Golden Crown of Sorrow, Bloody Sword to Swing

Chapter Three

Mikoto knocked on Itachi's door at the first crack of dawn. Itachi, wide awake, let her in without hesitation, moving to the side so that she could enter. Mikoto took a seat at the chair in front of Itachi's vanity, her legs crossed and hands folded perfectly.

"Come help your mother at the market today," she said, the corner of her mouth twitching upwards in a smile. "You always had the best choice in fish when you were young."

Itachi nodded in agreement; Mikoto had found him on one of his seldom free days. In fact, Itachi could not remember a time in the last two months when he had a stretch of free time as he did today.

"Well, we should go now," Mikoto said, rising with noble grace. "I'd hate for all the good produce to be gone by the time we arrive."

Itachi followed Mikoto through their home, the rooms still shrouded in the low light of dawn. Tall shadows lurked in the meticulously dusted corners, the encroaching pink light from the windows ready to chase them away. Itachi could sense the chill of the winter morning before he reached the front door so he took a scarf from the coat rack and wrapped it around his neck before stepping onto the porch; he always had a propensity for catching a cough in the winter anyways.

Mikoto led the way, walking a few steps in front of Itachi, her wooden grocery basket swaying with her arm. Her long black hair obscured the uchiwa emblazoned on her back, though even without the crest sewn onto every article of clothing, no one would hesitate in identifying her as an Uchiha. Her high cheekbones and piercing stare made her clan lineage clear from a passing glance and though rarely spoken about, every Uchiha could tell that the main line blood came from Mikoto and not Fugaku.

Itachi followed his mother in silence until they reached the market, already bustling with patrons eager to find the freshest produce. In the blink of an eye, Mikoto vanished, an incredibly subtle genjutsu woven around where she had stood just seconds ago so that her sudden disappearance would not alarm anyone watching. Itachi quickly followed suit, reappearing in the training field he knew so well. His mother stood mere feet from him, gazing at the figure seated at the edge of the waterfall. Shisui, clear from his telltale mop of black hair, sensed their presence and rose to his feet, gaze lingering on the angry water below for just a second before he moved to join Itachi and Mikoto.

"I guess this is the first time we've talked all together as a team," he said, attempting to obscure the gravitas of the situation with his typical humor. "Well, we've got a clan meeting today, so we'll see where things really stand pretty soon."

Mikoto nodded, heaving in a heavy sigh. "I've talked to Fugaku a bit lately and he's dead set on the coup," she said. "He doesn't think that there is any relationship between the Uchiha and Konoha worth salvaging and the absolute lack of action on the Uchiha's demands only makes it all worse. Fugaku has also noticed that Uchiha die at disproportionate rates during missions. We are a shinobi clan, after all. If we lose our fighting force we have little purpose."

"We're plugging holes in a fucking dam here," Shisui hissed.

He flinched at Mikoto's raised eyebrow and sharp look.

"Pardon my language, Mikoto-sama," he apologized. "But really. Every time I think we're in the clear another problem comes up. I've gotta go through with Kotoamatsukami within the next week at most or else we're done for."

Itachi nodded. "The Hokage won't wait much longer," he said. "I don't know how much he knows about the coup, but from what he told me, he plans to take action as soon as he's under the impression there are solid plans."

"The council knows that Shisui possesses Kotoamatsukami," Mikoto offered. "All advanced sharingan must be reported to the council. And if I'm not mistaken, you informed Hokage-sama of your plan to use it to stop the coup the other day, Shisui?"