As he woke up the next morning, Itachi noticed that the girl was still fast asleep, curling herself into an infant-like position as she laid herself upon the shrine's floor. Somehow, he was reminded by her figure during the night of her breakdown, trembling as she hugged her knee close to her body. As a gentle sigh escaped his lips, Itachi took off his cloak and slowly spread it over Mitsuki's sleeping figure.

Exiting the shrine, Itachi was greeted by Kina's happy smile.

"Itachi Onii-san!" said Kina as he approached Itachi with skips in his steps. Hearing Kina's loud exclamation, Itachi lightly signalled the little boy to keep his voice down by lifting one finger closer to his lips. Realising the cause, Kina quickly covered his mouth with his hand as he giggled softly.

"Reishi-nii is gathering the herb for your order as of now, so I'm bored! Can you accompany me for a while instead?" said Kina softly as an attempt to keep his voice down. Hearing the little's boy request, Itachi nodded with a light smile on his face.

"I'll watch over you from afar, you go do whatever you'd like to do," Itachi said. Hearing his response, Kina frowned slightly, as he was expecting Itachi to be his playmate instead. However, knowing how Itachi usually was after their years of acquintances, Kina decided to give up on his attempt of protest. As Kina nodded in understanding, Itachi blitzed away from his sight with a light smile on his face.

"Stop it! What have we done to deserve this?" Kina roared as some kid ganged up and threw rock at him.

"Shut up, you son of village's traitor!"

"Don't you dare come down here again!"

The village boys shouted in turn as they continuously throwing rocks towards the little boy's body who desperately tried to protect his head from the throws.

Itachi was not sure if he should intervene. If possible, he would like to keep his presence and connection with the two brothers hidden from the rest of the village due to his reputation. The brothers had already been burdened with difficulty and their relationships with the villagers were badly strained due to an event that occurred during the village's past. Besides, none of his skill would be ideal in dealing with young kids without injuring them too much.

However, he also didn't feel like he could simply ignore what was happening in front of him." If the enemy were shinobis it would be simpler.." he thought to himself as he silently clenched his hand.

Suddenly, the plants around Kina grew rapidly, shielding the boy. In the unforeseen turn of event, the bullies froze up as they wondered what happened and if Kina had anything to do with it. Suddenly, burst of vines grabbed the older kids and tied them together tightly without injuring them. As both of the bully hadn't yet figured out what was going on, a voice called out,

"Huh? What are you kids playing at? It seems F-U-N," ask a girl as she approach the group of boys. Immediately, Itachi recognised the owner of the voice. Somehow, he felt somewhat relieved after noticing her arrival.

"W..Who are you!?" said the taller boy among the bullies.

"Haha, I'm just a passerby. Hey, let me join in the fun, won't you," said Mitsuki with a sweet tone, and a fake smile etched on her face. Noticing the lack of smile in her eyes, the bullies shivered.

Earlier that morning, a few hours after Itachi's departure with Kina, Mitsuki woke up from her slumber. noticing Itachi's cloak over her, Mitsuki glanced around looking for the cloak's owner. Noticing his absence, Mitsuki smiled with a mix of endearment, happiness, and amusement, tinged with a hint of sadness over their previous conversation last night. Itachi's small act of care made her happy and filled her heart with warmth, however as she was reminded of their exchange, a sharp pain stroke Mitsuki's heart. As a feeling of nausea rose up within her along with indescribable anxiety. As Mitsuki forced herself to stand, her legs wobbled.

Staggering, she felt her blood drained from her face due to the worry and uncertainties. Still, Mitsuki built up her courage and activated her perception, locating Itachi. Immediately, the familiar soul appeared within her perception's range, not too far from where Kina's soul was. In the spur of the moment, Mitsuki folded Itachi's cloak and left it where Itachi was sleeping the previous night, and rushed towards Itachi's location for a reason that she hadn't yet decided. Somehow, she felt as if she would understand things better once she saw him.

As Mitsuki approached Itachi's location, his figure came into her view. But, before she could muster her voice to call up to him, Mitsuki noticed the boys' shouting as they ganked up upon Kina. As anger and confusion welled up within herself, Mitsuki came to notice a tinge of frustration coming from within Itachi's soul. As she shifted her attention towards Itachi once more, she saw Itachi clenched his fist as he attempted to keep himself still. Realising the situation, accompanied with her observation upon Itachi's action and his personality so far, Mitsuki let out a bitter smile as she jumped down and walked calmly towards the boys, silently extending the reach of her power. As a feeling of endearment filled her heart upon seeing Itachi's gentle, yet considerate action, and his frustration over his inability to intervene, Mitsuki let out a sigh as her affectionate smile slowly turned into a look of determination.

"Where you can't walk, I'll be the extension of your hands," she muttered inwardly, as she formulated herself a plan.

"If.. If you want to pick on someone, pick on that boy over there! He deserves it better!" said the shorter bully boy.

"Huh?" Hearing the boy's word, the smile on Mitsuki's face disappeared, replaced by a cold, angry expression. The audacity of it, and how they didn't even realise that the plant shield was her doing, frustrated her. Moreover, it was obvious that Kina was way smaller and weaker than the both of them, yet they ganked up on him. Mitsuki knew that they were just kids. Innocent as they were, kids could be quite cruel sometime, especially if no one around them had bothered to teach them about right or wrong, or if something was the right thing to do. Recalling her old, heartless self who could take any life away without much of a thought, Mitsuki frowned. Sighing deeply to calm herself down, Mitsuki kneeled to face the bullies who now had fallen unto the ground in seating position.

"What do you mean he deserves it better," Mitsuki asked calmly, her expression still cold and unreadable.

"H.. His parents set a monster upon the village and harm us for their benefits! They are the village's traitor!" the taller boy said, trembling as Mitsuki's cold gaze fall upon him.

"Then?" Mitsuki enquired. Hearing her questions, the two bullies glanced at each other in fear and confusion.

"I'm asking you, what has HE done," Mitsuki raised her voice slightly as she clarified her question. She found it silly how the boys decided to use such reason to justify their bullying. It wasn't even something that Kina himself had done to bring it upon himself.

For a while, the two boys kept their quiet, unsure of the answer. However, as Mitsuki's gaze pressured them, the taller boy answered, "Isn't that enough reason to keep him away from the village? What if he do the same as well to us? After all his parents…"

Hearing the nonsensical response, Mitsuki decided to interrupt the boys word before he made more irresponsible comment towards Kina. "IN. THE. FIRST. PLACE." Mitsuki exclaimed loudly to stop the taller boy's speech, her gaze grew intense with anger, "What prove do you have that his parents had done that?"

"O..Our parents said so! Everyone in the village said so!" the taller boy answered quickly in panic.

"So you will just blindly believe it?" Mitsuki put on a baffled, angered, look on her face. However, realising that she could never understand the trust between the boys and their parents as she was, and the fact that she herself couldn't prove otherwise either, Mitsuki clutched her face as she tried to force herself into understanding. "Nevermind that," she said, correcting herself. "IF! If Kina can really do such thing, wouldn't you two be dead by now?"

Hearing Mitsuki's statement the two bullies glanced at each other in both realization and confusion.

"Either he is a nice boy who doesn't want to hurt even his bullies, or he had neither intention nor power to do such thing. AM I RIGHT?" Mitsuki continued, her voice growing louder intentionally as she intended to plant more fear into the bullies' heart. Hearing her fierce tone, the two boys crawled backwards, trembling. "Why is he getting punished for something that he, himself didn't do? Kina is Kina, his parents is his parents! If someone hates your parents, do you think it was right for them to bully you instead? Will you have to accept it willingly? Because of what your parents deserved? Do you see my point?"

For a while, the two boy froze. Whether in fear, or in realization, Mitsuki didn't know. However, it was enough. As long as they would think about what she said, or fear about the consequences of their own action, or even karma, it would definitely be a seed of a change. Therefore, seeing the fear in their face, Mitsuki grew satisfied. As she slowly loosened the vine's grip, she attempted one last attempt of intimidation to seal the words into the boys' head.

"Think well about those, and don't you two dare to bother him anymore. IF I ever see the two of you bother him again," said Mitsuki, before putting back her angry smile as she raised her voice once more, albeit in her overly sweet tone.

"I'll whip you two in front of the village till the two of you pee your pants," Mitsuki closed with a mischievous, wicked smile as she let the two boys go. Finally freed from their shackle, the two boy scrambled away quickly from both Mitsuki, and Kina.

Seeing them running and stumbling, Mitsuki clutched her face and sighed with a mix of exhaustion and frustration as she undid Kina's plant shield. Not long after, Kina's face emerged behind the unravelled shield with admiration on his face. Seeing the boy's face, Mitsuki smiled at him bitterly as she asked,

"Are you injured? Come here.." said Mitsuki with a gentle smile. Hearing her words, Kina rushed towards Mitsuki and hugged her with audible cry.

"Yosh, yosh, good boy.. It must have been tough for you.." Mitsuki said as she patted Kina's head gently, allowing him to cry in her embrace.

Seeing the scene, Itachi was rendered speechless. He was no stranger to the attempt of persuading peaceful resolution through fear. He had done so before, during the time of his chuunin exam, without even injuring his opponent physically. However, Mitsuki's approach was something that he had never done before. In the first place, he had never been one for inefficient conversation. Simple display of power would be sufficient for him to achieve his goal of settling the fight before it even happened, therefore, an attempt to see eye to eye with the enemy beforehand was more of a waste of energy to him.

However, was it truly enough for a lasting change? When someone's surrender is driven by solely fear, will it be another base of revenge, of ploy? Mitsuki's attempt of understanding even the bullies despite the unnecessity of it, and her effort in changing their thoughts might have been better for both the bullies, and Kina, in the long run, even if only by a slim margin. Then it came unto him, that without understanding of an issue, it was unlikely for someone to change their way. Somehow Itachi recalled the countless conversation between him and Mitsuki so far and noticed how deeply they have affected, and changed the girl in front of him. Without realizing, his gaze fell into Mitsuki's figure, who had seemed to immediately noticed his gaze. As their eyes met, Mitsuki smiled as she mouthed.

"How was it, have I done well?"

As Itachi read the movement of Mitsuki's lips, followed by her cheerful grin towards him before turning her head back as she tightened her embrace on Kina's body, an undescribable emotion filled Itachi's heart, rendering him speechless.

With Mitsuki accompanying Kina, Itachi was freed from his silent guard duty. Heading back to the shrine, Itachi noticed that something was amiss. Quickly, Itachi sneaked his way inside the main shrine, catching a theft attempt in action. With one throw, the string that Itachi had tied to his kunai caught onto the jar in the thief's hold, and pulled it towards him.

"I don't think this belongs to you," he said, catching the thief's attention. As the thief noticed Itachi's presence behind him, he switched into a defensive, fighting pose, as he readied his own kunai. Seeing the thief's movement, it was clear that he was a shinobi. Without a delay, Itachi activated his sharingan, surprising the thief.

"Now, scram," said Itachi. As if seeing a ghost, the thief immediately scrambled away from the main shrine.

Putting back the jar unto its rightful place, Itachi smiled as he thought, "Indeed, it's easier to deal with shinobi."

"Kina-chan, has it always been like that for you?" Mitsuki asked the boy with a gentle tone as the two walked side by side, Kina's hand within her grasp.

"Mmmm…" Kina uttered sadly, piercing Mitsuki's heart with a sense of familiarity. She too, was once looked at as a monster by others, as unfair as it was, as she was also the victim in that situation. With a complicated smile on her face, Mitsuki gave Kina's hand a light squeeze of encouragement. Feeling Mitsuki's supportive gesture, Kina felt the pain in his heart lightened up by a bit. However, soon, disappointment surfaced in his heart.

"Itachi Onii-san never came to help.." he muttered. Hearing his word, Mitsuki came to a better understanding of the situation, and let out a gentle sigh as she put on a pained smile.

"It's not like that.. He was watching over you all this time. It's just that.. I think he didn't want to complicate your relationship with the villagers further," said Mitsuki, recalling how quickly Itachi went out of the villager's sight during her exploration on the previous day. "He has a complicated situation, you know?" she continued gently. Hearing Mitsuki's word, unconvinced, Kina pouted.

"Then why were you able to help me?" said Kina, slight disappointment and challenge in his voice. Hearing his response, Mitsuki laughed.

"Hahaha, it's different," said Mitsuki as she tried to contain her laugh over Kina's cute pouting face. Seeing Kina's frown went deeper, Mitsuki continued jokingly as she posed, pointing at herself with pride, "After all, I'm such a cute, big sister. It must all turn out to be ok~" Hearing Mitsuki's statement, Kina couldn't help but laugh.

"What kind of reasoning is that!" said Kina as he chuckled. With a lighter atmosphere around them, the two continued walking, hand in hand, as Mitsuki steered their conversation away from the stressful situation.

Past dinner time, after a warm dinner session with Kina and Reishi, Mitsuki followed Itachi back to the back shrine. Seeing Itachi's quiet figure, Mitsuki decided to start a conversation.

"Something in your mind, Itachi-kun?" Mitsuki asked as she saw the frown on Itachi's forehead. Hearing Mitsuki's question, Itachi contemplated whether he should disclose what he saw previously or not. Somehow, Mitsuki's words as she got found out by him during their travel rang in his ear.

"You were the one who taught me that everything doesn't have to be a transaction, and that it's ok to depend on someone and ask for help sometimes. This time, let me do that for you instead, Itachi-kun," Itachi recalled Mitsuki's word in his head. With it, he came upon a decision.

"Ah, no, it was just that.. Some uncouth figure were sneaking around this afternoon and attempted theft within the shrine," said Itachi, briefly explaining.

"Mmmm, thinking of it, you haven't told me much about your medicine," said Mitsuki, wondering what could be so special to the point that someone would attempt thievery upon the two child pharmacists. Reading between the lines, Mitsuki offered, "Then, do you want to keep up surveillance around here for a while? I'll tend to Kina and Reishi," Mitsuki offered.

"Yes, if you wouldn't mind," said Itachi without hesitation. Hearing his response, Mitsuki smiled gently with happiness as the two entered the back shrine.

Omake:

"Speaking of it, you seemed to act more mature during today's dinner," Itachi enquired as his curiosity over Mitsuki's sudden change took over him.

"Haha, I figured that it's what they need right now. That way, they will feel safer around me," just like how Itachi's presence made her feel, she added silently in her head. To tell the truth, Mitsuki had planned to take over the task of guarding Reishi and Kina even before Itachi asked her. She figured it would be easier for her to make a move and act on their defense as their guard, as compared to Itachi and his complicated situation.

Hearing Mitsuki's response, Itachi put on a complicated smile which Mitsuki noticed immediately. Misunderstanding the meaning of that smile, Mitsuki frowned as she glared at Itachi angrily, stating,

"If you dare ask me if I would like to stay here instead, I'll punch you, really.." said Mitsuki with intensity in her eyes.

Between knowing how Mitsuki's attack wouldn't mean anything to him, as well as Mitsuki's misunderstanding over Itachi's usual pattern of offer, Itachi chuckled to Mitsuki's annoyance.

"Why are you laughing!" she exclaimed in protest, her face reddening as she somehow felt slightly embarrassed at the turn of event.

"Ah, it's nothing," Itachi answered as he brought his hand closer to his lips, seemingly in an attempt to stop himself from laughing further. Somehow, seeing Itachi's unusually relaxed expression, Mitsuki couldn't keep unto her anger longer, and let out a sigh as she smiled back instead.

Author's note:

Hehehe I really love Mitsuki's forward nature as well as her decisive nature, she's completely the opposite of myself, even if we both are ridden with anxiety w

Also I remember reading somewhere on twitter about sun and moon couple where the moon acts like the sun but was actually the moon, and vice versa. TBH I think Mitsuki's relationship with Itachi is like that. Itachi's quieter, but he was the one who gave Mitsuki salvation unknowingly and shined her path forward like a sun. In the other hand, Mitsuki might shine brighter due to her personality, but all she wanted for now is just to protect and support the people she cares about *cough* Itachi *cough*. I tried my best to create the contrast in their personality, even if inwardly, they both have a caring heart. This will also set apart Mitsuki from the people of Itachi's past, bringing him a breath of fresh air and new outlook for him to ponder upon. Best couple help each other grow! ^^ hehehee