Naruto Fan Fiction

SI-OC!

(Title)

"The Weasel and His Cat"

DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!

WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.

Itachi laid under the canopy of thinning brush, taking a moment to regain his breath. The air in Cloud was much thinner than he was used to. The mountain range west of Konoha were some of the steepest climbs in the country, and yet they hardly compared to these sheer towers of slate and granite that painted the landscape.

In the distance a squad from Iwa travels through the thin mist, their focus resolute eastward. Itachi recalls seeing the traces of a genjutsu trap in that direction. He did not get the chance to investigate further before a pair from Rock had attempted to ambush him.

His attention was suddenly drawn down to a stickiness of fabric around his thigh. A darkening stain was there. Blood that didn't belong to him, seeped into his pant leg and was already well on its way to drying.

Itachi swallowed uncomfortably, feeling a sort of twisting sensation in his gut. A knotting that he had only felt a few times in his life. But it was a feeling he knew he would have to grow accustomed to.

He laid his head against the cool granite behind him, allowing the adrenaline from his earlier encounter to leave his system. His limbs felt like lead weights after the last several days spent fighting, and his eyes ached from the spin of his Sharingan.

The strain was wearing on him, he knew. His chakra reserves were not large enough to support the near-constant use he has put them through since arriving for the Chūnin Exam, but there was no alternative. He was almost certain that the host of the Nibi was also attending the exams, which complicated things significantly.

Still, a voice in the back of his mind told him he needed to rest. A voice that sounded suspiciously sharp and familiar and did not fail to make his expression soften, shoulders easing.

For a brief moment, he told himself, I will rest. Then it's back to tracking the next target.

But, once he released the flow of chakra to his eyes, the effects of an intense migraine came over him, causing his face to pinch in pain. He grasped his shirt as his eyes screwed shut against the waves of needling heat in his skull. Holding his breath, in that moment of pain and exhaustion Itachi wished for something selfish.

He wished he was home.

He wished he was home, and that Sasuke was there. Asking his big brother to play with him and show him how to climb a tree. He wished Shisui would come by to ask him how his last mission went and to inevitably invite himself to dinner later that night. He wished his Mother would stop on her way into the market to buy him his favorite sweet bread, telling him that it would be a secret just between them before they both shared the package. He wished his Father would not ask him to come here, to this strange and unfamiliar land so that he would gain a promotion he did not want.

He wished he was in the forest with Tomomi, and she was telling him of one of her lives. Where she sailed across seas with magic powers or dived through clouds of starlight and stood in fields of straw as she looked on a tower that reached beyond heaven.

Itachi wished for many selfish things.

As the pain began to subside and the stains of blood on his clothing made themselves known again, Itachi allowed the hollow feeling in his chest to grow. He deserved it for thinking so selfishly and wishing for things that only benefitted himself. The world did not revolve around him, and to wish for so caused a bitter taste to sit in his mouth.

With a pulse of chakra, Itachi's eyes glowed a luminous red. He pushed any lingering pains to the side as he left the cover of brush, swirling gaze already set on his next target.

The Weasel and His Cat

TO BE CONTINUED

A/N: This chapter was Beta'd by the wonderful NatsBats!

and there's our little ninja, off doing ninja child soldier things. Also, the author! hello! :D I... heh. have little excuse other than life is hectic and settling down even more so? apologies, as usual. and also as usual, I will get back to replying to reviews as soon as I can.

i hope that you are safe and well, take care of yourselves!
-Nanami