Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Over time the bond between Itachi and Asa Uchiha strengthened. They had become best friends, and were seen together everyday, everywhere. On a daily basis they would go to each other's houses. Though, they usually went to Asa's house, because Sasuke was still young and needed enough rest in a day.

Itachi was the quiet child. Asa was completely different. But in the two years that they had been best friends, she had picked up some manners from him and learned how to control herself better. She was starting to mature a little more too by not being so careless. Her once bruised and cut body was now healed and she hardly ever had a Band-Aid on her at all. Her adventurous and tomboy phase had passed.

His mother enjoyed her company when she came over. She seemed to not notice the craziness of the girl and only saw the friendliness in her. Itachi's father on the other hand was different. When he found out that his young son had befriended the girl, he wasn't happy. He had sat down with Itachi and his wife.

"I don't want my son to be around the likes of Uchiha Asa." He firmly stated with a frown. "She is a bad example."

"She's my friend." Itachi had commented.

"Asa is a disgrace to the Uchiha Clan and is a sin." Fugaku growled. Itachi knew it wasn't often when his father related anything to religion. What was he talking about, Asa being a sin?

"I do not want you to see her anymore. As of now you will not be allowed to see her." His father ordered. "Do you understand?"

Itachi stared at his father, not sure of what to do. His mother told him that if anyone said he shouldn't be friends with Asa not to listen to them. But his own father was forbidding him to be friends with her! What would he do? He would do what was right. The young boy slowly raised his head to face his dad.

"I understand," He said. "but Asa is my closest friend and I will continue to be friends with her. I don't care what you think."

After that his father was furious. He had yelled at him, telling him he was going to ruin his whole shinobi career if he didn't do as he said. He kept repeating that Asa was the worst person to be around with, and that befriending her in the first place was a huge mistake.

Itachi had been scared. His father was yelling at him for crying out loud! However, he remained by his statement. He wasn't about to let a great friend like Asa go. He knew what he was doing was right.

After a while Fugaku finally decided that it would be allowed for Asa and Itachi to be friends. His son knew he still had resentment to the younger Uchiha girl. It was in his eyes when he looked at her. Of course, this limited Asa coming over to their house. Both children didn't feel easy when Itachi's father was home. The father's glares sent shivers down their spines.

Other than that their friendship had been great. They never had any fights, though sometimes Itachi was hard on her for her hyper personality. They trained as ninjas together in the academy still, even after two years of being there.

Itachi was the head in the class. He got all the greatest marks, all of them above average. The teacher constantly pointed him out in front of the class, remarking about his skills. He was often used to demonstrate techniques seeing as he got them after the first try. Itachi's parents were proud, his teachers admired him, and he knew he was born with the skill to be great. Already his father and his senei were discussing his graduation into becoming a genin and joining a squad. His future looked bright.

Asa, on the other hand, wasn't so great. She was the failure of the class. It took her longer than anyone else to master a technique, and when she finally got it, she was behind. She tried to study and train but nothing stayed place in her mind. Sure, she liked to joke around, she goofed off and talked a lot, but she really did try! She was failing, barely getting by. Nothing was working. She had trained longer and harder, even with Itachi's help, but it would always be the same. All the other students laughed at her attempts. Asa could only count on Itachi to show her some sympathy and to be her only friend.

Fugaku, Itachi's father, often reminded him of his failure friend. "If you stay with her, you'll end up just the same" he always said. His son never listened though. Itachi constantly tried to help Asa. He even lowered some of his own grades to make her feel better. But nothing ever worked.

However if it wasn't for Asa, Itachi would have never gotten as far as he was in his shinobi training. His superior skills were mostly thanks to his blood limit ability, the sharinggan. Most members of the clan gained this ability later in their life, in their early teen years. Itachi was one of the first to gain the skill at the age of eight. It all had happened the year before his third year at the academy…

It was the end of class and everyone was getting ready to go home. He got up from his seat and pulled his knapsack strap over his head. Asa was still seated, working on a test she was redoing. She bit the end of her pencil in frustration as she stared at the ink on the paper.

"Asa, are you going home now?" he asked innocently beside her. He was hoping he wouldn't have to walk home alone again.

"No, I got to do this test, and then another, and then one more." She replied tiredly. She sighed as she looked down. She looked back up after.

"I'll try to finish really soon. You can just wait at my house if you want. Or, maybe I'll meet you at the candy store?" she suggested.

Itachi tried his best to smile. "I'll come back." He said. As he walked past her, he quickly whispered the answer to the question she was stuck on.

To help time pass by he went to the candy store himself. He bought two dangos, one for him and one for Asa. She loved the rare treat. It would really brighten her mood to have one after so many tests.

The young Uchiha boy was just walking back to the academy. As he was just rounding a corner, he could hear laughter from outside. But this wasn't normal laughter like he was used to hearing. This was cruel laughter, the voice of others laughing at someone in pain. And sure enough, there were small shrieks from what sounded like a girl.

"Leave me alone!" he heard the girl cry.

Itachi peered over the corner. He saw Asa surrounded by other boys of the class. Their senei was nowhere in sight and was most likely gone. He watched as his friend tried to run past the boys.

"Hey, loser, we ain't done yet!" one yelled. He yanked onto her coal-black locks. Asa cried out in return and was pulled back into their circle.

"Please, stop!" she begged. He could see the boys grinning down at her form on the ground.

"You know what my dad says?" one of the boys with red hair asked. "He says that you're a disgrace to Uchiha's."

"Yeah," another agreed. "that's 'cos you don't have a dad!"

"I do have a father!" she growled back through her small tears.

"So where is he? I heard he ditched you and your mom a long while back!" they laughed at that remark from a boy.

"Shut up!" she shouted. She attempted to stand up. When she did, one of the boys pushed her back down. She fell onto the ground, scraping her hands.

The bullies continued to laugh as she cried. "You aren't even fighting back! You're the saddest excuse for a ninja!"

Then, the biggest boy walked up. He was the leader; Itachi knew that from recesses and break. His name was Huli, and he wasn't friendly.

"Let's teach this little twirp a thing about being a ninja." He said. From a pouch on his side he pulled out a kunai. Immediately Asa's eyes got larger.

"W-What are you doing?!" she cried. Panic was plain to hear in her voice.

"I'm going to teach you why you shouldn't be at this school." He replied plainly. The kunai glinted in his hand from the light of the sun. He approached her, griping onto the weapon.

"S-Stop it!" she shouted. She crawled back, trying to get away. The other boys kicked her when she got to the rim of their circle, keeping her in the middle. They were hurting her, and for no reason at all! Itachi couldn't take it anymore. When he saw Huli lift his arm, poising to slash down at her, he ran towards them, a kunai of his own in his hand.

He rammed his body into Huli's, knocking him down onto the ground. All the boys were startled. Huli lifted himself off the ground immediately and glared at Itachi.

"Hey, watch it, shortie!" he growled.

"I did not unintentionally hit you." The Uchiha remarked. His voice was ice cold and threatening. He could see a few of the boys take a step or so back. He glared back at the taller boy.

"Hey, what's up with his eyes?!" an alarmed boy asked out loud.

Itachi ignored the statement. They were trying to distract him; that was all. But he was somewhat confused when he saw Huli widen his eyes and narrow them again at him.

"Itachi, what did you do with your eyes?" he asked as calm as he could. The shorter boy could still hear the distress in his voice.

"Why are you bullying Asa? What has she done to you?" he stated instead.

"She's getting what she deserves." Huli answered sickly. "She's a disgrace to your clan. Why do you bother to help her?"

Itachi narrowed his eyes furiously. "If she is getting what she deserves, than I shall give you what you deserve!"

He took a step forward and Huli reversed back. He looked intimidated, nearly terrified.

"L-Look Itachi, we'll go away right now. We won't bother her again, I promise! Just please don't hurt us!" Huli panicked.

The Uchiha boy frowned lightly. Why was it so easy to manipulate the taller, aggressive, and more powerful boy? He hadn't even really hurt him yet! Still, he took advantage of the deal.

"Fine. If it happens again, I will tell my father who is head of the police and in charge of your fathers. Do I make myself clear?" he reasoned.

All of the boys nodded their heads continuously. They gave comments saying it would never happen again. It was not long after when they finally ran off, looking back constantly.

Itachi looked down to Asa. She was crying, staring at the ground. He crouched down in front of her.

"Asa…Are you okay?" he asked.

"How…How much did you hear?" she whispered. She didn't look up to him.

"I heard them say that you don't have a dad…" he nervously answered.

Asa broke out into more tears. She tried to wipe them away, furiously wiping the back of her hands against her eyes.

"I do have a dad!" she cried and sniffed. "He's just not here. A-And just because I've never met him doesn't mean anything!"

Itachi flinched. Asa…She didn't even know her own father? But why didn't she know him? He finally understood what his mother had been talking about when he had first met Asa. She didn't get along with other kids in the class because she was shunned for not having a dad living with her. That was why his father hated her.

Her one sentence made him nearly cry.

"What did I do to deserve this?" she whimpered.

His lip trembled slightly. He bit his lip gently, trying to stop. Itachi had asked himself the same question once before. Why was he the one to have been in the middle of a raging war five years ago? The event left him traumatized, and he barely got any sleep at night because of the nightmares. Visions of the war haunted him; the deaths of the shinobi fighting. Though he was young, he knew that he would never get over it. He felt like he was alone, being the only one to have such a hard past.

But Asa…hers may have not been as horrible, but he knew it hurt. He noticed the stares she got from their classmates and their clan. Her mother and father must have not been married and when she was born her dad ran off. It was a disgrace to be unmarried and to have children.

So everyone assumed she was a disgrace. If only they actually knew her, they would think otherwise. But how could Asa act so cheerful when she was so unfairly treated? For a moment he envied her ability to pretend as if nothing happened. Then…he felt happy for her. She was fortunate to be able to have that gift. She was what he needed to help him get better. As of right now however, she needed him.

Itachi heard Asa gasp when he embraced her. He never held her like this. The physical affection of their friendship came from her.

"Asa…you're not alone. I'm here, and I always will be." He soothed.

She sniffed again. "Do you really mean it?"

He nodded. "Yes,"

"Itachi…" he could feel her smile. "You're the best friend ever." And with that she squeezed him tight.

There was a pause between both of them. Then, she finally asked, "What did you do to your eyes?"

"What's wrong with them?" he asked in return, confused.

She pulled back to look at him. "Your eyes were red when you came over. Like, bright red." She paused for a small moment. "Did you get your sharringan?"

"I don't-"

"That has to be it!" Asa exclaimed. Her miserable mood had faded away. She was smiling through her small tears. "You got your sharringan! But how did you get it? I want it to!" She started to lean into his face, as if searching for something.

"Asa!" he protested, pushing her away. "I don't know how I got it. I just did."

She chuckled lightly with a smile. Her face was going back to its pale colour. She was feeling better.

"Come on! Let's go celebrate, and then we can tell your parents!" she cheered. She hugged him once more when they got up. "I'm so happy for you, Itachi!"

She didn't see it, but he blushed lightly. "Let's go, Asa." He finally said, trying to get her to let go of him.

The truth is, the only way to obtain the sharingan is to have a will to protect the closest person to you. An instinct powers over you, and when that happens, the sharingan awakens. On that day Itachi's sharingan awakened because of his urge to protect Asa. He couldn't wait to tell his father straight to his face that Asa was the one who gave him his sharinggan. He couldn't wait to tell him that his son's closest friend who he thought only as a failure was the person who enhanced his son's ability. But all of that would have to wait a while. For now he was going to the candy store again, Asa by his side.

the ending sucks a lot, I know. I just didn't know what to do, and I had to put this up facepalms

oh, and you know what's creepily kool? I got 4 new puppies, and the only boy of the litter looks like Itachi! it's creepy and awesome at the same time! and he's really smart too o.O so yeah, I wuvez my Itachi ( a dog named weasel...LOL XD)

see ya all later!