Miwa (under slow editing and slight reconstruction)

Chapter Thirteen

{Edited}

Somewhere hidden deep within the trees, standing proudly was Konohagakure, filled with folks of all kinds. Shinobi groups consisting of Academy students, Genin, Chunin, Jounin and ANBU as well as your everyday baker, smithy or flower shop owner. Everybody within the village were always merry about their days, well maybe not everybody. Today one female wasn't feeling chirpy. Somewhere miles away from the village, close to the forest boundaries, a twelve year old girl was sat at the bottom of a tree, cradling herself.

The young Genin sat there with red eyes wide open searching for anyone close by, soon enough seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours and the young girl had long since fallen asleep. Her head was resting on the tree behind her and her arms had dropped from her knees as they lay on the ground next to her, one of her legs had fallen whilst the other stood its ground a little bit away from her chest.

The young girl was completely unconscious, so she couldn't sense the chakra which was closing in on her. Barely two minutes later, there was a rustle coming from one of the bushes a few feet from her before a cloaked figure stepped out and stared at the youngest Uchiha. A soft smile gracing itself onto their lips as she watched and studied the girl's features. The anonymous person crept closer, wanting a closer look at her, sadness filling them as they approached.

Once they were standing right in front of the unconscious genin they sat down next to her, raising a hand to stoke her cheek softly. They did so soft, to make sure that she was real, the stranger couldn't believe their eyes. The moment when their hand touched the girl's cheek, a shaky breath was heard from the tall stranger. Their touch was soft and gentle as they feared the girl would fall into a million pieces if they pressed harder.

"Watashi kuro orandakaiuyuri" Pressing a soft kiss on her forehead, frowning when they felt how cold the young genin was. Sighing the stranger went to remove his cloak to cover the young female.

"MIWA!...MIIIIIIWWWWWWAAAA WHHEEERRREE AREEE YOU!" Someone not too far away yelled, making the cloaked person snap their head in the direction of the voice and pull their cloak back on. Giving the girl one last loving look, the cloaked person vanished but not before they heard the girl mumble in her sleep.

"Itachi.."

And then with a smile, the man was gone.

~A few hours Later~

A young group of genin and a ninken were currently freaking out after watching their friend jump from a four story building and land perfectly on her feet. All 12 of them had to run down the stairs, coming up with ideas as to why she had jumped from the walkway.

"What was she thinking?!" Naruto yelled out as he ran ahead of everyone down the stairs "She could have killed herself! Jumping down the way she did!"

"Oh, so you're worried about that? Not why she did it?" Kiba taunted Naruto, causing the blonde to snarl at him.

"Really Kiba! This isn't the time to annoy everyone" Ino loudly scolded him from behind Shino. Kiba pouted but slowed down until he was next to Neji Hyuga who was at the very back.

The large group shout and spout at each other for saying stupid things or saying things that were completely off topic. As they all reach the end of the stairwell, they break off into groups of two and threes before fanning out in heir groups l, looking for their runaway friend.

"Neji?" Kiba whispered quietly to the Hyuga as they break off into their groups.

"What."

"You know don't you. You know about it too" Kiba asked, side glancing at the pale eyed boy. Neji gave him a side glance back but ignored his question "How long have you known?" Neji stopped walking abruptly causing Kiba to nearly fall over. Neji then went on to give him a long hard stare before sighing in defeat.