Gosh, SORRY for the friggin' long wait! I have been soo busy lately. 'IT' is not helping any, either. But this year is better than last, I must say.

Yeah, this chapter is a little more serious. But the next one will be funnier. I promise. I'm working on it RIGHT NOW.

Okay, PLEASE REVIEW and ENJOY! ^_^

Sunshine shone through the window, shining perfectly on the eyes of a sleeping Itachi.

But that gentle… ness… is not what awoke him.

BANG!

Itachi sat up in the bed he was sleeping in, his eyes flying open.

The first thing he saw was an overly-excited looking Naruto, swinging open the bedroom door just to run inside, straight to the bed to shake the dazed Uchiha's shoulders.

"Rise and shine, Sasuke!" he said happily. "It's time for a meeting with Granny Tsunade!"

"NARUTO!" Sakura tramped in behind the excited Jinchuuriki, anger written all over her face. "You didn't have to wake him up so rudely!" She promptly punched him on the head. "Besides, the meeting isn't until this evening!"

"No, Sakura." Kakashi calmly walked in, reading "Make-Out Tactics. "Sasuke has to go this morning. He's coming again with us later this evening to assign all of us a mission."

"Oh…" Sakura said, looking down at Naruto on the ground.

Sai stood slightly behind Kakashi, reading a book of his own, mumbling to himself as he read. Suddenly, he shut the book and quickly walked over to Naruto to help him up.

Then, rather unexpectedly, he came over to Itachi to help him out of bed before slinging his arm around his shoulder.

"Hey, Sasuke." He opened his book with his free hand to quickly read a segment of it before shutting it and saying: "It's uh… nice that you're back." He was saying this very awkwardly.

As Sai stood there, smiling his best smile, the other four in the room sweatdropped.

"Ugh, Sai…" Naruto murmured as he dropped his head to the floor.

"SAI!" Sakura yelled. "What do you think you're DOING!"

"Wow, you really got off on the wrong side of the bed, didn't you, hag?"

There was a very intence, anticipating pause. Sakura looked like a wax dummy, just standing there gawking at Sai.

"WWWAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Sakura was now exploding, right there in Sasuke's room. Her hands were pulling on her pink cotton-candy hair, and it was almost as if she was steaming from the ears.

"Sai! Look out!" Naruto yelled over Sakura's frantic screams.

Sai just stood there, staring like an idiot as Sakura speeded toward him.

Let's just say that things didn't go too well for poor, socially awkward Sai.

"Sasuke! You idiot!"

The Hokage slammed her glass of tea on the table, glaring menacingly at Itachi.

Well, thank you, Tsunade, he thought, mildly offended at her calling his brother an idiot.

"You know what this means?" Tsunade fumed. "We can't ever trust you the same. EVER AGAIN!"

"WHAT?" Itachi was now slamming HIS cup of tea on the table, glaring menacingly at Tsunade. A bolt of lightning appeared between the two pairs of eyes.

"Isn't this what it's all about? Forgive and forget!" Itachi raged.

"NNNNOOOOO!" Tsunade said, clearly overreacting.

Well, she did more than just yell.

The next thing Itachi knew, Tsunade was crawling across the table at the speed of light, charging at the young Uchiha. He gawked at her.

"SNAP!"

"Wh-what the…?" The Uchiha looked down at his wrist, only to see an odd band had just been attached there by the crazy Hokage.

"This bracelet tracks your every move," Tsunade explained, still sprawled on the table. "Now I'll always be watching you. I'll know every step you take, every move you make. I'll know where you are. I can always see you, no matter what!"
Tsunade was kind of starting to sound like a rapist.

But that didn't matter, because she continued her creep speech. "I'll know every action, every word, and all the expressions on your cute little face." She pinched his cheek. Hard. His eyes began to water up as she kept talking. "I'll know if you're running away again, or if you stay. And, last but CERTAINLY not least…" She leaned into Itachi to say in his ear, "I'll know where you sleep."

At that phrase, Itachi did everything in his power to keep from having a sobbing fit. First Orochimaru, now Tsunade?

Great.

:)

After the freaky meeting had ended, Itachi decided to take a walk around Konoha to reminisce. Hands in his pockets and eyes keen and alert, he started at the academy.

He sat on a bench and stared as the children had their recess time. Every one was smiling brightly and having a good time. A smile crossed his lips, as he recalled. He was still in the academy when Sasuke was born.

"Itachi, your mother is here."

Itachi perked up a little when he heard this. He knew precisely what was going on.

A young Itachi jumped out of his seat and rushed into the hall, oh so thrilled at what he was about to witness.

The boy opened the door and looked to his left, not seeing anything.

"Mom?" he called.

"I'm right here, Itachi."

His mother's voice came from behind him. He eagerly whipped his head around, eyes radiant with excitement. "MOM! Can I see him, mom? Can I!" He was looking at a bundle of blankets in her arms.

Mikoto smiled at her oldest and bent down to his height. Then she uncovered the blankets to reveal a sleeping newborn.

"Sasuke," she said to the baby. "This is your brother, Itachi."

Sasuke stirred a bit before opening his large black eyes, which traveled to where his brother stood in awe.

"Would you like to hold him for a bit?" Mikoto said to Itachi.

Itachi gratefully held out his arms, and his mother placed the baby in them.

"Hey, Sasuke," Itachi said quietly, smiling kindly down at the newborn. Sasuke half-smiled back and reached up to his older brother.

Itachi was happier than ever in this peaceful moment. He was finally here. His little brother.

All these happy thoughts ran through the boy's mind as his baby brother reached up, wrapped his small hand around a strand of Itachi's bangs, and yanked down. Hard.

"OUCH!"

Happy moment: ruined.

"Okay guys, recess it over!" Iruka yelled, opening the academy door.

A chorus of "Aww, man!" was heard as the children filed inside.

Iruka-sensei is still working at the academy, huh? Itachi felt happy to see his former teacher, whom he hadn't had since he was very young. Very, very young. But it still brought back many wonderful memories of his childhood before he was so cruelly forced to leave Konoha.

One by one, the children disappeared, chatting happily until they were all inside and the grounds of the academy seemed almost dead. All Itachi could think was how sad it was that all these wonderful kids would someday live in the ninja world, being forced to do terrible things for the right reasons, and being emotionally scarred for life.

Okay, it wouldn't happen to ALL of them, but STILL! The ninja world is a cruel, nasty place to be.

And you never know when some innocent teenager will have no choice but to kill their clan in order to stop a war from happening, and not being able to kill their baby brother, let alone give them the real reason WHY they killed everyone and left their baby brother to fend for themselves, hungry for revenge.

Itachi stood up from the bench and walked through the streets of Konoha. There weren't many people out today, just a few shoppers. He took his time, letting his feet walk by themselves. Itachi wasn't sure where he was going…

… until he stopped right in front of the gate to the old Uchiha property.

It looked like it had been closed off with that wimpy "caution" tape a long time ago. Although Itachi didn't really want to relive the terrible memory, he found himself tearing down the tape and stepping inside the gray, gloomy property.

As he walked through the familiar, homey streets, he realized that it looked like a ghost town, haunted by all the Uchiha's he had slaughtered. It was… bittersweet. Bitter, because you could still see where everyone had fallen to their bloody death, and sweet, because this was where he had lived comfortably with his family for the rest of his short childhood.

The Uchiha closely observed the streets, his feet still aimlessly walking about. He felt a feeling of emptiness, lonliness, despair, and the same depression he had felt that night before he just became… nothing. He had never had any thought in his head besides Sasuke and Konoha all these years. What he had been forced to do, no one could imagine the difficulties and emotional sufferings of it.

But Itachi became more open once he was transferred into Sasuke's body. Why is that?

Sorry, I really don't know ^_^U

But ANYWAYS…

Oh, snap.

Guess where Itachi ended up?

At first, he just stopped right in front of his house, as if he were closely inspecting the outside of it. Some of the windows were shattered, the door was hanging open a crack. There was a layer of dirt on the porch, and a light breeze whistled through the town, sending shivers down the young man's back.

How eerie…

Itachi couldn't stop himself; he began his walk up the porch steps until…

CRASH!

The second stair broke beneath his weight.

The Uchiha fell to the ground, hitting his head rather hard.

"Ah, shit! SHIT!" Yes, you could tell he was a bit pissed off.

"STUPID F*CKIN' STAIRS!"

After a session of cursing, yelling, and throwing a general fit, Itachi carefully walked up to the porch, each step causing a wooden board to creak. He finally approached the door and slid it all the way open.

Creeeeeeaaakkk!

Yikes…

Everything in his house was gray. From the windows to the walls ('till the sweat drips down my balls! ^_^U hehe… that's a song… sorry, I just couldn't resist) to all the furniture. As the shinobi took a step in, he noticed how musty the air was. He walked deeper into the house, leaving tracks wherever he walked in the thick, dust-layered floor.

He explored everything: The living and dining room, the kitchen, every hall and corridor, the offices, his parents' bedroom, Sasuke's bedroom.

He soon approached a familiar door. One he grew up behind. The one he had stayed behind, preparing for the Uchiha massacre. Sliding open the familiar door, he took a cautious step inside.

It brought back so many childhood memories. He almost felt like he had traveled back in time, before he had joined Akatsuki. Even before he had joined Anbu. It was, as this whole afternoon had been, bittersweet.

Itachi took a seat on his old, small bed. And he stayed there for the rest of the afternoon, in his house, all alone. Perhaps the spirits of his clan were with him right now. It was a peaceful moment. Very quiet, eerie, and all at the same time, beautiful.

He would never leave.

:)

"SASUKE! GET YOUR ASS OUT OF THERE!"

Itachi jumped at the sudden voice. Where was it coming from?

His wrist.

"WHY?" he replied, clearly annoyed.

"You will NOT leave this village again! NOT without my permission! NOW GET! Remember you have a meeting, and you are already LATE!"

"Ugh, why did you install a walkie-talkie in this thing?" Itachi whined.

"Because, I can get a hold of you better! DUH!"

The Uchiha sighed and stood up from his bed before slowly, respectively walking down the hallway and out the door.

The sky was still the same brownish-red it was when he arrived at the Uchiha territory. But when he walked through the entrance gate, the sky was the color of the sunset, as all the happy merchants and shoppers scurried through the streets. Itachi took one last glance back before starting towards Tsunade's office.

:)

Team 7 were all forced to wear wristbands.

"Why, Granny? WHY?" Naruto whined.

"SHUT UP, NARUTO!" Sakura screeched.

"Because," Tsunade said, "I must know if Sasuke is with you guys or not. I don't want him running away again on this mission." She swerved her head to Itachi and narrowed her eyes. "I still don't know WHY I'm letting you go in the first place. You better not go anywhere. Remember what I said to you this morning."

Itachi sweatdropped.

"Now!" Tsunade looked at Kakashi. "You all have one hour before departure. So go and get ready."

"Hai!" they all said in unison before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Remember what I said? I want reviews, please! They all make my day. Thank you ALL for being soo patient! I love ya!