In the Shadow of the Crow {Itachi x Reader}

Chapter 2

"Hidan, stop," Itachi said as he made his way to Y/N.

Itachi knelt and gathered her into his arms.

"What the hell are you two doing here?" Hidan spat.

"On our way back from our mission."

"I don't see the Nine-Tails. Looks like you have to go back. Leave me be, can't you see I'm fucking busy!"

"This one is off limits, Hidan."

"Nothing is off limits for Jashin!"

Hidan took his spear and pierced his heart. Kisame looked on in curiosity, this was his first time witnessing Hidan's ritual. Itachi missed his chance to stop Hidan by mere seconds.

Y/N cried out as her chest became soaked with her own blood. She looked to Itachi, pleading for safety. Y/N thought back to the day he had awakened his Sharingan.

The two walked back to their compounds, in defeat, after the loss of Tenma. The Hijiri had always had a long standing with the Uchiha. The compounds were relocated to the edge of the Leaf Village together.

Neither of them spoke while they replayed the events of their mission in their minds. Y/N was hit with pain as she realized a sad fact about her teammate.

"You can only awaken the Sharingan through pain. That doesn't seem very fair."

Itachi shrugged, "I don't think many things in life are."

Fugaku stood at the compound entrance, waiting for Itachi. He smiled when he saw how well his son and the Hijiri princess were getting along. He was oblivious to their sadness, failing to note that their team was short a member.

A loud commotion came from the Hijiri compound. It was Y/N's brother.

"You're right Itachi," Y/n said sadly. It hurt her to see her brother going down the path that the most celebrated Hijiri ninjas went down.

Brow's furrowed, Kisame connected the dots.

"Don't fucking worry Uchiha," Hidan rolls his eyes, "She's immortal."

"She is?" Kisame raised his brow.

"Not in the way you think," crows began to swarm all around Itachi and Y/N. When they cleared, only Hidan and Kisame were left.

~~~

The use of Shisui's teleportation jutsu left Itachi completely drained; but, he had gotten himself and Y/N to a safe place.

He laid her down as she tried to take deep breaths in. He scrambled to stop the bleeding as best as he could without chakra. She took in her old friend's appearance – the cloak with red clouds on it and the line slashed through the Leaf Village's symbol.

"What happened – Itachi? Why?"

Before he could speak, she took her last breath.

At the graveyard, right after Lord Fourth's death, Itachi stood talking to Orochimaru about life and death.

"Grieving over the dead is meaningless."

"What is the meaning of life?"

"There is meaning in life if it eternal."

Itachi escaped death that day. Soon he was placed on Team 2 with Y/N. Her clan had both terrified and fascinated him, along with the rest of the village. It was one of the many reasons they had been placed so close to the Uchiha police force and been placed on the border of the village. Their ability to come back to life was unnatural and the cost of losing their grip on reality was a heavy price to pay.

It was for that reason that Itachi felt the need to protect her when they went on missions. He didn't want her to end up like her brother.

"Itachi, I can protect myself, ya know?"

Itachi only nodded and looked down. Y/N was furious with him after he had sacrificed the goal of a mission to save her from a vicious thug.

"Why did you do it?"

"I..." Itachi looked up to see Y/N's set glare, his focus shifted to her compound.

"My brother, huh?" she asked sadly, "You don't want me to end up like him."

Itachi nodded which sent Y/N into a fury.

"That isn't your call! I have this gift for a reason! All this village does is look at my clan like we're freaks! I'm tired of it."

That had been the day the Hijiri Clan ousted Y/N from the village. Now, Y/N lay dead before him. Itachi brushed the hair out of her face. She was dirty from her fight with Hidan. Itachi began to get her cleaned up, wondering where she went during the time she was dead.

~~~

The Other Side had shifted from her last visit. When she had made her way back to her body in the cave, the Other Side had been barren. Her surroundings had been dark and eerie. Now, she saw spirits floating to and fro. They were staring ahead on their paths. Determined to get to wherever they were headed. It was all overwhelming and disorienting for Y/N. She was tethered to her body, so she knew where to go, it was all a matter of trying to take a step and not run into one of the spirits here. Something told her that would makes things a lot more difficult.

Not a single spirit would look at her. It was all as if they couldn't see or hear her. As a spirit rushed by, her tether to her body would falter and fade. She was screaming for the beings to stop, to just let her pass. Lights flashed all around her as more and more spirits rushed in every direction around her.

She sat on the forest floor and cried. Her senses all overwhelmed. A high pitched whirring sound filled her ears. Minutes turned to hours and hours seemed to turn into days.

And then, silence. She lifted her head to find the spirits all stood still. Only one figure moved and it came right towards her. She knew this spirit.

Shisui Uchiha.

~~~

Itachi finished washing the blood from Y/N's body. Her hair was a tangled mess from her fight so he began to work on getting the knots out.

As he combed her hair, she sat up with a deep gulp. Her eyes were wide with terror until she realized she was back in the land of the living. She looked to her side where Itachi sat.

"How long?"

"Only a couple hours."

Y/N let out a sigh as the realization of time hit her. She had felt like she had been on the Other Side for months. She looked to Itachi again and saw his headband, the line that ran through the Leaf symbol.

"Shisui is dead and you're a rogue ninja now?"