Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Duh...

Notes: Yesh!!!! I finally got the first chapter REWRITE up. YES this is a rewrite of Chapter One. It has mostly the same content but somethings have been changed, added, or removed. Please read!

Chapter One

I watched the guy who was considered "most popular" in our class. It was his turn, we were all practicing kunai throwing. He barely looked like he cared, as he threw the kunai and it hit dead center. That was something I wished I could do, I shook my head. No, he was a year older than me. It was much less impossible to hit dead center anyways. How was he so special?

"Kirei?" I looked up slowly from where I was standing in line. I recognized his voice, Uchiha Itachi. My heart pounded harder than usual.

"Yes, Itachi?" I asked slowly. He was so much stronger than everyone else, especially myself. I guess you could say that he was my inspiration.

"It's your turn to go..." he said quietly. My eyes widened. Great, just my luck.

I stepped out to the line, and Shimo-sensei handed me a kunai. I took a few seconds, just to let my hand grasp it. I twirled it around my finger once, and threw it toward the target on the tree. I squinted my eyes, I didn't want to see the results, I didn't want to know how badly I had done.

Gasps were heard around me, that definitely couldn't be good. A voice came in next to my ear, Uchiha Itachi, "It's okay," he laughed, "Just look."

I opened an eye slowly, and looked at the target. There was my kunai, dead center, right where Itachi's had been.

--

A few days passed, and I was watching Itachi during lunch. He was always surrounded by people, I sighed. I wanted to have a least one friend instead of always sitting alone, but then again, what did I expect, almost everyone in this classroom was a year older, and I did start in this class late. I leaned back in my chair and stared at the ceiling. It looked the same as it always did, as expected. If it didn't I might be a little scared.

"Why are you sitting here alone?" a voice asked me.

I leaned back forward only find Itachi-senpai standing in front of my desk. He pulled over another chair and sat in front of me.

"I always sit here alone..." I told him slowly.

"You shouldn't, it must be really boring."

I got mean looks from the other girls for the rest of the day, but I really was happy, and I felt so different. Just him being around me made me feel better, and I didn't feel alone. Actually, I was basically the only girl in our class that didn't bug him all the time, even though these girls were only mere eight-year-olds. But I guess that's how I got to be good friends with Itachi, by actually being a friend instead of a stalker. I mean, really, stalkers scare everyone away, and what do true friends do? Bring someone closer.

--

Shimo-sensei smiled at all of us that were not sitting in the class room. "Congratulations on your graduation from the Ninja Academy! Remember, this is just the beginning, so you're still going to have to work hard. Now, I'll put you into your three-man teams." He looked down at his list and started calling out teams.

Itachi was at the top of the class, and I was about the middle, there were lots of people in the middle, what chance did I have of being with put into a group with him? Seems pretty slim to me..

I frowned slightly at this thought, but Itachi caught my eye and smiled lightly. I worked up enough effort to smile back in spit of the sick feeling in my stomach. Finally, my name was called...

"Team Four, Moeru Kirei," I looked up suddenly. This was the moment, I had to be put with Itachi. I just had to...

"Seimei Koryu"

I paused. One last chance...this was my last chance.

"And...Uchiha Itachi."

I grinned broadly, and Itachi smiled back. I gave him a thumb's up, and he continued to smile, "I'm glad I have a friend on my team," I mouthed to him.

--

Team Four was a complete success. We completed a lot of missions, eventually each one getting harder as we went, we both kept improving, thought I noticed no matter how often I tried, I was never as good as Itachi was. I raced to keep up with him regardless of that though, I didn't want to be left behind.

During our year in the Chuunin Exam, both he and I passed. Like usual, the last round was a competition fight, I only made it to round two, but Itachi won out of everyone. Poor Koryu hadn't even made it that far.

When Itachi was ranked to the Jounin position, I did my best to get there as well, and though it took six long months, I made it, and once again was with Itachi. Later on, both of us were accepted into ANBU as well. I would become as strong as I could, I wanted to stay with him…the only problem was that it had taken me so long to figure out why I felt the way I did. And now that I look back at it, the way that everything happened just makes me laugh.

--

"Kirei, would you wake up?!" Itachi hissed, shoving me.

I mumbled something before I blinked and opened my eyes slightly, an enormous yawn erupting from my mouth.

Here it was Itachi's thirteenth birthday and we were stuck on guard duty…I don't even remember the last time I had been assigned guard duty. All ninja have to do it, Itachi had just gotten lucky and got it on his birthday.

Sitting up, I said my sorry for falling asleep and tried to smile at him. Only…none came, it had been replaced with another yawn. Itachi laughed.

He stood up and leaned back against the wood in the guard post, "Well today was definitely interesting, wasn't it?"

I stood up as well, "Yeah, you should've seen your face during your surprise party! It was hilarious!"

"What do you expect?!" he answered, "It was supposed to be an ANBU meeting!! I wasn't expected all those people to be there! I swear, I was about to kill whoever came up with the idea…or even worked on it for that matter."

"You'd kill yours truly?" I said in an offended voice, placing my hand to my chest. "You'd kill Sasuke? He and I came up with the lovely idea, and your mom and I planned it."

He groaned, "Jesus, why do I put up with you?"

"Because I love you," I said abruptly. I can't even figure how I had ever allowed myself to blurt out something like that, it surprised me, and Itachi too, as he had told me later.

At that moment, he decided to pretend that I hadn't said anything, "Hey, I've never exactly been able to figure this out, but why exactly did you move up in the Academy? I mean…why were you, as a seven-year-old, placed in an advanced eight-year-old group?"

"Ah," I said slowly, pointing at him, "It was my parent's decision, they said that my ability was too strong for my group…or something silly like that, but really," I said, lowering my voice some a whisper, "I just think that they wanted me to get more experience because they have their sights set on me becoming leader of our clan, like my dad." I laughed at what I said, "I have so much competition though, like my cousin Kikyo, she's the same age as I am. Then there's Hikaru, he's really strong. I don't see how they think I could beat them."

"Oh…" he said quietly, "It's pretty amazing for you to be place up like that though, I'm sure you'll do fine."

"Oh come off it," I said, "I'm screwed and you know it."

"No, I'm serious, I think you're an amazing ninja who will go really far one day--"

"Itachi! Just tell me what you really think! You don't need to lie to me!" His response to this had been an odd stare. "Uh…let me explain…I've known you for five years or so now, and we still speak to each other rather formally and never tell each other what we really want to say. I think we're pretty good friends now, so why can't we just talk like normal people?"

"So you want to know what I really think?" he asked me. I nodded. "I think that you are amazing. You may not be the best ninja in the world, but you always try hard and try to perfect everything you do."

I smiled at him, "See, now that wasn't so hard," and tossed a box at his face, which he caught easily. "Happy Birthday," I added.

He had looked shocked…like he hadn't expected me to get him anything after helping with his surprise party. Itachi pulled the wrapping and bow off it, and my heart starting racing. I wanted to snatch the box away from him and--

Itachi lifted a chain from the small box, and stared at it questioningly. He found a little circle charm attached to it, and read the writing that was engraved: Love is forever.

"Love is forever?" he asked slowly, looking at me. I felt myself start to blush, and looked away. After all this time, and all the time it had taken me to figure out...he might reject me, and then I wouldn't even have my one best friend. Why had I taken that chance? Why was I chancing my only friend?

"Love?" he asked again quietly, I could tell he was trying to make eye contact with me, but I continued to keep my head turned the other way. "What does it mean, Kirei?" he asked softly. I jumped as I saw him sitting in front of me in an instant. His hand moved toward my chin, and he gently forced me to look at him. "Kirei…"

I pulled out of his touch and looked to the floor of the guard tower realizing what a terrible job we were doing as lookouts. "It means…" I started to say slowly. I felt a lump in my throat. "It means that…that I l-love you."

I turned away from him again, this time it was because I didn't want to see his expression, I could have changed everything right there, made up an excuse for why the necklace said what it did, something like "It means that we are best friends". Something stupid like that. Everything could have stayed the same…nothing would have had to change. But I just went and blew it…just to take a wild chance.

"I love you too, Kirei," he said softly, his hand reached up to my cheek once more, turning my head toward his.

The sun raised ever so slightly, bringing light to dance in the sky. Painting color in the clouds.

Itachi leaned toward me, and kissed my lips shyly. I really had no idea how to I was supposed to respond to this, I hadn't expected this night to go like this at all. Somehow I found myself kissing him shyly back.

He broke the kiss, and leaned against the back of the wooden bench, he fingered his lips, which broke into a smile, "This is the best birthday of my life. I didn't think you felt this way about me…"

I shook my head, trying to hold back laughter, "I've liked you since the moment I saw you. It just took me a long time to realize how I felt…"

He grinned back at me, "I'm glad we both realized how we felt."

There was a knock from below us, "Shift change!" a man yelled, knocking louder. "You better not be sleeping up there!"

We both looked at each other longingly for a moment, the man knocked again.

"We're coming!" I yelled back.

Itachi gripped my hand and bent over to open the door..

--

"Kirei! Get up! Geez come on..."

I sat up, and stretched my arms, yawning. My eyes focused, and I saw Itachi sitting in front of me, "H-huh?!" I stammered. "Why are you in here?! No...who let you in here?!"

"Your parents let me, they wanted you out of bed anyways. So...they let me wake you up. I'll wait for you to get dressed, and then I want to take you somewhere, okay?" I nodded slowly, and his hand brushed against my cheek as he stood to leave my room.

I blushed again. I got out of bed in less than a second, and threw on the first thing I found, I didn't want to keep Itachi waiting, I wanted to make sure I wasn't dreaming about last night.

I threw the door open, and Itachi took a quick glance at me, and he blushed and quickly looked away. I looked down at what I was wearing...somehow I had ended up in a tight tank top. I smiled, that worked too.

"We should be going..." he said.

I followed him to the door of my house, and before I stepped out yelled, "Mom!!! Dad!!! I'm leaving!" A distant reply rang through the house, so I stepped out to follow Itachi. I took the side-step next to him, and I felt him reach for my hand. I let him grab it, and I looked up at him, and he only continued to look straight forward.

"Okay," he said, stopping suddenly. "You're going to have to trust me, alright?" He pulled at my head protected, and it dropped over my eyes. He helped me into his back, and I gripped his neck tightly. He coughed, "I said..." his words were strained, as he moved one hand to loosen my grip, "You're going to have to trust me, just relax."

I nodded in response, as I felt him begin to run, it didn't take him too long to stop. He lowered me to the ground, and I felt grass underneath me. "Where are we Itachi?" I asked slowly.

"Couldn't you be a bit more patient? Just a bit longer..."

I heard birds chirping around me, and leaves rustling. Itachi stopped me, and pulled my head protector back off my eyes.

I blinked and allowed my eyes to adjust to the light. I gasped. We stood under a large tree that shaded the area around us, and in front of us was a huge cliff and a waterfall. Beautiful colors of flowers and trees blended around us.

I quickly looked over a Itachi and gave him a gratified look.

"Do you like it?" he asked slowly.

"What do you mean do I like it?!" I yelled, "I love it!" I jumped and gave him a hug. He caught me, and laughed, hugging me back.

"Want to go swimming?" he asked, still hugging me. I nodded, and he lead me to the water...which he then threw me in.

While he laughed at me in the water, I thrust my hand out and yanked at his foot. He collapsed into the water above me. Surfacing, we both looked at each other, soaking wet and laughed even more.

After a few minutes our laughter subsided.

Itachi looked up into the cloudless sky, "My side hurts…"

"Seriously," I said, staring at him, "Considering that you're an ANBU ninja, you wouldn't think I'd just be able to pull you into the water like that."

"It's your fault," he said, "You distracted me."

"Glad to be of service," I replied, curtsying in the water.

Thinking about it, that must have been one of the greatest times I had with Itachi in Konoha. Everything about that day was perfect: the swimming, the picnic food, the surprises, and the fun. I don't think anything could have been better.

--

The walk back from the waterfall was amazing, we talked about completely random things and then laughed all the while looking at the stars that floated above us.

As we approached my house it got quieter, I didn't really want to go home. I wanted to keep spending time with Itachi…

Standing before my front door, he leaned over and kissed me on the cheek, "See you tomorrow," he whispered in my ear.

"Bye…" I said quietly as he turned to leave.

--

Itachi and I really just continued to do what we normally did. Went on missions together and hang out anyways when we weren't on missions.

"Well, Kirei, what are we gonna do today?" Itachi asked me.

I thought for a moment, "Actually, I would like to go to your house!" I said suddenly. To tell you the truth, all these years we've been friends (including the month we've been going out) I've never actually been inside Itachi's house. I've formally met his family and everything, but I don't know them like he knows my family. I know his younger brother of course though, he always wants to be around Itachi. It's cute actually.

"Why in the world would you want to do that? What would be do there anyways…?"

"Well," I started, "I would like to make lunch for you and your family so I could get to know them. They are home, right? Since it's Sunday."

He grumbled a little before saying, "Ugh I guess that would be okay."

I pulled him out of the front door of my house and took side-step next to him. I smiled up at him happily but when I saw his face I felt my smile start to disappear. He suddenly looked so stern and unlike himself. Noticing me stare at him, he grinned and patted me on the head. Itachi then grabbed my hand and any feelings of anxiety just disappeared. I was just hoping that they hadn't been given to Itachi instead…

--

"Mom! Dad! I'm back!" Itachi yelled as he pulled the door of his house open. I followed him inside nervously and took my shoes off at the door.

I looked around curiously. He house was about the same size as mine…

"Itachi-chan! You're back so early today!" a lady I noticed as his mother said rushing into the room. "Kirei-chan? Is that you?!" she asked, suddenly turning to me. "I haven't seen you in ages!" she added, patting me on the head. "You both seen to be so busy with ANBU missions lately."

I nodded in agreement, it was true, we did seem to have a lot of missions at the moment. One after another. Itachi had also recently been made a leader, thus he was almost always on missions, and generally I was too, though I wasn't always lucky enough to be with him. "Make sure you both stay safe," she added quickly before walking to another room. Itachi followed her…so I followed them both.

I found myself in a kitchen, where Itachi's mom was pulling things out of the refrigerator.

"Er…Mom?" Itachi said slowly. His mom looked up slowly, and her eyes seemed to ask "Yes?". Itachi looked at the floor and quickly said, "Kirei said that she wanted to make lunch for us." He started to blush.

"Lunch? Does that mean…?" she asked slowly. "You two are dating?!"

We both looked away from each other saying "Yeah…" in unison

Her smile widened, "Oh! Congratulations!! Kirei-chan and I can cook lunch together!" she said excitedly. I smiled in approval. "Itachi, why don't you go find your brother and take him out for a lesson. He's been waiting for one all day."

"Why can't Dad take him?" he groaned.

"Because he wants you to," she said sternly.

He looked at me as he turned to go and smiled lightly, "Fine…"

As he turned to go, his mother leaned and whispered something in his ear, in response he rolled his eyes. Her whispering grew more urgent. Itachi groaned again and stepped toward me. His arms found their way around my body as he embraced me in a hug. I smiled, happily, and hugged him back. He then pulled away and left me with his mother in the kitchen.

"It's odd to see Itachi like this…" she said slowly. I looked over to her from where I had been looking at the door Itachi had left through.

"What do you mean?" I shuddered.

She paused and started to go through the refrigerator again, "Well, Itachi really isn't the kind to make friends so easily…he's more of a loner. So I can't seem to figure how why he made friends so easily with you…"

I must have looked shocked because she quickly added, "I'm glad that he did though."

That brought a smile to my face, "Itachi always seemed to have so many people around him all the time when we were younger…So, even thought I also wanted to know him I kept my distance since I didn't want to bother him as much as everybody else did. I guess that's why we eventually became friends." I looked up at her and giggled, "I, also liked everyone else, like him though."

His mother's face showed an instant understanding, "So this, this is why you, out of everyone else, kept up with him. Even out of not being the best in your class, you came second to Itachi so you could stay with him…to stay with the person you love. Just like I didn't with my husband…"

At that very moment, I knew that she understood me, and I knew that I understood her.

--

As I left, I realized that they weren't going to be finished cooking lunch for a long time, I could already hear them talking. That meant that I was stuck training my younger brother for a long time. This wasn't going to be fun.

I looked up at a clock in a shop, and noticed it was almost 10:00, Sasuke would probably be off trying to train himself even though today was a Sunday, which was his only day off. Of course, I don't blame him, when I was his age, I was almost out of the Academy, and he still had a long way to go.

I entered the training section in the forest around the Uchiha clan's village. I figured that Sasuke would be in the same training ground as always, the one in the very back that no one went to. I followed the path to Ground 10 where, of course, I saw Sasuke practicing his aim.

Watching him for just a moment I could tell he was trying hard to concentrate. He would first face the other way and then quickly turn around and throw a kunai at the selected target. He missed. The kunai he threw was too high as well as too far to the left. If that was against an actual opponent he would have come closer to hitting their arm instead of their actual chest.

I sighed, and picked up a near by twig, snapping it, and Sasuke quickly turned, throwing a kunai at me. This time, his aim was perfect, and it head straight toward my head. The only problem, was that it wasn't fast enough. I grabbed the kunai with my forefinger and thumb, and twirled it around lightly.

Sasuke stared at me for a moment, "What do you want?" he asked me, I noticed a pitch of frustration.

"Well, I was going to help you train, but if you really don't want me to I can go back home--"

"No no! Will you teach me a new technique, please?" he whined. His face then suddenly changed, and he folded his arms haughtily, "Hold on. I bet you only came down here because Mom wanted you to, didn't you?"

"Okay, she sorta did, but that's beside the point. You need to work on your aim, and speed."

Sasuke just nodded, and thus, our training session began.

--

Training ground ten. Exactly where their mom told me I'd find them.

The moment I stepped foot onto the training ground, Itachi disappeared and poked me in the side. I jump and quickly turned to face him. "Not nice," I said, desperately trying to hide the surprise in my voice.

"Scared?" he questioned.

"Of course not. After all the missions we've been on, like I would be scared of something lame like that."

"Didn't think so."

Sasuke finally looked over to us from where he had been studying a target, his face brightened up. "Kirei-chan!!" he yelled running toward me. "I haven't seen you in forever Kirei-chan! You and Itachi are never around."

Itachi poked Sasuke on the forehead with the nail of his finger. "Duh, it's called missions."

Sasuke glared at him, "I know what they're called." He turned toward me again, "Kirei-chan! I wanna show you my target throw that Big Brother was teaching me!" I nodded and Sasuke quickly went to the center of the training ground.

He closed his eyes and waited. He listened to noises made by the wind hitting, and the targets knocking on the tree for a moment. Jumping into the air, he spun around, and threw the kunai that he held and landed, one hand and both feet touching ground.

I watched the kunai head toward the targets, each one hit dead center. Sasuke looked up, and smiled widely.

"Kirei shows up after almost two hours of nonstop practice and this is the first time you get it…" Itachi said dully.

"Aw, c'mon Itachi-kun. You could at least congratulate him." He gave me an annoyed looked. "Fine," I said, I turned to Sasuke who now looked sad and unaccomplished. "Sasuke, you made a great deal of improvement in such little time, you should be proud! Not sad!"

He looked up at me, and smiled shyly. "That's better," I told him. Then, I turned back to Itachi, "Lunch is ready, so if you two wouldn't mind coming back with me…"

"You made lunch?!" Sasuke asked excitedly, "I can't wait to eat!"

"Actually, I helped your mom…" I said slowly, but he didn't seem to hear me as he ran down the path to the entrance of the training grounds.

--

When I got back, their mom had the table set up. It looked beautiful. I could just hope that everybody thought that it was good, since she had insisted that I had cooked.

"We're back!!" Sasuke yelled. Their mother walked out of the hallway, and a familiar looking boy followed her.

"Welcome back! Your father won't be able to make it to lunch though, he has to work through his lunch break. But, instead a friend of yours showed up to eat with us! Seimei-kun!"

I felt extremely stupid after that. Seimei Koryu had been in our group, which had lasted maybe two years, if that. We continued to mostly work in the same group even though he hadn't become a Chuunin when we had, but when Itachi and I became Jounin, he had been left behind. Koryu-kun…I hadn't seen him in about three years now.

"Koryu-kun!" I yelled, as I ran to hug him. He looked shocked.

"Hey, Kirei-chan," he said. I let go of him, and stepped back. "Hey Itachi."

"Koryu! It's been so long! You look so much different!" I gasped.

"So do you," he added. I saw him blush slightly…which I can't say made Itachi look all that happy.

"Itachi, I just came by to congratulate you on becoming an ANBU leader. I haven't been around much lately, Sandaime has been overloading me with missions for my team."

"Thank you…" Itachi said curtly. I glared at him, and he just looked away.

"Well! How about the four of you sit for lunch, I have some things I have to do, so I've already ate," Uchiha-san said, ushering toward the table.

We all sat, Itachi and I sat on one side of the table, while Sasuke and Koryu sat at the other side.

I looked at Koryu curiously, and I could help but notice all the differences in him. He used to always be the slow one, and one always left behind. Stupid idiot… But now, when I looked at him, he didn't read "idiot". I couldn't figure out exactly what he was anymore… He no longer looked all mousey. His hair was spiked instead of laying flat, in fact, it was a different color now as well. Instead of a light brown, it was a dark blonde. He also looked stronger, and his outfit was different. I noticed a patch on his vest. The patch of a Jounin.

"Koryu-kun…?" I asked slowly. "When did you become a Jounin?"

Koryu looked down at his vest, "Hm…" he said slowly, "It was almost a year ago, now that I think about it…"

"Congratulations!" I screamed, nearly jumping across the table, Itachi grabbed me by the stomach to keep me from falling. He lowered me back down in my seat. I gave him a pouting face, and he chose to ignore me. He seemed so cold lately…