My chapters seem to be getting longer...hm...
Thank you, for choosing to read this.
Tuesday.
Ironic it may have been, it was a Tuesday when Mikoto Uchiha last saw Junri Uchiha. It was Tuesday when they last exchanged words.
"Please," she begged through her desperation and tears. She clutched at Junri's shirt, not even ashamed at having the younger Uchiha see her like this. "Please, Junri, please, promise me you'll find him. Promise me you'll save him. Promise me he won't be hurt. He's all we have! Please! You have to, you have to save him…" Mikoto couldn't continue for she broke down into silent sobs, still holding onto Junri as if for dear life, crying into her chest and soaking her shirt with tears.
With the dignity and grace befitting the wife of the head of the Uchiha clan, Junri Uchiha held her long-time friend's arms with gentle composure and eased Mikoto to stand up. Junri looked her right in the eyes when she made her promise. "Mikoto," she said her voice steady, demonstrating the confidence she hardly felt. "Itachi will be safe, you have my word. We'll bring him back to you."
Junri Uchiha had kept her word. She had kept Itachi Uchiha safe. Itachi was without a scratch when he was brought back to Konohagakure. Like an omnipresent blessing, Junri and Ryuuhi had somehow watched over him as he was whisked away to safety and the warm arms of his mother and father. In their turn, Junri and Ryuuhi had died, and Mikoto Uchiha had never lived that down.
"So this is the end," murmured Junri to her husband. "I could never imagine us getting old anyways, Ryuuhi."
Her husband gave a weak chuckle. He held her in his arms, feeling the pain dispel and the numbness sinking in.
"And our daughter," lamented Junri. "Poor Hisaki…"
"She's strong," Ryuuhi assured her. "…She'll be…fine…"
On Tuesday afternoon, Hisaki wept at the memorial stone, the soft caress of incense doing nothing to remind her of the fact that her parents were dead. The years had passed and her memories of them faded. It shamed her that she could hardly remember what they looked like. The bright sun and the warm breeze felt embracing but it did not match Hisaki's desolate mood and did nothing to cheer her up.
"She cries for the parents she cannot remember," people would say.
They would think that she was an oddity, they would not understand. But they who saw her with a critical eye couldn't feel the pain she felt. The pain she remembered feeling when she witnessed people, children, slaughtered like animals. The pain of loss and sadness and sheer terror sometimes stabbed at her. Being tortured would have been more endurable.
Tuesdays were the days she let herself think about it. And when she thought, and tried to understand, she would cry until she had no more tears to shed, and move on. In her later years, it happened with less frequency but every time it did, it was just as bad.
The second time Itachi met her was that Tuesday. He had been out in the village, running an errand for his mother, buying milk and produce because they had run out when he heard two girls talking as they walked past him. They were civilians, girls he did not recognize though they were around his age.
"Where's Hisaki?" asked the shorter girl. Though she asked, Itachi could tell by her disengaged tone that the question was not out of concern but prompted by boredom. It was idle conversation that bore little importance to both girls.
"Out by the memorial stone," replied the second girl. She gave a glance towards Itachi as they walked by. Mild interest. She shrugged as she turned away from Itachi. "Having a good cry, you know how she is." The way she said it, she almost sounded exasperated, bored at the behaviour of their third friend. She implied that it was normal to observe Hisaki behaving as such.
"Ah," said the first girl, a tone of comprehension. "It's Tuesday."
The two girls walked away, changing their subject to the plans for the remainder of the day. Just as the first time he met her, Itachi could have easily disregarded this and gone home. However, just as the first time, Itachi found curiosity poking at his mind. What kind of girl was Hisaki Uchiha, to be 'having a good cry' at the memorial stone on a beautiful day like it was that day. A gentle breeze wrapped itself around Itachi, urging him to explore this unexplored ground.
Making up his mind, he changed directions, walking towards the memorial stone, two bags of groceries still in his hands.
Her crying had eased up when she heard someone coming. She sobbing had ended and instead, she knelt on the ground, tears steadily dropping onto her lap. The petals of the flowers she'd brought rustled with the grass in the soft wind. For a girl who'd never gone any sensory training, her hearing was rather impeccable. She wasn't good enough, however, to be able to defer the weight and quality of steps as shinobi had been trained to, and so she thought he was Kakashi Hatake.
"Kakashi-san," she said, her voice weary from crying. She didn't turn around to look at him. She seldom ever did when they met at the memorial stone. "It's been some time since we've come across each other here."
"No," replied the person who'd knelt down beside her. The moment he said it, Hisaki knew she was mistaken. This voice was different, low but soft and more distant sounding than even Kakashi could manage. "I am not Hatake Kakashi."
Hisaki looked up in surprise. Kneeling beside her was Itachi Uchiha, whom she'd met once before. He was gazing straight ahead at the memorial stone, as if he'd been there the whole time. He looked pensive and Hisaki was almost afraid to interrupt. After a long pause between the two, Hisaki spoke.
"No," she said rather lamely. "You are not."
She wiped her tears and turned her gaze to her lap, where it had previously been. Itachi stole a glance at her and she didn't notice. Even though he wasn't looking directly at her, he couldn't miss the look of her. Her eyes were bloodshot from crying, her cheeks flushed and the trail of tears that had ran down her cheeks were visible, reflecting off the sunlight. Her long black hair was down today, swept to one side of her head and hanging down, a curtain shielding Hisaki from his view.
He wondered if he should try to comfort her, but was hesitant to disturb her silent reverie. Instead, he turned his attention to the bouquet of flowers lying at the foot of the memorial stone. They were roses, wrapped up with humble wrapping paper, a plain, soft brown, tied by a thin white ribbon. The roses were among the most exquisite he'd ever seen, in full bloom, with petals the began a pale yellow but almost magically transformed to a soft pink at its ends. Itachi imagined they smelled nice too, but he couldn't be sure because the incense was what filled his nose.
"Why are you here?" Hisaki asked, just after Itachi had finished with his idle observations and lapsed into remembrance of those who participated in the war he had lived through. She wasn't crying anymore. Though her eyes were still a bit pink and swollen, her cheeks were no longer flushed and her tear stains had gone.
"I…was just passing," said Itachi, not keen on admitting he'd come looking for her when he'd heard rumours she'd been crying here. He watched her carefully, to see whether or not she bought the lie. By the slight raising of eyebrows it was plain that she did not.
"On your way back to the complex?" she asked sceptically, eyeing his bags of groceries. "…from grocery shopping?"
To any resident of Konoha above the age of four, it was common knowledge to understand at least the basic geography of the village. It just so happened that the memorial stone and the Uchiha complex were literally across the village from one another. The grocery store was a mere three blocks from the complex. Logic had it that the memorial stone was nowhere near 'passing by' distance from the complex to the grocery store.
Itachi could see why she was not the least convinced. Quick, like the genius he was, he pulled a story out from thin air. "No," he said as if the idea was absolutely stupid. "After I went to buy groceries, Gai asked a favour of me to demonstrate genjutsu to his pupils at the training ground. As I was coming back, the urge struck me to visit the memorial stone in order to place an offering of remembrance."
"Oh," she said, looking a bit less sceptical, and perhaps a bit guilty at being so suspicious of him. There was another pause. "Then where is your offering of remembrance?"
Itachi reached for his grocery bag and pulled out the most flower-like thing he could feel. When he pulled it out, and looking down, found himself holding a bushel of broccoli. That had been unprecedented. They both looked down at the broccoli for a brief moment, before looking up to meet each other's eyes. Why in all his luck did he have to pull that out. Then again, what would have been a better substitution? Carrots? Milk? Potatoes?
"Broccoli?" asked Hisaki.
"Yes," said Itachi confidently. He placed the broccoli beside the flowers as if he wasn't questioning himself, lamenting his dignity or wondering if she still thought him sane. "It's very good for one's health."
Another pause and Itachi realized that he was experiencing an inescapable bought of stupidity. It was very embarrassing. Hisaki blinked and turned her gaze to the broccoli. "Yes, I suppose health might be the primary concern of people who have passed away," she remarked softly. Her tone didn't imply sarcasm like her words did.
"It symbolizes my wish for them to be healthy in their next life," Itachi explained intelligently. Even he commended himself for this smooth save. Another pause occurred between them, a thoughtful one.
"Oh," said Hisaki in that same tone she'd used the last time she'd vocalized it. Itachi stood up feeling smug and Hisaki followed. They walked away from the memorial stone together, Hisaki having lapsed into a thoughtful absent-minded silence. "Perhaps I should start bringing broccoli when I come here…"
"Don't!" said Itachi quickly. She looked at him startled. Itachi was unsure of just how much of an idiot he would feel if he'd somehow influenced her to bring broccoli to the memorial stone. He was already beginning to feel badly about his little lie. If he was to keep up his story, he would likely have to bring broccoli to the memorial stone every time he visited now. "…Your flowers are much nicer," he explained to her, returning to his previously cool and collect demeanour.
She gave a soft laugh at his reaction. "Thank you," she said again, beaming at him.
"For what?" he asked as he had done the previous time.
"For complimenting the flowers," she told him. They walked back to the Uchiha complex together. They parted ways at the entrance. "It was very nice to meet you again, Itachi-san," said Hisaki as she walked away. Itachi watched her go, standing there until she turned the corner out of his sight. It was nice, Itachi decided as he made his way home. He thought it was very nice to meet her again too.
"Itachi," said Mikoto Uchiha as she unpacked the groceries.
"Hn?" replied Itachi, who'd settled at the dining table to complete the report for his last mission while a curious and over-energized Sasuke tried to peer over his shoulder.
"Where's the broccoli I asked you to buy?" questioned Mikoto, looking through the empty grocery bags again, as if expecting them to have materialized as she wasn't looking. "I was going to make it for dinner."
Remembering the previous events of that day, Itachi couldn't help but smile a little and even more so when Sasuke cheered his opinion of this development. "I'm sorry," he said apologizing. "I must have forgotten to buy it."
In terms of Itachi's strange behaviour this chapter,
I could honestly see him do something as ridiculous as placing broccoli at the memorial stone in such a serious and confident manner that no one would question him twice. He seems to be quite good at decieving people.
And in terms of geography, I googled 'map of konoha' and went from there.