~*~
Bonds of Blood
By: Animeroxsmyworld
Chapter 2: The Uchiha Encounter
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The streets of Konoha were crowded, people brushing past each other as they continued on their way. Uchiha Itachi continued like any other, his head down as he skimmed over the instructions for his A-Rank mission tomorrow.
When he had been told he had a mission, he had dutifully gone to the Hokage tower…with an added tag along. A raven haired 8-year-old bobbed along at his side, an angry pout on the child’s face at the fact that his older brother would be leaving.
“How long are you going to be gone this time?” A small voice complained from beside Itachi, the 13-year-old glancing down at his younger brother. Sasuke was starring up at him, his hands shoved into the pockets of his white shorts.
“It shouldn’t take too long.” Itachi reassured with a small smile, Sasuke scowling at the vague response.
“I’ll leave in the morning and I should be back at supper.” Itachi clarified, smile growing at Sasuke’s expression.
“Then are you going to help train me some more?” Sasuke asked.
“If I have time. I have to make a mission report and give it to the Hokage once I return.” Itachi explained, Sasuke’s expression falling. The two brothers had less and less time to spend together, ever since Itachi became an ANBU member.
If he didn’t receive missions from the Hokage, their father was always sending Itachi off on missions himself.
Always mission after mission.
“Oh…” Sasuke muttered quietly, trying to keep the dejection out of his voice as his onyx gaze fell to the ground. Itachi sighed before reaching back and ruffling Sasuke’s cockatoo style hair in a brotherly fashion.
“But, then I’ll make sure to come back and train you.” Itachi amended.
Sasuke’s head snapped up quickly. “Really?!”
Itachi nodded and Sasuke beamed, his whole face lighting up. Seeing that Sasuke was now content, Itachi turned back to reading the paper while his hand slowly dropped from Sasuke’s head. The two continued on their way, Itachi slowly tuning out the background noise as he led Sasuke into less crowded streets.
The streets by the Uchiha compound were always less crowded since the only buildings along the road were of Uchiha property. There were less and less public buildings.
The sound of a dog barking and snarling caught Sasuke’s attention, though it sounded a few streets off. It grew louder as they got closer to home. Sasuke casted a quick glance at his brother, but Itachi looked unconcerned so Sasuke stayed put at his side. As they slowly reached where the dog should be, Sasuke looked over curiously.
“Onii-chan!” Sasuke called out fervently as he tugged on Itachi’s shirt.
“Hmm?” Itachi mused, his eyes remaining on the paper in his hands.
“Onii-chan!” He continued, more urgent this time. “Onii-chan, look!” He finally insisted with a harsh yank on Itachi’s shirt. Itachi inwardly sighed, stopping in his tracks.
Itachi looked up, following where Sasuke was pointing as noise began to slowly wash over him again. Barking and snarling assaulted his ears, making his gaze quickly fixate on the rather large dog.
He judged the scene quickly for what had caught his brother’s attention and a fraction of a frown tugged at his lips when he saw what it was.
The huge rottweiler was snarling viciously as it rammed its head repeatedly into the bottom of a long abandoned wooden fruit stand. The rather large wooden stand swayed and rocked from the force, but overall stayed in its place.
It might’ve been bolted to the ground, if that was possible.
What was concerning was the flash of blond hair visible under the stand, the child just barely out of the dog’s reach. If the child had tried to call for help, it would’ve been drowned out by the dog’s constant barking.
“Sasuke, stay here.” Itachi instructed as he shoved his paper into his pocket, Sasuke nodding and letting go of Itachi’s shirt. Itachi walked into the alley calmly, the dog raising its head at the new presence.
Beady eyes locked with Itachi’s onyx ones as Itachi continued to approach.
Without hesitating, Itachi’s eyes changed to blood red. The dog went completely slack as it starred into the sharingan, entranced in a genjutsu. Slowly, it sat on its rear as Itachi finally stopped, only an arms length away from the dog. Flopping over, the dog fell asleep.
Itachi blinked, eyes going back to black, before looking at the fruit stand. With the barking and snarling gone, sniffling and whimpering could be heard. Kneeling on one knee, Itachi peered under the stand, his ponytail flopping over his shoulder.
“You can come out now.” He called out to the child. Ocean blue eyes cracked open in response. The child, now distinguishable as a girl, sniffled before crawling out from underneath the stand.
In the light, Itachi recognized the Namikaze heiress instantly.
“T-t-thank you.” She sniffed as she wiped at her eyes, slowly standing up. She yelped in pain as she brought her left leg under her, staggering before grasping onto the stand for support, fresh tears springing to her eyes before trailing down her face.
The left leg of her black pants had been torn up to the knee revealing deep bite marks which Itachi could only conclude belonged to the dog. It was bleeding and was probably causing her quite some pain. She would need to get that looked at.
The dog would have to be brought to the attention of the Inuzuka clan. Even though they generally only raised ninja dogs, in cases such as this, it was wise to take the dog to them and let them deal with it.
“That looks pretty bad.” Itachi sympathized as he crouched in front of her, gently pressing a hand against the girl’s leg. Kyoko’s cheeks turned pink as she starred at the male who had kindly rescued her. He looked up at her with a tiny apologetic smile.
“I’m going to have to take you to the hospital.” He informed before his hands flashed into a quick hand seal, a flash of smoke appearing next to him. A shadow clone appeared before walking over to the dog and picking it up with a grunt before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.
“O-Ok.” Kyoko agreed with a nod, her heart thrumming in her chest. Of course her guardian had told her to not go with strangers but this situation was rather special. She was hurt and frankly quite lost…and this guy was so kind to her.
Itachi bent down in front of her, gesturing for her to climb onto his back.
Her face flushed a darker shade of pink but at the moment her leg was hurting too much so she climbed onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck. Itachi straightened up before walking back to where Sasuke stood waiting.
The younger Uchiha blinked twice, Kyoko mirroring the action.
“Sasuke?”
“Kyoko?”
“You two know each other?” Itachi asked, a brow lifting a fraction. He would’ve thought he’d of known if the daughter of the Yondaime was in the same class as Sasuke.
It was then that Kyoko did something Itachi didn’t expect. She purposefully poked her head out from behind Itachi’s shoulder and stuck her tongue out at the younger sibling.
Sasuke scowled at her before deciding to address his brother’s question. “We’re in class together.”
“Well we have to take her to the hospital.” Itachi instructed, ignoring the ‘nyah’ noise Kyoko was making by his ear. “You can either come along or go home.”
“Huh?” Sasuke blinked, scowl lifting in surprise to look up at his brother. Itachi only starred back, knowing Sasuke heard him. Normally he would send Sasuke home but since Kyoko was a classmate of his, it might help if she had someone along she knew…even if they apparently weren’t on the best terms.
“But…I…” Sasuke started, torn between leaving Kyoko and staying with his brother. His shoulders slumped. “I’ll come.” He decided reluctantly, hanging his head. Itachi nodded while Kyoko made a small noise of protest in the back of her throat but silenced it as they began moving.
They turned and walked through the streets, people stopping and parting for them as they saw the Namikaze heiress on the older Uchiha’s back. They started whispering, a few of the woman giggling before continuing on their way.
Sasuke ducked his head at the attention while Kyoko buried her face into Itachi’s shoulder.
It wasn’t long before they reached the Konoha hospital. Itachi walked through the front doors and straight towards the front desk, Kyoko peeking up from behind him as he conversed with the lady situated behind the desk, telling her of their situation. The woman was smiling brightly at Itachi before giving him a room number where a nurse would come to treat Kyoko shortly. Meanwhile she would call Kyoko’s guardian and have him come pick her up.
Itachi silently carried Kyoko down the halls, not bothering to dispatch her into a wheelchair, before coming to the right room. The room was like any other in the Konoha hospital, with a single bed and a grand window that overlooked the street below. Itachi sat the girl down onto the bed so she could sit up, the blond starring at the ground nervously while Sasuke stood next to Itachi.
A nurse entered the room after a few minutes, her head a mess of violet curls.
“Mo-san at the front desk informed me of your situation.” The woman said as she pushed her bangs from her face. “So lets see the damage.”
Kyoko raised her leg into the air, biting back a hiss between her teeth as pain flared up her leg from the simple action.
“Oh my, I see.” The nurse mumbled to herself before walking over and beginning to examine Kyoko. Kyoko glanced over at Itachi and Sasuke while the nurse prodded her leg and saw that Itachi’s eyes were unfocused, starring up at the ceiling as if he was starring past it.
Itachi starred at the ceiling tiles as the memories from his shadow clone zoomed through his head, flitting to the front of his mind. The Inuzuka clan were grateful that he had brought the dog to their attention and had assured him that the proper measures would be taken to ensure it didn’t hurt anyone else.
Specifically meaning it would be put down. Probably within the hour.
He blinked a couple of times, slowly coming back to himself. Kyoko was talking to the nurse who had finished with whatever healing jutsu she had used and was in the process of wrapping a white bandage around the child’s leg.
“-nd so I only reached my hand out to pet him, but he started growling at me. He knocked me over so I pushed him off and started to run.” Kyoko told, sad as she retold the nurse the incident. The nurse only nodded her head wisely, encouraging Kyoko to continue.
“He got my leg and I kicked him and rolled under a fruit stand. But then that’s when Sasuke and the other guy came.” She said before suddenly jabbing a finger in Uchiha’s direction. The nurse glanced at them before blinking in surprise as if suddenly realizing there were other people in the room.
“Oh my, you’re Uchiha Itachi aren’t you?” She asked warmly, a bright smile lighting her face. Itachi only nodded in confirmation as the nurse finished with the bandage. Sasuke shifted his weight, waiting to see if she would know his name.
She didn’t.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there. I was quite focused on Namikaze-san’s injury.” She apologized as she reached a hand into the pocket of her uniform and retrieved a needle. When bit by an unknown dog it was always necessary to receive a rabbis shot.
“What’s that?!” Kyoko yelped, suddenly on full alert as she shuffled away from the needle.
“What? Oh this? It’s just a rabbis shot. It won’t hurt.” The nurse soothed as she saw Kyoko’s frantic look. Kyoko however failed about, desperate to get away while the nurse starred, unsure of what to do.
“Kyoko! Stop that!” A voice snapped as the door opened and the blond immediately froze in place, one hand in mid air in an attempt to scramble away, feet in two separate directions. A look of fear and shock was etched on her face as she whipped her head to face the doorway.
She was in trouble!
The nurse took the distraction to inject the needle in the oblivious girl before turning her attention to the door.
“Uh yes! Sorry Hari-san!” Kyoko finally stammered as she came over her initial fear, going ram road straight. Hiroshi Hari was a stern looking 33-year-old male with a scar over his left eye, leaving it forever shut to the world. He sighed, his stern demeanour softening as he ran a hand through his brown locks.
“Sorry about her. I’m Hiroshi Hari, her guardian.” Hari introduced himself as he strode into the room. “I could hear her all the way down the hall and decided it was about time I take her home.”
Sasuke snickered at Kyoko’s distress.
“That’s quite alright, we’re done here.” The nurse agreed, wiping invisible dust off of her uniform. Itachi nodded in understanding before motioning for Sasuke to follow him, the tow leaving the room.
Kyoko’s face drooped as she watched Itachi leave.
~*~
Mikoto was humming softly to herself as she washed the dishes. Supper had just ended and she had shooed everyone away, leaving her to clean up.
“Are we going to train now Onii-chan?” Sasuke asked eagerly as he tagged after Itachi, their feet thudding softly against the wood floor. Itachi managed a small smile for Sasuke and nodded his head. He had no mission today or tomorrow so he would be able to train Sasuke, an event that was growing less and less available to him. Sasuke beamed and rushed up the stairs to his room in order to fetch his weapons while Itachi went to grab his own.
A knock at the door reached Mikoto, the woman blinking rapidly before the significance behind the knock sunk in and she wiped her hands off on a towel.
“Oh, it seems someone is at the door.” She spoke out as she walked to the front door. She opened the door and her eyebrows shot up in surprise as a small girl stood in front of her, cheeks tinged bright red in embarrassment and her hands fisted in the material of her pants.
“Hi I’m…Namikaze Kyoko…is um…Uchiha Itachi here?” She asked softly, ducking her now fully flushed face as her blond pigtails swung from the motion.
‘Awww, she’s so cute!’ Mikoto thought to herself as she smiled at the child. “Yes of course, come on in.” Mikoto instructed as she stepped out of the way and allowed the girl inside the house. Kyoko hesitantly inched inside the house, looking about nervously.
“Itachi, you have a visitor!” Mikoto called as she lightly closed the door behind Kyoko. In his room Itachi’s brow rose as his mother’s words reached him. Itachi never had visitors unless it was for business and if it was for business he was usually warned in advance.
Itachi walked out of his room, attaching his weapons pouch to his pants as Sasuke chose that moment to start descending the stairs, his mother’s words pulling at his curiosity as well. Sasuke moved to stand next to his brother as they faced their visitor.
Sasuke made a face, Kyoko sticking her tongue out at him before turning her attention to Itachi.
“Um…well I…” Kyoko started, looking flustered from all the attention that was suddenly bestowed on her. Any 8-year-old child would usually do the same, minus the few exceptions. She looked at Itachi, her cheeks turning red before her gaze shot to the ground. She suddenly bowed at the waist, the move so sudden it was surprising her spine didn’t give out.
“I wanted to thank you for before, and this is to repay you for your help.” She replied as she grabbed something from her pants pocket and held it out in his direction. Itachi looked slightly amused as he starred down at the envelope thrust towards him.
He grabbed it, Kyoko slowly peering up at him as Itachi opened the flap.
“It’s money!” Sasuke exclaimed astonished as he took the envelope from Itachi and leafed through all the ryu notes that were packed away in the envelope. His distaste for Kyoko lessened.
Itachi snatched the envelope back from Sasuke who pouted from the loss, and held it back out towards the blond who looked confused.
“I don’t need it.” Itachi said with an apologetic smile, motioning for her to take it back. Her brow knit together in confusion as she looked at his face to the envelope, to his face, before starring at the envelope once again.
“I…don’t understand.” She admitted as she hesitantly took the envelope back from him. “Hari-san always told me that when someone helps you out you have to repay them.”
“I just happened to be at the right place at the right time. If you really want to thank anyone you should thank Sasuke.” Itachi said as he placed a hand on Sasuke’s head, Sasuke’s cheeks flushing slightly at his brother’s recognition.
“He was the one who pointed out what was going on.” Itachi finished as blue eyes locked on Sasuke’s face.
Kyoko turned to Sasuke who watched her sceptically. Her eyes narrowed before she bowed and thanked him, the move so quick one would’ve missed it if they blinked.
“Well Kyoko, since you came all this way, why don’t you go play with the boys for awhile before I escort you back home?” Mikoto asked kindly as she placed a hand on Kyoko’s shoulder.
“What? We’re not playing, we’re training!” Sasuke protested, his hand absently falling on the weapons pouch clipped to his pants. “And it’s just us!” He continued to protest.
“Sasuke, be nice.” He mother scolded, Sasuke scowling. He didn’t want anyone else to come with him and his brother. It was supposed to be just the two of them. And especially not Kyoko.
She was always sticking her tongue out at him for no reason!
“I’m sure it’ll be ok.” Itachi spoke up, startling Sasuke.
“Onii-chan!” Sasuke declared, affronted that Itachi would betray him. Itachi didn’t pay Sasuke any mind as he stepped into his shoes, Mikoto smiling at Itachi as he motioned for the two children to follow after him before he exited the house. Sasuke glared at the blond before sprinting after his brother, Kyoko stumbling after them, slightly confused by the turn of events.
Mikoto poked her head out the door, watching them walk down the street. It would do Sasuke some good if he could make a friend outside of the family and it was absolutely adorable the obvious crush the girl had on Itachi! Maybe when she escorted the girl home she could have a talk with the girl’s guardian about play days.
~*~
Onyx eyes met with ocean blue once again.
“Is Itachi-san here?” Kyoko asked as her eyes travelled past Sasuke to look inside the house, her voice slightly muffled as a lollipop sat in her mouth.
“No, he’s gone on a mission.” Sasuke responded as he placed one hand on his hip. She had been coming over quite often, usually when Itachi was around, and then the three of them would always end up doing something. Sasuke more for the sake of hanging out with his brother and not wanting to give his brother’s entire attention away to that girl.
Though he found that the more he hung out with her the more he could start to stand her…slowly. She actually wasn’t that mean, she just stuck her tongue out at him a lot for some reason and always found the need to argue with him about stuff.
“Oh…I see.” She replied as her gaze fell to the ground, shoulders slumping.
“Why, did you want to do something?” Sasuke asked uninterestedly as he stepped out of the house, shutting the door behind him.
He wasn’t going to tell her that he was actually grateful someone had stopped by. Itachi went away on his mission and Fugaku had decided to accompany him, leaving Sasuke in the house alone with Mikoto for the weekend.
Now being alone with his mom was all well and fine but he also got bored after awhile. His mom had her own things to do as well.
“Well no not really. Hari-san was busy at home so I thought maybe we could play.” Kyoko admitted with a sigh, reaching a hand up and twirling the end of her lollipop absently.
“Yeah sure.” Sasuke complied surprising the blond. She looked clueless as Sasuke opened the door to his house again. “Mom, I’m going out to play with Kyoko!” He called into the building, a muffled ‘Ok’ being his answer before he closed the door once again.
“Huh?” The girl finally managed as Sasuke walked past her.
“We’re going to go play.” Sasuke replied, not bothering to even look back at her as he continued to make his way towards the exit of the Uchiha Compound. Kyoko only blinked rapidly in confusion before running to catch up to the raven haired boy.
She gave him a funny look before walking silently with him.
“So where are we going?”
“To the park.” Sasuke replied glancing at the blond from the corner of his eye.
“Oh.” She responded. Sasuke only made a small ‘hn’ in the back of his throat as he lead her through the streets, weaving through the crowds of people they came across. It wasn’t long before they reached the park, Kyoko allowing a grin on her face before sprinting towards the metal bars that were called a jungle gym in the middle of the huge sandbox.
She didn’t tell Sasuke, but she loved the park!
Without any hesitation, she began climbing it while Sasuke twitched, watching her speed ahead of him. There were three other kids in the park but they were keeping to themselves. One was a blond spiky haired boy by himself on a swing while the other two were girls who were intent on building some kind of sand fortress.
He recognized them from school but at the moment he didn’t pay enough attention to recall names.
“You idiot! Hold on!” Sasuke scolded, scowling as he began climbing the jungle gym after her. The bars were shaped in a semi circle but the jungle gym was quite large in itself, roughly eight feet in height. He was not one to be left behind and darn it if he was going to let a girl be the one to do it. She paused, turning to frown at him.
“Don’t be such a slowpoke!” She retorted, giving Sasuke enough time to catch up with her. He instead zoomed past her, climbing to the top and turning to give her a triumphant smirk.
“Ha! Beat you!” He taunted.
“Hey! That’s no fair! You cheated!” Kyoko whined as Sasuke only smirked down at her. The two continued with their afternoon, playing games and bickering when a) Kyoko got too excited and overdid something or b) Sasuke cheated or caught Kyoko off guard. They hadn’t even noticed that time had started to fly by, or that more kids had started to flock to the park.
Before they even realized it, they had ended up playing a game of freeze tag with a mass of five other kids, children bobbing between playground equipment and kicking up sand and grass. When the parents who had sat at the sidelines of the park began taking kids home Sasuke figured it was time for them to head home as well.
He would never admit to her that he had actually had fun with her that afternoon. That he was actually disappointed that they were heading back home where he would have no one to play with.
They began walking back through the streets, heading home before they had to split in opposite directions, the two coming to a pause.
“Well, see you later Sasuke!” Kyoko chirped cheerily, evidently having had just as much fun as Sasuke himself had. Sasuke nodded a smirk on his face before the two went their own separate ways, Kyoko twirling her lollipop as she went.
“I’m back.” He spoke calmly into the house as he carefully stepped out of his shoes, the sounds of his mom in his kitchen resounding through the house. Mikoto’s head poked out of the kitchen at the sound of his voice.
“Welcome back, did you have fun with your friend?” She asked, a motherly smile on her features as Sasuke continued on his way to the stairs. She asked that question every time Kyoko came over to play with him and Itachi. Sasuke always grumbled back ‘she’s not my friend’ while Itachi said ‘fine’.
“Hn? Yeah, it was fun.” Sasuke replied unconsciously, ascending the stairs, missing the way Mikoto’s smile grew.
~*~
Uzumaki Naruto fumbled as he scrambled up the chain link fence, his shirt tearing as it snagged at the top. He didn’t let it slow him down as he landed on the other side of the fence and sprinted down the alley.
Shouting and pounding footsteps were audible behind him, only encouraging the blond boy to speed up despite the aching in his legs. Nearly tripping over his own two feet, he rounded the corner sharply and broke onto the main street.
People glared at him as he ran past them, the crowds parting for him as if afraid to make contact with him. He was the demon child after all.
He finally dared to look over his shoulder and slowed to a jog when he saw that the gang chasing him was gone, most likely nervous about attacking him out right in public places like this.
In places where the Hokage could see them easily from the tower.
The Hokage…Naruto’s only true form of protection.
Naruto slowed though the adrenaline of the chase still pounded through his body, making his heart thud loudly against his ribcage. He had left the park after all the other kids had left but walking through Konoha alone wasn’t safe for him.
It never was.
He sniffled as he finally realized that the scrapes on his palms were stinging and he shuffled in the direction of his apartment building.
The one place where he could be alone and not be bothered by the villagers…
And the only place he truly did feel entirely alone.
~*~
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Chapter notes: Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Authoress Note: If Itachi or Sasuke appear OOC in this chapter it’s just because it’s before the massacre, during happier times.