Title: Shades of Obsession

Rating: T, M for future chapters.

Warning: Violence, Suggestive themes, eventual lemons, obsessive and slightly psychotic Itachi, dark themes, OCC-ness, possible gore, swearing, and crude humor.

Genre: Adventure/Romance/Friendship/Angst

Main Pairings: Itachi/Kagome

Side Pairings: One-sided Sasuke/Kagome, TenTen/Neji, Shikamaru/Temari.

Summary: She was so small, so delicate, and he desired her more than the life itself.

Chapter 5:

Snow

"Kindness is like snow—it beautifies everything it covers." – Anonymous.

Kagome was a child that was rather easily pleased.

She didn't need much to brighten her day or cheer her up, many saw it as a gift to always stay jovial and make others happy.

So when Kagome woke up one morning and found the ground around temple covered in white fluffy snow, she squealed in joy, flying out of her bed to get ready for her day.

Her grandmother, Kaede, had her breakfast already ready when Kagome burst into the small yet cozy kitchen. The older woman couldn't help but to smile at her granddaughter as she observed Kagome quickly shoving all the food down, desperate to be as quick as she possibly could be.

"Slow down, Kagome," the woman advised, watching as the dark haired girl smiled sheepishly, slowing down a bit.

"Sorry."

"It's quite alright," Kaede assured the young girl. "So let me guess; you are going to the Uchiha compound again?"

Kagome looked down at her feet that were dangling from the floor, embarrassment making her stop eating completely. "Umm, yeah." she whispered, meekly.

Kaede nodded in understanding.

"Don't misunderstand me, Kagome, I'm glad you made friends. You used to spend far too much time alone," she said kindly, smiling at the surprised look on girls face. "You're such kind child, I'm glad you're so happy now."

Kagome blinked before swiftly hugging a startled Kaede. "Thank you, grandmother."

"Now, I do believe I will accompany you to town. I need get some tea, it's quite chilly out there."

"Gran, don't you mean 'sake' instead of 'tea'?"

A minute later, Kagome was rubbing a bump on her head with a childish pout on her face.

The streets of Konoha were covered in a thick cover of beautiful white snow much like the temple was. Kagome was trilled to say the least, her happy hazel eyes bright with excitement. Kaede was slowly walking behind the overexcited girl, a tiny smile on her ancient face. Children were everywhere, gleeful sounds of youngster's laughter echoing around the streets as they played in snow.

"Kagome-chan!" a blond haired boy shouted, waving his arms around, successfully gaining the said girl's attention.

"Naru-kun!" she waved back, noticing that Sasuke was standing not far from the blond, staring at her with his dark eyes.

"Why don't you go and join your friends, Kagome," Kaede said, placing a hand on her granddaughter's shoulder. Kagome nodded and after giving her grandmother another hug and a quick goodbye, dashed off towards a small group of kids.

The moment Kagome was in his range, Naruto swept Kagome into a bone-crushing hug, making her laugh loudly.

"Let her go, dobe," Sasuke's voice rang coldly, and Naruto slowly release Kagome, glaring darkly at the annoyed looking Uchiha.

"Who are you to decide, teme, you act like you own her or something," Naruto accused, pointing his finger directly at Sasuke's face. "She can make her own choices, and I can hug her all I want, I'm her friend after all."

"Don't be an idiot, dobe," Sasuke hissed, turning away from them, hiding his face and a sudden dark spark in his eyes. "Oh, wait, it's already to late for that, you're already a dobe."

Naruto fumed, his face red, as he was about to charge at Sasuke, but a small hand stopped him as it rested on his shoulder. Naruto turned around and saw Kagome holding a medium sized snowball in her hand, grinning mischievously.

Sasuke didn't even know what hit him, when a cold and slightly wet lump of snow hit him straight in the side of his face. It was like everything suddenly froze, every single child around them turning to stare at the trio and the stunned Uchiha.

The silence was abruptly broken by Naruto's loud laughter. Kagome too was biting her lip, trying and failing at hiding her own mirth, staring at the seemingly motionless Sasuke. With a sharp jerk, Sasuke wiped off the snow of his face, neck and hair, before turning his burning eyes on Kagome. The girl shrunk back when she noticed his heated glare on her, using Naruto as her human shield.

"Why don't you come a little closer, Kagome," Sasuke said darkly, his eyes flashing, and Kagome gulped knowingly, easily recognizing the look in her best friends eyes. It was the same look that meant she was in a lot of trouble. "I have something important to tell you."

There was a sudden cry from a random kid in the crowd. "Snowball fight!"

And then the whole hell broke loose.

Kagome, ignoring Sasuke's still present glare, grabbed onto his hand and quickly pulled him and Naruto with her and took cover. They swiftly separated into teams and the real battle begun.

Kagome breathed deeply, catching the looks from her two remaining teammates. Sasuke was to her right, his back pressed against the bark of an old oak tree. Naruto was on her left; he was hiding behind a big slope of snow, his face looking unusually determined.

Kagome exhaled deeply, briefly closing her eyes in concentration. The tree of them were up against Shikamaru, Kiba and Ino, who were the only three people remaining on the opposing team. Kagome knew that Shikamaru, although lazy, was amazing at creating effective strategies, many called him a young genius for his amazing intelligence. Kiba, on other hand was all about physical strength, he was both fast and strong for his age, which served him very well in playing this game. However, Kagome had to admit that she was rather surprised by the fact that Ino was still in the game. She was quick and very crafty so it was hard to get her.

But, Kagome knew that she had this game in the bag. Sasuke was incredibly agile and strong, not to mention very smart; he was an Uchiha after all. Naruto was not called a number one prankster of Konoha for no reason either; his stealth skills were very good when he needed them. Kagome was their main strategist, helping them survive effectively so far.

Lifting her head and winking at both of her teammates, Kagome gave Naruto their agreed signal, and the blond demon host dashed forward from his hiding spot, letting out a gaudy battle cry. Two snowballs were clenched tightly in his hands as he aimed them towards Shikamaru and Kiba who jumped up from their hiding spots.

"Here I COME!" he yelled, jumping high in the air, throwing the two snowballs in the air and towards the two boys who were more than ready to defend themselves. Naruto, sadly, misjudged his throw and the two snowballs sailed past both Shikamaru and Kiba. Naruto landed on the ground a little roughly and Kiba immediately jumped at the opportunity to throw his own snowball at him. Luckily, Naruto managed to dodge it, making Ino jump out of her hiding spot as well, aiming her own ball of snow at the hyper blond.

Kagome gave Sasuke a sharp nod, and the Uchiha boy quickly vanished from her view. Kagome wasted no time to leap from her own hiding spot, but for Naruto it was already too late as he laid on the snow covered ground, wiping off his lightly bruised cheek were Shikamaru's snowball hit him.

Sprinting forward, Kagome managed to catch both Shikamaru and Ino off guard as her snowballs managed to hit them both on their heads. Kagome stopped next to the fallen Naruto, instantly hoisting him from the cold ground, brushing some snow off him. She managed to ignore Ino's shrieks of displeasure as Shikamaru slowly cleaned his own face.

"Kagome! You got snow all over my face and in my hair!" Ino screamed, looking frustrated as she tugged on her blond hair. Kagome smiled slightly, biting her lip.

"Sorry, Ino," she said apologetically, supporting Naruto who was now standing beside her.

Suddenly, an amused chuckle sounded behind her and Kagome turned around and saw a smug looking Kiba standing behind them. He wore a huge smirk on his face, two snowballs of his own in each hand as he leisurely tossed them up and down in the air.

"Hehe…did you forget about me, Kagome-chan?" he asked teasingly and Kagome tensed when he threw two snowballs directly at her face, leaving her no chance of dodging. She actually panicked, silently wondering where Sasuke was; he was supposed to make his move ages ago. But before she could wonder that out loud, a black and blue blur suddenly landed before her protectively and everyone watched in awe as Sasuke caught two snowballs and crushed them into tiny bits.

Kiba gulped audibly, looking panicked as Sasuke pinned him with a dark look that would scare most people witless. The dark haired boy leered at him, pulling his own snowball out of his jacket pocket.

"Sorry, did you happen to forget about me?" Sasuke questioned, staring at the boy through narrowed eyes, inwardly enjoying the way Kiba froze up.

It was Kiba's turn to stand numbly as snow smeared all over his face. Kagome and Naruto laughed and cheered, both looking pleased that they won.

"How troublesome. I never expected Kagome to sacrifice Naruto to get to us," Shikamaru mumbled, boringly cleaning his clothes. Sasuke looked at the blond knowingly, an amused smile on his face.

"Dobe was the only one capable of distracting the lot of you while I and Kagome got into our positions," he explained smoothly, rolling his eyes vaguely when Kagome flung her arm around his shoulder, including him into a 'group hug'.

Ino blushed lightly but then scowled at Kagome as she hugged Sasuke tightly, and the worst part was the fact that Sasuke actually allowed her to hug him.

"Kagome. Otouto."

Everyone jumped when Uchiha Itachi unexpectedly landed in front of Sasuke and Kagome, latter still holding onto Naruto.

Itachi observed intently Kagome's flushed face and Sasuke faintly running nose, his dark eyes lingering on Kagome's arms around Naruto and vise-versa. Itachi's hands twitched a little, the action going unnoticed by everyone but Sasuke. Itachi hated the very idea of his little Kagome being anywhere near the Kyuubi's host and it took a lot of will power not to go right up to them and forcefully rip the blond boy away from her.

"Mother wants you home, Sasuke, the last thing she want is for you to catch a cold," Itachi said boringly, watching as Kagome's face fell a little. "She also said that Kagome is more than welcome to join us," he added a little more gently than before, his eyes focused solely on Kagome.

Sasuke nodded his head, turning to face the miko girl who after detaching herself from Naruto (much to Itachi's inaudible relief) skipped towards her best friend, grabbing onto his hand. Ino twitched angrily, but smiled back as Kagome waved at everyone, promising to meet them all tomorrow.

Itachi followed after his younger brother and his best friend, but not before casting another dark look at Naruto, who actually took a step back from slight fear.

Kagome, meanwhile, was humming under her breath, smiling at the sound of snow crunching beneath her feet. Her hand held tightly onto Sasuke's hand and the younger Uchiha walked beside her, occasionally glancing up to look at the wide grin on her face. Itachi caught up with the two in no time, silently observing the happy miko and his little brother.

"Mother made us some tea," he said, watching as two dark heads turned towards him. Kagome cheered, pumping her fist in the air.

"Yay! I love Mikoto-san's tea!" she replied chirpily, increasing her phase even more, almost dragging Sasuke with her, who unsurprisingly looked less than trilled.

Itachi shook his head, looking amused by Kagome's cheerfulness.

The trio made it back to Uchiha compound rather quickly as they stepped into a spacious hallway, removing their wet clothes in Kagome's and Sasuke's case.

Mikoto, hearing the commotion in the hallways, poked her head from the kitchen and beamed brightly when she saw that her sons were back, and that they brought Kagome with them.

"Ah. So you're all back, come on quickly, I have tea prepared," the older female said, ushering three children into the kitchen, seating them around the dinner table.

Kagome took her cup carefully from Mikoto's hands and took a small sip of her drink, closing her eyes and purring in content as warm liquid ran down her throat, warming her up. Her happiness only increased when Mikoto brought in two large blankets and wrapped them around Sasuke and herself.

Itachi smiled faintly, leisurely sipping on his tea, observing as Kagome snuggled into the blanket, her eyes half-lidded. Nonetheless, his good mood rapidly vanished when he sensed an all too familiar chakra signature approaching their household.

A short knock on the door came only few seconds later, and Itachi's body tensed whether Kagome and Sasuke stared at the door with burning curiosity. Mikoto opened the door smoothly, making a sound of surprise and pleasure as Shisui's figure strode in, shaking his head to get rid of the snow that was now freshly falling outside.

"My, Shisui, it's so good to see you again, its been a while," Mikoto said pleasantly, leading the boy into the kitchen where he was met with two pairs of questioning eyes and one pair of dark eyes that glared at him, even if his expression was emotionless like usual.

"Sorry, Mikoto-san, I've been busy with missions lately," the boy replied embarrassedly. Mikoto smiled sympathetically, gesturing for the fellow Uchiha to take a seat while she made more tea.

Shisui smiled and thanked her as he strode to take a seat behind the table.

"It's good to see you, Itachi, Sasuke," he greeted, his gaze resting on the small girl sitting between two brothers. "And who's this? I don't think I've seen you around before. Are you Sasuke's friend? What's your name?"

The little miko blushed under older boys inquiring stare, and making a small whimpering sound, pulled the blanket tighter around her, and pressed herself against Itachi's side, hiding her face against his shirt. Sasuke sighed as if used to the action and resuming his tea drinking, but Itachi paused and sensing the small girls distress, lifted his hand and loosely dropped his arm around her shoulder.

Shisui had to bite his tongue from saying something stupid or letting his jaw drop. He knew for a fact that Itachi hated to be touched; it was a well-known fact. He disliked any sort of physical contact with anyone but his little brother. Any sort of human contact he did make were with enemies—if they were actually good enough to even touch him—or his little brother who Itachi cared great deal about.

So, seeing this little girl pressing against Itachi came as a huge surprise, but it was even bigger surprise when Itachi so casually dropped his arm around her, in almost soothing motion as if reassuring her that he was there for her.

Could she be...? Is it possible that she's the other person Itachi said he cares about?

Sasuke glanced at Kagome briefly before turning to face Shisui again. "Her name is Kagome."

"Eh. Nice to meet you, Kagome-chan, my name is Shisui," the older boy said, hoping to ease her nerves. Nevertheless, she did the opposite and pressed herself even tighter against Itachi's side. Itachi having enough, placed his empty cup on the table and with one swift move gathered Kagome in his arms, carrying her out of the kitchen, ignoring Sasuke's calls for them to come back and Shisui's astonished face.

Kagome didn't make a sound as Itachi carried her to his room, gently placing her on his bed. The young girl peeked at him, her expression apprehensive.

"Are you mad?"

Itachi sat besides her, giving her a sideways look. "No, I simply didn't want you to be around Shisui if you're feeling uncomfortable."

Kagome let the blanket rest around her shoulders as she crawled closer towards Itachi, resting her head on his shoulder; even though she could barley reach it. Itachi gave her a delicate smile, running his hand through her soft hair, causing her to relax even more against him.

"I don't like him."

Itachi paused in his action before resuming it again. "Why?"

"He looks at you weirdly," she groused sleepily, snuggling into him and Itachi laid down, letting her lay her head on his chest as she sighed contentedly.

"He's my friend, Kagome," he said, his arms resting around her tiny form, listening to her regular breathing.

Kagome snorted tiredly, huddling as close as possible to Itachi's warm body. "You have some strange friends, Itachi-nii," she whispered, and Itachi smiled briefly, staring up at the ceiling.

Their moment was broken by a quite knock on his door, and when the door creaked open a concerned and embarrassed looking Sasuke stood in the doorway.

Kagome sluggishly lifted her head from Itachi's chest and smiled weakly at Sasuke, lifting her hand towards him as if waiting for him to take it.

"Come on, Sasu," she mumbled, still holding her hand towards him expectantly. Sasuke flushed lightly, abruptly turning away from them, hiding his reddened face.

"What are you doing sleeping with, nii-san?" he asked a hint of anger present in his voice.

Kagome blinked again, and Itachi masked his amusement as she patted his bed twice. "Come already, Sasu, I'm sleepy."

Sasuke opened his mouth to say something, but one look from Itachi made him snap his mouth shut and nod. Staring awkwardly at the floor, he came closer towards the bed and laid on other side of Itachi, moving closer towards him when his older brother gave him a softer look and patted his head.

Kagome just smiled tiredly, closing her eyes, her small hand holding onto Itachi's shirt firmly.

The three fell asleep in that position before they even realized what happened.

The next morning came quickly and Mikoto woke up early like usual. After going through her morning routine, she began making breakfast for everyone. Glancing at the clock, Mikoto blinked, wondering why no one was awake yet. Fugaku had left for work early that morning, but Itachi too was an very early riser, he usually trained for hour or two before she finished breakfast. With that thought in mind Mikoto finished cooking food and set out to wake up both Sasuke and possibly Itachi, not to forget Kagome who according to Sasuke, Itachi took to his room yesterday and never came back.

She stopped before Sasuke's door first and knocked gently before opening the wooden door. Mikoto blinked when she saw an empty bed, covers freshly made like Sasuke haven't even slept in his bed. A sense of dread filled Mikoto before she hurriedly walked towards Itachi's bedroom doors.

Mikoto didn't even bother to knock when she hurled the door open, freezing at the scene she was met with.

Biting inside her cheek to stop herself from saying; 'AWW!' Mikoto inspected the cute sight before her.

Her two boys and Kagome were all curled up on Itachi's bed, sleeping soundly. Itachi was in the middle, his face more relaxed and peaceful than Mikoto had seen in a long while, his head titled to rest on top of Kagome's, one of his arms around her waist. Kagome laid on his left, her head resting on Itachi's chest and one of her tiny feet intertwined with his own. Sasuke was resting on Itachi's right, his head laid on his brother's shoulder, one of his hands holding onto Kagome's.

In other words, it had to be the cutest scene Mikoto had ever seen. So, after giving the sleeping children another smile, she noiselessly closed the door, letting them sleep a while longer.

Mikoto knew that all three of them were incredibly close, but what she really worried about was the unavoidable truth that one day Kagome would have to choose which boy she cared about more, and it would prove to be painful for everyone.

After all, she could only have one brother.

Author Says: Hello, my beloved readers. I apologize for the late update, I've been sick entire weekend, and I'm still sick now with sore throat, stuffy nose and temperature. So, I hope you can forgive me for my lateness. And please don't hate me for any glaring mistakes in this chapter, I tried my best. I also know that the snow thing is kind of cliche, but I love snow, so don't blame me for adding it. One could also say it's a short break from the darker theme in the last chapter, but it is really a silence before the storm.

Also, I want to thank each and everyone of you for reviewing, even if the number of reviews dropped again. And I REALLY, REALLY hope to make it the big old 100 this chapter. It is 28 reviews away, but you know what? A LOT of people read this, so if you want to make the author VERY happy, please help me reach 100. Plus, this chapter is the longest yet, so it deserves the reviews! I'm not begging or anything, it just would be very cool if you all did review. ^^ Don't forget the 100th reviewer still gets the chapter dedication too! :D

Loads of love.

A.~