A/N: Hey guys! Okay, I kind of don't want to say anything, sorry. But that's because I just read the latest Naruto chapter and I seriously want to CRY IN MY ROOM FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE! I DON'T WANT TO DO ANYTHING ELSE BUT CRY CRY CRY! WAAHHHH, ITACHI! SASUKE!

I don't OWN ANY OF THE Naruto characters or the story itself. I kind of wish I did because the last chapter was too fricken sad but what can I do? I honestly don't think I did this chapter any justice but it's what's planned and I ain't going to change it. Thank you for all your wonderful reviews and support, especially to my OC. I know some of you are wishing that this isn't Itachi's child but her real story will come soon. Just be patient with me, please! Thank you and enjoy!

-cry in the corner-

Ch. 17: The Mysterious Child

"Who…is your papa?"

She couldn't believe it. The instant she saw that man, she knew who he was. His black hair, his dark eyes, his pale skin, his facial structure…they all remind her of him. Even his voice. That's why she mistook him for her actual papa. But this man isn't him. He's…

The child took many steps back, as much as she could to stay away. She was told not to fear him but seeing him, here, so close to the village, it only meant one thing. And that one thing terrified her and instantly made her body, mind, and soul cry in denial. She didn't want to believe. She didn't want to believe the reason why Uchiha Sasuke is here in Konoha.

"Y- You…You-re Uchiha Sasuke…"

Before, she only saw a slight image of what he looked like and that was why she misunderstood who he really was. But him, more in the light than she is right now up against a tree in the forest, she can see the surprise in his eyes and she knew right then that he knows who her papa is. The only thing that came to her mind at that exact moment was run. Leave, because she couldn't bear this any longer.

"Wait!" He called for her but he didn't follow. He allowed her to run and run she did.

The little girl kept running. She had no destination in mind. She just wanted to get away.

'It's him!' she declared in her mind after several minutes pass of just mindless running. The image of that man when the lightning struck is still in her mind. She was told about him and even though she never saw his face before, the resemblance is too incredible to deny. If she couldn't tell differently, she would say they look like twins.

Due to the child's hysterical running, she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings. She trips over a root in no time and she skids in the mud. But she doesn't get up right away. She doesn't have the will to get up and run. Sasuke isn't chasing her so she can stay exactly where she is; in the mud and under the rain. There she starts letting the tears roll out of her eyes.

'Then…papa is…papa is…!'

A flash of her papa's face appears in her mind; the last time she saw him. He smiled at her that day. He never smiled before. His face was always blank with emotion but his touch was always tender and kind. Then he smiled. Out of nowhere, he smiled at her and instead of feeling all of the love he probably had for her, the child only felt dread and uneasiness. But she pushed it away when it happened for the sake of the moment. She ignored it and she always had the feeling that she should have kept her papa with her instead of letting him go that day or even ask him why he smiled.

Now she knows why.

"…papa…"

She knows she can never see him again.

Never see his blank eyes that held back emotion that raged to be free from within.

Never hear his stern but tender voice.

Never feel his cold but warm touch.

Never hear him call the name he had given her long ago.

'Amaya…'

With tears endlessly falling from his eyes like the rain above her, her bottom lip trembling, the cold no longer affecting her small trembling body, she couldn't hold back her cry any longer.

"WAAAAHHHH! PAPA!"

If only the rain had fallen harder and the thunder booming throughout the night, no one would have heard her and two dark shadows wouldn't have approached her.

"You, girl!"

The child heard that even when her sobs continued to cry and cry. She stopped her sobbing suddenly and she looked up to see two grown-ups with similar white and black uniforms and just barely different masks hiding their faces. She gasped when she saw them. Not because she knew what they are but just the fact that the two of them are tall, dark strangers. She suddenly felt fear and that is not a good combination to her already stressing body.

"What are you doing out here at this time of night out of the village," the one with a bird looking mask asks.

The child didn't respond. She only got up and tried to get away but her ankle prevents her too. She ended up falling right back on her butt and trembling up against a tree.

"Hey, it's alright," the other said. "We only want to know why you're out here at this time of night. It's not safe for you here."

But the child isn't trembling because of fear when that masked shinobi took a step towards her.

"Don't come near me!" she snaps. She's trembling because of something else.

She can feel it. She can feel it coming!

The ANBU was startled when the child made that outburst. He was trying to go for a gentle approach since they did after all hear this little girl crying for her papa. Something must have happened for the two of them to be separated. Did she get lost or did something terrible happen to him?

However while the nice ANBU is looking at the child in concern, the other notices something. There may be nothing but darkness so deep in the woods but the ANBU are trained to have excellent night vision so now that the child's face is completely exposed to them, he sees her facial features and instantly recognizes the similarities between her and someone else.

"This girl…she looks like Uchiha Itachi!"

Both the girl and the other ANBU gasp when they heard that but the child, something inside of her snaps.

Without warning, the bird ANBU grabs the girl's arm and roughly pulls her up. "You're coming with us back to the village."

She cries in pain, "Ah!"

The other ANBU tried to tell his partner, "That's too rough."

"The Uchihas at this point and enemies to the village. Lord Danzo would need to see this child once he returns from the Kage meeting."

The child struggles against the tight hold on her. "No, please…let me go…I..I don't want to…"

But for her it becomes too late. Her naturally red eyes turn gold and her pupils become skinny and vertical.

…

…

"You cannot be serious!" Karin exclaims.

Sasuke just tells her, "I am completely serious."

The red-head cannot believe this. Here they are, in Sasuke's home in Konoha, resting their wounds, and while the Uchiha is looking out the window while still staying hidden from any ANBU Black Ops, he tells Karin that they are not leaving the village when she told Suigetsu that they were going to leave back for the Akatsuki as soon as they were healed. Now Suigetsu is snickering behind the flabbergasted Karin while Juugo is sipping his tea. He feels completely at peace here for some reason. He hasn't gotten a single murderous impulse or anything since he's been here, and it's only his second day.

"But…But…" Trying to regain her composure, Karin reminds, "Madara told you the truth of what this village did to your brother and you're still just going to stay here and protect it while they're trying to capture you as we speak?"

"And whose fault is that, I wonder." Karin snaps her mouth shut when Sasuke says that, as well as Suigetsu stops snickering and Juugo stops sipping tea.

Yes, it's their fault Sasuke is now being hunted down by the Hokage's black ops but that's also due to that cautious self-righteous man known as Danzo. They're all practically trapped here in this village and they're hiding out in the most obvious spot but those black ops don't even know that they're here, or that Team Hebi is still alive. To try and make it look more convincing, Sakura went back to her medical duties to help those who gained work injuries or collapsed from fatigue. People like Yamato who's still making buildings with his wood technique. Naruto is also helping with construction and anything else he can do that'll keep him away from the house with Sai following him since he's still ordered by Danzo to watch him. The only one watching Team Hebi and Sasuke to make sure they don't do anything stupid and to protect them is Kakashi. Normally he would help but if anyone asks, he'll say he's still resting his wounds as his excuse. Team Hebi may not make a break for it since they refuse to leave without Sasuke but if something were to happen, like the ANBU do find them, who's going to help them when they have fresher wounds. For now, the four of them are in the living room in the center of the house with sutras in the wound to help hide their chakra better and they are not to leave the room. The window Sasuke is looking out, it's a big deliberate hole in the wall that has a view of the garden, several doors and a room away.

Though while he's staring out that window, there are a lot of things on his mind. After what happened last night, he used the teleportation sutra to return to inside Konoha's walls and into his home. Everyone practically stayed up waiting for him; rather it was because Naruto had just arrived and explained that he left the Uchiha alone with his thoughts at his brother's grave, or because they were all so anxious to Sasuke's decision they couldn't sleep. You can just imagine the relieve faces on Naruto's and Sakura's faces when they saw him. Kakashi and Yamato looked relieved as well but not as overdramatic as some people. Sai just smiled while Karin grumbled, Suigetsu snickered, and Juugo smiled as well at the truly happy faces on the blonde's and pink-head's faces. Though coming back here, it means to Sasuke that he's playing the role as Konoha's hero; the role assigned to him by his brother. But he came back for another reason. It was because he wanted he met that girl. She hasn't left his mind at all since that night.

So thinking things through, if Sasuke goes to Madara, he might not be able to see her again. Since Itachi is now classified as a cautious thinker, he more than likely didn't tell Madara about her. There is obviously no trust between them even if Madara helped Itachi eliminate the clan. Itachi wouldn't tell Madara about a child that could very well, as impossible as it still is, be his daughter. So coming back to the village, Sasuke has a higher chance of seeing that child again. He has so many questions for her and she is all that the Uchiha has left of his brother.

If this is another role given to him from Itachi from beyond the grave, then fine. Sasuke will play along. Only because he doesn't want some random person getting their hands on a lost, unprotected Uchiha child.

…

…

Just outside the village walls, there are a couple of ANBU at the spot two other ANBUs used to be; along with a child they found last night. These two ANBUs have also a ninja dog with them and are then soon joined by another moments later. Before the third ANBU arrived, these two plus the dog were investigating.

"What is the emergency?" the recently arrived cat-masked ANBU asks.

Another ANBU with a bird-looking mask responds, "Two ANBUs were murdered last night."

"Murdered?"

"Yes," responds the monkey-looking mask ANBU. "It rained so some of the ashes have been washed away but without a doubt, Senji says he can still smell some of their blood on the trees and grass. By the amount spilled before it was washed away, they were more likely ripped apart."

The news of this sounds frightful enough. ANBUs from the leaf are strong so to hear that someone ripped them apart, TWO of them, it's almost sounds inhuman.

"Do we know who the culprit is?"

The dog, Senji, raises his head up from the ground and he responds, "It's a scent I have never smelled before but it has a few traces that are familiar in some sense. Like an offspring of scents that I know."

The bird ANBU asks, "Who do the scents belong to, Senji?"

"You're not going to like it but the scent smells sixty-seven percent Uchiha."

Nope, none of the ANBUs were pleased to hear this.

"Uchiha?" the monkey questions.

The cat thinks aloud, "Lord Danzo may have claimed Uchiha Sasuke as an enemy of the village but he is one-hundred percent Uchiha. To be sixty-seven at least, the parents of this culprit must have been a full-Uchiha and an Uchiha-half breed."

"It gets better," Senji warns them before going back to the ground. As his nose sniffs the ground, his wet cold nose finds a strand of hair. A long dark red strand of hair. He sniffs it a little longer and judging by the stern, calculating look on his face, he's not liking this anymore but there is no denying what his nose has discovered. "To have ripped two ANBUs apart would have been admirable in a sense of this person being strong. However, the culprit behind this crime is female and could have been no older than the age of six."

The person behind this crime is human and is a CHILD?

…

…

At the Konha wall on the same side of the village as Sasuke's home, something moves through the wall. First it was a few fingers, than hands and a foot, arms and a leg, and then a body with a head with the other leg coming in from behind. A person walks right through the Konoha walls. A girl with waist length, braided, dark brown-redish looking hair, snow white skin, and crimson red doll-like eyes. Now that she's in the light, it would be easy to see that under her hooded robe, there is a maroon color outfit that looks like knee length leggings, and a shirt over it with a bare round collar. Wrapped around her waist is a black slash. She's bear foot and even though she bears such a great resemblance to the child Sasuke saw last night, this girl looks older. Much older; a decade at least. Her legs appear long and skinny and her arms are probably the same but cannot be determined so easily under her robe. Her waist is skinny and her bust is not big but it's not small either. It's right in between.

"Okay, operation 'get in' success," she says to herself after looking around and up at the wall to be certain no one saw her come in.

Before her she sees a house, it appears empty at the moment but the window is clean so she could see her reflection. Walking up to the window, she makes sure she looks decent. Her clothes look good, her hair is neat, she's clean, and her body looks perfect. However taking a closer look at her eyes, she has slight coloring under them and her eyes are still swollen. She notices that but she doesn't worry. Instead, a sad smile in remembrance of why her eyes are like this appears on her face and she admits, "Can't do anything about this now can I?"

Other than the eyes, she looks perfect. If anyone sees her, she can still maneuver through village without a hitch. 'Just remain calm and try to act normal,' she thinks to herself. 'Be courteous, do not be rude, stay in control, and do not start something you don't want to finish or can finish. You need to do this. At the moment, Sasuke is all you have.'

With those thoughts in her head, she turns away from the house and starts walking with a determined look on her face. She knows where she needs to go and now she just needs to get there and get in without causing any kind of problem at all.

Only in her prayers can she believe it will be that simple.

It didn't take her too long to find the house she was looking for. The big, grand looking house was only two houses away from where she were. As soon as she saw it, her heart started to pound faster and harder than it did before. She was nervous about coming to the village and now she's panicking if she really does look presentable to be here. But she has to do this! She already made up her mind and with one more thought of encouragement to herself, she approaches Sasuke's home and knocks on the front door.

Knock, knock

Several minutes later, the door opens and reveals to the teenage looking girl a man with spiky silver hair, a half-masked face, and a shinobi outfit with long black pants and a green vest. When Kakashi saw the girl, she's looking rather nervous and a little uncollective at the moment. Her anxiety was bubbling up in her gut the longer she had to wait. She was really worrying if anyone was here, she didn't already sense the presence of people living inside. The ONLY people living at this side of the village. The girl was tangling her fingers around end of her shirt when he opened the door. Now that he's here, she hastily tries to stop that tangling and now she's trying to make sure that she's looking her best before him but her nerves are failing her miserable. Kakashi doesn't care about that at the moment. He noticed her fidgeting but he notices something else a lot more.

Still he smiles to be friendly, which just looks like his one eye turning into an upside down U, and his voice sounds courteous when he asks, "Can I help you?"

"Y-Yes," she replies. Giving up on trying to give a good first impression, the girl takes a deep mental breathe and tells him, "I-I came to visit Uchiha Sasuke. The last time we met wasn't exactly a good first greeting and I want to make up for it. He's wounded so I thought maybe I should come to see how he's doing." As best as she could.

Kakahi's finger twitches when he heard that but he does not let his act slip to this young girl before him. Surely one of the village girls who Sasuke has easily captured the heart of with his dashing good looks and his lonely, distant-looking charm. Best not to jump to conclusions just yet.

"You're very kind to have come all this way but I'm afraid Sasuke is not here at the moment. His wounds from the Pein Attack have healed considerably so he doesn't want to stay in the house too long." But his real thoughts are, 'I thought the villagers were notified that Sasuke was no longer in the village. Danzo claiming that he deliberately abandoned the village for higher power. It's a blessing that we are not the only ones in the village who believe that Danzo should not have the Hokage seat and that Sasuke would never do such a thing, but still…'

Hearing Kakashi's words confuse the girl a bit. "I wasn't talking about those wounds. Didn't he obtain fresher wounds last night?" And the second she asked that, Kakashi's aura changed drastically.

One second the girl was outside the door and the next, she's inside the house because of a rough strong pull on her arm, her back is up against the closed door, a kunai knife is now at her throat, and the girl is staring directly into the frightening, accusing eye of a serious, protective Hatake shinobi. Fear pierces instantly into her heart and all she can do is stand there on the border of life and death.

"Who are you? Do you work for Danzo?" Kakashi asks, coldly.

The girl's body shakes and to any normal person, the girl looks utterly scared and clueless to what Kakashi is talking about; the 'working for Danzo' part. But Kakashi assumes instead that this girl is a very trained Black Op who uses her innocent sweet looks to get the information she needs. However, admitting that she knows about Sasuke's new wounds was not a smart move a professional ANBU would make.

The girl is trembling under the blade and her eyes are full of fear and panic but looking closely, strange enough her eyes are not full of fear and panic for the fact that she could very well die here if she doesn't prove her innocence. They're full of fear and panic for something else. Something…much more dangerous.

"P-Please…" she whimpers. "Don't make me do it again."

Do what again?

"Kakashi!"

Both middle age man and the teenage girl look over Kakashi's shoulder and there stands Sasuke out of the living room and with his team not too far away, watching. The Uchiha has serious eyes himself when he looks at his old team teacher and he tells him just the same, "You may release her. She means no harm to us." If given the chance, Kakashi would have either asked Sasuke what he meant that she means them no harm or he would have ordered him to go back to the living room incase he really has to do something to this girl he wouldn't be pleased about doing. But the Uchiha turns his attention to the girl and his eyes look gentler when he looks at her. "Are you alright?" Even his voice has changed just as much. That is what silence and startles Kakashi.

Watching from the back-ground, Juugo is blinking at the scene, Suigetsu raises a brow, and Karin completely tenses up and looks really taken back that Sasuke is talking nice to this girl. What the hell? He's never talked to her like that!

The girl didn't answer. She would have nodded but she's not alright. She still has a knife up against on her neck. She looks back at Kakashi and the spiky silver hair man looks at his student with caution when he asks, "Do you know this girl?"

"We met only last night and just as she said, our first meeting wasn't a pleasant one," he replies.

'WHAT?' Karin screams in her head. 'Sasuke met this wench last night?'

"However when I saw her, she was much younger than how she appears now." Huh? "Kakashi, please remove your weapon."

He doesn't want to but Sasuke is an adult and if he's sure, then so be it. Kakashi removes his kunai knife and the second he does, the girl slides down the door and collapses to her knees; panting and gasping as if she was actually being choked by that knife, and her hand grasps the area right over her heart. Maybe this girl really isn't an ANBU Black Op, but she doesn't look normal either.

Several moments later, she finishes calming down. The girl takes in a few more deep breathes again before looking back up at Sasuke. Then she bows down till her forehead touches the ground and she says, "I'm so very sorry for the intrusion and I'm sorry for my rudeness yesterday. You saved me from wolves and it must have difficult for you by the wounds you possessed. And I repay you by running away. I'm sorry for causing you trouble."

Yep. She is definitely not a member of the ANBU. Saved by wolves? She seems polite and well-mannered, that's a pleasant thing but it's probably a more relief thing to know that she's not a threat.

"Your form doesn't appear to be genjutsu." The girl looks back up at the Uchiha and all eyes are on him actually when he adds, "But neither was the form you had last night. What is your real form?"

Real form?

Hearing that, the girl looks to the side in guilt for a moment but she's makes her decision. She stands up and with her eyes closed, her entire body glows red and then blue as her body shrinks and reverses in time. All but Sasuke's eyes widen as they watch this sixteen-year old looking girl change into nothing more than a six year old child right before their eyes. Her hair and her clothes adjust to her new body with the hair still being waist length and her clothes adjusting to size but instead of legging-looking pants, they look long and a little baggy. But till overall, she doesn't need children clothes to keep her covered and her hair isn't so long that she needs to cut it. Her body still glows blue for a moment more before reopening her eyes that now appear huge on her little round face. She went from beautifully attractive to as-cute-as-a-button adorable in a matter of seconds.

Seeing her, Karin no longer hates her as a love-threat. She instead wants to take that little girl and cuddle it in her arms like a little plushy doll.

The girl tells them all, "This is my true form. I just have the ability to change how old I want to look. I tried to appear older so I could go through the village without any suspicion incase anyone saw me. Plus, it would have looked weird for a child to appear on your door step."

Karin almost couldn't take it. Those big eyes, that sweet little voice, and that uncomfortable look on her face, it pulls on her heart strings. She truly does want to cuddle that little girl to death.

Sasuke asks her, "You came seeking me, why?"

"Because I had to. I wanted to apologize for just running like that when I mistook you for my papa. It was dark and I hadn't eaten for days. My eye-sight wasn't as clear as it would be at night."

It probably also didn't help that it was storming last night so she had no other light in the darkness. How did she manage to survive the night in that condition?

"You haven't eaten in days?" That wasn't Sasuke.

In less than a blink of an eye, Karin goes up to the little girl and picks her up. The girl looks started when this strange woman just did that and the others, including Sasuke, they look shock or startled as well. Walking away with her, Karin coos, "You poor, poor child. How on earth could you have been living in such terrible condition? We have plenty of food enough to share. Come with your onee-chan and she'll fatten you right up."

Karin walks into the kitchen with that little girl and now the guys, Suigetsu mostly, are wondering if Karin has officially lost it. She didn't act like her macho self and she even told the little girl to call her 'onee-chan'. That is honestly not normal.

However in the kitchen, the little girl gasps suddenly.

"Wait!"

Karin was just about to ask her what was wrong, when she senses something coming to the house. Three of them and fast. She knows these chakras!

Darting back into the hallway, she announces, "Guys, we have company! Three ANBU's are coming here."

And I think I'll stop it there. So how was it? Bad? Good? Bleah? Let me know, okay? Till next time!