Chapter 16 – October

Two changes of clothes, neatly folded and tucked in the backpack. Comb. Toothbrush, toothpaste. He had done this a thousand times, and his hands moved almost mechanically, his mind whirring in the background. Yet something was most definitely amiss this time around, and it bothered him, however much he tried to convince himself otherwise.

Itachi's eyes went to the rather impressive arsenal of recently sharpened kunai arrayed on his bed, along with the pouch he usually strapped to his right leg. He hesitated, brows furrowing, and his hand hovered uncertainly towards the pouch. Maybe bringing a few weapons along would not hurt. A shinobi could never have enough weapons on them, whatever the situation. Besides, he would feel rather awkward without any, he argued inwardly. Eventually, he grabbed five kunai and a dozen shuriken, but shoved the pouch in the backpack instead of securing it to his leg.

A good compromise, he thought with some satisfaction as he hoisted the backpack onto one shoulder. His eyes swept over his room once more, both to ensure he had not forgotten anything and that everything was neat, the way he liked it. Coming back to a tidy room was always nice. He shut the door and padded down the hall, poking his head into the kitchen, where he could hear the water running.

Mikoto's head snapped towards him even before he had even taken a single step into the room, courtesy of her still-refined jounin instincts. Her eyes immediately fell on the backpack he was carrying and one of her brows shot up.

"I'm leaving for a couple of days," he told her.

She made a small, disconcerting sound of motherly anguish before abandoning the dishes. "Why didn't you tell me? I would have prepared a bento for you, and-"

Itachi smiled apologetically as he barred her way to the fridge before she had a chance to start packing food for him. "It's not a mission," he said. "I'm going on a small vacation with some friends."

Mikoto halted, her eyes widening in surprise. Never before had she heard those words come out of his mouth, nor had she thought she would. She eyed him warily for a few moments, although she could sense no deceit. Itachi had not been himself lately. For months now, she had the feeling he avoided spending more time at home than was absolutely necessary. He still disregarded any and all of Fugaku's attempts to reconcile with him. Moreover, he and Sasuke barely exchanged any words nowadays. Her efforts to discover the reason for this were still fruitless, but it weighed on her mind. Her family was drifting apart. It caused her no end of pain to feel so powerless to stop it. And still, Mikoto put on a smile. "Ara, Itachi, a vacation?"

Itachi visibly relaxed when she took a step back, away from the fridge. "Shisui and another friend both have their birthdays this month," he explained, feeling it was warranted. "We thought we'd all pitch in and do something special together this year to celebrate."

"That does sound wonderful. A bit of teambuilding never hurts, either," she said with a complicit wink.

Leave it to Mikoto to know that her overachieving eldest son would have no friends outside of work, Itachi thought, feeling slightly embarrassed. Although technically, Shisui did not count. He was family, above and beyond their shared blood.

"So, where will you be going?" she asked, pleased enough with the knowledge of Itachi taking a break to return to the sink.

"A nearby onsen resort, nothing too fancy." Itachi preferred to err on the side of caution and be vague about it, lest she realize the facilities to be one of the few remaining traditional ones in the Land of Fire. The onsen they had chosen allowed men and women to bathe together, which was nothing shameful in itself. He merely wished to avoid having that particular conversation with his mother. To his relief, she did not ask for more than he had given, content to instead remind him to try to have fun.

Itachi walked out of the kitchen with a smirk at the notion, only for it to fade at the sight of Sasuke putting on his sandals. He had not sensed him, he realized with some amount of wonder. When had his little brother finally gotten the hang of chakra concealment enough to slip past him unnoticed? How long had he been there, listening in? Not that Itachi had anything to hide, but Sasuke had been going out of his way to avoid him ever since that evening, at the beginning of August.

"Ohayo, Sasuke," Itachi said, sitting down to put on his sandals.

Sasuke stood up. He looked down at Itachi with dark eyes that would have curdled milk and a few seconds passed in heavy silence before he replied. "Hey."

He then walked out of the house before Itachi had a chance to say anything more. These short, painful exchanges had become a common occurrence in the past couple of months. Itachi sighed as he finished putting on his footwear. The awkward encounters with his father nowadays were still child's play compared to this. At least, those did not feel like ripping the same wound open time and time again.

I'm tired of your games, Itachi. I'll be playing by my own rules from now on.

And that, Sasuke had. Itachi painstakingly extricated himself from his memories of that night. He had seen no openings in the walls his little brother had raised since then, and there was no point in dwelling on it. For the moment, all he could do was hope to be given an opportunity, someday. He pushed himself up with a sigh.

"Ittekimasu," he said, to no one in particular.

Autumn had made Konoha blush in shades ranging from gold to vermillion, and yet the sunlight was still warm against Itachi's skin as he made his way through the Uchiha district. As much as his heart was not willingly in it, he could not help but admire the color palette of the trees he passed by.

"Itachi-san!"

The warm, feminine voice brought his admiration of nature's artistry to a halt. He turned his head to see a young woman standing in the middle of the road, smiling warmly and waving at him in greeting. The wind swept through her long, brown tresses before allowing them to settle back down.

"Izumi-san," he replied, returning her smile. He remembered her best as the little girl he had helped on an October night many years passed, during the kyuubi's attack on Konoha. The next thing that came to mind was sharing dango with her by the same lake where Sasuke usually sulked nowadays. Itachi and Izumi had joined the Academy together, but he had graduated much earlier. She was still a chuunin from what little he knew. It had been a long time since he had seen her.

"Going on a mission?" she asked, eyeing his backpack.

"Sort of," he said, caught unawares. Luckily, he did not have to say anything more before she spoke, allowing no time for awkwardness to slip in between them.

"Well, I won't keep you, then. Best of luck!"

"Thank you."

Izumi seemed like an easy person to be around, Itachi found himself thinking as she walked by, still holding on to the smile she had greeted him with. She was a bit like Shisui, in that she did not come across much like the rest of their clan. He realized he was excluding himself along with the rest of the Uchiha. Cold. Aloof. Arrogant. Was that how he seemed, even to his own mind? He rolled the thought around in his mind as he walked, slowly making his way out of the district. His feet carried him of their own accord, and it was only halfway that he realized he was headed in the wrong direction. Instead of the village gates, he had been ambling up the streets towards Akane's house.

Smiling softly to himself, Itachi turned around. Such was the force of habit. He had been making this trip with such regularity in the past few months that it was now ingrained in him. Even after signing up for rehabilitation, Akane had not put a stop to their meetings. When team Yon was not out, scouring the country for signs of the Akatsuki, Itachi would spend entire afternoons with her. Twice a week, sometimes three, without fail. Lately, the others had started joining them. Whether they trained or played cards at Akane's place, they would all talk and laugh the hours away, well into the night.

Please, don't go.

Even now, hearing himself say those words to her made Itachi want to duck his head in embarrassment. His sleep-addled mind had betrayed him. He had given in to that moment of weakness and reached out for her hand with that quiet plea. Worse still, Akane had relinquished. She had slipped under the covers without a word and they had slept through the night on opposite sides of the bed. By morning, neither of them had let go of each other's hand. A pleasant warmth suffused Itachi's chest at the memory of that contact.

To a man, to a shinobi, that kind of touch was more of a luxury than salt. Itachi could not remember the last time his mother had held him in her arms. He must have been around five, maybe younger. His father had never coddled him, needless to say. Indeed, the last time he could remember experiencing anything close to this, he had been giving Sasuke a piggyback ride home after he had sprained his ankle during practice. He was fond of that memory, and not even the recent dip in their relationship could tarnish it.

"Oi, Itachi!"

Itachi looked up and saw Shisui, framed by Konoha's giant wooden gates, waving at him. He smiled and picked up his pace slightly, realizing that his closest friend was surrounded by the three other members of team Yon. They were all waiting for him, rearing to go.

"Sorry I'm late," Itachi said as he came to a halt before them. His eyes darted among his teammates, until they fell on the shortest figure among them. Akane was smiling warmly, her hands tucked behind her back. Her hair was loose and the change was impossible not to notice, now that it only fell a few inches past her chin in the front and stopped at the base of her neck in the back. "You've cut your hair," he said, unable to keep a hint of surprise from slipping into his tone. Itachi had only ever seen her with long hair.

"Well, yes, I did cut it myself," she said, nitpicking on his choice of words, "but that turned out to be a mess, so I had to have someone fix it for me. People might have mistaken me for a broom, otherwise."

"It only takes a bit of practice," Tsume quipped in. "You wouldn't know it, but I always do it myself."

"That explains a lot," Tenzo said under his breath, eyeing her unruly mane from the corner of his eyes.

Tsume turned her hawk-like gaze to him in less than a second, making him take a step sideways to seek cover behind Shisui. The Inuzuka expelled a breath through her nose, arms akimbo. "Shall we go, then? None of us are getting any younger," she said, then continued to mutter as she picked up her backpack: "You'd think it'd kill them to pay a compliment to a lady."

Shisui snickered as Tenzo gave her a wide berth to retrieve his bag. Itachi smiled and shook his head, before taking the lead. At the casual pace he set, they would arrive at their destination sometime in the afternoon, but for the first time in the years they had been traveling together, they were not in a rush. There would be no information to dig up and no one to hunt and kill at the end of the road. While somewhat foreign, Itachi found the concept not at all unpleasant.

"Ah, but this sure feels divine," Tsume groaned as she waded through the water towards the three men already chest-deep in, their cheeks flushed from the heat.

The days had been getting short, and the sky above was already filled with a myriad of stars. They were alone in the steaming pools, their faces lit only by the soft, golden glow of paper lanterns hung in the surrounding trees and ornamental vegetation. The air was crisp and, no doubt, chilly, but none of them could feel it through the steam and the heat seeping into their flesh.

Itachi leaned against the warm stones lining the artificial island in the middle of the pool and a contented sigh escaped his lips. If he had known this would be so enjoyable, he would have rallied them for a vacation sooner. Heavens knew they had been in need of one for a long time. The last few months of running around the Land of Fire, scouring the countryside for the Akatsuki or any information pertaining to them had brought them no end of frustration and disappointment. Every painstakingly obtained lead had proven to be a dead end. The trails they found were always cold. The rumors, they could never either prove or disprove. It appeared that, in the aftermath of their encounter with Orochimaru, the Akatsuki had gone to great lengths to lie low and cover their tracks. For all intents and purposes, it seemed the Akatsuki had been swallowed up by the ground itself.

"We're here to relax, Itachi, remember?" Shisui asked, quick to notice the furrow of concentration between his eyebrows.

"Yeah, sorry," Itachi said, glad to be pulled out of the tangle. The Akatsuki was the last thing he wanted on his mind right now.

"Fortunately, there's plenty of ways to get your mind off things tonight," Tsume said with a grin, pulling a floating bamboo tray closer. It was loaded with cups and a bottle of warm sake. "This is a celebration, after all," she added, ignoring Tenzo's pointed look.

Itachi raised his gaze and saw Akane coming around the corner, the dark water lapping up almost to the top of her bare shoulders. Her cheeks were already a soft shade of pink from the heat, and her hair was in damp disarray, precariously pinned at the top of her head. Something fluttered in him at the sight, and he surprised himself thinking she looked lovelier like this than she had wearing makeup, on that impossibly hot day when they had gone to see Hiashi Hyuuga.

"Four cups are enough, Tsume-san," Tenzo said. "Itachi-san is still underage, remember?"

"What a load of horse shit," Tsume commented, pouring sake into a fifth cup without a moment's hesitation. "If he's old enough to kill, he's old enough to have a damn drink," she argued. "A cup won't kill him. Or two."

"Tsume-san…" Tenzo bemoaned.

"Cel-e-bra-tion!"

"It's alright, Tenzo-san," Shisui interceded. "I'll take responsibility for Itachi."

"Are we getting the captain drunk tonight, really?" Akane asked with a chuckle as she glided through the water and came to a stop beside Tsume. "On your head be it, Shisui-san. You'll be sharing the room with him."

"I'm right here, you know," Itachi said with a sigh, even as his lips twitched into a smile.

"Grab a cup if you want, then," Tsume said, a twinkle in her eyes. "Tenzo was worried we'd hold you down and pour it down your throat, but we're all responsible adults here."

Tenzo rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed, then reached out for a cup. Itachi could not deny being curious. At the same time, he did not want to be left out, for once. Not tonight. Besides, if he somehow did not manage to keep his wits about him, Shisui would take care of him. They all would, if it came down to that, though he doubted it, confident enough in his self-control. In light of that, Itachi was the last one to raise his cup.

"To Shisui-san," Tsume said, motioning with her cup towards him, "and to Akane! Two fine Konoha shinobi! I am honored to be working with you. Kanpaaai!"

The warm liquid burned its way down Itachi's throat and he almost choked, not having expected it to sting quite so. His eyes squeezed shut at the sensation and his hand shot up to his pursed lips. He quickly became aware of the silence around him and opened his eyes only to realize that the others had been watching him, a knowing smile on their lips.

"How was that, captain?" Tsume asked, grinning.

"How does anyone willingly drink this?" he asked in turn, feeling his tongue tingling.

"Maa, give it a few moments to work its magic and you'll understand," she said with a wink.

"This is definitely something you should not encourage, Tsume-san," Tenzo said, placing his empty cup back on the floating tray in their midst.

"Really now, you're so fatalistic," she replied, grabbing the bottle. "Here, have a second cup, maybe it'll help you unwind."

Amid Tenzo's grumbling, Itachi started to feel a strange sort of heat-pain inching down into the muscles of his legs. He leaned his head back against the stones, as if it were suddenly too heavy to keep straight, and thought of how much he would have liked to feel the chill of this October evening blow against his heated forehead. It felt like the blood in his body had suddenly rushed to his head, trying to escape the dark, hot water of the onsen pool.

"How are you feeling, Itachi?" It was Shisui's voice, but it sounded like it was coming from afar. Strange, since his cousin was right beside him. Itachi opened his eyes, though his closed lids were loath to cooperate, and looked at him.

"I'm alright," he decided. The strange sensations washing through him left him feeling weak and somehow vulnerable, but they were not entirely unpleasant. Was this the magic Tsume had spoken of? It certainly seemed like it, and it resembled nothing he had ever felt before.

"Oh, he's alright, all right."

Itachi turned his head in the direction of Akane's soft voice, which seemed to have attained another dimension to it through the haze in his head. It was crystal-clear, unlike his own. His eyes fell upon the elegant curve between her neck and shoulder, lingering there until she cocked her head trying to catch his gaze.

"I'm alright," he repeated, growing self-conscious. He raised a hand to rub the bridge of his nose, though it was more to hide his flush from her than anything. "I still don't understand why anyone would drink this."

Tsume chuckled. "I think you're starting to."

Shisui chuckled as he set his second cup down. He had never thought to use this word to describe Itachi, but suddenly it seemed like the only right one. Itachi was positively cute right now, blushing and blundering and barely holding his own weight, even in the water. There would definitely be no second cup of sake for him anytime soon, however, lest he have the same harrowing first experience as Shisui had, the morning after his first drink. He would not wish that kind of headache on his worst enemies.

"So, is your cousin signing up for the chuunin exams, Akane?" Tsume asked, refilling her own cup for the third time already.

"Reluctantly so. Asuma-san insisted, so Shikamaru didn't have much of a choice."

Itachi's ears perked up, shaken out of his stupor even more. The chuunin exams? A thorn burrowed in his heart. No doubt Kakashi had recommended Sasuke's team for the entry, as well. However, he had heard nothing of it. Sasuke had not breathed a word to him, not that it came as a surprise. Still, he could not help but wonder if his mother knew. Surely, she must have, he argued. Then why had Mikoto not told him?

"I told my Kiba to man up and do it. Kurenai is sensible in this and we agreed that they can't stay children forever. They're more than capable. That they have a choice is a luxury in itself, one we didn't have at their age."

Itachi cringed when Tsume turned her gaze to him. "What about your little brother, Itachi? I hear he's the best of the year's rookies," she said with some amount of distaste, but not begrudgingly. "Kakashi didn't leave them on the sidelines, did he?"

"I… don't think so."

She nodded, and mercifully turned her attention to her cup, emptying it with a satisfied smacking of her lips. "And so, the future is set in motion," she said, somewhat jaded.

"Who's being fatalistic now?" Tenzo quipped, emerging from his sullen silence.

By the time they left the pool and gathered in one of the inn's rooms for dinner, Itachi's head had cleared completely. Thinking of his little brother had pushed him most of the way towards soberness, but also towards the same unpleasant state of mind which had been dogging him for months. Which was why the sight of the feast laid out on the table for them stirred no happiness in him. If someone had asked him at that moment, he would not have known to say which state he preferred.

Tsume was well into her cups and making Shisui roar with laughter, and even Tenzo chuckled at the stories from her genin days, though he, like Itachi and Akane, had heard them over a dozen times already. He was surprised when Shisui, who had been keeping an eye on him since that first cup of sake, took a break from socializing and turned to him with the bottle and a smirk. Itachi would have liked nothing more than to join them in their mirth, which added weight to his decision to accept. He downed the small cup like it was water, though it burned no less than it had the first time. Fortunately, his stomach was full this time around.

"… so, I told her she should chain her damn cat to the radiator. Needless to say, my sensei was less than pleased. He had us run laps around the training ground all afternoon! Kuromaru was the only one who enjoyed it."

Shisui laughter filled the room again. His hand reached out for the last piece of sushi on one of the platters on the table, only to stop short of touching it. Everyone's eyes turned to Akane, whose hands were locked in the Rat seal. "Sorry, Shisui-san," she said, her grasp on his shadow underneath the table quite secure. "I'm afraid I have quite an Akimichi-like approach to the last piece of sushi."

"Like I always tell my children: no jutsus in the house unless you really mean to bring it down," Tsume said.

They laughed. Even Itachi chuckled, seeing Shisui taken by surprise like that. It was a rare thing, indeed.

"But since this a shared celebration of our birthdays, I'm willing to compromise," Akane said, splitting the piece in half and offering it to him.

"I think this calls for another round," Tsume said, brandishing the bottle, much to Tenzo's chagrin.

Akane was the first to retire. It was around midnight, and Tenzo was already dozing off his cups on the table, while Tsume still had it in her to keep pouring for herself and Shisui, who did not have the nerve to say no to her. It was fortunate they had a day in between to sleep it off, Itachi thought as he rose from the table, pleased to find his legs quite stable after his three cups. His cheeks felt quite warm, otherwise.

Tsume reached out for the sake as the panel door slid shut behind Itachi, and she looked at Shisui, not waiting for his approval before refilling his cup, as well. She glanced at Tenzo before shifting her gaze to the Uchiha. "You and I both know where Itachi's going," she said, and the seriousness in her tone was enough for him to grasp her meaning, and avert his gaze. "Why won't you tell him how you feel?"

Shisui smirked and accepted the drink with a nod of his head before downing it like a man with a thirst. "What good would that do?" he asked. Even with the thought of that dreadful morning headache, he did not feel drunk enough for this conversation. Tsume was the woman who could smell a lie (or a truth, in his case), but he had known Itachi for longer than any of them. He had noticed. It would have been impossible not to, what with the puppy eyes in the pool. He could not blame Itachi for being attracted to Akane.

"It's not too late, you know," she said.

"This is not about what I want," Shisui said. "And even if it were, what I want is for him to be happy. Whatever it takes. Really, Tsume-san, I didn't take you for such a hopeless romantic."

"I just don't think it's fair," Tsume muttered. "To either of you."

Itachi padded his way across the hall, tugging at the hem of his yukata. He was not used to wearing one. Although it was comfortable, he was more used to his usual attire, in which he could hide weapons without fear of them falling out. Funny, even covered up as he was, he felt naked without weapons. The knot which settled in his stomach as he stopped in front of her door did not help. He still did not entirely trust his legs to support him, or his tongue to deliver the words he meant.

His hand reached out to knock before he could change his mind. There was a long moment of silence until Akane opened the door, surprised to find him standing there.

"I didn't get to give you your birthday present," he said, pleased with the steadiness in his tone.

"I was under the impression that medical compendium was a joint effort," she replied, leaning against the doorframe with a smile.

"It was. But I have… something on the side," Itachi said, pulling out a piece of paper from the sleeve of his yukata.

Akane took it, wordless. Itachi watched her facial expression as she pried open the folded paper and her eyes darted up and down across, widening with every row, until they shot back up to him. He smiled at her look of disbelief. He had been watching her progress within the rehabilitation program for some time now. If anything, the news was overdue.

"Welcome back to the team," he said.

"I haven't been cleared yet," she said, looking apologetic as she handed him back the paper.

Itachi pushed back her hand, refusing to accept the paper. "That's what you get for signing yourself up under Morino Ibiki's care after slighting him from your hospital bed. But this is as much my right to decide, as it is his. In any case, it doesn't mean you should stop. It just means that I want you back on the team."

"You want?" she echoed. "What about what I want?"

"That paper is not binding in any way. It would, indeed, take both my word and Morino's to make that possible. You take it, or leave it until you think you're ready. It's up to you."

His words gave Akane pause. Her eyes drifted down to the paper in her hand, her fingers locked on to it, not entirely willing to let go. It was not just a paper he had given her. It was a choice. Her hand trembled. One too many times so far, she had been deprived of the luxury of making a choice for herself. Becoming a medic-nin. Joining the ANBU. Trusting Itachi. Putting herself through rehabilitation. Each and every time, she had doubted herself. Things had turned out well, but the hesitation lingered, the fear still deeply ingrained. There was a fine line between confidence and overconfidence. She would have felt safer not walking it. And at the same time…

"I suppose it would be rude not to accept your gift," she said, holding the folded piece of paper against her chest. "Thank you, Itachi."

When her eyes rose up to meet his, Itachi's expression gave her pause. Soft and vulnerable and contrite. Please, don't go, he had said,the last time he had looked at her like this. The first time, he had poked her forehead, a gesture she still did not understand. Where did she stand in the middle of this? Hearing the song was not the same as listening to it, yet she found herself yearning to dance, even without knowing the steps: to get lost in it. Weightless. Fearless.

Whole.

Akane's soft hand clasped around his and she leaned in on the tips of her toes to place the ghost of a kiss on his cheek. She smelled like cherries.

I'm sorry for this late update. Real life beats fiction and things got hectic. Anyway, a few words about this chapter. It's meant as an interlude, of sorts, setting the scene after a short timeskip. I suppose you could also take it as the quiet before the storm :) Hope you enjoyed!