all, and we will come back to Itachi and Heiwa constantly.

2. As to the age thing - one of things that I wanted to put in my one-shot was a kind of 'regretful' tone. I know a couple of people who lost their virginity at twelve (and one earlier) and regret it wholeheartedly, with one friend telling me that she was using it to cope with problems. SO it's far from unrealistic.

3. Another point, since the publishing of this story, Itachi has been revealed to have a 'love interest' (i haven't read the translation, but more a girl who had a serious crush on him than his girlfriend. this is getting an anime, apparently) and Obito did mention something about a lover. While I have my own views on Itachi and his ability to maintain relationships when his world and being centers so much on Sasuke, sex is a different matter.

And now, I leave you to reviewing, if you wish to. I'm certain some of you have strong views on this chapter, and I ask you share them with me, no matter how negative.