Weeping Samurai | Uchiha Itachi [Editing]

Chapter 9: Distant Rain

“Shiro-san?”

Her thoughts were interrupted, Shiro shaking her head slightly to clear her foggy mind.

“Hai,” she replied blankly. “She's my everything now. My family was the only thing that mattered to me, and seeing now that my parents are dead, Yoru is the only family I have left.”

“I can understand that,” Itachi nodded, sighing. “I feel the same way about Sasuke.”

Shiro tilted her head toward the ninja, her face still.

“Sasuke?” she inquired. “The lone survivor of the Uchiha Massacre?”

“He is my otouto,” Itachi drew out a long sigh again. “My beloved little brother.”

Shiro blinked twice, staring at him with peering eyes before turning her gaze back to the dying flames.

“Beloved, hmm...?” she murmured. “I'm surprised someone like you has a beloved in this world anymore.”

Itachi's eyes snapped towards her.

“What is that supposed to mean?” he growled.

“A little brother, huh...?” Shiro mused, ignoring the shinobi's hostility. “How old is he?”

Itachi glowered at her before answering, “sixteen.”

The samurai closed her onyx eyes in sorrow.

“Yoru-chan would be seventeen by now I believe.” Shiro's mouth drew out a long exhale. “I wonder if her hair has grown...or if she cut it...”

“Shiro-san,” the raven-haired ninja cut her off. “There is something I must tell you about my otouto.”

Shiro slowly turned her head towards the shinobi.

“What is it?”

“Sasuke,” he said as he clenched his jaw, “hates me. He wants to kill me.”

“Nani? Naze? (What? Why?)”

But Shiro already knew why, her eyes widening a bit.

“Because I killed our family,” Itachi whispered. “I killed Otousan and Okaasan, so my dear little brother has vowed it upon his own life to hunt me down and kill me, as the avenger of the Uchiha Clan.”

“Avenger of the Uchiha Clan...” the samurai murmured, closing her eyes. There was a long pause.  “I heard of a story once while traveling in the Iron. It's quite a popular story throughout the world, so I would presume you know it.”

“Story?” Itachi huffed. “The only famous one I can think of is the legend of Otsutsuki Hagoromo, the Sage of Six Paths.”

“Well this isn't as big as the story of the Sage of Six Paths,” Shiro held her pale hands on top of the lowering flames, the warm seeming to thaw her numbing fingers, “the almighty creator of ninjutsu. This is much more recent; it happened twelve years ago, a few months after the termination of my village.”

Itachi lowered his eyes, dark and somber.

“Oh yes, I think I know the story you're talking about; the tale of Akuma Izoku, the Demon of the Shadows.”

“I hear her clan jutsu was vicious,” Shiro murmured, her voice distant and tiny. “The Demon Summoning Jutsu, was it? And I was told that the first time she used it was when she was five. That's phenomenal!”

“Indeed. She used it to fight the Hidden Leaf in the Invasion of In'ei,” Itachi muttered. “I witnessed it myself, and I can tell you that it was something I've never seen before.”