Chapter 2! Thank you for the encouraging review!

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Dear Karma

Chapter 2

Thump-ditty-thump, thump. Thump-ditty, thump. Darkness everywhere. Damn. "Hey Itachi," I breathed out, my lungs gasping for air. "How about we call—"

"No." I searched the darkness for him. He wasn't using his sharingan, but he still saw in the dark better than me. I slipped behind a tree. If I can't find him then he'll have to find me. I ducked down and began placing chakra strings to trees.

He's bound to catch at least one.

I ran to another tree and latched on with my arms, swinging my legs around and landing gracefully on the branch. I then focused on breathing regularly and hiding my chakra. Hiding chakra isn't something that just happens. It's not like a jutsu. It's literally supressing your chakra into yourself.

Bing!

A chakra string had been touched. My eyes darted to the spot and a dark figure stood there. I slid down from the branch and began stalking—not that way!—toward him. I was about attack him when a thought hit me—quite hard actually. If that's itachi…he wouldn't be so dense. He would have a clone alert me of its whereabouts.

Damn.

I pulled myself into the tree and breathed in deeply, hoping my chakra signature would be sucked in too. I heard a branch snap. There! I threw a kunai in the direction and thought too late. Another trap.

A cold hand gripped around my throat. Instinctively, I aimed a kick that would hit him where the sun don't shine. Itachi however was expecting this. He pulled to the side and blocked my kick with a kick of his own. Pain erupted in my leg.

"What are you going to do?" Itachi whispered, warm breath tickling my ear. My body betrayed me and longed to push itself closer to him. Woah, woah! Focus! My hands went to form the necessary signs for a substitution, but one of Itachi's hands grabbed my left wrist.

Now what? I did what any normal person would do in this situation. I didn't really think how my actions would affect anyone. All that went through my head was life or death, life or death, life or death. Your life or theirs. When I engaged in a fight my brain went into survival mode. And well, I was a normal person—normal twelve-year-old girl.

I bit him. His wrist to be exact. Warm blood flooded into my mouth.

Kami, he's going to kill me!

Itachi let go of me and kicked me, making my lose my balance on the branch and inevitably falling off of it. I did, however, manage to land somewhat gracefully. I landed in a crouch and looked up to see him. His face was emotionless but blood pooled from his right arm.

He's pissed. I glanced around me and bolted when I noticed his eyes turn crimson. I pushed chakra into my run, pushing off the grond. It was almost like I was flying. It would have been wonderful and almost magical if, of course, I wasn't running for my life.

A large weight latched onto me and I tumbled down to the ground, bringing Itachi with me. We rolled down a hill and—naturally—Itachi ended up on the top with me pinned underneath him. We were both huffing and puffing. It was a miracle both of us were still breathing—Itachi with anger and me with my lungs collapsing.

I laughed awkwardly. "So, you won!" Itachi didn't move and his eyes glared daggers at me. Ah, sweet emotion. Not really, I'd rather him be expressionless than be like this.

"You bit me," he seethed.

"Ah, what did you expect me to do?" My eyes met his and they locked. Itachi was glaring at me, challenging me. And I was meeting his eyes, challenging just as much. Another reason we didn't get along: neither of us would back out of a challenge. We would never lose. I, sadly, usually did lose when sparring or fighting…or drinking…or well, just about anything. It really hurt my pride, being with him.

"Not bite me." He made it sound like it was a sin. Like I was going to hell. Hell, I wasn't even sure I believed in hell or heaven or whatever. But that's the way his voice sounded. I looked over at his right hand, pinning me down. Blood was still pouring out of his wrist.

"I'm like part bear," I thought aloud with satisfaction. Sure, I was going to die because of it, but I would die fighting! Hah! Itachi sighed, letting go of me with his left hand and pulling it through his hair that had fallen from his ponytail.

"You," he accused with shut eyes," are going to be the death of me." Kami, how did a twelve-year-old look so serious? I suddenly felt like he was a decade older than me. The lines under his eyes shone boldly still. He hasn't gotten nearly enough sleep. Why not? We're home—for now at least. I certainly couldn't be annoying him that much.

My free hand reached for his face and I traced the lines under his eyes. I restrained myself from blurting out something about sleeping more, because I knew he would instantly pull away from my touch if I did so. So I bit my lip and remained quiet.

"Hnn," he grunted. "You're not telling me I need to sleep—for once." I chuckled and met his eyes.

"I was thinking it." My hand dropped.

"I…I haven't been sleeping well lately." Oh?

My motherly instincts wanted to swoon over him and how badly he must be suffering from the affect. Or yell at him loudly. But I again restrained myself—surprising even me. Where had all this control come from?

"Is it Sasuke?" Itachi suddenly pulled away from my touch and stood up. Damn, I'd offended him somehow.

"No, just thinking." He quickly changed the subject. "I need to get my wrist looked at. See if I have rabies."

"Did…did you just make a joke?" I asked astonished. He rolled his eyes but a smirk was present on his face.

"No one knows where those teeth have been…" he mumbled before turning and walking away. I bolted off of the ground and ran after him.

"Hey, don't leave me alone in the dark! I could be raped by some creep!"

"Maybe you'd learn a lesson."

"You're so heartless! Why do I even hang out with you?

"Why do you? I obviously don't want you to."

"But…but…ugh! I hate you!"

Kami only knows what we'd done in the past to deserve each other.

Karma hates me, huh?


So…Itachi had his arm checked out. He obviously didn't have rabies and the doctor told him to not anger any more ninja dogs. Ninja dogs? Seriously? Itachi didn't even bother to correct the man. Ugh!

I apprehensively looked up at the sky. Only two days left. I wasn't sure if I should be afraid or excited. I mean, I liked being with Itachi. I had been friends with him since…well, forever. I can't remember a time I didn't know him. I honestly don't even remember how I met him. I just knew him. But now…being with him was so nerve wracking. All because of this stupid, little crush I harbored for him. Why must this happen to me?

"What are you thinking about?" A voice sprung into my thoughts and I looked up to meet Itachi's gaze. Speak of the devil. I'm sure he didn't know I was thinking about him, but it sure as hell seemed like it. It wasn't odd for him to ask. He often did—only to me, though. I guess my thoughts were so mess up and jumbled together that even he couldn't read them on my face as he did with most people.

"My parents," I replied. Itachi held my gaze and I noticed that we had stopped.

"You're lying." Ah, why must he always know? "I can tell when you lie to me." What am I thinking about? About the crush? The mission? My crazy thoughts? I'm thinking about—Kami, look at his eyes.

"Your eyes," I said truthfully. I would be able to recognize those eyes anywhere.

I'm getting so mushy. Ugh. I sighed. When had this gotten so bad? I broke eye contact with him and we began walking again. I forgot where we were walking to so I had to slightly follow Itachi.

"Hnn." A normal I-don't-want-to-answer response from Itachi. Well, what would he answer? I thought reasonably.

"Miku!" I looked to our left to see Anko strolling toward us. I smiled at her.

"Hey anko!" Itachi made an annoyed grunt—is that even possible?—and said a hastey good-bye.

"Psh, Uchiha…pain in my ass," Anko said as she watched Itachi disapate in the crowd. "Anyways Miku, your aunt and uncle are looking for you. They want to have lunch or something with you."

"Lunch? That's odd." I racked my mind for a reason that they would want to have lunch as a family. They did this every so often, knowing I usually had ninja duties. But they only do it on specialdays.

"Yeah well, I'll see you around," Anko said and started to walk off. Anko. She had no family. Her sensei—Orochimaru was it?—had abandoned her. Oh, Anko.

"Anko!" She turned around, puzzled. "Come eat with us!" I smiled at her and she couldn't help but smile back. We walked to the house in silence. The thing I liked about Anko is that she wasn't the annoying tipicle girl. Sure, I'm a girl too but after going through some of the things I have…well, I'm just not normal anymore.

"Surprise!" I blinked in confusion. Surprise? My aunt and uncle stood in front of me along with Itachi—woah!—Hayate, Izumo, and Genma. Anko stood beside me, also oblivious to my guardians' planning. I smiled—I'm glad I invited her.

"What's the occasion?" I asked. My aunt and uncle sweatdropped, Itachi sighed, Izumo and Genma laughed, and Hayate stared at me like I was an idiot. Hey now!

"Your birthday!" Genma yelled out through laughs. My birthday? When had spring come around? Nevertheless, I was happy to have all of my friends and family together before I went on that mission. I looked over at Itachi who was standing there watching me silently. My last mission with him. Ever. Why?

"Happy birthday!"

"Here open my present first!" Genma shoved a box in my hand.

"No, open mine first!" Izumo shoved Genma out of his way. I couldn't help but laugh. They were ALWAYS like this.

"How about I just open them at random?" I suggested. The first present I opened had pink wrapping paper and a delacite white ribbon around it. I almost felt bad when I wripped it apart. Someone had tacken a lot of time wrapping it.

Inside was the most beautiful kimono I had ever seen. It was a deep pink at the top and lightened as it when down. At the bottom it was white with pink sakura blossoms decorating it. I looked up to my aunt and uncle knowingly.

"Thank you!" I hugged each of them. I knew my aunt picked it out. My uncle wasn't one for shopping. But it had definitely come out of my uncle's paycheck. That's the way they were. They were the perfect couple.

"Oh you're welcome, sweetie! I saw it and thought of you." The next gift was a light blue wrapping with various types of flowers. Inside was a pair of black, high topped ninja sandals. I swept the room for the buyer. Hayate's face showed guilty. I pulled him into a hug.

"Thanks, Hayate." The next present wasn't wrapped but had a intricate bow on top. It was a black weapon pouch with silvery embroidery that read "Sakura Blossom". It was funny because everyone I knew had this thing where they called me Sakura. I don't even know when it started. I looked over at Genma and brought him into a hug.

"Thanks, Gems." The next was an unwrapped box. It was plain white. I pulled open the top and was met with kunai upon kunai and shuriken upon shuriken. Weapons! Oh, how I loved weapons. I looked over to Izumo and hugged him.

"Thanks, Izum." The last present was wrapped in plain red wrapping paper. I wripped it open to see a paper. I opened it and smirked at Itachi. It was a treasure map. We often made treasure maps for the other to find. It also contained many code words and stuff only we would know about.

I know what I'm doing this afternoon.

"Thanks, weasile." I laughed at Itachi's grimace of the name. He hated the nickname. Anko felt bad that she hadn't gotten me a present but I told her to not worry about it. We ate pounds of sesame chicken with beef lo mein. You would have thought there were six growing boys. Well, there were four. But Anko and I had appetites like that of our friends.

After eating we split ways, saying farewell to everyone. Itachi held my eyes as I said good-bye to him. "Ten yards from where the Sakura tree blooms." My first clue.

"I will find it, Itachi Uchiha," I said with a smirk. "Just you wait." He smirked as well.

"Better start soon then." With that I began my journey. Haha. Journey. Ten yards from where the Sakura tree blooms. Well, THE sakura tree blooms in the middle of Konoha park, but he wouldn't have made it that easy. It would have been code. Ten yards…from…Sakura. I was born in the family compound, the third house on the right. I sprinted there and exactly ten yards from my house stood a patch of recently dug up dirt. I pulled out a wooden box with the next clue.

"Where your clan technique rests to waste," I said aloud. My clan technique is the use of weapons. My whole family are weapon experts. But going to waste? My parents were the last of the main family. They died in action, though. I looked at the treasure map. The village of cloud isn't on the map. Then I saw the KIA memorial. Rests. Laid to rest. I sped off again.

Sure enough, a box was wedged to the side of the memorial stone. I paused a few moments to pay respect to my parents and the many others lost in action. Then I opened the next card.

"The garden where the hero now resides," I read. The hero…the hero. Itachi, the Hokage—Sasuke! Sasuke was named after a great hero. His garden. I sprinted off to the garden. I got many odd glances as I traveled through the Uchiha clan. I had been here many times before but never with out Itachi. I slipped into his garden and spotted another wooden box under a rose bush.

"The rock of our founders and your first kiss." That threw me off. I hadn't had my first kiss yet. The rock of our founders. It couldn't be the KIA memorial because he had already used that. I glanced upward and gasped when I realized it. The Hokage Mountain. When I got there the sun had already set and twilight was setting in. I stood at the top, nearly out of breath.

"Itachi, where are—" I was cut off soft lips touching my own. In the same amount of time it started, it ended. I opened my eyes to see Itachi in front of me. He took a step back and pulled out a wooden box from behind his back. My mouth hung in shock a good few seconds before a smile ghosted onto my face.

My first kiss.

"You found the treasure," Itachi murmured and I reached over and opened the box in his hands. Inside were beautiful hair ornaments. They had intricate white and pick colored sakura blossoms on the top and came to a sharp point at the bottom. White beads dangled beside the flowers. Beside the hair pins was a vile full of a purple liquid. Poison. I looked up to Itachi and smiled.

"They're…they're amazing," I breathed out, for once not because of lack of air or exhaustion. Itachi let a small smile sneak onto his features. It was a rare occasion that he would allow himself to smile. Not just smile, but smile smile. There was no force behind his smile. It made my heart sputter in a pitter-patter again.

Thump-ditty thump. Thump, thump. Thump-ditty-thump, thump. I put a hand over my chest to ease my racing heart.

"Now you'll have to grow your hair out," Itachi whispered. I laughed contently.

"It seems I must." Itachi sat down and let his feet hang off of the cliff. I soon followed. We sat and watched what was left of the sun disappear behind the horizon. It was nice and peaceful. For once, I wasn't dreading the mission in less than two days. I was just sitting there, enjoying being in my best friend's company.

Dear Karma, maybe you'r not so bad after all.

…please don't let that come back and bite me in the ass, 'kay?


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