one_long_mission | Pretty Lights?

Everyone listened, Akemi noting the information in her small book. Hiro glanced over to Sasuke as the sharingan was mentionned. If his brother was able to confuse Miki, this meant Sasuke could also use that ability to their advantage.

Hiro gave a nod to Itachi. "I know what their chakra is supposed to feel like, usually. Miki's felt... almost sickening." he was not exactly keen on looking at it. "That reminds me... Sasuke, your chakra... it looked like it was faded when we last saw you, some time before you got sick.."
"Really?" he blinked. "Niisan! an that even tell people are sick even when they don't know it?"

The fact that he hadn't thought about something so basic almost told too much about his own self-denial over the years.

"Chakra is a blend of mental and physical energy... So in a sense, that would be accurate." He answered simply. "Not something... I like to think about much."

What Hiro could sense when he looked at Itachi... Itachi could only guess.

"Isn't it about time we eat?" Akemi immediately piped up, not about to let thing deteriorate further. She was not fond of the expression she had seen on Hiro or Sasuke's faces. "I have a lot of ice balls, and mom even bakes some cookies yesterday."
"Awesome!" Miki cheered.

"...and before you ask, Miki, you don't get any until you've eaten real food." She was the one, apparently, who could keep any and all stomachs on a leash.

Itachi had given them more than enough serious things to think about for one morning. And perhaps an afternoon as well. A break was definitely in order.

"I think the medicine has kicked in by now... Sasuke, where did you put the... bento box you made?"

The boy proudly took out the two small bento boxes, handing one to his brother. "Here, niisan."
"I brought tea." Hiro took out a large container and cups. "Mom said that one tastes like apples. Smells like it too."

"Hey, you're right!" Akemi took the cup that was passed over. "Your mom always has the neatest teas! You should bring more of them over."
"Yeah." Miki gave a quick nod. "Every day!"

"She gets them over at some shop that sells flowers and oils."
"Ino-neesan's shop." Sasuke chirped. "She was the one who found me when I first ended up here, in all that snow."
"Really?" a chorus answered him. He had obviously never recounted his arrival.

"And I'm very glad she did..." Itachi smiled, brushing his hand over Sasuke's hair. "It was quite a storm that night... if I remember right. I couldn't make it home and had to stop in to... get out of the cold. And you were already there."

A lot of those memories were fuzzy. He remembered making omusubi and possibly falling down the stairs.

Itachi opened up the little bento box, containing the breakfast he still hadn't eaten.

"I'd like a little tea too, Hiro... I don't believe I've tried the one that... tastes like apples."

"Yeah... there was a lot of snow, and it was pretty cold." Sasuke nodded. "We've never had any snow in Konoha before. I kept sinking in that stuff." he grimaced. "You did come by! Sorry, I remember tackling you to the floor when I saw you." he gave a light laugh.

"Miki, how fast are you drinking that?" Akemi scolded. "There won't even be enough for all of us!"
"There will." he argued.

Hiro gave a sheepish grin, taking out another cup and evading their squabbling to hand it over to Itachi.

Itachi sipped it with a smile. It really did taste like apples, a perfect tea for the season.

"I vaguely remember that..." he nodded to Sasuke. Thanks to the Kotoamatsukami jutsu, it was far easier to gloss over the negative memories. "I'd say you didn't know your own strength... But I'm starting to get a little of that strength back now. So maybe... next time, I can catch you."

It might have been wishful thinking, but there was some truth to Itachi's statement. He'd been breathing better, getting more exercise, eating more, finally starting to put a little weight back on his bones. He was certainly happier.

"Catch me? Next time?" Sasuke was ecstatic. "Make sure to tell me! I'll run down both flights of stairs and take a flying leap halfway through!" his laughter and smile might be able to run a town's electricity with solar happy power. Of course, he was not going to rush down two flights of stairs, but he -would- leap in his brother's arms eventually, and get caught and supported.

"Well... maybe not next time. But hopefully..." he nibbled on the rice ball a little. The filling was seaweed, just the way he liked it. "I'd like to be able to carry you too, just like I used to do... And walk all the way to the other side of the village and back."

They sounded like such simple goals, especially for a man who was still able to throw a kunai into a moving kunai at the perfect angle to deflect it into the dead center of a target. (Granted, it didn't take much physical strength to throw a small weapon, at least, not with his good arm.)

"We can!" Sasuke put down his empty teacup to hug his brother around the waist. "We can do that too! Someday!" and he was already looking forward to it, too.

"...Sasuke..." Miki asked sheepishly. "...can we exchange big brothers?"
"Nu-huh." that was the one thing Sasuke would never ever do. "You can borrow hugs though!" and without further warning, he pounced on him to do just that, laughter pouring from the other two as Miki struggled desperately. "Too late to change your mind!"

"Come on, group hug, then..." he opened his arms with a bit of a laugh himself.

"Group hug?" Hiro was the first at the finish line, followed by Akemi, and last came Miki and Sasuke.

"You get hugs all the time from him, I'll get there before you this time!" Apparently, there was some mini-rivalry going on between these two..

Itachi didn't notice it, though. For the moment, he was completely wrapped up in the arms of these children - young shinobi-to-be who actually looked to him for advice and returned it with love and appreciation. It wasn't a feeling Itachi was used to having, at least, not aside from his younger brother. And even that really only happened since he arrived here.

It was a bit overwhelming of a feeling, actually.

There were tears on his cheeks before he even realized he was crying.

Akemi noticed first, and then Sasuke, and the Miki. He was the first one to say something about it.
"Hiro! You're squeezing too hard, he's leaking water!"
"I am not!"
"It's gotta be Sasuke then. Leave some for me! You can get hugs any time!"
The other snorted. "You're just jealous." although Sasuke did let go, leading by example. "Niisan! Are you okay?"

Hiro hoped he hadn't broken anything, although there was no trace of pain on his features.

There was a reaction of surprise as Itachi quickly connected the dots between the words and the dampness on his cheeks. He wiped his eyes with he back of his hand.

"Sorry... I guess I'm just... so happy, they just started..."

The smile never left his face. This, he kept thinking to himself, was the kind of life he'd always dreamed of when he was out on the battlefield or traveling amongst the Akatsuki - to be home, safe, surrounded by family and friends... The things he gave up in the name of the village were the things he wanted, no, needed the most. They were what made life worth living.

"As long as it's not blood... I'm okay. I'm... okay..."

Sasuke gave a sigh, relieved. "That's good! Great, even."
"Yea!" a chorus echoed.

And all too soon, they were all laughing and hugging again. Life was indeed truly a bountiful one when filled with happiness.

"Hey, Sasuke! think your crow'd help me for moving target practice?" Miki asked, thinking to up his game just a little.
"Hmm.. I can ask. If he pecks at you for throwing things at him though, you're on your own."
"Sometimes I wonder if you're an ally or an enemy." the other boy groaned.
"Summoned animals have their own criteria, you know." Akemi reminded him.

"Just be careful not to hit him." Itachi felt the need to remind him. Sasuke was very fond of that particular crow, as much as Itachi was of the one that bore Sisui's eye. "None of us... are medical specialists..."

If Itachi was, of course, a lot of life would be a lot less complicated!

He turned to the others. "What have you been working on at... the Academy? Anything that I can help with?"

"Yeah.. it'll be okay as long as you don't hit him." Sasuke gave a slow nod. "He should probably know you all anyways, since we're gonna work together a lot."

"Having no medic on your team is bad, right?" Akemi quipped. "Maybe I can try and see if i'm any good at it. There's gotta be more I can do than earth jutsu."
"You make food too!"
"Miki, there are more important things than food." she rolled her eyes.
"I don't think so!"

Hiro shook his head. These two... "We've started to learn poisons, so we can treat basic infections. First aid and survival are coming up!"
"This means Miki can eat wild mushrooms... if he knows which are safe." sasuke chuckled.
"I do know!" the other boy protested.

"It's very important that everyone... at least knows proper survival skills. But having a medic on a team can be a very big advantage...." He nodded. "It can also be a disadvantage."

He explained how medic ninja functioned as support for the team, largely without fighting. It was rare to have a medic ninja go to the front lines. If they were hurt or killed, the rest of the team would be in danger. In many instances, the a sensor nin doubled as a medic. The basic skills for one role overlapped greatly with the other. If anyone in that group would have a natural tendency toward the med nin path, it was Hiro.

"That's not to say you shouldn't learn the skills too..." He smiled. "The chakra control will improve your elemental jutsu."

As Itachi explained what it was that made a medic what it was, the needed qualities and how they fought from the back if at all, there wasn't one that did not give Hiro a glance.

The boy, however, protested as he blushed. "What would I do as a medic with that chakra pool though?" he looked away. He did have the most control over his chakra now, second only to Sasuke, and this was because their leader had prior experience.
"But isn't that what you are, still? You do throw and fight okay, but you mostly need to stay in the back, right?" Miki cocked his head. "Plus, staying in the back gives you the advantage, you can see troop movements and whatnot. My dad said so."

Itachi was no expert in medical ninjutsu, and couldn't answer many of their questions as far as that was concerned.

"When I was an Academy student, the instructor thought that maybe... I'd end up as a mednin... And my chakra pool wasn't much better than yours is right now." He offered with a smile. "But while I had the chakra control, I had a far greater affinity for yin release... and no affinity at all for yang release. With my sharingan, genjutsu became an obvious focus after that."

That, and Fugaku probably would have been appalled at the idea of a medic as the head of a battle-focused clan. But Itachi wouldn't say that in front of the kids!

"Don't underestimate yourself. Any of you."

Sasuke's eyes went wide. A medical ninja? His brother? He too could imagine how different things would have been at home, and he looked away. He could not recall any Uchiha being a medic, after all. As useful as they were on the field, their bloodline was better for combat. "..." he recalled, a few months ago, how he had pleaded Sakumo to teach him medical jutsu. Now he could see he probably never would have learned much, if at all.

"I've never underestimated myself." Miki was all grins and pride. Who knew if, somehow, his family was not related to some Uchiha on this side, generations past? "And I never will, either!"
"I'll show him he underestimated my cooking." Akemi giggled. "I know what I'm good at, so I'll stick to it and get stronger."
"I know what I'm good at too." Hiro gavea slow nod. "...now that I found it though, it feels I can do more... if I figure out just how.."

He felt Sasuke slump against him a little, and poked him gently in the forehead.

""Just because I couldn't get the hang of it doesn't mean... you can't. Maybe you'll surprise yourself."

He did, after all, have an affinity for lightning style that Itachi didn't have. He didn't share Itachi's slight water affinity either. Everyone's different, even brothers.

"I don't think there's anything... that you can't do if you want to, Sasuke."

"Maybe I can ask Sakumo if he'll show me the basics. After all, I'm older now." that and some knowledge of chakra first-aid could be useful.

He gave a big, bright smile. With his brother telling him there was nothing he could not do, of course he fully believed so outright.

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