"Love hurts, does it not?" Aunt Akita asked, smiling sadly as pink petals from the nearby sakura tree fell to the ground in a rush. The wind blew my hair every which way, so I put my hand up to shield my eyes from the harsh treatment my face was receiving.

"I don't know, I don't think I've felt the type of love you had for awhile now." Moms body was lowered gently into the ground, the sakura petals scattering on the top of her casket. "But, the type of love I did have has made my heart swallow itself. I'm sure yours feels completely different from mine."

"My heart is broken, shattered beyond repair, and burned into ashes." She replied back, sniffling.

"See, there was a difference." I looked up at her, smiling despite the emptiness I was feeling inside, and felt the cool trail of tears running down my cheek.

In all honesty, I prepared myself for this. I still looked sixteen, but I should've looked in my forties. Dad made it to 87, mom made it to 76. I had all this time to prepare myself for the demise of my family. One by one, death took them all. All that was left was Aunt Akita, but I knew she didn't have much longer either, she was pushing 80. I watched as she gazed at the clan members shoveling dirt onto her sister's, my mother's, casket, and I knew she was hurting more than I ever could. But only because I forced it to be that way. I hardened my heart, I tore away what emotions I could. It's difficult. As the years go by and you watch everyone you know and love be delivered to the ground to rot away, it tears at your mental stability. At your physical stability. Family, friends, even animals; I lost almost all. I will cherish Akita for the rest of her life.

I turned around before they finished, and started to walk away.

"Pay your respects, girl." Aunt Akita demanded with tears.

I paused briefly to look back at the pained expression on her face. "I already have." I whispered.

"Itachi!" I screamed out in fear, my throat closing up as the white half of the different colored man jumped towards me. I closed my eyes in anticipation, feeling my body free fall off the side of the cliff.

"Gotcha." Itachi whisper. I forced my eyes open once my body was caught, and seen each tomoe of his sharingan spin, forming into a different shape. A figure formed behind him, the white half that was chasing me.

"Behind you!" I shouted.

"Amaterasu!" Itachi yelled directly after, pushing off the side of the cliff and holding me tight. The white half of the man screamed in pain as black flames engulfed him. He melted back into the earth, the flame following after him.

Our fall was broken by the soft caress of the ocean. Itachi's hold on me tightened as he forced us back up for air. Gasping once he sucked in oxygen, he caught his breath quickly before turning around and looking back up the side of the cliff.

"Come on, lets get out of this water." He stated, pulling me closer to the shore. It was almost completely dark now, only figures were able to be seen. Itachi's breathing was labored, proving that he hasn't gotten better much since the last time I healed him.

"We need to find shelter somewhere so I can heal you, you strained yourself too much." I stated, looking around for anything we could possibly hide in.

"We don't have time for that. I sent a crow out, they'll find us soon. I need to get you away from here." He said, clutching his head in pain.

"You really think you can get away from me that easily?" A deep voice questioned. Itachi turned around quickly, shoving me behind him. "All you had to do was hand the woman over and let it be. But instead you instigated a fight." He stood up from his crouch on a boulder that was peeking out from the ocean. "I guess force is required for this, though I really didn't want to have to use any." He jumped to land and faced us. Not long after, an almost pulling sensation overcame me, pulling me the slightest bit closer to the masked man.

"I-Itachi?" I questioned, looking at the eye hole of the mask which was distorted, along with the area around his face. "There's a sensation, I think it's coming from his eye."

"It's the power of his sharingan." Itachi muttered, more to himself. He pushed me behind him and let go of me briefly, pulling quick hand signs. "Fire ball jutsu!" A stream of fire flew from Itachi's mouth and formed into a ball, which got sucked into whatever place the masked mans eye was pulling me into. The man gasped and stopped his power, jumping back away from us and landing on the moving water. "Amaterasu!" Itachi yelled, for the second time. The black flames quickly cloaked the masked man. He grunted in pain for a couple seconds before he used his sharingan and vanished quickly, leaving no trace of him behind.

That was too easy...

I was hesitant about moving, afraid that he'd show up out of nowhere, but I noticed blood streaming down from Itachi's eye, almost like tears. He grasped his head in pain, grimacing slightly.

"Are you okay?" I asked frantically, already using medical ninjutsu on the back of his head. The hesitation left my body once I started to focus my mind on healing him. He slowly lowered his hand and let out a breath of relief. "If it's too painful to perform certain jutsus, then you don't need to be doing them at all." I stated with a glare. Itachi in pain made me feel like a failure as someone who is suppose help heal and relieve people of their discomfort. If I can't even help cure a simple disease, what else might come along that'll hinder my ability from working smoothly?

"It doesn't usually effect me this bad." He muttered out uneasily.

"It's your cells. We walked all day in the hot weather, that didn't help you at all. And plus moving around too much and exerting yourself from fighting with those two men made it ten times worse. We need to find somewhere so I can do a chakra run thr- Itachi!" I barely caught him and managed to keep him up right, the dead weight of his body worked against me, though with a little strength I kept him from landing harshly on the ground. His eyes were closed tightly, and beads of sweat rolled down his face. Even in his unconscious state he still managed to look uncomfortable and in pain. I quickly got to work by lying him down and taking off whatever clothes he had on- only leaving his underwear be. I channeled my chakra through his, and gasped at the feeling of the white blood cells steadily overrunning the red blood cells. For a good ten minutes, I calmed down the cells activity, though not enough to keep it at bay for him to wake up and feel better.

"You truly are remarkable." Came a deep voice. My eyes snapped open and looked at the man from earlier, his orange mask practically glowing in the dark. I wanted to pull away from Itachi, but knew it would only hurt him more if I stopped prematurely. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes again and focused my attention to the task at hand instead of the villain in front of me. "You are coming with me."

I felt my chakra flow stagger at his words. "Can I at least heal him first?" I questioned quietly.

"No." He spoke back. I heard quick movements, and opened my eyes to see the man holding a kunai, the butt of it quickly coming down on me.

"Wait!" Pain erupted from the side of my head and darkness flooded my vision, but the only thing I was truly worried about was the passed out Itachi being left alone in the middle of nowhere, with the possibility of never waking back up.

"Every time." I said with a frown. Akita let out a hearty laugh, the wrinkles on her face stretching out with her smile.

"Shogi just isn't for you, dear." She commented smugly.

"I guess not. Do you want to play again?"

"Of course!" Her old lungs shouted with glee. I smiled at her behavior, it was a rare occurrence to see her laughing and being happy.

"Alright, let the embarrassment begin."

;

"Sumiko."

It was early summer, everything was almost finished blooming, and a cool breeze took up most of the day. I was lounging outside, a book in my hand and a cup of cold water on the ground beside me. The green grass tickled my bare legs, and the soft sunlight hit against my body and kept it warm.

"Akita passed away twenty minutes ago."

A family dog barked joyously within the area, and bugs of all kinds flew and hopped around, enjoying their day.

And yet, this cursed gift had managed to ruin my entire existence.

I suck at action and it really shows in this since I'm kinda vague with it, so I'm sorry for that. I had a lot of trouble with this chapter and it is one of my more shittier ones. Sigh. The italicized does have a connection with the rest of what I wrote, despite what it seems. It regards how Sumiko thinks that she loses everybody she loves; her last known relative dying, to being forced to leave Itachi at his most vulnerable where he could also die. It's connected with the Miyoko also, her outliving everyone while also not being able to cure Itachi's illness. Also, Itachi probably seems weak as fuck, but you gotta remember, he's sick. He can't be strong 24/7. I know the direction I want to go with this story, but it's so difficult to lay everything out in order and add in extra stuff, yanno? Anyways, Enjoy! And be so kind to leave a review, it's hard to get motivated when you don't have other people's opinions to go by and help you out.