Itachi

Behind him, Sasuke let out a faint giggle.

Itachi chuckled, "how is it that the one who sprained his ankle is laughing? Could it be that he was just trying to get out of walking home?"

"No! It's not that, it's just I had a lot of fun today. And I'm excited because tomorrow I start the academy, I get to finally catch up to you, big brother!" Sasuke stated enthusiastically.

At that, Itachi frowned slightly. As much as it warmed his heart to know how much his little brother looked up to him, Itachi just wished he could get Sasuke to see that being the best really wasn't that great…

As they walked home, the duo noticed a crowd of people gathered outside the academy—the day before the entrance ceremony was always graduation from the academy. Several brand new genin stood by their parents, showing off their new headbands engraved with the symbol of Leaf Shinobi. Itachi smiled, this batch of kids were supposed to be his graduating class…finally he would be able to fight alongside his peers.

Just as they passed, Itachi caught sight of three girls sprinting towards him, squeeling.

"Look, it's Itachi!" a burnet, curly-haired girl named Izayoi called out. She was a green-eyed girl of the Haruno clan with long eyelashes and porcelain skin, which made her look like a doll. Based on the complaining Itachi heard from Ari and Saya, Izayoi was considered the prettiest girl in the class, and the leader of her friend trio, which included the dark-skinned, almond-eyed Sari whose parents moved to Konoha from the Cloud Village before she was born, and Amaya Hyuuga from one of the clan's branch families who covered her face in makeup to supposedly extenuate the seal on her forehead. Saya occasionally spoke with the three, but Ari could not stand them and refused to go anywhere near those girls.

"Hi, ladies," Itachi greeted politely. Amaya circled around him, bouncing happily as she held out her hand to show him her new headband.

"Look, Itachi! I'm a genin now, isn't that cool?" she asked, "Between my byakugan and your sharingan, we'll be unstoppable on the battlefield, just you and me!"

Itachi laughed politely, "yeah, that is pretty cool. Though I'm a Chunin so I don't know how much of each other we'll get to see on missions, but you're eyes are quite strong and a great asset to the village."

Amaya beamed, "Really? Did you hear that girls? Eeeeeh!"

Izayoi rolled her eyes and pushed the Hyuuga out of the way. She walked up close to Itachi, causing the young Uchiha to back away slightly, "yes, but you don't want to see us only on the battlefield, now do you, Itachi? I mean, it would be so much more fun if we could get together and, you know, hang out?"

By this point, Izayoi's hand was on Itachi's chest and her face drew really close to his. Itachi leaned away slightly. Sasuke rested his chin on Itachi's shoulder and sighed heavily.

"Sorry, but I don't think my big brother is that in to you guys," he announced. Itachi's face flushed red and he turned back at his brother, in shock of the boy's rudeness.

"Sasuke! Be nice," Itachi scolded.

Izayoi laughed, "Aw, your little brother is so cute and naïve, Itachi! You are such a good brother, carrying him home."

"I'm not naïve," Sasuke retorted, "and besides, I've never seen you around here, so I don't think Big brother would want to hang out with you. He likes Ari better."

Izayoi's face flushed red and her smile fell, she gave Sasuke a mean glare, "Ari? That little rat? Ha! Don't make me laugh kid! If you ask me, Ari is just some piece of trash lying around in the dump!"

"She doesn't even brush her hair," Sari commented.

"I bet she doesn't even bathe," Amaya laughed.

"She does too!" Sasuke fought back, "and she's ten times prettier than all three of you put together!"

"Okaaay, that's enough guys!" Itachi interjected suddenly. As much as he hated people badmouthing one of his closest friends, this wasn't a place to start an argument. "What's with all this hostility? Today's a day for celebrating; you all are genin aren't you?"

At that, the three girls exchanged glances, their smiles returning. Izayoi stepped forward and began to restart her round of flirting when an all-to familiar voice cut her off and sent Itachi's heart up into the clouds.

"Itachi!" Ari shouted, sauntering up to the group. Her eyes were ice-cold, her eyebrows furrowed as she glared at all of them. Her lips were pursed together tightly, trying to hold back her rage. Itachi grimaced. Ari had used his full name, which could only mean one thing: in simple terms, if Itachi was lucky we would either be ignored the rest of the day or come home with only minor scrapes and bruises.

"H-hey, Ari!" Itachi stammered. Ariala Drake was the only person in the entire world that could intimidate Itachi Uchiha. Part of it was her hot temper, after spending several years on a squad with her, Itachi was sure that he still hadn't seen all the frightening things she could do to her enemies. But the other part…well…as angry as the girl appeared, Itachi couldn't help but admire her lithe figure, her messy light-brown hair, and her terrifying, yet captivating blue eyes. He couldn't figure out what these feelings were for Ari, Shisui called it love but Itachi's known Ari since before they were in the Academy, there was no way he could have feelings for such a close friend.

"You're late, Ponytail!" Ari barked, "we were supposed to report for a mission twenty minutes ago!"

Itachi sighed in relief as Ari walked passed him, grabbing hold of his hair and giving it a sharp yank as she motioned for him to go. She was still spitting out nicknames, which means she wasn't angry at him.

The three girls whined, "Itachi, where are you going?"

"Sorry, ladies, but this filthy rat that Itachi found in a dumpster needs him to get ready for a mission tomorrow. Bye!" Ari snapped back at the girls as she stomped off. Itachi followed close behind her, he and Sasuke were both silent most of the way home.

Finally Sasuke leaned over and whispered in Itachi's ear, "I think she's mad…"

"I'm not mad!" Ari growled back, causing the two boys to jump. Geez, Ari's hearing was good…and man, could she be scary…

The three did not say a word after that until they reached home, where Itachi and Sasuke's father awaited the trio, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"You're late," was all Father said. The three stepped inside, took off their shoes, and made their way to the living space. They knelt down on the floor before Fugaku, but, after noticing Sasuke's limping, Ari instinctively inspected the boy's ankle and began applying some light medical ninjutsu on it.

Fugaku began, "Itachi, I am very proud of you. Six months after becoming a chunin and you've excelled greatly. This mission tomorrow will all but ensure your entrance into the ANBU blac ops. And Ari, you too have come far and could entire the ANBU if you two succeed tomorrow."

The three didn't say anything. As Fugaku spoke, Itachi began to have a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. What was his father planning? And why was he bringing this up in front of Sasuke? Wasn't he going to mention Sasuke's entrance ceremony?

Fugaku continued, "That's why…I will be accompanying you on the mission tomorrow."

Itachi and Ari both jumped and exchanged nervous glances. Ari didn't want to tell Fugaku, but she had been planning on leaving for the mission late and meeting up with Itachi so she could be there for Naruto at the entrance ceremony. And Sasuke…who would be there to cheer him on?

"Well, that's great father," Itachi began, "but I don't think that's necessary because you see…" he trailed off and elbowed Sasuke, encouraging his brother to continue on and vouch for himself.

Sasuke caught the hint and shyly continued, "You see, Father, tomorrow is my—"

"Tomorrow's mission is extremely important, you realize that, don't you? I'm going on this mission with you two," Fugaku didn't even give Sasuke the chance to finish.

Itachi suppressed his anger as best he could. He hated when his father did this to Sasuke.

"Well, Fugaku, sir," Ari spoke up suddenly, "I was actually wondering if we could leave the village late tomorrow. I promised Naruto that I would be there for him at the entrance—"

"Absolutely not," Fugaku barked, "it is vital that you show promptness and leave the village on time and arrive at your destination when you were instructed to, I don't care how fast you are! And making promises to that rat?"

"He's not a rat!" Ari growled back, bearing sharp, cat-like teeth. Itachi jumped and eyed the girl next to him. There were times when Ari appeared a little off from the rest of the world…inhuman persay…and today was turning into one of those times.

"Well, father," Itachi interjected, attempting to ease the tension between Fugaku and Ari (as much as Itacih's mother adored her, Itachi's father did not like Ari in the slightest, and Itachi suspected that the feeling was mutual), but then, in the most polite way possible, Itachi said, "I'm not going on the mission tomorrow."

"You what?" Fugaku shouted, enraged.

"You see, tomorrow is Sasuke's entrance ceremony. It is required of the whole family to attend. You saw the invitation, didn't you?" Itachi asked, adding a hint of sarcasm in his tone. Of course Fugaku did, but what Sasuke would never find out was that their father opened the letter and proceeded to throw it in the trash. Typical Fugaku, he was so short-sighted he couldn't see past the elder son.

He glanced down at Sasuke who stared up at him with big eyes, he then glanced over at his father, and the two exchanged a brief staring contest before Fugaku finally groaned and stood up, "Alright, I get it!" he pouted, "I'll be at the entrance ceremony tomorrow!" Fugaku stomped out of the room and slammed the door shut.

The three were silent for a long time.

"I think I'm going to take my leave now," Ari blurted out suddenly, stretching as she stood, "your dad hates me so I might as well not overstay my welcome."

"Mmkay," Sasuke said politely, he then turned and waved, "bye Ari! Will you and Big Brother be at the ceremony tomorrow?"

Ari smiled and gave him a thumbs-up, "Sasuke, we wouldn't miss it for the world!"

As Ari left, Itachi couldn't help but noticed that smile fall just as she turned away from Sasuke's sight.

Without thinking, Itachi stood quickly, "Here I'll walk you out."

"Don't need to," Ari stated quickly. Yep, she was still mad…

Itachi paused, not sure what to do. Ari stepped out of the room and quickly made her way to the door. He looked back at Sasuke who glared at him with crossed arms. Itachi then turned back and knelt down, smiling kindly to Sasuke, "why don't you go find Mom and get ice on that ankle, okay?"

"Okay," Sasuke pouted, "you're actually going to tell her this time, right?"

"Tell her what?" Itachi asked, confused.

"Itachi!" Sasuke scolded, "those girls were mean to her! Tell her she's pretty!"

Itachi threw his hands up, "okay! Okay! I'm going! But ice that leg of yours!"

With that, Itachi stepped out of the living room and looked around, but Ari was already gone.


Ari

"Argh!" I grunted as I punched the punching bag as hard as I could, sending it and Shisui back five feet. Shisui's family had a home gym in their basement, which I often used to train when I wasn't in a bad mood and could control my strength better. But today I was really really pissed off and Saya was too damn lazy to meet me out in the forest.

"Dammit Ari!" Shisui gasped, "are you trying to kill me?"

"Yeah, Arz-Barz, go easy on my brother. And don't you have a mission to get ready for tomorrow?" Saya added in as she watched me beat the stuffing out of their punching bag and the bodily fluids out of her brother.

"Why should I bother?" I snapped back, "that would require showering, which I obviously don't do because I'm a dumpster rat!"

Saya rolled her eyes, "Oh, come on, Ari, that's just those three being jealous of you."

"Jealous? HA!" I swung my leg and kicked the punching bag again, only this time I missed and accidentally struck Shisui upside the head, sending him down to the ground with a hard face-plant.

"OWW!" Shisui cried out, "Can we take a break?"

"NO!" I screamed and went over to a dummy used for target practice and blew a hole through it before sending a chakra blade from my hand and lopping its head off. Shisui and Saya were silent and stared at me.

"I wouldn't let her get too close to your head again, Bro," Saya whispered. I panted, my body shook in anger and finally I fell on my butt and let out a frustrated groan and allowed a few angry tears to seep through my eyes. I don't know why I was so angry, but I was so freaking tired of Izayoi and her lackeys treating me like crap and hanging all over Ita. It was repulsive. And he deserved so much better than those three. He deserved someone what wasn't into him for his strong, attractive, quiet guy demeanor and use him as arm-candy. It was just so…argh! They pissed me off when they did that! And don't even get me started on Fugaku…that bastard calling Naruto a rat! Who does he think he is, anyway?

"Ari, you know Itachi would never date any of those three, right?" Shisui pointed out.

I turned back and barked, "I could care less who he dates! But those suck-ups are absolutely disgusting with how desperate they are!"

Saya rolled her eyes, "Come on, Ari, we both know how you feel, so why don't you just admit it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" I snapped back, "But besides, it doesn't matter how much you guys try to hook us up, it isn't going to happen. I'm a demon. A freak. I'm a haphazard mess. I don't care what I look like and I never will, but Itachi's a well-groomed pure bread who is going to stick to well-groomed pure breads like Izayoi. I'll kill him if he stoops low enough to date her, but she's the type he should be with."

"I thought you said you don't care who he dates?" Saya noted skeptically.

I glared back at her, "You know what I mean, Saya."

Shisui knelt down next to me, "Look, Ari, the only person in our family who would even give a crap about what background Itacih's girlfriend would come from is Uncle Fugaku, and really, Itachi's not going to let that get in the way."

"You're point?" I asked. I was tired of those two hammering me like anything would happen between Itachi and I. As much as it pissed me off to see him with Izayoi, Amaya, and Sari, there was no attraction between him and me. Zilch. We were close friends since we were just out of diapers and that was that. We made a great tag-team on missions, but nowhere else.

"What I'm saying, Ari, is that the well-groomed pretty girl that you're thinking of is not Itachi's type in the slightest," Shisui explained.

"Then what is his type?" I snapped back.

"You," Shisui answered. He then stammered and corrected, "well, someone like you, I mean. A down-to-earth, kind, confident, and strong girl. Someone who doesn't care what she looks like and someone who can be his best friend. That's all he's looking for!"

I sighed and pursed my lips together, fighting back a bizarre plethora of emotions. I rolled my eyes and stood, walking upstairs.

"Ari!" Saya scolded as she and Shisui followed me. In the kitchen, their mom had prepared some lunch for us.

"Hey kids!" she greeted, "I made you guys something to eat. Take your pick."

Shisui and Saya's mom was a fantastic cook. Between her and Mikoto, I would never ever go hungry. My cooking was…alright. I mean, Naruto ate it when he came over for dinner (if he remembered to come over for dinner) and I was taking lessons from both of them, but I doubted my cooking would never be up to par with the Uchiha women.

The three of us sat down at the table and as I ate and mulled over my food, I started to feel a bit better. As my anger melted away, I began to talk more and the three of us were joking and having a good time, forgetting all about the conversation in the basement. That is, until their mom came back into the kitchen and hung up the phone.

"Hey, Shisui? Itachi's on his way. Did you save him some food?" she said.

Shisui turned to his mother, his face stuffed with sandwiches. He spit one back out and got up to make Ita a plate. I sunk in my chair. Great…here we go again…

"Hey, Ari, you want to go on the trampoline?" Saya asked quickly. I perked back up and smiled in relief.

"Do I ever!" I replied and quickly finished lunch.

"Mom, we'll be outside," Saya said as we walked out the back door.

"Okay, have fun!" her mom responded.

Saya and I were both took gymnastics class together and had become very competitive gymnasts, even traveling to the Land of Wind for a regional tournament the year prior. Since we had both been promoted to Chunin, we hadn't been training as much, and I had a feeling I would have to all but give up my gymnastics career when Itachi and I were accepted into the ANBU. Saya's trampoline was huge; large enough for both of us to practice our flips and other tricks on at the same time, and it was always where we could go to have our girl talks. Everyone knew that when Saya and I were on the trampoline, unless we invited you to join us, we were not to be disturbed.

"So spill it, Ari," was the first thing Saya said to me after we spent a few minutes taking turns doing hand-springs and back flips on the trampoline. I got some air and did a toe-touch, then crossed my legs in and landed on my butt, bouncing a little.

"Spill what? I already told you, Ita is attractive. Really really attractive…and nice…and gentle…and he has nice eyes. But really, Saya, we aren't going to go out. I find him attractive, but I'm not attracted to him. That's that," I answered curtly.

"Okay, but let's say you do like him," Saya offered, sitting down, "hypothetically of course. Would you two work out then?"

"No," I said quickly. I hugged my legs to my chest and sighed.

"Why not?" Saya asked, leaning close to me.

"Because he deserves better," I said quietly, "I know I'm different from everyone else. That's no secret. I'm a freak. But it's not just that, everyone is prettier than me, and they can see Ita outside of missions, and they dress better, and they give him the attention he deserves. I mean, you can tell Ita loves it when the girls flirt with him. He got enough crap from his classmates in the academy because he was so young, and you can tell he loves that attention Izayoi and the others give him. And he deserves that attention."

"So you're saying that you aren't good enough because you aren't infatuated with him or your appearance and you get to see all sides of him," Saya stated.

"That's not what I said!" I barked.

"But it's what you meant," Saya replied, "at least, that's what I took from it. And trust me, Ari, you and I both know that Itachi doesn't really need that attention. He needs recognition, yes, but he pulls away whenever people try to worship him. Look at how well he gets along with Uncle Fugaku. And he hardly talks to Izayoi, whenever she corners him, he lets her talk. But he talks to you. You know things about him that probably even Shisui doesn't!"

I rolled my eyes, "what makes me so special, Saya? And how can you and Shisui be so sure that I'm the kind of person Itachi would date?"

"Well, no one can say what Itachi sees in you," Saya started, "that sounded bad but I mean that I don't know why one girl stands out over another. But I can say that you are very special to Itachi. I don't know what he'd do without you."

"Oh yeah? And what proof do you have?" I asked.

Saya stood up and began to walk off the trampoline, "Well, as far as I know you're the only person who is even allowed to call him 'Ita'."


Itachi

"Oh, they're sitting now, things must've just gotten serious," Shisui noted. Itachi and Shisui had been ducked down in front of the kitchen window, watching outside as the girls danced and flipped around on the trampoline. Saya was certainly the more graceful of the two, as she typically favored running through her floor routines, hypnotizing the audience with her elegance. Ari, on the contrary, was a little firecracker (and Itachi wasn't kidding when he said 'little'. She was pretty tall for a gymnast, but her muscular figure was incredibly petite). She could pop out cork-screw turns and hand-springs out of nowhere like it was nothing. When they were on the local gym team, Ari was one of the best at the vault because of the height she could obtain, but Saya had Ari beat out on pretty much everything else. In fact, Ari struggled on most everything else. She was very graceful, but not as graceful as she probably needed to be to be a high-level gymnast. She was great at all the tricks but was, and still is, incredibly impatient and grew beside herself when she wasn't catching on as fast as her teammates.

Well, that's what Saya and Ari said at least. Itachi commended Saya's ability as an athlete, but it didn't really matter how good his cousin was because for some reason, when those girls messed around on the trampoline, Itachi could only keep his eyes on Ari. Her quick turns, her high, powerful leaps, her impressive flexibility as she would jump into the splits, the way her muscles tightened as she spun in the air, and the way her messy, tangled hair would fly around like a ball of fire around her head…

"Earth to Itachi?" Shisui asked, snapping Itachi out of is trance.

"Hm?" Itachi responded.

"Does that count as humming?" Shisui teased.

At that, Itachi's temper flared, "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Uh-huh," Shisui eyed his cousin playfully. The two observed Ari and Saya on the trampoline. Saya appeared as if she were either pleading or consoling with Ari, while Ari hugged her legs to her chest, resting her chin on her knees. The poor girl looked dejected. Itachi sighed, he should have chased after her right as she walked out the door. When he exited his house, he thought Ari had gone home, but when she wasn't there, Itachi sighed and gave up, and decided to go over to his best friend's house in an attempt to loosen up right before his big mission. When he arrived however, and his aunt informed he and Shisui that Ari and Saya were out on the trampoline and needed girl time, the boys caught the hint to leave the girls alone, but Itachi's heart wouldn't stop pounding in his chest. So much for loosening up…

"Looks like they're coming in, we better sit down," Shisui noted, tugging Itachi by the shirt and pulling him into the living room.

"…my nicknames aren't that ridiculous!" Ari protested as she walked in the door.

"Curly-Q?" Saya asked.

"Shisui has curly hair!"

"Ponytail and Ita?"

"Ita's hair is longer and more luscious than mine is and he's a guy! And Ita's easier to say than Itachi!"

…his hair was luscious?

Saya continued, "Duckbutt and Sacks?"

"Sacks is for the same reason I use Ita. And have you seen the back of Sasuke's hair? It looks like a duck's ass."

"Foxy-boxes, blondie, loudmouth, and Narutard."

"Okay, those are bad, but he's practically my little brother. It's my job to drive him insane and embarrass him. Though you have to admit Foxy-boxes is pretty funny and at least it has a little truth to it!"

"Ari!"

"Hey! If I can joke about it, it's obviously not that big of a deal!"

"Ugh…I'm still amazed that you can joke about it…oh, hey, Itachi!" Saya finished as she walked into the living room. She then nudged Ari with her elbow and Ari looked up, jumping at the sight of Itachi.

"Woaah! Hey I-I-Ita!" Ari stammered. Itachi smiled back.

"I didn't realize that my hair was that silky smooth," Itachi joked. Ari's face turned bright red and she looked away.

"I said it was more luscious than mine…which really isn't that hard to beat," Ari noted, picking at her fluffy hair. It was blown about by the wind and her tumbling, strewn about in all directions. Ari's hair was so thick and coarse; it was more like a fur coat. It was understandable why Ari didn't really bother to tame her mane…really she was kind of cute like that…

"But you used the word luscious," Itachi teased. Ari let out a growl.

"Oh come on, not you too!" she groaned and walked out of the room. At that, Itachi frowned and raised an eyebrow.

"Did I say something wrong?" he asked, concerned.

Saya sighed and rubbed her temples, "No, Itachi, Ari's just throwing a fit is all…"

"You got her to talk finally didn't you," Shisui guessed, a big smile forming on his face. Saya grinned mischievously and glanced at Itachi, her eyes glistening.

"Yep!" she said, but then her smile fell, "but she's mad at me now. The turd can't admit to anything. She's such a stubborn tomboy."

"I heard that!" Ari shouted from the bathroom.

"Good! You stubborn oaf!" Saya called back.

"You girly housewife!" Ari insulted in response.

"Man hands!"

"Barbie doll!"

At that Saya spat out a laugh, and Itachi could hear suppressed giggles coming from the bathroom. Shisui and Itachi also let out a few chuckles of their own. The two girls had such a twisted sense of humor, someone who didn't know them might think they would need a restraining order for each other.

"So…what did Ari tell you?" Itachi asked, curiously.

"Ah! What happens on the trampoline stays on the trampoline," Saya scolded, "come on, Itachi, it's the sacred girl code, you should know better than to try and pry the ultimate truth out of our beautiful manicured hands!"

At that point Ari walked back into the room, her mood having calmed down, but still she glared at Saya. She joked, "you mean your beautiful and manicured hands, Izayoi. And my cold, dead, and lifeless body."

Saya rolled her eyes, "Izayoi?"

"Okay, but then why does Shisui know about this?" Itachi whined, trying to figure out what the hell this big secret was, "he wasn't on the trampoline!"

"It's called tactical espionage, my cousin," Shisui explained, puffing out his chest.

"No, it's called you're an obnoxious big brother and spied on our conversation before we went out on the trampoline," Saya corrected. Shisui glared and stuck his tongue out at his sister.

At that, Ari broke out into a fit of laughter. The other three jumped and stared at her like she had three heads, but it didn't take long for all four of them to be rolling on the ground in hysterical fits of laughter. By the time they had calmed down enough to breath, Itachi's sides and cheeks hurt and he was lying on his back. He glanced over at Ari who gave him the brightest smile he had ever seen. She was usually a happy, smiling girl (when she wasn't cranky) and had a beautiful smile as it was, but a smile like the one she gave Itachi in that moment was the kind that could make your entire week it was so big and bright and full of pure joy. Ari was rarely one to showcase her special smile to Itachi.

What he didn't realize though, that he was the only one who ever got to see that smile.


Ari

Our mission was fairly simple: deliver a message from our feudal lord and the Hokage to the Village Hidden in the Sand to give to the Kazekage. The message was contained in an encrypted scroll that I carried in my backpack and was in regards to a peace treaty. Theoretically, the mission was probably one of the easier missions we'd gone on. The trip to the Sand Village was only about three days on foot, not counting my abnormal speed, and the Kazekage and shinobi of the sand were expecting us, excited to welcome us with open arms even. What made this mission such a huge deal, however, was the fact that a lot of our villages' current allies were against this impending treaty and the fact that because the Sand and the Leaf have had such a hostile history, the Third Hokage only considered his best diplomats that he knew would protect the scroll with their lives but could also defend themselves and abandon the mission safely should troubles arise with the Sand village.

So, with his infinite wisdom, and his best decision making, the Third Hokage gave the job to the trigger happy half-breed daughter of the NineTails and the shyest and most timid Uchiha you will ever meet. And he bribed us with a couple openings in ANBU (well, really he bribed Fugaku, who would force Itachi to go and then Itachi would force me to go). Way to go Lord Hokage, you're a genius!

"According to our briefing, the village Hidden in the Stones is allied with the Sand Village, but still bears a heavy grudge against the Leaf after the Third Great Ninja War," Itachi recited, attempting to break the silence on our track. I nodded in acknowledgement and he continued: "there have also been reports of movement from the Stone Village, so I'd imagine they are planning to stop any movement towards an alliance between our two villages. We'll have to keep our guards up the entire time."

"And shinobi from the Stone Village specialize mainly in earth-style ninjutsu," I added, "how good is your lightning style?"

"Not the best," Itachi grimaced. I rolled my eyes, for him "not the best" meant more like "second place", and in this case, first place would go to Kakashi Hatake and his signature Lightning Blade technique.

"So if we get ambushed by earth-style ninja, you can take them on. Great!" I teased.

"Hey, don't leave me if that happens!" Itachi groaned and shoved me lightly. I giggled and my heart skipped a beat at his touch.

Okay, okay, Shisui and Saya were right…maybe I did have some feelings for Ita. But he didn't need to know that.

We set up camp that night and set up a system for keeping watch. We leaned against each other back-to-back and operated on two-hour shifts, waking the other up when it was time for us to go to sleep. Midway through the second day, we had crossed the Land of Fire and cut through a bordering nation. We were almost to the Land of Wind where escorts would meet us and guide us to the village. I thought we were in the clear when we passed the last town before the land of wind and crossed into the forest border.

All I heard was the snapping of a twig.

Being half-demon, I was born with exceptional hearing and eyesight, even among the Uchiha, and I had noticed it before Itachi. I stopped and looked around, but there was no movement.

"Something wrong?" Itachi asked nonchalantly, but the way his body stiffened I knew he had caught on and was just toying with our spy.

"Nah, I was just thinking is all," I sighed, but Itachi nodded and knew that what I really meant was, "Sharingan. Now."

Itachi looked around, careful to conceal his activated sharingan. His hand then brushed up against mine. I swallowed my thumping heart and paid close attention as his finger tapped the bottom of my wrist twice: they were coming at us from above.

"Say when," I whispered, readying myself. Itachi crossed his arms and quietly weaved handsigns.

"Now!" He ordered and we both spun around so our backs touched as I deflected a shower of senbon needles and Itachi blocked the attack of a giant man who was about twice our size.

"Oh shit!" I heard Itachi shout behind me. That was the first time I had heard him cuss. That couldn't be good. Another series of senbon needles came at me, this time to my right. I pushed against Itachi, urging him to spin around and deflected most of the needles, but one managed to strike me in the arm, sending a sharp pain down my entire side.

"Agh!" I grunted, my knees buckled underneath me and I struggled to stand. "Dammit," I cursed to myself, "Ita watch it, these needles are poisoned!"

"Are you okay?" Ita asked, worry taking over his voice.

I pulled the needle out, my eyes growing heavy. "Don't worry about me," I said, "Look, if I get hit again, take my weapons pouch and make a run for it."

"Ari, that's not really an option…" Ita said in a low voice.

I glared back at him, "Itachi, now is not the time to be getting sentimental!"

"I'm not getting sentimental!" Ita barked back. At that my stomach sank slightly, "Look!"

The owner of the poison needles leapt out of hiding. He was a tall, lengthy man in a really nice button-up shirt with a narrow face and squinted eyes. He didn't look like much, but I recognized his face from at least a dozen textbooks.

"Haru of the venom…" I muttered, the air rushing out of my lungs. Haru had two specialties: he was a renowned poison maker, the only rival of Sasori of the Red Sand, and was known as the best sensory-type ninja in the entire world. I learned two things upon glancing at the man: 1) that needle was my death sentence, and 2) there was no chance in hell that Itachi would be able to get away from him.

"Wait," I breathed, "then your guy is…?"

"Kokoro the Terrible…" Itachi finished, his voice grave. Kokoro was another name in the textbooks. He was one of those guys that you hear about in legends. He was an olive-skinned man with stringy black hair and beady eyes. Standing at seven feet tall and just under 400 lbs, all muscle, Itachi and I didn't even come close in matching him in size and strength if you combined the two of us.

And together, Kokoro and Haru were feared as the ultimate tag team. Running into those two was a death sentence and the only other tag team in history as great as them were the Cloud's Silver and Gold brothers, Kinkaku and Ginkaku.

And they were the only ones before Madara that had ever taken my dad on and lived to tell the tale.

And they did that by eating part of his stomach after he ate them….

Dad vomited continuously for a week after that incident…thinking of them still sends shivers up my spine.

Alone, we probably could have taken them on. While Kokoro was massive and was probably one of the strongest men alive, he was not the brightest bulb in the box. He could easily overwhelm us in battle, but it wouldn't be hard for us to retreat and call for back-up, or even uses Itachi's sharingan to cast him under a genjutsu. And while Haru was incredibly intelligent and was a potions master with accurate aim, he was also fairly weak and predominantly a long-distance fighter. As long as we stayed on our toes and could dodge his needles, it would be hardly any effort for Itachi and me to take him out.

But together…they were called the Brain and Brawn for a reason. Every weakness that one had, the other made up for. Haru came up with all the battle strategies for the two and was immune to genjutsu. And being a sensory type, it was impossible for us to escape from him once he learned our chakra signatures. And while Haru was incredibly weak in battle, Kokoro used century-old pine trees as baseball bats. All he needed to do was listen for Haru to tell him where we were hiding and we were done for.

I panted, my vision growing blurry. I coughed and hacked up something that was caught in my throat, but as it came up, I tasted blood. I spat it out, a drop of crimson spilled down my cheek.

"Ari!" Itachi called out to me.

"I'm fine!" I lied.

"Hmph," Haru sighed placing his hands on his hips, "you're a cute little thing, aren't you. It's a shame we were ordered to take you out, or I might have taken you out for a nice night…"

"Hands off, creep," I spat back at him, heaving.

"Oh, a feisty one, aren't we?" Haru hissed.

"Hey, Haru, why would the Leaf send out two kids to send that scroll to the Sand? It doesn't make sense," Kokoro said in a deep, slow voice.

"Who know, Kokoro, who cares," Haru sighed and then grinned devilishly at me, "it won't take much to take them down."

"Ita, you got any ideas?" I whispered. It was getting so hard to stay conscious, much less stand up.

"For you, just stay awake," Ita ordered, "I'm not letting you die on me."

Slowly, Itachi grasped hold of both my hands and knelt down, watching the other two carefully.

"Kokoro," Haru ordered, "Get them."

At that, Kokoro lunged at us, but Itachi was quicker. He leapt into a backflip and scooped me up into his arms before taking off into the trees.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"It's fight or flight," Itachi responded, "Our mission is to deliver that scroll, if we can get to the wind village, we'll be safe."

"You can't hide from me, boyo!" Haru called out, "it doesn't matter how fast you are, I will find you!"

I caught movement to our right and then a shower of senbon came straight at us. Itachi barely managed to deflect all of them and fell to the ground, as he was brought to a halt. That was another thing about Haru…he was incredibly fast. I probably could have competed with him but I was temporarily immobile.

Itachi set me down momentarily upon my request. I was weakened, but I could still fight. I pulled out a kunai and braced myself. Haru landed on a tree branch above us and grinned.

"The only way you'd be able to even think of hiding from me is if you could somehow mask your chakra signature!" he bellowed. We heard loud thumping in the distance: Kokoro was catching up to us.

But that was it! An idea flashed in my mind. Ita must've had the same idea too because we both glanced at each other. Among the obnoxious amount of inhuman things my father gave me from my senses, to my speed, to my strength, my mother also had a signature ability that I inherited: I was a psychic. My psychic abilities were limited compared to hers, but I was capable of placing a block on my chakra points, thus erasing my chakra signature. Through touch, I could also block off Itachi's. If we could gain enough distance on Haru and I hid our chakra at the right time, we would be invisible to Haru and could get away.

I went to grab hold of Itachi's hand, but Kokoro proved much faster than I anticipated as he came barreling through, swinging an entire tree at us. Itachi leapt away and I collapsed on to the ground, my muscles freezing up and keeping me from dodging efficiently.

"The poison is running its course, I see," Haru mentioned, but frowned, "however you are incredibly resistant to it. A normal human would be dead already. But no matter, you will soon join the rest of my victims within the hour."

"Not on my watch!" Itachi shouted back, lunging at Haru. The potions master was caught off guard and Itachi managed to strike him in the head, slicing his forehead open. Before Itachi could do any serious damage, however, Kokoro came back around and punched Itachi hard, knocking him to the ground.

"ITA!" I screamed, trying to get up. Dammit, why wouldn't my body do what I was telling it to? Itachi staggered onto all fours, but then collapsed again.

"Hmph," Haru chuckled, "young lovers, I see…well, I'm afraid childish emotions as that have no place on the battlefield. You can join your girlfriend in the afterlife!" With that, Haru drew a handful of his poison needles.

"Itachi!" I screamed, "MOVE!" With all the strength that I had, I pushed myself to my feet and sprinted to Itachi's side. At about that time, Itachi had recovered enough to get up and react, but he was too late. Haru released the needles and I acted only on instinct. I grasped hold of his waist, pushing him back to the ground as all ten of the needles struck my side. I fell onto my stomach and rolled over, clutching my sides as I coughed blood and wheezed in pain.

"ARI!" Itachi cried as he rushed to my side, attempting to pull the needles out. He was too late though, my limps were going numb, my chest burned, and it felt like I was being stabbed all over.

"Ita…go…!" I ordered him weakly. "The scroll…go…!" Itachi's eyes were wild and bloodshot, unable to focus on me completely—he must have suffered some serious head trauma—but instead of doing as I told, he scooped me back into his arms and took off again.

"Ari, it'd be really nice if you could teach me how to mask my chakra right now…" Ita mumbled, mostly to himself. I glanced up at him, we were weaving around as we ran, he couldn't even keep his balance. It took all of my energy, but I grasped hold of one of his hands which cradled me and erased both of our chakra signatures. Itachi glanced down at me slightly confused, his cheeks flushed and his eyes watery.

A few minutes later we heard Haru call out, "What? Where did they go?"

Itachi took that as his cue to bunker down and hide. There was a small cave underneath some tree roots which we had passed earlier, and we slid into there, Itachi curled into a ball and held me close, unconsciously rocking me back and forth as he did when Sasuke was little. They searched all over for us, even passed over our hiding place twice, but they couldn't find us.

"I thought you couldn't lose people, Haru," Kokoro sighed sadly, "Man…and I wanted to beat that ponytail guy's head in…"

Itachi held me tighter but otherwise remained calm.

"I didn't lose tem, Kokoro! They're just sneaky little brats is all," Haru barked back. The two passed, and we were able to relax for a minute.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit…!" Itachi cursed, "what are we supposed to do…?"

I wanted to tell him to calm down but it took everything I had to stay awake and keep our chakra blocks on. There was no way I could even open my mouth. My head leaned against his chest, his heart raced a million miles a minute. Ita was panicking. This was so unlike him, but for whatever reason, my compromised position and the best tag team in the world coming after us kept him from thinking clearly.

"We need a plan…dammit, what do we do…?" Itachi whispered more to himself, "Ari? Are you awake? Please tell me you're awake…"

Calm down, Ponytail, I was fine. I groaned on the inside. Itachi hadn't even realized yet that we had the element of surprise now. With that, it would be easy to take the two down. If we could sneak up on them, Itachi could cast a genjutsu on Kokoro and use him to kill Haru and then himself.

It'd be great if I could tell him that…man…if only there was away for me to communicate with Ita…

…and he was so warm…

"Did you say something?" Itachi asked. I glanced up at him feebly. What? Itachi's eyes widened in confusion.

*Am I hearing her thoughts?* I heard his voice say, but his mouth didn't move. For a brief moment the adrenaline rushing through me gave me enough energy to yelp.

*Itachi!* I thought, looking at him. He jumped and turned to look at me, his eyes wide.

"Was that…are you thinking to me…?" he asked in a panic. I nodded feebly.

*Okay, how many more weird tricks can she come up with…?*

*Hey!*

"You can hear me too?" he asked. Again, I nodded. Itachi's heart began to race and he started breathing heavily.

*Ita, you have got to calm down,* I thought, *listen to me; I have no idea how much longer I can keep our chakra invisible, so you have to move quick. We have the element of surprise right now. If you can sneak up on Kokoro and cast a genjutsu on him, find a way to turn him against Haru so they take each other out.*

*I don't know if I can do that,* Itachi thought back. We both froze as Haru passed over us and paused. I was getting weaker by the second and I was struggling to keep Ita's chakra suppressed. He then shrugged and walked away. Ita continued, *Kokoro hit me in the head pretty hard, it's going to take all I've got to get him under a genjutsu, much less control him.*

*Then just get him under a genjutsu and we'll go from there. Carry me on your back.* Itachi nodded and once the coast was clear he adjusted me so I rode piggy back and leapt into the trees. We caught sight of the duo and slowed our pace, careful not to make a sound.

*Man, she weighs nothing…does she even eat…?* I overheard Ita think. If I could, I would've smacked him upside the head.

*Control your thoughts!* I barked.

*Easier said than done, and what about you? I'm starting to wonder if I was poisoned too the way your thoughts are pushing into my head,* Ita retorted.

*Okay, if we make it out of here alive, we'll have to work on training this,* I said, *how close do you think you can get?*

*Not much more, but I can cast a genjutsu on Kokoro from here. I might be able to bring them to us.*

*Okay good…I have an idea…do you still have those senbon needles Haru hit me with?*

Itachi sighed heavily, *yeah…and they're still dripping with poison…*

*good. Hand one to me.*

*And what do you think you're going to do?*

*I'm going to hit them with their own medicine*

At this Itachi thought for a moment, calculating all possible strategies as fast as he could. His thought process ran so fast that I was getting a headache, Itachi truly was a genius whether he liked it or not.

*Okay, did you catch all that?* he asked.

*Hell no! What idea did you come up with?* I asked him.

*I'm going to try to get Kokoro to lead Haru so he's right underneath us, then I'm going to lower you enough so that when I drop you, you have a clear shot at Haru and can take him down. Then I'll finish off Kokoro,* Itachi explained.

*You're going to lower me,* I repeated, *Won't Haru hear us?*

*Haru is dependent on his sensory abilities, he's practically helpless without them. If Kokoro has him distracted, he won't notice you cutting him down until it's too late.*

*Alright, let's do it,* I said. Itachi's genjutsu couldn't activate soon enough. It was getting harder and harder to keep my focus, and I could tell Haru was beginning to pick up on our presence. If I lost it, it would be all over. But alas, Kokoro stiffened suddenly and began walking towards us.

"Kokoro! Where are you going?" Haru asked nervously, following close behind. Itachi was right, Haru felt helpless not knowing where we were. We could easily sneak up on him now.

And we were about to.

I clutched the senbon needle tightly in my hand. Itachi squatted and turned upside down on the tree, his chakra holding his feet to the trunk. He held me by the armpits as I hung over Haru as he passed under me. I held my breath, expecting him to look up, but he didn't Kokoro stopped and so did Haru. We held our position over them for what felt like hours.

*One* Itachi thought

*Two* I responded weakly. Suddenly my strength left me and I suppressed a cough, blood burbled in the back of my throat and my chakra block vanished. Haru jumped and looked up.

"What the-?" He shouted

"THREE!" Itachi shouted simultaneously and let go of me. I fell to the ground, striking Haru in the shoulder with his poison. Haru fell backwards as I crumpled to the ground. He sat up, holding his shoulder, his face pale. It was amazing how face his poison could take effect.

"Kokoro! Snap out of it!" Haru ordered as he staggered to the side uneasily. Kokoro struggled to break through the genjutsu but managed to keep Itachi from striking him. Haru lunged at me, attempting to beat me. "You bitch!" he screamed, "I'll kill you!"

Unable to stand on my feet any more, I rolled around haphazardly, trying to pull a kunai out of my pouch. I managed to grasp hold of one and as Haru knelt down to strike me, I stood up with every ounce of my remaining strength and slit his throat. Haru crumpled to the ground immediately. The adrenaline rushing through my veins gave me enough momentary strength to stand, I looked over and Itachi finally struggled his way to jabbing his senbon into Kokoro's throat, causing the giant to collapse, foam at the mouth, and die. He ran over to me.

"Is it over…?" he asked, looking around with his sharingan. There were no other signs of life other than us two. We were only three miles from the border.

"I think it is…I think we're…in the clear…" I managed to say, my knees buckling underneath me. Ita leaned towards me, grasping my shoulders.

"We need to get you medical attention now," Itachi said, worry etching through his voice.

"I'm…fine…" I mustered, still staring at the dead men before us in awe.

They were the unbeatable tag team just like Kinkaku and Ginkaku were.

But we just beat them.

First there was Silver and Gold of the Cloud.

Then Brain and Brawn of the Stone.

And now us from the Leaf.

We later received several nicknames of our own as we became the new tag team to beat. Among the most popular were Silent and Deadly, See No Evil and Hear No Evil, and most recently we became known as Madara and Kurama as well as the Star-Crossed Lovers, but those two were more as a joke. But in the moment, it hadn't occurred to either of us of how well-known we'd become after this encounter, because as I lost consciousness, Itachi just about lost his sanity.

"Ari…?" Itachi asked, his voice fading in my ears. My vision blurred heavily. I couldn't stay awake anymore. My knees crumbled underneath me and I fell to the ground.

As darkness enveloped me, all I could hear were Itachi's screams.