A/N: You lot will never believe what has happened since my last update. It would be a story longer than this. Enjoy.

Two more days had passed since Itachi and Shisui had given their report. In that time the two Uchiha children had been back to the Uchiha compound only for a short amount of time. They were still hesitant to leave Koka's and Kaede's side. Mikoto had come by several times to bring the boys some of their things with Sasuke at her side. Likewise, Kakashi had been a constant presence at the shrine when not on ANBU duties.

Now the four children sat in Koka's study room at the kotatsu. The youngest was silent as she poured over a book about shrine ceremonies, writing down notes in one of her many notebooks. Itachi split his attention between reading over them and conversing with Kaede and Shisui. The blond was going over details for Koka's birthday party while Shisui helped her generate ideas.

"We should put streamers up in all of the rooms!" Kaede was saying excitedly. No one bothered to keep their voices down. With Koka being able to see the future, a surprise party would have been a moot idea.

Shisui nodded his head, adding "We could hang lanterns from the trees too."

Itachi bit back a smile at Koka's barely visible eye twitch. "It's going to rain, remember?" Itachi pointed out. Koka had already stated that fact several times since the beginning of their conversation. The poor girl had reluctantly allowed them to make use of her study room. It was a decision that she was quickly beginning to regret. Koka closed her blue eyes and sighed. Then it hit her.

Everything happened within a split second. The moment Koka's eyes had snapped open, glowing blue once again, the two shinobi had known something was going to happen. The young girl had flung herself across the table, knocking Kaede flat onto the ground as kunai flew through the air where the two girls' heads had been. Shisui and Itachi were on their feet before the blades had even hit the wall, poised in front of their friends, searching for their attacker with sharingan blazing.

The door to the room was flung open as Kakashi darted in, having sensed the intruder and the flare of Itachi and Shisui's chakra.

"Guard the girls." Was his only order as the young ANBU jumped out the window the blades had come from.

Itachi and Shisui wasted no time and gathered the two girls into their arms, moving to a more secure location in the shrine.

"What about Heiwa?" Kaede protested as Shisui set her down in one of the central rooms. Itachi set Koka down next to her. The two cousins exchanged a look but it was Koka who spoke up.

"She's with Mikoto-sama at the compound. They are safe." Kaede was appeased with Koka's explanation. It was then that reality seemed to catch up with them all. Itachi and Shisui were struck with the reality that they had come very close to losing their only friends in the world. If it had not been for Koka, the two girls would be lying on the floor, kunai embedded in their skulls.

A chill set into the Uchihas bones. The girls had been deliberately attacked, and it seemed that the two of them had realized the same thing. Kaede had gone pale, clutching at the sleeves of her pink kimono. Her fear was shown on her face as the older girl thought of all the reasons the two girls would be attacked for. It showed to the two boys how vulnerable she was to the kind of life they led.

Koka however had a look the two boys had only seen twice. The young girl, despite being the youngest of them all, seemed to be so much older. There was a grimness about her, eyes tight around the corners as she fell into thought. As if she was far too accustomed to this.

Itachi and Shisui felt something in their hearts twist. This, this was not how their girls were supposed to be. Then rage welled up. Rage at the people responsible for rocking the peaceful the two boys had created with their friends. The two of them had never felt the need to destroy something as strongly as they did just then. The two shinobi struggled to shove it away for their friends who needed them. Thought then abandoned them as the boys drew the two girls into tight embraces without warning.

Koka let out a light 'oomph' as she was jerked out of her thoughts and Kaede squeaked.

"No." Shisui whispered out as Kaede made to move. The older girl froze and made to look at him but was unable to see anything past his chest.

"Shisui?" The blond girl questioned quietly.

"We won't let anything happen." Shisui quietly promised. There were a thousand promises in that one spoken one.

Itachi tightened his grip slightly on Koka, having felt the small girl shift slightly. He said nothing as her hands curled into his shirt, nor did he comment on the dampness spreading on his shirt. Likewise Shisui held Kaede as she trembled and cried in his arms.

When Kakashi returned sometime later, he looked grim. The glance he took at Kaede said it all. It had been the same man who had killed her family. The older girl broke down into sobs once again, Shisui holding her close.

"Shisui, take Kaede back to her room." If the older boy was surprised at Koka's request, he said nothing. Instead he quietly lead the crying girl out. Then Koka turned to Kakashi and Itachi.

"Come." The two brooked no arguments as they followed the young girl into her study room. Later Itachi would wonder when Koka had become so authoritative.

The three of them sat down at Koka's kotatsu and moments later Shisui appeared. He had sent a clone to the group.

"He will come back for her. Not tonight. But several months from now." Koka told them before continuing. "I cannot get an exact time yet."

Itachi caught onto the the last part oof her sentence. His eyes narrowed at its implication. "What do you mean?"

The blue eyed girl looked directly into his own eyes. In the back of his mind he noted that she was the only person to do that without hesitation.

"I have been training with my visions." So straight forward was her admission that it took a moment for the full meaning to sink in with the group.

"What!?" Itachi was aghast, and even Shisui and Kakashi had stilled at her confession. Koka did not hesitate in her words.

"We will all die otherwise. I told you, did I not? I will change the world."