There were so many thoughts inside of her, and with it, a deep want to share it with another.

But these thoughts were the dreams of others, not hers, for she has no dreams, because dreams are for the living.

And there are no voices. No matter how hard she strained her tiny ears, the only thing that rung explicitly was a deafening silence.

The world was silent.

The grass grew greener, the flowers in full bloom and the wind caressed the earth like a much-loved child. And so, the earth grew alive.

But this was all done in ignorance, for there is no point in growing beautiful flowers for the invisible.

And so she sits there with her back arched straight and hands folded neatly atop her hakama.

And so she waits, because there is nothing else for her to do.

On the day he first arrived, the world became a ripple.

The flowers sighed and the wind danced in melancholy. The sunlight flickered against the wooden panels that locked her in and the sound of the shoji sliding roared against her ears.

It had been too long.

The sound of small footsteps crept in and she was soon greeted with the face of a child in his first decade.

Donning a traditional haori with his clan symbol that was proudly displayed at the back of his garments, he sat with the posture of a noble and deep, carmine eyes brimming with intelligence stared back at her unflinchingly.

She flashed him an icy glare; the hatred filled her entire being as she stared down upon the spawn of the man who had taken away her freedom.

The boy lowered his head in polite respect, "My name is Uchiha Itachi. I am the current clan heir, please to make your acquaintance, zenko-sama,"

Her tails flickered in annoyance as she glanced back at the boy who was assessing her with calm eyes. Oh, she knew very well why he was here. They had sent a child to do an adult's job. She scoffed, tossing her hair over her shoulders. Well, she wasn't going to loosen her claws for some child.

But when his eyes met hers again, she had thought that she could clearly see him once more.

She sat down, pouting at her small form as her brothers and sisters chased each other gracefully down the hillside. Matatabi-nee had just gotten her second tail and it just wasn't fair to be the runt of her family.

Even stupid Kurama-nii had gotten his final tail just two weeks ago.

She glanced back at her pathetic lone white tail that swished pitifully behind her. Warm tears tugged at the corner of her eyes and she wiped them away quickly in frustration.

A small hand suddenly fell upon her shoulders. She tilted her head, only to be met with the grinning face of Isobu-nii.

"What's wrong Naruto?"

Naruto shook her head quickly, hoping against all odds that Isobu-nii hadn't seen the small beads of water that hung forlornly on her eyelashes.

But he must have noticed it for he immediately pulled her to his embrace. Naruto blushed in embarrassment, "Isobu-nii, I'm not a baby anymore," she cried out.

"I know, I know," he replied, and Naruto could also feel his shyness radiating in waves.

'Oh, he must be embarrassed about this too. After all, nii-san rarely gave out hugs,' she thought. So she snuggled against him for she, too, had missed his warm hugs.

"Isobu-nii," she trailed, "I... I'm sorry for being such a baby," she muttered.

In response, he had pulled her against him tighter. "Naruto, you're our youngest sister, so we'll protect you okay? It's fine to wait a little longer for them to grow out naturally, and when they do, they'll definitely be worth the wait,"

Naruto nodded, and her eyes once again glistened with unshed tears. "Mmm…"

"Naruto," he sighed as he watched her struggle to contain the waterworks. "Remember the days when all we did were making the lives of others miserable? Leave that behind us. After all, we're now proud messengers of Inari-sama,"

"But, what if Inari-sama thinks I'm unworthy of becoming her messenger," she sniffed, "After all, I've pulled pranks on so many people and all I seem to do is cause trouble…"

Her thought was abruptly cut off by the soft petting on her head. "No worries, we're there for you,"

Behind him, her brothers and sisters all stood grinning at her.

Naruto nodded her head as Matatabi-nee linked their hands together. "Okay,"

Itachi arrived home in the early mornings. The dewdrops had barely graced the leaves of the flowers planted across the pavements and the hatamoto had yet to begin patrolling the streets.

The tatami vibrated with his slow footsteps as he crossed the empty hallways to his room. His slow pacing was a definite contrast to his faster heartbeats. The blood pounded hard against his ears and his head spun uneasily as he recalled his first meeting with zenko-sama.

He fought down the small wave of heat that had crept upon his body as memories of zenko-sama's icy blue eyes flashed before him.

Her hair was not pinned up into a proper bun, unlike all the other women and she had met his gaze unflinchingly, which was a first considering all women who had dared to look at a man (even though he was a mere boy) would be immediately called upon for disrespect.

It was a period where the men dominated the women and it had been a culture shock to see a girl who looked barely his age going against everything taught to him since young.

Although father had warned him of this, it was still a sight to behold upon the proud creature. He had to remind himself over and over that she was a yokai, and it had taken all his self-control to recall his father's teachings. He had introduced himself in the manner suitable of a young and noble clan heir, but despite his clear royalty, he knew he had not impressed her, nor had he managed to garner her interest in him whatsoever.

Her tails, all eight of them were tucked carefully behind her, and nothing he said had incited any reaction from her.

He had made sure to fully display his knowledge on the current economy of his country, struggled to impress her with the many new literature pieces that had the country going amok, started a one-sided conversation on the evolution of the world and various predictions on how the recent political change would affect the current community…

All those months… years… of preparation were casually dismissed by a cold shoulder. Although highly dismayed, he had carefully maintained his cool facade as any worthy Uchiha would have done before being given a notice from one of his attendants that it was time to leave.

He took extra caution in taking his time to stand up, to show her that he was not affected by her thoughts on him, but that girl had not only ignored him, but had taken to leaving to the corner of the room before even seeing him out.

'It was so vexing,' Itachi thought. He could conquer the entire school, make every staff member, teachers and students dance on the palm of his hand. He could talk and the entire clan would have crowded around him to listen. He could garner the attention of various potential consorts despite his age. He could impress the Tokugawa clan with his knowledge of his family's business. He could… he could…

He couldn't.

He was no genius. He was a child. He was merely a victim of the strict upbringing in the Uchiha household.

It had started out as an immature desire to gain the recognition of his father and become the pride of his fellow clansmen. Then, it had evolved into a passionate drive to draw away the attention of the clan from his younger, innocent brother.

He knew all too well what would have become of Sasuke if he had left him alone to the clutches of his power-hungry clan. So he had to become stronger, smarter. He had to become Itachi and Sasuke.

But today, it had been his first real taste of failure.

Itachi shook his head inwardly at the weak thoughts that had formed at the base of his mind.

He would wipe them all away. For the sake of his little brother, he would wipe those slates clean, and he will start over.

The pure form of evil came in the form of a young man just passed his teens. He was covered in tattered clothing, with an old and used straw hat hung loosely against his back. He was also a feast for her virgin eyes, who had never once gazed upon someone so beautiful.

His black hair fell loosely upon his shoulders and framed his angular face, but despite being a farmer, he possessed a pale complexion and skinny arms and legs.

Naruto was immediately taken to him.

She had stared at him every day, watching him tilt the soil before gently placing seedlings after seedlings into the warmth of Mother Nature. Despite having seen many farmers in her short fox life, Naruto was transfixed.

Perhaps it was the way he held the seedlings, like they were precious babies meant to be treasured and cultivated. Perhaps it was the way he would gaze upon his plantation in pride whenever life seeped into the very earth he had tilted. Perhaps it was the fact that despite how sick he would get over the endless working hours; he had persisted on in determination.

Her brothers and sisters teased her greatly for this obvious fixation, and Naruto had tried so hard to hold her tongue against her fellow siblings.

'Why couldn't they understand?' she had thought. 'Why couldn't they see the beauty of giving life back to Mother Nature?'

Their meeting had been a beautiful and terrible accident.

Kurama-nii had been the oni and they had scattered all over the plains of Koguryo, holding in their laughter as they watch Kurama-nii search for them. Naruto, in her excitement, had caught the attention of a large garter snake residing near her hiding area and couldn't resist in toying with it.

It was there that their eyes first met. He had been searching around the area for wild mushrooms, only to find her bitten by a garter snake that was slithering away proudly.

She had never meant to lose, but the loud rustling of the nearby bushes had startled her into letting her guard down.

She was terrified of him. She was terrified of the unknown entity that was him.

But he had opened his mouth and spoken in such a sinful, wonderful manner that it had completely stolen her heart away.

"Are you alright?"

After his brief report to his father and the elders, Itachi had left, feeling ashamed of himself. Despite the other elders' encouragement, Itachi had clearly seen the glint of disappointment in his father's eye. The old man had done his best to cover it, but Itachi had lived his whole life searching invisible signs through his father's silent movements and gestures.

When all the elders had gone back to bed, Fugaku had called upon his dear wife Mikoto to talk about the recent development.

"Perhaps I had expected too much,"

"He is too young, after all,"

There was a moment of silence. "Mikoto, we don't have enough time. At the rate things are going, the Uchiha clan could lose everything,"

Mikoto got up to rub her spouse's shoulders and watched as her husband's face gradually became more relaxed. "Let's have faith in Itachi,"

The room suddenly became ghostly quiet.

"…we could send Sasuke,"

Itachi drew back in fright and quietly withdrew to his room.

He had heard enough.

Her tails twitched as the shoji doors once again slid open.

There was a time when her heart would pound anxiously at the sound of those doors being opened. There was a time when the long, deliberate footsteps would have made her tails wagged like a common dog. But now, her heart had not wavered, for those times were no longer.

It was truly boring to see the lone child do his best to gush over her. She could see his potential, and if he were a little older, she would probably have fallen for his tricks. But she wasn't gullible, not any longer, and he wasn't older, wasn't Uchiha Madara.

Although she could see the strain she was causing him, she knew she couldn't afford to lose heart here. Not when there was only a few more years before her final tail bloomed.

As she watched the boy coming close in losing his composure, she let loose a smirk, not bothering to cover her blatant disrespect towards him.

The boy flushed, and she could see him fighting down his pride as he sought to regain his foothold.

"Do you even know what you're doing?" she drawled.

'This nonsense had gone on long enough,' Itachi thought.

"All I know is that you belong to us. You're supposed to help us. Why are you doing this to our clan?" he cried.

Something in her snapped as well as her eyes flashed dangerously, her muscles coiled tightly under her skin and all eight of her tails poised elegantly in mid-air, tensed and ready to attack.

"You know nothing," she seethed.

Itachi knew he was supposed to reel in his temper and act his part as the clan heir, but it was already too late for acting nonchalant. He had already shown his true self. "Then tell me," he demanded.

She laughed, and it was a sound that held underlying tones of cruel amusement. "Make me," she replied.

He glanced right and left, hoping something, anything, would be able to give him a clue about what to do in such a situation. With a sudden jolt, he realised that he was no longer sitting upon his zabuto. Instead, it had been cast aside to the corner of the room – a result of his outbursts.

It was painful, he realised.

Here he was, the supposedly prodigy of his clan. But he had lost. There was no way he could sway her. He had not only shown weakness to the yokai, but he had also incited her anger.

'Oh God, Sasuke...' he thought in anguish.

His knees gave out and he fell upon the tatami mat in an unsightly gesture unbefitting of a noble.

Just as he thought he had lost enough, the waterworks sprung to life.

Itachi silently touched his face only to be met with the salty wet tears that trickled down his chin.

"Oh," he said. "I failed,"

Naruto looked on quietly. She had forgotten that Uchiha's were capable of such deep emotions too. But those tears could have been a lie as well. Just like everything that came out of his foul mouth.

But when Itachi turned to her direction, gazing past her, she knew. He was human too. The Uchihas – they were all human.

Before she noticed what she was doing, her arms had already crept around him.

With that, they wept together for a long, long time.

"Naruto~" Choumei called as she watched her little sister hum to herself.

"Yes?"

Choumei pouted and visibly deflated. "Nothing,"

Naruto grinned. "Okay!"

Isobu watched his sister carefully, taking note of her radiant happiness. "Naruto… I… Well, we discussed something among ourselves last night and…"

Matatabi frowned as she watched the reluctance built up in Isobu, "Naruto, I think you should stay away from Uchiha Madara,"

Naruto frowned. "Wha-? What are you talking about? All I did was blessed his rice fields…"

"Naruto," Saiken cautioned.

Naruto swivelled her heard to face her brother. "Saiken-nii, I didn't do anything wrong," she said.

"Naruto, we've all agreed that it's best that you don't associate yourself with Madara anymore," called Kokuou.

"It's not fair," she cried. "What's wrong with befriending Madara?"

"Naruto, can't you see the way you act around him? You lose yourself," Son added.

Kurama, who had been quiet all this while, spoke, "Silence," Immediately, his brothers and sisters quiet down. "Naruto, we just think that you shouldn't get too close with this boy. Nothing good will come out of it,"

"But he makes me feel happy," she cried. Swivelling her head in all directions, her heart fell as she realised that none of her brothers or sisters were going to come to her defence. "Fine," she scowled. "I'll show you," she muttered.

With one last glare, she transformed back to her original form before flicking away into the deep forest.

"Naruto!" Isobu called.

"Leave her," Kurama said. "She'll come to her senses soon," Kurama sent one last long look at the direction Naruto had went off before barking, "Let's go,"

Isobu hesitated before running forward to catch up to his older brother.

He was seven when he first heard of the story of his ancestor – Uchiha Madara.

It was the beginning of autumn and the mark of a new rule under the influential Tokugawa family.

One afternoon, as he quietly watched the hatamoto walk down the desolated streets, his father had called out to him. He remembered sitting down restlessly next to his younger, bubbly brother who had sought out his affections the minute he sat down.

Sasuke had held onto his fingers tightly, at least with the strength as much as a two-year-old could hold and babbled cutely whenever Itachi stole glances at him.

His father was evidently unamused at the scene whereas his mother had said nothing, a blank expression painted across her face as she watched the growing love between both of her sons.

"Itachi," his father had started, "I think it's about time to tell you about Uchiha Madara," With that, his father paused, as if not knowing exactly where to begin. "In truth, what this great man has done for our family is a burden that we as clan leaders have to shoulder. This is an important historical fact to our family, and I hope that you, Itachi, will pay your utmost attention to what I have to say," Fugaku cautioned.

Itachi wasn't going to turn a blind eye to the implications his father gave and gently pushed the tiny fingers holding onto him aside. Mikoto had immediately rushed to the side of her younger child and buried him in her embrace.

With a respectful nod to her husband, she dismissed herself out of the room. As she walked away with Sasuke in tow, Itachi could sense the warmth leave the very room as the atmosphere crackled with uneasiness.

"I was much older than you when I heard this from my father, and back then, I had not really known of its significance. But if it's you, I'm sure you'll understand what you have to do Itachi. After all, you are the pride of our clan,"

Sometimes, Itachi would think that it was those words that had sealed his fate.

She had never felt so happy, so free before in her life. She couldn't remember the times when the grass was this green, or the sky so blue. Every day was a fun, fun day filled with excitement and wonder.

Every day was wonderful because she was friends with Uchiha Madara.

"Madara," she called. She watched as an uneven tuft of black hair swung to her direction. "What do I do with this?" she asked. In her hand, a small yellow-skinned object bristled.

Madara frowned, "Naru, that's an immature potato, you're not supposed to harvest it yet,"

Naruto waved away her friend's concerns with a lazy wave, "Don't worry, I'm sure we can cook up something," she grinned.

Madara sighed at his friend's antics. "If you say so… But don't you dare go plucking out all of them, okay?" he warned.

"Haaaaai," replied Naruto. "Wanna go scare the neighbour's cows?" she whispered deviously. Madara stared back blankly, managing just in time to wipe the smirk that had crept upon his face.

Really, sometimes, Madara just wasn't fun at all.

It was early evening when they finally finished tending to his entire plantation. As they sat around the dining table in his small cottage, Madara finally summoned enough courage to broach a subject he knew Naruto was uncomfortable about.

"Naru," he began, after watching her scrap the last of her food off her plate, "Did you run away from home?"

The effect of the question was miraculous as he watched each and every muscle in her body became tensed and coiled. Slowly, she brought her eyes to meet up with his deep ones, and in a soft voice, she asked, "Am I bothering you?", for she could never really understand why he didn't feel that way. After all, she was a mere freeloader who had conveniently stumbled upon his kindness and took advantage of it.

Madara was quick to rebut her statement as he waved his hands wildly in front of her. "Of course not, since you have nowhere to turn to and you do occasionally help me out in the field," he trailed. "I just wonder sometimes if you have a family who's waiting for you back at home…"

Naruto flinched as a rather sudden image of her dear brothers and sisters flashed across her mind. "I do, actually," she mumbled, "Have a family, I mean,"

"And I know they love me a lot," she continued. "This much," she said, as she did her best to stretch her arms wide open to prove to him of her sibling's affections. Then, she visibly deflated, "But, maybe they don't feel the same anymore,"

Madara felt a twinge of guilt as he watched the saddened face of his friend, "Sorry for bringing it up… But don't worry, you'll always have me here," he declared.

Naruto burst out laughing, "Who'd want you? You're just skin and bones," she said, but her skin flushed pink and her eyes twinkled with pure, unadulterated joy.

Madara joined in with her laughter, "Ha, made you laugh didn't I?"

Naruto flashed her trademark grin at him, "You sure did,"

Really, how could they ask her to give up on this?

After the whole crying fiasco, Itachi had attended the next meeting full of apprehension. In his hand, clutched tightly was a box full of aburage.

It took quite a while before he was finally settled into his zabuto, but he was in no way, relaxed as thoughts of their previous confrontation flitted repeatedly in his mind.

He watched as she feasted on her little bribery, paying no heed to his unreadable expression. He inwardly winced as he realized that he was subconsciously avoiding her gaze and the room was enveloped by an awkward stillness sans for the irritating noises she was making while eating.

Seeing that she was almost finished, he quickly plastered a polite smile onto his face. "Regarding the Tokugawa clan as I have previously mentioned, it seems that the Ichijou clan have been making their move recently and the political parties have shifted quite a bit compared to last week. Even so, with the rise in new revolutions and parties, there has also been an increasing demand in the Uchiha's-"

Clump.

The sound of the bento against the kotatsu clamoured loudly, effectively cutting him off. Warily, he risked a peek at zenko-sama who was glowering at him unabashedly.

"Are you going to ignore what happened previously?" she asked heatedly.

Itachi slipped on his oblivious mask and said, "It's best to leave the bygones as bygones, zenko-sama,"

She couldn't help but blanched at his palpable absurdity over the situation. Wordlessly, she inhaled and exhaled slowly and released a soft sigh as her frustration simmered away.

Then, quick as lightning, she was up in a flash and a stinging sensation seared across the left side of his cheek. "Children like you aren't supposed to ignore their feelings," she chided.

Itachi gently cradled his palm onto his tingling cheek. Openly opposed, he took a reckless swipe at her, "Well, you're nothing but a child too," he admonished, "You're merely playing things on a whim and you never take anything seriously. I could only imagine how many foolish things you have done,"

The flash of truth in his words struck her red. Her hands began clawing at him relentlessly as she tackled him. Then, they were rolling all over the floor like playful cats, except neither were feeling too pleased with the situation. Itachi winced as her body slammed violently to his side and he immediately responded with a desperate kick to her abdomen.

She huffed in anger as she took the damage he inflicted on her in irritation. Growling under her breath, she swiped at him once more and watched with self-satisfaction as his arms began bleeding with her fingernail marks.

'Screw this,' Itachi thought suddenly, and pretty soon, he was joining in on their relentless efforts to tire one another fullheartedly.

It was a while before they finally stopped.

She was completely out of breath and her face was glowing with excitement. Her hair was in a tangled mass and they traced patterns across her skin. Sweat trickled from her hair to the base of her neck before disappearing beneath her clothes and her chest heaved slowly as she struggled to take in deeper breaths to regain the oxygen she had lost.

Itachi was no better. His usual refined attire was a definite mess and his hair that was usually prim and proper was now sticking out in different, almost impossible angles. He was breathing heavily as well and looked close to crumbling apart.

Then, she laughed.

Itachi watched as the creases that were usually present on her unblemished skin smoothed over, revealing an attractive child that radiated happiness. It was, at first a muffled sound that hid behind her sleeves before transforming to a full blown laughter that had her rolling on the ground while clutching her sides painfully.

Itachi watched, transfixed as she laughed and smiled, and suddenly, his lips turned upwards as well. And then, to his utmost horror, he was laughing alongside her.

Honestly, he didn't really understand why there were laughing, but they had laughed and laughed and laughed.

They had laughed until he couldn't tell if they were laughing or crying anymore.

Then, they stopped. Heavy sounds of breathing filled the room before they slowly died down.

"My name is Naruto," she offered quietly.

Itachi paused before he decided to walk over to her side. He offered her his hand, "Uchiha Itachi,"

She woke up in a wooden house.

Quietly observing her surroundings, she watched in childlike wonder as her hands trailed the wooden walls. Suddenly, her eyes came upon a small note left on the kotatsu. Crawling over to it, she hastily skimmed through the moment she discerned Madara's handwriting.

'Don't leave the house. Will come in the afternoon. – Madara'

Naruto peered curiously at the note as she pondered the reason why Madara was being so cryptic.

Sighing, she yawned softly and decided to go back to sleep.

She woke up to the sounds of people chattering beyond her walls. Stretching quickly, she dived to the door just in time to hear the noisy buzz die down into a quiet, unnatural hush.

Suddenly, a string of words formed among the palpable silence and the house began glowing an unearthly purple.

A sudden feeling of unease welled up in her chest as her mind began to descend into a jumble of mess. The uncomfortable feeling spread throughout her body as she desperately swung the door open only to be hurled back to the opposite end.

Eyes widening in terror, Naruto screamed, "MADARA!"

She screamed and cried for him, the tears streaked down her cheeks as her wailed died down into a sob.

Most of all, she cried for the loss of her brothers and sisters, who she had sacrificed for nothing.

Outside the wooden house, Madara's heart cracked, just a little, but he doesn't move.

At home, his father never failed to bring up the topic of their clan's 'guardian spirit'.

Itachi rarely gave out his opinion on the matter but answered all questions directed to him honestly. Despite loving his family and wanting to live up to his clan's expectations, the thought of telling his father of the name 'Naruto' never crossed his mind.

Itachi had never once said it but amidst the busy classroom surrounded by the different clan heirs whom he called friends, he knew he preferred the company of the girl in the wooden house.

On the way back home from school, he stopped by a newly opened store that sold various types of wagashi. The sudden popularity of sugar had given the food industry a push into developing traditional sweets of different kinds.

As he accepts the bag of taiyaki from the outstretched hands of the store owner, he inwardly hoped that Naruto would like it as much as his classmates do.

Walking down the path to the wooden house, away from his clan and its various traditions, away from the bustling society, he finally admitted to himself, although silently, that he loved hanging out with Naruto.

Now, he no longer spoke to her about the trading of the locals, nor the Uchiha traditions. Talks of the new education system were never once brought up and the distance of the various clans in terms of power and standing didn't exist in their small room.

Instead, he introduced her to games like shogi, recited his favourite haikus, describe the various funny moments of Sasuke... (When he was feeling brave, he would even sneak in a funny story of his parents, although those were hard to come by) There were also times when they would fall into a content silence, and Itachi would imagine this to be the place where he was truly himself.

In turn, Naruto would gobble upon whatever food he had decided to bring for her that particular day. She had the amazing ability to laugh at all the right places, get mad at all the injustice moments, and comment on the little things he had never noticed. Sometimes, when she was feeling sentimental, she would part with a story about her siblings. Those were few and rare, so whenever she did decide to bring it up, Itachi had always listened with rapt attention.

But it was also because of these new, happy days that made Itachi dread going home.

Naruto reckoned she forgot how to speak. At first, she had talked to herself, just for the sake of hearing something in the lone, cold room. But then it began to seem useless, for pretty soon, she ran out of things to tell herself.

Day after day, Naruto lay on the tatami mats, blankly staring at the ceilings. Thoughts of Madara and her brothers and sisters often came to mind. Sometimes, though she was ashamed to admit it, the tears still ran down her face at the thought of what she had come to lost.

There was once, after a long while from the beginning of her imprisonment, in which she had already begun to lost count of the days and hours, Madara had came to visit her. He didn't come in. Instead, he sat with his back against the sole entrance to the wooden house.

Naruto had slowly picked herself up to walk over to the door as well, being careful not to touch it. They exchanged no words for a long time. Then, Naruto had heard Madara place his large, calloused hands onto the door softly, and for a moment there, Naruto's heart had leaped with hope, but as soon as she felt it, the hand and its owner was gone.

On the day she received her second tail, she had felt a hollow feeling grow in her chest. What was supposed to be a day filled with anticipation and celebration had instead grew to be a day of grievance. As she warmly pulled both of her tails to a warm embrace, Naruto had shed tears once more, under the vow that the Uchiha clan should never be forgiven.

There was once, only once, had her siblings came to see her. Isobu-nii had called out to her.

"Naruto,"

She had woken up with a start as she sped to the door. Her hands desperately pushed and pushed against it, the pain that shot through her was nothing compared to the mixed, raw emotions that coursed in her.

"Isobu-nii," she called out. "I'm sorry," she cried. "I'm so sorry,"

Her brothers and sisters on the other side wept silently as they listened to their youngest sister pour out her regrets and apologies. Together, they sat there for a long time, telling her stories and funny incidents that they had come across as they were travelling.

They told her of Inari-sama's consent in allowing them to visit her. Nobody mentioned of the price they had to pay as they basked in the laughter of their youngest sister.

Just before the sun began to rise, Kurama-nii spoke up, "Naruto, listen. When you have your final tail, you'll be strong enough to leave this place. So don't be afraid kiddo..."

"Naruto, we'll be waiting for you here. We'll wait for you," Matatabi added as her heart ached for her little sister.

As each of them began saying their goodbyes, Naruto held in the urge to tell them to stay. She did her best to respond to each and every single one of them cheerfully, taking extra care to prevent her voice from cracking.

Lastly, Isobu stepped up, "Naruto, I won't ever forgive Madara for using you like this," he said. Then, as if he was adding an afterthought, "Don't do anything stupid anymore,"

"I won't," came the muffled replied. "I won't so please take care of yourselves,"

Shouts of, "We will," and "We're not you," rang in the air as Kurama led them off under the cover of the morning glow.

Isobu took one last look at the wooden house that held his sister before he trailed off after his eldest brother.

One night after dinner, Fugaku gestured to his eldest son, "Itachi, you have been making the clan wait too long," Carefully, he pulled out a vial from his sleeve before sliding it over to his son across the table.

"Her powers are no longer needed by us. As of now, we are a family that has prospered enough to be able to stand on our own," he added. "I expect it to be done by midday tomorrow. There is no need to put it off for too long,"

"Our clan and Sasuke as well, awaits for your success," he concluded.

Itachi clasped his hands tightly around the vial without a word, his body betrayed none of the feelings he felt tremble inside him. "It... will be done,"

He marvelled at the way his hands shook, the tea pouring unsteadily into the cup as he wondered if there was any time before that he had acted so nervously of. Since when had he started hesitating? Questioning his loyalty? Feeling?

Itachi paused for a long time. Across the room, Naruto started singing loudly. Itachi faltered.

"Hurry up," Naruto called, her hands dancing in the air to the beat as she began humming a different, faster tune.

Itachi tucked the unopened vial back into his sleeves before gracefully carrying the tray of tea over to the table.

"Today, we are having chamomile tea and mochi for snacks," he announced.

Naruto grinned, showing her sharp teeth that glinted under the rays of sunlight. "Come on, pass it over," she gestured.

Itachi hid an exasperated smile as he passed her the tea. "Please remember to let it cool down this time," he added. Naruto threw a pout at him as she stuck her tongue out.

Beneath his sleeves, the vial seemed to burn his skin.

Naruto squinted her eyes at him calculatingly, "What's wrong with you today?" she asked, her eyes shining with suspicion.

"What do you mean?" he asked, feigning ignorance.

"Itachi," Naruto warned.

Itachi let slip a rare smile as he pulled out a box of aburage. "You got me,"

She immediately leaped at him in her delight, wrestling the box away from him. "Mine!" she shouted as she attacked him.

Itachi put up a game of dodging before finally gave a show of relenting to her advances. "Here," he passed it to her.

"You know, I have a story," Naruto suddenly spoke up, her mouth full of aburage. "When I was young, I liked to eat the chickens in the farmer's village,"

Then, her voice dropped down to a whisper, "I had a thing for brown chickens," she added.

Itachi raised his eyebrow in amusement. "Really?" he asked, just to humour her.

Naruto nodded her head excitedly. "They didn't really taste different from the others but they squawked the loudest," With that, Naruto threw her head back and laughed. "So there was once I was grounded for stealing by Kurama-nii and had felt the hunger all the way to my toes so I snuck out,"

"The chickens that day tasted sinfully good," she said, her eyes shining at the memory. "But unfortunately I had lowered my guard and was caught,"

Itachi unconsciously leaned forward, "By who? The farmer?"

"It was Isobu-nii," she laughed. "Oh just when I thought I was in trouble, there I saw him eating a chicken too," With that, she collapsed into fits of more laughter.

Itachi smiled at the display.

After a while, Naruto managed to recover her breath, "I told him, "I won't tell if you don't tell," and he agreed. We were just about to clean up when in walks Kurama-nii with his big, fat head and squinty eyes. He opens his mouth and I get ready to apologise but instead he demands to know where his share is," she said.

"Apparently, he figured since we've already eaten so much, one more wouldn't do any harm," she added, "Of course, this was before we became Inari-sama's messengers,"

"I'd like to meet them someday," Itachi said. "They sound like nice company,"

"They are," she replied with conviction.

With that, Itachi began telling her stories of the uppity class of clan heirs that were his classmates, and the day flew by in the blink of an eye.

Just before he was about to leave, Naruto held onto his sleeve. Itachi immediately locked eyes with her, and she smiled a sad smile. "You've forgotten to give me something," she said.

Itachi frowned, his eyes turning sharp, "I've forgotten nothing,"

Naruto swept him from head to toe before breaking into a grin. "You've grown,"

Itachi looked away, a light pink coloured his face as he answered her, "Of course. It's been almost ten years after all,"

Naruto closed her eyes tiredly and sighed. "You were so cute when you were younger too..." she trailed.

Itachi tentatively sat down, his legs crossed beneath his body. Naruto swiftly positioned her back against his. "Itachi," she started, "You love Sasuke right?"

He kept silent.

"Sorry for making you choose," she said, "And sorry for taking away your choice,"

He felt her tiny hands travel beneath his sleeves but found that he couldn't do anything to stop her.

"Naruto," he raised his voice., unaware of its rising pitch. "Please don't do this,"

She held the vial to the tip of her lips and sighed, "You know, sometimes, I think that if only I have met you instead of Madara, I could have been happy,"

After what seemed to be an eternity, Itachi's hand finally managed to clasp onto hers. "Thanks for everything," she grinned as her eyes slid into a close.

Itachi burned the image of the moment into his mind - every crack in the wall, the number of eyelashes, her thin figure and bright clothes, her hair, her hands, her smile. He locked them up carefully and threw away the key.

He sat there and he wept.

Sorry guys, but I've found someone I want to protect.