For the training, Itachi helped Sasuke with hiding. That way, the next time Naruto came causing trouble, Sasuke could just gracefully avoid him.

A common mistake people made is believing hiding meant obscurity or camouflage. They thought the farther away, the better. They looked for shadows.

But shadows only made sense if you were hiding from the sun.

When it came to people, you could hide in daylight. You could hide right besides them.

The key to hiding was to get into the mind of the person looking for you. To see what they see. To think what they think.

Once you could do that, all you had to do was step into the spaces beyond their perception. Do that well, and you could be right in front of them, and they still would not see. You could be yelling at them, and they'd still not hear.

Sasuke was awed. He was also horrified at the idea of having to get inside Naruto's head.

Itachi then taught Sasuke how to escape, in case the hiding failed and confrontation could not be avoided.

On the porch, I munched on watermelon, watching Sasuke get caught again and again, grabbed by the wrist, the ankle, even the back of his shirt. It was not any better the other way around. Itachi easily evaded all of Sasuke's attempts to grab him.

After one brave attempt, Sasuke found his face in the dirt, arms looped around nothing.

Itachi peered down, tilting his head.

I sweated.

Itachi really wasn't cutting the kid any slack.

"Do you want to join us, Ayae?

I pointed to myself questioningly, making sure I hadn't heard Itachi wrong.

I finished my slice of watermelon and went inside to clean up my sticky hands. I joined them in the backyard.

Sasuke was sitting in the dirt, looking very unhappy that I was cutting into his time with Itachi. I could already tell that he was going to protest. Something something we don't need this loser dropout, but put politely.

Sasuke blinked when I stepped aside, then again. Itachi caught my wrist the third time.

Itachi grinned. "Maybe you should be the one teaching Sasuke."

I freed myself with a pivot. Sasuke looked stunned, not expecting me to break Itachi's hold like that.

"How did Sister Ayae—"

"The thing about taijutsu, Sasuke, is that there are only a hundred or so different kata. Every move thereafter is a mere combination of those forms, making them all quite easy for any seasoned shinobi to recognize and counter." Itachi glanced at me. "Ayae went to train in dance, which is not about memorizing form, but about creating movement. Unlike taijutsu, there are theoretically infinite moves at your disposal in dance."

"You actually trained and got better?" Sasuke asked me, disbelieving.

I stuck out my tongue, making the peace sign.

"I did get first place in my competition," I bragged.

"That's nothing special," Sasuke huffed. "I get first place all the time."

"Ah, but did you get everyone first place."

Sasuke's eye twitched. "If everyone's first, then everyone's dead last."

"Dead last winners," I corrected.

"Then that's not a competition," he snapped back, "that's a co-op."

I blinked. Wait, hold on, kid's onto something.

I waved it off.

"Details smetails. Let's go, Sasuke," I said, stretching my arm. "How can you take on Itachi if you can't even take on me?"

My taunt was super effective. Sasuke was back up, focused on me now.

Itachi gave me a grateful look. He needed a break, having been with Sasuke since morning. I returned a thumbs up, showing I got this covered.

While Itachi picked up a slice of watermelon for himself, Sasuke and I played tag in the backyard. It was lots of fun. I loved teasing him.

"That's illegal!" Sasuke yelled after I knee slid away.

I did jazz hands. "That's the point."

I evaded him again. Freeze. Swipe! Swipe! Octopus.

Sasuke screamed in frustration.

He screamed again when I did the octopus again.

I giggled.

Sasuke did not let me do another octopus. I pouted in the dirt, all my limbs locked. Sasuke looked smug, trapping me in his anti-octopus. The noctopus.

That's okay.

WINDMILL!

"YOU—!"

I laughed.

I didn't think Itachi minded that I turned their training session into a breakdancing lesson.

By the end of it, Sasuke was a sweaty puddle. It was the June heat. I patted his head, putting a slice of watermelon in front of him.

We cooled off in the shade of the porch.

The back door slid open. Itachi had come out from the indoors. He smiled at Sasuke and beckoned him over, his other hand behind his back.

Sasuke was over in a heartbeat, only stopping when something dangled something in front of him.

"Here," Itachi said.

It was a cute kitty charm, twirling on a braided string. It was one of the lucky charms that I had brought from the capital.

Itachi had a confession to make. He had lied when he said he didn't know senjutsu. He knew exactly what it was, and also how Naruto was doing what he was doing.

"Senjutsu is simply the assistance of any nonself chakra source," Itachi said. "In other words, it is the power of good will. Of love and friendship."

All Shao had done was teach Naruto how to make friends. And Naruto had done just that: made a new friend. And now that friend was helping him, the two of them having lots of fun pranking Sasuke and the rest of the village.

Itachi admitted the advantage Naruto had now was unfair, so it was only right that Itachi helped even things out a bit.

Itachi told Sasuke that in case he couldn't hide and couldn't escape, that was okay. Just keep the charm on him, and his big brother and sister would protect him. Even when we were not there, we were protecting him.

When the charm landed in Sasuke's palm, the air shifted. Sasuke was focused on the charm. I didn't know if he noticed the sudden skeleton of chakra that encased him. It was gone as fast as it came.

The day ended way too fast. Shadows stretched across the floorboards.

It was really depressing watching Itachi pack his ninja gear. As he promised his dad, he would go back to duty tomorrow.

"Hey, take this too."

Itachi looked up to see the box of matcha pokkii that I had bought for him.

I crouched down next to him.

"You're still not eating enough," I grumbled. "You can eat that when you get hungry."

Quiet, Itachi took it and slid it into one of the pockets.

He stared at his gear. There was something on his mind. There was something he wanted to know, something that he couldn't put off anymore.

"Ayae."

"Hm?"

"If I weren't this, could I have made you happy?"

I stared at him.

"You made me happy even when you were," I said.

Of the things Itachi thought I'd say, it wasn't that, not from the way he reacted. Which was strange to me, because I couldn't imagine what else I'd say, if not that.

I leaned in, wanting to ask if he had wanted something with that question.

I didn't expect him to hug me.

It was like Itachi was finally returning all the hugs I had given him throughout the years, all at once. It was very warm and dizzying. It made my heart beat very fast. In both the good ways and the bad.

Because part of the hug also felt like goodbye.