Please see first chapter for disclaimer, ratings, warnings, pairings, etc.

Author's Note: Thank you so much to all those who took the time to read the first chapter! I really appreciate your attention. This chapter introduces Itachi and his place in the story, and also holds his and Temari's first encounter. I really hope you enjoy it, and thanks again for taking the time to read Renewed!

*~Chapter II~*

~Cherbourg~

Wednesday, April 10, 1912 - 6:37 P.M.

"It's a good thing Titanic was late, or we might not have made it in time."

Itachi Uchiha nodded distractedly at his brother's comment as he strained his neck, trying to get an idea of the size of the White Star Line's crowning jewel. Since the port in Cherbourg was too small to house such a massive ship, the Titanic was hovering out in the water, waiting for smaller ships to be rowed out to her to load passengers. Already the first two were being loaded with luggage, with an impressive line of people waiting to board. His family, being the only first-class one to board at Cherbourg, would be one of the first to make their way from land to the floating city.

"They'll start loading the boats with passengers soon," Itachi's mother, Mikoto, mentioned. She stood on her tiptoes, hanging on to her husband Fugaku's arm for balance, as she followed her elder son's gaze out toward the Titanic. "This will be the perfect end to our vacation," she breathed.

"Agreed!" The grin on Sasuke Uchiha's face briefly reminded Itachi of the cheerful, carefree younger brother he'd always enjoyed having around. "England, Italy, Egypt, Germany, France, and now we're going back to America on the grandest ship ever built. I doubt any vacation we'll ever take after this could begin to compare!"

The family's whirlwind trip through Europe (plus Egypt) had been in the planning for almost a year before they finally left. It had been something of a relief to Itachi, who had been released from most of the pressures the Uchiha family's new lifestyle had inflicted upon him. After his father's invention (and subsequent patent and sales) of a new and safer way to produce steel for railroads, he, his wife, and their sons had been catapulted into high society and a lifestyle they really weren't ready for. They no longer fit in with the working class, their humble beginnings, but the "old money" blue bloods didn't really accept them, either. All this had put incredible pressure on Itachi to make a marriage match with a high-class woman that would essentially assure them a full entrance into the society which, ironically, their money could not buy.

But now he was returning to America and his nightmare. Once he returned, it would be back to the balls and dinners and teas and wooing that had rapidly become the bane of his life.

Itachi hoped his family would forgive him if he seemed a little less than enthusiastic about boarding the R.M.S. Titanic.

Pushing those gloomy thoughts away, Itachi stared across the water that separated the dock and the ship. The Titanic, he had to admit, was something to behold, even after dark. It looked like every light she had was ablaze, sparkling off the water in a fabulous display. She towered over every other ship that was close to her, and even though it was now dark, and very cool outside, people lined the rails, waving and smiling and shouting happily. It was everything the White Star Line had promised in the newspaper advertisements - and more. It was breathtaking, awe-inspiring, magnificent.

Mikoto touched Itachi's sleeve as Fugaku started guiding her forward. "Grab your slack-jawed brother," she said on a laugh. "It's time to board!"

Shaking himself out of his awe, Itachi grasped Sasuke's shoulder and pulled him along as he followed his parents through the crush of people lining the docks. Though there were a fair few people boarding the ship at Cherbourg, most of the crowd had come out in hopes of catching even a glimpse of the Titanic and her prominent travelers. Itachi knew that some of the most famous and rich people in the world were on board (he had to keep reminding himself that his family counted among that number now, too), including John Jacob Astor, the richest man in the world, who had been one of the first to back Fugaku's invention. Itachi had rather liked the man, and hoped to be able to exchange at least a few words with him on the trip. Astor and his young wife, Madeleine, were in the middle of a scandal of their own - it would hurt neither of their reputations to be seen talking with each other.

Once on board the boat that would carry them across the watery space beween the dock and the ship, Itachi kept one ear focused on his brother's excited chatter as he watched the Titanic come ever-closer. It had looked huge from the dock, but as they drew alongside, he realized it was more than that - it was massive. He idly wondered how many people it took to keep such a ship going, and made a mental note to ask as soon as possible.

A boarding ramp was lowered from the Titanic to the boat on which the Uchiha family waited, and Itachi held one of his mother's hands as Fugaku took her other, helping steady her as she stepped onto the ramp. She let out a soft laugh as she slid her hand into the crook of Fugaku's arm and headed upwards. Itachi smiled and shook his head - sometimes it was hard to tell who was more excited about the trip, Mikoto or Sasuke.

"Go on, little brother. You next." Itachi gave him a gentle shove, waiting until he was a few steps ahead until he started up himself. He took one last look down the length of the ship, the final view of the outside from this angle that he'd have until they reached America, and then hurried up the ramp. He tried not to think about how high in the air they were, or the unimaginable amount of water beneath them. He'd be all right once he was on the ship, and inside. He would just try really hard not to think about they fact that they were on the water.

He just hoped that the Titanic was as smooth a sailor as advertised.

The first thing Itachi noticed as he stepped into the first class reception room was the smell. New paint, freshly sanded wood, cured leather - he drew in a deep breath, closing his eyes. It really struck him then that he was on board the Titanic's maiden voyage. He was one of the first people to walk across these floors, sit in these chairs, see these paintings. It made a little shiver of excitement run up his spine.

"Have you ever seen anything like this, big brother?" Sasuke breathed. He looked like a little kid as he stared around with wide-eyed awe, taking in as much as he could as Itachi grabbed his arm and guided him along. They passed a breathtakingly beautiful staircase and the hall leading to the lounge and women's writing room before boarding the lift that would take them down two decks to their adjoining staterooms - one for Fugaku and Mikoto, and the next for Itachi and Sasuke. It was Itachi's first time in a lift, and he marveled at the weightlessness he felt as they descended, catching more tantalizing glimpses of opulent beauty as they went. Itachi knew that Sasuke would want to start exploring as soon as possible, and decided he'd offer to go along.

"The evening meal has already been served," the steward guiding them said as the lift gates rattled open. "But a repast will be offered in the staterooms of all those who wish it after the Titanic is once more under way."

Reaching into his pocket, Itachi pulled out his watch and glanced at it - a little after seven. He was still feeling a little sick after the ride across in the small boat, and shook his head mutely when his father glanced at him. He'd wait until breakfast the next morning and hope for the best.

Pausing in front of a door - the sixth down and across from the elevator, Itachi quickly memorized - the steward opened the door and bowed. "Your room sir, milady," he said. As Fugaku and Mikoto entered, he went next door and opened that door. "Your room, sirs."

Sasuke went right in, but Itachi paused in the doorway. It looked nothing at all like he'd expected - he'd expected something like the rooms on the ship they'd come across from New York on. But what he was seeing looked more like the hotel rooms in which they'd stayed on their trip. It matched the rest of the ship perfectly in both size and opulence.

"What time is the ship set to leave Cherbourg?" Itachi heard Mikoto ask from the doorway of her room.

"A little after eight local time, milady. Will you be needing anything else?"

"No, thank you."

After checking with Itachi and Sasuke, the steward went on about his duties in other areas of the ship.

"I'm going up to the promenade to watch the departure," Sasuke said. "You want to come?"

Itachi shook his head as he studied the hand-carved desk sitting in the corner of their room. "No," he said. "You go on. I think I'm going to stay here." And lie down, and try to get rid of this headache. And my sick stomach. If only there were some way to cross the Atlantic other than by water. Anything had to be better than a ship, even one as grand as the Titanic.

Sasuke shrugged, offered Itachi a confused look, then left. Closing his eyes, the elder Uchiha brother breathed in the myriad smells of newness around him, then opened up one of the windows to let fresh, albeit cool, air into the room. From somewhere above him, he heard the ship's horn blow, and knew that meant it wouldn't be too long before the ship was under way.

He'd explore the Titanic tomorrow morning after breakfast. Right now, all he wanted to do was sleep and try to forget how sick he felt now, and everything waiting for him in America.

*~Thursday, April 11, 1912 - 8:24 A.M.~*

"It's amazing, Itachi! Granted, I couldn't see much last night on account of it being dark, even though there are so many electric lights on board, but what bits I did see were so amazing! I can't wait to finish breakfast so we can go explore more." Sasuke paused his breakfast commentary long enough to take a bite, giving everyone else at the table time to breathe.

Itachi chuckled. His good night's sleep left him feeling refreshed, and with his nausea down to more manageable levels and his headache gone, he was able to eat more breakfast than he'd originally anticipated. The reports he'd read had not been exaggerated - he could not tell the ship was moving. The ride was so smooth that, as long as he didn't look out a window (which was really hard to do, since they were simply everywhere on the ship), he thought he was still on dry land.

"Where are we off to first, then?" Itachi asked. His younger brother's enthusiasm had sometimes been a point of annoyance when they were boys, but as they grew older he'd learned to appreciate Sasuke's zeal for life and adventure. Being the elder son, Itachi had been groomed first to become a secondary breadwinner for the family, and then after they'd suddenly become quite rich, a way to uphold their honor and excellence. His time with Sasuke as of recent had become a good way to escape from the pressure and stress and return to a simpler time. One thing had not changed, though - their moments of boyish fun were just as precious now as wealthy men as they had been when they were poor boys.

Sasuke squinted at his eggs, a thoughtful expression on his pale face. "The promenade, I think. I heard some crew members in the hall earlier saying that Captain Smith is going to take the ship through some practice turns to test maneuverability before we get to Queenstown. I want to see what goes on during these things from outside."

Of course Sasuke would choose to do something outside, where they would have a practically unobstructed view of the water. Itachi sighed and took another drink of tea, thankful that it was helping to further settle his stomach.

"It's still cold outside," Mikoto said, having overheard their conversation. "You boys make sure you dress warmly, all right?"

Her sons dutifully nodded, swapping amused grins once Mikoto had returned to her coversation with one of the other occupants of the table. Even though their circumstances had changed, Mikoto was still every inch the same caring, loving mother she'd been when they were children.

"I can't wait until we leave Queenstown," Sasuke continued. "Once we're out at sea, we'll really find out how fast this ship can go. I've heard that they're anticipating being able to go over twenty-two knots! That's faster than any other ship in the world."

"I've heard that both the designer of the ship and the head of the White Star Line are on board," Itachi said. "Maybe we'll have a chance to talk to one of them and find out some other technical aspects of the Titanic." He was more interested in the ship's crew than its design, but Sasuke had taken more after their father and had been spending the past few years fixating on one item and finding out how it was built and how it worked. Once he had learned all he could about that item, he moved on to something else new and exciting and mysterious. Ever since they'd booked passage on the Titanic, Sasuke had been doing as much research as he could to find out more about the ship. Itachi was just glad he couldn't take it apart, as he'd done several mechanical things inside their house in America before Mikoto caught on and put a stop to it.

Dark eyes lighting up, Sasuke grinned and nodded. "That would be great," he enthused.

Before Itachi even had a chance to swallow his last bite, Sasuke had excused both of them from the table and dragged him off toward the elaborately grilled doors leading into and out of the dining saloon. Once in the reception room, they went up the Grand Staircase and out onto the open promenade, where a stiff breeze ruffled their hair and stung their cheeks.

"Mother wasn't kidding," Itachi said, tucking his hands into the pockets of his coat. "It is cold out here." He wished that he had thought to pick up a hat before they left their room for breakfast.

His brother didn't seem to feel the cold as he rushed to the rail, leaning over slightly to look straight down into the churning water. "Wow! Itachi, come here!" He lifted one hand long enough to wave over his shoulder.

Sighing, Itachi folded his lips firmly together and ventured across the deck to stand next to his brother. Beneath them, the ship's movement had worked the water into a white, frothy foam, churning endlessly until it reached the massive wake left behind. He didn't see what was so interesting about the water, but he made himself watch for a few seconds before he pulled away and turned back toward the ship.

Along the deck, chairs had been set out in groups or by twos along the length of the promenade. He smiled as some of the other adventurous passengers came outside, laughing and chattering as they walked along or found seats in which to enjoy a cup of hot broth and biscuits. He wouldn't want to join any of them, as the air was so cold, but he had to admit that they all made attractive pictures.

Sasuke knocked arms with his brother, recapturing Itachi's attention. "Come on," he said. "Let's go up to the boat deck. We can be one of the first ones up there and have the best seat in the house when we come up on Queenstown."

Itachi followed, taking note of the gymnasium as they passed by it. As soon as they made it as far forward as they could go, Itachi gazed down at the second-class deck below and to his left as Sasuke once again returned to staring out over the water. Since there wasn't much going on where he was watching, Itachi turned to look up and to his right, where the forwardmost smokestack towered over them. Shielding his eyes from the sun's glare, Itachi squinted up to the very top, where huge columns of iron-grey smoke stretched along over top of the Titanic's massive body. "Wow," he muttered. How many people were belowdecks, shoveling coal into hot fires to keep the ship moving? His father would chastise him for the thought, but Itachi didn't care. Even though it seemed the rest of his family was trying to forget their humble beginnings, he didn't want to forget about the fact that there were hundreds of people who were working to make sure their trip was lavish and comfortable.

To keep from looking down at the water again, Itachi turned his attention toward the closest cloth-covered lifeboat secured to the deck. Leaning around his brother, he silently counted down the deck, then thought about it and did it again.

"Sasuke?"

"Hmm?" His brother hummed an obviously distracted noise as he continued watching the water, as if waiting for something.

"How many people would you say were on board?"

"Passengers?"

"And crew."

Finally looking away from the water at last, Sasuke squinted in the way he did when he was doing mental calculations. "Around two thousand or so, I guess. Well, as soon as we finish picking up passengers at Queenstown, and the last few who are going to get off do so. Why?"

Itachi indicated the closest lifeboat. "From what I remember last night, and recounting today, there aren't enough lifeboats on board for everyone."

Sasuke looked over at the boat, then back at his brother with a dubious expression on his face. "You have heard what people are saying, right? This ship is built to be unsinkable. It's law for there to be lifeboats on board. In fact, counting them now, there are even four more than they're required by law to have. We won't need them." Apparently considering the conversation over, he turned back to the water.

Sighing, Itachi finally tore his gaze away from the lifeboats and turned back to the second-class deck below. More people were venturing out the closer to eleven o'clock - and Queenstown - they got, and now the deck was full of people dressed in a bright array of colors. Though their finery wasn't as high-quality as those in first-class, Itachi admired a dress here or a hat there. Titanic really had gathered some of the most amazing and interesting people in the world for her maiden voyage.

"Hey, Sasuke. I'm going to go explore more of the inside of the ship. Do you want to come with me, or do you want to stay out here?" It had already been almost an hour since the brothers had come outside, and Itachi was getting cold. "There's still almost an hour before we're supposed to get to Queenstown. We can come back out when we get there, if you want."

"Okay." Sasuke laughed as they turned and headed toward the nearest entrance into the ship's interior. "I suppose we had better look around a bit inside. That's supposed to be the best part of the ship, right?"

Itachi nodded wordlessly, feeling prickles in his face and hands as his skin readjusted to the warmth of the interior of the ship. Once again, he immersed himself in carpets, tiles, paintings, and wood paneling as they made their way through the first class accomodations. He made a mental note to go study the gymnasium closely later; spent more time than Sasuke wanted to in the library; admired the gentlemen's smoking room and the ladies' writing rooms from the doorway; and finally found themselves in the lounge, where they met up again with their parents. He resigned himself to waiting until later to see the much-advertised Verandáh Café and the A La Carte Restaurant, in which he hoped to have at least one meal apiece. Sasuke was excited about the on-board heated swimming pool, but Itachi decided he'd conveniently find something else to do when his little brother planned a visit.

Fugaku and Mikoto introduced their sons to Isador and Ida Strauss, the owners of the Macy's department store in America. They were soon caught up in conversation, and before they realized it, the ship's horn blew to alert that passengers were coming on board.

"We're missing it!" Sasuke quickly made his excuses and stood to leave. Itachi sighed and followed suit, grinning at his own reluctance as he once again got swept up in his brother's excitement. He had to admit that it was interesting to see the little ships making their way between the shore and the Titanic, then back around. It had been hard to see the night before, when it was dark. But now that it was light out, he could see just how huge the difference in size was between the small boats and the Titanic.

They wound up having to go back inside for lunch, but fortunately they made it back out to the boat deck in time to see the ship pull up anchor and head out to sea around 1:30 in the afternoon. As long as they'd been stopped at Queenstown, the temperature outside hadn't been too bad. But now that they were moving again, the wind caused by the movement of the ship was making it cold again.

"Let's go down to the promenade," Itachi said. "We'll be better shielded down there from the wind."

"There's not much going on now anyway," Sasuke said. Reluctantly, he followed his older brother back into the ship and down a couple of decks to the promenade.

But as they came out of the door, Itachi stopped. "This isn't right."

"What?" Sasuke popped around him and looked, his brow furrowing. "You're right. I've never seen this part of the ship before. Where are we?"

Itachi looked around, trying to find something familiar to get his bearings. Really, he and Sasuke had been fortunate not to get lost before now, since the Titanic was so big, and its halls so much of a labyrinth. "I think we went down too far. I'm pretty sure we're in second class."

"Since we're here, we'd might as well explore," Sasuke said. Tucking his hands into his pockets, he started off down the hall.

Hesitating, Itachi glanced over his shoulder before following. "We shouldn't be down here, Sasuke. I'm surprised we even made it without running into someone to keep us out."

"It will be fine, Itachi. They're doing tours of the ship for people up in first class, anyway. We're just taking the initiative and doing it on our own." Seeming completely unconcerned, Sasuke continued his languid stroll down the halls.

"I'm pretty sure that tour doesn't include this area. It looks like we're close to the second-class staterooms." The doors were numbered here, basically mirroring their first-class counterparts above.

"We're bound to come out in some of the more public areas soon. Come on, Itachi, where's your sense of adventure?"

I think I left it back on land. Itachi sighed again. "All right. But we're not staying long, you hear?"

"Of course not, big brother."

Since they were in the area with staterooms, the ship was surprisingly quiet. The vibration from the ship's engines was a little more noticeable here as a slight tremor in the deck beneath Itachi's feet, but for the most part it seemed as smooth sailing below as it was above. He admired the paint and wood accents in second class - though not as intricate as in first class, it was still very tastefully arranged.

"Whoa!" Sasuke suddenly flattened himself against the wall ahead of Itachi, who was not able to move quite as fast since he was distracted. Before he realized what was going on, a blur shot around the corner and ran head-first into his chest, sending them both reeling back.

"Oh! I'm - I'm so sorry!" Without looking up, the woman who'd nearly knocked Itachi over offered a quick curtsy, then took off down the hall in the direction from which he and Sasuke had just come. A moment later, one of the doors opened and then shut.

"What was that about, do you think?" Sasuke, who was quite obviously trying not to snicker at his brother's look of consternation, asked.

"I have no idea." Itachi glanced over his shoulder. He hadn't gotten a good look at the woman, but he was certain of two things. She had been wearing a blue dress, and she had the most beautiful sandy gold hair that he'd ever seen. He was uncertain about the other thing he thought he'd noticed about her, but if his quick glimpse of her face had been true, she had been absolutely terrified.

She was running from something, Itachi thought grimly. He and Sasuke turned and headed back toward first class in silent but mutual agreement, each puzzling over their own thoughts on the brief encounter they'd just had with the blonde woman. The question is, what could she possibly have to be afraid of on a ship as grand and safe as this?

*~To Be Continued~*

Author's Ending Notes: I promise chapter three will explain things a bit better with the return to Temari's point of view. I really enjoyed this chapter, and I hope I'm not boring you with some of the more technical aspects of the story. Like I said, I'm trying to be as historically accurate as possible, and I'm also trying to do a good job describing their surroundings and such. I've put a lot of time, effort, thought, and research into this story, and I hope that's translating through okay. Thanks again for reading, and I'll see you next chapter!