Gomen. I'm sorry this is a few days late. I had a trip to New York to help out the homeless there. So, I'm posting it now.

Graduation Day

Chapter Eight-

Itachi paced back and fourth in the clearing, while Suki stood a few yards away avoiding eye contact with him. He rested his arm up against a tree, and his forehead, against his arm.

"I never thought it would be so hard to break up an alliance."

"What should we do?" She asked, her voice filling with girlish worry.

"I have to go after them myself." he declared, turning around. His red eyes flashed more dangerously than usual.

"I can go after Katai." Suki offered, "I have developed the Konki Jutusu too. I can defeat her.

Itachi looked away. "Fine, we'll attack tomorrow night."

"Until then, I have to get back to my house." She took Itachi's hand, kissed his mouth and left him standing in the clearing. Itachi touched his lips before shrugging and returning to his house.

"Katai," Iruka Sensei called me after class.

"Ohhh…Katai's in trouble!" Konahamaru teased as he headed out the classroom. I ruffled his hair before standing in front of my teacher's desk.

"Hai Sensei?"

"I have been looking over your recent exam scores and the other jônin believe that you have learned everything this class can teach you."

"So you want to transfer me to another class?"

"No, we think you should graduate and become a genin; but only if you also feel that you are ready."

I was surprised at this sudden announcement, but I accepted the offer gratefully. Iruka Sensei handed me a stack of papers, telling me to arrive at the Hokage mountainside images to get my picture taken for the yearbook. "Graduation will be held here in two days."

"A little soon isn't it?"

"I wasn't able to look over your records because I needed to get my graduating class in order first. I apologize it took me so long."

I nodded, "Thank you." I quickly walked out of the classroom, before running home as fast as I could. I had to get there and shower before Sasuke got home from training. I still haven't found a way to tell him about joining the academy.

"Excuse me, Uchiha Sasuke?"

Sasuke looked over to see his former teacher waving him over to his old school campus.

"I wasn't sure if Katai would tell you, but she's graduating in two days. I thought you would like to come."

Sasuke hid his shock under his cool mask, "She's graduating, when did she even enroll?" Instead of voicing his questions out loud, he nodded and told Iruka that he'd be there.

Sasuke walked home, a flurry of questions flashed through his mind. But instead of confronting Katai, he figured that he's do something else….

The next day, I got up early, drank some tea, and got ready to get my yearbook picture taken. I left the house before Sasuke even woke up.

The man taking the pictures was short. The top of his head was bald and shiny, but the long white hair grew out along the side of his head. Small round glasses made his eyes look small and his nose look large and round. A short grey mustache defined his rather large mouth.

"Say 'cheese'!"

Instead of doing what he asked me to do, I glared at the lens. My long black bangs fell over my face, giving me the appearance of a villain.

I handed him my profile and walked away. By the time I got home, Sasuke had already left for training.

Sasuke awoke that morning to find that Katai had already left for graduation pictures. He almost smiled to himself when he thought of how he would congratulate her. He knew that any sort of special attention would either get her really mad or embarrassed. He just had a few more details to work out….

I got up early again on graduation day. I needed to get to the academy early to take my final test.

"Katai Uchiha." The proctor called. I followed him into an empty classroom where he sat behind a desk covered in leaf village headbands and bandannas.

I strode into the center of the room and carefully collected the correct amount of chakra to perform the doppelganger jutsu. I glanced at my two doubles, then at the proctor.

"You pass." He said, handing me a headband. I accepted it as my shadow clones disappeared in a puff of smoke.

I walked out of the building, into a crowed of proud families congratulated the new genin. I saw a group of kids in my old class waving me over.

"Hey guys."

"Congratulations Katai! We're going to miss you!" Konahamaru said, speaking for the entire class. "We wanted to give you a present to remember us by."

"Oh, you guys didn't have to buy me a gift. I could never forget you…"my voice faded away as the clad parted, revealing a beautiful naginata. I could feel tears well up in my eyes. "How'd you guys know?" I asked, picking up my favorite weapon. I used to practice with my family's naginata, but I've never had one of my own before.

"I have my connections." Konahamaru said with a grin. "Try it out!"

"Okay, stand back." They formed a large circle around me as I gave a few practice swings before starting a very fast, complicated kata. I made a few mistakes and stumbled over the first part of the dance. But soon I became reacustomed to the feel of the light weapon in my hand. As I moved faster, the leather covered blade became nothing more than a brown blur in the air.

Movement to my right caught my attention. Whoever, or whatever, was there was too close. Alternating my kata slightly, I slid my covered blade through the parting air, stopping it short just before I hit the neck of the person in front of me.

"Not bad." Sasuke praised moving out of the reach of my new weapon. "A little stiff though."

"What are you doing here?!" I yelled, lowering the naginata.

"What does it look like? I'm here to congratulate you."

I glared at him before shoving the weapon into his hands and turned around. "Thank you everyone!" I said, giving each one of the little kids a hug. "Graduate soon!"

"We will!" they promised as I stood up and took my weapon away from Sasuke. I walked off, fast.

"Ohhh…you made her mad."

Sasuke glanced at Konahamaru before going after me. He found me waiting for him two blocks away.

"What were you doing there?" I asked my voice dangerously low.

Sasuke folded his arms across his chest and glared at me. "Oh, well I'm sorry I wanted to be there when you graduated. You were there when I did. Why didn't you tell me?"

I looked down, "I don't know…I guess I didn't think you'd care."

He unfolded his arms and led me down the street. I swallowed my unnecessary anger and decided to allow him to have his fun without my complaining. As we walked through the village, I could see families scattered here and there celebrating happily; doing something special for the new graduates, like Sasuke was doing for me.

Despite the fact that I didn't want to celebrate, I had a really good time. Sasuke led me to a restaurant at the edge of town; where I had chicken dumplings and he had nikujaga. Afterward, we walked to a local bookstore. Sasuke told me to pick any books I wanted and he bought them for me with the money he earned from completing his missions. The entire afternoon we walked through Konoha Village, talking and laughing; remembering the old days. I loved the way Sasuke was so relaxed then. It made me feel so special being able to see a side of him that he shows nobody else.

After the bookstore, we bought some snacks and headed up to the Hokage mountainside images. Sitting on top of the fourth Hokage, we ate and watched the sun disappear over the horizon. We stayed there long after dark. The cool night air creped up my back and arms, causing shivers to run down my spine.

Casually, Sasuke put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to him. I gasped softly and looked up at him. His face was concealed in the darkness, but I could still made out some of his more distinguishing features.

"You looked cold." He shrugged nonchalantly I blushed a little, thankful that he couldn't see it in the night and leaned into his warm embraces. For those few hours we sat on the mountain, I was the happiest girl alive.

We walked home hand in hand, enjoying each other's company through the maze of trees. We were so relaxed, so confidant in the safety of the forest that we didn't notice the tell-tale signs of an enemy, a trap.

A dark grey massed whizzed through the air between us. Sasuke grunted painfully as he clutched his arm, trying to stop the blood flowing from the shallow wound.

I looked around, my senses alert, trying to figure out where the knife came from. Fading out of the shadows, I saw the shadow of the one person I fear most, and another of the one person I truly hate.

"Well, well, look who's here." Suki said, following Itachi into the moonlight. Her face was covered in subtle makeup, making her look even more beautiful. Her raven hair drank in the night in the sky as her eyes flashed dangerously at me. Surprisingly, she wasn't wearing any rich clothing. She wore a white shirt and red baggy pants decorated with embroidered cherry blossoms.

Sasuke's muscles tightened, he squeezed my hand at the sight of his hated and feared older brother. Itachi was wearing his usual get up, a black trench coat, black zori, and a grey and mesh shirt. His bangs caused a shadow to fall over his face, so I couldn't read his eyes or see his expression.

"You little brat just wont die and stay dead, will you?" Sasuke squeezed my hand harder, trying to control his rising anger.

"I bet she saved him." Suki said eyeing me like I'm beneath her. "Your brother's probably the only person who has ever loved her."

I squeezed Sasuke's hand back, both of us fighting a battle over our fury. I gave in first; Sasuke always had more control than me. I lunged at Suki, at the same time; I pulled the leather cover off my naginata, intending to get some use out of it tonight.

Suki dogged my attack. "Too slow!" she giggled. Growling, I lunged again, and again, she dogged. "When did she get this good at dodging me?" I continued to go after Suki, unaware at that moment, she was leading me away from my backup.

Sasuke kept his eyes trained on Itachi, as Katai went after her sister. He saw through their plan of splitting them up, but could do nothing about it. He was frozen in fear. Gathering his courage he asked the most important question in his mind. "What are you doing here?"

Itachi's level gaze fell on Sasuke, "To finish what I started."

End.

Konki Jutsu--energy technique

Hai--yes

naginata--glaive (5' bow staff with an 18" steel blade at the end (slightly curved blade, not like the grim reaper's))

kata--predetermined fight/dance

nikujaga--popular meat and potatoes meal

Just a heads up guys, I cant give a guarantee that chapter nine will be up by next Thursday. I haven't really been able to find time to write it because of final exams and such. i'm going to try and write in in these next few days because I have no school, but I cant make any promises. I'll have it up as soon as I can though. till then...Read and review! criticism is most welcome!

-Feariefighting101