Vision of Truth II: Shield and Sharingan (Naruto)

Friendship Drawings

Chapter 20: Friendship Drawings

The sound of the door opening startled me. I set down my book and got up to greet Itachi. "Hey," I said, "you're back. How did it go?"

"We accomplished our goal," Itachi said, offering no further explanation.

"Oh, uh, okay."

"I trust you were well?"

"Oh yeah. I was great." He continued to stare at me, so I decided to go on. "I made some real progress with Deidara. We spent a lot of time together, and he no longer triggers any fear." A smile twitched on my face despite my efforts to conceal it.

"Good. I am glad you are working on not being controlled by your fear. However, you should be careful not to get too attached to Deidara or anyone else here. You will eventually leave, and you will be enemies."

I flushed. "I - I know that. Don't worry; I won't get too close."

"Yeah, she's got that covered," Kiku said, swishing her tail over the side of my bed. "Cats don't get attached to people easily." She gave me a pointed look that had me squirming, for I knew the other half of that truth. She returned her gaze to Itachi. "But you should agree that it is better for her to hang around Deidara than someone like, say, Tobi."

Itachi's expression hardened. "You are still hanging around him."

I shifted uncomfortably. "Well, yeah. You are the one who left us alone, and he wanted to play."

"Isn't there something you want to ask him?" Kiku prodded, and Itachi looked at me expectantly.

I swallowed hard. "So, uh, you know I can sense chakra, right? The chakra from members of the same clan feel similar. I finally got a good read on Tobi, and he- he's an Uchiha." Itachi's expression remained unchanged. "And you already knew."

"How can you tell?" Kiku said dryly.

"Yes," said Itachi. "I knew."

"Well, is there anything else you can tell me?" I said.

"Stay away from him."

I frowned. "I don't think that's likely to happen. He initiates most of the contact, mind you."

"Interact with him as Tobi if you must, but do not dig any deeper. You cannot let him know you suspect anything about his true identity. I may not be able to protect you if you let your curiosity take you too far."

His ultra-serious tone and expression had my heart hammering. I swallowed hard. "Okay, I won't. I'll play with Tobi to release stress. That's all."

"You sure about that?" Kiku said.

"Of course. I don't want to put myself in danger." Because if even Itachi did not know if he could stand up to Tobi, then Tobi must be someone not to be messed with. I wanted no part of that. I was a survivor, after all.

Itachi gave me a tiny nod. "Good."

"Besides, I think you've got me all wrong. It's not curiosity itself that drives me. I want to learn the truth."

"It is the same to me." Itachi turned and walked to his desk. "Pursuing truth will lead you to learn too much, which will get you into trouble."

I followed him and stood to the side, behind him. "I know better than to pursue truth for the sake of it. I do it when it's important. The villages hide things from us that we really ought to know. Why is there no detailed history, for example? I don't even know the past hokages' names."

"Useless information."

"Says you. And how about Naruto not know the truth about himself?"

"There was a reason for that."