Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.

Author's Notes: Thank you so much to XxanimeaddictxX, Mathlover15, danieldeon, WashingAwaySins, ju-crom and sPaRkzZZ for their very kind reviews of the last chapter. They really fueled me to keep going.

As far as spoilers go, I have just reached the Five Kage Summit arc, so I'm rapidly catching up, but there are still things I may not know, so if I mess up, please bear with me. Again, thank you. Enjoy the chapter!

Into the Dark

by Kristen Elizabeth

You and me have seen everything to see

From Bangkok to Calgary

And the soles of your shoes are all worn down...

Clutching his upper arm, Itachi felt like the worst ninja in the entire Leaf Village. He was an ANBU captain, a genjutsu master...how had he managed to get hit by a shuriken during a routine training session?

"Where's your mind today, Uchiha-taichou?" one of his team members joked, earning himself a deadly glare. The man swallowed heavily. "Sorry, sir."

Itachi might have ignored the wound and kept going, but the ninja who had thrown it had made his attack from the stagnant waters of a nearby pond. There was no telling what sort of bacteria was trying to work its way through his bloodstream, and quite frankly he didn't trust anyone on his team with even the simplest of injuries. Plus, taking a break might clear his head.

"I'll be back," Itachi told his team. "Keep going. Kaioh-san, you're in charge."

It was a warm, breezy day, the sort of perfect combination for which his village was known, but Itachi hardly cared about the weather as he made his way to the hospital. He was too caught up in contemplating his own ineptitude. It was obvious that his encounters with Emiko and the shadowy Danzo had thrown off his legendary concentration; he had barely ever been wounded in battle, much less during training.

What drove him to distraction was the fact that there was nothing to be done about either of the people occupying his mind. His instincts told him that even discreet inquiries about Danzo would be inadvisable, and common sense dictated that carrying on any sort of relationship with the sister of the girl he was supposed to marry would be seriously frowned on should anyone find out.

It was ironic that at the one time he actually might have spilled his guts to Shisui, his best friend had decided to be as scarce as possible and jumpy whenever Itachi did see him.

Kohona's hospital was clean and neat, but positively reeked of ointments, medicines and antiseptics. Fortunately, it wasn't very busy; only a few civilians and a couple of genin were sitting in the lobby. After checking in with the medical ninja on duty, he was directed to a private room and instructed to wait. By that time, although blood soaked his entire sleeve, the wound was only oozing.

Itachi sat on the exam table, closed his eyes and waited. Only a short amount of time passed before the door slid open and he sensed a gentle chakra signature enter the room. When he heard someone clear their throat, he opened his eyes.

Emiko stood in front of him, her amber eyes narrow. She had a white lab coat on over her clothes, a short and tight black dress with slits up both sides. Her bare legs were wrapped in bandages up to her knees and she wore black sandals. She wore her hitai-ate like a kerchief holding her hair back from her face.

"Itachi-sama." She shook her head. "I thought you understood that I can't..."

He held out his bloody arm. "It's just a minor wound. I didn't want it to get infected."

Her forehead crinkled. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have assumed..." Emiko approached him. "May I see?" Itachi nodded and watched as she probed the cut in his sleeve and the wound beneath it. She cleared her throat a second later. "It's not bad. Would you like me to clean and bandage it, or use chakra to heal it?"

"Whatever you think is best."

As she spoke, Emiko neatly and carefully rolled up the sleeve of his shirt, exposing not only the wound, but the ANBU tattoo on his bicep. "The wound is superficial enough just to be bandaged, but if you don't mind, I could use the chakra practice."

"Is that why you're working here?" he asked.

"Two days a week, for three hours. All I really do is stock supplies and clean up, but more and more I'm getting to work with patients." Her eyes shone and her cheeks were pink, a far cry from the down-trodden expression he'd last seen on her in the garden. His own chest felt warm and his stomach itched. "All right." Emiko held her hand just over his wound. "Ready?"

Just as with Sasuke's scraped knees, a green glow formed around her small hand and he could feel cool chakra seeping into the wound. He lifted his head to see her face, unblinking and suddenly tense with concentration. She never turned her eyes away from her work, but he knew she knew that he was watching her.

When she lowered her hand, Itachi looked at his arm and found the wound had vanished without so much as a trace of a scar. It was like it had never happened.

"You're amazing," he said without thinking. Glancing back up, he saw her flush with pride before she turned away. Gathering his courage, he forged on, lest he loose his nerve and never have the chance again. "Emiko-san...I understand that you're not supposed to talk to me, but I need to talk to you...and this may be the safest place."

Her reply was quiet and devoid of any emotion save for a touch of regret. "What could someone like you possibly have to say to someone like me?"

Itachi frowned. "Is that your mother speaking or does that come from you?"

Emiko bowed her head for a long moment. He could see her fist balling up tightly. "You don't even know..." Flexing her hand, she looked back at him with wet eyes. "Your arm is fine now, Itachi-sama." Turning around completely, she bent at the waist in a deep bow. "Thank you for allowing me to help you today."

But he refused to leave. "I've offended you. I'm sorry."

She blinked several times, but rather than clearing away the tears that had gathered along her lashes, they spilled over onto her porcelain cheeks. "You haven't. I apologize for making you think that."

"I really don't want you to apologize to me again, especially not for speaking your mind," Itachi said. "Despite what my father might think, my branch of the family is not above yours. You don't owe me any respect or devotion." He lifted his shoulders. "We're both just ninja who serve our village."

Emiko's eyes roamed his face, finally settling on his eyes. He stared right back into the amber depths of her gaze. "You're not at all what I expected," she murmured.

"What were you expecting?"

"A spoiled, snobby, selfish, arrogant..."

Itachi's smile was rueful. "I think I understand."

"But you're not," Emiko rushed on, like she was afraid she might stop herself again. "You're not," she repeated softly. "And I almost wish you were, because then I wouldn't..." Rather than continue, she sighed.

"Please." He stood up from the exam table and took a step towards her. "Finish that thought."

Emiko shook her head and he could smell the scent of flowers from her hair. "Even if I could, it wouldn't matter."

"Because of the engagement."

Her chin quivered ever so slightly, just enough to convince him that when she nodded, she wasn't telling the entire truth.

"Did you sister choose me?" Itachi asked a few seconds later. "At least tell me that much."

It took another couple of seconds, but Emiko finally looked back up at him. "There isn't a girl in Konoha who wouldn't choose you, Itachi-sama."

He had never wanted to kiss anyone before that moment, yet leaning in and doing what he suddenly wanted to do seemed more than a little wrong. Emiko didn't deserve to be kissed by someone who was going to marry her sister. She deserved to be kissed by someone who was free. Someone who could belong to only her.

So, maybe he was as selfish as Emiko had feared he might be, because Itachi couldn't stop himself from asking, "When can we talk again?" He held up his hand before she could protest. "My life is...complicated. I don't know how, but you make it less so. Can you understand that?"

"Yes," she whispered.

"Then...meet me tonight." Itachi searched his mind for an isolated spot in the village. "At the Muromachi Shrine."

Emiko reached up to fiddle with her necklace. "I'll try." She dropped the silver, ring-studded chain. "You should go before someone comes in to check on me."

Itachi walked to the door, but before he slid it open, he looked back at her. "You'll be there?"

The corners of her lips turned up. "I said I would try." Her smile faded. "That's all I can do, Itachi-sama."

With a nod, Itachi left, but no sooner had he stepped out of the hospital and into the warm sunshine than he was approached by a masked ANBU guard.

"The Hokage wishes to see you," the faceless man said, his voice muffled. His message delivered, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Itachi glanced up at Hokage Tower. There was little point in trying to guess what the Sandaime wanted, and he would know soon enough, but it was likely only about one thing.

The sun had already started to set by the time Itachi arrived home. As soon as he entered the house, he knew that dinner hadn't been held for him. The delicious scent of grilled fish made his stomach growl. No sooner had he stepped out of his sandals than a small, wiry body shot out into the hallway.

"Nii-san's home!" Sasuke announced. To Itachi, he added, "Okaa-san made onigiri, but with seaweed, not okaka."

Although the meal had clearly been designed for him, Itachi shook his head. "I'm not hungry."

"Itachi." Their father appeared in the doorway that led into the kitchen. "Come eat with us."

It was an order, not a request. With a silent sigh, Itachi followed his father and brother to the table. When he was seated on the floor, his mother served him with a worried smile.

"Itadakimasu," he murmured and although he had no appetite, he took a bite of his salted ayu and then one of his onigiri.

"You missed the clan meeting this afternoon," Fugaku said into his tea. Lowering the cup, he glared at his eldest son. "Where were you?"

"I was on duty," Itachi replied.

"On duty?" Fugaku slammed his cup down with enough force to make Mikoto tremble and Sasuke wince. "What about your duty to us?"

Itachi looked up from his rice and fish. "Am I not fulfilling it, Otou-san?"

"You know damn well that you..."

Mikoto lept to her feet. "Please, let's not fight! Not in front of Sasuke."

Fugaku's expression relaxed just a bit when glanced at his younger son. "Sasuke, do you understand why I'm angry with your brother?" The boy's dark eyes were wide, and he was clearly torn between his duel loyalties, but he eventually nodded ever so slightly. "There is nothing more important than one's duty to their family and their clan."

"What about duty to the village?" Sasuke asked.

Curbing the impulse to embrace his little brother, Itachi kept his eyes on his meal, but listened carefully for any nuance in his father's answer.

"Villages rise and fall," Fugaku told his son. "Clans carry on."

Suddenly nauseated, Itachi set down his chopsticks and stood up. "The meal was delicious," he told his mother, "but I have a lot of work to do."

"Itachi," Fugaku called out to him. "You will attend the next meeting or there will be consequences."

Ignoring the threat, Itachi walked back into the hallway, stepped into his sandals and left the house, heading for the far edge of the village.

As evening turned into night, Itachi waited on the tree-lined sando of the Muromachi Shrine. The shrine itself had been abandoned for years, the buildings nearly swallowed up by the forest, but the red torii still stood, marking the entrance to what was now a clandestine meeting place for anyone who wanted or needed anonymity.

A sudden wind blew through the trees, upsetting a flock of crows. Itachi looked up just in time to see them fly across the moon, but upon feeling a sudden chakra presence before him, he dropped his chin back down.

It was far too strong to be Emiko.

At the end of the sando, just in front of the ruins of the haidan, there was a man standing with his back to Itachi. He wore a long black cloak decorated with large red flowers edged in white.

"Who are you?" he called out to the stranger. When he was ignored, Itachi reached behind his back, grasping the handle of his sword. "I won't ask again."

Rather than answer, the man disappeared, only to reappear a moment later, perched on the apex of the haidan's crumbling tile roof. Turned away from the light of the moon, his face was concealed by distance and darkness.

Drawing out his sword, Itachi's eyes turned red. His Sharingan told him what his instincts already knew: the man's chakra was powerful. Deadly. A second later, the man disappeared again, but even Itachi's eyes couldn't track his movements.

So, when he felt a hand on his shoulder, Itachi's years of training kicked in without hesitation. Vanishing for a moment, he manipulated himself behind his adversary, drawing his sword against his opponent's throat.

It was only when he heard a feminine gasp that he realized the body in front of him was too slender and short to be the man in the flowered cloak. Dropping his sword, Itachi forcibly turned the new arrival around and found himself face to face with a very pale Emiko.

Itachi's arms fell to his sides, but it was a second too late. She'd already seen his blood-colored eyes and he knew from experience that it was all she would ever see from then on when they met.

"You came," he blurted out. Emiko nodded tightly. "Did you see the man in the cloak?" he immediately demanded.

She shook her head. "I didn't see anyone but you."

Itachi looked all around, but the man's chakra signature was gone. "He was here. I swear it."

"I believe you." His gaze landed on Emiko again. "Who was he?"

"I don't know." After another, fruitless minute of searching, Itachi bent down and picked up his sword. "I'm just glad he's gone." After sheathing his sword, Itachi lowered his chin in apology. "Forgive me. I nearly hurt you."

Emiko smiled softly. "No, you didn't. It takes a lot more than that to..." She delicately cleared her throat. "Do you want to go track him down?"

"I don't think I could," Itachi admitted. "I imagine he'll find me again, anyway."

"Then I should go."

Without thinking, Itachi reached out and grabbed her forearm to keep her from walking away. Her skin was soft against his hand and a bolt of what felt like gentle electricity ran all the way up his own arm, all the way to the center of his chest.

Emiko looked down at his hand, then back up at his eyes, only to find they'd returned to their usual dark color. "You said you wanted to talk to me." Gently, she eased herself out of his grip. "I only came to ask you one question." She paused. "Why?"

"Because..." The wind whipped past them. "You have been in my thoughts since the moment I saw you at the yuinou."

She blinked, her dark lashes resting her cheeks for a second too long. "Akane didn't want me there. Maybe she was right. I should have stayed home."

"You had every right to be there," Itachi said. "And I'm glad you were."

But Emiko just shook her head again. "You don't understand."

"No, I don't, but only because you won't help me to."

Emiko rubbed her arm where his hand had made a faint impression. "It doesn't matter," she decided. "You're engaged to Akane and Akane loves you."

"Then..." Itachi lifted his shoulders. "I'm sorry for her."

"You would be the first," Emiko said with a slight smirk.

A moment passed. "I don't have an older sibling myself, but from watching my brother and you, I can guess it's hard to..."

"Akane isn't older than I am."

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "It didn't seem as if you were younger than her."

"I'm not." Emiko crossed her arms tightly. "We're the same age."

He frowned. "You're twins? The kind who don't look alike?"

Emiko's eyes locked onto his. "That's what Otou-san would like everyone to believe."

Even a genius needed more than just a few pieces to put together a puzzle. Still staring at her, Itachi asked, "But what is the truth?"

Her chest rose and fell rapidly and once again she started fiddling with her silver necklace. "I can't," she whispered. "I'm not supposed to know myself."

"Emiko-san, are you adopted?"

She dragged her lower lip through her teeth. "Why do you care so much about me? You're the only Uchiha that does."

"More and more I find myself concerned about what does or doesn't concern our clan." Itachi touched the up-swing of a curl that rested just above the swell of her chest. "Two sisters of the same, marriageable age. Why wasn't I given a choice?"

Her amber eyes turned dark. "Is that was this is about? You just want to know why you didn't get to decide between us?"

"I want to know why one daughter is revered and the other picks vegetables in the garden."

"Maybe I like vegetables," Emiko shot back. "You don't know."

"I don't," he agreed again. "I didn't even know you existed until it was too late. Why is that?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Why did you miss a clan meeting today?" When he blinked, she went on, "You're not the only one who can ask uncomfortable questions, Itachi." Seconds slipped by before he suddenly smiled. "What?"

"That was the first time you didn't say 'sama.'"

An immeasurable amount of time passed as they stared at each other. Finally, he moved forward and put his hands on her shoulders. Leaning down, he softly pressed his mouth against hers. She didn't try to stop him, and when he drew back, he was pleased to see her eyes closed in unmistakable pleasure.

"This is wrong," she whispered just before he kissed her again. "Itachi..." Emiko turned her head away, breaking the kiss. "We can't do this."

With his nose now buried in the fragrant locks of her hair, Itachi drew in a ragged breath. The warmth of her lips had stirred up feelings he didn't recognize. All he knew in that moment was that he wanted more.

"I would have chosen you." He took reluctant step back. "You need to know that. You would have been my choice."

For some reason, this made her sad; tears collected in her eyes. "They wouldn't have allowed it." Her voice wavered. "I shouldn't have come here. I just..."

"Finish the thought," Itachi said quietly.

"I wanted to prove this wasn't just a dream." The twin tracks of her tears caught the light of the moon and glistened on her cheeks. "But it was...because only in a dream does the pride of the clan prefer me over Akane."

Itachi tried to reach out again, to wipe away the tears, but she jerked her head to the side and out of range. "What have they done to you?"

"I have to go." Emiko hesitated, taking one last look at him, before she turned and ran, her sandals slapping against the stone sando. He could hear her footsteps almost all the way down the steep stairs that led up to the shrine.

Itachi touched his mouth. His lips didn't feel any different, yet they would never be the same again.

When enough time had passed, Itachi started down the stairs himself. When he reached the bottom, he thought he heard the faintest sound of laughter, but there was nothing in the darkness.

At least, nothing he could see.

TBC