Those Little Moments (Hatake Kakashi)

5

By the time I was fully grown, I had been moved to a new location, without the old man. There were more people here too, and the masked boy was scarcely seen again. Instead, I was held by a group wearing black cloaks with red clouds on them.

I did not try to speak to most of them, as opposed to the masked boy and the old man, who seemed like they had some goal, most of this group seemed to be dangerous for the fun of it. They seemed to enjoy hurting people. 

They certainly enjoyed hurting me.

Even my old teacher, Orochimaru, had no sympathy for me, not that I expected any. I had been surprised to see him, as he had been to see me, but he only took the opportunity to take my blood for experiments. I was glad that, for some reason, he had been forbidden from experimenting on my body. Not that my body was spared further harm.

The first time, I had been naive. They had let me bathe, and given me new clothes, more revealing than any I'd worn in the past, but perfectly hiding any scars on my back from my early days with the Akatsuki. I felt a hope kindle in me, and the bright colours filled my eyes almost painfully, but welcomely.

I should have suspected by their choice of clothing, but part of me truly believed they had been letting me go when I saw the sun for the first time in years. And for the first time in years, I had smiled at something real, and I felt the warmth of the world filling my chest. The world was full of colour, and sun and wind and grass. All things I had been missing and dreaming of in my dark cell, things I had almost forgotten. My excitement filled my chest, and I was grinning; my cheeks hurt from not being used. The old man smiled back at me, and hope against hope consumed my entire being.

Only to witness the exchange of money while I was promised to be returned before morning. I still didn't understand. It was only when my clothes had been taken off by the rich lord that I understood, just barely. Then, when my body was defiled, I understood something I had never wanted to know of.

I was half carried, on the verge of puking and on shaky legs, back into my prison cell, and part of me never wanted to leave that cell again.

That day, the one guarding me was one I'd never seen before, and he was not one who had mindless killing in his eyes. In fact, if I didn't know better, I would have guessed him to be a good person.

"You look familiar." I said weakly. As he turned to look at me, I held my hands up. "Don't whip me, please, I've had enough punishment for a lifetime."

His eyes were soft and destroyed. In a way, he seemed more damaged than me, and, in a way I had never felt before, I wanted to reach out and comfort him. "I don't doubt it."

"I mean it. You look really familiar. And, not just the look in your eyes either." I added the last part quietly, leaning against the bars of the prison.

He looked at me again then, his eyes holding something strange I couldn't place. Curiosity? Pain? "I was from the Leaf."

Finally, my eyes caught his headband, and I wanted to hit myself. "Oh, I should've noticed that. Sorry. I'm Uzumaki Emiko."

"Uchiha Itachi." 

The name struck a bell in me, and my eyebrows furrowed as I searched where I had heard it before. "You're... weren't you a prodigy?"

He didn't answer, but his silence seemed to say enough. 

"How did someone with the Will of Fire end up here? It doesn't make sense." I wondered aloud.

He hesitated before speaking, and his voice was monotone. "I don't have that."

I chuckled under my breath. "The Will of Fire can be seen in your eyes. I think that's why I recognized you. I don't think we ever met before I was kidnapped, other than passing in the streets."

"We didn't meet."

The world was silent for a few moments and I felt my eyes tearing up. "Isn't it something that this is the first conversation I've had with a real person in years?"

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too."

"Why?"

I smiled grimly. "The only thing I have is knowing I've never gone against my beliefs, and hope. If I were in your position, I would lose that." I wrapped my arms around my legs tightly. "There is no world in which my current station is a happy one, but I would still rather be me than you."

Itachi made full eye contact with me then, his dark eyes full of conviction and heartbreak. "I haven't gone against my beliefs at all."

It was strange that he was telling the truth; I could tell that much. I smiled more genuinely at him then, fiddling with my fingers. "I'm happy for you then."

Silence descended once more, and that day, though we did not speak more, I had no more hallucinations, only good dreams after I'd fallen asleep.