Itachi looked from his neatly folded hands to the girl- woman- sitting beside him in the chair. Inuzuka Hana had become a splendid ninja.
“What about you?” He asked, unabashedly looking to avoid what he knew was coming.
“I was hurt and I was furious,” Hana said evenly, “Because I knew you, Itachi. I knew your scent and I knew your soul. Mother told me you’d done it and I didn’t believe her until I saw the corpses. I thought, ‘how could I have been so wrong?’ and ‘how could my sense of smell be so weak?’”
She leaned forward, elbows on her knees. “I spent a lot of time training after you left. I was determined to never let anyone fool me the way you did again. And no one has,” She settled back. “Only now it turns out I was right all along and I still don’t forgive you.”
“I don’t expect anyone’s forgiveness,” Itachi said.
“You’re going to get it,” Hana said. “Officially, unofficially. There’s gonna be books written about the choices you made. Years from now some puppet nin from Suna is gonna play you in a great tragedy. Scholars are gonna argue about what you meant and why for generations. I hope that stings like hell.”
Silence. Then, with a sigh, Hana continued, “I’d like to say Chouichi will never forgive you but I know better.”
“What does Chouichi have to do with this?” Itachi asked.
Hana gave the Uchiha a long, considering look. “You’re a genius. That was a stupid question unbefitting a genius.”
Itachi opened his mouth, then closed it. “You were saying I ruined his life,” he said, surrendering in the face of a battle he knew he couldn’t avoid.
Hana crossed her arms. “Yeah, you fucking did.”
“Am I to get any elaboration?” Itachi asked. “One could argue I’ve ruined a great many lives.”
“Keep bad humor out of this. It fits your big blue partner better.”
Itachi inclined his head. Hana crossed one leg over the other and laced her fingers together around her raised knee.
“Chouichi loved you, Itachi,” She said and felt a bitter satisfaction at the tiny wince from her former genin teammate. “He worshipped you like a flower worships the sun. You were everything and in one night you were taken away.”
“I never asked to be worshipped,” Itachi said, hands clenching in the bedcovers.
“I know that. He knows that, too. Doesn’t mean he didn’t. You were the reason he woke up in the morning and you were gone and everyone was calling you a murderer.”
“I am a murderer,” Itachi said harshly, and Hana lifted the edge of her lip, showing teeth. Itachi took a few deep breaths in through his nose. Hana relaxed.
“They took away his position in the clan.”
Itachi’s head snapped up and his eyes focused on Hana for the first time since she had walked into the room. “What?”
“Chouichi took your leaving hard, Itachi,” Hana said sharply. “Really hard. He was angry, he was sad, and he took it out on everyone- me, his clan members, other nin. He was a downright ogre. The Akimichi Elder Council deemed him unfit for leadership.”
“He was fourteen!” Itachi exclaimed.
“A proviso was put in place,” Hana elaborated, “but he didn’t get much better. The switch was official three years ago. Chouji’s sixteenth heir.”
Itachi felt all the air leave him in a hard whoosh. “But he wanted to protect them,” he heard himself murmur. “he trained so hard to look after the Akimichi.”
“I asked him about that, one time we met for dinner,” Hana said lightly. “You know what he said?”
“He said a Clan Head who couldn’t defend a single precious person would be useless to his clan.”
Itachi’s throat felt like it was full of cotton.
“Been in for years now. Excellent service record. I haven’t asked for his killcount. He might not keep one.” Hana stood. “Has a daughter, too. Adopted- she’s quite sweet. His whole world, though he’s not obnoxious about it.”
She looked down on Itachi. Her face softened.
“You never asked to be the sun to his flower,” she said, “and when his world went dark he built a new one. It was a long, hard slog. He deserves all the happiness he fought for when you went.”
Itachi finally managed to swallow. Hana continued, “but I know him and so do you. If you reach out, he’ll look to you again. He’ll hate himself for it, but he can’t help it.”
“Don’t lie to me, Itachi,” Hana said. “I hate the way you smell when you lie.”
“You might be the sun to his flower,” Hana said, “but he’s the rock to your river. You never forgot that, did you?”
Itachi mutely shook his head.
She put her hands on the blanket and leaned forward, forcing Itachi to catch her eyes.
“Don’t fuck this up a second time, Itachi.” She said, voice tinged with warning and fear and hope. “for either of your sakes.”
She left the hospital room quietly. The door shut without a whisper but it might as well have slammed. Itachi looked at it long after she was gone.
