The Black Leaf (Part 1)

Chapter 19: Itachi...

It was my last day off and I decided to go to the cliff where Shisui committed suicide, before picking up Sasuke from the academy. I brought flowers here often and today was four years since he died. I place the flowers at the end of the cliff and stared down at the river. It was so calm and soothing, the breeze from the waterfall felt good on my skin. Suddenly, I felt a breeze coming from behind me, slowly blowing my hair to my face. Then I saw them... the black fathers, it was him. I froze completely and started to tremble when I sense his presence.

"You come here a lot," he said from behind me. My eyes widened, I couldn't breathe and there were goosebumps all over my body.

"W-why are you here?" I asked trying to sound calm, but it was impossible. My whole body and voice were trembling. I couldn't turn around to face him. I clench my fists hard as I felt anger, sadness, and fear more than anything.

"I'm not here to hurt you, Izumi," he said as he walked forward and stood next to me. My heart started racing as I saw his silhouette from the corner of my eyes. The tears started to stream down my face and I could feel his eyes on me. "I'm sorry Izu, about everything," he said in an apologetic tone which only enraged me even more.

"You tried to kill me," I managed to yell at him as I turned to face him and I stared straight into his eyes. His onyx black eyes still had that painful look on them as the last time I saw them. Itachi was much taller now, his hair was longer, but his features, even thought they were sharper, remained the same. I looked away and I grabbed a kunai from my pocket, I wanted to fight him, even if that meant I had to die in the process. I gripped the kunai tighter, but I couldn't bring myself to hurt him. 

More tears ran down my face, I was angry, why was I so weak? after everything he has done, I still cared for him. I wiped the tears from my face with my free hand and lifted the kunai in front of me. Itachi grabbed my hand slowly making me flinch at his touch. He took the kunai and threw it away. I began to cry even more, he grabbed both of my hands and pulled me into a hug. He wrapped his arms around me and oddly enough I felt safe in his arms.

"I'm sorry for everything Izumi, I know I hurt you," he whispered in my hair "but it was the only way."

I pushed him off me and gave him a deadly glare, "do you have any idea what I been through? The things I have done? Itachi, you ruined my life and Sasuke, your poor little brother, all he wants to do is find you and kill you," I shouted.

"Izumi, I-"

"Izumi is dead, don't you remember? you killed her," I said harshly.

He looked at  me for a while with sadness in his eyes, "thank you for keeping your promise." He  looked down at the flowers at the end of the cliff, "thank you for watching over Sasuke."

"I'm not doing it for you, Itachi," I whispered.

He nodded, "take care Izumi," he said as he walked away.

"Wait," I called after him, "why you did it? why you killed them?"

He turned around to face me, "Izumi, all you need to know is that you and Sasuke are the most important people in my life and that I love you guys," he said before disappearing.

More than a year has passed, since I saw Itachi in the cliff, I thought about his words and everything that happened before the Uchiha massacre. I knew Itachi, all he ever wanted was peace and to ensure the safety of Sasuke. I was thinking about all this when Hikku interrupted my thoughts.

"Yams, so you and Iruka huh?" Hikku asked.

"Did he finally ask her out?" Gemma asked.

"Yeah, we heard him this morning, huh captain?" Hikku said.