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Citations: Itachi's Story: [Daylight] pg. 148-165

Chapter's Song: "You and me" by Lifehouse

Chapter 33
Tripping On Words


Next Day

In the silent woods, his heart pounded hard enough that it nearly leapt out of his chest. Feeling the lively aura of his growing baby brother on his skin, Itachi hid in the shadow of a large tree, and grinned to himself.

Hide and seek. For Itachi, it was a game, but for Sasuke, it was a serious contest.

"Where did you go, Itachi?" Sasuke muttered to himself, and his older brother watched, charmed.

Itachi knew it was childish, but he pushed his Ninjutsu to the limits to completely kill his aura. For a child who had only just turned six, there would have been no way to find him.

His little brother would be entering The Academy in a few days, and he was full of enthusiasm. He insisted that he wanted to get even the tiniest bit stronger as a ninja before he started school. Itachi hadn't even been given the chance to take his shoes off after his mission was over, before Sasuke was dragging him into the grove surrounding Nakano Shrine.

His little brother was so adorably full of hope, Itachi could hardly stand it. He surprised himself at how much he cared for Sasuke. Itachi had always been different from other children. The age of five, the age he had been when

Sasuke was born, was a time to be coddled by mother and father.

But that was when Itachi had become aware of walking forward down his own path. He would become a powerful ninja, in order to create a world without fighting. He had thought about what was needed to do that, and put it into practice.

So when his brother was born, he hadn't felt in any way that his parents were being stolen away from him. He had simply been delighted that there was now someone who shared his blood. And that feeling gradually grew greater, as Sasuke grew up.

When Itachi looked at his brother, at the way the younger boy openly adored and trusted him, he felt like he had to live up to Sasuke's expectations. He felt like he wanted to be the self who would not shame Sasuke. These feelings became the power to propel himself forward. Sasuke gave him a motivation that he certainly couldn't have managed alone. He had nothing but gratitude for his brother.

"Itachi!" Sasuke called out, irritation in his voice. He couldn't find any trace of his big brother, so he was starting to get mad.

"No choice, I guess," Itachi muttered to himself and released just a little chakra.

"Ngh!" Sasuke, who had been whirling around in all directions, froze, and a single large shudder ran through his body. He had felt his brother's aura.

The faint smile on Itachi's lips grew more distinct. It had been a minute flicker of chakra, the sort that an ordinary child definitely wouldn't have caught. But Sasuke had clearly sensed it. His talent as a ninja was unquestionable.

"I'm here, Sasuke," He said to himself once more.

Footfalls came straight at him. As they got closer, the pace changed to something more like bouncing. His brother's small feet stepped on the dry leaves as he advanced, and yet, his feet didn't make a sound. He could join The Academy at that moment, and he could probably beat the older students.

"Found you!" Sasuke cried, shooting a finger out at the crouching Itachi. His little brother looked down at him, eyes glittering brightly with dreams and hope.

"Not quite," Itachi said, and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Shadow Clone. The real Itachi was above Sasuke's head.

"Aah! No fair!" His brother cried out naively, and abruptly lifted his face. "Ah!" Sasuke caught sight of his brother, looking down on him from a thick branch.

"Hee-hee!" Itachi unconsciously erupted in laughter upon seeing the wild look on Sasuke's face as he stared up at the sky, tilting his head so far back, it seemed like his neck would break. Although Itachi rarely let his feelings show in front of other people, he was able to naturally express what was in his heart with his brother. It was strange.

"Itachi," Sasuke murmured, dumbfounded, the energetic tone from earlier vanishing into the ether. "

"So you found me, huh?" Still smiling, Itachi nimbly dropped down from the branch to stand in front of his brother, whose mouth still hung open.

Sasuke was supposed to find his brother through a deliberate act, but he had unintentionally stumbled upon his goal, and he passed through a certain regret to stand in a state of stupefaction. "N-no fair using Shadow Clones," he reproached Itachi with pursed lips, coming back to himself to a certain degree.

Smiling from ear to ear, Itachi looked down at his little brother. He noted fondly how big Sasuke had gotten. Until very recently, he had only reached up to Itachi's knees, but now his head soared up past Itachi's waist. "Nice work noticing my chakra."

"Well, I am starting at The Academy soon. Only natural I can do that much, at least." Sasuke didn't realize that the chakra he had sensed was so faint that the average six-year-old wouldn't have been able to feel it.

"So it's only natural, huh?"

"Yeah." Sasuke nodded.

Itachi deliberately didn't praise him. Because it wasn't a bad thing to think that being able to do that was only natural. When people thought they were special, they got lazy. Thinking that what you could do was only natural meant knowing your own insufficiencies.

You still couldn't do everything, so you weren't particularly admiring of what you could already do. So you didn't think you were special. People who thought like this would always keep pushing ahead. He didn't want to stop Sasuke's uncompromising path forward by praising him.

Abruptly, he remembered what Shisui had said: "You've never blamed your fate on your clan, and given up." He didn't want Sasuke to give up either. He didn't want Sasuke to be the kind of man who is held prisoner by the obligations toward, and dark feelings of, their clan, the kind who refuses to march forward toward his own fate.

He was sure Sasuke would be all right. His little brother had an innocence that he didn't. He didn't have the bad luck Danzo spoke of, either. Itachi believed that Sasuke would surpass him. And he didn't mind being overtaken by his little brother.

He didn't let it show on his face, but Itachi was more of a sore loser than most.

He couldn't have become the sort of ninja that ends up joining the Anbu at age eleven if he wasn't. But being the sore loser that he was, he still thought it would be all right to lose, if it was to his brother.

He himself didn't understand the nature of this feeling. He didn't know why he thought like that. But there was no doubt, at least, of the fact that he hoped for this in his heart of hearts. "We should be getting back."

"What? Come on, hide one more time." But Sasuke shuffled forward when Itachi beckoned him.

"Forgive me, Sasuke." Itachi poked his brother in the forehead.

"Ow!" This whole thing, from the beckoning hand to the poke in the forehead, was something they'd done any number of times before. But each time, Sasuke obediently approached, and took the finger to the forehead. This naiveté in his brother soothed his own heart.

Itachi could see a glimpse of Sasuke's growth in his reaction to being poked in the forehead. The first time he had done it, Sasuke was about three years old. He hadn't been speaking in sentences yet, but he kept bugging Itachi for "up, up," so Itachi poked him in the forehead, and made him give it up.

At that time, Sasuke clutched his forehead and started wailing. Itachi hadn't intended to put much force in the prodding finger, but it had hurt his three-year-old brother immensely. Akina had always prodded Itachi in the forehead, but he didn't regard Sasuke being much younger.

But now he endured it with a little scowl. It was only natural, of course, but Itachi felt reassured at this growth, Sasuke getting used to stimulus from the outside world.

"Let's go, Sasuke." Itachi sternly ordered in his kind way. Their shadows stood side-by-side in the evening sun, Sasuke's never leaving Itachi's side as if trying to catch up with the taller boy. "I'm meeting someone."

"Dinner's almost ready." Mikoto scolded as Itachi and Sasuke came through the door.

"I'm meeting my friend…"

"Oh, that's right. You told me." Mikoto remembered. "Eat first."

"She's invited me to have dinner, so don't worry."

"Nii-san, can I come?" Sasuke breathed.

"Um…" Itachi wondered.

"He needs to spend time with children his own age!"

"But, Mom… He spent yesterday with his friend…"

"And he spent all day with you, Sasuke…"

"I'm sure my friend wouldn't mind him tagging along." Itachi interjected.

"Oh. That brunette girl does seem sweet…"

Silence. Itachi just grinned as Sasuke got excited to re-snap his shoes on.

Konoha Library

"Wait in the kid's section." Itachi ordered quietly to Sasuke, and he nodded.

Itachi went looking down each aisle between the bookshelves. Finally finding her, Akina up on a ladder. He casually approached, his heart fluttering.

"That essential oil really helped." Itachi informed, as he came up behind Akina in the library. She didn't look at him as she was up on a ladder, searching.

"I'm glad." She said, her finger gliding across the binders of the books on the top shelf. "Here. You wanted to know what I've been reading."

"Oh," He looked at it the book she handed him and smiled, "Psychology?"

"Psychology, Ethics, Philosophy, Metaphysics, Religion… That's what I read." She said, skipping back off the ladder, and going to a different section of the library. She stopped, noticing Sasuke.

Itachi voiced in uncertainty, "Would you mind if Sas—"

She suddenly had her shining green eyes right in front of his, "Not at all!" And she turned to go to Sasuke. "Sasuke, how're you?

Itachi was taken aback, that she was just so close to his face a moment ago, he awkwardly smiled which turned into a loving smile with his gentle eyes looking upon his best friend and little brother talking.

"Help me pick out some books, Sasuke." Akina gently requested.

"Why are you borrowing children's books?" Itachi followed, standing over her wondering in his fascination for her majestic behavior.

She already had a small stack. "To allow the kids at the orphanage to read. It's how I often pass my time. I've been volunteering there with any medical needs."

"She's so good with children…" Heat crossed his cheeks. Glancing at Sasuke picking out some books, he turned away to go towards Sasuke in order to hide his blush.

Akina brought a small pile of books to the librarian, Sasuke as well, as the librarian took note in each book being borrowed. Itachi picked up the books once the librarian was done.

"Itachi…" Akina wondered.

Itachi insisted to take them as they were rung up and Akina smiled at his chivalry.

"Have a good day." The librarian bid.

"Doesn't Anbu keep you busy enough?" Itachi asked.

Akina walked side-by-side, eyeing Itachi as he carried the books. "Unlike you, I really don't have one big goal anymore. I'm already in Anbu, that's the highest I intend to go… So, I just want to make positive changes with my free time."

"So are we having dinner at the orphanage?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes," Akina smiled. "We're going to pick up ingredients and head there. What do you want to eat, Sasuke?"

"Onigiri, please!"

"Sounds good to me." Itachi smiled.

"Okay. Onigiri it is." Akina nodded.

"Nii-san cooks great, too!" Sasuke bolstered.

"He can help then." Akina smiled.

Itachi nodded modestly, carrying the books. This felt right.

"I like Akina-san" Sasuke said as he got ready for bed in his room, sliding his pajama shirt on.

Itachi raised his eyes slightly from the book he read. "What about Izumi-chan?"

"She's nice," Sasuke shrugged. "Akina's more like mom though."

"What makes you say that?"

"Akina's just mothering," Sasuke shrugged. "You seen her with all those orphan kids."

"Maternal, you mean." Itachi corrected.

"Yeah,"

"She's strong, but kind, and selfless. Shisui Nii-san says she's always looking out for you." Sasuke informed.

Itachi couldn't help but nod.

"Izumi's nice, but Akina… She'll help protect you, Nii-san while still making a sweet girlfriend."

"Whoa, whoa… I didn't say anything about them being my girlfriend." Itachi put the book down on the floor.

"Why not?" Sasuke whined. "I think I deserve a say who my Onii-chan is."

Itachi smiled. "Izumi likes me… I don't know if Akina likes me."

"Why wouldn't she? She's just too cool for that. Izumi wouldn't let me come."

"We needed to talk." Itachi defended.

"Still…"

"It's funny," Itachi half-laughed. "Because when you were a baby, you cried when Izumi held you, but not when Akina did."

"I was smart even as a baby," Sasuke crossed his arms confidently.

"Hahaha," Itachi laughed. "I think so, too."

"Nii-san…" Sasuke blushed. "I have a girl I like, too."

His feet touched the branch and leapt off again, moving to the next tree he had targeted. Repeat. Itachi was in flight.

Around him were three ninja, teammates he was working with for the first time. Itachi knew only one of them, Kohinata Mukai, the target of Danzo's assassination order.

One member of the mixed Jonin, Chunin team led by Mukai had been injured on a day off, so there was suddenly an opening on the mission, and Itachi had been hurriedly brought in to help out.

Itachi saw Danzo's shadow behind the chain of events that led to the Chunin's injury, and his own selection. He could only assume that Danzo had used one of his own men to injure the Chunin, and then intentionally had Itachi take his place.

There was no other way the team his assassination target led would suddenly have a vacancy, and he himself would be brought in to fill it. Without a doubt, this was a silent message from Danzo to carefully study Mukai's skills, as they carried out the mission together.

"It's my fault. I'm sorry," The Chunin to Itachi's immediate right said to Mukai's back, flying in front of him.

"Forget it," Mukai replied briefly, and moved indifferently through the trees.

If they went just a little farther, they would come out in the plains. Once they got that far, the border was dead ahead.

The number of their pursuers would likely drop abruptly. Rather than chatting pointlessly, their first priority at that moment was to get to that place. Mukai's reaction was the right one. It was supposed to be a simple infiltration mission.

The Great War was over, and the villages were maintaining friendly relations.

But from time to time, that exchange was excessive, to the point of impropriety.

Konoha had gotten a hold of the information that Sunagakure and Kirigakure were secretly trying to form a military alliance. In the event that Suna and Kiri went to war with the other villages, whatever the reason, they would be allies.

In this time of peace, they would agree on the same hypothetical enemy, and cooperate to bring about the fall of the target village, a secret agreement, with the condition of war.

The current peace was more or less maintained through the ninja villages, with each of the five great nations keeping each other in check. If two countries covertly joined hands and started to move toward a single fixed enemy, the peace would immediately crumble, and the days of war would return.

To avoid this, Konoha absolutely had to prevent the secret treaty from being signed. Having learned that a Kirigakure representative would visit Sunagakure, Konohagakure ordered Mukai and his team to do reconnaissance on the meeting.

They were to carefully investigate the details of the agreement, and report back. That was the whole mission. As long as the enemy didn't notice them, it was in no way difficult. Or at least, it shouldn't have been.

Itachi and the others snuck into the residence of the Fourth Kazekage, and watched over the meeting from the shadows. It ended with Suna and Kiri basically comparing their positions and making small moves toward each other, and Itachi's team moved to leave Sunagakure.

But there, an unforeseen situation occurred. One of the Chunin on their team was caught in a trap designed for intruders. Without a look back, the four started running. And now, they were somehow trying to escape their pursuers.

"The border's up ahead," Mukai noted. "Now that they know Konoha knows about the secret agreement, the two countries can't move forward with things carelessly. The fact that we were found out is good for that, at least," He remarked to the Chunin who had been fretting the whole time about being caught in the trap.

The world opened up ahead of Itachi. They came out onto the plains and dropped from the trees to the ground. If they just kept running all the way to the border, they would definitely figure something out.

"Ngh!" Itachi stopped and turned around.

Mukai was staring at the woods they had just slipped out of. He put a hand in his pocket, pulled out a cigarette, and lit the end of it.

"What are you doing?" Itachi said. His other team members were perplexed at their leader's sudden actions.

Ignoring Itachi, Mukai pulled a golden bottle from the back pocket of his trousers and brought it to his mouth. The sweet scent carried to Itachi by the wind told him that the bottle contained sake.

"Team leader!"

"Well, you just watch there," Mukai said, without looking back at Itachi, cigarette smoldering. The wild wind carried away the purple smoke. Even a village like Sunagakure, the majority of which was covered in sand, had a great deal of greenery near the border. Young grass stroked Mukai's legs as he braced himself. "We've already been found out. They're not going to let us get home unscathed. And…" He looked at Itachi over his shoulder. "We do happen to have the famed Uchiha Itachi here with us. I'd like him to see what I can do, you know?"

Itachi's baffled teammates smiled faintly.

"Here they come," Mukai said, as several human forms danced out of the woods. There were more than twenty of them. Their pursuers quickly spotted Itachi and the others and formed a ring around them. "Best not to touch us." Mukai put out his cigarette in a portable ashtray, and gulped back some sake.

"So you give up and resign yourselves, then?" One of their pursuers said. The mark carved into his forehead protector was that of Sunagakure.

"Dunno." Mukai took another swig. Their opponents seemed alarmed at his excessive insolence. A flash of light flickered, followed by a sharp noise in front of Mukai, as he brought his left hand up before his face. "Aaah, you went and wasted my precious sake."

A kunai hung from the side of the sake bottle Mukai dropped.

"You got some nerve, standing there drinking at a time like this," An enemy ninja remarked.

"I've got a weakness for alcohol and tobacco. It's how I get myself all psyched up before a fight."

"So you're not going to come quietly, then?"

"Of course not."

Their pursuers leapt at Mukai.

Some shinobi turned toward Itachi and the rest of his team. With no other choice, Itachi braced himself, when his Chunin teammates grabbed his shoulders and leapt up.

"What are you doing?!"

"Just don't get in the boss's way," The older Chunin said, as they flew over the heads of their pursuers and escaped the circle.

Mukai noticed that some pursuers were leaping up to follow them. "Your fight's with me!" He launched an incredibly fast kick that exploded in the stomach of an enemy flying up after Itachi and the others.

Without so much as a cry, the man hit the ground and lost consciousness. Mukai dropped back down to earth. "So, let's get started then." His chakra swelled up suddenly. His left pupil disappeared, and concentric circles radiated out from his eyelids. Byakugan. The Kekkei Genkai only passed down through the Hyuga Clan.

Shisui had said it was unthinkable that any Kohinata would have the Byakugan, given that their family had split off however many generations ago from the main Hyuga Clan. But that impossible thing was happening at that moment, before his very eyes.

"Don't usually show this off, but today's special," Mukai said to their pursuers, and his eyes caught sight of Itachi for an instant. "Haaaah…" Mukai took a deep breath, as if he were building up chakra in the bottom of his stomach. He dropped his hips the slightest bit, and leaned forward, before thrusting his left hand out and resting his right hand around his pocket. His hands were unclenched, held straight and flat.

"First, we crush this one!" The apparent leader of their pursuers shouted.

Twenty ninja attacked at once. Kunai rained down, a shower of blades that left no room for escape. Mukai laughed, and flew up into the rain of death falling on him.

"Hah!" A light roundhouse kick, he caught the flat edge of the kunai before him perfectly. The repelled kunai hit another kunai, changing its trajectory. That chain reaction spread, setting most of the kunai on another course.

Still spinning from the kick, Mukai launched a backward-looking backhand blow. This hit the flat edge of a new kunai. His body began to descend. Next, it was a front kick. The tip of a blade bounced off the tips of his shoes. He spun around to the front. His heel downed a fourth kunai. He landed. The rain of kunai pierced the surface of the earth.

Mukai was unharmed. Countless jet-black kunai stabbed through the grasses.

But the area around Mukai's feet alone was completely unsullied by blades. The surprising part of it all was that Mukai had protected himself from the deadly rain by repelling only four kunai.

Outside the circle, Itachi wondered if he could manage the same feat himself. "I could…" But although he felt like he could after watching the way Mukai moved, he didn't know if he'd be able to pull something like that off through his own instincts alone.

"Get him! Get him!" The enemy shouted, his panic showing. Enormous shuriken, katana, claws, cudgels; their pursuers closed in on Mukai with every kind of weapon imaginable.

And then Itachi watched it all play out. Mukai, dodging the bloodlust-filled attacks of his enemies. Launching his own attacks to hit exactly in the key spots of defenseless enemies, to take them down in a single blow. There was nothing wasteful about his movements. His physical jutsu was so skillful that Itachi could do nothing but watch admiringly.

One person, one blow. Once Mukai had struck twenty or so times, only the enemy leader remained standing. "Just you, now."

The enemy trembled, long katana in each hand. "So, what? You wanna go? I can't exactly let just you go home without a scratch, now can I?" Mukai pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it.

"Eeeeeaaaaah!" Giving a strange shout. It was hard to tell if it was a scream or a battle cry— The leader closed the distance between them. The first blade came down from on high, to split Mukai's skull— Mukai shifted a tiny bit to the right to dodge it. A sideways slashing attack cut through where he had stood, and Itachi saw Mukai's left eye release a flash of white light. "Wh-what the…" The leader mumbled, dazed.

"You just don't get it, huh?" Mukai said, cigarette dangling from his lips. His left hand was slightly raised, katana pinched neatly between the thumb and index finger. A vein popped up on the leader's face, perhaps because the blade did not move an inch, whether he pushed or pulled it. "I'm not gonna take you down with one blow," Mukai said, letting go of the katana. Suddenly released from this restraint, the enemy crumpled, and Mukai brought his right foot down, cigarette still lodged in one corner of his mouth.

The man's forehead was almost touching his solar plexus. "Eight Trigrams Two Palms…" Mukai placed his palm on the man's stomach, and launched two blows in succession. "Eight Trigrams Four Palms." Four blows. The man opened his eyes wide in fear. "Eight Trigrams Eight Palms." Eight blows. Blood shot out of the enemy's mouth. "Eight Trigrams Sixteen Palms!" Mukai's palms hit the enemy sixteen times, from his face to his legs. The man danced up lightly into the air like a dead leaf blown away by a strong wind, but there was already no light of consciousness in his eyes. It all happened in the blink of an eye.

Mukai tucked his cigarette butt into his ashtray, more than twenty Sunagakure shinobi sprawled out on the ground around him. As he walked leisurely toward Itachi, his left eye regained its light once more.

"It's what you call a throwback," He noted. "The main family and the branch families might be separate in theory, but you can't separate the blood. If the element's in there, it'll show up on the surface like this. Don't run around telling people." He rested a hand on Itachi's head, and the boy shook his head to shake it off.

Perhaps thinking Itachi was annoyed at being treated like a child, Mukai smiled the slightest bit apologetically and walked over to their teammates. "Now, let's get home already. My kids are waiting."

"How is your son doing?"

Mukai shrugged. "Not so great lately. I'm a little worried about him. Gotta hurry home and report to the Hokage."

"Right."

This conversation between Mukai and the others didn't reach Itachi's ears. He also wasn't the least bit angry at being treated like a child. He didn't have the mental energy to spare thinking about something so trivial. "Shisui and I are going to kill this man by ourselves…" It was shaping up to be a difficult mission.

"C'mon, let's go, Itachi." A smile played on Mukai's lips as he looked back, as if the man wasn't at all aware of the aura of his own death creeping up on him.

The same air of gloom ruled the main shrine. Unable to stand the weight of it, Itachi let out a deep breath.

"I have something I want to tell you all today," His father said solemnly, standing with his back to the altar where the avatar of the god was enshrined. Itachi saw an ominous shadow in his father's tone, heavier than usual. "Itachi's entry into the Anbu is at hand."

His father sounded like it was already a done deal. Assassinate Mukai… Not a mission he could carry out as easily as all that. It was sure to turn into mortal combat, with his life on the line. There was a serious chance he might die.

"An Uchiha will join the Anbu. This is the most favorable opportunity we've ever had."

"Then, Chief," Tekka, his father's trusted aide, said quietly. Everyone held their breath. The air of unrest gradually grew thicker. Itachi heard his own heart pounding fiercely in his ears. Unconsciously, he sought out Shisui.

His friend was three rows in front of him, staring at Itachi's father, motionless, the strained tension loud and clear in his back.

"Stop it, Father!" Itachi shouted in his heart. He had no voice. It was like the malice of the clan had solidified and slid into his mouth, pressing into his throat.

"We have exerted ourselves any number of times until now on behalf of the village. But what have they done for us in return?"

No one answered, but instead silently bent their ears toward Fugaku, so as not to miss a single word he uttered.

"At their root is prejudice against us." His father's words mercilessly tightened around his chest.

What Itachi hated most in the world was on the verge of materializing before his very eyes. Hatred. Fighting. War. Whatever word he used, the essential nature of it was the same: The senseless deaths of a large number of people.

"We have endured it all this time. But we have reached our limit."

Itachi realized he was shaking his head, when his field of view rocked slowly from side to side. Faster than his thoughts, his body was rejecting his father. But no one was looking at him. Their eyes were all focused on Fugaku, in the seat of honor.

"Leave it. Stop it, Father. Please stop…" The voice of his heart didn't reach his father.

Abruptly, Fugaku's eyes were colored red. Sharingan. The agitation in his heart had changed his father's eyes. "Taking advantage of Itachi's entry into the Anbu, we will move toward a coup d'état."

"Oooh." Everyone raised their voices in unison, not a drop of confusion in the collective cry. The singular voice even had an echo of joy to it.

"Itachi." Over the cheer, his father called his son's name.

To Itachi, it sounded like he was calling someone else.

Staring at his unresponsive son, Fugaku continued, "The true objective of you joining the Anbu is to investigate the particulars of the situation in the village, and report back to us."

"A spy…" Itachi thought about Kohinata Mukai. Even if they were all in the same village, leaking information about one side to the other when there were two forces in conflict was nothing other than spying. "So I'm going to be the same as Mukai?" Itachi asked himself. There was no reason to expect a reply.

"The information you bring us holds the destiny of the clan." All eyes were turned on him, a sea of red eyes. Even though he wasn't under any Genjutsu, Itachi felt dizzy.

"Where on earth am I headed?" Itachi asked himself, he felt like he was choking, no matter how he tried to take a deep breath, he couldn't.

"The day of action is near!"

Everyone stood at Fugaku's declaration.

Itachi continued to sit. The legs of the brethren all around him looked like trees colored by darkness, as though he had gotten lost in a forest at midnight. In the middle of the trees that filled Itachi's field of view, he caught sight of one other person sitting.

"Shisui…" Itachi thought.

His friend looked back and caught sight of him. There was a sadness in his eyes that Itachi had never seen before. Shisui smiled miserably.

"Our fight will certainly lead to the glory of the Uchiha." His father's voice elicited a cry of delight from all present.

Itachi listened with a feeling of gloom.

He was not yet aware of the true nature of the darkness that would visit him.

The darkness held its breath and waited silently. Until the day came when it would hug him to its black chest.

Itachi depressingly followed behind his parents to his home, as all of the Uchiha Clan dispersed to their own homes. As they entered their home, Itachi walked along the porch, sensing a familiar aura.

Itachi came around the corner to see Akina practicing throwing shuriken with Sasuke. "You…"

"Your Mom asked me to babysit, Sasuke." Akina informed,

"Nii-san!" Sasuke held a double bladed knife. "Watch me!" Sasuke then threw a double-bladed knife to almost hit the bull's-eye.

"Oh… Good job." Itachi realized he was caught. "How do Moms know everything? Especially Kunoichi mothers?"

Akina took the knife out of the target. "Well… I better get going."

"Can I walk you home?" Itachi offered.

"I live just down the street…"

"Still." Itachi insisted. Scolding himself, "Don't trip on your words, Itachi."

"You okay?" Akina tilted her head.

"Have dinner with me tomorrow?" Itachi blurted out.

"Okay." Akina nodded, her heart fluttering. Sasuke smiling as he watched between both of them.