I do not own Naruto~

Mari never got around to telling Ayano, even though her daughter was practically bouncing the rest of the night. She had been kind of confused when they left. Mikoto, Shisui, and Itachi had this look on their face like they knew something was going to happen when they left, and they couldn't stop it. Sasuke was as cheerful as they were pretending to be.

"Do you work tomorrow?" Mari asked as they walked into the house.

"Nope," she chirped, bounding after her mother. "We have seven orders due the next day, though." Mari rose an eyebrow at her.

"Don't overexert yourself," she told her. Ayano grinned.

"Never in a lifetime!" she stated happily. Her mother looked at her oddly.

"...What are you so happy about?" she asked curiously. Ayano giggled and turned to walk up the stairs.

"Oh, nothing," she sang. She deliberately walked slowly up the stairs.

"Um...Ayano?" She stopped immediately and looked down at her mother.

"Yes?" Mari opened her mouth, then shut it.

"Don't forget to wash your hair," she told her hesitantly. Ayano face fell a little.

"Got it."

Well, she was officially bored. Not having work, school, and it being summer vacation left a bunch of time to do absolutely nothing. Her mom was at work, and she had already finished the book she was working on. She contemplated walking to the bookstore, but she didn't have enough money and it was on the other side of the village.

So now she was laying on her couch, chewing the skewer that had previously held dango, and staring up at the ceiling. Nothing was on TV, of course, because they didn't have cable, and the only books her mom had were on cooking. If she had spared her painting set from the move, she would have messed with the acrylics and oils to see if she could make something interesting.

With a sigh, she heaved herself of the couch and decided that if she just went for a walk she could come up with something to do. She went to her room and threw on a change of clothes and clipped her bangs back so they wouldn't annoy her. She passed by the guest room and stopped beside it before peering into it, trying to imagine what it would look like as a nursery. White crib in the corner, a play mat on the ground, random baby toys laying around. Would the baby be a boy or girl? She grinned and went to put on her shoes. She didn't care, as long as it was healthy.

Just as she stood up and opened the door, she was greeted by a surprised Shisui, hand half-raised to knock.

"Shisui," she stated in surprise, then gasped. "What the hell happened to you!?" He looked like he had been beaten. His lip was busted, and there was a dark bruise around his eye. A bandage was wrapped around his forearm, where she guessed another wound was.

Shisui grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head.

"Mission," he explained. "A bandit caught me by surprise." She looked at his wounds again.

"You must have been surprised for a long time for him to have hit you that much," she stated. He mock-glared.

"Well, thanks," he said sarcastically, then grinned. She smiled in return.

"So what were you doing way over here on the edge of the compound?" she asked conversationally, leaning against the door frame.

"Itachi and I were going to spar, and I need someone to keep an eye on my sister. You wanna come?" She blinked.

"She's going, too?" she asked. He nodded. "Sure. I'm off today, and until school starts I'm going to be bored as hell." He grinned.

"Great. It's a date."

"Is it now?" she laughed. She closed the door behind her and locked it, then followed after Shisui. They walked to the back of the compound, where there was a gate and trees behind it.

"There's a clearing on the other side," Shisui stated. "Can you jump?" Ayano looked up at the towering fence.

"I think I'm a bit short," she admitted sarcastically. He grinned. "Is there another way around?"

"Way down that way," he pointed behind him. "But I'm already late. Itachi's going to be pissed." Ayano looked back up at the fence.

"Well then you go, and I'll just find the other way around." She turned around and walked about two steps before someone grabbed her wrist and she was picked up bridal style. "What!?" Shisui laughed and kneeled down slightly, like he was going to jump.

And then suddenly they were in the air, flying over the fence, and Shisui landed on his feet on the other side.

"Never," Ayano gasped. She kicked herself free. "Ever do that again without warning me!" He laughed again.

"It was faster," he defended with a grin. She scowled at him.

"You scared the crap out of me!" He smirked and started walking through the trees. Ayano followed him with a scowl. After about a minute of walking they made it to a clearing, where Itachi was waiting and a small girl was plucking flowers.

"You're late," Itachi told them from the middle of the clearing.

"Sorry, I was going at civilian pace," Shisui called back with a grin.

"And is something wrong with civilian pace?" Ayano retorted putting her hands on her hips and looking at him.

"Oh, nothing, just that my great-grandma could walk faster."

"Well we all can't be ninjas," she defended with a huff. Shisui grinned and waved the small girl over.

"Hiyuki, this is Ayano," Shisui told the girl. She looked to be about four. "Ayano, Hiyuki." Red snow. She couldn't help but think it sounded morbid.

The girl fidgeted but smiled a shy smile at her. Ayano smiled back.

"I have a mission in three hours," Itachi reminded Shisui.

"Yea, yea," Shisui called back. he turned to Ayano. "Have you ever seen shinobi spar?" She shook her head. He grinned. "Well then you're about to. Watch me kick Itachi's ass," he snickered.

"Like that could ever happen," Itachi called over, having heard them. Ayano laughed and Shisui jogged off towards Itachi. Ayano sat down beside Hiyuki, who was picking those tiny white flowers there are everywhere in a field

"Shisui-nii's really good," she stated proudly, looking at her brother. "But Itachi-nii is better. Shisui-nii is still good though." Ayano smiled at her.

"Who do you think is gonna win?" Ayano asked the girl. Hiyuki sat down and watched them.

"Itachi-nii," she replied instantly. "Shisui-nii isn't as serious about it as Itachi-nii is."

"Is that so..." Ayano mused. She looked at the two standing in the clearing, about ten feet apart from each other.

And then suddenly Shisui was behind Itachi, and Ayano blinked in surprise. What the hell was that!? Shisui moved to punch Itachi, but the younger seemed to knew what Shisui was doing and blocked it in time before throwing his elbow into Shisui's stomach. Ayano winced.

"Shisui-nii told me that people call him 'Shisui of the Body Flicker,'" Hiyuki said. "I don't know what that means, but I guess it's what that weird disappear and appear thing is. I've seen Itachi-nii do it before, but he doesn't do it as much as Shisui-nii." As Itachi turned and was about to throw a punch, Shisui disappeared again and appeared ten feet away from him again, taking something out of a punch he had strapped to his leg. He seemed to swipe his arm or something, and she managed to get a small glimpse of some sort of projectile he had thrown towards Itachi. Itachi reached into his pouch and withdrew what seemed like a metal toothpick and threw one at the five or so heading towards him. There seemed to be a domino effect as the one he threw knocked one of it's course, which knocked the others of their course. And this was happening so fast Ayano could barely tell what was going on.

"Do you know what's happening?" she asked Hiyuki, who scrunched up her face and shook her head.

"I can only tell whose winning because Shisui-nii sometime says bad words when he messes up." Ayano had to crack a smile at that.

The fight seemed to be moving towards the trees on the other side of the field, and Ayano could make out Shisui trying to push Itachi back. Shisui flickered behind Itachi again, and Itachi grabbed the punch that was aimed his way and flipped his cousin. Shisui placed his hands on the ground for balance and kicked upwards, making Itachi jump back. When they disappeared into the trees, Ayano let out a breath.

"Wow," she breathed.

"Did Shisui-nii win?" Hiyuki asked, peering into the woods. The sounds of fighting reached Ayano's ears.

"They're still fighting," she told her. "I have the feeling the won't be done for a while." Hiyuki nodded her head in agreement and went back to picking the tiny white flowers. Ayano sat on her knees and started plucking flowers as well, waiting for Itachi and Shisui to get back.

"What's your favorite flower?" she asked conversationally.

"I like the purple ones," Hiyuki stated, picking said purple flowers and showing it to Ayano. "What is your favorite?"

"I think mine is a spider lily," she admitted. "But I don't think they grow in this season."

"What's a spider lily look like?" Hiyuki asked.

"It's the red flowers that have the petals in the middle and the stringy things on the outside," she told her.

"Oh, my Mommy had some in her garden."

"Hiyuki?" The new voice made Ayano turn around in surprise to see a man standing there. He was an Uchiha, she could tell from the fan adorning his shirt. She looked at Hiyuki to see if she knew the man, but found her almost hiding behind her.

"Can I help you?" Ayano asked politely, standing up. The man narrowed his eyes at her slightly. It was almost unnoticeable, but she caught it.

"I'm Hiyuki's uncle," the man introduced. "I'm here to pick her up." Ayano looked back at Hiyuki, who was now cowering behind her.

"Shisui will be back soon," Ayano told the man, suspicious. She moved Hiyuki more behind her.

"You see," the man laughed. "I'm running a bit late, so I'm afraid I don't have time to wait for my nephew." Ayano was persistent.

"But Shisui would be worried if he didn't see you off and his sister just disappeared." The man pressed his lips together.

"I'm sorry, but I really don't have the time." He looked around Ayano. "Come on, Hiyuki."

She didn't move. He glared slightly.

"Hiyuki, if you disobey me then I'll have to tell you're mother," he warned.

Ayano moved herself between Hiyuki and the man.

"She doesn't want to go with you," she told him with a slight glare.

"You don't have any say over what my family does or doesn't want," the man hissed. Hiyuki pressed herself against Ayano's back.

"He's mean, Aya-nee," Hiyuki whimpered. "He hurt me." Ayano widened her eyes and turned slightly to look at the girl.

"Where did he hurt you?" she asked. Hiyuki sniffed, she looked about ready to cry, and pulled up the sleeve on her arm, where a dark blue and purple bruise was wrapped around her entire forearm, about the size of a hand. Ayano turned around to glare at the man.

"How dare you!" she exclaimed. "She's just a little girl!"

"I can punish my children however I feel like," the man barked. "Give her to me."

"No," Ayano spit. The man glared vehemently at her and started walking towards her. Ayano held her ground and kept Hiyuki behind her. The man raised his fist and Ayano glared.

Then, in a flash, Shisui was in front of her, punching the man away. He continued to beat the man back as Itachi stood in front of Ayano.

"Stay away from her," Shisui hissed.

"Both of them," Itachi added in a growl. The man glared.

"I'll report you for this," he hissed, holding his mouth where Shisui just punched him.

"Go ahead," Shisui retorted. "Stay away from my sister." The man stood up and looked ready to retort, but when Shisui drew a kunai he stopped.

"You'll regret this," he growled, then left through the trees. Ayano let out a breath she had been holding.

"Who was that?" she asked. Shisui made his way to his sister.

"Ignore it," Itachi told her. "It's too complicated."

"How can I ignore it?" Ayano shot back. "He hurt her!"

"It's none of your business," Itachi stated harshly. "Stay out of it." Ayano scowled.

"When a child is freaking hurt by someone and no one's doing anything about it, I take it upon myself to make it my business!"

"You have nothing to do with it, and it's going to stay that way," he told her with a glare.

"This is child abuse! Someone should call the police!"

"We are the police," Shisui interrupted. His voice was warmer than Itachi's, but it was still pretty cold. "And I would appreciate it if you don't stick your nose into anything." She looked at him with shock. "Trust me, it's for your own good." She glared at them.

"If I see one more mark on her that I didn't see today, I'm going to do whatever the hell I feel like to make sure it never happens again," she growled. "This is not right."

"We know," Shisui replied calmly. It infuriated her how he could be so placid. "And trust me, she won't get hurt again. I'll kill anyone who tries." He paused suddenly, and Itachi whipped his head around towards the trees in the distance. She looked at the trees herself, confused as to why they were acting like that. She scanned the treeline, not seeing anything.

A cold feeling filled the air, and her joints locked in place. Every nerve in Ayano's body was screaming run, run, run!! She was terrified. Something was over there that was completely filled with menace.

It wanted to attack her. Kill her.

"Go home, Ayano," Itachi told her. She was rooted to the spot, staring in the direction the aura was coming from. "Go home." Her eyes slid to the girl standing beside Shisui, completely oblivious to whatever it is that made her want to bolt. Hiyuki was looking around at the older Uchihas around them, confused about why they were acting so strangely. Shisui was standing protectively beside her, with a hard glint in his eye, and Ayano knew that he would protect the girl with his life. "Ayano!" Itachi barked. His suddenly loud voice snapped her out of it, and she backed up. His aura was almost as menacing as the other, and it was scaring her. She didn't want to turn around, to put her back to it. She felt like if she did it would attack her that very second.

Itachi put himself between her and the threatening thing, and he turned to look at it. She turned around and ran for her life. She heard someone talking that didn't sound like Itachi, Shisui, or Hiyuki, but figured she imagined it.

"Don't forget, Shisui," she could have sworn she heard. "You better have something by the end of the week."

She kept running, and managed to find a small hole in the fence she could just barely fit through. She ignored the curious eyes on the street and didn't stop till she made it to her house, where she unlocked the door with shaking fingers and ran to her room. She cowered on her bed, unable to control her shaking, and her breath came out in uneven. It felt so damn evil. It scared her. Tears appeared in the corners of her eyes. And for the first time, she was scared of her clan.

She saw them fight. She knew that they could attack her with half the power of what they used in the field, and she would probably be killed. When she saw them fight, though, she was thinking that they would never turn on her and attack her. But when she felt Itachi's aura turn just as menacing as the one hidden in the trees on the other side of the field, she knew that if she just got them too angry or something, that darkness would be directed towards her, and she could be killed.

She had done everything she could to avoid the subject of what happened in the clearing. Since her mother got home, she had been worried about Ayano because her daughter would jump at the tiniest thing.

"What happened?" Mari asked for maybe the twelfth time.

"I just saw a scary show in TV," Ayano lied. "It creeped me out." Mari frowned.

"Don't watch scary shows, then," she told her.

"I don't plan on it," Ayano replied with a shaky laugh. She hadn't been able to calm down at all. She could tell she was worrying her mother, but she didn't want to tell anybody what happened.

A knock on the door made her jump about ten feet, and her heart started beating twice as fast.

"Can you get that?" her mother called from the kitchen.

"Y-yea," Ayano called back. Feeling shaky, she made her way to the door, trying not to think about what could be on the other side.

She had been expecting the man from earlier, so she was surprised when she saw Hiyuki standing before her, holding a spider lily. The girl beamed up at her.

"I wanted to thank Aya-nee for helping me today," she stated cheerfully, holding up the flower. Ayano, still shocked, took the flower. She looked up to see Itachi and Shisui standing on the other side of the street with expressionless masks on. Shisui made a motion for her to 'come here.' Ayano met Itachi's gaze and she shrank back, causing his brow to furrow in confusion.

"Th-thank you," she told Hiyuki, looking back down at her and forcing a smile on her face. Hiyuki smiled up at her and pranced back to her brother. Ayano looked back up at the two boys and turned away, quickly.

"Ayano-" she heard Shisui start to say, but she had shut the door. She didn't want to see them, because, honestly, she was scared of them.

So, I am a little disappointed that Sakura still didn't kill Sasuke, but I'm proud of her for trying xD I still think he needs to be maimed or something...I guess going blind is good enough though 7:D

Review!