Chapter Thirteen - Solicited Promises

It felt oddly strange, but definitely not unwelcomed, to see a group of Uchihas gathered in Kakashi's cramped apartment. For Minato, it felt like they were moving one more step towards achieving cooperation between the two sides, although he knew it would come at a cost for the Uchihas.

It was all for the better.

Kakashi was perched on one end of his couch, casually thumbing through his book, but Minato knew his student well enough to know that he wasn't actually reading the book. That, and Kakashi gave it away when his eyes glanced towards the closed door every eight seconds. On the other hand, Obito had absolutely no qualms about staring at the door. His hands gripped the arm of the couch tightly, nails digging into the fabric. Minato doubted that Obito even noticed the half moon shaped indentations left in the couch.

As for Izumi, she sat in between Kakashi and Obito on the couch. Contrary to the other two occupants, her eyes were trained on her lap. She seemed to be a picture perfect of calm, yet the constantly wringing of her hands gave away her nervousness.

And Shisui? He couldn't stop pacing around the living room. Each time he passed the closed doors, he would linger for a few seconds before he forced himself to move on. Watching his movements even made Minato busy, so he excused himself to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. Only instead of returning to the living room, Minato stalled.

He didn't even know why he was this nervous; it wasn't like the outcome would affect him. If the Senju council knew that he was here today, rather than a personal emergency like Minato had cited to take the afternoon off, then another argument would inevitably ensue. Despite advocating for peace with the Uchihas, some were incredibly good at holding grudges.

To propose having an amicable relationship with the Uchihas? The council would call him insane. Still, Minato could hope.

Today seemed like a step in the right direction.

Inside the room, Itachi was seated on Kakashi's bed, facing Rin directly. Rin scooted closer towards him. Her hands hovered in the air right in front of his eyes, hesitation halting her movements.

"Is it okay if I take off your blindfold?"

Itachi nodded curtly. Proceeding to untie the blindfold, the cloth fell from his eyes for the first time. She set the cloth on the desk next to her. An angry looking scar appeared across both of his eyelids and the bridge of his nose. It appeared to be a clean cut, but it was clear that Itachi suffered from lack of medical attention from the way it scabbed over.

Rin was surprised that the wound wasn't too terribly infected.

Though she had done this a thousand times before, her hands shook as she moved to his eyes. Hands already glowing green, she eliminated the remaining distance that was needed for her chakra to invade his eyes. While she probed to evaluate the extent of his injuries, her chakra also began to close the remnants of his surface wound.

The process was quite invasive, yet never once did Itachi shy away from her touch.

He trusted her.

Five minutes later, the chakra faded. Her hands dropped back down to her side. Wordlessly, Rin handed the blindfold back to Itachi and he tied it back over his eyes once more.

He was the one who broke the silence. "Can't be healed?"

That's what Rin had been inclined to think too, since the eyes were such a delicate area. According to all of the books she read, it was extremely difficult to recover from blindness. The most that she had ever done even while she worked for the Uchihas was to slow the blindness by constantly easing the strain on their nerves. And since Itachi was already blind, she figured that the most she could do was prevent major scarring.

Yet…

"The wound isn't as deep as I thought it was," Rin commented. "A little bit deeper than a scratch but not as deep as a cut."

A small smile played on Itachi's lips. "I casted a genjutsu on Sora to make him think that the wound was deeper than it really is. But I suppose the only benefit is that it hurts a little bit less."

"That genjutsu may have saved your vision," Rin murmured. "I think I can heal your eyesight. It didn't cut entirely through your corneal layer. The endothelium layer is only partially damaged, so I can still save it. It'll take some time though."

"Would you be willing?"

A regular person would have asked "how long" in response to what she told him. His inquiry only reaffirmed that Itachi wasn't trying to take advantage of her again.

That, or she was under Shisui's genjutsu again. But it certainly didn't feel like it. It didn't feel like it last time either, but maybe she wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt. If Minato san trusted them enough to let them into the village, then they couldn't be all that bad, right? And Kushina san had caved to help Shisui too…

Unless both of those were genjutsus too.

Rin shook her head. This was messing with her head too much.

"Two weeks." Rin cleared her throat. "I can't guarantee that your Sharingan is fine, but I'm confident I can restore part of your vision."

Itachi tipped his head in her direction. "Thank you."

Kurenai leaned forward towards the table, spinning a pen between her fingers. A large sheet of paper laid in front of her, but that wasn't what captivated her attention. Rin's hand paused mid-air, in between delivering a handful of rice to her mouth with her chopsticks, when she saw her red eyes staring at her. Rin slowly set down her chopsticks back onto the rim of her bowl.

"What?"

A huge grin split across Kurenai's face. "So you decided to help Itachi after all." Kurenai drawled her words in an attempt to sound casual, but it was anything but. Not with the way she was leaning across the table in an effort to get up in her face to interrogate her.

Rin rolled her eyes. "So are you." Her chin jerked in the direction of the paper on the table. For a split second, Kurenai's eyes flickered away from hers to peek at the unfinished drawing, before returning back to her.

"Of course I am. I'm not going to pass up the opportunity to help the others escape. We both have been there. We understand what it's like to want nothing more than to escape. Why wouldn't I help them?"

Rin's features softened as Kurenai's comment brought back unbridled memories. It had been so long ago, yet to her, the memories felt like they happened yesterday. The two of them had been lucky to get an out, but what about the rest of them? The people in her memories surely have grown up by now, but there was no doubt that Daisuke had taken in another crew of orphan children over the years to replace them.

A never ending cycle, those that were too weak to survive were replaced. Countless victims that no one would go looking for. Stowed away in Daisuke's manor, located in the depths of the Uchiha territory. Cries and pleas for help that were swept away by the wind. And as the days continued to crawl by, death was their only escape.

Perhaps, they could change that.

The tip of the pen flew across the paper as Kurenai continued to sketch the layout of Daisuke's manor. Since it had been almost eight years since Kurenai had been offered an out, in the form of working as the Uchiha spy, her knowledge of the building and guard positions were probably outdated. Yet it was still better than having nothing at all.

"Maybe...because I believe in them," Rin murmured.

Kurenai stopped sketching. "What?"

"You asked me why I changed my mind about healing Itachi," Rin clarified. "Part of me believes that he's really being genuine about being the one to make a change, so maybe he's not as bad as I thought he was. Not all Uchihas are horrible."

"Yeah, only most of them," Kurenai muttered sarcastically under her breath.

"So am I wrong to forgive him then?"

Kurenai sighed. If she had known that her sarcastic and slightly bitter comment would incite Rin's self doubts once more, she would have never made it at all.

"No one can tell you whether or not you were right in forgiving him. It depends on how you feel. Did you really let go of the past or are you just pretending you have? Do you still feel angry that those years were stolen from you? Do you feel uncomfortable being around them? Those are questions that only you can answer."

"You're right. What about you then? Have you forgiven them?"

Kurenai almost dropped the pen, but managed to catch it with her pinky finger before it clattered against the table. Has she forgiven them? Kurenai didn't know; she never thought about it and no one ever asked.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Kurenai eventually settled for. "They want to take down Daisuke, so of course I'm going to help them."

"But have you forgiven them?" Rin pressed again and this time Kurenai knew that she wouldn't be able to get away with not giving a straight answer. And if she was being honest with herself, it was a question that she would like to figure out the answer to herself.

"I don't know."

Those three words echoed in the silence between them.

"We might not know the answer for sure right now, but I'm sure we'll find it someday."

Someday...who knew how long that would take.

Kurenai went back to sketching.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. The telltale sound of metal sinking into the wooden target came one after another. A feeling of satisfaction welled up in Itachi's chest; even blind, it didn't mean that his skills had deteriorated.

His heightened senses helped with that, but adjusting from his reliance on sight to his other senses was not something that could be accomplished in such a short amount of time. But there was no time left.

All the preparations were almost finished and at this point, he knew that Shisui was just stalling to give him more time to recover. Except Itachi refused for them to wait on him. Another day postponed meant another day of suffering, another day of living under Oto's occupation, another day of the Uchiha's tyranny.

Whether or not he was ready, Itachi was determined to call it in two day's time. Two days would mark the end of his self-imposed two week deadline. Even though Rin had told him that she could help him recover his eyesight in two weeks, Itachi hadn't banked on her being able to fulfill that promise. After all, being able to recover his eyesight was no easy feat. And twelve days since the beginning of her treatment, his vision was still pitch black.

The sound of clapping jolted him out of his thoughts. Immediately his head snapped to turn in the direction of the noise.

"All of the shuriken hit the targets. Your shuriken skills are amazing like always!"

Izumi's voice. Itachi might have felt accomplished if he had not been practicing throwing shurikens with his eyes closed since he was young. At this point, eyesight or not, it was like second nature to him. Itachi refrained from saying anything. He didn't want to burst Izumi's bubble of happiness.

"Were you looking for me?"

"Yes. I thought you would be home since your appointment with Rin is an hour, but of course, you're training. Shouldn't you be resting?"

"There's no time for that."

Even without seeing her face, Itachi knew that Izumi was frowning. "You shouldn't push yourself too hard."

"The same could be said for you," Itachi countered. "Stop trying to force yourself to remember." He threw the next kunai with extra fervor. The resounding thunk sounded so satisfying in his ears.

"Then prove it to me that you're ready. Spar with me."

Without waiting for Itachi's response, which surely would be a resounding no, Izumi struck first. Her leg jutted outwards, sweeping the area that Itachi had just been in if not for his fast reflexes to backflip out of her reach. Right as his feet landed on the ground, Izumi was onto him again. Ducking to his left, Itachi avoided her punch. His arm shot upwards, parrying off her next blow before he nimbly moved out of her reach.

Two shurikens left his hand. Izumi easily sidestepped the two shurikens, moving to advance onto Itachi. Yet her plan was halted when she noticed the slightest movement of Itachi's left hand. In the next movement, the two shurikens came sailing back, straight towards her. Izumi was forced to jump out of the way to avoid the incoming projectiles, allowing Itachi the opportunity to increase the distance between the two of them.

She specialized in short distance combat and Itachi knew it. Gritting her teeth, Izumi took off in the trees, where she had last seen Itachi.

She felt a spike of chakra, followed by a giant fireball aimed at her way. Latching onto the nearest branch, Izumi used her momentum to propel herself up higher in the trees, just above the reach of Itachi's jutsu. She was close enough to feel the intense heat radiating from the jutsu.

Forming a ram sign with her right hand, Izumi poured all of her concentration in tracking down Itachi's chakra signature. Her eyes snapped open as her head swung to her left. There! Izumi practically sped across the treetops, feet barely making contact with the leaves before she was off of the next.

Itachi felt her coming and started to move, but he had been too slow. Izumi dropped down from the treetops, landing on the same branch that he was on. Itachi had already drawn a kunai, ready to fight her in close combat.

Izumi leapt forward, metal clashing against metal. The pair exchanged a few blows before Itachi sought refuge on the ground. Izumi was quick to follow, preventing him from running away again. Besides the fact that Izumi specialized in taijutsu, she wanted to test his hand to hand.

His form was perfect. His strikes were precise. Yet his speed and reflexes were lacking considerably. There were multiple openings that she could have taken advantage of, but Izumi chose not to. A handful of times, Izumi landed solid hits on Itachi, which never happened based on the memories she could piece together. Deliberately, she would slow down her own strikes to give Itachi the opportunity to block it.

But she could make out Itachi's growing frustration as the spar dragged on. Eventually, Itachi was the one to call off the spar.

"You did well!" Izumi told him. He did, for someone who was blind, but knowing Itachi, he wanted to reach his former standard. She just hated seeing the disappointed frown etched across his face.

"You went easy on me," Itachi retorted. "You don't have to lie to me, Izumi."

"Even you admit that you're not at your former level. I don't remember exactly how good you were before, but you're definitely stronger than me. If you can't even beat me, then what makes you think that you're ready to go back out there? No one will go easy on you."

"I have to."

Izumi crossed the distance between them, latching onto his arm to prevent Itachi from walking away from her.

"You don't," Izumi insisted. "There's still Shisui and Obito and everyone else. You don't have to put yourself in danger."

Itachi swung to face her. "I have to finish what I started. We've been working towards this goal since we were kids. I can't concede now."

"Did Shisui agree to let you go?"

"He can't stop me," was all Itachi had to say before his hand brushed Izumi's hold off of him. He began walking away. Izumi scrambled after him, falling into step beside him.

Yet besides the sound of their footsteps as they walked towards town, silence stretched between them. Itachi didn't want to continue their conversation, while Izumi couldn't figure out what to say to him that wouldn't be met with hostility.

She should have known; all Uchihas were notoriously stubborn. Especially with a father like Fugaku, it was no surprise that Itachi would be stubborn in his own ways.

So she had chosen to remain silent so that she could accompany Itachi to the hospital.

Itachi didn't verbally express it, but he was immensely grateful that Izumi had chosen to come with him. Izumi had shifted so that she walked slightly ahead of him. Listening to the pattern of her footsteps told him which direction to go, much faster than if Itachi had to feel out the route by hand. And if he had gone alone, Itachi would have opted for a less crowded, more roundabout route.

Beyond that, Izumi had been the one to accompany him to the hospital every single day. Itachi had to admit he had gotten used to her presence. Aside from today, being with her always brought a sense of relaxation simply because no pressure existed. With Obito, Shisui and Kakashi, conversation would inevitably revolve around their plan to take back the Uchiha village or inquiring about his progress with his eyesight.

Izumi never asked anything beyond if his session had gone well. With her, they could talk about nothing, but also everything at the same time, giving him a reprieve of the things that he didn't want to think about.

Even if it was for an hour everyday, the time it took for them to walk to the hospital and back, that was enough to keep him sane.

They arrived at the hospital. Izumi threaded her fingers through his, her hand curling around his. With her hold on him, she guided him through the busy hospital. To the second floor. To the end of the hall. Into the plastic seating while they waited for Rin.

Even as they sat down next to each other, her hand still remained intertwined with his. Neither of them made a move to untangle it; Itachi enjoyed the warmth radiating from her hand while Izumi hoped to bring him comfort through her touch. The two of them basked in silence, knowing that if either opened their mouth, it would inevitably drift back to their earlier conversation.

As the days grew closer to his self-imposed deadline, Izumi wasn't the only one that was worried. Itachi was too. And Shisui. Although Shisui never said anything since before he started his treatment, they had been friends for far too long for Itachi to feel the sympathetic look that Shisui always gave him when he informed him that there had been no progress on his vision. Obito was more subtle about it, or maybe Itachi wasn't as close to him to feel it, but the sentiment was there.

Kakashi simply dodged the subject altogether.

He heard Rin calling his name. Izumi squeezed his hand before she let go, guiding him towards Rin by his shoulders. Once he sensed Rin's presence right in front of him, Izumi walked away, presumably back to the plastic chairs.

"You've been training again," Rin commented as Itachi's ears registered the soft click of the door closing.

"I have," Itachi admitted, even though he knew that she didn't need his confirmation. She could probably already tell from the cuts and scrapes that he had gotten during his short spar with Izumi.

"And how do you feel?"

"Like I'm weak." Even his candid response shocked himself. She was here to heal his eyes, not become his therapist. But the words forced itself out of his mouth anyways; she was the only one that he could tell without garnering sympathetic looks. With them, he always had to put up a strong front to convince them that he was fine, except it was hard to keep up with the string of lies when he couldn't even believe them himself.

"That's expected. Without your eyes, it feels like you have to start from scratch again. Like when you were still a student. The feeling is even worse for you because your eyes were once your greatest asset but now you can't even rely upon them anymore." Rin moved closer to him, until she was standing right in front of him. Her hands hovered around his head. "May I?"

Itachi nodded, glad that she had given him an out to having to respond to her statement. The cloth slipped from his eyes, yet Itachi kept his eyes firmly shut. Opening them would only serve to remind him of his feeble state.

There was a tingling feeling on his eyes as Rin's chakra began to seep in, followed by a soothing feeling. Their sessions were always held in silence; the only words ever exchanged were related to his progress, so Itachi was surprised when Rin started speaking again, continuing the one-sided conversation of her volition.

"You might feel weak right now, but you aren't entirely powerless. You still have your comrades by your side. You can still get by with the basics of shinobi training. I was weak and powerless once." Instantly, Itachi knew that she was speaking of the time when she was under Daisuke's hold. "The difference between you and me was that I had no one. You have an entire group to back you up. True strength doesn't really come from yourself, but rather your comrades. As one, you may not be strong, but as a whole, you are strong."

Those words were jarring to hear from someone who wasn't a shinobi. Even more jarring to hear because Uchihas didn't believe in collective strength, so growing up, all Itachi knew was that he needed to improve his own skills to live up to the council's impossible standards. "Did someone tell you that?"

"Obito did."

"And you believe in that?"

"Not really. I never have been able to experience what camaraderie felt like, but looking at you and the people around you...maybe it made me start to believe in it."

"Thank you." Until he heard those words, Itachi never realized how much he needed to hear them.

Silence dawned on them once more, giving Itachi the time to mull over Rin's words while she focused on healing his eyes.

He didn't know how much time passed when she spoke again.

"Do you trust me?"

Itachi answered without hesitation, despite not knowing what the purpose of her question was. "Of course."

"Then I want you to open your eyes."

Itachi balked. The first time he opened his eyes was the first day of treatment. A blanket of darkness was all that he saw, and it felt no different from when his eyes were closed except that he felt the slightest movement of his eyelids, but that was expected. Although Rin never asked him to open his eyes again, she also never explicitly forbade him from doing so. A week into treatment, his curiosity had gotten the better of him.

Still nothing but darkness.

Slowly, Itachi slid his eyes open. The hope that bubbled in his chest began to deflate when the sliver of his vision still remained dark. His first instinct was to shut his eyes again, to shrivel behind his blindness, yet he fought against that to open his eyes fully.

Light.

It was hardly there, just a small speck in the center of his vision, but it was there. He couldn't see much with it; the image was extremely blurry, but white.

Itachi could finally see the color white. For so long he had been embroiled in darkness, the color white seemed like such a foreign concept to him. His mouth parted open, jaw slightly quivering as his lips curled up into a faint smile. A tear slid down his left cheek.

"What's wrong? Why are you crying? You still can't see?"

With the tiny bit of vision he regained, Itachi noted something waving in front of his face. Rin's hand?

Movement. He could finally see movement again.

"I can finally see again," Itachi stated, unable to hide the awe in his voice. He lifted his hand into the air, holding it in front of his line of vision.

"I can see."

In the center of the village, Hana sat in her veterinarian shop. In the empty shop, the sound of her fingernails drumming incessantly against the marble countertop echoed through the air. The usual guard at her door was there and there were probably four more Oto shinobis somewhere down the street. Yet Hana felt completely at ease knowing that her clan members were making the final preparations to fight back.

Word had arrived a few days ago. The plan was almost set in place. Everyone knew what they needed to do. Now all they could do was wait, strung high on anxiety as they awaited for the signal to come.

At the Aburame compound, Muta kneeled against the ground. Beckoning his insects to come, he slipped a piece of paper among them, so tiny it was hardly noticeable. The insects swept the note away, ready to deliver his message that the Aburame clan was ready.

It was time for change.

In the depths of the Hyuga compound, Yui bided her time by picking at her ropes with her nails. Although her progress had more broken nails to show for rather than loosened ropes, picking at the threads in the rope gave her something to do. And if she did nothing, then she was just waiting for her death.

One loose thread meant the knot was slightly weaker than before. That thought fueled her to keep going. Whether it was day or night, Yui didn't know. She just kept going and going and going.

All she knew was that she was getting out of here. Alive.

On the other side of the village, the group of branch members that had been freed of their cursed seal gathered in Akiara's apartment. Her apartment was much too small for all twenty of them, but gathering in public wasn't an option. Going to the Hyuga compound meant a death wish, especially with the news of Yui's capture floating around. There were more branch members out there that supported their cause, but fear of repercussion from the cursed seal kept them away.

Even with miniscule numbers, Akiara refused to give up. Even with just them, they would take back the village and save Yui from captivity.

A knock on the door disrupted their conversation. Getting off of the floor, Akiara went to answer the door, thinking it was probably one of the branch members that arrived late to the meeting. She was thoroughly taken aback when she saw the girl standing on the other side of the door.

White eyes clashed with each other.

"Akiara, isn't it?"

"Aimi."

How did she know her name? Aimi's status in the Hyuga family was almost similar to that of Yui's, the fourth in line to become the successor. The boy standing beside her was one of the Hyuga Elder's grandchildren. Also possessing close ties to the main family.

The main family simply didn't care to meet the branch members, much less learn their names except for the branch member that was assigned to protect them. Akiara had been assigned to Yui, the only main branch member that would ever know her name.

Unless...Aimi knew.

Akiara shifted her body to block the door, stepping on her tiptoes to block their view as he tried to subtly look over her head into the apartment. Sensing her hostility, Ko backed away, allowing Aimi to take the lead in the conversation.

"Why are you here?"

"You know why I'm here."

Akiara's entire body tensed. Main family members with parents that were known to be part of the inner circle of the main family...they must be here to finish what Hiashi started. But without the cursed seal, they could no longer control them, so their only choice was to fight her. Did they really think that they could win, twenty against two? Or did they think that she was alone?

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Aimi rolled her eyes. "Everyone knows that Yui Hyuga freed a bunch of branch members from their cursed seals so that they could freely fight back without the main family's intervention. And we all know that you're her accomplice; how could you be not?"

"So what if I am?"

"I'm here to help."

Akiara blinked in surprise. "What?"

"You and Yui started a group to rebel against the Uchihas, right? There's more of us out there that aren't going to take Oto's occupation lightly. This is our village; we're going to take back what is rightfully ours with or without Hiashi's approval."

"So count us in. What's the plan?"

A/N: Hi again!

3 chapters away from the end of the story so that means the fight to take back the village begins next chapter! A fair warning though, I really did try with some of the fight scenes, but I'm sure most of you know that I'm not particularly good at writing them so hopefully they aren't too disappointing.

zedille: Yes! More groveling sounds fun but I didn't want to get repetitive since I felt like the story was dragging haha. But you are right, groveling really has no deadline. :P Thank you for your comment; it really made me laugh!

Thank you for reading! Until next time.

-MM