This chapter and the next (still being written) were originally supposed to be one, but I promised a speedy upload so I split them. If this chapter seems hastily written, please let me know.

I also think I will continue with the shorter chapters (compared to chapter 2) and hopefully update more often. Let me know if you disagree with this format.

Thank you again to everyone who read/reviewed/favorited/followed-I am a very happy chipmunk right now :) Those were some lovely reviews!

Lastly, this story does not have a beta, although I hope that is not too apparent in the writing!

Chapter 4

The genjutsu scroll is useless. Perched on the branch of a tall maple tree, Sakura peers cautiously once again through a thick cluster of leaves, towards the pathway winding through the park around twenty feet away. Two women are slowly strolling towards the tree, shopping bags in hand. Quickly running her hands through the now-familiar seals, Sakura again closes her eyes in concentration, releasing a quick burst of chakra.

The women pass underneath her tree and walk on, completely oblivious. Completely unaffected.

"Oh, curses." Sakura levels a heated glare at the giant log lying innocently at the edge of the path. The one that the women were supposed to walk around-because it was supposed to appear in the center of the path.

Whipping out the scroll again, Sakura scowls at the instructions. The technique is called "Myopia"-a stupid name for a stupid jutsu, in her opinion. The caster is supposed to be able to make the victim (or victims) perceive objects to be positioned slightly away from where the objects really are-like a log, for example.

Unfortunately, the scroll provides next to no instructions aside from the string of seals, each accompanied by a neatly drawn-and completely useless-diagram of the hand sign, and a vague suggestion to "envision the desired effects" of the jutsu in her mind.

Once again, completely useless.

Sakura resists the urge to crumple the sheet and lets out a deep breath, three seconds away from giving up and paying a visit to the library instead. The scroll had claimed that theory at such an early stage only causes confusion, and thus some simple exercises like "Myopia" should be mastered first, but Sakura had always been a theory nerd. Iruka-sensei had said that she excelled at written tests, and Sakura has a feeling that reading up on mechanisms of genjutsu will only help her. Right now, it feels like she is groping around in the dark, trying to practice without knowing how-she doesn't even think she is using the right amount of chakra yet.

Skimming over the directions for the upteenth time, Sakura tries to figure out what "envisioning the desired effects" is supposed to mean: is she supposed to image the person walking around thin air? Or maybe visualize the log shifting to the middle of the path?

She really needs better instructions.

Or maybe this is all a mistake and she is only good at chakra control exercises. After all, they've only just begun basic genjutsu meditation techniques at the Academy-surely that is much too early to accurately determine if someone actually has potential.

With a groan, Sakura covers her face with her hands. She'll try one more time, just once more-

A loud gasp. "OH MY KAMI, is that a fairy?!"

Sakura slips.

With a squeak, she tumbles downward, barely managing to attach her left foot to the bottom of the branch with chakra. Upside-down and swinging, she comes face-to-face with wide, dark eyes just as surprised as her own.

The older boy gapes, jaw working up and down. And then he explodes.

"YOU REALLY ARE A FAIRY!"

Sakura's concentration wavers, just for an instant. She falls.

"AHH-"

Strong arms deftly catch her, and then she is being encircled in warm, dark cloth. And squeezed. Very tightly.

"Oh my Kami, hello chibi! Sorry for distracting you, are you alright!? Hey Itachi look! I caught a chibi-fairy! ITACHI!" He barrels on.

"You're suffocating her, Shisui."

The cloth around her face seems to freeze for a moment, and then she is released. Taking big gulps of air, Sakura closes her eyes and vaguely waves off the barrage of apologies her attacker is throwing her way.

"I'm Uchiha Shisui and this is my cousin Itachi-just call him 'Tachi though, he doesn't mind!" The older boy grins at her once she's recovered, spiky hair seeming to tremble with the force of his cheer. He sprawls on the ground beside her and tugs his companion down with him.

'He's odd,' Sakura decides. She kind of likes it.

The other boy, Itachi-san, looks strangely familiar. She stares up at him and tries to place where she's seen those eyes, that slight smile…..

'His eyes are quite warm,' she realizes. And...he seems amused? The boy elegantly sweeps his ponytail over his shoulder.

Sakura's eyes widen. "Oh! You're the boy I met that day! While training!" She blushes faintly at the embarrassing memory. So recent, and yet it seems like it happened a lifetime ago, to a different person...a different Sakura. "I'm sorry for leaving so quickly back then, Itachi-san, I am happy we get to meet again."

"It is no problem at all." Itachi is regarding her with a look in his eyes that she cannot place. Scrutinizing her. Sakura wonders if he sees the changes in her that she can hardly understand herself, feels the difference between the light-hearted girl that existed mere weeks ago and this numb shell that wanders now. She wonders if he sees the same emptiness in her eyes that she cringes away from every morning, in the mirror.

Shisui breaks the silence. "You guys have met before?" He sounds surprised. "When was this?"

"A few weeks ago. You were...away, Shisui." Shisui's face seems to darken for a moment in understanding. He turns back to Sakura with a smile.

"Hey, so what's your name, Chibi-chan?" He tugs on a lock of pink hair as her eyes widen in realization.

"I am very sorry for my rudeness!" She exclaims in a rush. Itachi's eyes suddenly narrow. "My name is Haruno Sakura, nice to meet you."

She immediately knows something is wrong. Shisui is frozen, face pale. Itachi is carefully impassive, but she feels it. Feels cold.

"H-Haruno…?" Shisui looks lost, almost. Stricken. Sakura nods past the ice flowering in her gut.

"Should you not be at the Academy at this time?" Itachi cuts in.

"Right! You're an Academy student aren't you? You do look around Sasuke's age." With a glance at Itachi, Shisui seems to shake himself out of his thoughts, flashing her a reassuring smile.

"I'm eight. But I'm skipping." Sakura murmurs, hanging her head slightly. What had seemed so justified in her mind now sounds like a weakness before these two older, confident-looking males.

Unbidden, snippets of memory resurface in her mind: taunting remarks, shunning sneers, a comment to a friend-oh, it's the Haruno girl again, did you hear that story about her dad? My mom told me not to get too close to her-and a side-eye, Iruka-sensei's attempt to talk to her after class. Surprisingly, Ami and her friends had yet to approach her directly, but Sakura could feel their cruel stares, their mocking whispers, snubbing laughter.

Sakura needed to get away.

She never realized that escape is more than just avoiding a building.

Shisui opens his mouth, but Itachi beats him to it. "What were you doing in the tree? I would expect areas closer to the marketplace to be more entertaining than a deserted park at the edge of the village." Shisui gapes in bewilderment at his normally reticent cousin. He is calmly ignored.

"I was practicing," Sakura mumbles, "a genjutsu." She nods at the scroll lying rolled up on the grass beside her.

Shisui's eyebrows shoot up. "Huhh...may I see?" She hands him the scroll.

Unrolling the parchment with a quick flick of his wrist, he skims through the document and snorts, handing the paper over to Itachi. "It's kind of cute! You should try it Itachi." Shisui chuckles.

Sakura can't help the blush that stains her cheeks yet again, shame and failure welling up in her chest. She casts her eyes to the ground.

The boys notice. "Hey what's wrong? Chibi-chan?" A warm hand lands on her shoulder.

Sakura flicks her gaze at him quickly, then diverts her attention back to the grass. "It's not going very well."

She feels his shock. "Wait, what?! Chibi-chan, you're telling me that you're capable of standing upside down on a tree with only one leg but haven't yet figured out how to execute a beginner genjutsu?!" He sputters a bit.

Sakura almost feel defensive-almost. Somehow, his voice doesn't sound mocking really, and his gaze holds no hint of condescension. Only genuine surprise, and bafflement. Sakura nods.

Sitting back on his heels, Shisui squints at her with a look of comical intensity. "How's your taijutsu?" He shoots out suddenly.

"Average."

"Ninjutsu?"

"..A bit below average," Sakura mumbles, a bit sheepish. 'I've gotten better!' she wants to say, but she knows it makes no difference. She bites her lip.

"Weapons training?"

"...Same."

Shisui is nodding, a smile of something akin to understanding starting to stretch across his face.

"Genjutsu?"

"We haven't really done anything besides meditation yet, although Iruka-sensei thinks I might have potential." And he might be wrong. Sakura presses her hands together in her lap.

Itachi is smirking at her for some reason.

"Chakra control? Theory?" Shisui continues rapid-fire.

Sakura considers.

"...Good."

Shisui beams at her. "I see!"

"See what?" Sakura frowns.

"It allllll makes sense now." He drawls, folding his hands behind his head. He nudges her with his knee, face split in a shit-eating grin.

Sakura tries to maintain her calm facade, but finds her eyebrow twitching in irritation in spite of herself. There is just something so annoyingly open, friendly, about the boy that chisels through barriers with ease.

"Please enlighten me." She shoots him a slightly deadpan look.

His grin grows impossibly wider. "You know that ninjutsu is by far the most commonly practiced discipline in the Five Nations, right?"

Sakura nods. "Taijutsu is not that rare either."

"Still nowhere near as popular as ninjutsu though." Shisui shrugs. "And Konoha is an outlier since we have some big clans that specialize in taijutsu."

Throwing an arm around her shoulders, he leans in. "Now." A smirk. "Disciplines like genjutsu and and medical jutsu and fuuinjutsu-I don't think the Academy teaches it but the field is mostly about sealing-those techniques are very rarely studied. Know why?"

A subtle glance at Itachi results in nothing but amused ebony eyes and-unbelievably-an innocent blink.

Sakura can't resist a sigh, and shakes her head. She sneaks Itachi a half-hearted glare.

"Because those fields require specialization!" Shisui throws his arms wide without warning, and flashes Sakura a thousand-watt smile. "Proficiency in disciplines like medical jutsu and fuuinjutsu require high levels of ability in specific areas such as chakra control and intelligence."

He scratches his head. "And I suppose taijutsu is hard to pick up because of the extraordinary amounts of determination needed to endure the extreme physical trainings that develop the body's speed and strength. Ninjutsu though!"

Scrunching up his nose, Shisui twists his features into an attempt at seriousness. "Ninjutsu is...hmm, the easiest to get good at!" He scratches his head again-his thinking pose, Sakura guesses. "Although of course, it's hard to be a master at it, just like any other field." He adds hastily. "How should I put it.."

"Ninjutsu is the most accessible discipline." Itachi fixes Sakura with a warm, unreadable stare. "Unlike the other fields, ninjutsu involves a mixture of many different factors such as stamina and chakra control, but one only needs to be above a certain threshold in all of these areas. So to perform a ninjutsu technique, you need not be too advanced in any particular skill, you just need to be 'good enough' at all of the needed skills. The rest is just practice."

"Exactly!" Shisui nods his head furiously in agreement. "And that's probably why you're having trouble with the genjutsu here." He waves at the scroll lying innocently on the grass. "Based on your Academy performances, it seems like you haven't yet reached the thresholds in some of the skills needed to perform this jutsu yet. Plus, you seem to be a theory type."

He flicks Sakura on the forehead, laughing at her scowl. "Techniques like these that are mostly just blind practice-'ask no questions, just follow the directions'-might actually be harder for you."

Sakura ponders this information with new hope. It does sound logical, and the possibility that she isn't, in fact, a failure, is very uplifting. However.

"This is a genjutsu scroll."

Shisui grins knowingly at her. "Yeah?"

She slaps his arm. Lightly. But still-Itachi smirks.

"Genjutsu. Not ninjutsu. Why are there thresholds here? What skills do I need to have to perform genjutsu?"

"Ooooooo, aren't you an observant little minx, Chibi-chan?!" He gets slapped again. Harder.

"Alright, alright. How about a fun fact? There are three types of genjutsu!" He giggles with glee. Giggles. Sakura isn't sure if she is more disturbed or amused by the sight.

"The type you were trying to perform is actually closer to ninjutsu than true genjutsu. It's also the only type of 'genjutsu' that you will learn in the Academy, since it is more accessible to students. Most shinobi don't have the abilities needed to become wielders of the other two types of genjutsu!" He crosses his arms and shoots Sakura an expectant look, but she doesn't notice.

Eyebrows furrowed in concentration, Sakura casts her mind back to the genjutsu theory texts she's read in class, as well as the texts she had come across before in the library. Nowhere had the texts mentioned three types of genjutsu…

"Where can I find more information about this?" Sakura starts to feel a bit lost. "If the Academy senseis don't teach this…..I haven't found a genjutsu technique scroll on this topic yet.." Her bottom lip finds its way between her teeth again.

"You probably won't find too much direct information on this subject from the library." Itachi's smooth tenor soothes even as his words incite further worry in her. "Nor will you find true genjutsu techniques in scrolls, because unlike ninjutsu, which focuses on building up arsenal of techniques to have at your fingertips, true genjutsu is not gathering a set of techniques." He smiles, a small lift of his lips, a lightening of dark eyes. "It's mastering and understanding one technique so well that everything within the realm of imagination you can shift with merely a flick of a wrist, a twitch of an eyebrow."

Shisui makes eye contact with Itachi, eyes swimming with some unnameable emotion. Something like understanding flows between them. Sakura looks away.

"So I'm out of options." No Academy teachers, no books...her father was a genjutsu user, she remembers. Had been, once.

Shisui laughs. A light, oddly sad chuckle in the evening air. The sun brushes the trees in the distance. "Don't be silly."

He stands up, pulls Itachi up with him. "I'm pretty good at it too, you know." He ruffles her petal locks.

"I'll teach you genjutsu."