The next day after Shin-Jii's passing, the whole village was in uproar.
"Did you see what happened yesterday? The field that Granpa Shinji used to tend suddenly ripen out of season!"
"It must be Amaterasu-sama, it has been very long since another miracle."
"Maybe grandpa Shinji is well loved by her, being a diligent farmer and a nice person as he is."
Itachi discreetly listen to the conversation as he took a stroll around the village. That morning, both him and Kisame had decided to leave Mitsuki alone for a while to give her space, not knowing the reason behind her sudden breakdown. As Itachi went on his own investigation, he couldn't help but overheard the villagers conversation. Apparently, an old resident named Shinji has passed away the previous day. The timing coincides too closely with Mitsuki's breakdown for Itachi to brush it off as a coincidence. Besides, the phenomenon that the villager mentioned can be explained easily if Mitsuki's involvement is confirmed. Out of curiosity, Itachi went to visit the bento shop once more.
In front of the shop, Mitsuki's co-worker as well as her friend was sitting absent-mindedly on the bench in front of the shop, her eyes red and swollen, seemingly after a fit of crying. Seeing a figure approached, she replied without thinking,
"Sorry, we are closed for today," she said as she lifted her head up to look at the unknown visitor. "Oh!" she exclaimed as she recognized the visitor's face.
"If I'm not wrong, you're Mitsuki's team mate, right?" she confirmed.
Itachi nodded his head in silence as he casually avoided giving her more information.
"Thank you for taking care of Mitsuki yesterday," Itachi added, subtly leading the conversation towards his intended direction. Hearing his word, Aida lowered her gaze and shook her head.
"Nuh uh… More like, I'm sorry she had to go through all that.." the girl named Aida dropped her gaze in sadness. It was as if she could start tearing up anytime. Hearing her response, Itachi tilted his head in an enquiring manner.
"Is.. How is Mitsuki? Is she OK?" Aida quickly asked as she turned her gaze once more towards the man that had taken a seat on the other side of the shop front's bench.
"She still hadn't spoken a word since yesterday," Itachi answered briefly.
"Of course.." Aida smiled guiltily for asking such a question.
"If I may probe, can you let me know what happened?" Itachi asked. Even though he would prefer Mitsuki to tell him on her own time, but seeing how big the incident is getting, he felt like he needed to have a grasp on the situation sooner. In respond to Itachi's question, Aida frowned sadly as she begun to tell Itachi about what happened in the previous day.
"Have you told anyone else about this?" Hearing the full story, Itachi frowned as he confirmed with Aida, surprised her.
"Erm, the bit of Shin-jii's death, mom and the rest of the villager who helped us took him away knew. About the field, no, not yet," Aida had a feeling that it was what Itachi was curious about.
"That's good. Can you keep it a secret, even from your mother? It's for Mitsuki's sake," Itachi asked as he looked at Aida directly in her eyes, assessing her response.
"Un. I understand," Aida nodded resolutely. Even though she didn't understand why, if it was for her friend, he would keep that secret to her grave.
Itachi nodded in affirmation. He couldn't have a rumor spread about Mitsuki and reached the outside world. He felt that if unintended party managed to make a connection between the miracle and Mitsuki's special condition while he hadn't been able to confirm the truth of it yet, the girl might be finding herself in danger soon. Even the potential of people misunderstanding her ability as Mokuton could bring her enough danger as it was. "Who knows what manner of people it would lure," Itachi thought to himself as his memory of Orochimaru resurfaced in his mind. As he tried to stop himself from worrying about Orochimaru's play once more, Itachi stood up from where he was seated and thanked Aida briefly before swiftly leaving.
Mitsuki laid his back unto the futon. Somewhen in the middle of the night, she had moved, or been moved, back to her futon. Her body felt all sticky and dirty from the rain and mud, but to put it frankly, she couldn't find it inside her to care. The memories of the previous day's event still laid fresh in her mind, bringing her a deep sense of powerlessness as well as fear for the future. As she struggled to quench the nausea in her stomach, she felt Itachi's presence approaching. Quickly, Mitsuki covered herself in blanket as she pretended to sleep, facing away from the door.
Not long after, Itachi gently opened the door and entered the room quietly. As he sat on his own futon, facing Mitsuki, Itachi silently observed the bundled up figure in front of him. It was easy for him to tell that she only pretended to sleep. Complicated feeling rose up in his heart as a frown etched itself unto his forehead. All this while, he had been worried on how Mitsuki seemed to take unto killing too lightly thus far, and so, he had instructed her to ponder more regarding life and death during her journey and the value of it. However, he didn't expect that something like the loss of valued life would hit her that fast, and that hard. Hearing from Aida, seemed that Mitsuki had built an inkling of relationship with the recently passed villager as they had been taking care of him together. "And having to witness the death firsthand," Itachi thought, remembering his first encounter with war and death and the pain it brought him. "No doubt she was trying to help him as it happened," he assessed, as it would explain why she would make that certain field ripen for no reason. Picturing the scene, it seemed all the more tragic. Despite her effort, she failed, and someone she cared for left the world on her care, in front of her own eye. "No wonder it would break her," Itachi frowned as he resisted his urge to give the girl some comfort, exposing her ruse.
Suddenly, the weight of his guilt hit him. In the past, he had made Sasuke witness such horrible thing as well, again and again. Fuelled by his own self hate and his own desire to punish himself for what he did, he was set on setting Sasuke on a mission to avenge the clan and gave him and the clan a chance of glory and redemption. However, he didn't think of how it might have impacted Sasuke, being occupied with his own pain and guilt in that moment. As he finished his train of thoughts, Itachi stopped himself, as Itachi knew better than anyone that what's done is done. Regret would not change anything, and he knew he made the best possible choice he could. Or, did he? Itachi shook his head lightly as he tried to cast his thought aside once more. Sighing audibly, Itachi pulled out a packed set of Japanese confectionaries from his compartment and placed it beside Mitsuki's pillow. "Hopefully, it would help cheer her up, even if it's just a little," he thought to himself, as ridiculous it was to put her issue as lightly as that. As Itachi completed his objective, he stood back up from his futon and left the room once more, giving Mitsuki some more time and space to process what she had been going through.
As she heard Itachi left the room and closed the door behind him, Mitsuki slowly lift up her head and exited the blanket. She then turned her back to check the side of her pillow, and saw what Itachi had left for her. Looking at the various colorful sweets in many shapes and form, Mitsuki couldn't help but smile lightly. She had noticed it before, but Itachi surprisingly seemed to have quite a sweet tooth. As she tried to hold back her giggle at Itachi's awkward attempt to cheer her up, Mitsuki felt another presence approaching. Swiftly, she covered her body back in blanket as she continued her pretense. Soon after, the owner of the presence entered the room quietly.
Like Itachi, Kisame could tell that Mitsuki was just pretending. After all, the girl he knew had never been one to sleep still, unlike her current attempt at ruse. Sighing audibly, he too took a seat on his futon, facing the girl in front of her as he stared at her fake sleeping face. As Mitsuki felt Kisame's eye on him, she regretted not setting herself to face the other way instead just now, knowing that Kisame's futon is on the side that she was facing.
"Oi, kid," Kisame called, causing Mitsuki to try her best to hold back from twitching. Receiving no response, Kisame sighed. Itachi had told him to leave her alone, but he felt like he had to say something in that situation.
"I don't know what happened to you, but you can always talk to me if you want, you know," He continued.
Still greeted with the lack of response, Kisame smiled mischievously as he pulled out a lunch box from his shopping bag and balanced it on top of Mitsuki's head. Not sure how to react to his prank, Mitsuki kept still.
"See you then," Kisame said as he stood and left the room as well.
After sensing Kisame's presence leaving the inn, Mitsuki quickly took the lunch box off her head as she raised her body up.
"Ugh, stupid shark! Can't you be more considerate?" Mitsuki grumbled audibly at Kisame's silly prank attempt. However a wry smile quickly followed behind her complaint as she saw that the lunch was box packed full of meat. "I can't keep moping like this, can I?" she thought as the warmth crept inside her heart.
As Mitsuki quickly devoured both of her gift, Mitsuki thought to herself about what she might be able to do. Considering her ability to see soul might be innate and she might have lived a lot longer than she looked like, it was a likely chance that her past self might knew more about the black mark than she currently did. For now, all that she could tell was that the mark darkens over time, and when it's solid, it will burst into flames and took the person's soul. Why and how and when, she did not know. The previous guy with black mark that she saw on the port town was not old and he looked healthy, so was Itachi. It was unlikely that the three of them had the same condition. However, thinking about it, Mitsuki started to worry more. Knowing Itachi's personality, he would have hidden any sign of weakness, or illness, either due to his pride or any other reason that he might have.
"I'm still too uninformed and weak as I am," Mitsuki thought to herself. She wondered, if she were to restore her memory and learned on how to use all the extent of her ability properly, would she be able to do something against the black mark in the future, so that she didn't need to witness the death of someone she cared about once more?
With a newfound determination in her eye, Mitsuki finished her meal and stood up.
All cleaned up and changed, Mitsuki traversed her way towards the bento shop.
"Aida-chan!" Mitsuki shouted as she saw a familiar figure sweeping the shop's front absent mindedly.
Recognising the voice, Aida looked up towards the voice's direction. Immediately, Mitsuki jumped and landed in front of her, this time better than her previous attempts on landing.
"Mitchan!" Aida dropped her broom as she approached Mitsuki and held unto her shoulder with worried expression on her face. "Are you OK? I heard you were not doing well!"
"Ah, I'm ok now," Mitsuki smiled awkwardly, before continuing, "Huh, heard from who?"
"The pretty guy from your squad was here just now," Aida smiled to Mitsuki awkwardly.
"Huh!? Ita.. He did!?" Mitsuki couldn't believe what she heard.
"Yeah, he asked about what happened to you," Aida added.
Hearing the unexpected information, Mitsuki couldn't hold back her smile as a complicated feeling rose up in her heart and surfaced as a withhold, mischievous smiling expression. "Huh, he is that worried huh?" Mitsuki thought to herself as she pictured about the silent guy awkwardly asking Aida for information while keeping his cool.
Aida felt relieved as she saw Mitsuki holding back her chuckle. Suddenly, Mitsuki turned her gaze back towards Aida and hold her hand.
"How about you though, Aida-chan? It must be harder on you than it was on me.. He's like your family after all," Mitsuki questioned with obvious worry on her face. Hearing it, Aida gently shook her head, smiling wrily.
"Im fine, Mitchan. I've prepared myself for this for a long, long time," Aida answered calmly, however hints of sadness still apparent on her face. Seeing that, Mitsuki hugged Aida tightly. Deep inside, once more she felt a deep respect for Aida's strong heart.
"I'm sorry Aida-chan.. You had it tough too, but I.. I couldn't be your support.." Mitsuki apologized softly near Aida's ear as she tried to hold back her feeling of regret from bringing her tears back up.
"Nuh uh, it's OK Mitchan, you had it tough too, witnessing his last moment like that.." Aida shook her head as she hugged Mitsuki back.
After a moment of comfort, as they both released their hug, Mitsuki stared unto Aida's eye with serious expression. Concerned as she was, Aida waited for Mitsuki to talk as she readied her heart for whatever might come.
"Listen Aida-chan, I think I will leave this village soon," Mitsuki stated.
"Huh, why?" worry surfaced on Aida's face as she thought about what Mitsuki's team mate talked to her about earlier that day.
"There's something I have to do, and I don't think I have much time," Mitsuki answered seriously, frowning, hints of worry and sadness on her expression. Seeing this, and hearing the resolve in Mitsuki's voice, Aida nodded.
"I understand. Take care, Mitchan, and good luck! Keep contact with me if possible, ok?" Aida nodded in approval with a determined look, even though she couldn't help but worry about her friend.
Seeing this Mitsuki smiled sadly.
"Say bye and thank you to Keiko-san for me, OK," Mitsuki said, before adding, "I'll miss you a lot.."
"Me too," Aida responded in likeness as a sad smile formed on her face.
And with that, Mitsuki and Aida hugged themselves goodbye for one last time before Mitsuki left hurriedly.
Itachi was taking another stroll in observation nearby the newly miraculously ripened field, wondering if she could find out more about Amaterasu and the priestess by observing the villagers who revered and uttered their prayer towards the field. Suddenly, he felt a signal call from Akatsuki's leader.
"It's too soon," Itachi thought to himself as he quickly excused himself towards a secluded space.
"What is it this time? I thought we just had meeting yesterday?" A guy among the shillouette asked as the entire member's duplicate gathered round.
"This couldn't be good," another muttered.
As the member waited for Pain to start his speech, the members muttered to one another.
"Consider yesterday's information to no longer be valid," suddenly, Pain spoke up.
With his word, all of Akatsuki fell into silence.
"There was an unpredictable turn of event in between the receipt of the information and the conveyance, part of it because of my unability to predict this outcome, as well as the need for us to gather in the headquarter physically, and for that, I deeply regret to say that as of today, the information had been rendered invalid," the Leader continued.
In response to his words, the members stayed quiet as they looked around for confirmation.
"Yesterday, a one day war had broken between Sunagakure and Konohagakure, with Konoha emerging victorious."
Itachi could feel his eyebrow twitch as he heard the information. He could feel his blood draining away from his face as his heartbeat rised. Thankfully, as they were now, no one would be able to tell on the panic that had risen up inside his heart.
"The battle involved both Kyuubi's and Ichibi's Jinchuuriki, Orochimaru and Otogakure, as well as the Third Hokage himself."
As he tried his best to maintain his calm, Itachi waited for more information to come out from the leader's mouth.
"Sasuke, what about Sasuke?" He thought internally.
"Konoha had suffered a great deal of damage as the result, but both Jinchuuriki remained alive and Suna's Jinchuuriki is currently on the retreat,"
"Civilians aside, major losses on Konoha's side includes the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen," he added.
Itachi could feel his blood froze inside his vein. Stopping himself from trembling, Itachi cursed Orochimaru and the turn of events.
"This is really bad," Itachi thought to himself. With the third hokage's protection gone, the pact between him and Danzo might be in danger. Without the third hokage looking after Sasuke, it will be easy for Danzo to go back on his promise, the accursed promise that had brought both him and his brother much pain.
"I need to do something, and fast," Itachi thought in his mind as determination burned inside his red colored iris.
"Ah, Itachi-san, you're back too,"
"Kisame," Itachi responded, wondering why his partner hadstopped in front of the slightly open door.
"The girl is missing again, along with her futon, and the food, at least," Kisame added.
Itachi felt like he didn't have the capacity to deal with more issues at that point of time, gentle as he was, his heart was still burning from the intense worry that had been bugging his mind ever since Pain's announcement.
"Two onii-chan over there, please move over, or at least help me with these!"
Suddenly a familiar voice called from behind the two figures, surprising them due to the lack of presence and footfalls. As the two of them turned their head back, they saw a walking pile of futon and blanket. Kisame immediately chuckled as he took away the pile, revealing Mitsuki's face that was hidden beneath the pile.
"What are you doing, kiddo?" Kisame grinned, relieved that the girl was fine.
".. After all I dirtied my futon yesterday, so I thought I should change it myself," Mitsuki said in embarrassment as she furrowed her brows. Seeing her finally talked, Itachi felt his burden easened a little.
"Thanks for today.. and yesterday.. Sorry I forgot about dinner," Mitsuki said softly as the three of them entered the room and Kisame laid down the fresh futon.
"..and sorry about my pathetic display of weakness yesterday," Mitsuki ended her sentence. Seeing her guilty look, Kisame walked over towards her and patted Mitsuki's head vigorously, messing her hair as he felt relieve that somehow the girl seemed to be back to her usual self.
"I JUST TIDIED MY HAIR, STOP!" Mitsuki shouted as she tried to push Kisame's hand away without success.
Letting a relieved sigh out, Itachi smiled wryly. However, another issue was at hand.
"Right on time. I think it's about time for us to move on to our next destination." Itachi said with a serious tone in his voice.
"Perfect timing, I was thinking the same too," Mitsuki looked at Itachi's eye with her newfound determination, surprising him. He thought that she would at least hesitate or show some sadness upon knowing the upcoming separation with her friend.
"Heh, so where will it be?" Kisame grinned as he noticed the intense, sudden change of atmosphere.
"Konohagakure village," Itachi answered briefly as Kisame grinned.
"Ah, your homecoming then.. I'm assuming we are after Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki?" Kisame confirmed, seemingly excited at the prospect of visiting Itachi's homeground as well as the upcoming hunt.
Itachi nodded in silence.
".. I have to give Danzo a warning. That I'm still here, and I'm watching." Itachi thought secretly in his head, unusual anger flamed inside his heart at the thought of his brother being in danger once more.
Gazing at Itachi's flaming soul and the accursed mark, Mitsuki strengthened her heart once more.
"To regain my past, and to save the people I care about. Never again I'll lose someone in front of my eyes when I'm watching," she swore secretly in her heart.
"It will be a long journey on the road, let's be prepared," Itachi added as he dismissed their short gathering.
Author's note:
It's time for rejoining! (Yes it's FFXIV reference). The timeline will start to merge perfectly with canon here, I might ask you guys to go to a certain manga chapter for refresher as I quote some dialogue here as well. However since it's likely the three will move separately, I won't stay on the cannon chapter more than needed!
Also, now Mitsuki got a new goal and found herself a new strength in her heart, fuelled by her newfound experience and friendship! :3 My daughter is growing up heheheh I'm happy!