Chapter 2 - A Strange Man
When Akane and Itachi returned home, they were greeted by Sasuke who demanded his brother's attention immediately.
"Show me some new jutsu!" Sasuke begged his older brother. Itachi crouched down to Sasuke's level and poked his forehead very lightly. Sasuke's head bobbed back a cm.
"Maybe a bit later, I have work to do, sorry," he apologized to Sasuke.
"Awwww," Sasuke pouted and looked up at Akane. Akane and Sasuke were not the closest of people. They lived with each other but they never really bonded. She did not have a problem with him, he simply never really intervened into her life.
"Would you like to teach me some new jutsu?" his questioned directed at Akane.
She smiled meekly and shook her head. She slipped out of her shoes and walked up to her room, leaving the two brothers at the front door. She was a person of little words. She collapsed onto her bed, long black hair that passed her shoulder pooled around her head. Truth be told, she really disliked the Academy. Not just because of the treatment she received but mostly because she was not interested in being a shinobi. Why should she have to train to fight and kill to protect those who did not protect her? Perhaps she was just bitter but she knew she was right.
After Itachi revealed she was under the Uchiha clans protection, she hoped she would receive better treatment but part of her knew it wouldn't happen. Maybe it was even worst now. It was strange, she wasn't an incompetent student, in fact, she was talented, of course not as talented as Itachi Uchiha but her grades were second to none. She was at the top of her class in all aspects of fighting. It seemed that the ninja arts was a natural talent of hers, but despite that, her eyes seemed to overshadowed all of that.
Her eyes- no matter how hard she tried to understand, she couldn't figure out why Itachi wasn't disgusted by them. In fact, no one in the clan was, and she was quite thankful for that. Deep inside her, she knew the clan knew something about her she didn't know, but no one would tell her.
She rolled around on her bed, changing positions because one just got really uncomfortable after awhile. She stared at the ceiling and just thought of nothing.
"Akane, come out here please," a soft, serene voice called. It was Mikoto-san. Akane sighed and slipped out of bed. She walked out to the kitchen and saw Mikoto-san cooking like she did everyday.
When she saw her enter, she smiled at Akane.
"Would you help me cut the carrots?" Mikoto-san asked nicely. She offered her the knife and Akane took it. This was daily routine for them. It seemed as if Mikoto-san never wanted to leave her alone, she didn't know if she liked that or not.
Akane quietly cut the carrots.
"How was class today?" she asked while washing her hands of dirt.
Akane shrugged, "It was okay."
She said nothing else, but she could feel Mikoto-san's eyes staring intensely at her. Akane knew what was going to happen. She knew Mikoto-san would ask. It seemed strange to her that she cared so much for her. Akane learned to disregard her well being because she wasn't worth much. No one should care about her. She didn't mean anything, she was simply another human being on this earth.
"Why didn't you tell us?" she took the knife from Akane's hands and placed it on the table.
"Itachi told me everything," she raised a hand to the young girls face and rubbed it softly, "You should've come to us, Akane."
Akane stared at the floor not knowing what to say. She didn't know how to feel. It had hurt- the treatment, but she felt like nothing could be done. She felt cornered by her own apathy.
Suddenly, Mikoto-san pulled Akane into her arms and gently embraced her. She softly rubbed circles on her back and this gesture made Akane break down. She began to cry, just cry.
Crying was good, it helps to release the bottled up emotions. Everyone should cry because before they know it, they can cry no more.
Akane sat quietly by a tree, watching Sasuke throw kunai knives at a target on a tree. He was getting frustrated because he couldn't hit the target every time. She noticed that the way he flicked his wrist was off sometimes.
"Sasuke," she called quietly. Sasuke stopped to look at her. Surprise was written on his face because she hardly ever addressed him.
As the sun shone brightly in the sky, Akane got up from her spot and walked towards him.
He watched her move towards him and she put her hand out, signalling him to give her the kunai. He understood immediately.
"Uhm, you're throwing it wrong, you will hit your target every time if-" she showed him the movement of her wrist as she prepared to release the knife, "this."
And the kunai went flying, directly to the target. She threw two more kunai to prove her point. Fascination was present in Sasuke's eyes and he ran to grab the kunai's from the target. She observed him as he repeated what she did and achieved the same results. Sasuke turned to her and jumped up and down in excitement.
"I did it! I did it! Thank you, Akane!" Akane gave him a light smile and returned to her spot by the tree. She didn't know why she had helped him, she wasn't the type to offer help without being asked.
As she continued to watch Sasuke for awhile longer, her eyelids felt heavy and she fell asleep. She didn't know how long it had been but when she woke up someone was beside her.
She rubbed her eyes and looked cautiously to her right.
"Morning," Itachi greeted her. She nodded and noticed Sasuke was still practicing.
"I heard you helped him out," he informed her,"Thank you for that." She didn't respond and when he realized that, he continued,"As you know, Sasuke is often neglected by my parents because of me. I wish it wasn't that way, he's such a talented boy," Itachi placed his hands behind his head.
Akane observed Itachi with her peripheral vision. They looked alike- Itachi and Sasuke. But that's probably where the similarities stop. Sometimes, she felt bad for Sasuke because when she thought about it, her and Sasuke were very alike. They both had this talent that was overshadowed by something they could not control. Perhaps out of everyone, Sasuke understood her the most.
"Yeah, he is," she said subconsciously. When she processed she had spoken out loud, Itachi looked at her and let out a chuckle,"Talk more, Akane. It makes you happier, did you know?"
Akane quickly shook her head and they continued to sit in silience.
"Status report, son."
"I believe she is close to awakening her kekkei genkai."
"How can you be so sure? She is still quite young."
"Being young has nothing to do with it, we never knew much about that kekkai genkai, so we can't disregard the fact that- that bloodline might be able to be achieved at a young age. And I can see it in her eyes- an intense flame beginning to form."
The next day at the academy, Akane walked in silently like usual and took her seat in the upper right corner next to the window. She was the only student to sit in the back row. Her Sensei eyeballed her but said nothing to her. The other students kept their distance even more than usual.
"Class, today we have an important figure who is coming in to talk to us," he informed the class. As if on cue, an old man, in a white robe walked into the class room.
"Class, please show your respect to the Third Hokage." Hiruzen Sarutobi. The Third Hokage. Akane observed the man keenly. He had a high quality aura that signified his high standing and overall power. Her observation of chakra were perfectly accurate, in other words, her sensory abilities were top notch. This man- earned the title of Hokage.
"Hello children, I am Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage as you know," he said. He walked towards the center of the class and stood tall. He glanced around the whole class and the looks on the majority of the children were looks of awe.
"Sarutobi-sensei is here to talk to all of you about an important subject," her Sensei announced before quietly taking a seat among the students.
The Hokage walked towards the chalkboard and wrote one word on the board.
Honor.
He turned around and faced the class, "Honor, is the foundation of the shinobi. What do we fight for? We fight to protect what we love, the village, the people who mean something to us-" he walked towards the window and stared outside, "numerous of shinobi have lost their lives doing this.. but all of them died with honor, they died for their people."
Akane listened closely to his words, she was curious to see where he was going with this.
"All of you, who are sitting in here, are training to be shinobi, one day, your life will be on the line and you will fight to protect those you care about-" he walked up and down th aisles, looking at each student individually, "it will be a hard and difficult journey, full of pain and sorrow... but that is what it means to be a shinobi. Sometimes you will find yourself in impossible situations where duty seems more important-" he stopped in fromt of Akane," but let me tell you, duty isn't always what makes the best shinobi. Sometimes you need to follow your heart, every shinobi has their own body, mind and soul that makes them unique."
He stared at Akane's face for a little while before continuing back to the front, before he left though, she noticed a tiny look of surprise on his face.
"You kids, are the next generation of shinobi, protect your village, find something worth fighting for, trust yourself, and live honorably, follow that, and you're on the path to being a respectable shinobi," he took his place at the front of the class and pulled out a pipe, "remember, Konoha will always be your home."
The class was dead silent. Akane committed his words to memory because they struck something inside of her. His words made some sense to Akane, maybe one day they'd help her.
When he had stopped to stare at her, she found it very strange. His face was completely neutral, as if he was reading her face for something. She watched him and she could see all his facial expressions made before he made them. It was like, his face was outlined with chakra that pointed to the next image. She wasn't sure how to explain it.
After class was over, Sarutobi-sensei pulled Akane over to talk to her.
"Hello child," he greeted.
Akane bowed her head in greeting.
"You have some lovely eyes," he observed. Akane shifted uncomfortably.
He chuckled, "You seem to have developed an interesting ability, I've never seen anything like it."
"Ability?" Akane was shocked.
"I kind of want to keep it a surprise for now-" he patted her lightly on the head, "I think you'd rather learn from someone who understands anything visual related more than I..."
"Someone? What's wrong with my vision?" Akane was quite confused. She was seeing normally. Wasn't it normal to be able to see chakra paths?
"Nothing is wrong, in fact, it's a miracle. I'll have Kakashi look at you," he told her.
She knew that name, everyone did. The Copy Ninja. Why would they have to meet?
"Don't give me that face, everything will be okay," he laughed. Akane was probably frowning and didn't realize.
"I'll be taking my leave now," he turned to leave when suddenly his head turned back around,"Oh, I forgot to ask, what's your name?"
"Akane," she answered,"Just- Akane."
The Third Hokage nodded and left. He was a strange man.