Changes
Chapter Six
The Eyes
Of course, we realized that Mesu is a total pain in the ass and a total pervert, Itachi has a mini-fan club, and the two siblings were damaged from the horrid encounter with Mesu's lot and the like. It's now a couple months later, and let's just say that they're all fine, and their schooling's going great too.
However, there are always the problems every so often about Mesu, but the Uchihas have grown to ignore them. Growing up means learning new things and the like, right?
"Mom, I'm bored." Tsumi was sitting on a sofa, watching her previously favourite television show that's no longer her favourite television show.
"Mom, imm boord." Sasuke was sitting beside his sister on the sofa, mimicking her laziness and boredom as she watched the mysterious black and shiny box in front of them.
"Mom, can I go out to play?"
"Mom, cann eyea gowut to pay?"
Tsumi yawned. Sasuke tried to yawn.
"What's with you two? You're doing the exact same thing." Itachi slumped past them and into the kitchen with a scroll in his hand as he rubbed his eyes with the other.
Tsumi jumped off the sofa and grabbed her sippy cup from the coffee table. Sasuke tried to jump off the couch…but got stuck. "Here Sasuke, I'll help you." Tsumi reached out to help the little figure of Sasuke, who refused her help and pushed at her hands. "Fine then, I'll watch."
Standing back, Tsumi watched with a smirk on her face as Sasuke tried many, many times to get off the couch, but failed miserably as he didn't want to fall and hurt himself. Crawling back to where he was seated on the couch, Sasuke waved his hands in the air to hopefully catch Tsumi's attention – his little cry for help.
"I told you that you'd need help," Tsumi teased as she picked Sasuke up and set him on the floor. Pouting, however, Sasuke stumbled into the kitchen and poked at the sleeping form of Itachi.
Walking over as she laughed, Tsumi watched as Itachi started slapping at Sasuke's little hands, and pulled at his miniature pony-tail.
"Aww, why do you guys always team up on me?" he groaned as he stood up and stretched. Letting the yawn escape his lips and his eyes water, Itachi picked up his scroll and sleepily slumped back to his room.
Sasuke pulled at Tsumi's shorts, and looked up at her with a "let's follow him!" look on his face and eyes. Nodding, Tsumi let Sasuke take her finger into his hand and they followed Itachi down the hall.
Itachi slumped into his room, followed closely by Sasuke and Tsumi. Setting the scroll down on his desk, he walked over to his bed and crawled under the sheets. Closing his eyes, he instantly fell asleep.
"Bother, wakie-wakie!" Sasuke crawled over to Itachi and prodded his face. Groaning, Itachi turned over in his sleep.
"Brother, leave Itachi to his sleep," Tsumi sighed as she practically had to drag Sasuke across the floor and out the door.
Walking – and in Sasuke's case, crawling – back to the kitchen/living room, the two were greeted by rushed parents entering the door, brushing sakura petals off of themselves, and muttering to themselves.
"That sakura tree's grown pretty large, hasn't it?"
"Yes, sure it has!" Looking up to see Sasuke crawling towards her, Uchiha-san smiled and picked him up. "Ooh, looks like little Sasuke's pretty bored, isn't he?"
"Mother, father, you were out?" Tsumi asked curiously.
"Yes Tsumi, just taking some measurements of the garden and such," her father replied.
"Ah."
A faint slumping was heard down the hall as everybody looked up to see Itachi rubbing his eyes with a bath towel slung over one of his shoulders as he walked to the bathroom and shut the door behind him.
"Poor Itachi, he hasn't been getting enough sleep!" his mother frowned.
"Yes, he's just like me when I was a young sprout," her husband replied, "Always into the studies of the shinobi way, I was."
"He stays up all night reading scrolls, too," Tsumi reported, "and then he sleeps during the day. He tries to, anyway."
"Poor kid," her mother shook her head as she walked over to the kitchen and started rummaging through the drawers until she pulled out a pack of ramen. "What are you all looking at? This is for Itachi," she informed. Then, her husband shot a mocking glare as he walked off to his own room, Sasuke crawled back to his, and Tsumi to the TV.
"Mom, I think I watch too much TV, she said finally as she walked back into the kitchen.
"Oh? What makes you say that?"
"I'm getting sick of all the shows and such. There's nothing good to watch anymore."
"Hmm…how about I make you some ramen too?" her mother asked very randomly.
"Sure."
And so, Tsumi pulled out a chair and watched as the rock hard noodles started turning into something very soft and tasty in the pot.
The next morning…
Tsumi got up and walked to the bathroom. Only she found out that the door was locked, and somebody was in it. So she knocked on the door, said "hurry up!" and decided to wait. She waited and waited. 'Twenty minutes…nobody takes that long!' So she knocked again. "Ohayo, it's been twenty minutes, hurry up!" And then she twisted the doorknob and the door opened slowly to reveal that the bathroom was dark and empty. Mentally kicking herself, Tsumi growled and cursed at the doorknob quietly as she entered the bathroom and closed the door behind her.
"Oho!" Sasuke crawled into the kitchen to greet his mother, who was making breakfast for everybody in the house, as his father followed behind him.
"Ohayo," his father said as he walked over and kissed his wife on the cheek.
"Ick!" Sasuke frowned as he covered his eyes and stuck out his tongue. Laughing, his mother picked him up and placed him into his highchair.
"Ohayo," Tsumi said crankily as she walked into the kitchen and placed herself in a chair.
"What's gotten to you?" her mother asked.
"I spent twenty minutes waiting outside of the bathroom to find that there was nobody in there!" Tsumi complained. "Turns out that the doorknob got stuck or something, so I thought that it was locked and that somebody was in there." Scowling, she pouted as her parents started laughing at her foolishness.
"It's okay Tsumi. Accidents happen."
"But I don't think that was an accident, father!"
"Oh well, there's nothing we can do about it, is there?"
"Well…"
"So what did you want for breakfast?" the woman of the house cut in. "You have a choice between a bagel, toast, cereal, or a special bacon and eggs because I'm not feeling too lazy today to make them," she listed out.
"Bacon and eggs!" the two practically shouted.
"Sometimes I wonder why I even bothered to ask…" Uchiha-san said to herself. Then, she started humming to herself as she cooked the bacon and eggs.
Thumping was heard down the hall. Nobody even had to look for they knew that it was Itachi; holding a scroll; reading it as he walked; and walked into a wall he did. The force caught him off guard as he fell backwards on his butt and started rubbing his forehead. "Oww…"
"Itachi, why don't you take a break from your studies? You have school tomorrow, and I think you should rest for it," his father said as he looked up from the newspaper.
"Father, I'm trying very hard to learn these shinobi sayings, but…" Itachi trailed off to see that Tsumi was looking at him with an arched eyebrow, and Sasuke trying very hard to imitate her. "Sasuke, what are you doing?"
Sasuke closed his eyes and stuck out his tongue at Itachi and said, "Oho yoo too, big brother," with his tongue still sticking out of his mouth. He obviously mean to say "to you", but it came out as the spoken "yoo too". Everybody laughed at this – with the exception of Itachi who found it quite a waste of time from his studies – as they continued with their morning activities.
"Bacon and eggs, Itachi?" his mother asked politely.
"Sure." Itachi pulled out a chair and sat himself between Tsumi and his father. His father continued reading the paper, occasionally looking up at his children to make sure that everything was alright. Itachi was reading from his scroll, and Tsumi was busy watching and giggling as Sasuke tried to spoon his baby food into his mouth, but ended up spooning it up in the air and back onto his head.
"Sasuke…" his mother frowned as she brought the plates of bacon and eggs to the table and set them each in front of the remainder of the family that didn't normally eat baby food. Then, she seated herself in a chair and started to eat her own food – as the rest of her family started wolfing their portions down. Arching an eyebrow, she nearly sweat-dropped at the sight. "If you're finished, you can leave," she said with a smile on her face as Tsumi and Itachi stood up and brought their dishes to the sink.
"Arigato for breakfast, mother," Tsumi said with a slight bow as she ran off after Itachi to try to pry him from his work.
"Tsumi…she's so polite," her father said as he shook his head and put his own dishes in the sink. "I wish Itachi were like that too."
"Of course we do, he has lots to learn from her," his wife said with a sigh. "Too bad he's all like you though, always into studies," she scowled.
"It's not my fault that he turned out like that," he chuckled.
And little Sasuke just sat there with an upside-down spoon in his hand and a confused expression plastered on his face.
"Oh Sasuke, we should get you cleaned up," his mother said as she put her own dishes into the sink. "Honey, do you mind doing the dishes for me?"
"Fine, I'll do them," he said as reluctantly as a child the age of his own children, and earned a frown from his wife.
Meanwhile…in the backyard…
"Itachi, why do you work so hard?"
"It's not my fault. I want to become the best shinobi of Konoha!"
"Even if you study so hard, you have to take a break sometime!"
"Tsumi, you don't understand, do you?"
A gentle wind picks up sakura petals and they dance in the wind around Tsumi and Itachi, facing each other in their stance, staring each other in the eye.
"I want to protect you."
"Itachi…I…"
"Hm?"
"I know that things are going to happen in the future; bad things. I can protect myself though; I work hard too. Things come so easily for me though. Maybe I'll need your help once in a while. But for now, let me do things on my own." And the sakura petals blow between them during the eerie silence. "So how about having some fun for a change? School starts tomorrow again, so study then. But for now…I have other plans."
Tsumi walked forward and grabbed Itachi's hand. The abrupt action caused Itachi's cheeks to flush a light pink as Tsumi pulls him around to their front yard and through their front door. "Father, we're going out for a bit!" she called to their mother that was still trying hard to wash the dishes.
"Yes. Be safe."
Getting pulled around by a girl only one day younger than him wasn't his idea of fun. He followed her around town anyway; past the Yamanaka flower shop, the academy, and what have you. Soon enough, they were running down the street, hand in hand, earning the strange glances of passersby, laughing, letting loose, being free. They stopped at the park in front of the large, marble water fountain with its clear blue water running through it, and stood there facing each other, fingers linked together.
"Had fun?"
"It's better than scrolls."
And with that, Itachi leant in and whispered something into Tsumi's ears, making her laugh quietly like some little girl that had just lost her sanity.
"Yes," she said with a smirk.
Itachi cleared his throat. "So…" He wrapped his arm around Tsumi and they continued to walk. 'Timing everything out perfectly is a key to success…'
"Itachi-kun!" Miharu sprinted out of nowhere and dashed out in front of him, making a scene with the petals that flew about. "I missed you so much!" Running up to him, she threw her arms around his neck and nuzzled her head into his shoulder for quite some time. When she pulled away, she noticed Tsumi that was wrapped in his arm, with an arched eyebrow, staring back at her. "What are you doing here?" Miharu pointed out.
"I should be asking you the same question."
"I-i-itachi-kun! What are you doing with this scum?"
Itachi laughed. "Scum? Tsumi is no scum. I wouldn't be talking if I were you."
Miharu gasped. She had just been insulted by her crush! 'He's only hiding his feelings! I know I can get him!' her inner-self held up a fist and looked up with a waterfall of tears streaming out of her eyes. Comical, yes. "Itachi-kun…you don't really mean that! What a funny joke!" and she started laughing falsely.
"That was no joke. Go away."
"But…but…"
"Didn't father tell us not to talk to strangers?" Tsumi added in mockingly.
"Good point. Do I even know you? How do you know me?" Itachi had hit Miharu's weak point. Hard.
"How do I know you? You don't know me! What are you talking about? Which kid in all of Konoha doesn't know me? I am Ashioto Miharu!"
"Ashioto…Miharu…nope, never heard of you," Itachi said with a very, very bored expression on his face.
Miharu almost fell over from the shock. 'Somebody doesn't know my name? My crush doesn't know my name? How can this be?'
"Come on Tsumi, where you want to go?"
"You want to spar?"
"Sure."
'My Itachi-kun spars…? I didn't know he even got that advanced! Sparring…I thought it was only for the strong shinobi!'
"Aww crap, I just remembered that I busted my katana the other day!"
"It's alright, I'll get mother to buy you a new one."
"Brother, I've gone through five katanas this past month."
"I'll figure out something. Besides, mother seems to have a liking to you anyway; same with father; and Sasuke." Itachi smiled to himself. 'And me…'
And the two skipped off towards their house as happily as they can possibly be. The rest of their day was pretty much fun and games. Itachi was livelier at dinner. His sleeping habits changed back to one of a normal kid's. And I'm feeling extremely lazy right now to write about it so I'll skip ahead.
The next day…
Classes started up again. Tsumi and Itachi showed up earliest in their class – the usual. Their stupid Itamashii-sensei never failed to show up until the last minute, while always claiming that he had lots of work to do.
"Yeah right," the shadow haired boy said.
"Hey, Uchiha!" Itachi looked up to see Jama walking up to him.
"Do I know you?" Itachi asked with mock stupidity.
"Hai, we're in the same class…"
"Oh."
"Moving on…I challenge you to…to…"
"To what?" Tsumi cut in.
"To…target practice!" Jama decided.
"What kind of target practice?" Itachi asked.
"Darts, of course," Jama replied.
"We're not allowed using shuriken or kunai yet, though some people have failed to notice such a matter," Tsumi said as she raised her voice for a certain pervert nearby to hear.
"Hai, I accept your challenge," Itachi replied with an icy tone that sent shivers down everyone but Tsumi's spines, and made the unnoticed Miharu nearby squeal with delight.
"Meet you at the swing set in the park this afternoon at four. Be there." And Jama walked off, trying to leave an impression on people, but everyone had rushed to Itachi instead.
"Itachi-kun! Are you sure you want to accept his challenge?"
"Itachi-kun! You're not going to lose!"
"Itachi-kun! Beat Jama!"
"Don't back down!" Jama called over all the voices of his classmates, but remained unnoticed.
"Excuse me class! It's time to get settled down!" Itamashii called to his students as he unlocked the door of the classroom after many trials, and let himself and the rest of his pupils in. After his class had settled down, he decided to break out the news. "Class, I'm too excited about this! Please welcome our new assistant sensei – Umino Iruka!"
The class clapped politely when the young teenager stepped into the classroom, proudly wearing a chuunin outfit with black hair tied up in a high ponytail, and looked more like a practical joke. "Ohayo, my name is Umino Iruka, and I'll try my best to help as much as I can! I'll be in for the rest of the year…"
And Iruka continued talking for a couple more minutes about the usual – his likes, dislikes, accomplishments and dreams.
"Arigato Iruka!" Itamashii said cheerfully as he began to clap his hands, followed by the rest of his pupils who were only clapping to be polite. "And now, I have a second surprise for you! Today, we'll get a start on hands-on activities such as throwing shuriken!" That seemed to be the first interesting thing that this class has done the whole year, for they started cheering and got all excited and really looked as if they wanted to learn. "Now class, follow me to the yard!"
Itamashii led the way out the door of the classroom, and down the hall towards a staircase. Then, they made their way down and outdoors to the back of the school yard and into a restricted area only for classes – where the students practiced with shuriken and kunai. "Now, form a straight line!" The students, excited as they were, and to Itamashii's amazement, obeyed him for probably the first time the whole year. "Wonderful! Now, I'm going to get Iruka to demonstrate a few times on the proper way to throw shuriken!"
Iruka stepped up and picked up several shuriken, and started telling his little students the proper way to throw them and several techniques before he actually demonstrated with the shuriken the different techniques he mentioned. Tsumi, anxious as she was to throw one herself, looked over at Itachi and noticed that his eyes had changed colour.
"Itachi…your eyes…"
"Huh? What about them?"
"Tsumi and Itachi, please pay attention!" Itamashii called over with a frown.
"But sensei, his…"
"His what?"
"His eyes…they changed colours…"
Everybody gasped in amazement as they looked over at Itachi's eyes.
"Tsumi…your eye colour changed too," he pointed out.
"They what!"
"Tsumi, Itachi, please follow me," Itamashii commanded, "and you, please carry on while we're gone."
Itamashii led Tsumi and Itachi to another part of the practice yard where it was peacefully quiet and empty of other students. "Here, Tsumi, take this shuriken and throw it at the target." He handed her a shuriken, and she took it from him, positioned herself exactly how Iruka did, and threw it, striking the center of the target and splitting the board. Gaping in amazement, Itamashii handed Itachi one and he did just the same.
"Hmm…just as I thought…" he muttered to himself.
"Just as you thought what?" Itachi and Tsumi asked curiously.
"Ehh…never mind. I'll teach you how to throw kunai now," Itamashii decided. So he showed them, and they learned right away. 'Just as I suspected…Sharingan's kicking in. What about Tsumi's eyes? Those aren't Sharingan eyes…'
"Umm, sensei, it's break time," Tsumi interrupted his thoughts.
"Oh, ok then, uhh, I'll escort you back to the classroom to get your snacks and such," Itamashii decided as he led his students back up the stairs to their room, where all the other students were filing out, and Iruka was going to lock the door. "Hold up there, Iruka! You can go on ahead, I'll handle things here," Itamashii said.
"Hai. See you guys later," Iruka said cheerfully as he ran off.
"Umm…sensei, would throwing a dart be using the same techniques as throwing a kunai?" Itachi asked suddenly.
"Well…a kunai uses more force, so the follow-through is different – err, a follow-through is…oh never mind. Let's just make it easier and say that there really isn't much difference," he decided.
"Oh, ok then. Arigato." And they were off, leaving Itamashii to lock the door behind them.
"I think I should give their parents a call…"
In the senseis; lounge…
…Itamashii picked up one of the few phones at one wall, and dialed up a number that he found from some files he had to go through.
"Moshi-moshi," said a woman's voice.
"Ohayo, Uchiha-san?"
"Hai. Who's speaking?"
"I'm the sensei of your children at the academy."
"Oh, Itamashii! I haven't talked to you in a while! You could've just said that you were Itamashii and I wouldn't have gotten all confused for a while! So why'd you call so suddenly?"
"I was just calling to tell you that Itachi's Sharingan has started kicking in with shuriken practice…and he's already mastered the art of throwing shuriken; same with Tsumi. So I decided to pull them out of class and they seemed to have mastered the art of throwing kunai as well…"
"Really? I'm proud to hear it," their mother said with a laugh.
"Yes. Itachi's Sharingan, I can recognize…but Tsumi's eyes…they were…they went from onyx to almost an orangey-red colour."
"Interesting…oh well, thanks for telling me. My little baby Sasuke's becoming quite a nuisance nowadays…"
"Sorry for bothering you!"
"Ah, it's alright, it's good to get away from him for a while. Arigato for calling!" and she hung up. Itamashii hung up too.
In the Uchiha household…
…Sasuke was trying to understand what his mother and his father were talking about. "Dee eyes?"
"Never mind Sasuke," was all they would ever say. Who knows what little Sasuke was thinking about? He knew that there was something with 'the eyes' as he kept hearing, but couldn't pronounce properly. It didn't matter to him. He was happy in a family with an mother, an father, an brother and a new sister. They all loved him. He would love them back…if he knew what love was. It's all in good time Sasuke, it's all in good time…
TBC