Another day has passed, and the pair continued their journey as soon as the sun had risen. Mitsuki's condition had improved immediately as soon as she gained distance from the abandoned shrine, leaving little for both of them to worry about. When the sun reached it's peak on the afternoon sky, both Mitsuki and Itachi boarded a ferry boat past a long river, towards the Howling Wolf Village. Throughout the boat's passage, Mitsuki had busied herself with a smile on her face as she observed and tinkered with the river's water, as Itachi observed her silently.
He couldn't get a grasp on what was on Mitsuki's mind. Truth was, the both of them barely talk even after they had departed the abandoned shrine. As soon as they gained the distance, as if weight had been lifted off her shoulder, Mitsuki acted like everything was normal without any mention, or question about whatever Itachi had found within a shrine. Having known each other for a while now, he found it to be strange, as the girl had always been the inquisitive type. Somehow, Itachi had the feeling that the girl was holding something back from him. Not only about the shrine, Itachi had also found the girl's sudden recovery from her recent breakdown to be odd, almost unnatural for her state of mental growth, even as the girl had shown her mature side from time to time. It was way too short of a time for her to cope. Partly, he felt responsible as he himself was rushing to settle his concern of Konohagakure's and Sasuke's well being.
"If that's the only thing, it would have been fine," Itachi thought, recalling the girl's care as well as her excessive surveillance around him. Even knowing that the girl had deduced that he was still unwell, Itachi felt like there was more than that. He wondered if the girl was still silently harboring the scar of loss and failure, all the while pretending to be fine.
Watching Mitsuki lowering her hand to touch the water gently, leaving a trail along with the boat's path, Itachi sighed internally. He felt like he didn't have the right to probe and ask her, not after his rejection towards her communication attempt a few days prior. He had been keeping a lot of secret himself, secrets that he wished to bring to his grave, alone. The burdens he cannot share, for his mission. He, of all people, didn't have the right to ask someone to share their burden with him. "Truth builds trust, they said.." and all along Itachi had known himself to be a liar, yet all this time the girl, and Kisame, had both placed their trust in him, despite knowing how much he had been holding back from them. Realizing that, Itachi felt somehow guilty. He knew that even if one day the two lost their trust in him, he would have no rights to expect otherwise. Somehow, the realization brought up a feeling of melancholy inside him.
"We've arrived," said the ferryman, while secretly feeling glad that the awkward, silent journey had ended.
As the boat stopped, the pair faced a row of red colored Torii adorning a step of stairs, heading upward towards the mountain. The text on the plate between the pillars read: "The Eighty-Eight Tori of the Howling Wolf". As Mitsuki stared upwards toward the pathway, Itachi glanced at the girl with concern, wondering if she would have the same aversion as what she had during her visit of the Amaterasu shrine. Betraying his worry, Mitsuki took a relaxed stride past one Torii, to another.
"Itachi-kun, look!" Mitsuki's call caught Itachi by surprise. He didn't expect her to be the one to start another conversation so soon.
"Look at these wide array of herbs, I've read about some of them in the medical book. I wonder if all the other ones are medicinal herbs too?" Mitsuki exclaimed excitedly as she saw the colourful array of herbs along the Torii ladened path.
"I wonder if it will be OK if I harvest some of them?" said Mitsuki as Itachi walked closer towards her.
"Maybe, yes," said Itachi gently, as a sense of relieve and warmth crept thru his heart.
As Mitsuki turned her gaze to glance upon Itachi's figure, her expression changed to one of confusion as she tilted her head, questioning, "Hmm? Why are you smiling like that?"Mitsuki asked with a mixture of amusement and confusion.
"Smiling? Me?" Itachi thought. He had never realised that a sincere smile had managed to escape his lips. Seeing Itachi at a loss, Mitsuki returned his smile with a cheerful smirk before turning back towards the garden and dashed her way through the garden.
"Wait for me, I'll take a look for a while!" said Mitsuki as she went deeper into the garden.
"Wait, Mitsuki, I think it's better to ask first!" Itachi quickly exclaimed to no avail as the girl had rushed away, disappearing from his sight.
Due to Mitsuki's excessive detour, by the time the two reached the top of the staircase, the sun had begun its descent. Dragged by Mitsuki's curiosity, Itachi had been strung along to help her identifying various herbs and flower that Mitsuki had found in the garden. Even so, there were still quite a number of unique plants that the both of them had yet to identify.
"This place sure is amazing. How could such a wide variety of plants coexist with each other in such a small area?" said Mitsuki with cheerful tone on her voice as she carried her haul along to the village atop the mountain.
"We're here," said Itachi briefly as both of them entered the village. Soon, the pair was greeted with countless stall of different sizes and shape, attended by merchants who were loudly shouting to attract customers here and there, offering their medicines and other products. Immediately, Mitsuki's eye sparkled with excitement as she approached the stalls one by one.
"Eh, what are these?" Mitsuki said as she pointed at one small container on top of a stall.
"Young lady, you have a nice eye! Those are the newest ointment popular among ladies, they firm your skin and keep your looks young!" said the stall owner as Mitsuki approached in enquiry.
"Then what about those?" Mitsuki pointed at another jar.
"Those are no good, young lady. You might as well get a better quality of it in my stall, lesser side effects!" Another merchant shouted to attract Mitsuki's attention, at the stall owner's annoyance.
"You seem to be carrying a lot of herbs with you, are you interested in medicine study?" asked another stall owner.
"Un, can any of you guys help me identify these herbs?" said Mitsuki excitedly in response to the merchant's question.
Soon, the merchant had gathered around the spirited girl, answering her enquiries. Seeing how Mitsuki had once again familiarized herself with the villagers in the short time they've been there, Itachi couldn't help but put on a complicated smile.
"Mitsuki," he called Mitsuki softly, signalling her to look at him. "I'll go ahead," Itachi signalled the moment he caught Mitsuki's attention. Seeing Itachi's signal, Mitsuki smiled as she made a simple "OK" sign with her fingers cheerfully as a response, prompting Itachi to blitz away ahead of his path.
"Reishi, Kina, are you two there?" Itachi called softly as he reached the Hypericum Shrine. In response to his call, two boys emerged from within the shrine.
"Itachi onii-san, you're back!" said the younger boy with straight, upward styled hair with a hawk mask on the back of his head as he raced towards Itachi.
"Welcome again, Itachi-san," the older boy greeted politely, smiling. His long hair was tied into a ponytail, and his yellow kimono stood out among the forest's greens.
As the younger boy named Kina grabbed Itachi's hand and lead him towards the shrine, his older brother, Reishi followed with a smile as he enquired.
"Will it be the usual? As usual I will need some time to prepare the special medicine."
Upon hearing his question, Itachi nodded, "Then, I'll be staying in the back shrine as usual."
The sun had set and the night had fallen. Mitsuki followed Itachi's chakra towards an old shrine, away from the village. From the back shrine, unexpectedly, Mitsuki heard a light, cheerful chatter of young boys. As Mitsuki opened the door, she saw Itachi sitting along with two young boys, one about the age of 14, and the other 8, or so Mitsuki guessed based on their body structure. On their laps, sets of food were readied for consumption.
"AGH!? YOU ATE WITHOUT ME!? AGAIN!?" Mitsuki shouted loudly in protest as she entered with a mix of annoyance, disappointment, and anger reflected in her complicated expression.
"Again?" Itachi said in surprise as he tried not to laugh at Mitsuki's excessively upset expression.
"Don't you dare think that I don't know about your little snack time with Kisame back in Konoha.." Mitsuki glared at Itachi intensely, narrowing her normally round eyes.
"Oh…" he muttered. To be honest, Itachi had almost forgotten about it, after the turn of events that happened afterwards. Hearing Itachi's response, Mitsuki frowned harder as she held back her annoyance, hands folded in front of her chest, causing Itachi to lightly smile at the girl guiltily.
"I've asked them to make more food this time actually. Sorry for the trouble, Kina, Reishi," said Itachi as he smiled apologetically towards the two young boys. Somehow, his smile seemed to catch the two boys off guard.
"Ah you smiled again! the last time you smiled was when you told me about your brother!" Kina grinned widely as he exclaimed. Hearing the little boy's word, Itachi was at a loss, once more. Meanwhile, Mitsuki's eye sparkled as she took a seat beside the innocently smiling boy.
"Let me hear about the details," Mitsuki grinned mischievously towards Kina, followed with a meaningful, winning smile on her face as she glanced towards Itachi. Not knowing how to react, Itachi shifted his gaze away from the girl's smirking face.
"However, it's unusual for you to come here with someone, Itachi-san," said Reishi as he came back with another set of food, which Mitsuki gladly took with sparkles in her eyes. "Who is she? Your girlfriend?" Reishi continued.
Hearing Reishi's question, Mitsuki almost burst out laughing as Itachi awkwardly froze upon the older boy's outlandish accusation.
"Does it look like that?" Mitsuki asked mischievously with a playful smile, leaving Reishi at a loss due to the pair's confusing reaction. "It's not like that," Mitsuki continued, "I invited myself along." She clarified immediately after with a smile while glancing at Itachi's frozen expression playfully.
"Hoo," said Reishi as he moved his gaze between Mitsuki's and Itachi's face.
"Are you what they call a stalker?" Kina added innocently.
"Not like that, that's so extreme," said Mitsuki with annoyance, her eyes narrowed as doubt of her action lately entered her brain, along with a sense of guilt, embarrassment, and doubt. Shaking the thoughts off, Mitsuki added.
"By the way, the name's Mitsuki! Nice to be of your acquaintance!" said Mitsuki with a cheerful smile.
"I'm Kina!" said the younger boy with a grin.
"I'm Reishi, nice to meet you," said the older brother with a gentle smile.
"Also, thank you for the food! It's been a while since we ate a proper meal," said Mitsuki with a sad smile, fake tears welled in the corner of her eyes as she pretended to wipe her tears off sadly.
"Hehehe, I helped make those! Those are Itachi onii-chan's favourite!" Kina told Mitsuki proudly.
"How admirable! Hehe," Mitsuki said as she patted Kina's head lightly, smiling at the boy's attempt of bragging.
As the atmosphere within the shrine turned warmer due to the light exchange of chatter, another gentle smile escaped Itachi's lips.
"Why don't you stay with them on the main shrine?" Itachi asked as Mitsuki followed him towards the back shrine.
"Nah, I'd like to talk to you. Since you seem to be in a good mood and all," Mitsuki answered with a playful smile on her face. Hearing her words, Itachi knitted his eyebrow.
"Don't worry, I won't ask about your clan or your brother. At least, let me know more about your health and this medicine that you need," Mitsuki followed up as she saw the frown that formed itself on Itachi's eyebrow.
To be honest, Itachi had thought of the futility of hiding his affection towards his older brother, now that Kina had mentioned that in front of Mitsuki. However, knowing the girl's ability to connect the dots, he was still not sure if he was ready for the slight chance that the girl could deduce the truth behind his clan's massacre.
"Then it's fine," said Itachi, compromising. Even if he said so, he knew he would still be holding some information regarding his sickness from her. The severity of it, for example, and.. How there was no cure for it. He didn't want her to pity him, or worried excessively about him for it.
As the two entered the back shrine, both of them took a seat side by side underneath the shrine's dilapidated ceiling. Waiting for Mitsuki's question, Itachi felt a sense of awkwardness as the two of them sat in the darkness, accompanied by the moonlight that had seeped through the hole on the shrine's ceiling. Suddenly, Mitsuki broke the silence.
"Then? Tell me about the details," she demanded. Itachi kept his quiet, as he didn't know where to start yet.
"Since when are you unwell?" Mitsuki lead Itachi with a question, realising Itachi's lack of ability to talk about himself.
".. Some years ago," Not long after he left Konoha, was the first time Itachi felt that something was wrong.
Hearing Itachi's response, Mitsuki moved over to Itachi's front and gazed at him intently with an enquiring gaze, as if demanding for more details. As she sat down, folding her leg under her, Mitsuki leaned forward, focusing, as her figure entered the beam of the moonlight.
Itachi had never noticed it before then, but as the bright, white shade of moonlight fell upon her, Mitsuki's hair, lashes, and eye reflected a faint blue tint, reminiscent to the color of a bright, night sky. As the small detail etched itself on Itachi's mind, Mitsuki tilted her head in confusion of Itachi's sudden lack of words.
"And?" she asked impatiently as a slight frown of confusion colored her expression, pulling Itachi's attention back to her question.
"I started to notice a drop in my stamina, as well as pain.." all over his body, Itachi paused as he swallowed the last few of his word back. Noticing the sudden cut in Itachi's sentence, Mitsuki narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
"Mangekyou Sharingan's Jutsu had always been one to take a great toll on the user in return of the power it wield," Itachi tried to steer the conversation away from the details that he intended to hide.
"Kisame said, it's taking a toll on your vision. But that's not all, right?" Mitsuki cut Itachi's sentence as she recalled the Mark's thickening that had always been triggered by Itachi's use of Mangekyou's Jutsu. "It must have somehow worsened your illness as well.."
Hearing Mitsuki's words, Itachi wondered how far she had deduced on her own, or what she had seen to come to such conclusion. As he pondered, Mitsuki seemed to be considering something as well.
"Itachi-kun," Mitsuki called Itachi with hesitation in her voice, before elaborating her thoughts. "Do you mind if I do a quick medical check up on you here?"
"?" Itachi responded without a word, only mere confusion on his face.
"I'm not sure if you've heard from Kisame, but I have been helping with the village clinics and secretly experimented on something there," Mitsuki continued with serious expression on her face.
Itachi was not sure about how to respond to Mitsuki's request. The hesitation in Mitsuki's voice as she asked for his permission was quite worrying. However, seeing the girl's serious expression filled with concern, he decided to entertain her.
"Fine," said Itachi as he unbuttoned his cloak to take it off, revealing his shinobi outfit underneath. Seeing Itachi's action, Mitsuki tilted her head in confusion.
"Are you feeling hot? Why are you taking off your cloak?" Mitsuki asked frowning. If anything, she felt that the night was a cold one.
"?" Hearing Mitsuki's question, Itachi displayed a perplexed face.
"Oh well, lend me your hands please," Mitsuki shrugged as she offered her own palm forward.
Realising the cause of Mitsuki's confusion, Itachi could feel his face heating up as embarrassment surfaced over his misunderstanding. Thankfully, he had only taken off his cloak. Using the darkness as the cover, Itachi leaned back as he offered his hand forward, hiding his reddened face away from the girl's sight.
"Itachi-kun, can you circulate your chakra around for a while?" Mitsuki asked while keeping Itachi's hand within her hold with serious look on her face. It was faint, but Itachi could feel the injection of nature energy from within Mitsuki's palm, circulating around his body, and out of his other palm back towards Mitsuki's own hand. Obeying Mitsuki, Itachi kneaded some chakra and circulated it along his own pathways.
"Now, can you activate your Sharingan please?" Mitsuki said as she closed her eyes, frowning, seemingly concentrating. Without hesitation, Itachi activated his Sharingan. As his chakra flowed towards his eye, Itachi could feel the flow of the nature energy following alongside his own chakra.
"Then, can you activate your Mangekyou? Don't use any jutsu, just.. activate it.." said Mitsuki, this time with hesitation in her voice. Hearing the shift in her tone, Itachi realized the source of her hesitation then, and before. It seemed as if the girl was afraid that she would exacerbate his condition as she went about her checking method. With a complicated feeling, Itachi activated his Mangekyou. As he did, he could feel Mitsuki's hand twitched.
"That's.. enough.. you can deactivate them.." Mitsuki said with a slight tremble in her voice as she opened her eyes while keeping her gaze down, as if avoiding Itachi's gaze. As Itachi deactivated his Sharingan, Mitsuki pulled her hand back slowly and brought them close to her body, clenching them together with slight tremble on her finger. Seeing the fear and panic in Mitsuki's eye, akin to the one she showed during the night of her breakdown, Itachi came to a realization.
"Ah, it seems like she knows now.." Itachi thought with a complicated feeling in his heart. On one hand, he was impressed of how the girl had seemed to once again discover a new use of her power. On the other hand, it seemed like it had rendered his attempt of lie useless. Upon the realization, both of them settled in silence for some moment. Suddenly Mitsuki's voice broke the quiet, still ladened with a slight tremble in her voice.
"Itachi-kun, do you know about human body's composition and immune system?"
Hearing her question, Itachi answered briefly with a bitter smile, "I do, and I gave the book you brought back a read as well."
"Then, I'll go straight to the point. Stop using Mangekyou Sharingan." Mitsuki said briefly, still avoiding Itachi's gaze. Hearing her sudden demand, Itachi tilted his head due to Mitsuki's lack of explanation.
"I'm afraid it's not that simple," said Itachi in response, as he gazed directly upon Mitsuki's trembling figure. "I told you, didn't I? As shinobi, we'll never know when we are going to be thrown into unexpected situation," he added, briefly explaining.
"Then, just stop being a shinobi!" Suddenly, Mitsuki exclaimed, raising her voice as she shifted her gaze further away from Itachi's figure, avoiding the sight of his marked soul. Hearing Mitsuki's fear ladened exclamation, Itachi frowned.
"I.. asked for Kisame's cooperation in my experiment as well, so I can say it for sure.. Something's really wrong with your body," Mitsuki added, as she braved herself into giving Itachi further explanation.
"Your immune system is attacking your own body, and any attempt of chakra usage is aggravating the attack. Especially.."
"During Mangekyou's usage.." Itachi continued Mitsuki's word inside his own mind. He had had his suspicion, and to be frank, he had been told the same during his past diagnosis. How Mitsuki could assess that much in such a short time span was a mystery to him.
"It affects all of your body, especially those that had experienced excessive usage of chakra. Your muscles, eye, lungs… heart.."
Hearing Mitsuki's further assessment, Itachi smiled bitterly. As Mitsuki caught a glimpse of Itachi's smile, she turned her head to face Itachi and stared at him in horror.
"You.. knew…?" she asked, trembling. Itachi didn't answer.
"Then.. why..? Life is important, right..? So does yours.. right?" she continued, her voice quivering. Again, Itachi lightly smiled, sadness reflected in his eyes as he shifted his gaze away from the girl's questioning gaze. Again, self-hatred caused Itachi's soul to flicker within Mitsuki's field of view.
"It was as if his body is reflecting his own self-hate…" Mitsuki thought sadly, still unsure of what might have caused the immense suffering inside Itachi's heart.
"We should rest soon," Itachi uttered softly in an attempt to end the conversation.
Knowing that pressing further will yield no result, Mitsuki laid her body down, facing away from his treasured ally. Unable to sleep, she uttered her last question, "Hey, Itachi-kun?"
No answer was given.. Despite that, Mitsuki continued her question,
"Why did you become Shinobi in the first place?" she uttered, sadly.
Hearing Mitsuki's question, Itachi smiled as he reminisced about his early days, and his long abandoned dream. Closing his eye, Itachi once again responded in silence.
Author's note:
Ok, lore explanation time! I'll split it into two points~
1st one is about Itachi's MPA, as the link that I've previously tagged; I had expanded on how the illness affects Shinobis, especially with their Chakra pathway system. Think of it, how chakra could cause inflammation and pain if being overused (in the case of Naruto's rasengan training, and Mangekyou's draw back, as well as Gai-sensei's paralysis), I thought it will be natural if an overactive immune system had decided that the chakra producing cell, the chakra itself, and its pathway were the body's enemy and chose to act against it. Especially with the burst usage of chakra during Mangekyou's jutsu, I think naturally the overactive immunity would react in panic over the pain and damage that it causes, ironically causing more damage (like my friggin allergy -.-) Even within people without auto-immune disease, this overreaction could be troublesome, imagine how was it on those who had them. It's likely that the immune system couldn't differentiate between the body's own cell and foreign, invasive cells, causing further damage to the body's owner organ. Anyway, that's my own formulated theory with my limited biological knowledge, combined with my research and foundings~
2nd one is about Mitsuki's diagnosis method. It's actually using the same method as her tracking. The difference is the concentration she needed in order to get a detailed feedback. Considering that human's body emit heats, and composed mostly of water and minerals, by focusing her energy flow, she could give a read on the body's condition. Of course it's easier said than done, that's why she had built herself a memory map by secretly analysing the body of the patients she encounter and matching it with the doctor's diagnosis. And, by analyzing Kisame, the only other shinobi she knew, even if the sample size is just one person, Mitsuki had created a baseline image of how normal people's body interact with chakra system. During the checkup, Mitsuki purposedly focused and followed along on Itachi's chakra flow and the effects on the surrounding area, as well as checking how Itachi's Sharingan bloodline works, and the effect it had on Itachi's body. By measuring the temperature change caused by inflammation, the movement of blood and lymphatic system, and comparing it to the data that she had gathered in her mind, Mitsuki could conclude that the same immune system that helped defend the body from sickness, was the perpetrator of the damage within Itachi's body, on top of his chakra usage and the damage caused by the jutsu itself. As for why Itachi's lungs is badly affected, beside from his Goukakyu no Jutsu, will be explained in the upcoming chapter!
I hope I don't scare you guys with too much theory and the wall of explanatory text hahahaha. I'm not sure how to put such practical knowledge inside the story on its own without rambling away too much and losing the focus of the story, so please bear with my super long author's note x'D