"Itachi? What was your life like when you were alive?"

Itachi hit his head on the shelf storing all their pilfered food. He hissed silently, rubbing the throbbing area on his skull. He wasn't expecting the sudden question from the seven-year-old. Renji had never enquired about his time alive before. He returned to grabbing the bread he had dropped before turning to Renji's expectant face.

"Why the sudden interest?" Itachi asked, still rubbing the bruise that was slowly forming on his scalp.

"Well, it's just that you never talk about it. I only know really vague stuff about you. Like, you said I reminded you of someone but you never said who. And you know this chakra stuff as well and all these strange and awesome jutsus. And you said you hurt people too. I don't like not knowing stuff. You're the biggest mystery to me, nii-san. In fact, I don't even know what your favorite food is! So…can you for once be honest with me about yourself?"

"I remember my life alive," Itachi replied as he shifted through the contents of the pot that Renji stole from the market earlier that day. He placed the food on the shelf as he spoke. "Although, I wish to forget most of it and the finer details are slowly eluding me as time goes on."

"Why?"

"I'd rather not say…"

"Why?"

"It's a bit dark."

"Why?"

"Don't even try it, Renji," Itachi said, throwing a knowing glance at the redhead. "I had a little brother and he pulled the 'Why?' game with me all too often. I've learned how to handle it accordingly."

"Really!?" Renji blurted out. "You had a little brother before?"

"Yes…though I wasn't the elder sibling I should have been to him…"

"Well if you're not gonna talk about him, how about more general stuff?"

"Well, since you insist," Itachi conceded as he broke apart the bread he had dropped earlier and handed a piece to Renji. "I like cabbage, onigiri with seaweed in it, and dango while I dislike steak. I hate violence and needless bloodshed. My dream for the future…I wish to atone for the mistakes that I made and protect those important to me. And I loved my younger brother Sasuke dearly; I gave up my life to protect him and our home."

"Wow…" Renji muttered. "You mean you died protecting your brother? That's so…awesome. You must be the best big brother in the world if you did that, nii-san. Anyone who says otherwise is a dumbass."

"I guarantee you…I wasn't…" Itachi said softly, his gaze hardening and becoming more distant. "I guess I would be one of those dumbasses in your opinion then."

"Don't look like that! Just you wait, Itachi-nii! I'm gonna be the strongest Soul Reaper ever!" Renji boldly exclaimed, standing up proudly and puffing out his chest. "I'll get rid of all the bad things that make you sad! Then you won't have to worry about feeling sad anymore!"

"Well, 'strongest Soul Reaper ever'; would you care to sit down and eat? You're not going to get anywhere on an empty stomach," Itachi chided lightly, eyeing the embarrassed look on Renji's face as the redhead sat back down. The child began muttering under his breath as he ate his bread.

"Nii-san, what were your parents like?" Renji asked suddenly.

Itachi stopped mid-bite at the question.

"You told me you had a brother, but you didn't tell me about your mom or dad. Were they nice?"

Itachi said nothing, his mind delving into the memories of his past. He remembered that night clearly, no matter how much he wished to forget it. The silent swish of a ninjato through the neck, the sickening thunks of shuriken being embedded into bodies, the splashing of blood onto the soil; he remembered it all, the images forever burned into the retinas of his Sharingan.

Worst of all were the memories of his family. Fugaku and Mikoto had still loved him—were still proud of him—even as he slit their throats and stabbed them to death. He remembered little eight-year-old Sasuke coming into the room and finding his parents dead on the floor. The broken look on his face when he learned that Itachi, his own brother, had slaughtered the entire Uchiha clan; he couldn't bear to see his little brother suffer so much. Then he lied to him, told him to foster his hatred and to try to kill him one day once he possessed the Mangekyou Sharingan. He was only thirteen then; not a child but not quite a man yet either. It was the second time in Itachi's life where he suffered such emotional trauma, the first time being when he first witnessed death when he was only a child.

"Hey, hey, hey! Itachi! Did I say something wrong!? Why're you crying!?"

Itachi jolted out of his memories, moving his hand to his face. No doubt, there were tears trailing down his cheek.

"It's nothing," he said monotonously, quickly wiping away the wetness with his hand.

"Bullshit! Grown-ups don't cry unless something really, really, really bad happened!" Renji shouted, sounding worried despite his angry outburst.

"Renji," Itachi said, looking sharply at the child. "It's not something you need to know. Keep your nose out of places where it doesn't belong."

Renji pouted, remaining quiet despite not wanting to drop the issue. The redhead stood up, his hands gripped into fists. He turned to the doorway, stomping angrily as he started to leave. Itachi watched the fuming kid with his ever observant eyes.

"And where are you going?" he demanded.

"I'm gonna go to the market street again. We're running low on food anyway," Renji stiffly responded. He paused in the doorway, looking back with a saddened look on his face. "I want to know what happened, but it's probably something really bad and you don't like remembering it. It ain't right that you have to keep secrets from me all the time, but I respect you, nii-san. So, I won't ask about it. I'll wait."

Renji exited the house and began making his way to the market again. He smiled to himself, itching to steal something again. If there was one thing Renji loved more than spending time together with his big brother, it was stealing goods from under people's noses. Itachi was an even better thief than Renji was. He always managed to steal something with such precision that it left Renji awestruck. Itachi would always find the perfect distraction before he made his move. The merchants never knew what hit them until it was too late and Itachi would be long gone. Sometimes, he even managed to steal the money made from those merchants while he took their wares. It was always an amazing sight to see when his big brother was in action. He even taught Renji some of the techniques he used so the redhead could do it too. The Shadow Clone-Henge trick was the most common technique he used, but he also did these cool acrobatic ninja moves too. Renji giggled to himself, thinking about how lucky he was to have such an awesome big brother. Despite having to live in a rundown crapheap of a District, Renji couldn't complain too much. He knew there were children who had to live on the street since he had lived that life until Itachi came.

Itachi. If he hadn't taken Renji in when he did, would he have died from hunger? The seven-year-old shuddered at the thought. Nowadays, it was hard for Renji to imagine life without Itachi. He was so kind compared to the other old farts of Inuzuri and he tended to put Renji's needs above his own.

That thought also bothered him. He had noticed that food was starting to become scarcer when they went out to pilfer from the merchants. Maybe the idiots were finally figuring out that what they usually stole was food and were purposefully keeping their stocks hidden somewhere else. Renji was a child, but he wasn't stupid. He knew Itachi had high spirit energy; otherwise he wouldn't be eating as much as Renji did after a good day of training. With the lack of food, he was giving up his portion of the meals to Renji. He knew Itachi was starving himself so Renji would have food to eat since he was a child and still growing. If things kept up like this, he feared Itachi might die from hunger. The very idea scared Renji. He wouldn't let that happen to his big brother.

Renji frowned at the merchants as he spied on them from the corner of a building. He scanned the various tables, trying to determine who was selling what. He spotted an old man with a table full of pots, indicating a wide variety of goods. Renji assessed the situation, trying to find the best routes of escape should the old fart give chase to him. He also began planning on how he was going to steal the goods.

He was abruptly brought out of his thoughts when he saw two children walk up to the stand. A boy with shaggy brown hair that covered his eyes and a girl with short black hair were being shooed away by the old man. Renji was curious. Children didn't usually have money to buy anything worthwhile from the marketers, so there had to be an underlying reason to it. He blinked when he saw another child sneak under the table, tying a string to the table leg and connected the other end to the man's ankle. The child gave a thumbs-up to the other two children.

"Okay, let's move!" the girl shouted, running up to the stand and grabbing a pot on it.

As expected, the old fart tried to stop the girl from taking his wares, but ended up tripping over the table due to the string tied around his ankle. The girl commanded her cohorts to steal what they could and start running. The group of four kids took off running down one of Renji's potential escape routes with the angry man not far behind them. With the speed they were both traveling at, the old man would catch up to them shortly unless someone did something to distract the pursuer. Renji's gaze hardened, running down a different route that connected to the same street that the group of kids took. He wasn't going to just stand by and do nothing. He had lived the same life as those kids and he felt obligated to help them. Pushing chakra through his legs to help him move faster, Renji quickly caught up to the chasing scene.

"I gotcha now, ya little bastards!" Renji heard the old man declare.

"We're in trouble, Rukia-chan! He's really pissed off!" one of the kids said to the girl in their group.

"Be quiet and keep running!" Rukia snapped back.

The old man was almost on them, causing Renji to grit his teeth. He rushed forward into the fray, causing quite a shock to the group of kids. He pushed more chakra into his legs, allowing him to make a leap over the kids. He slammed his chakra-enhanced foot into the marketer's face, sending the man flying. The old fart had landed roughly on his back, his nose bleeding and quite possibly broken. He landed quite a distance away from where Renji had kicked him. Grinning at his work, he turned to the group of kids.

"Get moving before he gets up," Renji said to them.

"Wait! Who the heck are you?" Rukia demanded.

"Worry about that later! Just go!"

"Come with us, then!" one of the kids said. "We have a hideout."

Renji decided to agree, not wanting to linger around the alley for much longer. The group of kids led him down various streets and alleyways, passing by the river until they reached the "hideout". It was a small, but safe haven for children without families. They had joined together out of necessity and became one happy group. Renji sat down on a barrel, waiting for Rukia to get back to him. She had told him to wait while they sorted through the stuff they stole. Renji aimlessly cleaned his ear as he looked around. He briefly wondered if he would have been lucky enough to find this place before he met Itachi. But if he did, then he never would have met his big brother and he wouldn't have learned about his unique ability to control chakra.

"Hey, Red Pineapple; what'd you say your name was?" Renji heard Rukia ask, bringing him back into reality. He turned his head, finding the girl in front of him.

"My name's not Red Pineapple. It's Renji," he answered heatedly.

"Well, Renji," she said, holding out a small cloth filled with something. "This is for you. Consider it a thank-you gift for helping us out."

Renji took the bag, carefully opening so as not to spill its contents. His eyes got bigger when he realized it was confetti candy. He had loved sweets, but he hadn't had confetti candy in a long time. He was tempted to try a bite right then and there, but he held back. No. He didn't need to eat the candy. It would be better to save it for future use. It would be better if Itachi had the candy instead.

"I wonder if Itachi-nii has had confetti candy before?" he briefly wondered.

Renji was brought out of his thoughts again when he saw an older kid bully a smaller child by taking his bag of candy. The child attempted to get the bag back but only succeeded in tearing it apart, causing the candy to go flying onto the ground. The child began crying while the older kid began insulting him, calling him a worthless baby. Renji made a move to get up and teach the bully a lesson, but was stopped by Rukia. She had walked up to the kid and taught him a painful lesson for bullying the smaller child. Renji doubted he would forget the words she had said.

"We may not get hungry, but we can all smell and we can all taste! We're all the same, so happiness should be shared equally with every one of us. If we hurt each other, then we're no better than those nasty grown-ups."

He felt awed and inspired by Rukia's actions and words. She reminded him of Itachi in a way; being kind to those around her, no matter whom they were or what their background was. He was silent as he watched her give away her portion of candy to the child before walking out of the hideout. Renji pocketed his candy before running after Rukia. He took a look around, not spotting where Rukia had gone.

"Hey, Renji! Were you looking for me?"

Renji jolted, turning his head and spotting Rukia sitting in a tree. He felt a blush come onto his face. He crossed his arms in denial, turning his head away from the girl.

"Why would I be looking for you?"

"You're so weird!" Rukia laughed.

"Don't laugh at me, damn it!" Renji shouted indignantly. "You've got some nerve laughing at me! Just you wait! I'm going to be a Soul Reaper someday! I'll show you!"

It was sundown before Renji got back home. He was cringing inside, wondering how mad Itachi was going to be with him for being late. He had lost track of time while he was playing with Rukia and her friends. The redhead took a deep breath before walking into the shack.

Itachi was sitting on his futon, a distinct frown on his face. Renji grimaced, not liking the look on Itachi's face. Itachi was different from other grown-ups in many ways. For one, he never got visibly angry. The lack of emotions could have been seen as a blessing; but with Itachi, it was more of a curse. To Renji, Itachi showing no emotions was far scarier than Itachi showing his emotions. The seven-year-old shifted nervously on his feet, waiting for the figurative explosion.

"You're late," Itachi stated, his voice showing no emotion whatsoever.

"I'm sorry, nii-san!" Renji cried out, bowing deeply. "See, I was going to come right back after I stole something from the market, but I didn't. I saw these kids steal some goods before I could and they were being chased by an old fart wielding a hatchet. I helped them and they thanked me. I sorta became friends with them and I was playing with them pretty much this whole day. I lost track of time, nii-san. I'm sorry…"

"You were playing with children about your age?"

"Yeah. Please don't be angry, nii-san! I won't do it again!"

Itachi smiled a bit. "I'm not angry. I'm happy for you."

Renji jerked upright, his mouth gaping. "Eh!?"

"It's alright if you found some kids around your age to play with," Itachi explained. "That's a good thing. But next time, be sure to tell me what's going on so I don't get worried over nothing."

Renji tackle-glomped Itachi, knocking the Uchiha onto his back. "You are the nicest brother ever!"

"You really need to stop doing that, Renji," Itachi groaned, rubbing the sore spot on his head where it had made contact with the floor.

"Sorry, Itachi-nii," Renji sheepishly apologized. "I'll make up for today during training tomorrow. I think I'm getting close to summoning a reiatsu ball!"

"Oh?" Itachi said, raising an eyebrow. "May I see?"

"Yeah!"

Renji got off of Itachi, allowing the male to stand up. Renji stood in the middle of the room. He then placed his hand in front of him, his other hand connecting to his wrist. The redhead concentrated deeply, summoning the energy forth. He let out a cry, struggling to shape the energy into a spherical form. A small blue sphere popped out of his hand, sparking wildly as it hovered over his palm. Renji was shocked at the sparks and immediately broke his concentration. The flickering sphere disappeared into a small explosion of sparks, causing Renji to squeak and hide behind his elder brother's legs.

"Wasn't expecting that to happen!" Renji said guiltily.

"Interesting. It seems my guess was right."

Renji looked up at his brother, finding a calculating look on his elder brother's face. "Nii-san? What were you right about?"

"I think you may have unintentionally discovered you chakra nature," Itachi said.

"My chakra what?"

"Do you want me to explain now or tomorrow?"

"Tell me now, please!" Renji got out from behind Itachi's legs and sat down on the floor, waiting for his brother to explain.

"I thought you would say that," Itachi mused. "As you know, chakra has different forms and can be used in different ways. Chakra control can stem into two different types of transformations. There's shape transformation and nature transformation."

"Uh…oooookaaaaay? And what does that have to do with the small explosion of sparks earlier?"

"Every shinobi has an affinity to one of the five elements that make up nature transformation. I believe you may have showed yours earlier when you tried shaping your spirit energy into a physical form."

"Oh. Really? So what nature was it?"

"Well, there are five main chakra natures: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Lightning. So—"

"Oh, cool! I saw sparks, so does that mean my chakra has a Lightning affinity!? Sweet! I can summon lightning bolts outta my hands!"

"Renji," Itachi said seriously, gaining Renji's attention. "While you may have the ability to use Lightning Release jutsus, I cannot teach them to you."

"Why not?" the redhead asked.

"While I've seen many different types of Lightning Release jutsu, I am unable to perform them. I have no experience with those techniques. Training with your newfound affinity will be far more challenging since you will be on your own."

"I can do it!" Renji said heatedly. "I can do anything I set my mind to! I'll become a master at Lightning Release! Just you watch, nii-san!"

"So much like Naruto…" Itachi thought. "Even faced with the seemingly impossible, he still says he'll succeed no matter what."

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Renji said, bringing Itachi out of his thoughts. He started digging into his pocket and took out a bag. He held it towards Itachi. "This is for you, Itachi-nii!"

"For me?" Itachi repeated, taking the small bag in his hand. He opened the bag, picking up a piece of the candy. "Confetti candy?"

"Yeah. Rukia shared some with me and I wanted you to have it. You deserve something nice, nii-san. It's the least I could do."

Itachi ruffled Renji's hair, smiling at him. "Thank you, otouto."

Chan – Honorific. Generally used when addressing girls or small children.

Reiatsu – Spiritual Pressure

Otouto – Little Brother

So here we have some more brotherly bonding, we discover Renji's chakra nature, and Rukia's finally been introduced.

Sorry for the short chapter and the long wait, but I had a bad case of writer's block for some time and this was the best I could do. I love writing this story almost as much as you guys enjoy it! I'm thankful for all the favs and follows, but I'd appreciate some reviews. To be honest, I'm a review whore. Give me reviews and I'll be happy. If I'm happy, that means I write and that makes you fans happy. Plus, it's nice to have feedback from you guys so I know what I should or shouldn't do concerning this fanfic. Constructive criticism and compliments are always nice to get and it inspires me to do better.