Over three weeks had passed since the abduction of the Yamanaka heiress and the main household was still shaken from the events. Inoichi had stationed their best shinobi in shifts to guard the little heiress, barely getting enough sleep himself.

There were nights he could not succumb to sleep due to the restlessness. He was afraid his little girl would slip through his hands yet again. There were nights, little Ino would wake up screaming, her dreams plagued by the memories of that night. She would scream until he caught her in his arms, his wife behind him in worry and she would hug him tight and sob through the recollections of her memory. From the mental bond he had with her, he would catch words between her cries such as "So much blood, daddy. Make it go away.". He would even see through her memories, little snapshots of the worse of her memories.

The one that seemed to plague her the most was her first kill, driving the kunai into Kamui's throat, anger and fear resulting into bloodlust that numbed her to the consequences.

Inoichi wished he could take it all away like she asked. Being a mind-walker, he could. However, not without damage especially with his little girl's mind being so young and fragile. That would do more damage than good. When he had heard the young Uchiha relay the events to the Hokage, he could barely believe it. His sweet little girl, his princess, killing her captor in such a way. His eyes had been wide in disbelief at the young ANBU's report.

Even as he disclosed of her knowledge of his identity, owing to her affinity for the mind as a Yamanaka heiress. The Hokage had questioned him about that and he explained mental bonds are formed usually by members of his clan from family member to others based on kinship and trust. It was rare to form bonds with others outside the clan but with Ino having gone through a trauma where Itachi had swooped in as her hero, it was a probable reason.

After they were dismissed, the young Uchiha had asked whether he could accompany him to visit Ino as she had made him promise to be there when she woke up.

Weirdly enough, although Inoichi was the first to hug his daughter when she woke up, she had searched for her young savior instead. She had conversed with the 11-year-old with ease, a light smile brightening her little face and as he announced his leave, the child had pouted, asking yet again for another promised reunion with wide pleading eyes Inoichi would usually fall slave too. It seems to have worked on the dark-haired boy just as well. The young Uchiha patted her head, a smile on his face as he nodded.

His little princess was so strong, being able to uphold her usual spirits and still smiling ever so often at her parents. She was at her happiest when Itachi would visit on Sundays which seemed to be his usual day-offs from his shinobi duty.

It was only at nights like these where she would break down in tears, struggling to breath as pure terror would take over and the memory of death would haunt her dreams. The memory of her hands taking a life would leave her sobbing. The first week had been the hardest, she would run to the toilet to empty her guts at the memory and would wash her hands raw that he would have to pull her away from the sink. Last week, she had begged him to cut off her long hair that had grown to her waist, claiming she could still see the blood of her cousin staining the ends. His wife had helped her cut it to her shoulder as she requested. That seemed to lessen the frequency of the nightmares.

Inoichi sighed as he fell onto his bed, hand clasping his forehead as he willed his headache to go away.

He knew there was a time his baby girl would have to take on the burden of being a shinobi. However, this was too soon for her. She was only six-years old, not ready for the world of blood and death. However, she was strong. She had asked him to sign her up for the academy a few days prior despite her wife's insistence to push back the process by a year. Ino had refused, pointing out that Shikamaru and Choji would be joining that year, so was most in her age group. She would carry through the legacy of Ino-Shika-Cho.

The blond man chuckled at the memory of her words, and how her eyes shone with strength as she stared down at her mother, fist clenched hard as her words echoed her insistent. She would join the academy the same year.

The Yamanaka heiress was strong. They would get through this.

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It has been a week since Yamanaka Ino had seen Itachi, and she had kept herself busy with ikebana with her mother, learning more of the many meanings of flowers. However, she knew today would be the day that Itachi would return from his mission. So instead of the usual of helping her mother prepare for orders, she was creating a bouquet of her own.

White Lilies were the highlight, as she thought it represented his gentleness well as it meant beauty and purity which she had thought of his soul having seen through the highlight of his memories. She added in Blue Irises for the faith and hope he had brought to her and Purple Lisianthus that symbolized appreciation.

The last three weeks had been spent on her recovery from the trauma that she realized she had never given a proper thank you for his saving her. She paused as she pondered whether to prepare a separate bouquet for his partner but since she knew nothing about the person below the rabbit mask, she decided against it.

Waving goodbye to her mother, she joined her company for a day. A trusted shinobi from the main branch of the Yamanaka Clan who had been assigned to escort her whenever she was apart from either her parents or the Naras or Akimichis. Ino had been glad at the constant company at first but 3-weeks after, it had started being over-bearing. However, she understood the worry of both her parents and said nothing of it.

It was less than 20 minutes of walk away to the Uchiha compound, and the Yamanaka heiress approached one of the Konoha police close by the gates to inquire on the location of Itachi's house. It was fairly easy to find out given he was part of the main family of his clan as well. Her status as a Yamanaka heiress allowed her smooth entry. Although, she had been getting weird looks for her bright teal eyes and platinum locks that contrasted against the Uchiha's dark eyes and hair. They openly stared at her in wonder as she approached the main house.

"Ino-sama, let me." her companion, Koi, gently knocked at the traditional door of the house as she lowered her head, a blush rising from her neck to her cheeks at his action as her lips quirked in irritation. She was perfectly capable of knocking. He was treating her like the Hyuuga heiress and her clan was a lot less uptight in status so it was an oddity to her how Koi would treat her as if she was the Federal Lord's daughter.

The door slid open, revealing a tall lady with the Uchiha coloring however Ino looked up in awe at her beauty. There was no wonder where Itachi-san had gotten his looks from.

The woman first saw Koi who had started to explain her presence before she interfered. She put on her best smile as she pushed her way past Koi, bringing the bouquet forward in her hands.

"Hello Uchiha-san. I'm Yamanaka Ino. I would like to give this to Itachi as thanks for his saving my life a few weeks back."

Uchiha Mikoto took one look at the blonde heiress with a sweet smile and the most beautiful bouquet she has ever seen - purple and blue was her favorite color and the white lilies contrasted like a dream – almost fawned over her and ushered her in. She had always wanted a daughter so she took full advantage of their cute little visitor, inviting her for milk and cookies with little Sasuke while they waited for Itachi to come home.

Ino had almost been dragged in as the dark-haired woman ushered her into the house with Koi awkwardly following behind. She had mentioned something about her younger son having no playmates of something along those lines. She led her to a table where a boy her age sat, munching on a cookie with a glass of milk next to him. She recognized him as the cute boy her friends would fawn over, including a certain shy pink-haired girl. Sasuke Uchiha huh.

She would never have guessed he was Itachi's brother however looking to the dark-haired beauty that clasped her hand and back at the child, she could see that the younger Uchiha was almost a male replica of his mother. She almost giggled as she thought of the young boy as pretty. She guessed that was why she never showed the same crush on the boy. He was almost prettier than her. Almost.

His mother called out his name, he looked over at her in curiosity as his mom set her on the chair next to him before fetching her own glass of milk and bowl of cookies. Ino set down the bouquet neatly on the table next to her.

"Ne? Ino-chan, why are you here?" the young Uchiha asked curiously, his voice high-pitched almost like hers.

She tilted her head as she stared back at him, surprised he knew her name when they never really spoke, even more so by the honorific. She supposed there was the one time her pink-haired best-friend had wanted to say hello but was too shy so she had dragged her to him and introduce both of them.

"O-oh! I came to see Itachi-san. You see, he saved me almost a month ago when I was kidnapped so I made him this bouquet." Her voice was steady but she felt her eyes water as the words brought back memories.

Sasuke was oblivious as he eyes widened at her words, lips forming an "o". Before he could voice out his curiosity, his mom had set a glass of milk in front of Ino.

"Oh yes, he spoke briefly of having a mission to save the Yamanaka heiress. Of course, we don't know details but Sasuke here was upset to having to share Itachi's sundays with you. Itachi said he promised a certain insistent girl."

Both children blushed at her words, but Sasuke was first to speak. "Oh, but I didn't know I was sharing with Ino-chan. I guess I'm okay with it."

Ino blushed even more at his words as her eyes met Sasuke's, seeing his own cheeks red.

Mikota shifted her eyes from the young girl who seem to have developed a crush on her older son, and to her younger son who seemed to have a little crush on the pretty little blonde. She almost squealed at the cute scene but smiled instead.

As if on cue, the door to the house slid open and Itachi came in. Sasuke bolted to his feet, running to his onii-chan with the customary request to train before he corrected himself with an "Oh! Ino-chan is here for you!"

His brow raised at the honorific again, wondering if his little brother knew what it meant. He then turned his attention to the said "Ino-chan" who was smiling up at him as she handed out a bouquet at him.

"Itachi-san, I just wanted to say thank you properly with these flowers I arranged for you." Her eyes shifted to the ground, as a blush rose to her cheek. "The white lilies mean Beauty which um- I think you have a beautiful heroic heart, blue Irises for the hope you gave me and the Lisianthus for appreciation." She murmured the meanings so fast that a normal person would not be able to catch what she was saying. However, both Itachi and Mikoto were trained shinobis with exceptional hearing and deduction.

Mikoto almost squealed at the cuteness as for the first time in her life, she saw a hint of blush at her older son's cheek as he stared in awe at the bouquet of flowers.

"A-Ah thank you, Ino. I have never received anything so beautiful in my life."

Mikoto smiled as Itachi took the flower in his hand, patting Ino's head with the other as little Sasuke furrowed his brows at the sight, obviously unused to not being the center of Itachi's attention.

"Onii-chan! Can we go shuriken training?"

His question brought their attention to the youngest Uchiha who was looking up at his brother pleadingly.

"Sorry Sasuke, we have a guest." Itachi smiled, poking the younger boy on the forehead, who looked away moodily as another blush rose to his face.

"Oh can I join in? I've been working on my aim." the small girl asked, unusually meek but hopeful, her question was directed to the boy her age.

"Sure! Please Itachi?" Sasuke's eyes were wide with hope as he stared up at his older brother.

Itachi smiled and nodded. "Alright. Let me put this in a vase first."

Both children cheered at this as Mikoto giggled. She had never seen the house of lively before. She only hoped the little heiress would visit more.