Koishi spent the entirety of the next day in her small bedroom without seeing Itachi. It was only the second time in the seven months that she had been in Konoha that he hadn't come to visit her. When he wasn't the one to knock on her door with her lunch that afternoon, she became worried that something had to be terribly wrong, and anxiety began picking at her insides. The last time he hadn't come had been due to the birth of his little brother; was everything okay with him, or had Itachi's family suffered another tragic loss? Tears sprung from Koishi's eyes at this thought; she hadn't met the baby brother that Itachi loved so much, but she knew how important he was to her friend and his family. She didn't want them to suffer any more than Itachi had told her they had.

Knowing that no one would give her answers, if they even had any to begin with, Koishi passed the time that afternoon by listening to his advice from the day before, staying off her feet and rereading the book he'd given her while they were training in the woods. She found herself once again lost in a green garden world, filled only with the good things that seemed so scarce in this cold world she had been born into.

By the time the sun was setting, she had finished it and found herself lying down in bed as darkness overtook the room, turning the pale yellow walls into a muted shade of grey as the light slowly faded. She began thinking of the last conversation she'd had with Itachi and how it had left her feeling. He had made it clear that he hadn't been comfortable with the idea that she saw anything in him but darkness. It made no sense to her, Koishi thought to herself with a sliver of frustration.

Didn't he see the smiles he always left her with? The way she lit up when she answered his knocks every day at lunchtime to find a parcel of homemade food in his hands? Did he not understand that in the thirteen years of her life, he was one of only a handful of people who had ever made her feel like an actual person? He may see himself as only a mere tool for his village, but she saw so much more in him than that.

Where Koishi longed for the simplicity of a civilian life, Itachi was a shinobi through and through. There was no doubt as to his skills. He was an extraordinary ninja; she knew he held back in their sparring matches, knew he had yet to show her what he was truly capable of. But he wasn't only an extraordinary ninja - to Koishi, he was an extraordinary person as well.

She saw in him a little boy who still loved his mother with his whole heart. She saw the proud older brother in him; the one whose eyes became bright, a rare genuine smile on his face every time he talked about baby Sasuke. Koishi saw the thoughtful boy who put care into everything he did, the one who always put himself last. He was good, and it killed her to know that he thought otherwise.

Sleep didn't come easily with all the questions running through her mind. Would Itachi be back tomorrow? Would he tell her where he had been today? Did it have something to do with what Danzo had said to them the day before, when he'd offered to let them use his bathhouse? This last question left her stomach churning. The old man had used the words so close.

So close to what?

Koishi didn't know much about Konoha or its politics. She had been kept out of the war that had ended the year before, but she remembered her uncle's humiliation at the way he'd been forced to surrender. Was it possible that, like her uncle, some of Konoha's leaders hadn't wanted the peace treaty? Could Danzo be one of those people, and was that why he wanted her in his arsenal so badly?

So many questions. Where do I even begin looking for the answers?

Koishi didn't end up getting any sleep that night. She stared at the popcorn ceiling above her bed all night long, wishing more than anything that she had the answers to all the questions plaguing her mind. Maybe if she did, she thought, she would be able to see a way out of it all.

As the sun came up and the knock on her door sounded, Koishi sat up with a determination she hadn't felt the day before, or any day since leaving Iwa. As she crossed the expanse of space between the bed and the door, she told herself that she just had to be patient. There was a way out, and she would find it. She would bide her time until then, no matter how many sleepless nights it took. She was going to get herself and Itachi away from all the violence and all the bloodshed.

The Next Day

By mid-afternoon of her second day in a row without seeing Itachi, Koishi was sure that whatever was going on had nothing to do with his family. She was accustomed to seeing groups of the masked ninja through her bedroom window when she would look out during the day, but as she sat on her chair gazing outside that day, she saw no one at all. It was quieter than she was used to, and it left her feeling unsettled, an uncomfortable ache in the pit of her stomach telling her that something was off.

The bland rice that was delivered to her door that morning was the only time she saw anyone that day at all, in fact. No one came at lunchtime to bring her food, and she found herself wishing she had seen Itachi so that she could say thank you for the small stash of snacks he used to bring her for the long stretches in between meals that she had spent alone in her room before her training had started.

By seven o'clock, the sun was beginning to set over the village and she picked up the book again to begin rereading it. It was apparent to her that there would be no dinner tonight; whatever was going on was apparently a higher priority than keeping her fed today. She'd just finished the third chapter and was just getting sucked into the make-believe world when a series of knocks startled her. The book fell from her hands with a loud clunk.

Before she had a chance to get off her bed to open the door and figure out who was there and why, her door swung open and her eyes widened when she saw Itachi standing there, his face concealed beneath the Crow mask she hadn't seen him with since first meeting him in the North Pass. Though his expression and emotions were hidden beneath the porcelain mask, his body posture told her that something was wrong.

"What happened?" She asked, ignoring the book she had been reaching for in favor of giving him her full attention. He was already at her closet, pulling clothes off their hangers and tossing them at her.

"Danzo is sending us out."

His answer was curt and short, his face turned away from her as he said it. "What do you mean?" She questioned him, her eyebrow arched. "My knee-"

"Koishi." He cut her off, tone laced with warning.

She closed her mouth, biting her bottom lip as she studied the mask. In the darkness of the room, the eye slits in it appeared void, like he wasn't underneath at all. He looked like the weapon he had called himself a couple of days ago, with no humanity about him at all in that particular moment. It scared her to see him like this, and a chill shivered down her spine.

Seeing that he had her full attention again, he continued, "He has forced a change in leadership." He told her quietly, turning away so that she could get dressed. As Koishi began pulling the clothes on, he added, "The Third Hokage has agreed to step down."

Her eyes widened. "But why?" She found herself asking. "Why would he want-"

"It doesn't matter why he wanted this." Itachi cut her off again. "What matters now is that we get you out of Konoha until the dust settles. He doesn't want you here during the transition."

Koishi finished getting dressed without saying anything else, knowing that he wouldn't tell her anything else right now. When she was fully clothed, she slipped into the sandals by the door and reached for the book on the floor. Itachi grabbed her wrist, shaking his head.

"Mother sent a few more for you." He told her simply, his tone less harsh than before. He cleared his throat and motioned for her to leave the room first, adding, "We're going a different way this time."

He let her go down the hall and the stairs first before taking her by the arm and pulling her towards the back of the building. He led her into a small room with a large bookcase that dominated the farthest wall. Koishi watched as he reached up for a book on the third shelf and listened as a series of clicks echoed through the room before the bookcase began to slide, exposing a dark stairwell.

"After you." He told her, holding his hand out towards the stairs. She took a few hesitant steps forward before she turned to look up at him when she saw just how dark it really was.

"I..." She blushed, glancing away in embarrassment. She didn't want to admit to the stoic figure in front of her that she was afraid of something so trivial as a dark stairwell.

He placed his hand on the small of her back, using his free hand to lift his mask so that she could see the reassuring smile on his face. "I'm right behind you." He promised her. Koishi nodded, taking her first few steps down. She stopped when she heard the bookcase sliding shut, nervous as the few slivers of light faded away. She hadn't heard him follow her and suddenly felt paranoid that she'd been left alone in the darkness.

"Itachi?" Koishi spoke his name quietly, her voice a little shaky. With no semblance of where the walls were compared to the stairs, she found herself feeling disorientated and gasped as she felt the sensation that she was suddenly falling.

"I'm right here, Koishi." His deep voice told her, his arm looping around her waist to steady her on her feet as he added, "You're okay. Just take them one at a time until you're at the bottom. There's a light down in the tunnel."

She did as he advised, feeling much better now that she knew for sure he was with her. He kept his hand on her shoulder the entire time. She could hear his quiet breathing along with their footfalls on the stone steps and the occasional drip of water echoing in the tunnel they were apparently heading to.

"Why didn't we go this way last time?" She asked as she came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs.

"We aren't going to the estate this time." Itachi told her, grabbing her hand and taking the lead now. She followed, assuming he must know where they were going. She frowned, biting her bottom lip as she wondered what that meant. When she didn't say anything, he answered her unspoken question. "It's too close to Konoha for his liking."

She frowned. "Why doesn't he want me here all of a sudden?"

Itachi sighed and stopped, reaching out to a spot on the wall and flicking a switch that illuminated the stone walls in dim lighting. Over his shoulder and ahead, Koishi could see that every so often hung another bulb. At least they wouldn't be walking in total darkness, she thought to herself.

"Probably because he doesn't trust our new Hokage." Itachi answered her, glancing at her with an unreadable expression. His tone, however, told Koishi that he wasn't in the mood for more questions.

They walked in silence for what felt like an hour or so before the man-made tunnel began to morph into a natural cavern. She looked around in awe as they made their way through the place. She could see another small tunnel on the far side of the cavern and wondered if that was where they were going. He shook his head when he saw her looking that way.

"That leads to just outside the Hokage's Tower." He told her, nodding his head in the opposite direction. "We're going west, under the monument and through the mountain to the hills."

"Monument?" She mused out loud.

He hummed, smiling over at her as they walked. "I forgot you haven't had a chance to see it yet. In the side of the mountain, all the faces of our Hokages are carved as a testament to their strength and as a reminder that they're always watching over the villagers. It's really quite a sight, if you aren't accustomed to seeing it all the time."

"I hope I get to see it someday." Koishi told him thoughtfully. "It sounds meaningful. We have something similar back in Iwa."

"Oh?" Itachi asked her.

Koishi nodded. "The Stone Monument. It's nothing so fancy as actual carvings in the side of a mountain, but it reminds all of us what it means to be an Iwa shinobi." She was looking at the ground as she spoke, a troubled expression on her face as she mumbled, "Or, at least, it's supposed to."

After a short pause, Itachi quietly said, "I don't know what it means to be an Iwa shinobi, so I can't say whether or not you were a good one." He stopped, turning to face Koishi. She felt her heart sink to the pit of her stomach. He lifted a hand to her chin, tilting her head up so that she was looking him in the eye as he continued, "But, I do know that you have a strong desire for peace. You want to protect the people you care about - even those of us who don't deserve such compassion. In my opinion, that makes you a great shinobi of the Leaf."

Koishi blinked, caught off guard by his words. He knew how she felt about being a ninja and knew she wanted nothing more than to leave it behind. But he also knew that recently, she'd begun realizing that she couldn't achieve that goal without first becoming a skilled shinobi. He had complimented her before, told her how proud he was of her improvement in the last few weeks. But this...this felt different.

This felt more like being accepted by a comrade. She felt a light flush creeping across her cheeks at his praise, unable to stop herself from smiling. They continued walking after a few minutes of silence. She told herself she didn't care where they were going because it gave her another chance to get to know him better, just like their interlude at Danzo's estate had offered. Maybe this time, she'd be able to convince him that he was more than just a weapon for the old, bitter man to use in his game of war.

-x-

They traveled through the night before Itachi announce that they had reached their destination. As Koishi looked around the place in the early morning sunlight, she couldn't help but feel disappointed. Compared to the relative comfort of the estate near Konoha, this place looked like nothing more than an abandoned farmstead.

"This area used to be settled by my ancestors, long before Konoha or any of the great villages existed." He told her as she looked around the place dubiously. "No one has been here for years, but it will do for a few weeks until we go back."

"When are we going back?" She asked quietly, jumping when she watched as a snake slithered across the path in front of her. She landed against his chest and bit her bottom lip as he steadied her for the second time that night. He chuckled, stepping back and releasing his hold on her as he watched the snake disappear into the grass.

"It was just a little garden snake." He told her with an amused smile before he answered her question with a small sigh. "At least a week, but probably longer than that." He looked up at the sky as he added, "He wants us to start work on honing your control over your kekkei genkai."

She had known that was coming and yet she still couldn't hold back the frustrated groan that rumbled through her throat. That was the last thing she wanted to do, and judging by the apologetic look on his face, Itachi understood that. But Koishi knew she didn't have a choice in the matter. But when she remembered what she'd decided the night before, she realized that maybe that wasn't such a bad thing, after all. A plan began to form in her mind.

She would hone the skills Danzo wanted her to improve.

She would gain control over the bloodline gift she'd tried for years to ignore.

And then she'd make Danzo regret having ever met her. She'd exact revenge for the control he exerted over Itachi, even if the raven-haired boy denied such a thing was happening. She would become the weapon he wanted, and then she'd turn on him. He had no idea what she would be capable of if she mastered her abilities, but she did - and she knew he wouldn't stand a chance against her then.