Uhm... We have developed the characters enough for me to start with the main stuff now! :)

Metamorphosis

Chapter XIII

Hospital

"The very first requirement in a hospital is that it should do the sick no harm." - Florence Nightingale.

He remembered, that just as he was putting on his shoes and coat in preparation to leave the house, the phone had rang. He remembered being sceptical as he contemplated whether he should answer it or not. He remembered the moment he had finally decided to, so vividly that it was surreal.

And he distinctly remembered the feeling of the blood draining from his face when he picked up the phone and heard about how his father had been shot and was now in a coma. In a hospital - surrounded by too-white walls, with nurses and doctors in too-white uniforms.

He remembered it all as he sat there next to Fugaku, his hand tightly grasping his. He remembered it all as different fragments of memories flashed through his mind, from the day he could remember to now. And maybe the most haunting and disturbing was the memory of all the bodies littering the battlefield - men - sons and fathers that would never get to see their families again.

And usually, Itachi counted himself as one with little emotion, and that was why it was so strange - and maybe even alarming - the fear that had started to slowly creep up his spine. It was mind blowing and bone chilling; and it was made even more so because of the hopelessness he felt as he stared at his father's face. The father who raised him, the father who loved him. The father who had supported him, the father who had been proud of him.

And Itachi couldn't help but stare at that father, who was weak and pale and hooked to an IV, situated in a pristine white bed in a hospital room. Itachi never thought he'd describe his father as weak and pale. Because Fugaku Uchiha was anything but weak and pale - he was strong, he was important, and he was head of a Family in the mafia.

So whywhywhy was he laying there, barely breathing, looking as if death had knocked on his door prematurely?

At this rate, he was going to be killed. Itachi could feel it - sooner or later, the nameless enemies would target the hospital that he was at and this time, they'd succeed. They'd succeeded if Itachi just did nothing and watched on - watched as his father was killed before his eyes.

There was no way he was letting that happen. Yes, he may have argued with his father in the past; they may have shared different ideologies and beliefs... But Fugaku Uchiha was still Itachi Uchiha's father, and nothing and no one could change that. And he'd been a good, caring father, too - one that didn't deserve his son's uncaring attitude in the light of his plight.

He loved his father.

There was absolutely no way that he was letting the mafia kill his father - and he'd do anything to win. Because that's what he'd always done when he'd set his mind to something, and this time, his mind was set in stone. His father's enemies became his enemies, which meant that he'd ensure their inevitable defeat. It didn't matter whether he'd have to get his hands dirty or not - maybe by doing so, he'd stop Sasuke sinking lower, too.

The beeping of the monitor was as soothing as it was irritating - and that was when Itachi decided that it was time to leave. Letting go of his father's hand, he clasped it once more and brought it to his lips. "I'll protect you, father." With that foreboding sentence, Itachi left the room with one last glance at the too-white sheets.

First of all, he had to go back in the house and rummage through his father's study in order to have a look at all of the important documents. That would help him begin to understand the bigger picture - what kind of situation had the Uchiha landed themselves in? Was it anything fatal? What was the reason of this whole incident, who did this?

No, even if he didn't know who did this, he did know that they were powerful. Powerful, and unafraid of the consequences - they didn't see the Uchiha as a large enough threat, and that lack of fear let them act as they had. Which meant that he'd definitely need to work on expanding the Uchiha's influence (as if it wasn't large enough already) and wealth. Influence and wealth equaled what was really needed: power.

But even if he knew this fact, how would he be able to achieve it? Most of his ideas contained a lengthy amount of time - time that he didn't have. He couldn't immediately expand the Uchiha as he wished to; not on his own, anyway. No... the only way to increase their own force was to join another large force. But how?

Opening the entrance to the house, he quickly climbed the stairs into his father's study, lost in thought. Surely, the easiest and most practical option here was to join with another one of Konoha's Big Five - to call a truce. But, if it were so easy, that would have been done a long time ago - but it wasn't. It was hard for one to trust a family of liars, especially when one was from a family of liars themselves.

He opened the door, and instantly, his eye caught a yellow envelope sitting on the large, elaborate wooden desk. Curious (and here to pry anyway) he walked up to the desk and grabbed it; reading the writing that was written on the back. It said that it was sent from the Hyuuga family (one of the big five, he noticed).

How queer. He hadn't really known that the families communicated among themselves like this. He carefully pried the yellow paper open; it was thick and heavy, promising something that would be of interest. And it was: the caption on the stack of paper was called, Arranged Marriage Proposal.

He briefly skimmed through it. It mentioned that by marrying the eldest Hyuuga daughter, the families would merge. A truce would be made.

It was perfect. It was exactly what he was looking for.

He searched for the contact details that should have been entailed on the thick wad of paper. Once he found them, he almost smiled in relief: Hinata Hyuuga, aged seventeen, school... She went to the same school as Sasuke did. That made things much easier, Itachi reflected.

It was a pleasing set of coincidences that he was very happy to have stumbled on. And if anything was certain, it was that he'd be paying Hinata Hyuuga a visit.

Dun dun dun. Yeah. Uhm, I was hoping for 70 reviews... yeah... um... So this is where my character development has led me!