Romeo and Juliet

I trudged home slowly. I now dreaded anything to do with home. Maybe it was a good thing that I would be going to the academy far away? I opened the door and immediately felt a pair of cold eyes land on me. I sniffed and stuck my chin up, not meeting the pair of eyes. I already knew whose they were. My father's. Daddy's, I thought sourly. I knew I was late to dinner again but I didn't care at the moment. It was my only time to spend with Neji—and I'd much rather be with him than here.

Here where home isn't home. What's that saying? Home is where the heart is? Well, my heart is in my chest. So my body is my home? It makes sense, I guess. I pushed myself up into the seat and ate silently. Sasuke rambled on about something he learned at the academy. Something called chakra? I couldn't focus on listening to him, though, as the pair of eyes didn't stop from staring at me.

When I finished I pushed out of my chair and hopped down. I put my dish in the sink and quickly washed it, and then made my way to Itachi's room. I looked back at my mommy who sat at the table silently. Her eyes flicked to mine. I need you, mommy. I need you. My eyes were pleading desperately. Every little girl needs her mommy. Someone to tuck her in and kiss her cheek. Someone to cry to and tell her problems to. But then again, every little girl needs her daddy. Someone to rock her to sleep and encourage her as she shoots for the stars. Someone to defend her and protect her from any harm.

Why is it that I don't feel safe? Why is it that I feel this ache in my chest where I'm told my heart is? Why is it that I feel alone even when I'm with my family in the dining room? Mommy broke eye contact and looked over to my father. An aching pain formed in my chest when I realized I was rejected. I was rejected by my own mother. I cried and slammed Itachi's door closed. I screamed.

I didn't know what made a father a father or a mother a mother, but I knew they definitely weren't mine. "They can't be!" I cried. I ran to my room and grabbed my favorite stuffed animal. It was a huge and fuzzy brown bear. It was almost as big as me and I dragged into Itachi's room. I put it under the bed. Good thing for me at the time that I fit and that Itachi's bed was abnormally high off of the ground. I then proceeded to drag my favorite things from my room. I pulled my "super duper secret box" from under my bed and my favorite blankey from my bed.

When I finished I lay under his bed and placed all of my things there. I looked through a stack of photographs that I kept in my secret box. Itachi! It was a picture of me in his arms as a baby. I looked through them all and noticed I had hardly any pictures with anyone else. I had a few with Sasuke and a couple with my parents. I threw away the ones that had my parents in them. I kept one of Sasuke and me. We had just gotten into a snowball fight and were soaking wet. I was missing my two front teeth and Sasuke mimicked my toothless smile.

After I looked through the photographs I taped the ones I liked to the underneath part of the bed. I cuddled under the blanket and hugged Mr. Fluff 'n' Stuff—my favorite teddy bear. I was tired of being the one left out, the one people forgot about. I bet if something big and bad happened to the family then no one would even know about me. Ironic—especially if I knew what was going to happen in my future. Back on the current subject, I felt horrible. My father was going to notice me one way or the other. Even if I had to…had to hurt people for it. I promise you, Itachi. I will make him proud of me even if it's the very last thing I ever do! I fell asleep that night with new determination in my eyes and a flake of ice on my heart.

The next morning I left the house before breakfast, snitching a stick of unsweetened dango from the fridge. I clenched my two kunai in my hands as I ran to the academy. I pushed through the large double doors and made my way down the empty hall. My footsteps echoed and it made a shiver run up my back. I went all the way to the end of the hall where the name Tojiro was inscribed on a silver plaque on the front of a door. I paused only for a moment before pushing the door open.

"…I refusssse. I will not take on any students," A dark and creepy voice said. Two figures were standing with nothing but a desk between them. Both looked ready to attack the other. I could feel tension in the air and wondered if tension was a thing like air—that you couldn't see but was definitely there. Two pairs of eyes landed on me and I took a sharp intake of air.

"Hello, little one. What brings you here? And this early in the morning?" It was a different voice from the first one. It was an older man with leathery looking skin. He was much shorter than the man behind the desk. The man behind the desk had long black colored hair.

"I-I-" I will never know what I would have said because the black haired man interrupted me.

"I'll take her." Take me? Ah! Creepy! Would this nice looking old man really let him kidnap me? I was ready to bolt out the door, pulling the door open once again.

"What?" My point exactly!

"I will take on one student—and it will be her." Student? I studied the man. Yes, he was incredibly creepy. He had oddly yellow colored eyes with slits as pupils. He had purplish slashes around his eyes—maybe birthmarks? Or makeup, I guessed.

"I-" The older man looked at me, calculating the best route to take. "If she is okay with it, I will permit it."

"Are you agreeable to receiving the honor of being my one and only sssstudent, little Uchiha?" The black haired man asked me. Another shiver went up my spine.

"A student…as in teaching me to fight?" The dark man chuckled.

"Yess, little one. To be a ninja." I looked at both men. He was indeed very creepy and reminded me of snakes. I hated snakes. There was absolutely nothing scarier than snakes. No. I can't do this. I need…I need…Itachi. I made a promise to him. A promise. I'm not going to bring dishonor to myself by breaking it. And, I thought sadly, he won't always be here. He said he's going to have to leave me alone for a while. So I'll need to be able to fight.

"I…I want to learn to fight!" I told them and the man chuckled creepily again. The older man nodded in approval.

"So be it. Orochimaru, if I hear even a whisper of you doddeling in your duties as a sensei, I will remove you of your rank."

"I will not disappoint, Sarutobi-sensei. She will go down in history," he said with a laugh. The Sarutobi man gave him a look I didn't recognize.

"That's what I'm afraid of," he said then looked down at me. "Well, young one, what is your name?"

"I'm not young! Stop calling me that!" I proteseted. "I'm almost eight! I'm a big girl!" Both men chuckled.

"Ah, of course. What is your name, big girl? Or would you prefer if we called you that?" I blushed at my outburst, and rubbed the back of my left leg with my right.

"Tsukiko…Tsukiko Uchiha."

"Tsukiko? Fugaku's little girl?" I bit my lip. I didn't want my name to be related to his.

"No," I nearly yelled out. "I'm Itachi's sister."

"Well then, Kiko…are you ready to start your first day of training as my student?"

~*~

So besides the whole getting a sensei to teach me and everything, my day had been boring. He took me to some training place and gave me a pouch to carry weapons in. But then he made me pull out a kunai, aim it, and then put it back in. Over and over again. I dragged my feet the whole way home. I was actually on time that day and arrived at the table with Sasuke and father.

Sasuke was sporting a black eye and I couldn't help but stare at it. Even with all the drama and tension around us, I still cared for Sasuke. It's not like we were best friends or anything, but he was my brother. "Sasuke, what happened to your eye?"

"I got into a fight," he said and refused to tell me anymore. I huffed and finished my food quickly. Then I left to Itachi's room, surprised to find him there for once.

" 'Tachi!" I screamed and hugged him.

"I see you moved in under my bed," he said with a laugh in his voice. I giggled in response.

"I hope you don't mind. I just didn't want to stay in my room. It's lonely in there," I told him and frowned at it. It was lonely in his room too, but not as lonely. At least his room had signs of him.

"It's fine," he said and we let go. "Has father been giving you any troubles?"

"Um, no," I said thinking. "But Itachi, what makes someone a mommy or a daddy?" Itachi sat down on the bed and patted on the place beside him. I quickly joined him and looked up to him, waiting for his response.

"Parents are people that love you more than anything and will lay down their life for you. They protect you, care for you, and love you. Mothers and fathers aren't made; they're naturally born that way—with that instinct." I looked up at him and blinked several times. I would ask him where children came from later on.

"Then you're my mommy and daddy," I told him and he rose an eye brow at me, but laughed anyways.

"Not quite, Tsuki."

"No," I protested. "You love me, right? And you would die for me. You protect me from mother and father; you care for me and love me. You've always been this way and never stopped being this way. You're my mommy and daddy!" I was so happy my heart could have stopped from it beating so quickly.

"I…supposed," he responded. I smiled broadly and hugged him sideways.

"I love you, Modaddy!"

"Modaddy?"

"Yeah, mommy and daddy put together." He laughed harder this time and I smiled, happy to have made him laugh. He didn't laugh often and here I made him laugh more than once!

"What will you call mom and dad then?" he asked, suddenly somber.

"Fugaku and Mikoto," I said without hesitation.

"Tsuki, you can't—"

"They don't love me, Itachi. They make me hurt inside. I don't want them to be my parents, I want you to be." Itachi sighed and nodded.

"Alright, Tsuki. If that's what you want."

"Hai!" I said and looked down at the bed. "Will you tuck me in and kiss my cheak goodnight? Please?" Itachi looked down at me and a small smile landed on his face again. I slipped under the blankets, making sure to leave lots of room for Itachi. He pulled the blankets up to my chin and I giggled. Then he kissed me on the cheak and whispered in my ear.

"If you tell anyone about this Tsuki…I swear…" he said and I giggled again.

"Cross my heart!" Then he sat on the side of the bed and took of his shoes. He lay beside me on the bed, but not under the covers. "Goodnight, Modaddy." Another chuckle.

"Good night, Tsuki. Sleep tight…"

"Don't let the snakes bite," I finished. We never said bugs because I wasn't afraid of bugs. I was afraid of snakes. I faded off into sleep as happy as could be. I had Itachi. I had Neji. I had my creepy sensei. Everything would turn out alright. Nothing and no one could take those three things away from me…right?

~*~

Three months. It had been three months since I had started training with Orochimaru-sensei. Since his name was so incredibly long, and then adding sensei to even make it longer, I just called him Hebi-sensei. He reminded me of snakes. I feared snakes, I feared him. His eyes also did it, too.

After three months and eighteen days—yes, I'd been counting—Fugaku and Mikoto introducd me to a family. They were Uchiha, so we were somehow related. The parents were boring and talked about money and the clan stuff. Fugaku, Mikoto, and them went to go talk in the dining room over tea. I turned and looked at the girl beside me. She was two years older than me and was taller than me.

"They're boring," I sighed and she scrunched up her nose.

"I know. I don't understand how they find that stuff interesting." I smiled, happy to have found someone who found them just as dreadfully boring as I did.

"My name's Tsukiko," I said putting my hand out to shake. She glanced at it oddly.

"My name is Akako," she replied but still stared at my hand. Was it weird to shake hands? Everyone I know does it.

"Usually people shake hands that are put out to be shaken," I said and she blinked and then shook it with a smile.

"You're an odd one," she told me with an eye squinting smile. I shrugged.

"Yeah, I know. Want to see something cool?" I yelled in excitement.

"Yes!" she yelled back and we sprinted off to the backyard. I showed her my collection of snail shells and bird feathers, among many other odd things I found. Then we sat and talked on the bridge. I told her about my odd sensei under pinky promise of not telling. We knew each other for mere hours but felt like we knew each other for our entire lives. Its a little kid thing. She told me about going to the academy and of a new move they were learning. Something about making a copy of yourself. So. Totally. Awesome!

"Want to train a little bit?" She suddenly asked.

"What?" I screamed in surprise.

"You know, fight a little bit, just for fun. I promise to take it easy on you," she said and I bit my lip. We wouldn't really hurt each other—not badly—and I wanted to know what it was like training with someone other than sensei.

"Okay," I said and stood up. We walked to the grass and made up rules.

"Okay, so past this tree, that tree, and that tree, is out of bounds. The goal is to get the other person out of bounds or to give up." I nodded. "And…start!" I stood still, waiting for her to make the first move. Lessons from Hebi-sensei floating into my mind.

Always let them make the first move unless you know you have the advantage. First you have to sum up your opponents abilities and disabilities.

Thus meaning I needed to know if she had the sharingan. Sharingan, though known by many as belonging to the Uchiha clan, was not as common as it seemed. Both of your parents had to be of the Uchiha clan and you had to go through a very emotional or traumatizing situation. Well, that's what sensei had said but he didn't have it so I didn't know how much he really knew.

Akako, noticing I wasn't going to move, took the first move. She ran toward me and aimed a punch for my face. I slid to the side.

The best way to block an attack is to not be there. There's no way to completely block an attack without any side-effects.

She stumbled forward on not hitting something and I took a few steps back, this time standing in position. I had my left hand out in front of me open, ready to block and swipe away a punch. My right hand was near my shoulder in a fist, ready to punch at any moment.

Your stance should be unique to your skills and body structure, but also to your opponent. Say your opponent is tall, you must make your stances higher. If they're short, your stances lower. Use their skills against them. You're short, so you won't hit the ground as hard. Use that. Harness it.

Akako turned around and again tried to attack me, this time with a kick aimed to my middle. To my chakra core.

Your chakra core is the most important part of your body. Most would think the heart, but your heart has your ribs for protection. Your chakra core is right in the bottom center of your ribs. Do you feel it? That soft spot? Getting a kick there will hurt twice as much as one anywhere else.

She kicked with her left leg, just as she had punched with her right arm. She was a righty. I swept her foot to the side with my left hand and punched her core with my right hand. It happened quickly and she gasped. I had pulled my punch, though, barely hurting her.

"Akako! Tsukiko!" We both stopped at the call of our names.

"Till next time," I said holding out my hand. She shook it.

"Till next time," she repeated. And that was the start of our friendship.

I rate late to practice. Late. At least five minutes kind of late. Hebi-sensei is going to kill me! I ran to the training ground and skidded to a stop a few feet in front of him. He had a very stern and angry face. I bit my lip and stepped back.

"Eight minutes, Kiko. You made me wait eight minutes." His voice was dark and dangerous and I knew what that meant. Harsher than normal training session. "We'll be sparing today."

"But sensei-!"

"No buts—begin!" I stepped back more and pulled into my stance. This time I was higher of the ground to counter the huge height different. With the huge height difference I would need to attack at the knees and stomach rather than stomach and face. Not that I would get the chance. He was way too good. He disappeared in front of me and I held in the urge to sigh.

"One!" he called and I turned to the side to just barely duck under a punch. I didn't have time to counter as he disappeared again. He appeared behind me.

"Two!" he yelled and I dropped to the ground in a crouch and swept my leg, knocking him off his feet. But he did a back-hand-spring and came to attack again.

"Three!" A punch landed on my face and I winced at the pain. "Only two blocks, Kiko. You have to work harder than that."

"I'm trying!" I yelled and backed up, putting distance between us. Kunai came racing at me and I dropped to the ground in a down-push up position. I made a grunt as my chest hit. And like that, I was pinned. Sensei was above me and put his foot down on my back. I grunted again.

"We're not going to get anywhere if we just keep doing this over and over again," he sighed.

"Yeah, you beating me up all the time is definitely not helping."

"Its building character," he countered, but then lifted his foot. I pushed myself off of the ground but stayed in a sitting position. Hebi-sensei sat down in front of me and took a deep breath in, probably to keep down his anger. He did have quite a bad temper. Quite, quite, quite bad. "Have you had any traumatic or painful experiences, little one?" I bit my lip at the nickname. Ignore it, ignore it.

"No…why do you ask?"

"Because you're a pure blood Uchiha, meaning you have the opportunity to awaken the sharingan."

"Ah, you've told me about this before. But you never tell me what the sharingan does," I complained.

"The first stage is being able to see people's chakra network and being able to easily pick up on jutsus and moves. Easily memorizing things that would take other ninja months or years to do."

"Memorizing?" I murmured thinking of the day in Itachi's room that I memorized his book. But Itachi had the sharingan and he was always reading the thing. If what Hebi-sensei was saying were true, then he would only need to look at it once. Once. Like I did.

"Yes, it can be anything from a way to kick to an entire row of hand seals," he said and paused, then continued. "The second is being able to predict movements before they happen."

"Predict?" I gasped. "Like tell the future?"

"Stop interrupting me," he said darkly and I shut up.

"Yes, like telling the future, but not that far into the future. Only seconds. The third is the ability to see through genjutsu and putting people into a form of hypnosis. After the three of these, there is one that is more forbidden."

"Forbidden?" He gave me a look and I hushed up again.

"The fourth stage is unknown to almost everyone, even most of the Uchiha family. To awaken it—"

"Then how do you—" He gave me another look. "Yeah, yeah. I'm hushing up."

"To awaken it, the sharingan user must kill his best friend." I was about to interrupt him when he gave me "the look" again. I shut my mouth automatically. "The outcome, though, is different. Some are able to torture their opponent for 72 hours, like your brother."

"My brother?" I gasped. No amount of the stink eye could keep me quiet then.

"Yes, your brother has awakened his mangekyo sharingan."

"H-he killed his best friend!" No, not Itachi. Itachi would never, ever do something like that. He was too kind. He cared too much. He only hurt bad guys!

"Oh yes. He killed him and…" the details became unclear and all I could see was Itachi killing a random Uchiha member. Bright crimson eyes burning into deep grey. Screaming and yelling, neither male nor female. More screams erupted and I closed my eyes, pulling my hands over my ears.

"You're lying!" I yelled. "Itachi would never do that!" Unknown to me at the time, Orochimaru saw this as an opportunity to put me under traumatic stress, hoping to awaken my sharingan. He did not, however, know that I had already awakened it. And although it was true that Itachi had obtained his mangekyo sharingan, the details he told were very untrue. Even he did not know the way in which he obtained it.

"Ah, but I'm not. Ask him yourself," he said nonchalant.

"No, he would think that I did not trust him. It doesn't matter, you're lying." My eyes were still scrunched shut and I pulled my hands from my ears and crossed my arms in front of my eyes. "He…he's different than everyone else. He's my mommy and daddy." I looked up at him, my vision become odd. Orochimaru was probably a little freaked out that I had called Itachi my mommy and daddy, seeing as it is physically impossible for a human to be a-sexual, but he didn't say anything as he saw the sharingan blazing in my eyes.

"You've awakened it…" he mumbled with a dark smirk forming on his face. I could so clearly now, but so weirdly. I stood up and almost fell back over. My vision was better, making me clumsy, as I was unused to it. It was like walking with binoculars. I could see faint blue lines branching out from Hebi-sensei's chakra center and saw little blue dots along the stems. Tears sprung up at my eyes.

"Does this mean I will become a murderer?" And for the first time ever, Orochimaru-sensei showed me compassion.

"No, Kiko. What you do with your powers is up to you. You can choose to be good or evil, to save or kill…to seek power or reject it. It is your battle and no one else's."

"Then teach me how to awaken the second stage. I want to use this power for good. If I can tell the future then I'll be able to protect people. I choose good." I didn't know at the time that Orochimaru was planning on using me as a pawn and that his plan would come crumbling down when I was sent away to the academy far away in the water country.

"It will be only a few seconds," he said, readying himself to fight. "But I will teach you. After all, I can't slack in my duties as your sensei."

"A few seconds could be the difference between life and death." Oh, how right I was—even at the age of seven.