Thank you, White Rain readers! Sorry it took so long to update this. I have been very stressed and busy. I started it right away, and worked on it to 'almost done' and then was horribly busy—and I mean REALLY busy. I got sick twice, maybe three times, from stress. I'm also updating my GW fic Amour. And I got kittens. So much distraction! Sorry for the wait. Hopefully the next one will be faster. At least it is long! This chapter is 30 pages (single spaced!)…11,000 words.

I am always nervous about posting this story, especially without a Beta, which I didn't have this time. I do edit my own work, but because I am too close to it, I am suspect to thinking things are great when they are bad or bad when they are great. There's action in this chapter, which makes it even more difficult. I do hope you enjoy it, and remember to review.

White Rain

Chapter 9

By Zapenstap

"How are your ribs?" Sakura called softly as she pulled on her right boot.

Sasuke's answer floated back from the kitchen. If she was really concerned, he said, she could try not to be so rough with him.

Sakura blushed.

It was early—practically the middle of the night. The only evidence of morning was that the dark blue of the sky through the window was several shades lighter than an hour ago. She yawned and leaned back on her hands. After setting up, should she be on time? Or make the kiddies wait like Kakashi had made her team wait?

The very thought made her cross. She would be on time.

As she was tightening her wrist guards, Sasuke walked out of the kitchen and leaned against the wall, watching her from a short distance away. There was tenderness in his expression, which was not uncommon after a night like this one. That expression was more precious to her than air. She literally caught her breath, warmth radiating out from her heart to the tips of her fingers and toes. It wasn't that he wanted her, though she could still feel the imprints of his fingers on her skin. It was that he loved her.

The expression lingered only briefly. It vanished when he saw her noticing. It was still there, she knew, but covered up now. He still wasn't comfortable being open, not even with her.

Sakura stood up. The movement caused the bells tied to her wrist to jingle.

Sasuke eyed them with a small smile. "Bells?" He smirked at her. "Is that how you're going to test them?"

Sakura tucked her hair behind her ears. "You mean am I going to tie them to my belt and read a book while my students try to grab them? No way! I have something else in mind. You know Kakashi only did it that way because he was lazy. He wanted to test us without exerting himself so he made us to do all the work."

Sasuke smirked. "What work did you do?"

She blushed again.

Sasuke crossed the room toward her. Her heart beat faster when he approached, an unconscious reaction to his proximity she had never quite been able to quell. "Nervous?" he whispered.

His voice was like silk.

"Is it obvious?" she asked.

It wasn't the test that made her nervous, of course. She could lay out all three of those kids with one finger, even if they figured out how to work together as a team. Being an instructor was so much more than that, though. It was an important bond, vital to the village, and an enormous commitment.

She wanted to do it, but Sakura wasn't sure she knew how to teach. It was her first time attempting it, and she had seen the look in the eyes of Haro and Amaya when she told them it was her first year.

She knew she ought to have more confidence. Contrary to what her students believed, they hadn't been put on a team together because Amaya was nice to Itachi. Naruto had ideas about who would make each Genin a good teacher, and for this bunch, that teacher was Sakura.

Haro would benefit from a seasoned healer as an instructor. Love of taijutsu or not, he had ability, just like everyone else in his family, all of whom Sakura was acquainted with from her years of work at the hospital. Amaya's situation was a little more personal. Naruto thought a female role model would be good for her. Amaya's mother died on a mission when she was just a toddler. Her father was a Jounin, a near-silent, hardened captain who had reportedly raised her more like a recruit than a daughter. As for Itachi, he needed to be tested more than the rest of them, to see if he was really ready for this.

Sakura bit her lip and stole a glance at Sasuke. He hadn't said a word about Itachi. Not a single word. It was as if he simply pretended the kid did not exist.

"It will be fine," he said.

He meant her test. "Yeah," she said. "I'll see you later?"

Sasuke nodded.

Itachi stood in the kitchen, dressed and ready, waiting for the sun to rise. He hadn't been able to sleep much, but he felt alert. His energy was the nervous sort.

He was surprised when his mother came downstairs. She passed him on her way to the cabinet.

"When are you going to the bank?" he asked.

"I hope to go as soon as possible," she said. "If I am gone when you return, I can trust you to take care of Rina?"

"Yeah," he said, "if I live through this test."

She smiled at him.

He didn't think she was taking this seriously.

Itachi tried to think of everything he knew about survival tests, but there were so many thoughts bouncing around in his head he had trouble focusing on any one thing. He blankly watched his mother move about the kitchen. She was making him breakfast.

"I don't think I can eat anything," he said as she set a bowl of cereal at the table.

She poured the milk without hesitating. "Nonsense. Sit. If you don't eat, you won't have any strength."

Itachi ate glumly. He didn't really taste anything, but he felt less nervous when he was finished. He set the empty bowl in front of him and looked out the window. The sun still wasn't up yet. He looked at his mother. She was watching him circumspectly from behind the counter.

"You have a question," she guessed.

"It's about…" Itachi trailed off, worked moisture into his mouth, and started over. He could tell from the serenity in her expression that she knew what it was about. "It's about what you said last night."

He had been so astonished he had just gone to bed without a word. But now he couldn't stop thinking about it.

His mother leaned her chin into her palm, one elbow on the counter, and waited. Dark hair spilled over pale shoulders, natural curl creating waves she had done nothing to style. Her brown eyes were bright and luminous. She didn't look like a frightening person, but she frightened him a little.

The first rule in the family was not to talk about money.

Growing up, Itachi had always known his family was wealthy. It wasn't possible for that fact to have escaped him. The home he had lived in before now wasn't the largest house in his neighborhood, but it was elegant-white marble floors, a wide open foyer, circling staircases with cherry wood banisters, and extra bedrooms nobody used. His mother and Gehard had had servants too, not live-in servants, but people who regularly did the cooking and the cleaning and maintained the grounds.

On his tenth birthday, his mother told him a little about how wealthy they were, and more than he wanted to know about where it came from. She told him it was important that he be told, because the other kids would surely hear the rumors. But he mustn't talk about it.

The thing was… he thought they had left all that behind when they left Gehard. He thought they had tossed everything. He had admired his mother for doing it, because to him it meant she valued her family, her kids, more than her comfortable life and nice things. But from what his mother said last night, the family fortune was still hers in some respect, and set to pass to him if he lived to inherit it. If that was true, he wondered why his mother had married Gehard, only to have a child with someone else, and then stayed with Gehard, only to leave him ten years later. He had a feeling it was something ugly.

"Well?" she asked.

Looking at her face, he couldn't speak. She was a beautiful woman. Anyone would say so. He wasn't sure if she realized how much he knew about just how ugly her life was.

"I was just thinking about what it means."

There was a crinkle on her brow just above the bridge of her nose. He didn't think she had any idea he knew anything.

But she was his mother. He was always watching her.

He wondered which of the things people back home said about her were true. The other kids' parents all knew about Lucia Van Alstyne, and their children all said things in whispers. Jared Lassen had called his mother a whore, based on a rumor that Itachi's mother had gotten richer over the years by sleeping with men and taking their money, but he was pretty sure that was false, the kind of rumor that arose from jealousy—and the lapse that led to his own existence, of course. But there were other rumors about her.

She was called vicious, ruthless, unfeeling, commandeering, a bitch, and most of all: obsessed with wealth. It was said that money was all she cared about. Some of her business dealings had soured relations with neighboring families. Women hated her at first sight. Men mostly liked what they saw, until they knew her better, and then they hated her too.

But it was uglier than that. Itachi had seen his mother deal often enough to know she was indifferent to being hated, but she liked to be hurt. It took him years to understand the feelings and impressions that led to that conclusion. It didn't make sense to him, but he knew what her relationship with Gehard was like. He knew what the black vase meant. Did she really think keeping him out of the house when it was happening would be enough to keep him from knowing?

Sometimes he hated her. He hated that she forced him to acknowledge and accept awful things about her, his mother, who he couldn't help but love. He loved her more than he hated her. Since they moved away, he had felt better about everything. His mother seemed…lighter in this country, more at peace with herself. Simpler. He was happy having next to nothing in exchange for that.

But she hadn't relinquished anything. Not a damn thing. He wasn't sure what to feel.

"It means that someday things will change," she said. "Don't worry about it now. Just do your best. Make friends. You will be glad of people whose trust you had to earn."

Itachi didn't say anything. His mother's face was implacable, but she looked somehow sad to him, and lonely. Make friends he could trust. He wondered if this was a lesson she learned the hard way. Aside from his aunt Cecile, her older sister, Itachi's mother didn't have any friends. Maybe she hated herself, and that was why— But it didn't quite seem to fit.

"The sun is rising," she said.

He looked out the window. Sure enough, there was a faint gleam of gold spreading across the horizon.

He stood up and smiled at her. "Wish me luck, okay?"

Amaya and Haro were waiting on the highest hill on the east training grounds when Itachi arrived. They were both sitting in the grass, dressed head to toe in their best fighting gear, decked out in all their weapons. Haro wore his headband tied to his upper arm. Amaya wore it around her neck. Itachi just had the basics: kunai knives, wire string, and headband on the forehead. He didn't even have a mesh shirt.

He was going to get clobbered.

"Hey," Amaya said to him as he approached. She smiled. He smiled back.

"We were wondering if you got lost," Haro added, "or forgot to wake up again."

Itachi took a deep breath. "I've been up for hours actually. I didn't sleep well."

"Me either," Amaya said.

Haro eyed Amaya sideways. "I slept like a baby."

"I see you are on time!"

They all turned.

Sakura strode up the hill toward them from the east. The training grounds were located a ways outside the east end of town. Bushy-topped trees with thick trunks and level branches surrounded them on all sides. The highest hill was little more than a grassy knoll, a nice place for a picnic in other circumstances.

Sakura didn't look to be in the mood for a picnic. Her face was grim. She was outfitted for battle too. Amaya and Haro scrambled to their feet, hands hovering over their weapons pouches.

"All right," Sakura said, waving her hands. "Calm down. I'm not going to attack you."

His teammates relaxed, but only marginally. Amaya's expression seemed entirely different. She was focused now. Fierce.

"This is going to be a practice mission," Sakura told them. "I don't know if you were told, but not just anyone has what it takes to be a ninja. In order to pass my test, you have to demonstrate Shinobi qualities. The mission is simple."

She pointed into the forest the way she had come. "About half a day's journey due east you will find the ruins of an old well. Hidden near the well are two bells. Your mission is to bring both bells back to this spot."

"That's it?" Haro asked suspiciously. "Walk for a day and bring back some bells? I thought it was a survival test."

"There's a catch," Sakura said. "Only those who are actually carrying the bells will be deemed as having successfully completed the mission. There will also be…obstacles. If none of you are able to make it back with the bells, then none of you are capable of being my students. I have no qualms about flunking all three of you."

Haro and Amaya exchanged glances. Amaya looked surprised. Haro grinned. Itachi felt like his stomach had dropped out of his body and was squirming somewhere on the ground by his feet. Only two bells. That meant only two could pass. This test would be a great way for Haro to get Itachi off his team! All he had to do was make sure he and Amaya were the only two to return with bells. That would probably be easy.

Was Sakura doing this on purpose? Was she, like Sasuke, disgusted by him? Did she want him to lose?

He tried not to be paranoid. She had been nice to him before. Maybe there was some other reason for only having two bells.

"Oh," Sakura added. "I almost forgot. You only have until sundown. If you don't make it back by the time the sun drops below the horizon, you will fail. Good luck!"

With that, she vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Clone," Amaya murmured. She peered east. "That means the real Sakura is out there in the forest somewhere."

"Obstacles!" Haro spat. "It's a survival test, isn't it? She's going to try and kill us."

Itachi swallowed. She wouldn't really, would she? Haro often exaggerated.

"I didn't even eat breakfast," Amaya sighed. "Oh well. I guess we should get started."

Haro glanced askance at Itachi. "All of us?"

"Of course," Amaya said.

Haro's eyes didn't change. "There are two bells. One for you. One for me."

Itachi felt his muscles tense. He wasn't sure how to respond. Haro spoke with blatant honestly, as if Itachi wasn't even there.

"But we are a team," Amaya objected. Her voice was composed and practical. Her eyes, usually clear and warm, were hard and focused. "Even if only two can pass, we should stick together. I don't want to leave Itachi behind."

Haro clenched his jaw. She looked back at him, chin lifted, slender and pale in the morning light, her short, light brown hair washed out against the backdrop of a sky blushing pink and gold. For several long seconds, they stared at each other.

At length, Haro just shrugged angrily. "Whatever. I don't care. Do what you want."

Amaya recoiled as if stung.

"I'm not going to just let you two have the bells anyway," Itachi interjected. "I'm coming whether you want me with you or not."

"Fine," Haro snapped. "Keep up. If you can." He turned a cold shoulder to him and Amaya both and bolted, charging down the hill and veering eastward toward the forest.

"Haro!" Amaya cried. She tore after him. "Wait!"

Itachi opened his mouth to call her back, but stopped himself. Amaya caught up with Haro at the bottom of the hill and grabbed his arm just above the elbow. The pair of them exchanged words. Haro's were heated enough to make Amaya cringe, but she followed him when he shook her hand off his arm. They vanished together under the boughs of the trees. Itachi followed. He had a bad feeling about this.

The shadows thickened as he descended the hill and moved in under the trees. He caught sight of Amaya and Haro standing just a few dozen feet inside the forest. So they hadn't left him after all. Were they waiting? Or maybe they had just paused long enough to hash a plan. Maybe the plan was to ditch him. Haro avoided looking in his direction. Amaya's eyes skimmed over his face, but drifted to the left before he caught her eyes. Just as he was about to approach, Haro darted deeper into the forest, Amaya hot on his heels.

Itachi followed, grinding his teeth.

This is stupid, Itachi thought.

He slowed his pace, keeping Amaya and Haro in his sights, but didn't try to catch them. He didn't want to be where he was not wanted. They obviously didn't want him close—or Haro didn't anyway-and he needed to think. Someone should. They had no plan, other than to get to the well, retrieve the bells, and return them to the hill by sundown, and that was no plan at all. It was foolish to charge in blindly.

He supposed that even if Amaya and Haro reached the bells first, it was smart for one person to lag a little behind, especially if there were going to be obstacles.

"Hey," he called ahead. He wasn't sure if they were listening, but he thought Amaya may have turned her head slightly. "I think it would be better if one person scouted ahead. We'd be safer in a line."

Amaya whispered to Haro, who stopped on a bough of a tree.

Itachi stopped when they did, still keeping back, but he was close enough to hear her say "it's a good idea" in an urgent voice. She cast an anxious look back at him.

"You lead," Haro said to her. "You're swifter. I'm more suited to be a middle guard. If something goes wrong, I can support you."

It seemed to be decided without any further input from Itachi. It occurred to him that he had no idea what either of his teammates could do, other than that both were inevitably more accomplished than he was at everything. Not that they were much of a team. A duo, plus one tagalong.

They moved on. This time Amaya took the lead, staying ahead of Haro. Itachi couldn't make her out. He couldn't hear her either. She hardly made a sound.

The trip inward was eerily easy. They passed through the forest in silence. Itachi kept an eye out for signs of traps and tried to imprint the terrain the way he had learned from Konohamaru, since they would have to recover this ground after they reached the well and got the bells. He thought that he wouldn't get lost at least. That was something. A few weeks ago he wouldn't have been able to tell one tree from another.

He felt a change in the air before he saw anything. The surge of chakra came from up ahead. It was so concentrated, he knew he had only a second to react.

Just ahead of him, a tree exploded.

A branch came flying through the air, straight at Itachi's face. As he ducked to avoid it, he recognized it as the one Haro had been standing on it. Wood chips blasted into the air like confetti. They fell like rain. Itachi dropped out of the tree and crouched in the undergrowth below, staying perfectly still.

When he looked up, Haro was gone. So was most of the tree. In its place was a trunk with a hole through it two hand spans wide. The top of the tree shuttered, teetered for a few moments in slow motion, and then toppled in the direction opposite from Itachi.

Amaya was right in its path.

"Amaya!" Itachi called out.

He saw a flash of brown hair just as the tree crashed into the forest with a boom that shook the ground. There was still no sign of Haro. And somewhere out there—

"Don't you know better than to call out and not move?"

Sakura!

Itachi swore and rolled out of the way. A fist slammed where he had been lying. He felt the surge in chakra, identical to what had blasted through that tree. He scrambled, tried to run, but found himself flying, his feet just leaving the ground as it heaved and split into chunks. He landed heavily, palms scraping painfully in the dirt. He didn't think about it. His darted into the bushes, crawling over some sort of thorny plant that made his eyes water and his skin itch—thistle? His eye cast frantically for a place of safety and landed instead on the branch that had been previously attached to Haro's tree. Sakura was right behind him.

He cast about for a substitution. His hands clumsily formed signs.

The jutsu was worse than ungainly, but it worked. Leaving it substitution behind, he doubled back through the underbrush and hid behind the trunk of a thick tree. He didn't breathe any easier until he managed to catch a glimpse of Sakura.

She didn't even bother to hide. She was inspecting his substitution with a frown on her face, probably because it was sloppy. Maybe she was disappointed. Maybe she was thinking of failing him right now. Or maybe that wasn't even the real Sakura. Hell, it could just be a clone to lure him out of hiding or psyche him into thinking he was safe.

He leaned back against the tree trunk and took deep breaths. This was confusing. He stayed where he was, heart beating so loudly that he could scarcely hear beyond the pounding.

"Hey."

It was Haro's voice, whispering to him from the bracken just beyond his left shoulder.

He was about to respond, but his jaw clamped shut. What if it wasn't Haro? What if it was Sakura again, using Haro's form to trick him?

There were so many things they should have done before entering the forest! They should have made passcodes and agreed on a strategy. He wasn't sure he had really believed Sakura would attack them. She was so nice. He thought Haro had been exaggerating, but Sakura wasn't playing around.

He wasn't taking this seriously enough. He should have been training morning to night every day he was in Academy. Any of those punches could have killed him. The place where he had been hiding was completely demolished. If he had stayed there—

"Hey!" Haro insisted. "Get over here, will ya?"

Itachi swallowed. He would have to chance it. If that was the real Haro, maybe they would have a shot together. If he did nothing, he was as good as dead—or failed at least. Besides, hiding was cowardly. He moved toward the voice as stealthily as he knew how.

Haro was crouching behind a row of thick bushes, his face staring intently at the spot where Sakura had been standing a moment ago. He looked angry, and that made Itachi feel better. The real Haro always looked like that. Itachi hoped the direction of his stare meant Sakura was still in the open and not lurking somewhere behind them.

"Where's Amaya?" Itachi asked.

"About to be discovered," Haro replied. He pointed up into the branches just above Sakura's head. Itachi couldn't see anything, but he believed Haro that Amaya was there somewhere. "She'll have to attack." Haro chewed his lip.

"What should we do?"

Haro screwed his mouth to one side. "Well, ideally I'd like you to go in and distract Sakura so Amaya can make her move and I can get to the bells, but…" He eyed Itachi askance. "You don't have the skills."

Itachi didn't say anything. He could run or shout or throw a kunai knife, he supposed. He could do it while looking like somebody else maybe. That was about it. He didn't have any attack jutsu.

"So," Haro said. "You get the bells. And Amaya and I will tag team Sakura. It might work better like that anyway. I know what Amaya can do. I can anticipate her."

"You should look like me when you do it," Itachi suggested. "It will surprise Sakura."

Haro grinned, though not at Itachi. His eyes never left Sakura. "Not a bad idea." He gestured to the right. "The bells are that way," he said. "I know exactly where the well is. Just head east. It will be just on the other side of a slope. Should be lots of ferns leading up and over, and then a dip into an area cleared of trees. The well is in the middle."

Itachi nodded. He just hoped he wasn't being duped.

"Okay," Haro said. "Go."

Itachi rose.

"Don't look back."

Itachi paused. "Why shouldn't I look back?"

Haro was already moving the other way. "It would be stupid if you got caught in Amaya's jutsu."

Itachi didn't look back. He darted forward, keeping under cover as much as possible.

The distance wasn't far. He was already inching his way up the slope with the ferns when he heard the blast.

Don't look back! he reminded himself.

He almost didn't have to. Whatever Amaya justu did, it created a flash that momentarily turned everything white. Even not looking directly at it, he had to shake stars out of his eyes in order to see anything.

His hands stung. He had sliced his palms on something when Sakura discovered him in the underbrush. The cuts hurt every time he touched anything, but not enough to slow him down. It would be nice to have some hand guards, but he made good time, keeping low and trying to stay hidden as he moved.

When he reached the top of the slope, he lowered himself to his stomach among the leaves, sticks, and ferns. He wouldn't be reckless twice. Just because Sakura was behind him didn't mean she wasn't also in front of him!

He could see the old well. It was made of stone, half buried in the dirt. It didn't look to have been used in some time, judging by the rust on the pump and the moss caking the large stone blocks, some of which were broken. He didn't see any bells. He would have to look for them, which would leave him vulnerable.

He put his hands together, formed the tiger sign, and concentrated.

"Clone Jutsu," he hissed under his breath, and expelled the necessary chakra in one straight burst.

His clone knew what it was supposed to do. It was strange to watch himself clamber down the slope and cautiously approach the well. He watched the area around him as much as the clone, using his ears and sense of smell as much as his eyes. Now he knew what an animal felt like. He shivered. To live being hunted, the target of dangerous predators—nerve wracking.

Well, he supposed it was something many Shinobi experienced, especially those wanted by their own kind. His father for example…

He didn't want to think about it.

His clone was looking in every nook and cranny around the well. When it apparently didn't find the bells easily, it began poking about in the grass on the ground close to it. The real Itachi watched from the slope. His clone thought just like he did: search the most obvious areas first, then the most accessible, then the most difficult.

His clone frowned and straightened. The real Itachi felt his heart hammering in response. The bells weren't on the ground. That meant they were inside the well.

How hard did Sakura make this test?

He watched as his clone leaned over the edge of well and peered inside, probably along the wall where there light enough to see. She would have had to secure them somewhere where they wouldn't fall in—

"Caught ya."

The real Itachi stiffened, all the muscles in his body clenching as one, but the voice wasn't directed at him. It was directed at his clone.

Sakura emerged from behind a slender tree near the well. How she had managed to hide behind it in the first place, he had no idea. She put one hand on her hip and smiled as his clone pulled its head out of the opening of the well and turned to face her. Did clones have feelings? The other him looked scared out of its mind, but determined too. It must be thinking what he was thinking. How was he to defend against her in the open?

As it turned out, he couldn't.

Sakura's fist smashed into the face of the other him. The surprise on the clone's face right before it vanished mirrored Itachi's own surprise as experiences he didn't remember flooded his mind.

He smiled. He knew where the bells were. They were hidden under a loose stone on the inside of the well, just a few inches from the surface. It wasn't hard to pry the stone out. The only tricky thing would be making sure the bells didn't fall into the well.

There was also surprise on Sakura's face as the clone dissolved into air. But then she smiled and began looking around. Her eyes went right to the slope.

Itachi froze. He didn't think she could see him, but the slope was the best vantage point for anyone watching the well. Of course she would look here first. It would only take her a moment to find him, and then he would be forced to fight her. There was no way he could win, even if she went really really easy on him.

Maybe he should retreat and come at the well from a different angle? But no. That wouldn't be any better. She would see him coming no matter what angle he came from. She would see him as soon as he moved. Better to face her head on.

Suppose he made another clone and used it to attack her while the real him went for the bells? He didn't think it would work, but it was his best bet. He needed better jutsu!

"Didn't I get anything from my father?" he muttered furiously under his breath. His looks apparently, which he wasn't finding terribly helpful. Where was all the promised Uchiha majesty?

His hands formed the tiger sign again. He wondered if he got any points for courage.

The second clone that materialized beside him looked as determined as he felt. Itachi rose to a crouch, poised on the balls of their feet. He took a deep breath. He could do this. As one, he and his clone sprang upright and charged down the hill, straight at Sakura. He saw her blue-green eyes widen fractionally just before he angled away from her and made a wild zig zag for the well. His clone kept her attention, smashed into Sakura as if it were aiming to kick her, but vanished without making contact.

He only had seconds. Itachi's hands dipped into the well. He felt for the rock that jiggled and twisted his fingers under it. He grabbed the bells by the string they were tied to, dislodging the rock as he pulled his hand back. The rock fell. There was a breath of silence, and then a faint plop.

Seconds only. Sakura wasn't fooled. She was descending on him before he had time to do anything more than take one step backward, the two bells caught between his index and middle finger by the string that tied them together. He was flailing for purchase, completely out of ideas. She was coming right at him, gloved hand curling into a fist throbbing with chakra. His back hit a tree.

A shower of shuriken flew past him, missing both his shoulders by margins and plunging into the trunk behind his back.

Sakura froze in the air. Even her face was still, like a painting. The shuriken had come from behind her. It took Itachi a few seconds to process what had happened. Sakura's body had shielded him from a storm of shuriken thrown from behind her. She had been hit by the shuriken!

And then her body vanished, replaced by a bundle of stick that clattered to the ground at his feet, each punctured by a four pointed ninja star.

Itachi stared.

Amaya stood halfway down the slope, both arms held out, all the fingers on her hands extended, eyes wide with surprise.

"You're pretty good for a Genin," Sakura's voice whispered. It was hard to tell where it was coming from. Amaya's head whipped around. Her fingers remained outstretched. Sakura was nowhere to be seen.

"Run, Itachi!" she shouted.

Of course. He had the bells. He didn't have to be told twice.

He shoes scuffed at the dirt as he dodged around the well and scrambled back up the slope and past Amaya. She didn't glance at him as he passed. Her eyes stayed on Sakura, who had dropped out of the trees on Amaya's other side. Amaya's hands moved. The shuriken she had thrown whipped backward the way they had come, flying up the hill toward Sakura.

There was a second flash of light. Itachi saw it this time. It was like the shuriken caught fire and exploded. For a few brief seconds, they blazed hot, like firecrackers, like tiny suns, until they could no longer be distinguished one from another. The ending blast was one powerful burst of white light, like a flash of lightning.

Itachi stumbled through the haze and dazzle, blinking repeatedly to clear away the spots that swam before his vision like fireflies. That, he was pretty sure, was not typical Genin level stuff.

He fingers clenched numbly around the string that held the bells. He needed to get them away from Sakura and back to the hill. With that one thought in his mind, he jumped over logs and leapt bushes, his feet pounding as hard as his heart. It wasn't until he was over halfway back and well out of range that he noticed how much his lungs burned.

"Whoa!"

Haro's voice.

Upon seeing his other teammate, Itachi skidded to a stop. He couldn't relax. His muscles trembled from adrenaline. His hand was clenched so tightly around the bells that the knuckles had turned white. He was perspiring. He was dizzy. His chest burned. He still had some ground to cover.

"Haro," Itachi began. "What are you doing here?"

"Me? I'm hanging back in reserves. What are you doing?"

He was breathing so hard it was difficult to speak. "Amaya. Said. To. Run. I think—" He sucked in air, tried to articulate words, and bent forward, placing his hands on his knees. It helped a little.

"Did you get the bells?" Haro asked.

Itachi nodded. He was concentrating so hard on breathing he didn't process the dark expression creep across Haro's face. He saw Haro clench his jaw, but he wasn't ready for what came next.

Haro fist swung back and then forward in a swift jab, socking Itachi hard in the stomach. Trembling already from exertion and anxiety, Itachi's knees buckled and gave way. He collapsed like he was made of straw, pitching face-forward into the dirt. His hand was easily pried open.

"Sorry," Haro muttered.

Itachi felt the bells leave his grip.

Sakura tsked under her breath.

They had been doing pretty well too—well, sorta.

She crouched with most of her weight on the ball of one foot, the other leg stretched out in front of her along the tree branch. She peered carefully around trunk of the tree, watching as Haro punched Itachi in the stomach. The kid crumpled like paper.

Haro's reaction was interesting. He stood over his teammate, the bells gripped in his right fist. He didn't seem triumphant. His expression was like that of a spooked rabbit, contradictory emotions battling for dominance. Tactically speaking, he should have run, but he didn't move. He just stood there, right hand clenched closed and shaking.

Sakura shook her head.

Maybe she should end it now. If this was how they were going to behave, she couldn't make use out of these three.

But they had until sunset to get it together. She remembered her own Genin test. Looking back on it, Kakashi had gone pretty easy on them. She had abandoned Naruto. She was useless even to save Sasuke. Her one contribution was to faint. Pathetic. Sasuke and Naruto hadn't been much better. But Kakashi had given them all another chance.

This group did have its good points. Itachi lacked skills, but wasn't a bad strategist. Haro was balanced, a solid addition to any team if he could straighten out his priorities and learn to take direction. And Amaya…She reminded Sakura a little of what Sasuke had been like as a Genin—focused, confident, and with more ability and skilled jutsu than a girl her age should have.

But that alone gave Sakura pause. Her jutsu was quite clever, probably something she had learned from her father. She fed her chakra into shuriken she used, probably slowly over time, compressed it like a bomb, and manipulated the stars with wire to maintain her connection. That level of control took a great deal of training. Sakura wondered at the reason for that. There was nothing in the girl's history that warranted that kind of focus.

That was it for good points. As a team, they were suspicious of each other, oblivious to one another's strengths and weaknesses, and horribly disorganized. Haro seemed to have a preference for Amaya that was as bad or worse than what Sakura had for Sasuke at his age, to the point of betraying others for her sake. Maybe it wasn't totally surprising. He was young and impulsive and male, Amaya was awfully developed for a girl her age, and they had been friends for a long time. Not surprising, but definitely annoying. Sakura wanted laugh at herself for thinking so. How she must have looked to Kakashi!

Amaya's most obvious failing was trying to do all the heavy lifting on her own. She didn't seem to trust even Haro. At least, she didn't share the burden with either him or Itachi. Who was she trying to impress? If she hadn't tapped out on chakra yet, it wouldn't be long.

Itachi was smart and had a good attitude, but he was under-skilled. That could be fixed with experience. What worried Sakura about Itachi was that he didn't really know what he was getting into.

Sakura took a deep breath.

"I really hate to do this," she muttered aloud. But it was important. She brought the kunai knife into her best throwing hand.

"I hope you know this hurt me more than it hurts you," she said grimly.

Itachi's stomach felt like he had swallowed a pile of rocks, but he pushed himself off the ground and surged to his feet. He was so angry he saw red. He made an awkward grab for Haro's shoulder.

"If you're going to hit me, you better put me down!" he shouted.

Haro dodged Itachi's first punch, easily sidestepping it, and caught the second in his left hand.

Itachi channeled all of his power into his left leg and brought it up in a swift kick to Haro's head. Haro twisted somehow and managed to block the kick with his forearm, but he was shaking so badly Itachi almost connected anyway.

Rage deadened his wits even as it heightened his power. Itachi didn't sense a thing until it was too late. He was looking directly into Haro's wide eyes, so he knew immediately it wasn't something the other boy had done.

It felt like pain—searing, crippling, nauseating pain. It swallowed his anger completely. He half collapsed, instinctively put weight on his foot, and shirked as waves of agony shot through his leg and radiated upward and downward. He fell onto his forearm instead and looked down at his leg. The hilt of a kunai knife stuck out just below his knee.

"Don't!" Haro warned.

But the response was automatic. Itachi pulled it out. It came out smoothly, like butter, but blood gushed from the wound.

"Shit," Haro cursed. Kneeling beside Itachi, he pressed both hands to where blood was oozing out of Itachi's leg. "You're not supposed to pull it out! Don't you know anything? What if she had hit an artery?"

But Itachi wasn't thinking. He wasn't feeling much either. He saw the blood coming out of his leg and just felt sick, like he wanted to throw up. He couldn't seem to get enough air, and there was too much heat inside of him, as if all of his veins were on fire. He clutched at his chest, insensibly trying to stop his heart, not because it hurt, but because it was beating so fast and he kept thinking that the organ was going to pump all of his blood out of his body. His blood was hot. No one told him how hot blood was.

Amaya crashed out of the bushes. "Oh my god! Haro, what happened?

She knelt beside him. Itachi couldn't focus on her. With so much blood in him, why wasn't any of it getting to his brain?

Haro lifted his leg over Amaya's knees and directed her hands. "It's not bad if it stops bleeding quickly." Haro said. "Put your hands here. Push hard!"

Itachi felt pressure on his leg, just on the underside of his knee. Amaya was leaning on him with the full weight of her upper body. It helped. He looked into her face, pale and grave, almost ashen, and covered with dirt.

"Looks like she got him pretty clean," Haro said. "It's not fatal, but we'll have to patch it. I might be able to put a small seal on it, like stitches. Best I can do." He was fishing in his tool pouch as he spoke, his hands red with Itachi's blood that was drying a dirty brown color. He withdrew a medical pad, a ball of gauze, and some tape.

"Where's Sakura?" Amaya asked, still leaning over Itachi, but looking around with eyes bright with alertness. "I don't like being in the open."

"She left," Haro said. "I saw her. She made sure I saw her. She's headed back to the hill."

Itachi grunted as Haro repositioned his leg. Amaya applied pressure until Haro replaced her hands with the pad and began winding the gauze around Itachi's upper calf. He had a strong grip. The wrapping was tight, but not so tight as to cut off all his circulation.

"You okay?" Haro asked him.

Itachi tried to decide. His whole leg was throbbing. He could still feel the blood pumping, trying to bleed through the bandages.

"I feel a little sick," he said. "And shaky."

"That's probably just adrenaline. Do you really think you are going to be sick? Are you anxious? Sleepy? "

Now that his leg was patched up, he felt a great deal better. "I don't think so."

"Good. That's good."

Trying not to think about his leg, or look at it, Itachi turned his head. The sun was going down. The bright orb was turning darker, the yellow deepening to burnt gold. Soon it would be orange and among the trees.

"You two had better go."

He could tell by their expressions that he had said something unexpected.

"You want us to leave you here?" Amaya whispered. She looked frantically at Haro.

Itachi sighed. He had wanted to pass. He wanted to be a Genin. But he supposed he would be a burden on any sort of real mission. Maybe it was better to stay in Academy.

"Yeah," he said. "I'll be fine. But you guys should graduate. I don't want to hold you back."

Haro didn't say anything for several long seconds.

"No," he said finally.

Itachi blinked. "You said I'll live. There's no reason—"

"No way. If I abandon you here, my family will clobber me. What if you go into shock or something? My brothers and sisters are all medical nin. They'd drop me in a ditch somewhere if I just left you. And my mother—" The horror on his face was descriptive enough of what she would do. He shook his head. "No way. I've got to take you to the hospital." He handed Amaya the bells. "Here. You take them."

"What?" she gasped. Her face was aghast.

Haro shoved them into her hands. They were smeared with dirt and blood. "Go on," he said. "You're the fastest, and out of the three of us, you did the most. You should graduate."

Her eyes shimmered. "But, Haro, we promised…"

"Don't, okay? You want it more than I do. Besides, the mission was to get the bells back by sundown. I'd rather that you do it than none of us do. Hell, if I have to repeat another year, I have to repeat. Yukio will still be annoying next year."

"Haro," Itachi objected. "Seriously, just leave me. It's fine."

"You, shut up!" Haro snapped at him. To Amaya he said, "Go. I'll take care of him."

She stood, not saying anything, the bells hanging limply in the curve of her fingers.

"You can make it if you run," Haro told her. "We'll come too if he's up to it."

"We'll be right behind you," Itachi agreed, ignoring Haro's glare. "I'd feel worse if you didn't."

"I…" She looked back and forth between them and clutched the Konoha headband tied around her neck. "Okay." She said it with a fierceness that sounded forced and took off westward, long legs flashing between the trees.

When she was gone, the forest was dead quiet.

Itachi leaned his head back with a groan.

"It's better if we wait for a stretcher," Haro told him. "You've got a clean wound, and my patch will keep it together, but you should still keep it elevated and not move until a real medical—"

"It's not much farther," Itachi said. "If you think I won't damage it much, I'd like to try and at least make it back."

Haro gave him a look that made him feel stupid, but he seemed to understand. "Fine," he said. "You can hobble." He rose and dusted off his knees. "With help." He stretched out a hand, which Itachi eyed dubiously. "With me or not at all. You can wait for a stretcher."

Itachi wrapped his hand around Haro's wrist.

Itachi allowed Haro to help him up, and managed to bite back a cry when he felt the muscles around his wound protest at the shift. The blood was already clotting. He could feel the beginning of a scab tear as he got to his feet, but the bandages were pleasantly tight and Haro's patch must have been working because it didn't bleed again.

Once on his feet, he felt the throbbing worsen, but he also felt stronger than he thought he would. He had to lean against Haro, putting as little weight on his injured leg at possible. He hobbled just as Haro advised, half hopping and half limping.

"Thanks," he said after they had successfully covered about thirty feet and he was getting the hang of it. The sun was already starting to set. This was going to take forever. There was no accounting for it. They had lost. "I'm sorry," he said. "You really could have left me."

Haro just snorted. "No, I couldn't have. Don't worry about it."

"Right," Itachi said, "Your family would kill you. It's just—I know how much you hate my guts. This has got to be the worst."

"I don't hate you."

Itachi blinked. "You don't?"

"Nah. You thought I did?"

"Yeah." Itachi said.

"You just annoy me," Haro told him.

"I thought you thought I was terrible."

"You are. And that's annoying, but even more annoying than that is that you're doing really well considering you were in Academy for all of two weeks. It's annoying because of how little you've trained. It's like it just comes easy. It's pretty irritating."

"Oh."

They were both silent for another few minutes. Itachi concentrated on covering distance, one crippled step at a time.

"Besides," Haro said, clearing his throat. "I kinda think I deserve to fail."

Itachi wasn't sure how to respond.

"I mean because I hit you," he continued, not looking at Itachi's face as he explained. "I was just thinking I had to have a bell, and Amaya had to have a bell, and ninjas have to do unpleasant things sometimes, so what if I took you down? But right after I did it I wished I hadn't done it. It's one thing if you can't hack it. But it's something else to betray a teammate. I was going to let you hit me. I was going to let you have them back. And then Sakura… Well, she could have targeted me as easily as you. I didn't know she was there either. But she hit just you, even though I had the bells. I'm sure she did it on purpose. It was so precise. Well, I felt even worse, because it was my fault you were such an easy target in the first place, and I should know better."

Itachi didn't say anything for a few minutes. He wasn't sure where that put him and Haro, but he felt better. "Thanks," he said.

"Does your leg hurt?"

"Yeah," he said. It was throbbing. It was almost a relief to be trying to walk just for the distraction.

Haro smiled. "That's pretty cool. I've never actually been hit myself."

Itachi laughed.

By the time they reached the hilltop, it was long past dark. The sky was clear enough to see the stars, and the light was great enough that they didn't get lost picking their way through the shadows. Still, it was a relief to finally emerge from the trees.

They clambered awkwardly up the hill. Before them, Itachi could see Amaya standing in the pale moonlight, her head hanging down, her hands clenched into fists, legs locked at the knee. Sakura stood just behind her, arms crossed as she watched them climb toward her, Itachi mostly hopping with one arm on Haro's shoulder.

When they reached the top, Haro helped Itachi recline on the grass. He checked the bandages and re-elevated Itachi's leg.

"Well well," Sakura said. "You made it back. Itachi, glad to see you're not dead." She crossed her arms and frowned at Haro. "Haro, you shouldn't have failed this exam. Do you want to tell me where you went wrong?"

"Uh," Haro said uncertainly. "I guess it was from the start, or some time last week."

Itachi was startled. Even Sakura blinked.

"I've got a bad attitude," Haro said. "My mother always says I think like badger. I didn't want to work with Itachi. I just didn't want to, and I made it harder for everyone because I was so stubborn about it." He looked at Itachi. "I can't say you don't still annoy me, no offense—"

"None taken," Itachi replied automatically.

Haro turned back to Sakura. "—but a teammate is a teammate. I should have supported him. Even if I had gotten a bell back, I don't think I did a very good job on this test. I know I can do better. I'll do better next time."

Itachi swallowed. "He did do a good job on my leg," he said to Sakura. "Really."

"Thanks," Haro said in a gruff voice, but by his expression, he seemed pleased.

"Is that why you failed?" Sakura asked Itachi. "Because you were injured?"

Itachi's mouth went dry. "I'm not very good," he admitted. "And I know it, and I knew my teammates knew it. I thought I could just do my best, but I wasn't prepared, and my best wasn't good enough. I didn't ask for help either, and that makes me a burden to the team."

"I see," Sakura said.

"But I'm not going to give up," Itachi added. "My leg hurts, but I'm glad in a way. To be honest, I was a little scared about this whole thing, and I didn't even think I'd be attacked. But it wasn't so bad. Maybe next time I'll be strong enough to be more of an asset to my team."

Sakura nodded. "Well, I guess Amaya is the only one fit to be a Genin this time."

Amaya still hadn't lifted her head. When she did, her eyes were like liquid. "Actually, I don't want these," she said quietly, and held out the hand that clutched the bells, proffering them to Sakura. "I only brought them because Haro and Itachi both wanted me to, and because that was the mission, but I…" She shook her head. "Well, I had to do it, but I don't want to go on alone. I want to be with them."

Sakura took the bells without speaking. They clinked lightly as they passed from Amaya's fingers to Sakura's.

"Amaya," Haro whispered. "That's…You don't have to do that."

"It's okay," she said, and tossed her head back, smiling at him through a glossy layer of tears that made her eyes sparkle. "It's just one more year right? I can wait one more year."

Sakura's fingers closed over the bells. She closed her eyes, clenched her fist, and smiled. "I see."

She pocketed the bells and made her way across the grass to where Haro was kneeling behind Itachi.

"Let me see it," she said, and carefully unwound the bandage. Itachi winced as she pulled the gauze free from the clotted blood. The newly formed scab ripped loose. He took deep breaths and avoided looking at it.

"Not bad," Sakura said to Haro, who flushed a little.

Sakura held a hand over his leg. It pulsed with chakra that glowed light green like sea mist, nearly the same color as her eyes. Itachi closed his eyes and didn't realize what she was doing until she heard Haro gasp. All he knew was that his leg itched like crazy.

"Whoa!" Haro said. "That's—Not even my brother can do it that fast! That's incredible."

The pain was gone. Itachi's eyes flew open. Sakura still had her hand over his leg. His pants were ripped and there was blood everywhere, but the wound was closed up. It was forming a pink, puckered scar before his eyes, and even that was shrinking. He wiggled his toes. There was no throb, no pinch, no pain. "How did you do that?"

"Rapid cell re-growth," Sakura said, lifting her hand and leaning back on her heels. "It's a kind of advanced medical ninjutsu. How do you feel?"

He stared at her. "Great."

"Dinner will help, I suspect," she said. "I'm sorry I had to do that to you in the first place. It's not really typical to purposefully injure students in the Genin test, but I needed to know how you would handle the kinds of things that really happen in the field. You did quite well, I'm pleased to say." She slapped her knees as she rose to her feet. "Are the three of you capable of walking to town for a celebratory meal? My treat."

"Celebratory?" Haro asked. "What the hell are we celebrating?"

Sakura beamed at them.

"Why, the formation of Team Four of course! Being a ninja isn't about bringing some bell back. Mission objectives are important, but being a Genin is about teamwork. It's about learning how to look out for each other and protect each other. I was worried for awhile, but…" She smiled. "You all passed."

Itachi was stunned. He had passed?

He got slowly to his feet, still expecting his leg to hurt, but it didn't.

As they headed back to town, this time as a group, Itachi could barely form thoughts. He had passed. He got stabbed in the leg and had to be half carried back—late—but he had passed. He was a Genin. And his team didn't even hate him. At least, he didn't think so. He looked back. Amaya and Haro walked with their heads bent close together, whispering. Haro was laughing. Amaya's eyes were glowing. She looked up, and smiled at Itachi. He felt suddenly light headed. Still…

"Something on your mind?" Sakura asked him.

He took a deep breath. "Are you going to train me?"

"That's the arrangement," she replied. "All of you will learn a lot before you are sent out on any dangerous missions. Of course, I can only teach what I know and what you have aptitude to learn." She smiled. "But it's probable you have some aptitude for genjutsu."

"Great," he said heavily. "Because I don't want to be a liability to my team. I don't want to be behind."

She nodded. He chewed on his thoughts. She watched him thinking.

"Something else on your mind?"

"You're Sasuke's girlfriend, right?" he asked her. He hoped he wasn't offending her. "Is there any way he might train me, now that I'm a Genin?"

He looked at her face anxiously. She looked away.

"It's not you or anything!" he added hurriedly. "I think you're terrific. I'm glad I have someone like you as my teacher. I'm sure I will learn a lot. It's just— I want to get to know Sasuke."

She didn't answer right away. They walked together in the falling darkness. Shadows obscured Sakura's face.

"I don't have any connections here," he said when she didn't respond, trying not to sound as nervous as he felt. "I feel like there are a lot of things about myself that I don't know. I want to know about the Uchiha, and the Sharingan, and about Sasuke, and about my father too. Especially my father. I don't know hardly anything about him. If there's any way—"

"You should ask him," she interrupted. Her voice sounded a little choked. "I don't know what he'll say, but I think it would be good if you asked."

Naruto nodded to Lucia as she reclined in the sitting chair before his desk.

He had sent a messenger for her at noon. She arrived promptly. A small traveling bag packed for a short trip sat at her feet. It was three days to the town with the bank Lucia said she needed to visit.

"You sure you don't want to wait to see if your son passes his Genin test?" Naruto asked. "I didn't know it was today. You can set out just as easily tomorrow."

"I'm confident he will pass," she said. "If he doesn't, then he wasn't ready. There's no need to delay my trip."

Naruto leaned back, assaying her frankly. She spoke about her son in an almost business-like tone, but Naruto thought he detected pride in her too, bubbling just beneath the surface.. Lucia believed in her son. Naruto smiled.

"The Jounin I've assigned to your trip are Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Akamaru, and Shino Aburame. They're willing to escort you to and from the bank and protect you if necessary. They'll be here shortly."

"Thank you," she said.

"In the meantime, as promised, I'd like to have another talk."

"You can ask me whatever you like."

He crossed his arms and looked down at the desk, thinking about how to frame what he wanted to say. "Lucia," he said. "I've been giving a lot of thought to what you told Sasuke."

She was a masochist. She had encouraged Itachi Uchiha to hurt her and claimed that he had done so willingly, at least for awhile.

She rested her head in one hand, expression blank.

"I told you I wanted to get to know you better," he said, "not to use against you, but because I want to understand where you are coming from. I also think you should get to know me better. Sasuke too," he added, "and Itachi Uchiha."

She lifted her head. "Itachi Uchiha?"

That caught her interest. He could tell by the light that came into her eyes. A moment ago she had been slightly bored, maybe a little uncomfortable. Now she was alive.

It gave credence to one of his suspicions. He had given this a lot of thought.

"I can't tell you everything I know about him," he said. "There are certain truths that belong to the village, things that outsiders shouldn't know. It would betray the trust of people here to share those things with you. But based on what I know, I have difficulty believing that Itachi would do the things you say he did."

"Well, he did," she said complacently. "What is difficult to believe about a man who murdered his family? Unless he didn't do it?"

"He did," Naruto said.

She shrugged, as if that settled it. "A man like that is capable of anything. And he had a reputation for cruelty. I knew it before I met him."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. "I know all about that. As a ninja, he was capable of a great cruelty, and he was ruthless in battle. His genjutsu could cripple a man with a look."

"I'd heard that," she said quietly.

"He used genjutsu on you, correct?" Naruto said.

"Do you think that doesn't count?"

"It counts," Naruto replied. "I said myself it could be crippling. I'm just not convinced he really wanted to hurt you."

"If you were there, you wouldn't doubt it."

"How often would you say what he did to you an illusion? Most of the time? All of the time? Some of the time?"

"Almost all of the time," she replied. "Serious acts of violence were always genjutsu anyway, and he was always serious. That's what I wanted. He didn't want to mar my appearance, and it is easier to recover from illusionary pain. Afterward, I could still perform."

Naruto cleared his throat quietly. Was that how she thought of herself? Or how she assumed others thought of her? She was disturbingly accepting about it. He didn't like it.

She seemed to detect that he had reacted negatively to her explanation.

"Why do you find it difficult to believe that he was a sadist?" Lucia asked him. "He was also kind to me sometimes, I'll warrant you, but when he wanted to hurt me, it was very real. I never questioned why he should want to. It seemed obvious to me why he would."

"Why's that?" he asked quietly.

"People become what they do. They mimic what they see and repeat what is done to them. In war times, people change. Surely you have witnessed it?"

He had, but he didn't like that either. He wondered what she had witnessed. Maybe not war, but there was something. She was full of secrets. It wouldn't surprise him to learn that much of what she kept locked inside her head was terrible.

Her hands curved over the armrests. She sat straight, expression cold, shoulders back—proud and logical and apathetic. At least on the surface. She closed her eyes and spoke in a calm, clear voice.

"I heard that things have changed since I was here last, but in Itachi's time, Shinobi were trained to do terrible things and feel nothing. It must have affected everything he did."

"That's true," Naruto said, not without sadness, or curiosity as to why she knew so much. Few people other than Shinobi gave the lives of Shinobi much thought. "At least it used to be, but you said that he came to you for distraction from all that. I don't have trouble believing it. Many ninja would seek solace in a beautiful woman who asked no questions. Why hurt such a woman?"

Lucia closed her eyes. "If she asked him to," she said. Her words were thick. "If she was that selfish. If she encouraged it, it might even make him feel better."

Naruto's hands clenched the desk and grimaced at the floor. Did she think Itachi Uchiha was a person like that?

"I don't want to talk of this anymore," Lucia said.

Naruto was surprised. He caught anguish on her face just before she turned it away from him.

He almost blurted out what he was thinking, but thought better of it. Not yet.

They were both silent, mulling over their thoughts. Naruto had so many.

"What kinds of things do you like, Lucia?"

"Things I like?" she asked. "What do you mean?"

He leaned back in his chair. "My favorite food is ramen," he said.

A soft sound escaped her lips like a puff of air. She turned back to face him and leaned her head back on her fist. "I like tea," she said. "Spicy and sweet, served very hot."

"Hmm." He smiled. "Any brothers and sisters?"

"I have an older sister living in the country where I was born."

"Hobbies?"

She smiled. "Not really."

When the escort arrived, Naruto made introductions while watching Lucia out of the corner of his eye. She greeted everyone professionally, much like any client.

Naruto stole a few glances at Hinata, who stood at the end of the line with eyes full of soft light, silent and sure of herself, an unobtrusive but luminescent version of the shy girl she had once been. She flicked him a small smile at one point, a light blush darkening her cheeks. She had noticed his eyes on her. He tried to imagine hurting her on purpose, in any capacity, and couldn't.

Once Lucia had gathered her things, the team departed. Naruto was not worried about letting Lucia go to the bank, especially not with Hinata, Kiba, and Shino to watch her. He would learn something about her from her trip. He needed more information.

Naruto remained alone in the office. He turned to look at himself in the small mirror that hung on the side wall opposite from the window.

What caused a person to like pain? Or like causing pain to others? Was it the experience of cruelty? Or, when Lucia was guessing at Itachi's life, was she really reflecting on her own? Had someone done something to her? Someone she loved?

Sakura had called him a masochist once. He lifted his hand and turned it over a few times. There was no scar from the time he had stabbed himself. He had the Nine Tails to thank for that, though he hadn't known at the time that he would heal so quickly. It was the day of his first real mission and he hadn't been feeling too sure of himself. He had wanted to prove himself as a ninja. He had made a vow. He had made a vow of pain not to run away.

Lucia left home, bringing her two children to the land of their father—a dangerous man she had hardly known—and asked Konoha to shelter her from murderous enemies. He didn't think that could be considered running away, especially considering how unafraid of those enemies she seemed now. Headed outside the safety of the walls for the first time since her arrival, she seemed not the least bit concerned for her welfare.

He frowned at his hand.

She had the air of someone running toward something. Could the masochism be in any way connected? Something she was running from. Something she was running toward. Something she had suffered. Something she wanted.

If pain was connected to her goal, then she had been chasing it for at least as long as she had known Itachi Uchiha. It made him wonder what had she been doing during her visits to the Land of Fire other than sleeping with a rogue Shinobi.

He lowered his hand and looked into his own face, trying to fit the pieces together.

If she had been up to something particular, would Itachi Uchiha have known about it?

TBC

And… Itachi is a Genin. Yay! The plot can thicken.

I've read and tried to edit this so many times, it's all a blur of gibbish!

I hope it was enjoyable. I know the story overall might seem be a bit slow (I am building to something, I swear) or predictable (some parallels are on purpose), and of course it is fanfic, so the Naruto characters are certainly interpreted for the story, but if you are enjoying it please let me know! I really appreciate reviews, so please let me know what you think. Constructive critiques are also welcome (but please say nice things too… :) )