Disclaimer: The characters are Masashi Kishimoto's property, I own the OCs.

Characters age:

Akane: 7 (40)

Itachi: 7 (23)

Shisui: 10

Naruto / Sasuke: 1

Kakashi: 15

I'd leave early in the mornings and come back late for a week before Kushina-san got sick of it and caught me one weekend. The thought of being adopted really triggered me and I didn't want to deal with them. She apologized to me, saying they were not trying to replace my parents and were just thinking of what would be best for me. I nodded and apologized to her for screaming, then did the same with Minato-san in the evening.

They did not bring the adoption subject back. Itachi asked me if everything was okay and I said yes. I had noticed that, when he was with Sasuke, or Shisui, he was smiling and acting in a way I had never seen him do before. I didn't want to ruin his…newfound happiness I guess, with my issues. He had a shot at having a life where he would not be hunted down by his own village or his own brother.

"Can I take you somewhere?" I raised a brow at him as we were walking home from school. Since I knew it was him him, I didn't care as much about the other kids in school and his popularity. I didn't mind being seen with him, and we had been on the same team on the trip, team we had made so…

"Are you going to kill me and sell my organs?" He scoffed.

"I'll wait you're an adult for that." I chuckled. "I have the plan down already."

"Really?" He nodded and glanced at me from the corner of his eyes, amused.

"I'll put undetectable poison in a five-course meal, a little bit everywhere so you can eat everything and not see it coming." I laughed for real.

"So thoughtful of you 'tachi!" I saw his smile before he hid it behind his shirt. "Food is also the way I'd go to kill you though. Blood and all of that, too tacky. There are poisons that completely dissolve in the blood when the heart stops beating."

"I wouldn't want to ruin your carpet." I smirked.

"It sounds like an old-married couple who are sick of each other." He chuckled and grabbed my hand to run. "A warning next time!" I yelled behind him as we were running among the crowd.

After fifteen minutes, we were on a hill. Itachi sat down in the grass, and I looked in front of us. We had a view of the whole village, the cliff in the background. I didn't remember it existing in the Konoha I lived in, after its destruction by the Akatsuki and the modernization process, these kinds of places were the first ones to go, I guess.

"It's even more beautiful at dawn, or at night with all the light," Itachi added, smiling gently as my amazed face. I plopped down next to him.

"Do you come here often?" He nodded.

"No one comes here, it's nice to think and reflect on things." I nodded.

"I won't bother you, don't worry."

"Bother me." I blinked and looked at him. He was staring at the grass, only his eyes visible as the rest was hidden behind his collar. "At some point, Naruto and Sasuke will understand what we talk about so…we could hang out here too." He was not wrong, and just to talk about…everything, privacy was better.

And the idea of having a meeting place just for the two of us…it was very appealing to me, my stomach twisting in delicious knots.

"I'd like that," I mumbled, blushing a little. I buried my nose in my scarf. "At dawn? If I say it's pre-school work-out, they'll allow me to go out early."

"I thought you liked your sleep."

"I'll go to bed early then." I looked at him. "Could I bother you with Fuinjutsu talk? You won't question my level." He nodded. I grinned at him, thankful. "Thanks!" He smiled back gently. "Are you going to graduate by the way?" He gazed at me softly for a few seconds and slowly shook his head. I couldn't help but smile to myself, glad about it.

Itachi as a boyfriend was not something I wanted to think of just yet. However, I did miss Itachi my friend I had traveled with for two years before finding a place to live, leaving his and Hoshigaki-san to their Akatsuki business. Spending time with him and only with him…it made me very happy.

The new school year started. To my utter disappointment, neither Kou or Itachi were in my class, both of them in Class A. I was still in Class B, now with two Uchihas: Izumi and one named Yasuo. I would still eat lunch with the boys on the roof, but Izumi would come unannounced occasionally, annoying me. I had no idea if she was always like this, but she would try to hard to be liked and it was pissing me off. Itachi would sometimes frown at me and I'd look away.

His life…was good. It would soon be two years since he had been back and he had grown used to seeing everyone again. The guilt in his heart was still here, but the thought of changing things and not kill everyone would help him keep going. He no longer would have nightmares everyone, followed by insomnia.

His relationship with Akane was getting better every day. They'd meet on Wednesday morning since the new school year, Akane telling him about seals and how frustrating it was when Kushina would point something out in her work, only for her to realize the older Uzumaki was right. At this pace, Itachi was hoping she would come to love him again. In his mind, he had their whole relationship planed. They would start properly dating at sixteen, then he'd propose at eighteen and they'd get married maybe at nineteen. On the surface it was young, but in reality, it would mean getting engaged after dating for five years. Mentally, he would be thirty-four and Akane…who knew. Truth be told, he didn't care about how old she actually was.

"You're a lot better, I'll give you that," Shisui told her as she went to pick up her shuriken and kunai. She would get bulls-eye without moving now, and without a moving target.

"He's a strict teacher," she replied, pointing at him. "He'll make me train until the end of times if I don't improve."

"If it saves your life on a mission, then so be it," he replied without missing a beat, sitting against a tree, sharpening his own weapons. Akane rolled hers eyes.

"I have other skills!"

"Sure but shurikenjutsu is a basic of shinobi and kunoichi skills Akane, you have to at least be average in it and from what Itachi told me, you are still behind."

"Dude!" she groaned at him, and he shrugged. "Are you out to destroy my reputation?" Shisui laughed it off as Akane went back to her spot.

"Your prime reputation to me is making me run away with you from the tab." Akane snickered.

They were good friends. He had witnessed them together twice before, but it was a recurrent occasion now. He liked to think he was seeing Akane more than Shisui was though, and he wanted to keep it that way. Still, they were talking and laughing together a lot. There was no denying it was making him a little bit jealous, especially with Shisui's tactile nature. He would make fun of her and lean his arm on her head or something. Meanwhile, he was not the funniest person on Earth and still struggled with making the first move in terms of physical contact with Akane.

"Okay, break time." They both joined him, Akane getting snacks and tea from a scroll. "You're so useful Akane."

"Huh huh." She handed him a cup of tea and he tasted it.

"It's still hot too!"

"Well yeah." She handed Itachi a cup as well, who accepted it with a quiet thanks.

"By the way, I have what you wanted Akane." It got Shisui both his and Akane's attention. Shisui pulled a booklet from his pocket. "Yondaime-sama changed the way how genin living on their own work shortly after the Kyuubi attack. It must have been in the work before." How many things had the Yondaime started that the Sandaime never finished before?

And why would Akane want to know about this? Was there an issue with living Kushina and Minato? They seemed to be taking care of her well. Did she not like living with her family? Did she struggle to see them every day?

"Thanks Shisui!" She took the booklet and rummaged through it, Shisui leaning back on his hands.

"From what I understood, now it looks more like a boarding school, like in the Capital City." Kikou was at the south of the Land of Fire, close to the sea.

Compared to Konoha, it was like living in another, more modern era. Itachi was fine with the way of living in Konoha though.

"Genins up until the age of fifteen are accepted, a small amount of their salaries after each mission is deduced to pay for it. They have an individual room with a bathroom and to eat, there is a canteen. They are only responsible for their own room and don't have to worry about cooking or eating enough or healthy."

"And after that?"

"They are prioritized for function studio apartments."

"That should be enough, even if I earn more than enough to have bigger."

"You want to move out?" Itachi asked her. She nodded; her eyes stuck on the booklet.

"The rooms look good in the pictures."

"Akane, why would you want to move out?" he asked again. She shrugged.

Shisui left an hour later as he had a mission the next day. Itachi immediately turned his eyes to Akane, who was twirling a kunai around her finger.

"I'm an adult," she said, not giving him the chance to talk. "I'm fucking forty Itachi."

Forty? He had died at almost twenty-two and was twenty-four now. It meant Akane died sixteen years after him. It was…too short.

What could have possibly happened for her to use the Death Reaper Seal at thirty-eight?

"I was never taught how to throw a kunai or a shuriken." He blinked at her and the sudden change of subject.

"But you were a kunoichi before, weren't you?" She smirked.

"Maybe there are things we should have told the other before." Akane had never discussed her past affiliation with Kiri to him. He never brought it up either. Shisui had told him she was forced, there was no point bringing a hard subject back to the surface. "Still, Mom never taught me and by the age of eleven, as I was proficient in more elaborated skills, they must have thought I could do it. That's why you wanted to pull your hair out at me before, nobody ever taught me how to throw a shuriken right."

"I just assumed you had been taught and were just…" he trailed off. She smirked.

"It's less embarrassing than to admit I had never learned such a basic skill. I mean, an adult who can't read wouldn't be exactly screaming it at the top of their lungs, would they?" She stood up and threw the kunai, hitting bullseye. "I also thought I was bad but hey, look at me now!" She glanced at him. "Plus, it's your specialty, it was even more embarrassing." He never wanted to make her feel bad about herself. "Don't make that face, Kiri gave me a ton shits of issues regarding myself." Was she opening up to him?

He would be lying if he were to say he never wanted to know how Kiri really was, and what had happened to her. Just like she had never asked him about the reasons behind the massacre but had always thought she had an idea about it, he had an idea of her time in Kiri. It was not a good one. He wouldn't be surprised if she had been sent hunting down people she had come to know.

"Akane…" he started, getting closer to her.

"It's weird to be praised over things here," she confessed to him.

"What…" He took a deep breath as she gazed at him with calm. "How…what rank were you?" She blinked slowly.

"Officially, jounin. Unofficially, anbu." He was taken back.

He knew she had skills, but she had spent two years there so…

He didn't want to picture an eleven-year-old Akane, terrified of what was going on, having to go through kunoichi training and promotions before she even was ready.

"Konoha never heard of me, Yagura made sure of it," she whispered.

"Were you close to him?" She raised a brow at him, her eyes amused by his question. "What?" She shook her head, a bitter smile on her lips.

"I was his apprentice and under his wing." He widened his eyes. "I don't know, I was in Kumo's Bingo Book as they gave me my moniker. The Frozen Shinigami if I remember well." He had seen that name in a Bingo Book. 'KIA' usually followed.

"That was you?"

"It almost sounds like foreshadowing now, you know?" she replied, patting her stomach. "Anyway, I'm done for today." As they left the training ground, Itachi would glance at her from the corner of his eyes.

There was a voice in his mind telling him Akane wasn't telling him everything. Itachi bit his tongue when he was about to ask her what was really going on at home.

He wouldn't pry. If it was bad, she would tell him. She knew she could rely on him anyway, right?

"Nee-chan!" I looked behind me as I was putting my shoes on. Naru could say 'Mama', 'Dada' and 'Nee-chan' now. Here he was, walking on unsteady legs to me, a green frog plushie in his arms. Kushina-san was walking behind him, my lunch in her hand.

I opened my arms to Naru, who ran in them, giggling. I spun him around quickly before putting him down. He whined a little about it and I flicked his nose gently.

"I have to go to school Naru." I accepted the lunch Kushina-san handed me and put it in my bag. I put its straps on my shoulders.

"Do you have your water?" I nodded at her. "Good, then go, don't be late. Have a good day!"

"You too!" I replied, already at the door. Naru waved back at me, defeated.

The summer vacations were soon. Itachi and I had been keeping up with our weekly meeting. It didn't take long for old feelings I had buried years ago to surface, and for me to think of our meetings as 'dates'. To him, our relationship was a lot more recent so maybe he still…

I knew I had never stopped being in love with him. I just hoped that his feelings for me were…still here. Now that I had been seeing him again, I believed in his feelings for me. We were in this weird situation together so…I wanted to believe that…that eventually, there could be a 'us' again, a real one this time, where we wouldn't have to hide.

"Akane?" I stopped dead in my steps. Itachi was just exiting a bakery, a bag in his hand.

"Hi!" He smiled at me.

"You seem to be in a good mood." I smiled shyly, a faint blush dusting my cheeks. "Anything you want to share?" I shook my head and turned around, my hands on my back.

"Not yet." I widened my eyes when he blew in my ear and blushed like crazy. "Itachi!"

"Your punishment for not telling me." I rolled my eyes playfully. "Here." I glanced at the strawberry pastry in confusion.

"You got one for free?"

"No, I bought two and there's one for you. You love strawberry, don't you?" I nodded and accepted the food.

"Thank you," I thanked him, sincerely touched by this. "Can I eat it now?" He nodded, staring at me as I ate it. He had started to grow his hair our, now in a low ponytail like before.

It was a bet with Shisui he had lost apparently. He didn't tell me the details, but he ended up liking having long hair.

"It's so good!" I exclaimed, shocked at how good it really was. "The kiwi custard goes well with the strawberries."

"I'm glad you like it." He removed a crumb from the corner of my lips, looked at it for a second and ate it. I widened my eyes at him, shocked and he nodded. "It is good." He raised an innocent brow at me. "What?"

"You…you…" He blinked innocently. "Devil!" I walked away.

"That's rude," he replied, following me.

"You're mean!"

"You have funny reactions Akane-chan." I started running at this point and he did the same, quickly catching up to me. "I'm going to think you're running away from me." I was about to reply when I had an idea.

"Itachi." I looked at him with a grin. He raised a curious brow. "Race?" His eyes became competitive.

"Your loss Uzumaki."

Some kids watched us arrived at school; Itachi slightly quicker than me. None of us were going full speed, but it was still above Academy-student level.

"I believe this win is for me." I rolled my eyes. "What's my prize?"

"Pride and honor." He deadpanned at me.

"No, I'll come up with something." There was a mischievous glint in his eyes I wasn't sure to like.

I was done with homework maybe a day after we had started our month-long vacations. I was ready to get started on my chakra consuming jutsus now, to which Kakashi said I should be careful as you never knew who could be watching. I agreed. He decided to use his sharingan against me to improve my reaction span, promising me once a genin we would get onto more powerful jutsu.

One day, as we were having a training session at dawn, when the temperature was not too hot, I kicked Kakashi down after trapping his foot in ice. I stared at him on the ground before raising my arms.

"I beat you!"

"I slipped." I scoffed.

"Yeah right. You didn't see me coming." Getting this body up to speed with my actual skills was a full-time job. Finally getting a hit on Kakashi was an achievement.

"Good job." I jumped at the voice behind me and threw a back kick, that was easily stopped. They grabbed my ankle and threw me in Kakashi, who moved aside.

I crashed in the ground painfully. I sat up, rubbing my head in pain.

"Sensei?" Minato-san smiled at us. Kakashi stoop up and I grabbed the hem of his anbu jacket to get back up. "How long have you been watching for?" The Hokage scratched his cheek.

"The beginning. It sure was educative." He looked at me with something odd in his eyes. "You sure are growing at a fast pace Akane." I shrugged. "Are you in a rush or something?"

"I know strong people; I'm taking advantage of it." Minato-san seemed deep in his thoughts for a second, then went back to his student.

"You haven't told me Akane was using her kekkai genkai when training with you." Kakashi stiffened.

"You haven't asked sensei."

"I thought it was obvious important things like this should not be hidden Kakashi."

"With all due respect sensei, pretending she does not have an Ice Release will only be detrimental on the long run. I also don't want her to turn like I did after my father died, so I kept this piece of information for me." I glanced at Kakashi in surprise.

I knew he wasn't telling him everything and that…about his dad but…it felt nice to see him stand up for me. It felt nice to have someone stand up for you.

Kakashi had had my back since my brother had died and I had never fully realized it until now.

"If you don't want me to use my Hyouton, maybe you should have told me before and explained why." Minato-san stiffened, nervous. He looked down at me and, realizing I wasn't backing down, he sat down. His legs were crossed, his hands on his ankles.

"Because of Kiri." I raised a brow. "If they hear about a child named Uzumaki Akane who has the Hyouton, they will make the connection with Ushio and Akiko. I'm worried at some point, they will try to abduct you or worst, kill you off because they'll see you as a traitor."

"Akane never was a kunoichi there," Kakashi pointed out. It was not entirely true, but in that case, it was.

"You're my legal guardian," I said, confused. He nodded.

"Yes, but as you so nicely put it, I am not your uncle. You're related to Kushina, which is not enough. That's why I wanted to adopt you. If you legally were my daughter, it would break any bond you still have to Kiri and making a move regarding you would be a direct attack against me." It was getting political quickly.

"What bond?"

"I forget you don't know about this Kakashi. Akiko explained it to us when she came back. Since the First Mizukage's reign, anyone born in Kiri was its property as there were not enough shinobi in the village yet. They wanted to secure any asset born there as their own." I frowned.

I knew that, but a Kage's will was supposed to be as strong as that in the shinobi world and…

Stupid Akane. A will only came into action once the person was dead. Minato's will would not come into action as he was very much alive.

Basically, the protection I had thought having in Konoha regarding Kiri was…nothing. The moment they would know about me, and they would because Obito, I'd be on their radar and they would have more claim on me than Konoha. If Minato-san refused to simply hand me over then…

Tensions would appear, possibly leading to a useless war between Konoha and Kiri, Kiri claiming Konoha had stolen a 'weapon' of theirs. I was born in Kiri, my parents fled, to the Elemental Nations, if anyone were to deal with any of us, it would go directly to Kiri and…

I fell to my knees.

"I don't want a war…" I mumbled weakly.

"Things have not escalated that much Akane," the Yondaime reassured me immediately. "Maybe I should have told you before, with how much you changed after your mother's passing and how closed off you were…I found myself delaying it as much as possible. I wanted to tell you after you refused the adoption, but Kushina told me she would handle it." I was confused.

Kushina-san never said anything about any of it. Were we all hiding things from each other in this house? Seeing my confusion, Minato-san smiled at me.

"I'm sure Kushina will tell you about it, but now you know, you can ask her yourself why she has not said anything." I nodded. I would.

"I…don't want to leave Konoha," I whispered, but they both heard me. Minato-san got up and put a knee in front of me. He gently grabbed my shoulders.

"I'll do everything in my power to keep you with us Akane, you have my word." I just stared at him and slowly, pressed my face in his chest. He was surprised for an instant but closed his arms around me.

I cornered Kushina-san a few days later. As I was doing Fuinjutsu with her, I put my brush down and crossed my arms, staring at her. She noticed quickly and glanced behind her, hoping I wasn't staring at her.

"You look too much like Fujio-oji-chan right now," she muttered under her breath. She was talking about my grandfather, her uncle. "What did I do?"

"You told Minato-san you would explain to me why he really wanted to adopt and how he was worried about Kiri getting to me." She choked on her water. I watched her, unfazed, as she calmed down.

"I could kill him sometimes." She took a deep breath. "Look, I…I have a very solid reason I haven't told Minato so…"

"A reason?" She pursed her lips, her eyes looking painfully at me.

"Your mom…she told me something when she joined us." I blinked. "She said I should look for a clan secret called…"

"Yuurei," I finished for her. She nodded. "Is that why you didn't want me to…"

"I wanted to know first before letting you dive into that and know…I learned a lot." She moved closer to me and took both my hands in her. Her violet eyes deeply in my brown ones. "Akane, I cannot stress out enough that no matter what, no matter your age and no matter how you feel about us, Minato and I will never stop thinking of you as our darling niece we love from the bottom of our hearts." I looked down.

I wasn't blind, I had noticed it in their behavior, even if I didn't reciprocate.

"What am I?" I asked her. I kept pushing that question in the back of my mind but…I had to know at some point.

"Yuureis were the secret to the Uzumaki clan's strength. Growing up, I had heard stories but never believed them. Mito-sama always told me it was in the past anyway. I went through her belongings, and I found a record of the previous, and last, Yuurei when the clan still existed fully."

"So there were others like me?" She nodded; her eyes still conflicted.

"The founder of our clan was the first one. He made a pact with the Shinigami which allowed him to go back in his younger body shortly before he felt the biggest regret of his life. In exchange, the Shinigami took a part of his vitality. It is only thanks to our life force Yuureis were able to exist. At first, it would happen because of regrets, but then, as time went by and Yuurei left their knowledge behind them, it started to become a way to…strengthen the clan. Yuureis…they were revered almost as deities in the clan because…because…"

"Because?"

"Because they were nothing more but sacrifices for the glory of the clan." I gulped. I was…a sacrifice? "Unless you give a soul of equivalent quality, you will not be able to break the Shinigami seal on you and you'll die, going to its stomach. It's…" She pulled me in her arms. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry kitten…"

"What? Am I dying?" She put her cheek on my head.

"Sending a soul back leaves…cracks in it. The weight of the Shinigami's energy circulating in your body, in your seal, slowly turn them into fractures and…from what Mito-sama wrote down, Uzumaki Umiko would have moments where she would lose her mind almost and…"

"So I'm gonna finish insane," I summed up numbly.

Would it be the same for Itachi? I couldn't risk him ending up insane because of me when he had his life back on track.

"Let's go to Uzushio." I blinked and moved back, looking at her in alarm.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" She pursed her lips and nodded firmly.

"I…have been wanting to go back for a long time. Now is the best moment to do so." I licked my lips.

I had never been to Uzushio before. I was okay to go but…it was her hometown and…

"I'll gladly go Kushina-san," I told her. "But you don't have to force yourself for my sake or Mom's. I can go on my own lat…"

"It is a clan thing Akane. Yuureis…they are to be protected by the rest of the clan. I'm supposed to protect you." She cupped my cheek. "And, I am not lying. I have been wanting to go."

"Okay then." She smiled a little.

"Can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"How…old are you actually?" I blinked.

"I am forty." She looked down sadly.

"It explains the sudden change in maturity." She sighed.

"Are you…disappointed?"

"Well, I am sad I don't get to really watch you grow up but…you're here, and I still get to see you go through puberty like any of us." I made a face and she flicked my nose. "Don't worry about me, this is not my burden to bear."

How right she was.

Thanks for reading. I hope you have liked it, please do let me know in reviews!

Bye!