"Haru! Is breakfast ready?"
Sasuke smoothed his damp bangs on either side of his face, and then ran his hands through the ebony locks on the back of his head. He was thankful that his hair was now long enough that it didn't stick up so horridly in the back.
"Yeah, waiting on you!" he heard his girlfriend shout from across the house.
He stared at himself in the mirror, at the small bags forming under his eyes. He hadn't slept well the night before, his mind plagued with strange dreams. He'd dreamed about a young woman, her hair short and platinum blonde and eyes the same color as the depths of an unknown sea, lying in a pool of blood and explaining to him the viral outbreak and giving him some sort of shot with a large needle. And then they were in an abandoned tea house together, being served by a murdered waitress while she talked about her life back home, as if she were from some faraway land. It was strange, though, how the young woman had seemed to be untouched by the chaos around her. It was like she wasn't even aware of it; she didn't have a single drop of blood on her despite being surrounded by it.
Stranger yet, she had called him Itachi.
He walked into his kitchen, where Haru was already sitting at the bar. Her long ebony hair was in a ponytail, and her smile reached her hazel eyes when she turned to glance up at him.
"You were tossing and turning last night," she said. "Are you tired? You look tired."
He sat down beside her at the table, and picked up his chopsticks. "It was weird," Sasuke replied, "but I had a dream about… this woman, I guess. She kept calling me Itachi."
Haru swallowed her food and laughed, the sound music to his ears as always. "You're lucky I'm not the jealous type, Uchiha, what with you dreaming about another woman like that," she joked, standing and making her way to the refrigerator. "Why would she call you Itachi?"
Sasuke's free hand reached up towards his own face, fingertips barely brushing above his brow. His stare seemed to go through the food before him, gazing deep into something else that only he could see.
"Ever since I got these eyes…" he mumbled.
It had been a very long time since he'd had a dream like that, where he was Itachi instead of himself.
"Don't stress about it," he heard Haru say. He looked at her lovingly. While she was usually very brash, her soft side was for him alone. Even though sometimes he was disturbed at the complexity of their relationship and the things they'd gone through together, and how their past had interwoven long before they met, he loved her deeply. She'd been there, by his side—even when he'd been on the wrong side—since they were teenagers.
She'd been stolen away from her family in the Mist Village at the tender age of four, leaving behind her parents and her twin brother, Haku, by Orochimaru to be used as a potential vessel because of her powerful Kekkei Genkai. She spent her entire life training at the snake's side, until Sasuke came along. They found themselves to be unlikely allies and sweethearts when they grew old enough, and when Sasuke took down Orochimaru, Haru had requested that she could go with him.
They'd been together ever since, and she supported every decision Sasuke made, even if she thought it was stupid—and she made sure to let him know her opinion.
Even though he was sure her personality was the complete opposite, she still almost-identically resembled her late twin brother, who he'd encountered back in his Genin days…
"Aren't you supposed to meet with that samurai liaison today?" she asked, breaking him from his thoughts.
"Yeah, Naruto wants me to wait by the village gates again," he replied. "She was supposed to be here yesterday. Hopefully she didn't get caught up in one of those riots."
"God, I didn't even think about that happening." Haru scoffed. "Everyone knows that when it comes down to it, those medic samurai will go down easy, because of their 'code.'"
"Come on. Maybe against a Jounin, but surely they'd last against civilians?"
"I doubt it. Other than self defense, I've always heard they're useless in battle because they're not allowed to train for normal combat." She shrugged as she sat back down to finish her breakfast. "Makes no sense, if you ask me."
Sasuke grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair, and leaned over her. He grabbed her chin and tilted her face upward to plant a quick kiss on her lips. "I'll see you at lunch," he said in a husky tone, and winked at her. "It'll be a full spread, right?"
She winked back at him. "Of course."
Akahana let out a huge sigh of relief when she finally saw the gates of Konoha. "It's about time!" she exclaimed, and smiled in Itachi's direction.
Her traveling companion hadn't said much this morning. She figured that maybe he was nervous, since he wasn't exactly sure what he would be walking into when they arrived at the village. They walked along the path silently, her bag filled with supplies, clothing and files beginning to weigh heavily on her shoulder. Itachi seemed to have no trouble carrying the pack filled with clothes she'd bought him in a small shop the day before, but then again, he didn't seem to be bothered by much of anything.
A man was waiting for them—or, rather, waiting for her—at the gate, looking off in another direction. He was about as tall as Itachi was, with ebony hair that was cut just above his shoulders. He was wearing a black jacket, on the shoulder a small white and red fan, and black pants and sandals, along with fingerless gloves. His mask was more like a simple cloth tied around his mouth and nose, the extra material dangling and covering his neck.
As they closed the distance between the man at the gates and themselves, Akahana's eyes widened. The man before them was paler, and he didn't have those strange birthmarks on his cheeks, but… she recognized that side profile, and those charcoal eyes. They were all-too familiar.
"Is that…?"
"Don't cause a scene," Itachi interrupted, glancing her way. "When he sees me, I'll handle it myself."
They approached, and the stranger looked in their direction and froze when his eyes met hers.
"You…" he mumbled, and then when he looked over to glare at Itachi, a visible shudder went through him.
"Excuse me, sir—my name is Akahana Yukimura," she began, "and this is my traveling companion, Ita—"
She didn't get the rest of the words out, however. The stranger whizzed past her at lightning speed, brandishing a kunai. She almost dropped the attaché case, free hand going to the katana resting on her left hip. "Hey!" she shouted. "What are you doing!?"
She was ignored; Itachi held back the attack by grabbing the younger man's wrist. He swung his leg around and Itachi raised his arms to block that, too.
"Who the fuck do you think you are!?" the younger man snarled, yanking himself away and stepping back before attacking again. Akahana took a step back. Her hunch must have been correct: this young man must be Itachi's younger brother. But if so, why would he be so angry?
"I'm Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke," Itachi said gruffly, blocking the younger man's barrage of punches and kicks with ease.
"My brother is dead!" the man called Sasuke shouted, letting out a cry as he tried to kick again, but this time Itachi gripped his leg and swung him around, throwing him into a nearby tree. Akahana let out a gasp.
"I'm back." Itachi's voice was a little more emotional than she'd experienced in the last two days she'd spent with him. Why would they be acting like this, if they were brothers who were miraculously reunited?
"Liar!" Sasuke made a mad dash at Itachi again after scrambling to his feet, the visible part of his face contorted with rage and pain.
Itachi raised his hand, standing straight. Akahana couldn't look away from the scene. She'd only seen Itachi become violent once, but he'd been ruthless. Surely, though, he wouldn't kill his own brother, would he?
The next scene seemed to happen in slow motion. As soon as Sasuke got close, fist rared back, Itachi swiftly touched his index and middle fingers to the center of the young man's forehead. And just like that, Sasuke froze, his eyes swirling with confusion. For just a moment, she'd thought his eyes had flashed crimson, just like she'd seen a few times with Itachi in the past couple of days. What on earth was triggering her to see such strange things?
The young man's fist fell to his side, and he straightened and stood silently before Itachi. Itachi's arm fell, too, and his stoic expression softened. "Sasuke."
"How…?" Sasuke's voice trembled, and so did his fists. "You're supposed to be dead." "Akahana can explain everything, if you'll calm down and listen to her."
Suddenly two pair of onyx eyes were on her, who was standing wide-eyed. She gulped. The two of them together were quite intimidating.
Sasuke scrunched his face at her. "You're the girl from my dream."
"Dream?" she asked, and then hastily straightened, both hands holding the handle of the case. "I-I'm sorry! How rude of me!" She bowed deeply. "My name is Akahana Yukimura, and I'm the liaison assigned to Konohagakure."
"Hn. Straighten up, Akahana." She straightened her back to see Itachi's brows furrowed. "It was my little brother who was rude to you first."
"… oh." Honestly, she didn't have a better response than that. She'd always been taught to be respectful, no matter what. She was a guest here, after all.
"So you can explain this?" Sasuke asked, pointing at the older man, eyes still reflecting anger and confusion.
"Yes, I can do that." Beneath her mask she bit her lip. "Sorry again, but first I have to request an audience with the Hokage. There are other things that have to take priority."
"Excuse me?"
Sasuke took a step toward her, but Itachi quickly clapped a hand on his shoulder.
"I-I have the vaccine." She shyly held the attaché case to her chest, eyes to the ground. "I-It's my job to make sure it gets distributed."
Sasuke's eyes widened. He grunted, and then adjusted the mask on his face a little. "Fine. But you'll explain everything once we get to the hospital."
Itachi and Akahana followed Sasuke through the gates. She could feel Itachi's gaze on her.
"What?" she asked in a hushed whisper, glancing his way.
"Don't stutter. People will think you're weak."
It was almost an hour later that Akahana was introduced to the Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki. He had short blond hair, blue eyes, and whiskers along his cheeks. He seemed very friendly, at first, but he took on a completely different demeanor when she explained everything that had happened to her since she'd arrived in the Land of Fire. Itachi stayed leaned up against the far wall of the office the four people occupied, his blank gaze focused on the sky outside the window. Naruto and Sasuke leaned on the empty desk next to each other, and Akahana sat in a chair by the door, her mask down around her neck and her attaché case carefully laid across her lap.
"So he came back with you, then?" Naruto asked, his brows finally relaxing. "It doesn't seem like a normal Reanimation Jutsu, and he doesn't seem to be under anyone's control."
"He shouldn't be," Akahana interjected. "The man who had Itachi's soul tried to kill me, and Itachi protected me from the start."
Sasuke raised a brow, and took a glance at Naruto before steeling his eyes back on the young woman. "It doesn't matter; at this point, we only need to figure out the details. For now, he'll come with me to the Uchiha compound and—"
"No, I won't."
The three looked to Itachi at his interruption. His gaze bore into the two men. "I'm going where she goes."
"What?" Sasuke stood from the desk and faced his brother. "Why on earth would you do that? Her job is to administer the vaccine and then go back to her country."
"She brought me back," Itachi replied, straightening as well. "It's more complicated than you think."
Akahana felt a strange heat rise in her entire face. What did he mean, and why would he say something like that? It could easily be taken the wrong way!
Itachi and Sasuke glared daggers at one another. Naruto quickly stood between them, hands raised in the air to his shoulders. "Surely, there's a compromise…" he stammered. The silence stretched for a few moments, and then the blond's eyes began to sparkle. "I know!" he exclaimed, his hands clasping together. He beamed at the three of them. "Sasuke, why don't you let Yukimura stay at the compound, too? That way she doesn't have to sleep here in the hospital!"
Akahana sprang from her chair, handle to her attaché case gripped tightly with both hands in front of her. "I couldn't!" she said loudly. "I don't want to impose. If you have a cot, I can occupy one of the offices here with no problem."
"Nonsense!" Naruto's grin was brilliant. She couldn't help but be reminded of her younger brother. "Sasuke, whaddaya say?"
Sasuke crossed his arms and glared in her direction. "If you cause me any more trouble, you're out on your ass."
Face still flushed, she bowed deeply. "Of course not!" She'd struggled hard not to stutter. "Thank you so much!"
She straightened. Itachi had an odd look of satisfaction on his face.
"Now, if you guys don't mind," Naruto said, "I need to have a conversation with Miss Yukimura alone. I'll walk her to the Uchiha compound later, if you two would go ahead and take this time to catch up."
Sasuke scoffed. "If you say so, Hokage, sir," he growled, and skulked towards the door. "C'mon, Itachi."
The elder Uchiha almost seemed to hesitate, and then made a small sound of agreement before following suit. "I'll be waiting just inside the compound grounds for you," he told her, onyx meeting cerulean for only a moment. She smiled and nodded in reply.
When she looked back at Naruto, he wore a serious expression. "We need to discuss those vaccines," he said, waiting until the sound of the door clicking shut echoed through the bare office.