Several days after the trio's journey back to Akatsuki hideout had started, Itachi, Kisame, and Mitsuki finally reached their destination. Along the way, with Itachi's advice, Mitsuki has been honing her skill whenever possible. Fuelled by his curiosity, Itachi has become her training companion, as he kept trying to propose new ways for her to use her skill based on his universal knowledge as well as pushing Mitsuki to keep testing her power's limitation.

Mitsuki skips and hum as she walked, with a grin on her face.

".. You seem happy, kid. Shouldn't you be worried about meeting our leader?" Kisame snickered as he tease Mitsuki, reminding her of her current situation.

"Shut up, Sharky-chan, don't ruin my mood! All you do during my training is just laughing at me. Why don't you try and be useful for once?" Mitsuki jeered at Kisame.

"How rude. Be thankful that we still have a use for you, kid! I can't wait to hand you over to our Leader, and then we can finally have our peace back."

"!" Mitsuki would like to respond to that remark, but she remembered how her future is uncertain yet and he don't know what kind of person their Leader is. When push comes to shove, she need to have a backup plan. Getting Kisame on her side as well would probably be a good idea. Holding back her frustration, Mitsuki frowned as she suppressed her response, remarks, and the barrage of insults and complaints in her head.

"What's wrong, kid? Cat got your tongue?" Kisame grinned in satisfaction of her lack of response.

Suddenly, Itachi stopped in his track.

"? What's wrong?" Kisame asked.

"Is proceeding with this the correct answer?" Itachi thought to himself. He wasn't sure what will be the Leader's response to his report, and what will he do to the girl behind him. Turning back to face the girl, he said, "This is your last chance to turn back. I cannot guarantee you what lies ahead. You've heard my warning."

Kisame was surprised to hear Itachi's remark. He had always suspected that his partner have a soft spot in his heart from time to time, and it's becoming increasingly evident during their current journey. However, never was once this soft spot affect the outcome of their mission. Whenever it's time to call for decisiveness, Itachi's plan and thoughtfulness had always been the pillar of their success. Knowing that, Kisame chose to stay quiet, and observe.

"And I've told you too that it's the path I choose. I'll deal with whatever comes when the time comes" Mitsuki answered with resolve and annoyance on her face.

Itachi was reminded of the face that Sasuke used to make whenever he told him "next time". This time it was not bringing him warmth in his heart, only anxiety about the path that lies ahead of her.

"Do as you like." Itachi responded as he turned his back towards the girl, facing the vast lake ahead of them. "Our destination is just ahead" He continued.

As they continued walking towards the lake, Mitsuki turned her brain as hard as she could. Both Itachi and Kisame never spoke much regarding what kind of person their leader is. From her previous brush with both of them, she can deduce that both Itachi and Kisame is a lot stronger than those regular shinobi. What kind of person is it who can command both of their respect and allegiance? "I definitely can't just bluff myself out of this," she thought to herself.

"I have to do this perfectly," she thinks. Thinking of what other conclusion that might come from the meeting scares her. She hated to admit it, but there were chances that she would get separated from Itachi if she's not careful, and that would definitely interfere with her aim. As she strengthened her resolve, she clenched her hands and took a step forward.

To her surprise, her foot entered the water.

"WAUGH!" She let out a tiny yelp as the cold water soaked her feet.

Itachi and Kisame stopped and looked back towards the girl, confused on what might have caused that yelp, as the girl glanced up and stared confusedly with a blush on her face as she saw the two casually walk across the water's surface.

Realizing the situation, Itachi let out a silent "Oh" in his thought. He was too engrossed with his thought to realize that she is not a shinobi and doesn't have chakra to wield.

Looking at her embarrassed expression and the very apparent hesitation on her face to admit her incapability, Kisame took the chance to throw a remark.

"HAHAHA! What's wrong, kid? Can't cross?" Kisame laughed.

Mitsuki's face as red as beet. With frustration she gathered her energy abruptly and lifted her hand quickly.

In a blitz, Itachi shifted beside her and caught her hand, interrupting her action and dispersing her energy in surprise.

"What are you doing?" asked Itachi.

"If I can't walk on top of the water, I'll just split the lake open and walk in between." Mitsuki answered with frustration.

"Even though this area is secluded, such thing will only attract too much attention if any surveillance or passer-by happen to be close. Hideout is meant to be hidden in secret." Itachi explained, still holding her wrist up in the air.

".. then I'll freeze a path over the water to cross." Mitsuki looked away in contempt

"You'll need to freeze a significant amount of water to keep you afloat. The sudden temperature drop might also disrupt the nearby ecosystem, quite a bit of the lake dweller might be affected, and it will also be noticeable, and also what about the ice chunk that is left to melt afterwards?" Itachi continued as she saw Mitsuki open her mouth to retort, "..and no, melting the ice on your own quickly will leave too much vapour and attract attention."

Defeated, Mitsuki gritted her teeth and swallow her words.

"Itachi-san is very cautious as usual. And here I thought her 2nd plan might actually work." Kisame grinned, impressed at his partner's far-sightedness.

Feeling sorry for her, Kisame offered, "I'll carry you over kid, I bet you can't just jump and climb the wall inside horizontally to get in, right?"

Embarassed and prideful as the offer came from someone who has been making fun of her, Mitsuki remarked, "And how are you going to do that while carrying that sharp sword off yours on your back?"

Interrupting her words, Itachi lifted the girl off her feet in cradle carry. Mitsuki heart jumped from the abrupt motion.

"It's ok to ask for help sometimes. You don't need to solve everything on your own," Itachi said in low voice as he kept his gaze forward

Itachi felt the irony of the words he just muttered, as he himself has chosen the solitary path bridled with lies and deceit. Shoving the uncomfortable feeling aside, he took a steady step ahead on the lake's surface, slowly picking his pace up as he goes.

Mitsuki looked up at Itachi's face as he carried her. His hand grasped firmly but gently on her shoulder and knee as she pulled her arm closer to her core in hope to keep herself stable. She could feel that he put an effort to carry her as stable as possible without causing her any discomfort. As she looked up, Itachi had started to pick up his pace very smoothly.

"Ah, he's lost in thoughts again," Mitsuki thought, as she observed Itachi's expression, wondering what could be occupying his mind so much and constantly, during the whole time they had travelled together.

As she continue to stare, Mitsuki couldn't help but gaze as she took in the detail. How the wind blows his long, straight hair past his cheek. The crease on his face didn't take away from his handsome face, and his long eyelashes flutter as his iris moved around, still lost in thought. Shecould see just below his jawline and neck as the wind blow the collar of his partly unbuttoned cloak backwards. "He's so beautiful..," she thought to herself. As she recalled the word that he said, and felt the reassuring firm grip on her shoulder and legs, she couldn't help but ease up a bit. It's almost as if, she would allow herself to depend on him. As her heart starts to beat faster, Itachi suddenly turned his face slightly downward to check on her condition, causing her heart to skip as blood rushes to her face.

"T..!" She yelped in surprise, trying her best to hide her embarrassment for staring at him as well as the new unfamiliar sensation she felt in her heart. "Thank you…" she continued as she tried to hide away her previous slip of tongue, looking away as the trio entered the hidden opening on the giant rock in the middle of the lake and continued to tread across the water seeping through the rock's inside. As the shadow covered her wavering expression, she silently thank the darkness for hiding the current mess that she is.

Author's Note:
Hi! Long time no see! A lot has happened after the last chapter, which makes me abandon my writing dream since I went into a slump. Let me just tell you guys the truth, I'm also the artist behind the illustration and TBH I was feeling horrible about my skill since it was technically my main study. Along with that and some personal issue, I've kinda not been able to write anymore since things are bleak and went mostly downhill (and I'm also distracted in my pursue to better my art, which I must say, has gone a lot better)

Recently I've been diagnosed with MDD, and during the counselling, I looked back and remembered about this story that I has abandoned. I tried to remember the point and try to recall based on memory, and it was all dark and desperate. However when I decided to dig in this site to read back, TBH I surprised myself. Mitsuki is not me, however some of her personality trait (like making light of my struggle and try to laugh it off) is based on me. I was surprised on how bright and strong she is, compared to me now. The memory in my mind about her has been distorted so much by my depression, and to be honest I'm not sure if I can write as well as before currently. However, for the sake of my younger self, I will try to continue since it gave me light among my darkness when I read back this story. The story might have more despair flair because of my current state, but I do wish Mitsuki will shine a light on Itachi as she shined a light on my current depressed self along the way. I'll separate herself from me while feeding her my rough experience during these few years in hope of not tainting her with my hopelessness, and hopefully, it can make her understand the people around her better!

As the 1st step of going back to the story, I'll jump in and continue on the next focus point of the story before the actual journey began, as well as planting seeds of attraction in our female protagonist heart, just a tiny seed, in this in-between episodes! Reminder again that she's not a kid, knowing the states of internet lately where people are quick to jump to idea of degeneracy whenever a character appear young by their standard sickens me. I'll do my best to explain her lore so please be patient. In no way I'm pairing them up if she's a kid :( I'll slowly separate her image from Sasuke's image in Itachi's head too but it will take a while for him to see her as who she is, and for now it's what require to make Itachi soften ups towards her and build a bond, slowly. I won't let it be a sisterzone!

Also I'll try to add in more illustration on this story, just black and white to keep it light on my workload, but I'd want to redraw everything with my improved art skill! I hope that'll make up for the things I lost, and thanks so much for the review and encouraging word even tho not much has read this story yet! You're one of my reason to decide to continue this story!

Also I'll probably re-read Naruto to get the whole information back in my brain (since the only one I remember very strongly is just Itachi and I don't think that's enough xD I need to do kisame and other characters justice too you know, as well as the world building!) So please be patient with me along the way!

Thank you!

P.s. Damn why Boruto have a character named Mitsuki too? I swear I planned this name way before :(