Itachi was annoyed. The war against Sound was over, the treaty with Wind had gone through, and now he was being forced to attend what seemed like an endless amount of parties and events to celebrate the end of the war. Even Gaara had come to Capital City, although he claimed it was to partake in the festivities, Itachi was sure he wanted to remind everyone that Fire only took over Sound's capital due to Wind's forces.
He saw Ino and Kakashi in almost every single event, and while he claimed that he did not want to spend time with either of them, he was still relieved to have them around. Itachi was certain that Ino still hated him, but after Sakura's recovery she now sometimes smiled at him.
He wished he could have been home, listening to Sakura chat and play. After she had regained permanent access to her sight, she now talked much more than Itachi expected. He had grown used to her constant yet silent presence, but now that she could see him, hear him and speak to him, she had begun to fill the silence with her pleasant voice.
Itachi almost felt as if he was meeting a new person, as the new Sakura liked telling him everything that happened to her every day. She also enjoyed telling him information and stories she knew, and Itachi believed that by the end of the year he'd be able to become a florist himself with how much he heard about plants and flowers. However while sometimes he craved the old silence, he quickly learned that Sakura's laugh was magical. She'd always start with a small giggle that would escalate into a soft laugh that would make Itachi smile. He tried to resist, but it was as contagious as her kindness, and he'd since given up.
It had been a full week of new Sakura, and Itachi wondered what else was in store for him.
"What are you smiling about?" Kakashi joined Itachi's spot. The wizard had been standing by a window, far away from the commotions.
"I was thinking about starting a fire so I could go home." Itachi smoothly lied. Next to him Kakashi released an undignified snort.
Since he had experienced the soul-crushing fear of losing Sakura, Itachi found himself adjusting his feelings towards Kakashi. If the Spymaster had told him about his family sooner, Itachi would have teleported to Capital City, only to experience the same helplessness and inadequacy he had felt towards Sakura. In a way, Kakashi had tried shielding him from that, and Itachi found that he couldn't fault him anymore.
"It's been a while since I've heard you make a joke." Kakashi chuckled. Itachi shrugged, he wasn't a funny person, that had always been Shisui's role. "How's Sakura?" Kakashi asked.
"She's much improved."
"That's good to hear."
The two men stood side by side, watching the rest of the festivities unfold around them.
"You should bring her to one of these, maybe you won't be so bored." Itachi turned his head to direct a skeptically raised eyebrow towards Kakashi. "What? Women love parties."
"It wouldn't be proper." Itachi crossed his arms.
"A bit late for that, no? You're both living together without a chaperone, you're buying her dresses and jewels, it's only because you're such a recluse that the entire world doesn't think you're married. I mean, you are planning on it eventually, right? This whole ward thing is temporary?" Kakashi mirrored Itachi's stance.
Itachi agreed with Kakashi in that perhaps he was a little lenient on the girl, but what else was he supposed to do? Originally she was supposed to be his gardener, but then the war happened and they were forced to go to the capital, and Itachi wouldn't have her wearing poor, worn dresses in the Noble's District. As soon as they returned to Konoha, he'd make sure she remembered her proper position again.
"As soon as her curse is cured she will return to her family." Itachi noted.
This time Kakashi was the one who had the eyebrow raised, skeptical of his friend's feelings.
Itachi returned home shortly after Kakashi left him, stealthily leaving before anyone could stop him. By the time he got home it was already dark, with the moon having gone down. There were only the street lamps to provide light as he walked around the empty Noble's District.
Feeling hot, Itachi sat on a nearby bench. He pulled on his collar, and opened his vest, trying to cool down. As he looked around the familiar houses, he remembered a similar time, when he and Sasuke had been returning from a similar party.
"Brother I'm tired, can we sit a bit, I feel like I've danced all night."
Itachi smiled at his popular younger brother and nodded. Sasuke threw himself on the bench, removing his necktie and opening his vest and shirt. Itachi frowned at the indecent exposure, but the streets were empty so he'd allow it for once.
"You know, half of them only kept asking me about you, I told them if they were interested in you they should have asked you for a dance, not me."
"I don't dance."
Itachi didn't enjoy dancing, and he knew better than to accept a dance with any woman. All it took was one moment and already the Business District would be filled with talk of the next Uchiha Matriarch. As the heir, he had to be careful of who he was seen with.
"You should, it's better than pretending to be interested in whatever story old man Sarutobi has to tell." Sasuke shrugged.
"You should treat him with more respect. He's retired now, but he was once a Grand Wizard." Itachi admonished his younger brother.
"That old coot? A Grand Wizard? No way." Sasuke scoffed. "He spends all day at the window spying on us."
Itachi sighed and shook his head. Sasuke was still young, he lacked the maturity required to understand people, Itachi told himself.
"So how was it fighting the Cloud and Mist wizards? Were they strong? Did they use water magics? I wish mom had let me fight too."
Itachi snapped back to the present. Thinking about the Cloud Invasion brought back several unpleasant memories. That had been the first time he had been in a war, and the Mist Magicians had been brutal. To survive he had been forced to respond with equal levels of cruelty, the kind of which he didn't want to remember.
Sighing, Itachi wearily stood up, resuming the path to home. Once he arrived, he stopped to cast a single look at Sarutobi's house. The old wizard had come out of retirement to fight against Cloud, and if Sasuke had seen him in the battlefield, Itachi knew his brother would have never said anything but praises to the old man.
Returning his attention to his own home, Itachi slowly climbed the steps, opening the door to a darkened room. As soon as he stepped inside, a couple candles on the table were lit up, revealing a jar of water, a cup and some pastries. Itachi walked to the table and poured himself a cup, suddenly feeling thirsty. There was a note next to the pastries, telling him to eat and drink before going to sleep.
As he dug his teeth into the soft and sweet delicacy, Itachi wondered how life would be like, when he didn't have someone to listen to, someone to worry about, someone who would think of him. I spent years without her, I can do so again, Itachi told himself sternly.
Sakura was having a great day. Itachi told her they'd be returning to Konoha at the end of the week, and she was full of plans. She had to visit her family's flower shop to stock up on different seeds, fertilizer and gardening supplies. She also wanted to get some new music sheets and hair supplies. She had asked Ino if she wanted to go shopping with her, but her sister passed on it, claiming she was busy with work.
Since the war ended, Ino was always busy with work. Sakura didn't understand why, as she believed the end of a war must mean the end of espionage, but she knew she wasn't the most knowledgeable person around. As she walked around the Business District, Sakura noticed there were several different people around.
There were darker skinned people who all walked together with sour faces, pale people who walked separately with haughty looks, and differently dressed people everywhere. She was relieved when she entered her family's shop and saw her mother.
"What's with the business district today? I've seen so many weird people." Sakura asked, after she had given her mother the list of things she wanted.
"They opened Capital City to foreigners yesterday. There's a flood of merchants from all over the world."
"Oh, that makes sense!" Sakura smiled. The end of the war meant that trade could resume as usual, which explained the strangers. "Do you want me to send you anything from Konoha?" Sakura asked.
"Ah yeah, if there's anything left of the old shop…"
After spending the rest of the morning helping around the flower shop, Sakura resumed her shopping activities. She had lunch with her parents, avoiding the crowds around the eateries. As she walked past the crowds, Sakura began to feel anxious. There were too many people around, and she worried about getting lost.
Ducking into a nearby shop, Sakura breathed in relief. Outside the masses still walked left and right carelessly. Sakura looked around the bookstore she had coincidentally chosen and decided she could take the time to look around and escape the crowds.
Sakura looked over the new books, wondering if she should take any with her, when someone bumped into her.
"I'm sorry miss."
It was a handsome young man, dressed well, with a wide smile. He looked completely fine, until Sakura met his eyes. There was something in them that gave her a shiver, and made her afraid of him.
"It's alright!" She smiled back and quickly scurried away from him, following her instincts. Sakura returned outside, merging with the crowd. She swallowed her nervousness and allowed herself to be swept towards the music shop.
Sakura spent almost the entire afternoon in the shop, trying to decide what new songs to buy and learn, chatting with the elderly lady that ran the shop. Happy with her selection, Sakura was surprised to see the sun setting when she left the shop. Hurrying home, Sakura made her way past people, swift dodging left and right as she made her way towards the Noble's District.
In her rush to be home before night, Sakura ended up bumping into one of the haughty-looking merchants. He turned his angry gaze upon her, demanding an apology and compensation. Nervously, Sakura stuttered.
"What did you say? I didn't hear you." The merchant sneered.
"Hey now, don't bully a young lady like that."
A heavy hand fell upon Sakura's shoulder. She looked back to see the man from the bookstore. He was smiling at the haughty merchant, who took a step back.
"Ah yes, it was nothing." The merchant quickly turned around and resumed his original trajectory. Sakura still couldn't go anywhere due to the hand on her shoulder holding her in place.
"Well young miss, I'm glad I found you again. I'm meeting an old friend in the Noble's District. Do you mind showing me the way?"
"N-not at all…"
Trapped with the man, she led him towards the Noble's District, hoping that no harm would come to her. When they arrived, the man led them around aimlessly, seemingly lost.
"If you could tell me the name of your friend, I could help more." Sakura smiled, still feeling nervous.
"Ah, I found him."
Sakura looked forward and was shocked to see Itachi, standing in front of them with crossed arms and a strong glare.
"Release the woman. Hostages don't become you, Kisame."
"Ah man, you really did see right through me. Run along now, girl and tell no one of what happened." The man released his grip on her and Sakura ran towards Itachi, hiding behind him. "What's this? Did you find yourself a woman, old friend?"
Sakura watched the handsome man change in front of her eyes. His handsome good looks were replaced with pale, almost blue skin, beady black eyes and dark blue hair. He smiled and his teeth were pointy like a shark's. Sakura shivered in fear.
"What are you doing here, Kisame?"
"Came to see you, actually. How's it going, buddy! It's been a while since we last saw each other, huh? I've joined Akatsuki since you last saw me, and Leader wants you to join too!" Kisame grinned. Sakura remembered her last encounter with Akatsuki and shrunk behind Itachi.
"I refuse." Itachi answered smoothly.
"Ah well, you were always a stubborn one. But getting you to join isn't the reason I'm here. Orochimaru used to be part of our organization, but when we kicked him out he ran away with something important. We heard that you led the investigation into his laboratories at Sound, so we came to ask if you found a silver ring similar to this one." Kisame showed Itachi the ring on his finger. Sakura wondered why a supposedly criminal organization was interested in jewelry.
"I haven't seen anything like it."
The two men kept staring at each other, making Sakura increasingly more uncomfortable. The sun set and the lamps around them began to shine. Kisame broke the standoff by cackling.
"Well, thanks for answering my question. See you around Itachi!" Kisame burst into a splash of water, leaving behind only a puddle. A few minutes later, several armed men appeared, led by Sai.
"We heard reports of a dangerous unknown magical presence here. Master Itachi, do you know what happened?" Sai approached Itachi, carelessly stepping over the puddle that used to be Kisame.
"One of my spells went wrong. Don't worry about it." Itachi lied. Sakura looked at him curiously, wondering why he didn't report Kisame. She didn't want to believe that they were friends, but if Itachi was covering the other man's presence, perhaps they were indeed friends, she thought.
Once they were inside the Uchiha Household, Sakura finally dared to ask what was in her mind:
"Master Itachi, were you and that man really friends?"
"Of course not."
As Sakura watched him climb the stairs to the second floor, she thought that he had just lied to her too. She had no evidence of it, but there was something about the calm, expressionless way he said that, that made Sakura doubt him.
In his room, Itachi opened a hidden door, leading to his own private laboratory. He walked towards a black desk. Atop it was a silver ring, almost identical to the one Kisame had. Itachi ignored it, choosing instead to open one of the drawers. Inside was an old picture, with him, Kisame, Kakashi and a tall man completely in Green. The four of them were sitting around a campfire, seemingly having a good time.
Frowning, Itachi placed the picture back in its original location. He closed the desk drawer and focused his attention on the ring. He had sensed the powerful magic that resided on the ring, but hadn't yet dedicated the time to analyze it. If it was something that Akatsuki treasured, perhaps he should study it closely.
Cloud's Invasion: Around ten years before the Sound War, Cloud and Mist joined forces to attempt an invasion against Fire. Wind and Fire fought against Cloud and Mist, both sides using their strongest wizards in combat. The war resulted in many casualties, including the complete destruction of the impartial Wave Archipelago. After the war, a council of the five great nations was called, to restrict the usage of A and S rank spells, in order to avoid casualties in war. This treaty was later broken by Orochimaru, when he turned Sound Capital's citizens into zombies during the Sound War.
This chapter marks the end of the first half of the story! Moving forward we'll focus a bit more on the Akatsuki, Sakura's mysterious past and Itachi's personal struggles. Some of you may have noticed that Itachi's not quite the shining hero of our tale, and that's the feeling I want to achieve. This Itachi isn't always right, he's not always heroic and he's struggling with a lot of issues. I want to showcase how despite being the weak, non-magical one, Sakura's the emotionally stable and strong one, and the difference in how they deal with trauma and their feelings. I think there's a lot of different strengths in this world, and I want to showcase that just because you can't conjure a meteor by snapping your fingers, doesn't mean you're not impressive! I'd like to thank everyone that has stuck through so far, and I hope you all continue to enjoy the adventures that will come!