Inevitable
Chapter 7

"Good morning, Amejisuto," Mikoto greeted as thebrunette walked into the kitchen. She was still only half awake as she trudgedto the short table and sat on the cushioned spot on the floor. "How wasyour mission?"

Amejisuto fell back and laid on the floor, ready to sleepagain. "It was exhausting. Once your adrenaline is gone, the after-effectsof genjutsu is so tiring."

"Has Itachi never used genjutsu on you before?" themother started preparing breakfast before the boys got up.

"No, he never uses anything but the occasional ninjutsuon me," the Ishi yawned.

"That's unusual," the mother said. "He usesit on Sasuke to let him build resistance, so why not on you? You're his studentand he should be helping you in that area as well."

"I guess he has his own methods. He'll probably startsoon. I've only been here for a month."

The older woman smiled. "Yes, it's only been that long.I bet a lot more will happen eventually.” She was quiet for a moment beforeopening her mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by yawning Uchiha boys.

"Good morning, mother," Itachi sat next to hisapprentice and Sasuke just nodded to his mother before sitting next to hisbrother.

"Still not good with mornings, huh Sasuke," theseventeen year old girl giggled, getting a half-assed glare. She sat upstraighter when Fugaku came in the room.

"Good morning, Lord Uchiha," she greeted. Henodded and sat across the table. Mikoto put food on every ones plates andbrought them over. Another tasty breakfast of rice, salmon and eggs.

They all thanked Mikoto before digging in.

"So, did you give Ameji her birthday gift yet?"Sasuke asked.

"Yah, sensei, where's my present?" the girl joked.

"Itachi, you didn't forget to get a gift for yourlovely apprentice, did you?" Mikoto joined in the teasing.

The victim sighed and smiled. It had gotten happier in theUchiha's home ever since Amejisuto moved in. It wasn't so tense and Fugakuwasn't so hard on them anymore. Yes, he had gotten her a gift but he wasplanning on giving it to her in private. "I'll give it to her later. Mother,do you need any shopping done or anything like that?"

"I need to get groceries later. Why?" his motherquestioned.

"I bet that Ameji is still feeling the effects of thegenjutsu. I'm surprised she's even awake right now," he looked over at thebrunette who was staring off into space.

"Huh?" she snapped out of her small daydream.

"So I think we should do the shopping for anoff-day," he continued. Mikoto nodded and gave him a grocery list, andthey finished their meals.

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It was a slow Friday. The streets weren't too crowded due toit being the morning, leaving Amejisuto more comfortable with the peacefulness.Not that Konoha wasn't generally peaceful; she just didn't like loud noises ofmany people talking and the fact that she would probably be crashing into a lotof people due to her drowsiness.

"Where to go first," Itachi looked at the list."How about to the fruit stands?"

"I always love the smell of fresh fruit, even though itmakes me so hungry," Amejisuto walked with her mentor down the roads tothe main shopping street. It seemed like there was a food stand for everything.They started shopping at a leisurely pace, relaxing and joking around on theirday off.

"No, he's mine,forehead," a snobby voice rang down the street.

"Pig! I already told you he's mine!" another replied. Sakura and Ino Yamanaka appeared,arguing. From the sounds of it, they were fighting over a boy. Again. They werein each other's faces, screaming profanities and cruel names, like they didwhen they were enemies. Amejisuto and Itachi stood still, trying to ignore them,until a few strands of pink hair got pulled, resulting in the puller to bepunched across the street.

"Hey, what's going on?" asked the Ishi, running upand trying to stop a potential disaster.

"Ino-pig thinks that Sai likes her since he calls hermiss beautiful all the time," Sakura growled. Itachi pinched the bridge ofhis nose in annoyance. They caused a ruckus because of an emotionallyconstipated boy's nicknames?

"And he calls billboard brow 'ugly hag', so heobviously likes me!" Ino argued.

"You guys do know that Sai calls people the opposite ofwhat he thinks of them, right?" Itachi said casually, looking around forthe next stall they had to go to. The girls thought for a moment.

"WAIT! So he thinks I'm ugly?" Ino cried.

"And he thinks I'm pretty," Sakura bragged.

"Whatever he thinks, I can't believe you're fightingabout another boy. The Sasuke incident broke you two apart for years,"Amejisuto sighed when they didn't listen, trapped in their own worlds ofcelebration and depression. She turned to Itachi. "Ino will get over itand replace another guy, so let's just go...”

The rest of the shopping trip went smoothly, and Itachi wasbecoming more nervous for the end by the second, though he didn't show it, ofcourse. He decided that he would give his gift once they got back home, but hewas worried about whether she would like it or not.

"Itachi, how did you know Sai called people the oppositeof what he sees them as?" the female asked as they finished paying for thelast thing Mikoto wrote down and started to head back.

"He nicknamed me talentless once when we were on anANBU mission after I defeated a whole group of S-ranked criminals with a firephoenix jutsu," Itachi smirked. "He was obviously impressed."

"Narcissist,” she teased. “I found out by reading oneof the books he borrowed from the library. It was pretty stupid, but explaineda lot about why he does weird things.”

They discussed random things about what books are always wrongabout and time flew by. They barely noticed that they walked into the Uchihapart of the village until they were greeted by the person they were shoppingfor. They brought the groceries into the kitchen and Amejisuto sighed happily, stretchingher limbs now that they were free from heavy produce.

Itachi shuffled around nervously. "Amejisuto, would youplease wait in your room," he requested. She gave him a questioning look,then shrugged and walked off. "So do you think she'll like it?" heasked his mother.

"You should know, you're with her most of thetime," Mikoto started putting the groceries away.

"But you're a girl. Girl's know everything about othergirls, right?"

The woman laughed. "If girls knew everything aboutother girls, the world could easily be destroyed. Just remember, she isn'tstupid and she will discover yourlittle secret eventually, though I doubt it will be through this."

Itachi walked slowly down the halls, slowly preparinghimself to either have a casual encounter or an awkward one. He got to his roomand concentrated for a moment before making a hand signal. "Release,"he whispered, and the illusioned room faded away. The real room looked prettymuch the same except with a few extra things in the corners. Secret scrolls,ANBU mission reports, and the gift.

He picked up the wrapped box and recast the genjutsu. Slowlyand nervously, he walked to his student's door and knocked. She answered itwith a smile and invited him in. "Ameji, here's your late birthdaygift," he handed over the box.

She stared at it for a while, admiring the silver and purpleribbons, smiling inwardly with the realisation that Itachi must've wrapped ithimself, before she opened it. She gasped and pulled out an elegant kimono. Itwas a beautiful shade of blue with little silver flowers with a white obi. Onthe back was the Uchiha crest: a red, black and white fan. She also pulled outa gold comb, a pair of silver shoes, and the most amazing necklace she had everseen. It was a choker necklace of a dark blue ribbon, and the pendant was aflat silver circle with the Uchiha fan on one side and the Ishi star on theother.

"It's all so beautiful," she whispered. She lookedat her sensei, who was smiling softly. "I wanna try it on," sheannounced.

"I will be outside your room," Itachi nodded,leaving and closing the door behind him.

A few minutes later, he was called back into her room. Hiseyes widened once she was in sight; she looked breathtaking. The kimono andshoes fit her perfectly, like they were made specifically for her. Well, theywere, but that was beside the point. "I'm having a bit of trouble doing upthe necklace. Can you please help?"

Itachi nodded and she held out the necklace before turningaround and lifting her hair. He wrapped it around her neck and connected thetwo edges, sealing it with chakra and informing her that it was waterproof andthere to stay. Amejisuto turned around and smiled. "The comb is reallypretty too. It's sad that I can't wear it with this," she giggled.

"It was my grandmother’s, but even with long hair, Ican't really use it. I think her intentions were to give it to a girl," hejoked lightly.

"Thank you so much! I want to show Lady Mikoto,"she pulled him by the arm to the kitchen where the Uchiha woman was cutting upvegetables for dinner. She cleared her throat and the mother’s eyes grew wideat the sight of the kunoichi.

"It looks amazing," she gushed.

"Itachi has good taste," Amejisuto grinned. "It'stoo fancy to wear all the time, so I'll only wear it on specialoccasions."

"And maybe on your wedding day," the older womansmiled.

"Oh yah! Speaking of weddings," she turned toItachi. "If I'm considered an Uchiha, do I have to marry another Uchiha, andif not, do I marry into another clan or does someone marry into thisclan?" she was confused as she saw her mentor become visiblyuncomfortable.

"Um... I'm pretty sure you have to marry anUchiha," he said, looking away. The Ishi decided to try something to replaceout what his problem was. The whole time she was living there, she could sensethat there was a huge secret being hidden from her. She had only been there forover a month, but it already felt like she was part of the family and wanted toknow what everyone else except Sasuke knew.

"I'm going to change back now," she announcedbefore leaving the Uchihas. She walked out of sight, concealed her chakraslightly, and listened from around the corner.

"Mother, she still has almost a full year before hernext birthday. I can tell you want to inform her of the situation, but we shouldlet her have as much freedom as we can give her. She shouldn't need to worryabout that stuff," she heard Itachi say.

"Yes, but we can't let her be too free. It will hurther too much if she ends up with someone else but replaces out she has to carryout the traditions."

Amejisuto was confused again. 'I highly doubt they're talking about training right now,' shethought.

"I don't think that will happen.”

"So when will you tell her?" the woman had aslightly serious tone.

"Once she's ready, or at least as ready as she can beby the time she's eighteen."

"Not that, I mean when will you tell her that you...You know...”

"Mother! Could you please refrain from suggestingthings like that, at least when she's in the house?"

"You never deny it," Amejisuto could practicallyhear the smirk in her words. "So it's true then?"

Itachi sighed and gave up. "Yes it's true, and it hasbeen for a long time. Please don't tell Father or Amejisuto. Father will throwa fit and say 'Future Uchiha leaders must not think that' or something, and Idon't want her even slightly distracted when training. It would probably affecther in a negative way," Itachi begged.

"You know her well," Mikoto smiled.

"Thankfully more than she knows me," the brunetteheard him mumble as he walked towards where she was hiding. She panicked andran to her room, hearing him enter his own a few moments later. She went in herbathroom and decided to take a shower to distract herself from the questionscircling her mind. She still didn't understand what they were talking about,but had a feeling that it was something important.

She stepped in the shower after putting away her kimonoreally carefully. She was hoping the hot water would make it so her head couldbe a bit more cleared, even if it was for a few minutes. Mikoto's words rang inher ears instead of the great 'nothing' she had anticipated. ‘When will you tell her? When will you tellher?’ "Ok mind, I get that I'm curious about his life, now leave mealone."

'Maybe he likes you.' "Not possible," she said to herself,confused at the sinking feeling in her stomach at the thought of him ending upwith someone other than her. ‘Am Istarting to like him or something?'

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BOOM!

Another bomb went off in Sunagakure. "Almost got caughtby that one, oh mighty Gaara of the desert, yeah," Deidara taunted.

"I will not let you hurt this village," Gaaragrowled, sending sand to form an arm, attempting to crush the Akatsuki memberwith it, or at least injure him. Deidara made a clay bird and jumped on it asit took off, sending a series of bombs towards the Kazekage, who jumped back onhis sand. Gaara was quick but Deidarawas even quicker, getting closer to the younger teen and throwing bug-shapedbombs.

"No need to fear, Kazekage, we're here for you, not thevillage, yeah," he smirked. His smug look fell as he reached into hispouch. 'Damn, I'm almost out of clay.' Gaara used his distraction as an opportunityto crush his arm with the sand, emitting a pain-filled scream. Deidara used hisother arm to make the hard sand on him explode, and a few more at Gaara toescape away a bit.

He saw Gaara's sandcover him and deflect the exploding clay, and while he was busy, started constructinga huge bomb in an odd shape. "Art is an explosion, and this is C3 bomb isthe best. You crushed my arm, I take back what I said and I’m gonna crush yourvillage, yeah," he announced, letting the bomb increase in size and startfalling. Panic was written across the redheads face as the bomb hurled below tothe large village. He used most of his strength to pull up sand from the groundand surrounding desert to shield Sunagakure from the threat.

There was a large explosion as the bomb collided with thecollected sand. Gaara smiled. His village was safe, at least for now. He wasjust barely aware of another explosion as his sand raced up to protect him fromDeidara. He inwardly thanked his demon, Shukaku, and its sand for stayingalert. It sealed him in a bubble, and he thought he was safe until he saw smallwhite insects crawling through the thick layers of sand. "No!" heyelled before they exploded.

The sand bubble slowly fell away, revealing a worn out,half-conscious, scratched up and bloody Gaara. He twitched a few times, tryingto get up again. "You're a persistent one, yeah," Deidara commented,slowly flying towards him, knowing the Kazekage wasn't as dangerous. He backedaway slightly when Gaara raised his hand slightly, moving his fingers.

Deidara looked down and saw the shield of sand covering thevillage moving. "Even when half dead, you do anything to protect yourvillage. How noble," the blonde commented, allowing the eighteen year oldto move the sand out to the desert and drop it there. He could hear the cheersand cries from the village below. 'For ajinchuriki, he's well loved.' "Well now you're coming with me, yeah,"Deidara grabbed the now unconscious Gaara and flew off to meet Sasori at thevillage entrance.

"What took you so long?" the puppet master growled.

"He put up more of a fight than I thought,"Deidara winced as the adrenaline faded away and the nerves in his left armalerted him that the bones were completely crushed. "I finally got him byslipping tiny bombs into his sand while my arm was being dismembered, yeah."

"Smart, for a bomb master who doesn't have the rightperspective on art."

"Art is a fleeting moment of beauty! Yeah!"

"No, art is something that is preserved and lasts forever,"Sasori argued. They kept bickering as they went into the desert, unaware of theKazekage's brother subtly following their tracks. They made sure to make shadowclones and leave different trails, but they couldn't replicate the sand thatwas falling off of their victim's body.

---

"Don't worry, Gaara, I'm coming," said Kankuro as he followed thetrail of his brother's demon sand. A messenger bird flew overhead, heading toKonohagakure. "If anything, Naruto will help."