Monday had come around once more. Mitsuki had been silently observing Aida's movement, still worried about her mental state. Thankfully, she seemed to be better than Mitsuki thought she would be. Inside her heart, Mitsuki silently commended Aida's strength. Letting out a sigh of relieve, Mitsuki moved on to her next task and went outside the building to sweep the shop front. Suddenly, a tall boy passed the gate and greeted her.

"Excuse me?"

Mitsuki lifted her head to take a look at the voice's owner.

"Geh," Mitsuki exclaimed internally as her right eye twitched with annoyance as she saw the owner of the voice, confusing the boy.

"I.. Is Aida-chan around?" Kyosuke braced himself as he dropped the question towards the grumpy helper.

"… She's inside, in the back," Mitsuki replied coldly as she narrowed her eyes with a forced look on her face as she tried her best not to show too much contempt. "I'll call her out," Mitsuki added as she quickly went back inside before she let out his urge of punching the stupid teenager in front of her.

Not long after, Aida came out of the front door, followed by Mitsuki.

"Kyosuke-kun? What is it?" Aida asked gently with slight awkwardness on her face. Seeing this, Mitsuki felt her rage burning brighter and brighter. As she tried to suppress the feeling, Mitsuki loudly swept the front porch in annoyance.

"Erm, that, I found the handkerchief already. Someone tied it near my window with a vine somehow," Kyosuke smiled as he realized how ridiculous his words sounded.

"Ah, I see, that's good then!" Aida smiled as she feigned ignorance.

"I thought, could it be you?" Kyosuke asked, uncertain.

"Why would you think it was me?" Aida remarked, surprised.

"I mean, you're the only one I told about the handkerchief being missing and all, and you're always so kind, so.." he answered as he scratched his head, embarrassed. Seeing this, Mitsuki felt like she wanted to snap the broom in half in annoyance.

Ignoring Mitsuki's increasingly burning murderous intent, Aida smiled wryly and lied, "Ah, no, it's not me, I'm sorry.." As Aida and Mitsuki glanced toward each other, they both thought of the same thing. "Well, technically, that wasn't a lie," they said in their head as they met each other's eye. Seeing Mitsuki's intense glare towards Kyosuke, Aida tried to hold back her chuckle.

"Ah, I see.. Oh well, I hope I can thank the one who helped returned this to me," Kyosuke smiled wryly, seemingly disappointed.

"What are you disappointed for, you waste of a…" Mitsuki gritted her teeth as she shouted in her mind, trying her best to hold back shooing the guy who caused her friend's pain away.

"Ok then, I guess see you later somewhen, Aida-chan!" Kyosuke said in hurry as he felt Mitsuki's burning gaze more and more even if he didn't understand why.

"OK! Bye Kyosuke-kun!" Aida waved as Kyosuke trotted away, smiling. Behind her, Mitsuki's eye still burning with murderous intent as she watched the teenager walked away. Seeing her anger, Aida gently pushed her back towards the shop's gate as she felt warmth on her heart seeing Mitsuki's reaction in regards of her feelings.

As they went inside, Aida hugged Mitsuki and cling to her back.

"Mitchan, I like, like, like you," she said cheerfully, soothing Mitsuki's anger. As Mitsuki calmed herself down, still narrowing her eye, Mitsuki turned and held Aida's shoulders with her hands, looking at her straight in the eye with a serious expression.

"Listen, Aida-chan, go and find yourself a better guy, OK? He has to be as good as me, no, even way, way, waaaaaay, better. Any less than that is unacceptable!" Mitsuki insisted with an intense look in her eye, causing Aida to let out a chuckle.

Suddenly, a familiar voice called.

"Are you sure you are working, not flirting?"

Mitsuki immediately recognized who the source of the annoying remark is.

"Go home, Kisame," Mitsuki glared as she hid Aida behind her back and lifted the broom in front of her, as if threatening to attack.

Kisame laughed as he saw Mitsuki's gesture.

"Hey, is that how you're treating a customer? Miss, can you reprimand this employee here?" Kisame remarked as he tried to meet Aida's glance. Not sure of the situation and scared of the tall, big man in front of her, Aida kept her silence. Suddenly, another figure with black robe landed just in front of the shop's door.

"Kisame, what are you doing here?" said Itachi as he entered the shop as well.

As he landed his eye on the ridiculous formation, Itachi took off his hat.

Seeing Itachi, Mitsuki quickly put on her service smile, "Welcome, Itachi-kun! Please enjoy your visit!*", then added, "As for you, Baka-Same, GO HOME," said Mitsuki as she smacked Kisame repeatedly with her broom.

As he blocked every of Mitsuki's hit, Kisame faked a complaint towards Itachi, "Itachi-san, look at this double standard!"

"…" Itachi kept his silence as he watched both of his teammate go about their usual dynamics. Suddenly, he noticed a gaze on him.

"Ah, this must be who Mitsuki meant at that time," she silently thought, mesmerized by Itachi's beautiful features.

"Could you two be.. Mitsuki's squad member?" Aida asked.

"Hahaha, something like that, I guess?" Kisame chuckled. As Mitsuki grew increasingly annoyed at Kisame for blocking her every attack, she switched to attack him with the wooden stick part of the broom instead as a spear, not that it changed any of the outcomes.

Seeing her friend acting like this for the first time, Aida couldn't help but chuckled. Tired, Mitsuki laid down her "weapon".

"So, why are you two here?" Mitsuki asked, eye still narrowed as she glared towards Kisame.

"Ah, we're getting called to nearby HQ, but I'm hungry and I remember you said you worked at a bento shop, so here I am." Kisame grinned as he lowered his defense.

"Aida-chan, charge that guy twice as much," Mitsuki turned her head to Aida as she pointed at Kisame. Aida let out an awkward laugh.

"Depending how it went, we both might be back late. So.." Itachi added as Mitsuki cut his sentences short.

"I'll wait for you guys to come back with some food. Then let me know all about it, OK?"

" You sure kid? We might take a while."

Mitsuki smacked Kisame once more as she heard his remark as Kisame blocked it effortlessly.

"Yea it's fine. Take care, you guys," Mitsuki added as she pulled back her broom. "Go get some onigiri, it's easier for you guys to eat while on the way," said Mitsuki as she quickly turned her back to man the counter.

"Heh, who do you think we are, Kid, don't worry," Kisame chuckled at Mitsuki's remark.

As Itachi and Kisame left with a bunch of konbu and crab meat filled onigiri, Mitsuki watched as they both nimbly navigate through the terrain with their shinobi skill. Looking at her friend, Aida teased.

"So, is that the one you said to be beautiful the other day?"

Surprised, Mitsuki turned her body back to face Aida's playful smile.

"He.. He is beautiful, yes, but I don't think it's love or anything!" Mitsuki tried to correct Aida quickly.

"Heee, I see I see," Aida nodded solemnly as she watched Mitsuki's panicked reaction. "Well, that's a start, I guess," she silently uttered in her mind as she looked forward to how things will turn out to be.

"I wonder what it is this time, to the point of being called directly to the closest base?" Kisame asked

"…" Itachi held his silence. He got an inkling about what it was about. Back when their leader, Pain, gave list of Jinchuuriki's name, he recognised not one, but two of them from his recent memory. "Sabaku no Gaara," he thought. It was another name that was etched among the participant of the year's chuunin exam that his brother was participating in. This would mean, that the two Jinchuuriki will be gathering in the same place at the same time.

"Who knows," said Itachi calmly as he jumped ahead from branch to branch, hiding his uneasiness deep in his heart.

Aida and Mitsuki arrived at Shin-jii's place during their lunch break as usual. The two had been faithfully fulfilling their duty to take care of the old man together during Mitsuki's stay in the village.

"Aida-chan, Mitsuki-chan, thank you as usual," the old man thanked them gently as Mitsuki helped Shin-jii with his chores and Aida helped him eat. Mitsuki smiled. The old man had been really kind to her as well despite her being there for only a short while. She could understand why Aida would care for him so much. "It's such a contrast from Old-Man Bocchon last time," Mitsuki thought to herself, wondering what would happen if it was Shin-jii who took care of her instead of Old-Man Bocchon. Likely, she will grow among the humans as a normal, healthy girl, like Aida-chan did. Mitsuki laughed at the ridiculous idea. "Who am I kidding, my body doesn't even grow, eventually, everyone will be freaked out," she thought to herself. "Besides, it's not as if everything is bad. If not for what happened, I couldn't have joined Itachi-kun and Kisame on their missions," Mitsuki smiled as she tried to focus on the small bits of happiness that she had discovered about so far. Thinking about what she had learned during her journey together with Kisame and Itachi and the fun she had so far, she was doubtful that if she knew her option, she would want to trade those for the idlyc, village life.

"Aida-chan, how are you lately? Have you gotten yourself a boyfriend?**" Shin-jii asked Aida with a smile. Hearing the question, Aida laughed awkwardly.

"Haha, not yet, Shin-jii.." she smiled wryly. Looking at her, granpa Shin-jii smiled,

"That is fine too. I would like to one day see your child, indeed. But what's important is for you to find the correct person and lived the rest of your life happily." He smiled gently as he held Aida's hand softly. Hearing his response, Aida couldn't help but smile, albeit the sadness in her eyes.

With solemn look on his face, Shin-jii looked towards the ceiling as he recalled. "I remembered the first time I met my late wife. She gave me joy like never before, and our children too.. She was such an angel, just like you and your mother."

Heavy emotion clouded Mitsuki's face as she saw the sadness and longing in granpa Shin's flickering soul.

"I wonder, if the previous shinobi war didn't happen, will they still be here with me?" Shin-jii said sadly.

Mitsuki frowned as she heard his regret. She had heard from Aida that both of Shin-Jii's sons tried their hand on life as shinobi, only to end up being sent as frontline force in the previous Third Great Ninja War and died on the battle. Hearing the stories, Mitsuki realised how shinobi with skill as great as Itachi and Kisame that could stand unharmed among the looming threats was a rarity in the world, and how destructive the damage of the shinobi war was. After all, not long after their children's passing, Shin-jii's wife passed away too due to the weight of her sadness.

"War," Mitsuki etched the word into her heart, not to forget the deep sense of sadness that she felt towards it as she heard of Shin-jii's story and the sadness it caused him.

"Hahaha, look at me rambling in my old age," Shin-jii laughed as he felt the atmosphere getting heavier. Suddenly, surprisingly, Shin-jii seated up from his bed.

"Today the weather's so fine. I feel like looking at the fields, it's been a long while since I've worked there," Shin-jii smiled sadly as he uttered. Mitsuki and Aida glanced at each other as they heard the word. Seeing that Aida was thinking the same thing as well, Mitsuki nodded.

"Then, let's go, Shin-Jii! We will help you!" Aida said cheerfully, betraying the sad expression in her eyes.

Quickly, Mitsuki went to the unused kitchen and grabbed a chair. She was sure that there was some part of granpa Shin's house that overlooked part of the field somewhere. As Mitsuki quickly surveyed the house's area, Aida slowly helped Shin-jii get up from his bed.

"Wait Aida-chan, is your ankle OK already? Wait for me else you will hurt yourself again!" Mitsuki shouted as she sensed Aida's movement. As she found a stable place with the field as a view to put the chair unto, Mitsuki quickly planted the chair and secured it with some vines as well as adding some hand rest for Shin-jii to sit more relaxedly.

Rushing, Mitsuki quickly approached Aida and Shin-jii who had moved out from the bedroom slowly. As she took Shin-jii's other hand on her shoulder, she gently guided the pair towards the seating spot. Feeling how thin and frail Shin-jii was, Mitsuki couldn't help but felt sadness in her heart.

As Shin-jii took his seat on the prepared chair, he smiled. "Thank you, Aida-chan, Mitsuki-chan, for helping me come here."

"It's nothing much," Mitsuki smiled as Aida nodded in agreement.

"The world is so lucky to have two beautiful angels like you two to brighten its future," Granpa Shin added jokingly, causing Mitsuki and Aida to chuckle slightly.

"Actually, the field over there, used to be my family's," Granpa Shin pointed happily. "I used to tend to it with my wife and my sons."

"Is that so? It sounds fun," Mitsuki responded to Shin-Jii's enthusiasm. Hearing her enthusiastic response, Granpa Shin laughed.

"Yes it was," he said cheerfully. "My wife and sons absolutely loved it once the entire field was covered in the golden grain during harvest season. They would happily run towards the field and walk among them."

Hearing this, Mitsuki and Aida smiled.

"Aaah, how I miss them.. Are they waiting for me on the other side? I wonder.."

Mitsuki felt a flicker of sadness in Shin-jii's soul. Unable to say anything, Mitsuki held Shin-jii's hand, hoping that it would make him feel less alone somehow.

"I.. I'll make some tea for all of us. Let's drink tea while watching the field and the sun set!" Aida offered as she quickly turned back towards the house.

Mitsuki frowned in worry. Despite the blue sky, on the edge of horizon, she could see the storm clouds are gathering once more. "Hopefully, it won't cover the sky just yet," Mitsuki thought to herself as she watched the cloud's movement. As she held Shin-Jii's hand, slowly, Shin-Jii was falling asleep.

Then, Mitsuki saw it.

The deep black, spear-shaped mark flickered.

Then, it burst into flames.

As Itachi had predicted, that day's meeting was indeed a follow up on their previous meeting's assignment. As the leader conveyed to them the method that they were going to use in order to capture the jinchuuriki and extract the bijuu using his special skill, Itachi concluded that the reason of their direct summoning was more because of how the sealing worked. Apparently, they have to bring the jinchuuriki into any of their connected base directly for them to be able to extract it. There were some of their past mercenary missions involving chakra extraction for research purpose as well. Now thinking about it, it was obvious that it might be an experiment intended to test the possibility of extracting bijuu with such method. "Seemed like Pain is finally able to perfect it," Itachi thought. The leader of theirs was really such an enigma. On top of his rinnegan, he also has a method to keep track and contact the akatsuki member from afar using his chakra and chakra detection. Not just that, but the weird statue in their HQ, Akatsuki's ring, as well as the sealing jutsu that he just bestowed the members, all was covered in mystery.

"Now that that's done, we move on to the next topic of our meeting," Pain declared.

"Here it is," Itachi thought to himself.

"The location of both the Kyuubi and Ichibi jinchuuriki had been confirmed, with complications," he added

"As I thought," Itachi silently muttered in his heart.

"Both of the Kyuubi and Ichibi Jinchuuriki are currently participating in joint chuunin exam that is hold in Konoha."

"Yosh, Sasori-no-Danna, should we go directly to the target's location. We might as well nib the Kyuubi along as we do it, un!" Deidara stated as he aimed his last sentence towards Itachi.

Itachi stared at him in silence. It seemed to him that Deidara still hold a grudge against him regarding their first encounter.

"Wait, I'm not finished," Pain stopped Deidara from going further. "Despite having the advantage of knowing their location, but because this is a joint chuunin exam, the Daimyos and their bodyguard along with a lot of capable shinobi from all over the world will be present as well. Considering that, please consider your team's strategy and how to tackle it and don't rush into it. Fighting two jinchuuriki at once won't be an easy feat as well."

Hearing this, Deidara frowned visibly, in contrast of Itachi's lack of emotional display.

".. and one more information." Pain added.

"It seemed that Orochimaru had infiltrated Konohagakure as well under the guise of Otogakure,"

"That Orochimaru?" Akatsuki's members murmured among themselves as the name came up.

"We hadn't confirmed his intention yet, however.. Since Orochimaru is a traitor, he is also a target for elimination. Take this information however you would like," Pain declared, closing his sentence.

Itachi frowned slightly as he heard the information. He remembered the other name he noted among the chuunin exam participant. "Kabuto Yakushi," he knew of one person with that name, as he was someone connected to Akatsuki as well. In this case specifically, those people are Sasori of the sand, and Orochimaru. As far as he understood, it seemed that Kabuto was working as double spy for both side, however regarding his true allegiance, Itachi wasn't sure as well. When he saw that name, he immediately had this bad feeling.

"What is Konoha doing? Kabuto was also Konoha's spy, how could they let him in just like that under guise of another village?" Itachi felt his head dizzied by the sudden confirmation of his worry.

He had several guess on why Orochimaru would infiltrate Konoha, none of them are good.

Firstly, is because of his grudge with Konoha as he was their missing-nin. Second, because of his grudge with Akatsuki and his own ambition, it was likely that Orochimaru is interested in collecting the bijuus as well, or interfere with Akatsuki's plan. They had put him on assassination list, after all. The third one, and the one that he was worried about the most, was Orochimaru's quest of immortality.

Orochimaru had attacked him once under such reason, though he had failed horribly. "Orochimaru had always been obsessed with immortality," Itachi recalled, "and he had found the mean of achieving it, albeit not a permanent solution." That was the reason why Orochimaru attacked him before and left Akatsuki after failing. If what he feared is true, then..

"Sasuke.." Itachi thought to himself as a worried frown etched itself on his face.

It all happened too fast.

The moment the black mark burst into flame, Mitsuki had a bad feeling.

Quickly, Mitsuki attempted to touch and stop the flame.

"It's not hot?" she thought. Then it came unto her. The flame was not physical, and the thing it was burning is..

"Shin-jii's soul?" Mitsuki felt blood draining from her face.

"Wake up! Shin-jii! Wake up!" Mitsuki shouted.

Shin-jii batted his eyelid as he opened his eyes once more.

"Ara, Mitsuki-chan, what's wrong, what's with that face?" Shin-jii smiled gently as he saw Mitsuki's pale face.

"I'm feeling so sleepy, I feel like I'm falling asleep.." Shin-jii added as he felt his consciousness leaving his body. Along with it, the black flame engulfed his soul more, and more.

"NO! DON'T FALL ASLEEP, STAY WITH ME, GRANPA!" Mitsuki shouted, however it seemed like it was very hard for Shin-jii to kept himself awake.

"What can I do? What can I do?" Mitsuki racked her brain. With all her might, she tried to absorb the energy around her and passed it to Shin-jii's soul, in hope of strengthening the soul and quelling the fire.

The fire flickered for a while, but continued nonetheless, while Shin-jii seemed to be falling deeper and deeper into his sleep. Desperate, Mitsuki tried to make her power reach the field.

"Granpa Shinji! Don't sleep! Look, the grains are maturing!" Mitsuki called desperately, as she hastened the growth of the rice paddy field with her power. Immediately, the grain grew, and turned gold, witnessed by some of the villagers, not knowing what caused it.

Hearing the commotion, Aida went out with the tea set on her hand.

"Mitchan? What is it? Why are you shouting?"

Shin-jii opened her eyelid once more. Reflected in his eye was the golden shade of hue filling the rice field. Among the grains, it was as if he saw the shadow of his long passed wife and children. With a longing in his heart, Shin-jii smiled happily, and gently, as he reached his hands out towards the field.

"Aaah, so beautiful. My wife, My sons, I'm heading there now.. wait for me!"

And with that, he closed his eyes and dropped his hand.

And with that, his soul went out, engulfed completely by the black flame, and disappeared towards the sky.

Mitsuki's hand dropped to the ground with a sense of powerlessness and fear that she had never felt before. In the distance, Aida dropped the tea set on her hand as he lost the power in her legs.

By the time Itachi and Kisame came back, storm was already brewing. Drenched, both of them reached their inn. Strangely, the girl was not there.

"Huh, where is she? Can't be kidnapped, right?" Kisame asked.

Itachi felt uneasy hearing the notion. "What if Madara got to her when we were away?" he thought.

"I'll look for her. You wait here, Kisame," Itachi said as he turned back towards the inn's exit.

"Got it," Kisame replied as he entered the room and took seat on the room's floor, waiting.

It was not an easy task for Itachi to pinpoint the girl's location. Even with his sharingan on, due to her lack of chakra, it was not effective in finding her whereabouts. Even though shinobi can also enhance their senses using their chakra, the rain and storm served as a hindrance for him. As he scoured the area around carefully, he didn't notice any anomaly, or sign of Madara being there recently. Slightly calmed down by the fact, Itachi chose to go with the traditional method, asking the person who was close to Mitsuki. Swiftly, Itachi jumped towards the bento shop they went to previously.

Then, there she was, sitting on the floor close by the door, hugging her legs, trembling. Seeing her state, Itachi quickly scoured the area. In another area of the shop, he spotted two chakra, seemingly civilians. He recognised one of them as Mitsuki's friend's that he met that morning. The two form made of chakra seemed to be hugging each other.

Not sure about what to do in that situation, Itachi asked gently,

"Are you OK?"

Mitsuki lifted her head and turned her eyes towards Itachi. The darkness and emptiness in her eye reminded Itachi of their first meeting. However something else was there. Fear. Not towards him, but..

Mitsuki quickly turned her head away. As she lifted her head up previously, she saw Itachi's soul once again, along with the accursed mark on it. The mark on his soul was not as opaque as Shin-jii's. However, even if it was just a little, Mitsuki noticed how the mark had slowly becoming more and more opaque during their journey together, at an unnoticeable rate. Realising what it might meant, the trembling in Mitsuki's body grew stronger.

"Mitsuki-chan?" Keiko called unto her as she walked out from the room out to the shop area.

Mitsuki lifted her head to meet Keiko's gaze.

"Thank you for your help today, and sorry that.. you had to experience that.."

Mitsuki shook her head rapidly as she looked down towards her knees once more, still locked in silence.

"Aida-chan is now asleep after exhausting herself." Keiko added. "..and mister, you are?"

"I'm here to pick her up," Itachi answered briefly with a gentle, convincing tone.

"Ara, that's good. Please take care of her safety." Keiko let out a wry smile as she saw Mitsuki in her dazed state. ".. and tell her to take rest as long as she need."

Itachi nodded silently. It was very obvious that Mitsuki won't be in any state to work soon.

"Mitsuki, can you stand?" Itachi asked gently as he extended his hand towards her.

Still not saying a word, Mitsuki nodded as she took Itachi's hand and wobbled as her weakened feet tried to support her body into a standing position.

Itachi bowed towards Keiko before turning towards the door. Mitsuki also stopped on her track as she turned back to face Keiko and spoke hoarsely. "Keiko-san, take care of Aida-chan.."

Keiko smiled, "Of course I will. You take care."

Mitsuki nodded and followed Itachi out towards the road.

Soon after the two of them left the shop, Mitsuki stopped on her track. Noticing the sudden lack of footfalls, Itachi turned his head back to check on Mitsuki.

"What is it? Are you able to walk?" Itachi asked briefly as he approached Mitsuki, concerned.

Mitsuki held her silence as she gritted her teeth. She didn't dare to lift her head and see the mark in Itachi's soul once more, afraid that it will burst into flame at one's notice, just like what happened to Shin-jii earlier.

Itachi had never seen Mitsuki in such state before. The girl had always been unusually calm and collected in any situation they were in. Confused as he was, he knew that it wasn't the time to ask her about it yet.

"If you want, I can carry you," Itachi offered.

Mitsuki shook her head quickly. Instead she reached forward and grabbed Itachi's sleeve. Noticing the gesture, Itachi decided to take her hand which she grabbed his sleeve with into his hold instead and slowly guided Mitsuki forward. Her hand was as cold as ice, as if drained from life itself. Noticing this, Itachi slightly tightened his grip.

"It's warm.." Mitsuki thought to herself. "It's still filled with life.." Somehow, realizing that gave Mitsuki a sense of relieve.

Bracing herself, Mitsuki lifted her head slightly as she took in Itachi's back into her sight and into her mind.

"Oh, you two are back." Kisame exclaimed softly as he saw Itachi opened the room's door, Mitsuki following behind him, her hand still in Itachi's grip.

Confused, Kisame questioned.

"What happened?"

Itachi silently shook his head. As Itachi guided Mitsuki in and onto her futon, she chose to sit with her back against the wall instead as she hugged her knees once more. Respecting her wish, Itachi gently covered her with the futon's blanket.

"Seriously, what's wrong kid? You're scaring me like that." Kisame frowned as he pressed Mitsuki for answer.

"Kisame," called Itachi. As Kisame turned his head to meet Itachi's eye, Itachi signaled Kisame to not push further yet as he shook his head. Shrugging, Kisame laid down his sword as he prepared himself for a bath.

Author's note:

This chapter is heavy AAAAAAAAAAAA

I was worried about writing two heavy chapter back to back, but here we go :')

Mitsuki, be strong :') This is just the beginning…

Extra note:

(*) More like irrashaimase (いらっしゃいませ ,) a common greeting towards guest to most form of establishment in Japanese language. Technically a welcome/ enjoy your visit.

(**) This is commonly asked question among Asian family, haha.. hahhh….. _(:/ )L