Itachi stole a furtive glance at the shark-nin beside him. They had been traveling for nearly a week now at an almost inhuman pace. They had skirted the border between Wind and River, south, away from Rain. It wasn't a particularly treacherous terrain, but Itachi knew that he could not keep up this level of speed for much longer. They were still at least a day away from their destination.

Kisame showed no signs of needing, or wanting, to slow down. Other than a few beads of sweat gathered around his blue tinged temples, he looked as casual as if he were taking a stroll through a market.

Sensing that he was being watched, Kisame turned his head and met Itachi's gaze with an eyebrow raised, "Something wrong?" he asked. There was a hint of something in his tone that Itachi couldn't quite place.

Itachi slowed to a stop, Kisame following suit. They couldn't stop here, Itachi knew. They were in grasslands, no cover anywhere around them. It wouldn't be wise to camp out in the open, and they were too easily recognizable with their Akatsuki cloaks on. Nervously, Itachi fingered the orange pill bottle in his pocket. He needed to take his medicine soon.

"Your stamina isn't what it used to be, Itachi-san," Kisame said, a good-natured humor lacing his voice.

Itachi raked his hair away from his face and used his arm to wipe the sheen of sweat from his brow. If only Kisame knew the reason for that, Itachi thought grimly, maybe he would stop bringing it up. "There's a stream a mile east of here," Itachi said, ignoring the jibe.

With nothing more needing to be said, both missing-nin leapt off toward the stream. When they arrived, Itachi wandered off downstream alone, under the pretense of relieving himself. He filled his canteen in the stream and pulled his pill bottle out of his pocket and popped one into his mouth. The effect wouldn't be immediate. He could still feel the burning in his throat and the deep ache in his lungs. His breaths were still going to be shallow for about half an hour before the medicine took effect.

Feeling better knowing that he would soon regain some of his strength, Itachi returned to his partner and they took off south once again.

He wasn't particularly thrilled about their current mission, and he was in no hurry to get there, but he could see that his partner was itching for a fight. Their hunt for the jinchuriki had been put on hiatus for a while after the capture of the one-tailed beast, but other missions had still been given to the two-partner teams to occupy their time. It seemed that funds were low for the terrorist organization and the teams had been reduced to hunting bounties.

The man they were currently searching for hadn't been in the bingo book. He was no shinobi. Itachi thought with some trepidation that Kisame would not have a particularly thrilling fight ahead of him and might resort to other, more torturous ways of entertaining himself when they finally caught the man.

He was a merchant, nothing special about him except for the fact that he had crossed the wrong person. Maybe it was a gambling debt he owed, or a deal gone bad, but whatever it was, Itachi thought that it probably wasn't worth the man's death. Still, it had to be done - there was no way around it.

Itachi hoped it would go smoothly so that they could go back to Rain where he could keep a closer eye on Konoha and his brother. He tried not to think of Sasuke and the dangerous path he had inadvertently sent him down. Somewhere in Sound, Sasuke was cavorting with Orochimaru - the one man (scratch that, one of the few men) that Itachi had wanted to protect Sasuke from. He had heard rumors that Sasuke had killed the snake summoner – which wasn't surprising. But where was he now?

Looking back, it was hard not to blame himself for pushing Sasuke straight into Orochimaru's waiting arms. At this point, he could only assume that when the time came that Orochimaru would attempt to take Sasuke's body (if it hadn't happened already) that he would be strong enough to defend himself.

A painful tightness in his chest that had nothing to do with his illness slowed his gait a little.

"Do you need to stop?" Kisame called over his shoulder. He was grinning, showing rows and rows of white, pointed teeth.

Itachi ignored him again and matched his pace with Kisame's. At this rate of travel, they would reach their destination by nightfall. He only had to make it until then.

.

When they arrived at their target's home (which was really more like a shack), Itachi was surprised to see two children playing outside. A boy, and a girl a few years younger were chasing each other in the grass - though Itachi noted that they didn't seem to be enjoying it. Neither child smiled - they simply took turns catching each other, somber expressions belying what they were actually doing.

When the children noticed the two strangers, one of which was blue and had gills and sharp teeth, they shrieked loudly and ran into the shack.

Itachi and Kisame exchanged glances, not sure of what to make if this situation. Itachi had never seen Kisame interact with children before, and wasn't sure if their presence would in some way affect how he chose to proceed.

Kisame merely shrugged and followed the children inside, Itachi in tow behind him.

The smell was the first thing Itachi noticed - a wretched stink of death that permeated the air before they had even reached the door. Everything inside was encased in a film of dust and mold. The windows had been boarded shut and very little light made its way into the dark rooms.

They stepped over toys and overturned furniture, following the smell into a small bedroom. In the bed was their target, obviously sick. He was pale and soaked in sweat, unmoving and barely breathing. The children were huddled beside him, their heads peaking over the edge of the bed. Itachi saw the boy reach for the girl's hand and hold it tightly against his chest. A pang of guilt caught in his throat.

"Is this your father?" Itachi asked.

The boy swallowed hard and nodded.

"Where is your mother?"

"She's dead," the boy replied. There was a fear in his eyes, but also an acceptance - as if he knew that this moment was fated and out of his control. "She was sick, like father."

Itachi looked at Kisame, who was pouting. "He's not even conscious," he whined, "That's no fun."

"Kisame," Itachi said, a hint of warning in his tone. He didn't like the idea of killing the man in front of his children. He knew it had to be done, of course, but it seemed a little cold - even if his death was inevitable anyway.

"Getting soft on me, Itachi-san?" Kisame asked as he cocked his head, "Well, maybe you should take the kids here outside and show them on of your cool Sharingan tricks, then?"

Itachi tossed the man an annoyed look, but said nothing as he heaved the girl up onto his hip and gripped the boy's hand. To his surprise, they didn't struggle against him or even question where he was taking them. The girl gripped his cloak tightly in her fists and buried her face into his shoulder.

"You came to kill father, didn't you?" the boy asked once they were outside again. Itachi set the girl down next to her brother and straightened her dress.

He said nothing to that - really, what was there to be said? They knew the truth already. They must have known about the bounty. Itachi imagined they weren't the first to try to collect it.

"What's going to happen to us now, Yamato?" the girl asked, her voice high, adorable, Itachi fleetingly thought. He looked over at the boy - he couldn't have been more than ten years old. He had a mop of dark curls against his brow and a harsh look in his eyes that Itachi found somewhat familiar.

"Your name is Yamato?" Itachi asked, kneeling in front of him. The boy nodded, but took a step back away from him. He pushed his sister toward his back, hovering in front of her, protecting her.

Neither of the children spoke in response, and Itachi felt uncomfortable. They looked at him with large eyes, waiting for whatever would happen next, whatever answers Itachi could give them. He didn't have any answers, of course, but he would have to think of something, wouldn't he? He couldn't just leave them here alone.

"What is your name?" Itachi finally asked the girl, after the silence had grown thick and tense.

"Don't name them, Itachi-san," Kisame called, emerging from the house with a burlap sack slung over his shoulder, dripping with blood, "You'll get attached."

Itachi grabbed the girl by the shoulders and turned her toward him, away from the shark-nin who carried her father's severed head in a sack. She flinched and shrank back into her brother, her hands seeking the young boy's.

"It's alright," Itachi said, "I am not going to hurt you."

The girl relaxed a little, but still held onto her brother who was steadily backing away from Itachi, "Her name is Sachi," he answered for her. Maybe he had realized that he did want Itachi to get attached. Itachi could already feel a strange magnetism toward the boy, a familiarity that he hadn't felt since he was thirteen.

"Let's get out of here," Kisame said, coming to stand behind the children. Neither of them turned to look back at the shark-nin, but they inched forward, closer to Itachi - who might have still been quite scary, but at least he didn't have pointed teeth.

"We can't just leave them here."

"Sure we can."

"Kisame."

"Itachi."

They stared at one another over the heads of the children between them. Itachi had the sudden urge to activate his Sharingan, but he repressed it, knowing it was a bad idea.

He ran his mind through all the possible options. They could take the children with them and leave them in the nearest town with an orphanage. But that would delay their return to Rain by several days as there were no towns close by, and certainly not any that had an orphanage. It would also slow them down to travel with children so young. They could leave the children here and send a message to someone that the children needed to be retrieved, but who could they send such a message to?

"We could kill them." Kisame offered, as if he could sense that Itachi was running out of options himself, "Ya know, put them out of their misery?"

"They aren't in misery," Itachi answered with a tone that meant that killing them was not an option.

"Well what do you want to do then?" Kisame asked with exasperation, "We can leave them here or take them with us. Those are the only other options."

Itachi was silent for a moment, continuing to mull over his dwindling options.

"You go back to the bounty office and collect the bounty," Itachi said after a few beats of silence, "I will find someplace to take the children. We can meet back in Rain."

Kisame gave him a pointed look, "You wouldn't think that a man who killed his entire clan would be so broken up about a couple of civilian orphans."

Itachi knelt down to the children again, ignoring the comment, "I will take you somewhere safe, but I need your help. Do you know of any family you have anywhere? Or anyone that your father was close to?"

The children shook their heads in tandem, but looked noticeably less frightened. Sensing that their odds were better with the man who didn't have pointed teeth and hadn't threatened to kill them, they drew closer to Itachi. Sachi tugged on his sleeve and held out her arms, indicating that she wanted to be picked up. Yamato yanked her back away from him before he could refuse her.

"Sachi, no," he said with a wagging of his finger. If Itachi had been in a different mood, he might have wanted to smile at the gesture, having remembered doing it so often to Sasuke when they were younger.

"Fine," Kisame said, "I don't want to waste any more time here. I'll meet you back in Rain."

The trio watched Kisame bound away through the grass, north, back toward the border. When the children were satisfied with the shark-nin's distance, they turned their expectant gazes back to Itachi.

The nearest town, if Itachi's memory served him, was about ten miles southeast of their location. He hoped that someone there would be able to help him, or at least have some advice on where to take the children. He set off in that direction, pulling the collar of his cloak up higher around his chin.

After a few paces he turned back to the children, who hurried after him.

"Where are we going?" Yamato asked.

"There is a town close by," Itachi answered, keeping his eyes trained forward. It was easy to forget that he was in enemy territory whenever he stepped outside of Rain. He needed to keep his guard up even more now that he was responsible for the livelihood of two children. "We should arrive by nightfall."

Itachi and the children traveled in silence for several hours. He kept his pace slow so that they could keep up, but the itch to run was killing him. The irony was not lost on him - how he struggled to keep up with Kisame, and now here he was with two children lagging behind.

"Sachi," Itachi heard Yamato say. His voice was much farther away than Itachi had thought. He turned back to see them several yards away. "Here, climb on my back."

The girl jumped onto her brother's back, who caught her with a wince and gripped her legs tightly. Itachi felt a sting of nostalgia, remembering the way Shisui had carried him on his back, the way he had carried Sasuke on his.

"It's alright if you need to stop," Itachi said, backtracking toward the siblings.

"No, it's fine," Yamato said, "I can keep going. Sachi isn't used to walking this far, though."

"And you are?" Itachi asked with a raised eyebrow.

The boy scowled and shifted his sister higher up onto his back. He walked past Itachi, ignoring the man's question. Itachi was feeling merciful and decided not to press the issue. It wasn't his job to pry.

"Hey, what should we call you?" Yamato asked after a few beats of silence.

"My name is Itachi," he answered. He considered for a moment that he should have used an alias - that it was unwise to have shared his real name like that, but the name had slipped out and the damage was done.

"Itachi-san," Sachi said with a giggle.

The giggle made him nervous.

The unlikely trio continued through River Country, hiking through the tall grass until they reached a wide river. Itachi suddenly felt very foolish for not having considered the fact that they would not be able to use chakra to cross it like he could. He wasn't aware of a bridge nearby, which meant he would have to carry them.

"Come here," Itachi commanded, "I'm going to have to carry you across the river."

Sachi immediately leapt down from her brother's back and bounced straight into Itachi's outstretched arms. He shifted her against his hip and wondered if her blind trust in him was a trait he should be worried about or grateful for. Her brother, on the other hand, was shaking his head.

"I don't need you to carry me."

"Then how will you cross the river?"

"I'll swim."

"The river is at least four miles wide," Itachi countered, "Can you swim for four miles against the current?"

Yamato huffed in irritation and stalked over to the riverbank, his arms crossed indignantly.

"You'll be wet for the rest of the day," Itachi said just as the boy had begun to wade into the water. This stopped him in his tracks. He froze, Itachi assumed weighing the pros and cons of sacrificing his pride or traveling for several more hours in the chilly air with wet clothes.

Itachi gave the boy about a minute to make the choice, and when he showed no signs of making a decision, Itachi swooped him up with his free arm and sped off across the river.

"Hey!" Yamato shouted, struggling for a moment before realizing that he did not want to be dropped into the rushing river. Itachi allowed him to climb onto his back while he shifted Sachi into his arms, cradled like a baby. He heard Yamato mutter something bitterly under his breath. In the opposite vein, he fought back a grin when he saw the contented smile on his sister's face as she snuggled closer to his chest. It had been a long time since he had held someone like this.

He couldn't even imagine another person who would feel comfortable being this close to him. The only person in the world he cared about currently hated him enough that his life goal was to kill him. That was admittedly Itachi's own doing, but still, it hurt to think about. Everyone else… well, he was a missing-nin after all. A terrified orphan girl was the best he was going to get.

Itachi shook those thoughts from his head and quickened his pace. The sooner he reached town, the better.

.

Several hours later, Itachi had removed his cloak and turned it inside out so that the red clouds were hidden. He couldn't risk anyone recognizing him as an Akatsuki member while he was with the children. If anyone recognized him as Itachi - well, that couldn't be helped.

Sachi was clinging to Itachi's back, her arms around his neck. She had gotten used to being carried, it seemed, and did not want to be put down like Yamato did. Itachi had continued to carry him long after they had crossed the river, but when the town came into view, he insisted that Itachi let him walk.

Itachi complied, grateful that the boy had let him carry him that far. It would have taken several more hours to reach town had he been forced to slow his pace down to match the young boy's.

They entered the town's inn together, looking every bit like a travel-worn family. Itachi approached the counter apprehensively.

"Do you need lodging for the night?" the innkeeper, an elderly woman with missing teeth and an ivory comb in her hair asked.

"I was hoping you might be able to help me," Itachi said, holding Sachi against his chest. The girl peered curiously at the old woman and then buried her face back into Itachi's shoulder. The woman grinned and then turned back to Itachi.

"What can I do for you?"

"These children," Itachi began, gesturing toward the boy who had been reaching into a bowl of sweets left on the counter. Itachi swatted his hand away, "They're orphans. Is there an orphanage nearby that I could take them to?"

"Oh, dear," said the woman, a genuine sadness in her voice. She tutted and cooed at Sachi, who did her best to ignore the woman until she offered her a lollipop from the bowl on the counter. Sachi snatched it quickly and lodged it in her cheek before turning back away from the woman.

"If she gets one, I want one!" Yamato exclaimed. Itachi wondered if he had ever sounded that petulant as a child.

"Of course, my boy," the woman said, handing another lollipop to Yamato. He shot Itachi a triumphant look and popped it into his mouth.

Itachi cleared his throat.

"Right, the orphanage," she said, "Well, there isn't one in this town, but there is a town near the border, Toyeiki. There is an orphanage there, I believe. Well, there used to be, anyway. I'm not sure anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, there's been some kind of epidemic happening over there," the woman explained, "People sick, bedridden with some kind of disease. There's no cure for it, as far as I know."

Itachi thought back to the mission target, the children's father sick and on the verge of death. Toyeiki was his best shot for now, epidemic or not. He had heard of the town before. It was farther down south, farther away from Rain. It would set him back by nearly a week.

"Are you sure that's the closest orphanage?"

"I'm sure," she replied.

It wasn't the best news, but it was the best he had to work with. He would take the children to Toyeiki and drop them off. He would have to be careful not to be seen as it was dangerously close to Fire Country. If everything went smoothly, he could be back at Rain in two weeks. He would send a message to Kisame at the bounty office by crow. Hopefully it would get there before he did. Kisame could cover for him until his return.

"Alright," Itachi said, his tone flat, "I'd like to rent one room, two beds."

.

"Itachi-san, Yamato keeps pulling my hair!"

"Well, you keep kicking me!"

"You're taking up my side of the bed!"

"You're hogging the covers!"

Itachi stared blankly at the ceiling. By his estimations, it was nearing two in the morning and he had not had a minute of sleep. He tried to think back to what he would have done if Sasuke had been causing trouble, but he couldn't remember a time when he and Sasuke bickered the way these siblings were. What would his mother have done?

"That's enough from both of you," Itachi said. "Go to sleep."

A rustling accompanied by a few grunts told Itachi that they were at least trying to obey him. He let his eyes fall shut and waited. After several more seconds of the bed creaking under them, it seemed that they had finally fallen asleep. Or were at least pretending to be asleep.

He stayed awake through the rest of the night, unable to sleep even in the silence. He couldn't explain the nervousness he felt - the way it brewed restlessly in the pit of his stomach. He wasn't prone to nerves - certainly not without reason. It left him on edge, feeling that something wasn't quite right.

He felt some trepidation at the fact that he would be returning to Rain much later than he was expected, but that wasn't the reason for his nerves. No, this feeling was entirely unrelated. His thoughts drifted to the two sleeping children in the bed next to his for a moment, and he considered that maybe they were the cause of these unwanted nerves.

But no, that wasn't it either. He was concerned for their well-being, of course, but the sinking feeling was different. Almost like a premonition - Itachi could feel that something big was about to happen.

The dipping of his mattress brought him out of his reverie as Sachi climbed into his bed with a whimper. She crawled underneath his blanket and curled her tiny form around his leg.

"Itachi-san," she whispered.

He grunted in response.

"I think I wet the bed."

.

The next morning, the trio was back on the road. Itachi had been no stranger to caring for children. He had taken care of Sasuke's accidents on the rare occasion that he had them, but it felt different to be taking care of children he didn't know. He had wrinkled his nose in disgust when he changed the sheets on the bed - a thing he had never done when assisting his own little brother.

Unfortunately, the children did not have any spare clothes - only what they had brought on their backs. Yamato had somehow escaped the incident completely dry, but Sachi needed a new outfit. Having no other options, Itachi had dressed her in one of his own shirts that came all the way down to her ankles.

It was an odd sight, to be sure - a man traveling with two children, one of which was only dressed in what was obviously a grown man's shirt. Itachi could only hope that they would not run into someone who would question him. At least, he thought, if that happened he could always use intimidation. He didn't like to think of himself as a particularly scary-looking man, but he was aware of the way people tended to give him a wide berth.

Itachi-san," Yamato asked. They had been on the road for most of the day, and Itachi predicted the question before it could escape the boy's lips.

"We are not there yet," he answered.

"When will be there?"

If Itachi were a less patient man, he might have rolled his eyes, "We will be there soon."

Yamato peered at the man ahead of him. Itachi had been gracious enough to let him walk again, but Sachi was attached firmly to his back still, clinging to him with her arms around his neck.

"What will happen to us," Yamato asked, "When we get to Toyeiki?"

"I don't know."

He wished he had a better answer for them. He wished that he could find some way to make sure that they were safe permanently. If time wasn't a constraint, Itachi would have spent more energy on making sure that they would be well taken care of. As it was, this was the best he could do. And he didn't know if that was enough.

"Why do we have to go to Toyeiki?" Yamato asked, "Why can't we just stay with you?"

"It's too dangerous."

"I can fight," the boy countered, "Father taught me how to use a kunai."

Itachi stopped and pried Sachi from his back. He fished a kunai out his pouch and handed it to Yamato. "If you can hit me with the kunai," he said, "I will take you both with me."

He knew that a merchant's son would not be able to hit him. Not even a highly skilled shinobi would be able to hit him without putting in some serious effort. But it was a good opportunity to see what the boy was capable of. He might feel better about leaving them in the care of strangers if he thought the boy was any good.

Yamato's eyes lit with excitement and he twirled the kunai around his finger. Itachi carried Sachi over to a nearby tree and told her to stay put. She nodded at him with wide eyes.

"Alright, Yamato-chan," Itachi said, "Begin."

Yamato immediately flung the kunai toward Itachi. Itachi leaned away from the attack, not even moving his feet. The kunai hit the tree behind him and clattered to the ground.

"How many tries do I get?" Yamato asked, unperturbed by his failure.

"One."

"One more?"

"Fine," Itachi conceded, "One more."

After at least fifty more attempts, Itachi finally drew the line. He had wasted nearly an hour "sparring" with Yamato, but he couldn't say that he felt bad about it. Yamato was predictably not very skilled with a kunai, but he had begun to show improvement nearing the end of their session.

"You are impossible to hit!" Yamato exclaimed as Itachi replaced his kunai in his pouch, "You must be an incredible ninja. How did you get so good?"

"I train," Itachi said. He retrieved Sachi from her curled up position under the tree, careful not to wake her.

"I want to be a ninja like you," Yamato said, falling in step behind Itachi, "when I'm older."

"Being a ninja is dangerous," Itachi said, "Are you sure that's what you want to do?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," Yamato replied, "I want to be able to protect my sister."

From people like you, Itachi finished in his head. The increasingly familiar pang in his chest returned.