"Break's over. Let's get back to it."

Koishi groaned, her pale face flushed red from a morning of heavy exertion, sweat dripping down her forehead to her cheek. Itachi had been working her since dawn, starting with an hour of stretches that left her sore in muscles she hadn't known existed in her body. From there, he'd gone on to having her go through thirty pull-ups before he'd had her do the same amount of reps on a bench press in the building she assumed was a gym, filled with various equipment she'd never seen before. A blunt poke to her forehead pulled Koishi out of her thoughts, and she glared up at him, huffing as she tried to catch her breath.

"I've been at it for hours, Itachi. I'm tired."

His eyes were sharp as he stared down at her, his thin lips drawn into a frown. "We've barely started." He told her, shaking his head. "You need to take this seriously, Koishi. Danzo won't be patient forever, and he won't be pleased if we return and you show no skill at all. Which is where you're at right now, by his standards - by mine, too."

"I wouldn't say I'm without skill." She bristled, her back stiffening.

"You can't make it through what I just had you do without being out of breath. You're out of shape. Once you're finished with the next set of exercises, I'll have you do a thirty minute run and you're done with the physical portion of training for the day."

"What's next?" She sighed, knowing he wasn't going to give in by the stern look on his face that left no room for argument. A pleased look on his face, he nodded towards a barbell sitting next to the bench press she'd grown to loathe.

"Thirty bent over rows." He told her. "Do you know how to do one?"

Koishi shook her head. She had trained with her clan back in Iwa, and she thought she'd done so extensively until Itachi had begun guiding her through the first day of the exercise routine he had created for her. It was clear to her now that the Nokogiri clan's standards for physical fitness paled in comparison to those of the proud shinobi of the Leaf. Even back at the complex, she'd watched Danzo's subordinates exercise daily and oftentimes more than once a day. It was obvious that both Itachi and Danzo took training seriously - and that they expected her to do the same.

"I'll show you, and then you'll do thirty for me." He said, walking over and hands on the slim metal bar between the weights evenly with his shoulders. He slightly bent his knees and leaned forward at the hips, keeping his back straight as he did his palms facing his body, Koishi watched as Itachi lifted the barbell to his chest as though it weighed nothing at all, keeping his elbows close to his sides as he did it.

"You'll squeeze your back muscles while you're doing this." Itachi told her as he lowered the barbell back down to where he'd lifted it from, standing up straight. "This whole workout today is about cardio and building your upper body."

"I don't suppose you'll let me get away with less than the full thirty?" She sighed, her back already aching as she glanced at the barbell. He chuckled, arching his eyebrow at her.

"Make it thirty-five." He replied with a grin.

Koishi narrowed her eyes at his amused dark ones, walking over to take his place in front of the weighted metal pole. He corrected her hand placement twice before allowing her to begin, his eyes scrutinizing her every move as she repeated the movements she'd watched his body make. By the thirty-fourth time she'd done the exercise, her back was burning, her thighs aching, and her arms like jello as she weakly performed the final lift before clumsily dropping the barbell. She flinched as the loud sound of metal crashing against concrete resounded through the space, giving Itachi an apologetic smile as she glanced up to find him frowning at her.

"You could have hurt yourself losing control of the barbell like that. Don't let it happen again, okay?" He told her, his eyes softening. "Broken feet hurt pretty badly, and a hundred and fifty pounds coming down on it like that would surely hurt a lot more than what I've experienced."

She nodded, rolling it back to where it had been originally, her chest rising and falling heavily as she leaned over, pressing her hands into her thighs as she caught her breath again. Itachi gave her a few more minutes before nodding towards the open shoji screens that led to the engawa.

"I think it's a nice day to jog outside, rather than running laps in here." He told her, a smile creeping over his stoic features. "You worked hard this morning, and I know how much you enjoy the trees."

Her face lit up as he led her outside. They walked around the edge of the building and towards the east, stopping when they came to a long, wide expanse of patchy grass. It was within the fenced-in estate, but the trees were right at the border of the fence and gave the sense of being out in the woods rather than on an enclosed property.

"We'll run the perimeter of this yard for thirty minutes and then we can stop for lunch." He told her, reaching for the hem of his shirt and tugging it up and over his head. Koishi fought hard to keep her eyes focused on his but failed, scanning her gaze down his bare chest. The muscles she'd felt beneath his baggy shirt the night before were just as toned as she'd imagined them to be, not an ounce of fat anywhere on his tall frame. He cleared his throat and motioned for her to begin running, falling into line easily with her as she set a steady pace. If he'd noticed her wandering eyes, he said nothing about it as they ran side by side. She decided to blame the color she felt burning in her cheeks on the intense workout, but as the next thirty minutes passed by, Koishi found herself glancing over at him from time to time, admiring the way his body would flex with every footfall.

After their run, Itachi told Koishi that she was free to relax before he disappeared into the kitchen. She decided to take a shower, desperate to get all the sweat from the morning's workout off her body. After opening three wrong doors, the tired girl finally found the room she recognized as being the one Itachi had told her was hers for the duration of their stay here on the Shimura estate. Now that it was light out, she could see more detail in the room. Pale yellow wallpaper adorned the walls, a few old paintings of pretty landscapes hung here and there on the walls. The bed sat on an old metal frame, and there was a closet next to the bedroom door that she hadn't seen the night before.

Koishi grabbed a change of clothes that Itachi had given her that morning, a simple t-shirt and shorts before she headed out of the bedroom, retracing her steps down the hallway until she found the bathroom. After locking the door behind herself, she pulled two clean towels out of the small, recessed shelf underneath the window and turned the water on, pulling the stopper for the shower.

She put the water as hot as she could stand, hissing in pleasure as the heat and constant beat of the shower eased the aching muscles in her back. She leaned forward, pressing her hands into the tile and just stood there for several long minutes. Back at Danzo's complex in Konoha, showers were a necessity, but not enjoyable - the water was only hot for a minute and a half, and cut off entirely after three minutes. She hadn't had a long, leisurely shower with hot water for a very long time, and she enjoyed every second of it.

After soothing the muscles in her back, Koishi squirted some scentless shower gel into her hand, using it liberally since she'd not thought to grab a wash cloth to clean herself with. Next she washed her hair with a bottle of two-in-one that, while it wouldn't have been her first choice, did the job just fine. Koishi climbed out of the shower feeling much better than she had beforehand. She walked downstairs in the fresh change of clothes Itachi had given her earlier, a slightly sweet and nutty scent wafting through the air making her stomach growl. She found Itachi still in the kitchen, standing over the counter using a suribachi to grind the toasted sesame seeds that she'd smelled from the stairs.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

He blinked, surprise on his face as he thought about it for a moment. "I'm almost done making lunch, but you could set the table if you want to."

"This will be our first meal at an actual table." She smiled at him as she reached to grab a few plates off an open shelf above the counter.

"I hadn't realized that." Itachi told her, checking the sesame seeds. Deciding they were sufficiently ground up, he poured them into a small bowl, adding in some soy sauce and sugar before he mixed it well. Koishi sat their places at the table, glancing up and watching as Itachi tossed the mixture with the greens. She arched her eyebrow when she watched as he pulled a small bottle of golden colored oil from his pocket, drizzling a small amount over the meal before he carried it to the table, sitting across from her.

"It smells delicious, Itachi." She told him with a grin. "What was that last thing you added to it?"

"Some sesame oil that my mother sent with me. It's one of her favorite ingredients to use with greens and stir fry, which we'll probably have a lot while we're here." He explained, showing her the bottle.

She nodded before both of them gave their gratitude for the meal in front of them, digging in after they'd finished speaking at the same time. Koishi wasn't sure if she'd been expecting Itachi to be as good at cooking as his mother but he definitely was, she thought to herself as the first bite hit her tongue. After she'd finished swallowing, she looked up at Itachi, who was still chewing his own food.

"You must have spent a lot of time watching her cook when you were younger. Your food is just as good as hers is." She was smiling at him as she said it, her eyes meeting his over the table.

"When I could." He said simply.

Koishi got the feeling he didn't want to talk about that anymore, so she abandoned the subject and picked up a new one without skipping a beat. "So tell me more about Sasuke. You said he's cute, but you didn't tell me anything else."

At the mention of his newest family member, Itachi's face visibly brightened. "He has the same hair as all of us, and the same eyes. But he looks so..." He paused before saying, "Peaceful. He's only a couple of days old, but he smiles a lot. He likes holding Father's finger. He apparently has quite the grip already, for a newborn."

"Maybe I'll get to meet him someday." Koishi sighed with a wide smile and cheerful eyes. She hadn't seen many babies in Iwa, and Itachi's baby brother sounded absolutely delightful.

"Actually." Itachi started, lifting his eyes to meet hers again. "Mother has been saying she wants to meet you as well."

"Do you think Danzo will actually let it happen?" She frowned as she said it, taking another bite of food as she waited for his reply.

He thought about it for a minute before shrugging. "I'm not sure. Certainly not any time soon. There's a lot of tension between the powers that be in Konoha, and Danzo has been acting more paranoid than usual as of late."

She sighed again, finishing her meal in silence before she pushed the plate away from herself, looking wistfully towards the forest outside the window above the sink. As she watched a bird flit by, Koishi couldn't help but wish she was one, too, so that she could fly away from the mess she was starting to realize she was in. Itachi said nothing as he took their plates to the sink and washed them, but as she redirected her gaze from the window to watch him looking out the same window, she realized that his silence spoke just as many words as his mouth was capable of.

Itachi didn't want to be here, either. Maybe he wished he could fly away, too.

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About an hour later, Itachi led Koishi outside to the same grassy yard they'd run around earlier that morning. Koishi was just about to ask him what they would be doing when he extended a lumpy pouch to her, his expression unreadable as he did so.

"We're going to spar." He told her as she opened the bag, finding an assortment of kunai and shuriken. Her eyes widened as she looked up at him, immediately shaking her head emphatically as she tried to hand him the pouch back.

"I don't want to." Koishi replied quietly. She had been forced to spar back in Iwa, too, and those bloody memories haunted her. Her heart began to beat wildly against her chest, her breath coming in shallow, short puffs when he met her gaze.

Itachi sighed, his dark eyes softening for only a moment before his expression hardened. "We aren't civilians." He told her firmly. "We don't often get to do what we want to."

Koishi felt tears stinging the corners of her eyes, feeling hopeless as she looked up at him. She had thought it would be different here in the Land of Fire; had heard whispers in her childhood of the green grass over the harsh border of the mountains, had heard that the Hokage treated the Leaf ninja with respect and that their lives were far easier than the shinobi of Iwa had it - having to steal food because wages didn't cover the high cost of food in the starving nation; being forced to fight one another, often to the death to appease the Tsuchikage's near-obsessive desire to create an elite fighting force that could one day actually rival Konoha.

She swallowed hard, knowing that Itachi wasn't going to be convinced not to make her do this. Quickly attaching the pouch to her thigh, Koishi readied herself. Her left foot planted firmly in the ground in front of her as she gripped a kunai tightly in her right hand, her eyes focused on Itachi as he took his own stance.

"We won't be using any ninjutsu. This spar is to gauge your skill in shurikenjutsu and see where you're at with weapons tactics. I will not be trying to hurt you, Koishi, but you need to come at me as though I'm your enemy." Itachi explained as he pulled his own kunai, readying it in front of himself.

Koishi hesitated, a frown on her face. "What if I hurt you?"

At this, a smug smirk pulled at Itachi's lips. "You won't."

He moved then, making it clear that the conversation was over as he quickly disappeared. Koishi felt on edge immediately, her eyes darting to a copse of trees within the fence. She thought at first that's where he'd gone until she hissed as the sharp edge of a kunai sliced through her arm from behind. She twisted her body, blue eyes meeting black as she found him standing there.

"You're too slow." He told her, pulling his arm back to his body before he stepped back from her. "Did your elders teach you nothing in all those years?"

"I-"

He cut her off by lunging towards her with his kunai again. This time, Koishi was able to evade and as she spun her body around so that they were face to face. She narrowed her eyes at him, once again taking offense to his words.

"Just because I don't want to fight doesn't mean I can't." She snapped, her free hand quickly reaching for some shuriken. She readied them between her fingers, glaring at the boy standing across from her with an amused look on his face. She tossed the weapons, watching as he avoided them easily. He chuckled, arching his eyebrow at her.

"I've seen children with better skills." Itachi goaded Koishi, dodging another series of thrown shuriken. She growled, tightening her grip on the kunai. She'd only ever known Itachi to be kind and warm and she didn't recognize the person he was right now. The frustration she felt at his mocking of her ability became anger when he said casually, "My brother is only a newborn, and I bet even he could-"

"Shut up!" Koishi yelled at him, angry tears blurring her vision as she stared hard at him. He grinned, moving back into a proper stance as she did the same.

"That." He told her, his tone even and no longer lilted with the cruel tone of his previous words. "Draw on that anger, Koishi, that frustration."

Koishi didn't reply vocally as she thought about what her move should be. They were in an open expanse of space, so she knew there would be no sneaking up on him - she didn't have the speed for that, she thought bitterly to herself. The stand of trees she'd thought Itachi had hidden in a few minutes before was too far for her to try that. Koishi realized that whatever she was going to do would have to be done in full view of him, giving him the advantage.

She ran towards him in the same instant she realized that there would be no concealing her movements, her right arm extended forward with the kunai as she focused a surge of chakra to her feet to counteract his own speed. It wasn't enough to land a blow, but she felt satisfied as this time, her blade sliced through the leg of his pants as he evaded her.

"Better." He told her, nodding his head shortly as he glanced down at the cut pants. "But still not enough, Koishi."

Not enough. The words echoed in her mind, bringing her back to a moment long before she'd ever met the boy standing across from her. A small sound escaped her mouth as her hand went slack, the kunai dropping to the ground as she began trembling as her mind began replaying the awful memory of the last time she'd heard those words.

It had been her seventh birthday. Her uncle, the Tsuchikage, had woken her up that morning by dragging her out of bed and to the training grounds outside Iwa. At first, when they'd arrived and she'd seen her best friend there, she had naively thought that perhaps he was giving them a chance to have a pleasant off day from the rigorous training schedule he expected from anyone belonging to the Nokogiri clan.

By the end of the day, her best friend had been dead and Koishi had been the one to do it, covered in the blood of someone her uncle had called weak - someone who wasn't enough of an asset to waste precious resources like water and food on.

"Aomizu." Itachi's deep voice was next to her ear, though she could barely hear him over the memory of her best friend's screams that day echoing in her mind. He repeated himself, shaking her shoulder firmly and Koishi blinked, taking a stuttered breath as she lifted wide, teary eyes up to meet his dark ones, filled with concern.

"I-I'm sorry." She stammered, reaching up to wipe at her eyes with the back of her hand. She wasn't sure what she was apologizing for, the words slipping off her tongue before she even knew she'd spoken. Itachi shook his head, pulling his hand away from her shoulder now that he'd gotten her attention.

"You have nothing to be sorry about." He told her simply as he moved to stand, offering her his hand. She accepted and stood up, wondering when she'd lost her footing to begin with.

"I..." She started, looking down at the patchy grass. Deciding she wasn't ready to tell anyone about that painful part of her past, she sighed before quietly asking, "Can we be done for the day?"

He nodded, looking towards the forest. "Yes." He answered her, giving her a small smile. He added, "I was thinking a nice swim might be a good way to end the afternoon. Afterwards, we can come back here and you can do whatever you'd like while I cook dinner."

With that, Koishi did her best to put the awful memory back into its box at the back of her mind. She wasn't that scared little girl anymore, with blood staining her hands and a cruel uncle at her back telling her what a wonderful weapon she would someday be. She was older now, with more strength both in mind and body. She had managed to escape Iwa and as she followed Itachi through a gate in the wall and into the forest beyond, she determined that she'd escape this situation, too.

This time, though, she wasn't going to escape alone. She may have lost her childhood best friend, but she wasn't going to lose Itachi. No matter how long it took her, she thought to herself; no matter what she had to do to achieve it, she was going to get them both out of the mess Danzo had them trapped in.

One Week Later

Seven days later, Koishi was lying on her side in the grass next to the placid river that Itachi had brought her to swim in on the first day of training, her eyes closed as dappled sunlight splashed down onto her face through the thick canopy of leaves above her. He was sitting cross-legged nearby, leaning up against a tree as he absent-mindedly sharpened a kunai.

Today wasn't the first rest day he had given her since they'd arrived, but it was the first time he'd brought her back to the river, and she was more relaxed than she had been in days as she lazily dragged her hand back and forth in the cool water. Neither of them spoke, but as Koishi lifted her gaze to look over at him, she found him to be just as at ease as she felt.

"I'm glad it didn't rain today." She finally said after a few more minutes of quiet. Itachi's dark eyes lifted to meet her gaze, half a smile on his lips as he stopped sharpening the blade in his hand.

"Me, too." He agreed.

It had been rain that had thwarted Koishi's plans to ask Itachi to bring her back to the river on the first rest day he'd given her three days ago on Wednesday. She had been longing for the water and what it would do for her aching muscles after spending the first half of her week working out from dawn to noon every single day followed by afternoons spent sparring with Itachi - which was no less exhausting or difficult than his painful exercise routine. Each day ended with the same way, with the two of them sitting across from one another at the table while they shared whatever meal he had prepared for them that night.

So on Wednesday morning, when she'd awoken late in the morning to a loud crack of thunder and the steady beating of rain against the window, Koishi could have cried. She nearly had, having had her heart set on returning to the river. When she had finally wandered downstairs after getting over the disappointment, she had walked into an empty kitchen that still smelled like the grilled fish that Itachi must have cooked for breakfast that morning. A note on the counter had told her he'd be back by noon.

No sooner had Koishi read the note did Itachi walk into the house, his face more cheerful than usual as he carried a familiar package wrapped in lovely fabric in his hands. He had met with his mother and baby Sasuke in the woods that morning, and she had brought lunch for them. He told her all about his visit with them and how relieved he was that his little brother still seemed to recognize him after having only spent a few days with him before coming out to the estate.

The rest of Wednesday had been fairly quiet, with Itachi presenting her with something his mother had brought for him to give her. It was a book that quickly drew her in, a poetic story about a lonely girl who found comfort in nature in much the same way that Koishi herself did. She found herself transported into the beautiful, lush world that was written into the words, forgetting for the hours that she spent reading all about her own life and its cruel pains.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Itachi had worked Koishi even harder and pushed her to go faster. He had increased the amount of every round of exercises he had her do. They stopped later in the day for lunch and took a shorter amount of time to eat before he would spar with her. He didn't hold himself back when he was fighting her now, showing no mercy as they exchanged blows with fists and swipes of kunai. While they sparred, he had her wear weights on her calves and her waist and while it did slow her down, Koishi could feel the results as the days went on.

"You've improved a lot." Itachi's voice pulled her out of her thoughts, and Koishi blinked as she looked over at him with a dubious look on her face. She had yet to best him in one of their matches, and the most damage she'd done to him so far was a scratch across his cheek on Friday.

"I don't want to." She murmured softly, taking her gaze back to the river. "I don't want to fight, Itachi."

He didn't reply right away and she sighed, letting her eyes close as she laid back into the soft grass, running her wet fingers through the long blades. She nearly jumped out of her skin in surprise when, a few minutes later, he decided to reply with, "Neither do I."

She hadn't been expecting such a response from someone who was so good at something he claimed not to like. "What do you mean?" She found herself asking.

"I didn't get to be a child, either, Koishi." Itachi told her with a sad smile. "My father took me to the battlefields of the Second War after it was over, and I saw the results of what fighting leads to for both sides of a cause. It's all so pointless. All fighting ever accomplishes is death and grief, even if the fighting is done in the name of peace. I wish..." He trailed off with a sigh, shaking his head. "It doesn't matter what I wish. We don't have a choice, Koishi. So, you'll learn to fight as well as I do so that you don't end up dying for a cause that you had no choice in joining."