AN1: My sister is insisting that I should post this here. As it is still going and the full document is currently over 68 pages and 34k words I'm going to put up the first part and see if there is any interest.

I am crossing over with a very old original story idea of mine's character because it just wouldn't leave my mind. Some of this will be deliberately unclear but essentially Himitsu does not come from our world but another altogether more of a classical medieval fantasy with no idea of common writing but usually oral traditions so there's no knowledge of Naruto at all. This just gave me fun thoughts. It is almost entirely her story however and large sections are glossed over for that. It's probably the only reason why at 34k words I'm already at Pain's attack...

()()()()()()()

She's a very aware baby.

The very fact that she knows she is a baby is sadly not the strangest thing at this point in her existence. Luckily the bemusement a small infant has with their hands and feet and staring at everything is normal.

The words are strange. The tones, the lilting. The air and everything around is different.

Her memories are strong and burn and it is easy to cry and she does so often, so startled the first time she actually has tears when she's never had them before that she screams and that just sets off the system. Unfortunately for her new parents she has a great deal to cry over. She has trouble sleeping in the night which is not something she can apologize for. For all her new body tires easily and seems predisposed to do just that, her mind remembers. Night is the time to move unseen, to be active. The night blends and she thrives where she cannot be caught and caged.

This is not possible now where even her head is too heavy to lift and her eyes yet unfocused. She remembers seeing little ones who had that clouded eye look and she assumes it will be a while before she truly sees. All her senses are so very dulled indeed that it is just one more thing that startles her into crying.

The vibrant red hair..the golden yellow though. Those she reaches for because those are familiar. She remembers those. Even if they cannot be the same people it does not matter. So far it is the one thing that is familiar and so she clings to it.

Because of how she was raised, her father's people avoided the permanent settlements when her mothers did not, are why she is-was- so different even amongst her own kind. This means she is very used to just retreating into a nothingness sort of awareness. It is a primal instinct, and she handles it well. All things are noted, as much as her pathetic senses can but left to be examined later.

Perhaps if she had not been born and raised among those who preferred the wilds to the towns and tiny villages. To live beneath a tent or the open stars, a canopy of leaves with insects and dirt sharing her bed? It may have been harder to allow names and memories to mostly slip into the back. Whom she was is gone, and she lets the memories stay hazy unless something startles a comparison to the forefront.

Within a year she is managing simple words in the new tongue which reminds her of the twitter of birds compared to the languages she knew before all of this. Indeed her vision cleared and she thinks nothing of the fact that she gets a few surprised looks from those who are clearly her parents and their few visitors- all of whom have little children or one quiet silver male that smells even to her senses of dog and the memory startles her into glaring because she can't lash out and screams whenever he tries to hold her- Because the memory of one like that is too strong and too fresh and the loss too sharp. It doesn't help that so often the young male smells of blood that's not fully been cleaned out of fingernails and clothing. When the last she saw of the silver haired friend of hers that reeked of canine it was when they had a death rattle and blood seeping from their form. One more fallen to protect the others and the scents will always be engraved in her memories the deepest a seeping wound she does her best to cover since she cannot flush it clean.

So no, she doesn't let him near.

There's a woman who comes with eyes that glow red and swirl and the first time she sees it she reaches for the bearer of those eyes and her reaction must be unusual because there's a strange hush among the three adults and the small child she brought with her. But she doesn't care because there are glowing eyes so close to the reflective sort she knew and though they are red and not green or yellow or violet and the pupils are wrong all wrong it makes her reach out and smile.

The woman visits more often.

Though she's taken to knowing the words for parents and certain foods and..necessities..all quite advanced for a tiny human girl it seems the toddler who visits and the silver haired boy she cannot like are also very advanced and she decides to ignore it..

It is a long time until she learns her name.

"Himitsu."

She scowls. It's too..consonant. There's no beautiful rolling r's and rumbling hues to it and for whatever it mean she does not care. It bothers her.

It's a reminder of one more thing she gave up and it stings in a way that she is selfish enough to admit is a pain like poking at a scab or a toothache. She cannot seem to stop turning memories over in comparison.

So she dislikes her name and scowls whenever she hears it. That's just for herself though because she knows what the consequences would be otherwise since it's very unlikely there's anyone else in her situation; certainly not from whence she came. Besides she has no right to her old name as in this last act that brought her here she was willing to burn all she was to save her sister. Took her fate and punishment upon herself. Because that's what older siblings do.

Sacrifice is only effective when it is immense. Fair is not a concept the wilds know.

()()()()()

Just as she adjusts to her life it changes.

Her parents are gone, she had known her mother was carrying young but had been a mix of panicked and overjoyed because she had always been an older sister before and learning she was going to have a brother was a new concept. Two sisters but never before a brother. One less thing to compare.

It's odd though how when her parents vanish there are adults that come and go and hushed whispers and panic and all that Himitsu cares about is sitting up, staring at the tiny blonde haired boy with stripes on his cheeks and she approves of that because they look like whiskers. She's letting him hold her finger and doesn't really worry that he's wailing.

She had done plenty of that too.

()()()()()()

The only thing that she is not placid about is the stubborn barely year old saying 'No' when they try to separate the children. Though she cannot remember children being so advanced that they behave three times their age at least, and the motor skills bear this out, no one ever seems to react. It appears to be a strange condition to this place she has landed in.

There are worse things. She remembers them vividly.

()()()()()

The orphanage is not exactly pleasant but it certainly isn't terrible even if the idea of not just being taken in by another family is such a bizarre one. There are plenty who visit and come and go, for all her nose is still pathetic she can still taste the air currents charged with energy and scents and since the masked ones seem to do no harm Himitsu ignores them. As is her way if she can do nothing about a situation.

It's something her father taught her. A pity her younger siblings never learned. They migrated to the worlds of dirt paths and homes built from wood where the only language was spoken far too soon and never managed to adapt back. Not fully. It's something that Himitsu is determined to bank inside her, her wild nature, so she doesn't lose it. It's what helped them last so long in the later years..that at leas one of them remembered.

When she is a few years older the old man whom visit's so often with the pointless hat is instructing her brother on his name. As well as her own. There is no family name which she does not blink at because while it seems many here have them, in her previous life Himitsu did not. Just a name she had earned that followed her real one. She hadn't really liked it either but others chose your moniker so that is one of the few things she doesn't mind leaving behind.

And the one that was secret and held against her heart to never be shared with any but her sisters as she held their names once their parents were gone so that someone would remember. A tiny spark of hope whispers that they may still intone it when alone and that could be why she hasn't totally been lost inside this new form.

She's tempted to utter it some days so she can feel her real name vibrate in the air but there could be consequences and she is not ready for them as small as she is.

They are Himitsu and Naruto and that is all. There's a hesitance to the man she reads in his body language, so subtle and slight but before all this Himitsu was a huntress and she hunted man and things with no names. She can read him easily even with her dulled senses. Not that she blames him, why explain more to children who can do nothing with the information?

()()()()()

Her brother is considered an idiot.

It's not the first time she had a sibling who was book stupid and world smart but Naruto takes this a bit further. More so than her littlest sister ever had who had never grown out of her curiosity but only to be wary and knew from the start that the world liked to eat you whole. Naruto thinks tears solve nothing and hugs solve the world and she sometimes wants to hit the kindly teenage girl that had told the children on a scheduled visit from one of the local schools that 'kindness and love heals everything.'

It doesn't. Indeed Himitsu thinks it burns deeper than any fire she's known but keeps her mouth shut because it's made her suffering 'why me' brother turn into a playful bit of mischief and that she knows how to deal with.

"Can't you reign your otouto in, Himitsu-chan?" one of the matron's asked despairingly one day as her brother is running stark naked with the other toddlers straight into a mud pit.

Himitsu quirks a smile. "I did. I told him if he got his clothing dirty he had to wash it."

"well at least there's that.."

()()()()

Himitsu doesn't know why she never bothered to find out, she's not used to the idea of looking in mirrors and finds the concept of them odd still as she's too young to wear braids or beads and hasn't the skill yet to make the adornments herself because there's no where to practice around here.

So the first time her hair is actually long enough that a matron hasn't wrangled her to cut her hair so they don't have to spend much time on it and it slips into her eyes she pauses.

And her heart clenches.

Because it's red. Smoldering like fire that has been banked instead of blazing, it's rich and the striations that are in there naturally are golden tone the effect down. It isn't the red that makes her pause because her mother this time had red hair that was aflame practically and many shades brighter.

It's the gold. Logically she knows the few strands that blend in and no one else would notice are from her father.

But she had it before. The deep dull golden orange.

It's the first time her heart trembles and she feels maybe she hasn't completely lost herself to Himitsu.

()()()()()

The idea behind the academy and shinobi altogether is..odd. They're sitting with the man of the funny hat whom tells them to call him grandpa again, Naruto bouncing around the room because it's what he does and he adores how much his sister enjoys observing him be so free. Himitsu is relaxed, watchful.

While Naruto is whooping because both of them will be starting much earlier than they should-as soon as Naruto is five he may start too- Himitsu knows a lot of that is because Naruto is a handful and the matron's don't like him. For some reason. Himitsu thinks he's far more open about his reactions than most and she likes that. Encourages it even though apparently it's 'rude and not at all appropriate.' Who cares? Life is not something to tie down into so many bindings you cannot move.

"Tell me about shinobi." Her request is soft, as if she expects him to hear her. She always speaks like that however, just barely audible because of memories that are shifted to the side but not forgotten and speaking any louder hurt ears and gave you away. They all got so much quieter in the end.

He regales them with stories. That is all they are though, fables. Tales for a campfire to amuse children. Himitsu tilts her head and though generally she lets things go in the four years she's been an older sister she has witnessed enough children being what these people call prodigies that she is comfortable shedding a bit of the dust that has clung to her shoulders. Mentally she stretches and outwardly moves not a muscle.

"And later on?"

The question is ignored by Naruto who is looking for one of his buddies in the orphanage to play ninja with now. While in the streets they are sometimes treated to cold disdain if Naruto is beside her; here in the orphanage the children have little in the way of choices to make and it is actually disapproval from the matron's that dub Naruto as 'cool' to the scamps with no respect for authority.

It's a pity that shortly after they are adopted they never come back to play but that is life.

The funny hat man though blinks as though surprised at her inquiry. "What do you mean, Himitsu-chan?"

"When the escorts and the trade is done? You spoke in fables of hiding in shadows and protecting Konoha but I have read tales, jijii. You are not speaking of samurai and you do not bring up honor..so what happens later?"

The kind dark eyes are suddenly razor sharp and yet he has nothing on even her little sister when upset and so Himitsu waits. Waiting is part of being a predator and she was always a very good one, it is still in her nature.

"I see.." He doesn't but she shouldn't be able to read him so well so she does not react. "Well Himitsu-chan some things must be done that we do not always agree with.."

He visits a few more times, and after passing over sweets and toys to Naruto sits and has quiet talks with Himitsu. If her eyes are so alert it sometimes worries Hiruzen he is reminded whose child she is and that besides her awareness not once has she portrayed anything else.

He cannot help Naruto with his burden, but there is a stillness to Himitsu that comes from her father when he was serious and she only gets thoughtful when he explains the idea of being in the shadows and unknown missions. Of things that can never be spoken of so that others -like her brother- need never know.

"Is there still freedom for those shinobi?"

Hiruzen does not pause for though those shinobi are tightly bound and always shall be to some point it is a set of shackles they carry the key to and choose not to utilize. It is rarely the job and the freedom that irks the nin he speaks of, only that they are then a step apart even from their own shinobi forces. He has no idea that the older eyes of Himitsu read what he does not say as he agrees they do have freedom unless it is because of an action that he must order or else it may cause a loss far greater than the freedom of one.

Her eyes, such a vibrant blue like her brothers but verging on the green blend from her mother flick to where there's barely visible out the window a blonde boy cheering as he waves a stick proclaiming himself the greatest ninja ever- believe it! The contrast between siblings is almost none if you know who their parents were. They just took after them in different ways.

"I prefer the quieter way, jijii."

Hiruzen hesitates but nods. If she has promise then Hiruzen will bury his heart and ensure that the only daughter any of his students have given him to look after will have the road she wants. After all, Himitsu is not the holder of the Kyuubi.

()()()()()

Himitsu leaves for the academy the next day and Naruto is not truly jealous, instead he's insisting she do her best so he can break her record easily. Himitsu is just smiling at him, her calm languid way as he babbles and bounces about. He's such a kitten. She knows from experience this will fade in years and then only brief moments will return and so she never tells him to pipe down.

"I'll be back." She smooths his hair back a few times, before swiping her thumb from jaw up and over his cheek back to his ear. Naruto has grown up with this and so he just laughs and moves into the caress. She is not one for hugs, though she accepts them. Or kisses, though she never wipes it away when he slobbers on her. Leaning into each other and strange little signs of affection are Himitsu's way and because it is different Naruto is smug about it. She isn't the sort to embarrass him, but he keeps trying to do so to her.

She doesn't even mind his pranks as long as they never interrupt her sleep, food, or when she is focusing. If he does he's going to be sat on and she is a little bigger than he is. That he laughs at her form of retaliation is only a benefit.

Himitsu is neither impressed or afraid of the academy. It simply is. The welcoming ceremony because of course hat man went and told her she could join before it starts, is tedious and clearly just to awe the many children.

When they begin the work though she is confused over and over. Why do you need to do these things with numbers? Who cares about the minute details of the land that you will never get to because those features are no longer there? It irritates her but she copes with it.

The physical side she enjoys. She's never learned this way of fighting and so her focus is sharp and she has to remind her muscles to learn because later she can see if her body remembers any of the old maneuvers but not now. Still it is a bit too choppy and stand your ground for her liking but she can thrive well enough.

The concept of jutsu though?

The very idea seems so entirely far fetched and it reminds her of some things she does not want to think on but it is a part of life and so she is grateful that for now at least it is only theory.

()()()()()

"Nee-chan was it awesome did you learn anything neat are you gonna be amazing now?" It's all in one breath and Himitsu reaches out to rub his cheek with a soft smile because Naruto is home and her shoulders ease.

"Ah. It's a lot of reading and tests and stuff that doesn't seem useful..but they are starting us out on taijutsu stances. We can't actually do anything but punch block and kick the air though.."

"Teach meeeeeeeeee!"

"Later." Himitsu is setting her things on the bed and Naruto just waits because his sister doesn't have the body language yet she gets when she's done with a conversation. He knows her body language because it's so different compared to everyone else around them. Himitsu's movements are small and if you don't watch you miss them.

"When I know them perfectly I'll help you. If I did so now I may pass on any mistakes I am making." She finally says when facing him and Naruto beams. Because as much as Naruto knows he is amazing and will be even better, it's just something he knows. Even so, the fact that his sister easily admits to her flaws somehow puts her above them as if it's just part of life and passing by. It helps warm him when she was gone and he went out to explore only to be glared at. Himitsu thinks he is wonderful and shows it in all these small ways and so Naruto doesn't doubt himself.

"Okay." He doesn't ask her to promise because Himitsu doesn't ever say anything she does not mean.

()()()()()()

The next time Hiruzen visit's he's greeted by Naruto demanding to know why he didn't tell them the academy was a -gasp- school!

It makes the Hokage laugh as few other things do and he just shakes his head because in this both the Uzumaki's are grimacing.

It's nice to see them being children and helps Hiruzen feel he did the right thing placing them in the orphanage instead of where a council member could grasp onto them.

"You don't like the academy then, Himitsu-chan?" He finally chuckles. Her eyes meet his and she sighs.

"It seems a lot of information useless in a fight."

"Ah." Hiruzen wags a finger, gently reprimanding but understanding now. "Yet so much of a shinobi's life is outside of the battle. There are words to be wielded as weapons and allies to make, friends to care for. There are many things that make a good shinobi not just how they fight."

The rug is clearly been pulled out from under Naruto who sulks and Himitsu is glancing away in thought.

Her next words though make Hiruzen choke on his pipe.

"I do not see the point to them standing around near the orphanage at night."

"Huh?" Naruto asks and yet Himitsu is looking out the window.

"Care to ...explain what you mean, Himitsu-chan?" he prompts softly. The girl glances back at him and then away. She's clearly debating if she wants to share it but that she is at all makes Hiruzen relieved. Because she trusts him enough to bring this up. She's wary enough to feel she should say something. These are all good signs though the part of Hiruzen he left back in the wars is the one re-evaluating the girl.

"One of them uses a very strong soap. It's a taste more than a scent and we like to leave the window open."

They never knew about Minato's family as he was orphaned so young, and Kushina may have had many changes being the Kyuubi vessel. For all he knows a few odd senses passed down to her child who had been a premature quick birth that gave little trouble as if Kyuubi himself was shoving her out of his space before trying to get free. A better sense of smell or awareness is tolerable.

"I see. Well, sometimes. I do come here after all."

"What's that got to do with anything!?" Naruto asks and Himitsu says nothing though it was covered who the Hokage was that first lesson in the academy. He is glad she gives him the chance. So Hiruzen explains his office and role, that because of this many nin are guarding and looking out for him so he can do the same for the village. It lights a fire in Naruto's eyes that is bitter sweet to the old man for his successor carried that blaze. That will of fire.

In contrast the relaxed pose of Himitsu shows none of it. Her loyalty is to Naruto entirely.

Hiruzen cannot fault her that.

"You managed to keep that you were aware secret all this time, impressive Himitsu-chan." And any suspicions that he may have had are not there because this infant is one he held and watched her parents coo over, embarrassed as they were that Kushina had gotten pregnant early. The Kyuubi chakra messing with the birth control so many kunoichi used..Keeping her a secret had been hard but so worth while in the end. It kept her safe.

"I'm not trying to hide that I knew they were there, Hokage-sama. No one asked." She says softly and glances up. Because of what he thinks he knows no one questions if she has secrets. At that moment if he had Himitsu may have told him something. But he does not and she is satisfied in tucking that part away and never offering again. If he wants to take that scrap of information as payment for what he has done for her and Naruto than she shall not inform him of the feast he just bypassed. The door to that conversation closes and no one ever knows.

()()()()()()()()

It's no surprise that she advances swiftly through the academy. The only thing really holding her back is that the idea of the language and it's writing and math is so foreign to her that she struggles with it. Her people had a language but very little was written. Indeed most the memories she has of things in writing are very bad do not go to those memories and she is all the more on edge because these words are lines and shapes and the way they fit changes the meanings.

Like runes.

She spends the break in the bathroom being sick.

()()()()()()()()

Taijutsu though, she picks up and then once she is certain she has it down allows her natural urges to take over. She is fluid, ever moving. Her strikes are fast and precise. Open palms and sometimes curled fingers tucked against themselves not quite in a fist so they do less harm and innately always having to adjust so they do not go to the most lethal areas.

She cannot help her urge to go for the soft stomach..the jugular..so she does not try. Those even the other students can see coming and move away from. She just keeps her hand flat instead of curled because while she has no sign if she is still more who she was than Himitsu beyond that her hair has gold which can be explained away and her eyes tinted green again could be family here she cannot risk it.

She knows all too well that once that most primal instinct gets let loosed there is no holding it back. Not really. Never again.

Not when she's fought back the blood lust before as all her people had at some point. Some like her baby sister, failed. Others like her middle sister avoided anything that could make them lose control. The middle way is the only one that has ever worked for her but if she allows the academy to a be a place she lets the control be lessened it will be a bloodbath for certain.

One of the teachers calls her after school.

They've noticed she's holding back. It's only been most of a year. Himitsu is not impressed it took them so long.

Himitsu does not hesitate to explain that she is not certain she will not kill her opponent otherwise because they are just too slow and not good enough to risk yet. Though there's a wary look she does mean it and so he offers to let her spar with an older class mate.

"I know my strikes..sensei.." There's something in her tone. Perhaps because Itachi had breezed through here not two years ago he takes her seriously. He knows she's a nobody orphan even if he's remembering her features it's been to long to recall why they seem familiar and tilts his head.

"I'll spar with you then and get someone else to watch. You don't have to hold back."

She doesn't really hesitate to nod because there never was a choice given in that offer.

()()()()()()

They take her outside, and though there's playful joking Itachi's shadow looms large over them for it does not matter that her book work is sub par, barely a failing average despite that she tries. Has been trying all year. She still rolls her eyes at jutsu but pays attention with that lazy attitude that has more than one teacher joking she's a nara.

The academy is made to even out the nin, give them all a chance. There are some students they have seen pass through unlike rocks who can be altered by the gentle erosion of water over time. Not when they're instead being bamboo that amass and change the flow of the water.

Even as the sensei steps back he watches Himitsu take a breath and as her fingers come up like his to signal the beginning of the spar, she loosens her muscles.

Deep inside the memories yawn and stretch and she shifts.

Himitsu has been holding back far more than they could ever know.

The sudden onslaught is almost terrifying. For the teachers. Because Himitsu was not only holding back but clearly close to being unable to. Her blows are no longer slaps and curled throws slightly altering the academy taijutsu. This is something all her own. She moves at a speed genin shouldn't be able to as they don't know their bodies well enough yet and her strikes have the maximum force her tiny body can direct behind it, utilized perfectly.

Stomach, throat, solar plexus, eyes, even groin. She goes for them all with her hands and her kicks with her back legs when she's grasped by the shoulder's by her sensei to throw her back are not the wildly swinging type but she pulls knees up and towards her before lashing out with her heels slamming into stomach and hips hard.

The moment he lets go to stagger back she's out of range and seems to always just be sliding out of his periphery.

She doesn't win.

But it is an extremely close call.

()()()()()()

The problem is not when they let her go for the afternoon and go back inside to discuss what to do..with her sensei limping and injured.

Himitsu goes for the distant trees.

No, the problem is she fought but there was no reward. The huntress in her has stirred and so she sighs and goes to find some form of small game that won't cause surprise if she catches and cleans it to bring back to the orphanage.

Hunting for family will help. Because in this she can be greater than her instincts. Because supplying the orphanage is feeding her brother and all instincts that her people had were heavily molded to put family first beyond anything.

She knows she is being followed but does not care. She catches and cleans a few rabbits easily, but in light of her observer uses the kunai instead of snapping their necks. She doesn't hesitate when she is watched and leaves the pelt and all the parts that the orphanage squirms at -she's not the only kid who has brought home food to stretch the budget before though she's one of the only younger ones. Fishing is way more common and only in upper years- the scavengers will handle those. They always do.

She is nearly out of the grounds when her watcher lands. White mask hiding his features and cloak obscuring his form but there's a scent to him that is male but young and she blinks lazily.

"Someone would like to meet you."

"Another time." She slips by them without a word and they let her go.

()()()()()()()

The offers come more and more often, she is no longer taking part in taijutsu lessons at the school with the others but given more help with her throwing and chakra. She is jumped to the graduating classes for those but still in her regular ones for the rest. Instead her teachers once a week spar with her in taijutsu and she adapts to their methods fast. Every time she fights someone she becomes that much better at taking that particular person down.

And then word that either once they turn eleven or graduate they can get a small subsidized apartment is mentioned by the Hokage.

Himitsu fights to not lick her lips as she scents the prey that is being bait.

The thing is, they are trying to bait a ground squirrel or a rabbit. At very best a puppy dog.

Himitsu may not be as she was but the memories are there and she's a much bigger predator. She can snap up the bait and never risk the box trap because it's set up all wrong for her and you can't catch her in something meant for one so much smaller especially when there are no interesting dangers within to tempt her to outsmart. She'll just step back out. The real truth is...she'll ignore the bait and go for the trapper. She was a hunter of men once. Men who deserved it, but still..

"Both or either?"

The Hokage smiles. He thinks he just flushed out the game in the bush.

Himitsu doesn't correct him. It's always been her way to sneak up behind.

"Either."

Her mind hears the snapping of a spine and the caving of a skull with the rush of blood and the prey just became the one who set the trap..but she shows no sign of it. Her eyes flicker to Naruto but she just nods.

()()()()()

"How did you pass early?"

Itachi will never admit to being startled as he whirls around but he's just passed Chunin recently when most still have a year or two before they graduate and he's still adjusting to people sneaking up on him as he's always been better. Now that he has jounin and high class Chunin teammates that's more common.

His eyes land on the girl before him with hair that seems duller than he remembers as though the gold is a bit stronger and her eyes as serious as they were in the infant's face. The one who reached for his mother when her sharingan is on. She'll be happy to hear the little girl she used to take him to see is clearly doing well.

"Pardon?" She's six. Maybe almost seven..he thinks he's four years older but it could be as close as three because of birthdays not all being on the first of the year.

"The academy."

Itachi is a genius. He hears an inflection in her tone and it is not an idle 'how are you so good' but a 'how did you pass'. It's a genuine query..the first one not tainted by anger or jealousy.

"It's not really that hard of a test assessment. It comes down to the three jutsu's and taijutsu and being able to read and write enough to remember and follow orders."

"That's all..." She pauses and trails off before she gives him an amused smile. "Tell your mother hello."

"You remember us?" And he's surprised because he was small but she was so tiny and for just a moment the pressure to be even better at his age when most are still worrying about being home on time not how to get blood out of his clothing that's all pushed aside.

"I remember her eyes." She answers and there's a softness to her voice. He lets his own sharingan activate and her eyes light up just as he remembers.

There is no greed, no fear.

"You have them too?" She's just delighted.

So for some reason Itachi explains the sharingan and he's actually smiling when she shrugs off the wonders of his bloodline and mentions her favorite part is that it glows in the dark.

When he goes home, after poking Sasuke in the forehead a few times to see him sulk he mentions it to his mother and is warmed that she looks so stunned and touched to be remembered by 'little Himi-chan'

They meet up a few times more where he shares information no one gave him about the structure of ninja and pointless other information. He's just Itachi to her and it feels good to set aside all his titles and achievements.