Chapter One

Izumi

Birth...death...birth...death...birth...death...

On such a beautiful sunny day, just passing into the August summer season, the sky was blue and cloud, the grass was freshly green, and the gusty winds were cool and soothing. The memorial monument that centered the field glistened from the sunlight like jade from its dark surface.

Birth...death...birth...death...With each step he took, slow and light, the words that contrasted with one another echoed in Itachi's mind like blinking lights. Oblivious to the beauty of his surroundings, he continued to walk onward with the same question that haunted him for weeks...no, months. These questions that left this hollow pit in his chest, singing at the edges with sting of recent, bloody memories of the battlefield.

A barren wasteland punctured with knives, swords, the ashes of fire bombs and blood of fallen shinobi. Death. Death had spread all over his field of vision, like a blanket of darkness riddled with disease, fear, and hatred, overwhelming his senses with its horrid sight and smell that would forever haunt his memories.

If only such devastation existed, then what reason had there been for living? What about life could make this hollow feeling go away and turn it into something that made more sense? These types of questions that had rotated in his head for many months had drained him in ways that had tempted him to do foolish things...even come close to greeting death, if not for the caw of a crow to regain his survival instincts, screaming at him to just live...but for what, exactly?

What is life? What meaning was there behind it?

The answer to that had come very recently for the first time in Itachi's life, and at this time, he had been grateful that he saved himself from a huge cliff-jump. He was glad, in that moment, that he had been alive. Otherwise, he would not have had the chance to look upon his new baby brother for the first time.

Born only weeks ago, Sasuke was a wonderful sight to behold. A tiny, pink thing with a small tuff of spiky black hair topping his head as he wailed...so soft, so innocent...Itachi had felt overwhelming warmth spread through his body like a wake-up call, filling his heart and soul with such tender adoration that time had just stopped that day. Holding Sasuke for the first time had been the best feeling of his life. He had never felt so alive with happiness. Sasuke gave that to him. He gave him a reason to live.

He realized at that time that he had once been the same as Sasuke once. So when he was away from his baby brother, while part of his question had been answer, it did not cease his confusion, nor the emptiness that begged for enlightenment, leaving him once again as an emotionless robot on the brink of mental collapse.

What is life? What is death? Birth...death...What is their purpose?

"Hey!"

Itachi's head snapped up at a squeaky child's voice, interrupting his wandering thoughts. He turned around, blinking. The owner of that voice was a little girl smiling brightly at him from ten feet away with a group of boys wrestling behind her. "You're Itachi, right? An Uchiha from my class?" She looked about his age, small and skinny while wearing a long-sleeved purple high-collared shirt and bike shorts, long brown hair tied back into a ponytail, loose strands framing a round pale face with a pair of large, doe-brown eyes, nearly onyx. A tiny mole resided under her right eye.

Itachi didn't know her, and even tried to search his mind from if he had met her before or how she knew his name, but couldn't. A lot of girls his age fawned over him lately, and he usually ignored them. She was probably one of them. One of those naive fangirls that giggled and squealed around him without a care in the world, making fools of themselves and ended up crying or screaming when they didn't have their way.

She was his opposite.

With Itachi's lingering silence, the girl continued to smile, a real genuine one, and held up her hands in offering. "Come play with us!" she insisted.

Itachi just gave her a blank look, and then slowly walked around her and her extended hand, pretending that she didn't exist. He felt her become crestfallen at his silent rejection behind him.

It was for the best. He didn't want to hurt her feelings, but he didn't want to encourage her either if he showed too much kindness, which usually led to other conclusions he would rather not deal with. Besides, he was busy...and he didn't know the meaning of the word "play."

The boys that she had been hanging out with (and Itachi wondered why there were boys and not girls) were another story. They stopped wrestling and shouting when noticing Itachi walk away from the now dejected girl. "Hey, are you dissing us?" one of them shouted, as Itachi passed them.

"Hey, we're talking to you!"

"I have shuriken training today," said Itachi quietly, without turning to looking at them. The Uchiha emblem on the back of his sleeveless black, high-collared shirt faced them as continued on. Almost mocking them. The boys grew annoyed.

"Ooooh, shuriken training, huh?" one mocked, before picking up a rock. "Well, then, let's practice shuriken, too!" He threw the rock. "Dodge this, Uchiha!"

"No, don't!" cried the girl in horror, but the rock already zipped through the air toward the back of Itachi's head...who dodged to the right at last minute in the blink of an eye. The girl's eyes widened in awe. Did he actually feel the rock coming with his back turned? Was he really that good?

The rocks kept coming, the boys shouting, "That kid!", "Trying to act so cool!", and "He's such a stuck-up!"

"Stop it, you guys!" she screamed at them, tears misting her eyes. "Leave him alone!"

"Shut up!" shouted their leader, who was picking up another rock. "This is between guys!" The girl's cheeks puffed up at the insult. 'Between guys,' he said? Was it not long ago that these boys were fan-boying over her? You'd think they would try to win her favor by stopping like she asked, but no. She guessed it was probably different for guys: pride overrules love.

It caused them to do stupid things, so it was little wonder they left the love-sick part to the girls, trying to win the favor of boys they like, while the guys pursued violence, trying to boost their skill and ego so that they can either boast about it later or grow up to become deadly ninja.

Meanwhile, Itachi was dodging the rocks effortlessly without looking up once. While his body kept shifting, his eyes were lost in thought, staring the grass he passed over. He was thinking about Sasuke. Then he was thinking about the bloody battlefield from the war. Sasuke...battlefield...

Life is born. Life dies.

Life...is a battle.

"Hey, get back here, you coward!" the boy leader shouted, while throwing the next rock.

"Stop it!" screamed the girl, helplessly. Itachi's eyes narrowed, the rock spinning, the guys laughing, and the girl screaming...this ridiculous game was over.

Itachi spun around and caught the rock smack into his palm, feeling the edges fit into curled fingers, and then tossed the stone back with a twist of his wrist. The rock zoomed across the air with lightning speed-SMACK! CRACK! WHACK! The stone projectile disarmed all the other flying stones that came to follow, batting them out of the way, changing their direction back towards the boys. Their weapons of choice landing on top of their heads, they stared back at him wordlessly, gaping faces completely pale and shocked at such effortless talent. Fear tainted their young eyes.

They stood no chance against him. His skill was...abnormally flawless.

Itachi observed all of this in one second, his eyes then flickering toward the girl, who also grew silent. She too was speechless, her eyes that had been shedding tears wide and amazed. The breeze blew her bangs across her parted lips and unblinking eyes, completely unfazed when fixed on only him. She looked neither happy, sad, nor scared, but her doe eyes were shining with endless wonder.

Itachi blinked and quickly turned around, starting walking away. This time, nobody attempted to stop him, or made any noise. But it was thanks to these guys, Itachi answered one part of his endless questions and just wanted to go home. Home to Sasuke. Home to where his life truly began, he realized with a small nod to himself.

The girl stared after him, watching as the wind rippled his shoulder-length black hair and clothes as he walked.

Now she knew why Itachi was different. Not because he was handsome, or talented, or rich, or even that he was quiet and indifferent toward girls and other people (she was very well aware that was the natural behavior of an Uchiha male). But when she looked into his eyes that moment, meeting them briefly after he deflected the stones, there had been a flicker of...sorrow. Wisdom. Kindness. Compassion.

She saw a boy who looked her age, but with a gentle soul that was as old as time itself.

It was for this reason that she fell in love with him.

Summer had passed and it was now Fall. October 10th, to be precise. When Itachi wiggled his index finger above Sasuke, small and wrapped up in a bundle on the floor, the baby grabbed old of it with both his tiny hands in a tight grip. The baby giggled happily, and Itachi found himself smiling. He was filled with so much love toward his baby brother that he could barely breathe. Even better that Sasuke seemed to adore him just as much, and that made Itachi feel special. Sasuke usually cried when held by anyone else other than himself or his mother. Itachi had a feeling Sasuke was going to be stubborn kid growing up, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

Almost three months old, already, but Sasuke would remain a child. Itachi promised himself that he would make sure Sasuke's innocence would be preserved for as long as possible. All Itachi had ever dreamed of was an impossible one: to have a normal and happy childhood. To have innocence, to be slightly clumsy, and to not have a care in the world. It was too late for that. But while watching Sasuke, he would get to watch his little brother have the childhood he never got, and while he would be slightly envious, it would be no greater gift than for him to see his own flesh and blood become a happy child he would cherish with all his heart and soul.

Sasuke really was his greatest gift. Just seeing him laughing for the first time had given him indescribable joy. Babies, new lives born to this world, really were a miracle, but Sasuke was the greatest miracle of all and no one could ever change that. Already Itachi's young life was changing under Sasuke's influence, feeling real happiness and how to forget about all the traumas of his life. He could stop questioning life and start living it. Itachi's heart swelled when Sasuke pulled his finger into his mouth and started sucking. Yes, his baby brother truly was a blessing.

"Kaa-san."

"Hm?"

"Is Lord Fourth going to have a baby, too?"

"Hai, I wonder what it'll be," chuckled his mother, who was preparing dinner, but glanced over her shoulder to smile at her sons playing. Then she laid out the plates and wrapped up her apron. "There. I'll be going out tonight with some friends, so go ahead and eat your dinner. Sasuke's bottle is on the counter, already heated."

"Okay." His mom did mention before that she was going out. He also heard that one of her friends was married to normal shinobi, a non-Uchiha, and lived outside of the compound with her husband. Many of the clan disapproved, including his own father, but his mother didn't seem to care less about whom her friend was married to.

"Your father is out working, too, so please watch Sasuke. I'm counting on you, Itachi."

"Ah." As if Itachi would ever let anything bad happen to Sasuke. He would make it the mission of his lifetime. When Sasuke kept sucking on his finger, Itachi bend over and kissed his little head.

"You are definitely worth living for, otutou," he whispered to the baby. "Looks like it's just you and me for tonight."

The baby cooed happily, tugging at his hair strands.

Later that night, when Mikoto had already left an hour before, Itachi had Sasuke bundled comfortably in a sling over his shoulders, feeding him from a bottle. Itachi sat on the mat of the living room, gazing adoringly down at his baby who drank from the bottle using both hands at the nipple. Tiny but strong hands, Itachi noticed. No doubt meant to wield a weapon someday. Just as his had...

Itachi shook away troubled thoughts just when Sasuke finished the last drop of milk with a smack.

"All done now?" whispered Itachi with a small smile. When Sasuke cooed and let out a burp, Itachi giggled and pulled the baby close to him while standing up and walking toward the open slides leading to the front porch.

There Itachi sat in the cool night, the roads empty and quiet, with only the sound of crickets chirping. The sky was lit into a dark blue by the light of the full moon, surrounded by millions of stars blazing with energy. As he rocked his tiny baby brother in his arms, who was growing sleepy, Itachi gazed up at the moon and felt a complete sense of peace settle over him.

"It's a full moon tonight, Sasuke," he said softly. Sasuke cooed happily in reply, and Itachi chuckled, looking back down at his brother, eyes filled with absolute tenderness. Little Sasuke was so precious in that moment, so small and fragile in his arms, making the very heart in his chest beat, that he wished it would never end...

An ominous wind picked up, brushing the strands of his hair. He looked back up into the sky. Smile faded, replaced then with an unsettling chill growing in his gut.

What is this? What is this sensation?

Sasuke then whimpered and began to cry. Itachi blinked and started rocking his infant brother. "There, there," he cooed softly, though his mind still pondered on this instinct in his gut. The same instinct...before he walked upon the precipice of a bloody battle in the war. I don't like this feeling. Why did Kaasan and Tousan have to be out now?

Itachi leaned over his crying brother, hiding his fear with a gentle smile. "Don't cry, Sasuke," he said softly. "Your big brother will always protect you, I promise."

Itachi wasted no time in gathering Sasuke back into the house, walking silently but hastily through the hallway to put on his sandals and grab Sasuke's toy dinosaur and second filled baby bottle before tucking them both in the safety of the sling, all while Itachi whispered comfortingly to the crying infant. The house shook from massive tremors, the floor literally quaking large forces that caused the walls of the house to creak. He heard the roar, like the screeches of a wild animal, fill the air. Trying not to panic, Itachi immediately rushed out of the house with his still wailing baby brother.

"The Kyubi is on the loose!"

While surrounded by people shouting and running for their lives, destruction and screams coming from all directions, Itachi covered his brother as much as he could as he ran...when he looked up, his eyes widened at the sight of a giant boulder raining down upon them.

A building nearby blew up from the hit, and Itachi leapt out the way just in time while many others were not so lucky. He felt fire and wood chips seer his back when landing tumbling sideway, using his body to shield Sasuke from injury. More boulders and destruction followed….then silence. Breathing heavily and his back stinging, Itachi sat up and found himself looking down at a screaming Sasuke, red-faced and full of tears, but to his immense relief found him unharmed. "Sasuke...it's okay, we're okay," he gasped, trying to smile at the crying baby despite his terror. "You got a little scared, huh? Shhhh, we're okay...you're okay..." He kept saying this as he slowly stood up and found himself surrounded once again by a field of bloody and charred bodies of ninjas and citizens alike. A war zone. Despair threatened to seize him, as haunted memories came flooding back. Is there no escape from this horrible nightmare? He hugged Sasuke closer to him, but mostly as comfort to himself, to remind him that he still had his precious baby brother to protect. He wondered if his mother and father were okay.

Itachi was running down the road of the village just outside the wasted Uchiha compound, surrounded by devastation, when he heard shinobi call out, "This is an announcement from the Leaf Police! All civilians are to evacuate to the Southeast shelter! The Southeast shelter!"

The Southeast shelter...right! I know where that is! Wait...Itachi stopped, tilting his head in another direction. He sensed a chakra signature. A small one, from a child. Someone's over there. He hesitated and glanced down at Sasuke, who had exhausted himself from crying. Biting his lip, he made his decision and ran toward the chakra form.

He didn't run very far when he heard a high-pitched wail come from a dark alley, "Otousan! Okaasan!" Itachi reached the alley and found a small form wandering aimlessly with her small hands pressed helplessly against the wall, covered in dirt and trembling like a mouse. The little girl was crying as she kept crying out for her parents in a small, sweet voice.

What really startled Itachi was the red and white fan emblem on the back of her shirt. She was an Uchiha. Did she wander off from the compound? If so, how did she expect to find her parents out here, if they were still alive?

If she thought hiding in this alley between the building was safe, she could not be more wrong. They had to get out of here before more destruction followed.

"You! Come here!" shouted Itachi, holding out a hand.

"Huh?" The girl turned around, her face wet with tears, and again Itachi was startled by her doe-like eyes and the tiny mole on her cheek. "Itachi-kun?"

Wait...I know her.

It was that girl from months ago, back near the memorial site with those boys, who already knew his name. She was nice to him, had asked him to play with her, but he ignored her. He had forgotten about her...until now. Her long, brown hair strands brushing her cheeks with innocent eyes observing him with wonder...The sudden memory made his heart skip a beat momentarily before he shouted, "Hurry!"

Nodding with teary eyes, the brown-haired girl began to rush towards him...when an explosion burst from the building near her. By pure instinct, Itachi grabbed her extended wrist and yanked her out of the way of the fire and destruction bursting out of the building, filling the air with heat and dust.

Twisting around, he had pulled her to his side and wrapped his free arm tightly around her, a crying Sasuke embraced in his other. Her hands gripped his shirt like it was her lifeline. His heart was pounding like crazy. That had been really close.

"We're going to the shelter," he told the girl firmly, maintaining his composure. "Stay close to me."

"Hai," whispered the girl, before they took off down the road together. Her hand continued to grip his shirt as they ran.

While running among the rest of the retreating civilians, the streets lined with dead bodies, Itachi eventually spotted his father, reinforcing the police. He stopped and turned towards the girl. "Go ahead of me," Itachi told her.

The girl's eyes widened with confusion. "Itachi-kun?"

"Everyone will be there," he said.

"Will you be alright, Itachi-kun?" she asked, concerned.

"I will. Now go, hurry!" He pushed her gently ahead of him. After casting a worried glance back at him, she soon took off ahead of him. Reassured she was safe, Itachi went up to his father.

"Tousan!"

"I knew you would be alright," said his father, seriousness hardening his tone. His composure was remarkable. "Get to the shelter quickly."

Itachi opened his mouth, but then felt Sasuke shift slightly in his arms, and then nodded with resignation. "Hai."

Then came a high-pitched scream. Itachi automatically reacted and rushed to that scream, knowing right away whom it belonged to. Pushing through the crowd, he found the little girl again, but kneeling in the streets, shaking a motionless, bloodied body among the rest. One of the Leaf police officers was trying to pull her away.

"Tousan, wake up!" she was crying, shaking the body desperately. "Wake up, Tousan!"

"Kid, get back with the rest," said the officer, sternly. "There's nothing you can do for him now!"

"Somebody help my tousan!" wailed the girl, tears running down her cheeks. "Help him! Tousan!"

"He's dead." With a gasp, she looked up with wide, teary eyes to see Itachi standing there, looking down at her and the jounin's body. Though his expression was unreadable, his dark eyes glistened with sadness and exhaustion. "We can't help him now," he said softly.

"But..." The girl sniffed and glanced back down at the dead man who was her father. "Tousan..." A hand entered her field of vision and she looked up to see Itachi reaching for her with a soft expression, the baby in his arms now crying loudly.

"Come here," he whispered.

With a sob, she leapt up and burrowed herself near Itachi, burying her face in his shoulder, careful not to squash the baby, who only bawled louder. "Itachi-kun!"

Itachi wrapped his free arm around her shoulders and squeezed gently, trying ignored the anxious feeling fluttering in his chest. Normally, he didn't let anyone other than his family this close to him, let alone a girl, but for now he can make an exception. He truly felt sorry for her, losing her father like this. She was a nice and cheerful girl when he first met her. She didn't deserve all this.

In war, there is always death. It follows us everywhere.

Looking down at the jounin's body while holding a crying girl and baby in his arms, Itachi observed the man's features under the charred burns and blood stains, eyes staring up sightlessly from frozen horror. They were hazel brown, lighter than the girl's. Then he saw under the blood-soaked hair was the color of dark blond, almost a sandy brown.

Blond? He's not an Uchiha? Itachi's eyes glanced down at the crying girl in realization. Is she half-blood? That'd probably explain why I don't remember seeing her in the compound.

"Kids, you better get going," warned the Uchiha officer, the grounds still shaking from the thunder roars of the attacks. "Get to safety!"

"Hai," Itachi nodded and found himself holding onto both the girl and his little brother for the rest of the way until they made it to the shelter. By the time, they were inside, surrounded by civilians that were mostly women and children, the girl finally stopped crying from exhaustion, but she kept rubbing a fist over her eyes.

Itachi kept listening cautiously for the sounds of loud explosions and the roars of what the people said was the Nine Tails. He could feel its extremely powerful chakra, even in the safety of shelter. With every quake, the ground trembled and dust fell from the stony ceiling, causing everyone to whimper and protest from inside. Sasuke kept wailing in his arms, perhaps also sensing the threat in the air, the little girl sat beside him, still rubbing her eyes and wincing as though in pain.

It seemed like Itachi was the only child of his age that managed to maintain his calm. He looked down at Sasuke and rocked him, whispering, "Shhhh, it's okay. It's okay. I'm here, I'm here..." After a few minutes, pulling out the toy dinosaur to dance him around to cheer Sasuke up, his baby brother finally managed to calm down, blinking his little black eyes up at Itachi, before they closed and drifted off into sleep. Itachi sighed in relief, putting down the dinosaur in Sasuke's stubby arms and kissed that precious little head.

"How do you do it?" Itachi looked up, realizing that the girl was speaking to him, but wasn't looking at him. Her voice was small, eyes hidden behind her bangs as she stared at the folded hands in her lap. "How do y-you...manage to...be brave after all this?"

Itachi eyes dimmed, tired and haunted by her question. "I've seen worse," he admitted quietly. And it was never something he would wish anyone else to witness, let alone this innocent little girl.

When he didn't speak any further, the girl ended up blurting out tearfully, "It was just me and Tousan tonight. Kaasan went out for the night and he and I w-were going to...b-but then the village was being attacked and Tousan told me to stay inside the house before he rushed out to fight. He was a jounin. H-He always cared about saving people, and I wanted to be just like him." She sobbed and rubbed her eyes again. "He told me not to leave the house, but I saw the Kyubi and got scared, so I decided to go look for him and Okaasan. I got lucky because the house got destroyed just when I went outside, and I definitely knew something was wrong. I couldn't find them, but found you instead." Her face whipped toward, her dark eyes heavy with such tears, helpless and pleading. And pretty (Itachi's breath hitched). "And now he's dead...he's dead, b-because...because if I hadn't stopped him, or if I was strong enough to go with him and help him, t-then he wouldn't have...he would still be..." She shut her eyes, more tears escaping.

"I'm sorry about your father," said Itachi gently. By all rights, it shouldn't be his business to listen to her talk, but he listened to her every word and took it to heart. For some reason, his heart shattered at the sight of her face. Of all the horrors and death he had witnessed in his young life, seeing the grief of this girl's heart made him also want to cry. Even though he barely knew her, he wished there was some way that he could comfort her like he was able to comfort Sasuke, but he didn't know how. All he knew how to do in situations like this was be strong...and he was starting to feel that even that wasn't enough.

In that moment, it hit him that he didn't even know her name yet.

The girl stared at him, then wiped away her tears with one hand, staring the ground between them. "Thank you," she said, her voice calmer now. There was pause, but Itachi noticed that behind her bangs, her cheeks were blushing pink. "Um...Itachi-kun?"

"Ah?"

"Can...Can I, um..." She wrapped her arms around her chest shyly, her face getting redder. "That is, if you don't mind..."

Itachi waited patiently.

"Can I lay in your lap?" she whispered so softly, her pale face now tomato red beneath her bangs.

"Um..." Itachi didn't know what to say for a moment, feeling his own cheeks heat up a bit. He normally didn't like it when people got too close to him, otherwise they would end on the ground by either fist, jab, or blade... "Okay," he finally choked out. For some reason, he couldn't bring himself to say no to her. Not now.

"Thanks," the girl whispered, scooting closer until he could feel the heat from her small body. He didn't know why his heart was picking up pace. It was weird.

"I..." Itachi started, and the girl paused, looking up at him with questioning but worried eyes. She probably thought that he would change his mind and push her away. Itachi swallowed. "I'm sorry, I...I don't know your name."

The girl blinked in surprise and a small smile managed to light her tired, tearstained face. "Izumi," she said softly, closing her eyes.

In that moment, when she reopened them...red tomoes spun. Itachi's eyes widened, a gasp escaping him. "Y-Your eyes..." he managed. No, it can't be...the Sharingan? Already? Tousan said it was too early!

"Huh...'Tachi-kun...?" Izumi mumbled, her body tilted forward and Itachi managed to shift Sasuke out of the way before she landed heavily across his lap, passing out.

"Izumi? Izumi!" Itachi found himself saying worriedly while placing hand on her shoulder, before moving it toward her forehead. It was feverishly hot. Itachi found himself gazing down at the girl, recalling the Sharingan replacing her beautiful dark brown eyes. His hand brushed away the long strands from her soft, young face, which was now relaxed and peaceful. The sight was strangely intriguing...and comforting. His muscles relaxed and eyes softened.

"Izumi," Itachi whispered.

Sasuke shuffling uncomfortably in his right arm with a whimper in his sleep, Itachi managed to shift himself so that he held both his brother and the little Uchiha girl in his lap, both out like a light. It was uncomfortable for Itachi, but he couldn't care less. He was never one to put his own well-being above others.

For the rest of the night in the shelter, even when the danger had long passed, Itachi never moved. Though he eventually closed eyes from exhaustion, his arms remained protectively around both Sasuke and the girl he now knew as Izumi Uchiha.

He never let go.