Sorry for the extremely late Chapter ):

Chapter 6: Life with the Uchiha

"Wake up, Mizuno!"

I groaned and opened my eyes to see Naruto's face a few centimetres away from mine.

"You're awake!" He grinned.

"Not really." I looked out the window. "The sun's not even out yet. What's the big deal?"

"Sasuke's brother has a day off today, so he's gonna train the both of them. Sasuke asked me if we wanted to train with them!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Itachi agreed to train us?" I asked.

Naruto shrugged. "He told me to meet them at the back of the house in ten minutes if we wanted to."

"Let's go then." I jumped off my bed.

We got changed out of our pyjamas and left the room. Walking along the corridor, I spotted the balcony where me and Itachi were last night.

Argh, what am I thinking? Agreeing to train under the Uchiha I pissed off just the night before. I had to be looking for death.

We arrived at the backyard to see Itachi leading Seiichi and Sasuke in some stretching.

"I see you've decided to join us." Itachi said, staring straight at me.

"Uhhh... yea..." I replied, avoiding his eyes.

"So what we gonna do?" Naruto asked.

Itachi turned to him. "We'll start with a warm up. 20 laps around the compund."

"Whaaat? That's twice the usual amount!" Sasuke complained.

"I'm increasing it. Go." Itachi commanded.

Sasuke turned to Naruto and smirked. "I'll race you!"

Naruto grinned and sped off after Sasuke.

"So... what's with you and Itachi?" Seiichi asked, jogging beside me.

I gave him a questioning look.

He rolled his eyes. "He was giving you the death stare the whole time. Unless you somehow managed to piss him off I don't think he would do that."

"Really? He seems to be the type who would glare at people for no reason." I argued.

"Nope. You've read the manga. My brother really is a total pacifist. So what happened?" He asked.

"Oh fine..." I conceded. "We fought last night."

His eyes widened. "Fought?"

"Argued. We were arguing about some stuff. Apparently he got pissed because I totally won the argument. He turned on his freaking Sharingan at me! Why do you Uchihas even have that thing? Its creepy."

"Wow. What on earth were you guys arguing about?" He asked.

"Our ways of being a ninja." I told him.

"You're not serious!" He laughed. "You're not even technically a ninja!"

"I still won." I sniffed.

"Well... Itachi's way is a little boring..." he thought. "But to answer your question about Uchihas, it's obviously because we are the most awesome and powerful clan ever."

I snorted. "You do know the Senju beat the Uchiha don't you?"

"You're not even Senju. Don't be jealous because you don't have cool eyes like ours." He countered.

"I'm not. I'm stronger than you even without those eyes." I smirked.

"Oh?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Race you to the end!" I shouted to him as I ran ahead.

By the time we finished the twenty rounds, the sun was already up. Sasuke and Seiichi were lying on the ground panting, while Naruto and I danced around in victory.

Naruto had always been faster than me, so he came in first, followed by me, then Seiichi and Sasuke, who were almost half a round behind.

"What the hell kind of training do you guys do?" Sasuke asked.

"Well... we didn't really know how to train so we followed the ninjas at the training grounds. They were pretty secretive about it though, except for this guy..." I stopped when Naruto groaned.

"Don't remind me. I hope we never see him again!" He declared.

"Who is it?" Itachi asked.

"Maito Gai." I giggled.

Itachi's eyes widened slightly. "You were following Maito Gai's training regime?"

"Not fully... about half of whatever challenge he spouts out everyday." I told him.

"That's still quite impressive, for pre-academy students like you." Itachi said.

Naruto beamed with pride.

Sasuke, unhappy about the attention we were getting, butted in. "Can we start training already?"

"Alright. I need to see both Mizuno and Naruto's capabilities first. How about a spar?" Itachi suggested.

"Between me and Naruto?" I asked.

"No. Between me and both of you." He replied.

Naruto and I glanced at each other. It would have to be the first time we ever fought anyone besides each other.

"Then what do we do?" Seiichi asked.

"Watch. Analysing fighting styles is a kind of training too." Itachi said.

Seiichi nodded, moving away with Sasuke to give the three of us space.

To be clear, I had never learned any kind of martial arts in my previous life, so I really had zero clue on fighting and taijutsu. The kind of taijutsu style me and Naruto learned wasn't really any style at all. We just copied whatever our eyes could follow and whoever we happened to by spying on that day.

Itachi gave the signal, and Naruto charged. He sent a right jab towards Itachi's stomach, only to stumble when Itachi dodged. He fell foward, allowing his palms to touch the ground before lifting his feet to kick Itachi. This was dodged once again when Itachi twisted out of the way.

I saw this as a chance and aimed a punch to the back of his head. He turned quickly and caught my fist with his right hand, his left holding Naruto's leg to stop another attempted kick.

When he let go, we jumped out of the way before charging again. It was annoying, how we couldn't get a hit in no matter how hard we tried, and he hadn't even moved from his spot! Stupid jounins and their super fast reactions.

"That's enough." Itachi said after about 10 minutes.

Both of us stopped our assault.

"I can see you don't have a fixed stance." Itachi commented.

I shook my head. "We use a hybrid of whatever we remember from watching other ninjas. We didn't have any proper training, so we have no idea how to execute the moves properly as well.
"

Itachi nodded. "Although not a master, I can perform some of those styles. I could help you polish them."

"Really?" Naruto asked, not used to the acts of kindness we were suddenly getting these days.

Itachi nodded again.

"Yatta! I'm gonna get stronger!" Naruro cheered.

"My turn, my turn!" Sasuke whined, getting impatient.

Itachi flicked his forehead. "Be patient." Then he turned to us. "Go and get a drink."

"Hai." Me and Naruto chorused.

We went back to the house and drank some water, grabbing a few bottles for the brothers.

Sasuke and Seiichi were sparring when we arrived. And even though I had almost no clue on taijutsu, I could tell from their movements that they were way ahead of us in the area.

"They're good." Naruto said from beside me.

I nodded. "That just means we have to train harder, ne?"

"Yeap!" He grinned.

After 10 minutes or so, Itachi signalled for them to stop and told them their mistakes. A few wrong hits here and there, a few unnecessary openings given to the opponent...

Sasuke and Seiichi nodded their heads before going off to spar again.

"Two of you start sparring too." Itachi told me and Naruto.

The rest of the morning was spent beating each other up, while he interjected when any of us made any mistakes in our strikes or defence.

When we finally stopped, the sun was already high in the sky. Itachi allowed us to rest while he showed us the moves we were supposed to learn.

Watching him go through each step was more hypnotising than any ballet concert I had ever watched. His movements were so fluid, so perfect. And he said he wasn't a master of those styles?

"Whoa... your brother is so cool." Naruto said to Sasuke and Seiichi in a wonder struck tone.

"He is, isn't he. I bet he's more powerful than father now." Seiichi said.

"I'm gonna be like him some day!" Sasuke declared.

"You?" I asked, skeptical. "How about in a hundred years?"

Sasuke growled. "You'll see! I'll beat Itachi-nii one day!"

"Stop talking and pay attention." Itachi, who stopped for a moment, scolded.

"Hai!"

I stared intently at the performed moves, trying to take in and remember each one. They were familiar, and I could actually recognise some of the moves he used as those we tried to copy by spying on other ninjas. But every time I got used to the style he was using, he switched to a different one.

Before I knew it, half an hour had passed and Itachi had finished going through every style that we had used this morning.

"How are we going to learn all that?" I groaned.

"You don't have to. Just take a few parts from each and create your own." Itachi replied.

I nodded slowly, even though I didn't think I could do it. "You'll help us, right?" I asked hopefully.

Itachi took a long time to answer. "I'll try. Lunch is probably ready. Let's go in."

The five of us walked into the house, and sure enough, lunch was on the table.

"No more ramen?" Naruto asked, disappointed when he didn't see the big bowls on the table.

"Ramen is bad for health." Seiichi told him.

"Yeah, and okaa-san's rice with saba and miso soup is nice too!" Sasuke vouched for his mother.

Mikoto laughed. "If you don't like it I'll cook something else next time, Naruto-kun."

"Ah no! It's just that the ramen yesterday was really delicious and I was kinda craving for it." He scratched his head sheepishly.

"I can cook it again tonight." Mikoto smiled at Naruto.

"Yatta!" He cheered.

We sat down and ate quickly, eager to get back to training.

"Itachi, could you follow me to the market later? I wouldn't mind having an extra pair of hands." Mikoto requested.

"Hai, okaa-san." Itachi said.

"Whaaat, then we have to train by ourselves?" Seiichi asked.

"Sorry, Seiichi. I need Naruto-kun and Mizuno-chan as well. The Hokage gave me funds to get you guys some clothes. So we're going shopping!" Mikoto grinned. "Do you boys want to come too?"

"We'll pass." Sasuke and Seiichi said quickly, trading glances at each other, then look at Itachi sympathetically. I swear I saw him pale a little.

That afternoon was the most enjoyable one I've had in a long while. We shopped for basic clothes, ninja shirts, vests, pants and sandals.

"Can we go home nowww? Naruto whined. "We've been shopping for three hours!"

Itachi nodded in agreement.

"But we haven't found a suitable kimono for the both of you for this Thursday's festival!" Mikoto exclaimed.

Let me explain. There was no Christmas here, but every 25th of December, the villagers, especially shinobi, celebrated the love of family. There was a festival held that had family games, or family-bonding activities. Of course, many ninjas don't have familied, so most of them celebrated it with their 'precious people', as Naruto would put it.

"Mikoto-san, we haven't went to that shop yet!" I pointed at a store further down the road.

I smirked when I heard Naruto groan and Itachi sigh. Hah. This was payback for the stupid prank and for using the sharingan at me.

The four of us went into the shop, two of us smiling happily, with the other two almost dragging their feet.

I browsed through the female kimonos, trying to see if any caught my eye, frowning when there wasn't any.

"How about the dark green one?" An unexpected voice suggested.

I turned around to see Itachi watching me.

"You just want to get this over with, don't you?" I accused. "How does green go with my red hair?"

"The contrast will bring out your hair colour." Itachi said impassively.

I took the green kimomo and held it infront of me while standing infront of a mirror. It was true. The green did make my hair stand out.

"Do you want that, Mizuno-chan? It looks beautiful." Mikoto, who finally settled Naruto's kimono and had walked over, commented.

I looked once again into the mirror. The kimono had spiral patterns on the bottom which somehow reminded me of Naruto. Making up my mind, I nodded.

"Great!" Mikoto clapped her hands. She took both kimonos and paid for it, then we made our way home.

We immediately went to train when we arrived home, before taking baths and having ramen for dinner. Soon I found myself staring at the ceiling above my bed as I tried to drift off to sleep. Naruto was already snoring softly beside me.

Growling at my active mind, I stepped out of my bed and went to the balcony once again. For reasons unknown, my heart sank a little when I didn't see Itachi there.

I stared at the full moon hanging in the sky, smiling in contentment at the life I was living now. Despite knowing the fact that it wouldn't last long, I still wished that I could live like that a little longer. Closing my eyes at the thought of having this family that I felt close to in only a day being broken apart, i wondered if there was any possible way to stop it.

"Can't sleep?"

I jumped.

Itachi walked onto the balcony in full ninja gear, hands holding an ANBU mask.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"I was summoned to go on a mission suddenly." He replied.

I nodded. ANBU lead a pretty hard life. "How long will you be gone?"

"I should be back by Thursday." He walked towards me.

I took a step back. "Oh."

"Take care of Sasuke and Seiichi for me." He stopped in front of me and flicked my forehead. "And Naruto too, though I don't think I need to tell you that."

"I got it." I scowled, rubbing my forehead. "Shouldn't they be the one taking care of me? I'm a girl."

"You're much more mature than them." He said.

"Fine. Good luck for your mission." I told him.

He bent down and patted my head. "Thank you." Then he disappeared.

I sighed and went back to my room. The days to come would be troublesome without Itachi to control the two brothers. I touched the area on my forehead where he hit me.

He didn't have to hit so damn hard, did he?

I hope Itachi isn't too OOC here. I'll try to post the next chapter ssooooonnn. Reviews do motivate me by the way :