Hello! I hope you'll like this chapter!

Disclaimer: I own the OCs in this fic, the rest is Masashi Kishomoto's. Sorry for any spelling mistakes or any OCCness.

Character age:

Akane, Itachi: 21

Naruto, Sasuke: 16

Shisui: 25

Kakashi: 30

It had been more than two weeks, but I was still in the hospital. I could take a walk around but I just...didn't feel ready. Or maybe I was too much of a coward to face what I had done and apologize. I couldn't say if I was scared they would hate me or pity me, maybe it was a mix of both.

I was sitting on a bench outside, looking at the cloudy sky. It would snow soon. Somehow, I always knew when it would snow, and so did Haku. I smiled faintly. Sensei was updating Tsunade-san about his case, but so far, nothing. Most of his wounds were healed, but he was still unconscious.

I looked on my right when someone sat down next to me. The pink hair clashed with the rest of the colors.

"Here." I looked down between Sakura and I, noting the fuming beverage and sweet smell. Hot cocoa. I took it and hold it between my hands.

"Thanks."

"Aren't you cold?"

"I don't get cold easily, my chakra makes sure of that," I replied, holding my drink with two hands. I shot her a look. Unlike old Sakura, she had decided to grow her hair, but not much. It stopped between her shoulder blades and was in two low pigtails, like Tsunade-san.

"How are you feeling?" she asked me awkwardly and I smiled weakly.

"Depressed most of the time." She looked down.

"I see." I smiled softly, watching the first snowflake falling from the sky.

"Did Naruto send you?"

"Yes," she admitted almost immediately. "And Sasuke-kun, Hinata as well. Kakashi-sensei gives updates but they don't think it's enough, so they asked me."

"No one found that weird to see you in the psychiatric ward?" She giggled.

"They're too busy to notice me, even with pink hair." She took a sip from her drink and I did the same.

I burned my tongue and stuck it out immediately after, which made her laugh.

"Nobody hates you you know." I lowered my beverage so that it was on my thighs. "If anything, I think Naruto feels like he did something wrong because nobody can't see you and Sasuke-kun gets mad when you're mentioned."

"I'm taking the atmosphere in Team Kakashi is not the best at the moment then?"

"Let's just say Sai can't keep his mouth shut. The other day he called you a nutcase because you were here. If it wasn't for Captain Yamato and the guys knowing Sai is extremely clumsy with words, I think we would have buried him."

"He's still struggling?" I asked, surprised. I didn't have much interactions with Sai here, but I knew he was out of Root since it was destroyed.

"He thinks giving nicknames is normal between friends, so I think he was trying to...tell the boys that he didn't think bad about you but..."

"He chose the worst word." She nodded.

"The worst possible. His brother passed away last year from a long disease, it was a set back for him." I sighed softly.

I remembered Dai telling me he had a 'patient' in the Leaf whose brother was very pale.

"Tell Naruto he did nothing wrong and thinking that is stupid. I just don't have the courage to face him right now. I will, soon I hope, but for now..." I took a sip of my beverage, watching the snow falling. "For now I'm...accepting things I guess."

"Then let me warn you: Naruto might be clingy once you're out of here." I smiled.

"Oh I'm aware."

The first snow of December stayed for a few days and I left the hospital to go to Kakashi's for another few days. I would walk around the village in silence, watching and listening to what was happening. Kakashi was with me of course, updating on things I didn't care before, and barely cared about now, when we'd stop at certain place.

In spite of everything, it made me see that there was life outside of the Akatsuki and its destruction. There were shops I had never seen before because they were civilian Uchihas' properties. Among them was a library specialized in History books before the creation of the villages. There was a place specialized in shurikenjutsu, where an Uchiha shinobi who decided to leave the compound and his not Uchiha wife decided to help people who struggled with shurikenjutsu, no matter their age.

Apart from the Uchiha fan on their back, there was no indication they were Uchihas.

They were...integrated. Some people still gave them weird, nasty looks, but most people didn't care about their clan. I had seen with my own eyes Kiri change from the Bloody Mist to the Kiri I knew and cared about today.

Ironically, seeing Konoha today made me feel like when I went back to Kiri after decades away from it before. It felt...weird. I recognized the place, but not entirely as it evolved without me.

It was a weird nostalgia mixed with...relief.

Yes, that feeling in my chest was relief.

After Danzo died, I focused on Naruto and Sasuke, leaving Konoha and the Uchihas dealing with their own shit apart from the marriage contract. I never bothered to see what happened after.

"Akane-chan?" I jumped and inched closer to Kakashi before realizing it was Mikoto-san. Seeing my reaction, she smiled at me. "I heard you left the hospital from your mother. How are you?" I shrugged. Her smile remained on her lips, her eyes drifting to Kakashi for a brief second. "I guess as long you are not alone, it should be okay." She took my cold hand between her warm ones. "Just remember that no matter what, you are always welcome at our home."

"Thanks Mikoto-san," I thanked her quietly. She seemed momentarily taken back by my tone but hid it quickly.

I was pretty like I used to be when I arrived in Kiri.

"I'll see you later then, take care." She left with a wave. Kakashi looked at me.

"You do know I won't always be here for social interactions, right?" I frowned at little.

"You're here now, so I'll use you if I want to."

"Bossy." I elbowed him in the ribs but his coat absorbed the blow. "So, what's your apology plan?"

"...Naruto and Mom first, I told Naruto horrible things," I replied. "Then...Shisui, I used him as a scapegoat for the failure of the mission. Sasuke and It..." I pursed my lips.

Itachi told Tsunade-san I would defect right after I told him I was a disposable foreigner.

"So the Uchihas for last."

"Sakura told me Naruto would be clingy too."

"You saw her?" I nodded at his surprise.

"More than once actually, she would make her way in the psychiatric ward as if she owned the place almost."

As the psychiatric ward was...for particular patients, the hospital staff was not authorized in it unless there was an emergency or they were specialists.

"It's been a month, do you think you'll be ready soon?" I nodded.

"They...they love me, right?" Kakashi nodded. "Then...I can face them. I have to. Even if I'm ashamed of what I said, I can't run away from them forever."

"Oh, age made you wise!" He patted my head.

"Hey, you do realize I'm technically older than you."

"And I technically saw you running around in diapers, can you say the same?" I stared at him.

"Touché Hatake, touché."

Team 7 was training. I was watching them, not bothering to hide my presence. I knew Yamato-senpai knew I was there as he shot me a look but decided to ignore me. I eventually jumped down, my black boots digging in the snow. With it I had black, skinny pants I had put in my boots, a gray wool sweater and a white coat over it. I had my nose buried in my gray scarf.

I barely dodged the kunai Sasuke threw at me.

"Sasuke, what...nee-chan?" I pointed at the kunai on the ground. Sasuke shrugged and I sighed.

"Naruto," I called him, which made him widen his eyes a little. I averted my eyes, catching Sakura silently encouraging me. "Can...can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Oh huh sure!" He turned to his team while running toward me. "Don't wait for me!" He followed me and I stopped once we were out of his team's range. "So...what's up?" I turned around and looked at him.

He...was wary of what I wanted to say. I sighed.

It shouldn't be this way.

"I...am sorry for what I said and the way I treated you. You didn't deserve any of it." He blinked and chuckled, rubbing the back of his head.

"Heh, that's okay nee-chan, you were hurting and you hurt people back because of it, it..."

"You're not mad?"

"Not rea..."

"Why aren't you mad?" I asked him rather harshly, glaring at the ground. "I...I said awful things to you, it..."

"It's not as if you thought them!"

"I did." He blinked in shock and lowered his arm. "When I was younger, more immature, I did think it. Because if you had not been born, then Kyuubi wouldn't have attacked and I would have grown up in Konoha and never been in Kiri and...it was me hurting and looking for someone to blame, and I know if your parents were there they would be furious at me for thinking this, Mom was and I know it's not your fault because you never asked to be born but…"

'You were hurting and looking for someone to blame nee-chan, I understand."

"Still I..."

"Nee-chan I think you're thinking too deeply about it." I raised my head toward him in a flash. He had a small smile on his face but clouded eyes. "Aunty told me your plans before my mom died, and that Danzou guy who kidnapped us years ago. I...understand what she said in the hospital that day now. I mean, a part of me is hurt that I was left alone for eight years but...I mean, you came after dattebayo, and I had people to come home to! We're family, so at the end of the day, even if we resent each other for a few things, bad or not, or get angry at each other or say mean stuff...it doesn't change that we'll always be family!"

'But we're family and I'm not going to give up on you or your kids! I'll protect you and you won't have anything to fear in Konoha! We didn't grow up together and I was lonely, and so were you nee-chan, so now we'll be here for each other. It's a promise.'

A tear escaped me and I wiped it away quietly with a faint smile.

"I don't deserve forgiveness from someone like you Naruto, but I'll gladly take it." He grinned at me and I sniffed, other tears coming to my eyes.

"Nee-chan don't cry!" he told me, starting to panic.

"Sorry...since Kakashi stopped me...it's like he unlocked my tears and I can't control them for the moment," I explained, desperately trying to control my voice.

"Ne...nee-chan..." He was starting to tear up as well, a finger pointed at me. "If you...if you cry then I'll...I'll cry too and..." A sob escaped me.

"I...I'm sorry I...I can't control them..."

We embraced each other, in tears, saying we loved each other.

Apologizing to Mom was awkward and I looked at her only when she raised my head. She called me an annoying child for worrying her like that before hugging me tightly.

I spent the night in Naruto's room on a futon. I was not talking much, not laughing but I was with Naruto and it was already a lot to me. I could have just...run away after apologizing.

Not they would have let me do that.

My next target was Shisui. I was standing in front of the door of his apartment, breathing deeply to gather the courage to talk to him. I never rang the bell though because someone opened the door.

His girlfriend, Manami, and judging from the hickey visible on her neck, she was there to play cards last night. She looked at me up and down and, unlike the way she acted last time I saw her, sneered at me.

"Ah, it's you. What do you want?" she asked me coldly.

"I wanted to talk to Shisui." She scoffed and folded her arms, making her breasts even more prominant.

"Right, I doubt he wants to talk to you so you can leave and I'll give him the message." I didn't like the way she was talking to me. It made me frown.

"No offense, but I'd rather talk to him myself."

"So you can blame him again?"

"It's not..."

"Try with someone who might actually believe you." I bit the inside of my cheek.

"Hey, that's enough, I'm old enough to talk for myself." I looked behind her. Shisui was there, staring at his girlfriend.

"But..." He put on his coat and shoes. When he walked past her, he kissed her temple.

"It's okay." He looked at me. "Shall we?" Still stunned, I nodded wordlessly and followed him.

We stopped on the bridge linking both sides of the Konoha river. I leaned on the railing like he did, watching the frozen river beneath us.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" he asked me bluntly.

"I...I wanted to apologize for my behavior on that mission. I disrespected you and your orders because of how I was feeling and it was not fair to you to put the blame solely on you. It was immature of me." I pursed my lips with a harsh look. "I know better. Sorry Shisui."

Unlike Naruto, he remained silent. I started to nervously fidget on my feet after a few seconds.

"I...it's all I wanted to say so...so I'll leave you alone now!" I exclaimed, loudly because of how nervous his silence was making. I was about to leave when he grabbed my wrist.

"Not so fast." I gulped and looked at him. He was frowning at the river. "I...I'm sorry too." I blinked. "You were not entirely wrong you know. I care about Naruto and you more than I care about Haku and...I let that impact my decision making. I didn't want to possibly lose any of you on that mission. I'm sorry." He clenched his hands around the railing and gritted his teeth. "I'm sorry Akane, I messed up during that mission as well." I smiled sadly at his obvious guilt.

"I guess we're both idiots then," I whispered and he looked at me.

He chuckled sadly.

"I guess so, must be why we're friends." I nodded and returned his embrace. "You had me seriously worried for a second idiot."

"Sorry about that." I exhaled in relief. "We're good?" He laughed.

"No, I enjoy hugging people I'm mad at to choke the life out of them!" He jokingly pressed me tighter against.

"Sadist."

The list of people I needed to apologize to only had two remaining people. Sasuke and Itachi.

I found Sasuke the next day. I raised my hands when he moved his arm back, ready to throw a shuriken at me, signaling I wasn't there to fight. It didn't mean he refrained himself from shooting me a very, very dirty glare.

"I'm...sorry?"

"Hn." He looked away and I sighed.

"Sorry for worrying and telling you off like that, I didn't want to put you through this kind of things."

"Hn." Slowly, he looked up at me.

I blinked when he slowly made hand seals.

"Sasuke..."

"Katon..." he said at the same time. I raised my hands in front of me. "Great Fireball Jutsu!" I ran away from his fireball.

I dodged it, and he didn't make it a quarter as powerful as he could make it so it wouldn't have hurt me too much.

I think.

"Did you apologize to Itachi?" I blinked and shook my head. He glared. "Why haven't you?"

"I...don't kn..."

"You don't know how!?" he barked at me and I took a step back. "Do you have any idea of what you told him makes him feel!?"

"Now Sas..."

"Can't you see how much my brother cares about you Akane!?" I gulped.

"I know b..."

"No you don't! You don't know because he never told you and I'm sick of his self-inflicted punishment because of the choices he made before!" He was raging, baring his teeth at me.

I lowered my hands in confusion.

"What are you talking about?"

"He has the Mangekyou too you know." I widened my eyes. "He has it because he thought he saw you being killed by Kiri years ago and blamed himself." The blood in my veins turned into ice and I clenched my fists, a nervous smile on my face.

"No...no, the Mangekyou it...it appears bec..."

"Draw your own conclusions you idiot. Ser..." He stopped talking when he saw my face, a hand on my forehead. "Akane?" I managed to stop my bottom lip from shaking and took off.

I…

I…

Gosh, I knew that the...there was something but…

And this idiot who keeps everything to himself!

I never ran home so fast before. I sensed Itachi's chakra when I was in front of the building, alone. I almost smashed the front door opened before going for Itachi's. I knocked twice before opening it.

He looked at me in surprise, a hand stretched out toward the door knob. I slammed it shut and pushed him on his bed. His eyes widened almost comically and I just fell on my knees in front of him.

"A...Akane?"

"I'm sorry." I heard him straightening up. "I...I'm sorry Itachi, I was horrible and mean to you when you wanted to help and...I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry and..." I sniffed and I heard him sighing above me.

He slid to the floor, now sitting in front of me and his legs on each side of me. I rubbed one of my eye.

"It's okay," he whispered gently to me. I raised angry eyes at him.

"No it's not! How come you all just accept my apology as if I had not been the worst person ever to you when you...you..." He was sixteen. He had awakened his Mangekyou when he was sixteen, so five years. His behavior in Kiri made more sense now.

"You did cross a line but...you were struggling." I sniffed again and looked at him.

"How did you know?" He titled his head a little. "How did you know what I was planning to do?"

"...you asked me to stop you, remember?" I raised my brows. "And with that man asking you to join him, I connected the dots, it was nothing."

"It wasn't nothing Itachi...it really wasn't..." He smiled faintly and put a hand on my head.

"If anything, Kakashi-san is the one who kept you from making a mistake, not me."

"Nobody would have known if it were not for you." I took hold of the hand in my hair and clasped my hands around it tightly, scared of letting it go.

The Mangekyou...the Sharingan evolves when its user witnesses the death of someone close to them. It had to be someone very close for the grief needs to be important.

"I...I'm just a horrible person to you..."

I couldn't help but wonder how old Itachi actually felt, coming to me again and again knowing he'd leave me alone and broken one day? Did he feel guilty each time he saw me and I would happily pretend he was a regular man?

"Why would you think that?" he asked softly.

"Sa...Sasuke...he..." I could see his frown although I was staring at the floor.

"What did Sasuke do?" I shook my head when I recognized a slight anger in his voice.

"He told me for your Mangekyou," I blurted out.

Here, it was out.

Itachi remained silent and if it wasn't for the way his hand tensed between mine, I would have thought he didn't hear me. I shyly stole a glance at him. He was looking away with a frown, gritting his teeth in obvious anger and his free hand was clasped onto his face, hiding hi…

His blush?

"I...tachi?"

"And?" he asked me in a cutting voice. I blinked, not understanding. "Shouldn't you be mad at me?"

"What for? For not seeing me as just disposable like I thought you did?"

"For not helping you." I shook my head.

"Why do you end up stealing my apologies each time I apologize to you?" He looked back at me and my sad smile. "I made assumptions based on what I knew, not about what was right in front of my eyes. I'm sorry about it, don't you dare apologize for things that...that we're already over with." I looked down and clenched my hands around his. "Why didn't you tell me? Why...when we were running from Yagura when I said..."

"The Chuunin Exams didn't seem like the right moment, and then with everything that happened with Kiri and how our relationship was at the time...it just didn't feel right." He sighed behind his collar. "I thought it would make things worst, that if you knew I cared enough but still acted this way...I didn't want you to see me like worst than trash."

My heart missed a beat. That...that sentence...it was a beautiful lesson, but by now I felt like it was taunting me.

"I'd never see you like that Itachi, you're too kind for that. You...you're the kind of man to put everything and everyone before you, I could never see you like worst than trash. Any action you do, they're not for you but for others. If anything, I'm the one who's worst than trash."

I relaxed when Itachi slipped his free arm around my shoulders, pulling me in a tight embrace. I let go of his hand, that settled on my waist, and slipped my arms around his neck, my fingers digging in his shirt in his back.

"I'm sorry, it seems like I can't help but worry you again and again," I whispered to him. He inhaled sharply, his face buried in the crook of my neck.

"I don't care as long as I don't lose you again Akane." I blushed furiously and he hugged me tighter, almost hurting me. His voice…

He wasn't trying to hide his feelings. It was raw pain and anguish coming from Itachi. I closed my eyes with a sigh.

"I really put you through a lot, didn't I?"

"You're the worst," he replied in a muffled voice.

I leaned more into him, shifting on my right so that I could put my legs on my left and be more comfortable. With the height difference, Itachi was basically slouching over me, forcing my head to be tilted back. I could feel my neck getting stiffer and stiffer because of the position.

I wouldn't be able to say for how long we stayed like this. I only cared about how warm Itachi actually was and how comforting his scent had become.

The arm around my shoulder went to around my waist and Itachi slowly raised his head, his nose in front of my forehead. I blushed, extremely hard, when I saw him pursed his lips and gulp. The atmosphere had changed.

It had changed drastically and I recognized it quickly. It was tension.

Sexual tension.

His hands gripped at my waist harder suddenly, and if it wasn't for a familiar voice in the lobby I wasn't sure if I wouldn't have landed on his bed a few seconds later.

"Itachi?" Mikoto-san called her son. I jumped on my feet, like Itachi, almost like two teenagers caught…

I grabbed my face, my cheeks too warm for my own good.

"I forgive you," Itachi whispered in my ear when he walked past me to greet his mother. "Mother, what brings you here?"

"I wanted to talk to you about the New Year's Eve party. We are going to announce your brother's engagement to..." I burst out of Itachi's room. Mikoto-san blinked at me.

"We were just talking," Itachi explained before his mother could imagine things.

"Why now? Why not wait until Sasuke's eighteen?"

"The Elders think the sooner the engagement is announced, the better it is to...how can I say this...put you under locks and key." I paled. "It will be with every clan heads and...well, the whole village will know."

"Great."

Just…great.

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Bye!