Author's Note: Why hello there. My sincere apologies for the unintended hiatus, my son and I caught the flu while on vacation. All better now. Let's continue with the story!

Citations: Itachi's Story: [Midnight] pg. 44-55, Naruto Shippuden Episode #357

Chapter's Song: "The Only Exception" by Paramore

Chapter 38
Worth The Risk

"Itachi!" Akina shouted running towards the main gate. She stopped in front of the three men, holding her heart with her fist, looking into Itachi's blank onyx eyes. "I heard the Hannya Blacks Ops attacked…"

"No need to worry so much, Akina-chan…" Her eyes shifted to Kakashi. "He's not dying on my watch. Have some confidence in him."

"Thank you, Kakashi-senpai." Akina sincerely nodded.

"We'll file things our end." Kakashi gestured with a wave. "Guy, you report to Lord Hokage."

"Meet me tomorrow after my shift?" Itachi asked, stopping next to Akina.

"Not later?" Akina's eyes questioned.

His expression showed he was about to sigh, but held it to say, "There's a meeting."

"Oh right." Akina nodded, knowing about the Uchiha Clan's meetings as she had lived within the compound for almost two years.

"Your food pills were delicious, by the way. I'll walk you home if you hang around here for a bit." He offered.

"Sure," She smiled lovingly back at his loving smile as he passed her by to follow Kakashi. Akina turned a quarter of the way to watch Itachi's back, swallowing her worry to see him walking Konoha's streets.

"Say!" Guy chimed in, resting his chin in the crook between his thumb and index finger. "Are you and that boy an item?"

"Um…" She blushed. "Yes."

"Have you fought?"

"Every couple fights, I suppose…" Her dignified tone shrugged.

"Sparred!" Guy raised a finger with so much enthusiasm.

"Oh…" Akina felt dumb but didn't show it.

"I am Hatake Kakashi's rival. How do you fight the Sharigan?"

"Watch their feet." She informed calmly.

"He's… Pretty ruthless." Guy's brows furrowed seriously, recalling how Itachi had killed the Hannya Black Ops that attacked.

"Itachi?" Akina asked with a soft smile. "You don't know him like I know him. A mission is a mission no matter how unfortunate, but he is not ruthless."

"Guy!" Asuma approached with a woman by her side, her eyes as red as rubies, and her hair as black as ash.

"Asuma-senpai," Akina bowed her head.

"Long time no see…" Asuma added.

"Oh, you know each other." Guy acknowledged.

"When you're the kids from the head house of your clan you get familiarized." Asuma shrugged. "How're you, Akina-hime?"

"I'm well. How're you and…"

"Yūhi Kurenai." She introduced herself.

"Mochizuki Akina. Nice to meet you."

"I'll be heading out for a while, actually…" Asuma informed. "Want to have dinner with us?"

"Sure." Akina nodded.

"Is Kakashi joining us?" Kurenai asked Guy.

"Afraid not. He's filing the report with The Hokage." Guy informed. Akina followed the older teenagers.

"Ever since Rin died he finds excuses to avoid us…" Kurenai murmured.

"Rin died. It changed him. Obito's death, as well." Asuma argued.

"You guys keep saying, 'Rin died'. Kakashi killed her." They looked back and down on the girl following them, Akina slightly nervous, but not showing it as she had confidence in what she said.

"He… He doesn't need to be known as a comrade killer." Guy defended.

"But that's how he sees it. He won't listen to any of you because he feels you don't understand. Don't project your feelings onto him; just listen to his perspective with empathy. Guilt eats at his heart. Wouldn't you feel responsible if a comrade got in the way of your jutsu delivering a finishing blow?" She said seriously, it felt like an old lady was scolding them, even though she was younger, she seemed otherworldly.

Guy stared at her. "Akina-chan…" He said somberly. "Will you spar with me?"

The girl gave a firm nod.

Asuma and Kurenai stood off to the side of an open field. Guy in position, his hands open and up in front of him as he crouched in his stance. Akina standing straight as can be, placing senbon needles between each finger.

Guy then charged at her, her dodging his fast punches and kicks— She dodged and stuck a needle into his shoulder, his arm going limp.

"Wha—?!" Guy backed off, looking at his arm, unable to move it. "You fight with Taijutsu and knives…"

Silence. She threw double bladed knives, and Guy cartwheeled away. Akina threw half-a-dozen needles at the arm he landed on— It going limp and Guy falling on it, kneeling, and glaring at Akina. "You blocked chakra paths, and it's even affecting my muscles…"

Silence.

He got up and with limp arms came charging at Akina. "I can still use my legs!" He disappeared before Akina's eyes!

"I was expecting a kick! Where'd he go?"

She caught a sense of his chakra, looking across her shoulder and behind, but then back in front of her. "Leaf Great Whirlwind!"

"Can't dodge—" Akina gritted her teeth and puffed into indigo petals. The petals moved back and reformed Akina's body. "Well, my mistake, he's not to be underestimated."

"Genjutsu?" Kurenai asked.

"No, Ninjutsu. She's from the Mochizuki Clan." Asuma explained. "Regardless, this was a Taijutsu only fight… She loses."

Akina turned, seeing Itachi and Kakashi approaching from the dark woods as it was already dusk. "Picking on girls now, eh, Guy?"

"She is a great opponent. If we were using Ninjutsu, she may have had beaten me. Thumbs up, Akina-chan!" He said enthusiastically, having sweat roll down Akina's heads as he could not use his arms, but he grinned nonetheless.

"Good fight." Akina smirked.

"Let's go to dinner now." Asuma smirked.

"Be safe, Asuma-senpai." Akina addressed as she stepped by Itachi's side. "I must be going actually."

"Kakashi! How 'bout we go at it now?"

"You can't even use your arms!" Kakashi scolded.

"A perfect challenge. Let's not waste the springtime of our youth!"

"Did you file that report?" Kakashi asked.

"Uh!" Guy exclaimed guiltily.

"Let's get dinner!" Kurenai chimed in. Akina and Itachi hearing all this at their back as they walked away down the wooded path, Itachi taking Akina's hand to hold as they walked, Akina smiling softly at the gesture to hold his hand more firmly as he did her hand.

"Let's go pickup Sasuke from The Academy. He'll be happily surprised that you're home." Akina suggested.

Itachi nodded with a smile.

"No matter how many times I come here, I never grow to like it…" In the main building of the shrine, dominated by heat, Itachi took a deep breath through his nose. Filling the space all around him were the brethren of the clan. The regular meeting.

Now that Izumi was a Genin, she was there, too. Since she was the same age as he was, and because he was still a novice, Itachi was in a lower row seat in the same row as her, separated by a few people. Perhaps overwhelmed by the heat, she was still, her face lowered.

He wanted to call out to her, but with the heat, and the main building actually falling silent at the moment, there was a wordless pressure that would not allow him to do anything so rash as that.

"Well, then, let's begin." His father stood up from his seat in the front row, and turned toward everyone gathered in the hall. Those present held their breath, and waited for Fugaku to speak. The scene was like the founder of some religious sect and his believers.

"The leader, burdened with the resentment of the clan…" This was the dark face of Itachi's father, Fugaku.

"It has been officially decided that my son Itachi will join the Anbu. He has already begun to carry out missions as a member."

A quiet cheer echoed through the shrine.

"Now we have a pipeline connecting our clan with the center of the village. No longer will we simply receive from the village; we will also actively investigate ourselves."

"It won't be him doing that…" Itachi's thoughts began.

"Itachi," Fugaku called his son's name.

Without a sound, Itachi got to his feet, and waited for his father to speak again.

"You have joined the Anbu. Have you noticed anything?"

"It is a fact that the people of the village are wary of the Uchiha Clan, and do not think well of us," Itachi began.

"It is!" Once Itachi offered the answer his father was seeking, a sympathetic voice called out from the seats.

"But," Itachi continued, giving his voice extra weight as if to push back the hasty hooting, "That said, I don't feel any active hatred, no persecution of the clan. At best, I believe their feelings are the sort of worries and jealousies that anyone has."

As his father listened with arms crossed, only his right eyebrow twitched upward. "This worry and jealousy you mention can come together, and be twisted into a bigger emotion."

As if to agree with his father, the brethren began to chatter, and make a commotion.

To push through the voices of the crowd, Itachi concentrated his strength in the bottom of the belly, and spat out, "If you add on backward predictions like that, anything can be reduced to a negative phenomenon!"

As if to stand in the way of his father, silently glaring at him, a single man stood up. His father's trusted retainer, Yashiro. "Hey, Itachi!" He called, his narrow eyes gleaming murderously. Silently, Itachi turned to his father's confidant. "You're really siding with the village here, aren't you? Whose ally are you anyway, the village's, or the clan's? Maybe your judgment's a bit dull after joining the Anbu… Getting a little full of yourself?"

"It's better not to force things into a framework with words." Itachi murmured.

"What?" Yashiro called back.

"Enemy. Ally." Itachi's eyes shone a faint crimson. "If you differentiate between things with the tool of words, you lose sight of the true situations. You're forced to step into places you shouldn't."

"I don't have time for this incomprehensible back and forth. Whose ally are you, Uchiha Itachi?!" Yashiro's angry roar returned the main shrine to silence.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Itachi glared at his father's retainer. "I am a member of the Uchiha Clan."

"You got a sec?" Shisui called out.

The meeting over, Itachi was walking home a little ways behind his father. Fugaku looked back, curious at Itachi's sudden stop, and saw his son's good friend there. "What's wrong, Shisui?"

"I wanted to talk with your son for a minute."

Fugaku looked at Shisui and Itachi in turn, before saying simply, "Don't be too late," and walking off into the night by himself.

"Shisui." Itachi said his friend's name once they were alone together.

"I understand how you feel so well, it hurts." His friend's brow furrowed, and he looked vexed from the bottom of his heart. "Yashiro's the leader of the group pushing for a coup. To that man, all the people of the village are enemies."

The abuse Itachi had been showered with earlier still echoed in his ears. He lowered his face, as if to look away from the image of Yashiro that rose up in the back of his mind.

"Since it looked like you were going into the Anbu, I did some maneuvering of my own."

"What do you mean?" Itachi raised his eyes.

"I talked directly with the Hokage, and obtained the authority to independently investigate the true state of affairs in the clan."

Itachi was confused; Shisui opened his mouth again, as if understanding his friend's confusion. "I've been taken off my regular duties, to make sure the clan doesn't get any riled up. Their dissatisfaction is going to explode. The Hokage promised that I could act at my own discretion to prevent that, and gave me a position in the Anbu. But that's just in name only. In the end, I report directly to the Hokage, so your dad and the others don't know about my joining the Anbu. Even inside, only a few people know."

"You actually went to the Lord Hokage?"

"Relax. I didn't say anything about the coup."

"If the village found out about what the clan was plotting… Things would not be the same…" Akina's pretty face came into his mind.

"Itachi, we're gonna keep fighting to stop the clan from exploding. You from inside the Anbu, and me as a ninja, reporting directly to the Lord Hokage. No matter what happens, I'll never forget my promise with you." Shisui thrust a fist out. Itachi stuck own out to touch it. "Above all else, we have to make them stop with the coup, at least," Shisui said firmly.

Itachi nodded in agreement.

The Next Day

Akina lied next to Itachi in the green grass on a hill, watching the plum blossoms float off the trees into the blue sky. Her emerald eyes glanced over his stern expression fixated on a cloud, his hands behind his head. He felt her glance, his mouth going slack, as he awkwardly looked her way.

She smiled. "What's on your mind?"

"Did you know they're spying on The Uchiha?" He asked directly.

"Yeah," She gently chewed her lower lip nervously. "I'm sorry. It angered me, as well, but—"

"It's fine." He dismissed blankly starring back up towards the sky.

"Are the suspicions justified?" She meekly asked.

"…No, not really, but making a fuss will only incriminate the Uchiha that much more."

"I understand." She nodded. "I'll follow your lead, Itachi."

He glanced back to her, surprised by her declaration. "Even if you have to kill for me?"

"…In self-defense." She reflected.

"What if you were defending against me?"

"Would you ever hurt me?" She smirked, questionably.

"No." He instantly answered what his heart truly felt.

Akina smiled and lied down on his shoulder, his arm coming out to rest on her waist. "Do the ends justify the means?"

"No." Akina answered somberly snuggled into his chest.

"Ten of our brethren have been shipwrecked. One of them has caught a nasty, infectious disease. If he is allowed to live, the other nine will also get sick and die.

If you were the captain of that ship, what judgment would you hand down?"

"That question…" Akina recalled Danzo asking her this when she graduated from The Academy. "Quarantine the one from the rest. If he dies, he dies, but if he recovers, then all the better."

"That's irresponsible. He's dying and putting the rest of the crew at risk." Itachi insisted.

"They have already been exposed, killing someone for the greater good isn't the way to do things. A human doesn't lose their value no matter what, if we believe that, then we only justify our own prejudice and superiority complex. Choosing who, or even groups of people to die for the greater good of the majority." Akina leaned up, shaking her head, looking down into his eyes as his head lied in his hands against the grass.

"That's so cold-hearted towards nine instead of being cold hearted against just one."

"Just one? We are all just one individual; if we take the rights away for the one individual then we can take it away for two individuals or groups of people. It's more cold-hearted to strip someone of their humanity for the greater good of the majority."

"What if those nine die because of you not dealing with the disease? Even the one you tried to save dying along with those nine." He argued. "My first priority would be to save the lives of the other nine. I would choose to kill the one and save the nine."

"I have no blood on my hands if those nine die by natural causes. I never disrespected their humanity."

"You did disrespect them for your negligence, by doing nothing when it was in your power to do something…"

"To do something unethical." Akina shook her head. "I won't."

He leaned up to be face-to-face with her, poking her forehead, Akina breathless. "You're so pretty when you're passionate…"

Her blush intensified, pouting as she looked away.

"I have to get going. I have a mission." She announced, he got up before her, offering his hand out to her for her to take.

"Okay." As she stood, she stepped closer and kissed him. He was surprised, her nonchalantly by-passing him down the hill. He turned to watch her, putting his hands to his lips, smiling. "I know your intentions are pure to save as many people as possible, and I love that about you, but…" She turned back. "Sometimes you have to stand alone with your ethics intact."

"I can't if I leave people to die…" He insisted.

"We're all going to die anyway… Just be sure you die before I do. My heart can't take much more." Akina shrugged, plum blossoms blowing past her, her pale skin and ebony hair making her seem like some kind of dark angel to Itachi's eyes.

"I'm more likely to die first as a man, statistically. A man is to protect the girl he loves. It's principle."

"Hm?" Her eyes widened.

"You said, 'I love that about you'…" He smirked. "Therefore, you are the girl that I love."

"Be careful on your mission." She diverted, puffing into red petals, mixing with the pink plum blossoms on the air.

He smiled at her being flustered, and his smiled faded as he sunk into his thoughts. "I hate keeping this from her… The coup, my involvement in the Anbu, that masked man I saw during my surveillance shift…" Itachi sighed. "I have to protect her."