Chapter 3: and so it begins

'What is this feeling?' Hikari asked herself as she shivered in disgust. 'It's so creepy…'

" 'Kari!" Itachi shouted.

"What!" Hikari jumped. "What happened? Whose hurt!"

Itachi rolled his eyes at the overly alert girl next to him. "Chill, Hikari," he said with slight exasperation. "Nobody's hurt."

"But someone will be if you don't stop daydreaming and get these runts off us!" Yotaro, team four's other teammate, shouted in irritation.

Hikari laughed as she noticed the group of kids that they were supposed to be watching happily crawl all over her two helpless teammates.

Itachi winced as another toddler managed to get a strong grip on his long hair. "Hikariiii!" He whined as he tried to save himself from grasping fingers. "DO something!"

Hikari nearly fell over she was laughing so hard, 'This is sooo going into my mental black-mail file.' Finally she managed to gasp out a response. "B-but Itachi-k-kun," she giggled. "You're a n-natural!"

"Oi, Hikari!" Yotaro called from under a pile of four year olds. "He may be, but I sure as hell ain't!"

Hikari rolled her eyes. "Ok, ok. I'm coming you big babies."

Hikari had just relieved her companions of the last 'clingy little devil', as Yotaro so sweetly put it, when the creepy aura that she had 'felt' at the back of her mind suddenly materialized fully causing her to stumble back with the intensity.

"Hikari?" Yotaro called. "Are you alright?"

Itachi looked over, studying her closely. "You look a little green," he stated. "Are you ill?"

Hikari heard her friends but she didn't respond; she was to busy trying to repress the bloodthirsty aura that was overwhelming her mind. She gasped out as it did nothing, if not grow stronger. Her stomach lurched, the blatant lust for blood she felt rolling from the aura was making her sick. In fact…

Itachi cried out in alarm as he watched his female companion suddenly drop to her knees and empty her queasy stomach into the nearby bushes. He quickly ran over and held her hair back as she continued to retch.

Yotaro, though just as concerned about his friend's health, hung back and herded the small class into a tight group. The jonin was tense as he reached into his weapons pouch and withdrew a kunai. Something was wrong. Hikari wasn't one to just be sick like that; somebody must be nearby. Some powerful enemy that the Haruno heiress had met before; there was just no other explanation.

Hikari couldn't take it anymore. The aura was just to crushing…to bloodthirsty. Hikari threw up one last time before her eyes closed and she fell into unconsciousness. Strait into the concerned arms of Uchiha Itachi.

XxflashbackxX

Five-year-old Hikari clung tightly to her mother's hand as she sat in the courtroom where Orochimaru's pre-trial was to take place. She was nervous. Very nervous. After all she still didn't have complete control of her 'heartstrings' and some of the more powerful auras around her she could feel quite intensely. She shivered. They weren't exactly friendly.

Nolani, Hikari's mother, gently squeezed her hand in silent support. She knew what her daughter was feeling. Not first hand of course as she was not a blood Haruno, but her husband had explained it all to her when she first agreed to marry him. Oh how she wished that little Kari-chan didn't have to be here, but Takeru was away on business in the sand and the presence of the highest-ranking blood relation of each corner clan was required. The doors opened and Orochimaru was let in. The second the doors opened she felt Hikari shudder heavily and slump over as if she was trying to fight off something much stronger than she. Nolani grimaced and ran her gentle hand through her daughter's pure white curls. 'Be strong baby,' she thought desperately. 'It will be over soon.'

The hearing was nearly an hour long but Hikari bravely sat through it all remembering everything of importance so that she could notify her father upon his return. The evil presence still weight quite heavily on her mind even as she did her best to fight it off. She nearly collapsed in relief when Sarutobi-sama, the third hokage, declared the hearing over and that the prisoner was to be taken away until his punishment trial.

The snake-like man slithered down the isle slowly, only to come to an abrupt stop as he reached the bench where the corner clans sat. Yume Uzumaki tensed visibly as he saw the traitor grin at the little Haruno girl who had been forced into attending.

Orochimaru chuckled as he leaned down and whispered into Hikari's ear. "You better watch out little heiress. I'll be back." His eyes slid over the bulging stomachs of the four expecting clan mistresses. "And I promise you, I will have the ultimate power."

Hikari's eyes watered in fear and her head pounded frantically at the nearness of the source of the murderous aura. Spots swam heavily in her vision as she felt her young body giving into the strain the pale man's power gave out. The last thing she remembered before she drifted off was the clan heads leaping up to pull the chuckling snake away.

Xxend flashbackxX

Hikari had only been out for a few minutes before she jolted back into consciousness, her bright green eyes darting about as she did so. It wasn't long before she was able to focus on the face above her and realize where she was.

"I-Itachi!" she cried as she pulled the wet cloth off of her head and attempted to stand. "It's Orochimaru! He's back!"

The children around her all stared blankly at their frantic babysitter as she allowed Itachi to gently push her back to the ground. Yotaro and Itachi however where beside themselves with shock. "W-what?" Yotaro gasped out. "Wh-what do you mean he's back? He was killed!"

Itachi shook his head. "No, It was never reported because Sandaime-sama didn't want to cause panic, but Orochimaru escaped the village and went into hiding. Most who know assume he became a missing nin. He probably even joined the Akatsuki."

Yotaro opened his mouth to respond but was instead cut off by a hysterical Hikari. "Itachi, there's something else!"

"What?"

"I think he's after the kids!"

Itachi jumped to his feet faster than lightning could strike. "The kids- our kids!"

Hikari nodded.

Yotaro jerked his head in the direction of the academy. "You two go ahead. I'll take care of things here."

Hikari stood and gave him a grateful look before she placed a slight kiss on his cheek. "Thanks Yotaro-kun."

Yotaro blushed heavily as he watched his two friends run off. "Sure…" he answered even though they couldn't hear him. "I'll see you later…" he added as an after thought, not knowing that this is the last time that their paths would ever cross.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Sakura blinked in confusion as she 'felt' Hikari and Itachi rapidly approach the school. Not sure if it was important or not she leaned over and gently whispered in Naruto's ear, hoping not to be caught. "Hey Naruto-kun," she began. "Do you know any reason why Hikari-nee and Itachi-nii would come here?"

Naruto shook his head. "I'll ask the others," he whispered back before he leaned to his right and repeated the question in Sasuke's ear, who in turn asked Hinata. A few seconds later and Sakura had her answer. There was absolutely no reason for the older heirs to come to see them therefore they must not be heading here. That calculation was dashed to pieces not two seconds later when two, slightly panting, pre-teens suddenly appeared in front of Iruka-sensei's desk.

Naruto watched in puzzlement as he saw his two favorite jonins conversing urgently with his all time favorite chunin. His puzzlement escalated quickly as he watched the blood almost instantly fall away from Iruka-sensei's scared face. Something was defiantly wrong.

Sasuke was just as shocked with these turn of events as the rest of his companions were, though he did manage to hide it better, and he would have liked nothing more than to have his brother's abnormal behavior explained in full. Right now.

Hinata was shaking. She could see on Iruka-sensei's face that whatever the news was, it was bad, and judging by the way he kept glancing at her and her friends she was sure that it concerned them in some way or another.

"Are you sure?" Iruka asked hesitantly, not wanting to believe that the famed traitor sennin had returned, and was after four of his students no less!

Hikari nodded. "Positive."

Iruka let out a shaky breath and ran a trembling hand across his scarred nose. "How far away do you think he is?"

A loud explosion rocked the academy walls sending many of the young students from their wooden chairs and onto the hard floor.

Itachi reached out a hand to the fallen chunin when the shaking finally stopped and panic filled the void. "My guess would be, not very far."

Iruka grasped the young jonins hand shaking his head sadly. No. Not very far at all…

End Chapter 3

Kaliea: and here we jump into the first stages of the invasion of Konohagakure. I'm not quite sure at present, but I believe that the next chapter will be quite bloody and angsty. Just a heads up!

Review Answers:

angelgurl079: nope, you didn't miss it. They didn't say. Why? Cause they don't know yet. More on that later.

Dragon Man 180: Yeah I know, they banned me from updateing for four days too (grumbles) that totaly sucked...

Susan: (giggle) thank you and I will...er, did...er, whatever...