A solitary blood-red flower,
Now finding herself at the dawn of her life.

Since the personality of autumn had overwhelmed the season, at a certain night, she decided to sleep outside.

Akane was already ten years old . . . And all of these correlations, it was the tenth day of the tenth month of the year—the day her parents died.

She slept on her parents' grave, curled like a ball, hugging herself tightly. This was her second visit after many years of grieving and denial.

The orphaned girl wouldn't cry anymore, but she was still hurting. Then again, that parting and yearning only overshadowed some nonsense incessant mornings.

Just like today . . . Another overshadowed incessant morning.

The morning dews dropped as a cradle. It somehow gave her a comfort. Akane felt like she was a severed tone that lost connection with her ceased family—that very family she could never unite along with the sunless sky being covered with great clouds and mellifluous melody.

Her eyes were still close, yet she clenched her fist hard, and there was a surging frustration filling up her heart.

Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki made a legacy, but never the daughter. The world might have forgotten about Akane by now, but she still remembered everything.

And for an intelligent child, who never had forgotten everything, she felt like she was forgetting something—something like a missing piece.

Tenth of October . . .

Forgetting something . . .

Something . . ? More like—

". . . -san?"

Suddenly, there was a poke on her cheek.

That awakened her consciousness.

"Nee-san? You okay?"

Akane frowned her eyebrows at the sound of a high-pitched kid. She slightly opened an eye, and, in an abrupt movement, she swatted the hand away from her. The young lass shot up from her rest and moved inches backward as if she saw something that disgusted her. She glared at the kid, a contour of resentment painted her face.

"Oh, sorry . . . Did I surprise ya, nee-san?"

Her stares were intense—initiating an unwelcoming vibes—but the kid was only looking at her innocently.

She grunted, annoyed, shifting her gaze sharply on her right.

The very kid robbed her ability to respond in such situation. All of the people, this kid was the one who found her.

"Why are ya sleeping out here alone, nee-san?"

At first glance, the kid had a galling, persistently nosy personality. But he was right. Why would she sleep here?

None of your business.

She would dare say, but she kept her mouth shut.

Tenth of October . . .

Of course, he would also be in the picture.

That her-supposed-to-be sibling . . .

She didn't bother recalling his name. Such mendokuse.

In years she was disguising as Kyo, she never got to cross paths with him, nor visited him that very since. Well, time must have come that he was in the age where he could walk on his own.

Tch.

Akane clicked her tongue through gritted teeth. She never acknowledged his existence, and it seemed like she would never have the heart to acknowledge him. Ever.

When the first born was about to leave, the kid raised a question she never expected.

"Your parents must worried 'bout ya, nee-san!"

It irked her even more that he could say that with a pleasant, smiling—slightly empathetic—face. And yes, in front of their graves.

Huh, he should be devasted that he the very reason why they would never ever have parents to be worried about them anymore.

Oh, she doesn't acknowledge him, though . . . Her parents alone. She would never have parents to be worried about her anymore.

The reason was fair: this little runt never had the parents to guide him as he grew up.

At the very least, even though in a short while, she felt quite prideful that she got to be nutured by real parents.

Yet how could she be sure that this was the sibling she supposed to see?

A bitter feeling continuously strangled her lungs and throat, couldn't seem to accept the obvious facts that this kid resonated.

Akane stood up already, convinced to erase from her mind of what she had seen just the moment she woke up. There were reasons why she couldn't look straight at his face . . . For instance, the color of his hair and eyes that resembled very well of her father, and the audacious personality of her mother.

All bad memories.

She grunted in frustration and bitterness to herself. That little brat . . .

The young lady thought that if she'd leave wordlessly, this kid would leave her alone, too . . . Yet to her surprise, he trailed behind her, enthusiastic as he encircles her with a low pace.

"Nee-san, nee-san, datteba," he chanted, frolic.

It only pissed her off even more that a vein pulsed on her forehead.

HE EVEN HAS THAT USUAL SPEECH TIC!

She wanted to scream as much as she wanted to pull a tree out of its roots.

The kid wasn't aware of her hostility and he only smiled thoughtfully. "Say, nee-san," he cited, "can't find your way back? I can help ya and we can look for your home!"

And that was the last string of her patience. Akane's fathomless-like eyes glistened like a predator, trying to scare any remaining protrusive attitude of the kid.

"Leave me alone," she said darkly, mustering every terrifying aura she could.

Without further words, she walked away, and it was as if dark grey clouds were following her as she stride in the arrays of trees.

How dare he . . .

Akane shrivelled her face, eyes dilated in total grievance.

He had no rights to talk about not finding her way back home when he took everything from her the moment Naruto Uzumaki was born.

༺═──────────────═༻

Akane couldn't even stand hearing the brat's name, how much more knowing that he was actually existing?

She can't . . . It's impossible.

She was so conflicted, didn't imagine that that certain day would come.

The lass was walking on the roads with a disgruntled expression. It was after school, just as a bird released from its cage, she spread such animosity and let her presence be felt over the world before her.

"Now, what?"

Someone lightly tapped the top of her hair from behind as she halted from her tracks. Akane knew who it was without turning around.

Along the way, Kakashi found her in a state of unsettling candor.

Kakashi was indifferent when greeting the young lady, in an attempt to poke her more annoyed. "Having a face as if you're about to take a dump."

Akane made even more of a sour visage. "Hmph, shut up."

"So? Is there someone bothering you at school? Bullying you?" Though in Kakashi's mind, there was no way kids her age could bully her. Akane—Kyo—was the bully herself. He still couldn't believe how drastically her personality had changed. Her kindness was selective—only meant for Itachi and Shisui . . . Well, partly for Kakashi himself.

"No, more than that," she grumbled, crossing her arms on her chest.

It gave Kakashi the sense of being riddled between the young lady's lines. "I can only understand your problem when I learn how to guess."

Akane arched an eyebrow, annoyed. "Uhm, that's kinda the point . . ? So don't bother try guessing . . ?"

Offended as Kakashi was, a vein of annoyance popped above his eyebrow. "You little . . ."

The girl only made a face while satirically copying the exterior expressions of the older fellow.

The grey-haired ANBU officer was looking out for the girl in the shadows ever since she was still young, even saw how she grew up. Keen, observant, a little awkward, and had a whole awful lot of bluntness in her. And if one was dumb enough, never talk to her. Gladly, somehow, the Third Hokage's order for her to keep her real identity not to be known was still restraining her not to stand out.

Some days, for some reason, Kakashi was checking her from her section, only showing Akane—rather Kyo—was the class loner and rarely showed emotion on her face. And it seemed like the girl didn't inconvenience her even a bit.

Well, if she didn't want to talk about it, fine then. Kakashi only met her along the way and got sidetracked from his real agenda: to look for something to eat for dinner.

"Then, I'll be goi—"

Suddenly, there was someone who walked towards them with his hands raised high to give Akane and Kakashi a greeting. A shiver ran on the young lady's spine. The little brat, just now a meter away from them, waved his hands in the process.

"It's the nee-san from the cemetery! こんにちは！"

That was Naruto himself.

He found them with a toothy grin on his face as he took a dancing step to the grumpy nee-san. The kid was a great deal familiar to her, so she was quick to get angry and repulsive. He said his 'hi', whilst Kakashi and Akane said nothing. The young lass wasn't looking directly at him, also slightly wondering whether if he would stick his business to them, but thank goodness, he just passed them by.

Firstly, there was a small, sinking silence between them. Then Kakashi chuckled, as smug as he pleased.

"Oh-ho~ 'nee-san'? You?" It was Kakashi's turn to irritate the young miss, drawing his fingers on his chin. "And cemetery?" And he was quick-witted to connect things up. "Heh, news flash! You visited your parents, don't you?"

Her lips tugged down, then she frowned just to prove Kakashi's speculations right.

"It just happened—just a coincidence." It was her defense, although there was an underlying significance in the secrecy of her words.

"Hmm?" Kakashi hummed, tilting his head a bit on the left. "To me, it seemed like that Naruto kid has known you for ages."

Akane continued treading, each step was quite heavy. "Four years do not sound ages to me, and it was only yesterday when he met me," she huffed. "He's almost blindly fond of me . . . Me, whom became thoroughly disgusted at him a minute after their deaths." She was stating her thoughts with emphasis, letting Kakashi knew whom she was pertaining to.

The silver-headed lad watched her expression if there was an indignant displeasure veiled on her face, but it alleviated him when he saw nothing.

Both of their parents were already gone from this world, and it left a huge wound for Akane . . . And the fact that there no warning signs of a storm coming, it was safe to assume that she had accepted it. Or at least that scar had healed—not completely, but almost there.

"Well, I also can't exactly put it into words," Kakashi mused while the gaze his uncovered eye was cast at the sky, thinking. "Perhaps it's 'déjà vu'?" There was no translation of that term—that feeling one had upon meeting another person who turns out to be a relative. "A sense of connection, at the very least."

Akane was nonchalant about it.

Sense of connection, huh?

Then she felt nothing about it.

༺═──────────────═༻

Walking on the roads . . .

Every day, never ceasing.

It had just revelled her by now, realizing she spent so much time wandering on the same place—Konohagakure, her birthplace. How many steps, how many breaths, how many thoughts. . . It didn't matter what she remembered or what she had forgotten, she just walked along. The village and people she was seeing everyday must be the same, but it didn't look as yesterday's, and there were still uncharted place that was left untouched by her feet.

She was always on an everyday walk, going somewhere beautiful and quiet where she could see the clouds and trees in their every-changing phases, and there she would gain perspective, figuring out what was making her life—what was making her happy, what was making her sad, and what was making her felt most alive. The young lass would—in most times—get too caught up in distractions as though she had lost herself, yet distancing herself could give her a perspective.

Little did she know, she mindlessly arrived at a cliff outside the village that was adjacent to the Hokage Monument. The cliff was familiar—a spot only she, Itachi, and Shisui knew about. Below the cliff rising up perpendicular to the ground and there was a river that meandered along.

"Akane."

Sensing an aura behind her, the girl whirled around.

There were only a very few people who called her by her real name, thus it was easy to depict who the person was.

Soon, she met a pair of obsidian eyes that were like billowing clouds that covered any luminosity by its depths.

Akane beamed with all her heart.

"Itachi."

And so she called.

The young Uchiha threaded to get closer to her. "You're here, why?"

"Oh, I just decided to have a little walk." The 'little' she meant sounded like a lie, knowing that she had been walking ever since her class ended.

Itachi let out chuckled laced with hums. "That's so you." Then he gently patted her hair.

"How about you?" It was her turn to ask. "You're here, why?"

"We've just finished a mission," he explained, "as I was expecting Shisui to finish his mission and meet him here, too, but it seemed like I underestimated the time."

The two Uchihas were busy lately, and Akane didn't particularly feel bitter about it.

She only extended her hand to Itachi, beckoning him to go with her. "Then, shall we take a walk for a bit more?"

Itachi only hummed in agreement, graciously taking her hand as he replied with a gleaming, tiny smile, "Yes, let's go."

Thus, they walked together, leading to an unknown path. Beneath their feet was the blanket of dried leaves, showing how far autumn had come.

"But on the second thought," Akane shortly paused, "we should take a rest; you've been from a mission, right?"

Again, Itachi hummed, now signifying a kind 'no'. "I don't mind walking with you."

It was true that Itachi must be resting, but his team's mission for today wasn't that tiresome. This was their another walk after days of not spending time with each other. Itachi could also admit that he was giving more time to the young lady than to his own brother Sasuke.

Because there was something in autumn that any season couldn't provide.

They both walked beneath the fading sunlight of the early evening, and each littered leaf was graced by the light reflecting on it. Whilst, in the distant sky, there were those crows either in a hunt of food or signing off for today.

And there was no wasted time if he was with her. Be it even in this silence.

Something lacking of color in the last seasons that could only bloom in autumn . . .

It is her, Akane.

Onto the melody of autumn, there they were, a season of he and her.

He stole a glance at her, but his glance got lengthened, his emotions telling him he needed more of a connection. Akane noticed it, and she smiled seeing his eyes were more than different in moments like these, more soft than she knew her eyes could be.

Then, out of her lips, she spoke like a fallen leaf that whispered, "In their grave . . . I visited."

"Oh," Itachi replied, decently but genuinely surprised, though it registered a little slower than he supposed to be. "Then?"

"Hmm, then . . ." She smiled (slightly bashful), tilting her head on a side. "Then I saw ᵐʸ ᵇʳᵒᵗʰᵉʳ."

Her face was in deep red, even barely saying the last two words.

Itachi smiled again, a real low laughs spilling out, as a fresh wave of relief and amusement filled him at the news of Akane gaining perspectives.

And if there was something that contrasted Akane's character from Itachi's, it must be how they treated their little brothers.

Sasuke adored Itachi so much, and as the big brother, he ought to protect him.

As for Akane . . .

He never asked or spoke about his parents, even her little brother, because he didn't want her to be reminded of painful memories. But she has started talking about it now . . . It was something new and something stirring, and he wanted to listen to more.

"Never did I intend to see him, or at least for him to cross paths with me."

"Why?" The young Uchiha could empathize, but he still raised a question.

"Why, you asked?" Bewildered the little miss. "You and the whole Uchiha became victims because of it as well, right?"

For the village, particularly to Akane, the Nine Tails incident had left a scar deeper than any other. As well as to the Uchiha, being suspected of having controlled the Nine Tails. Itachi himself had been slandered more times than he could remember because of it.

Yet he didn't blame the kid—Naruto Uzumaki. He never chose to be born, thus it was unjustifiable to put the fault on an innocent child.

"Your little brother is also a victim here." It wouldn't hurt if he apprehended her a bit. "Perhaps, you should consider not to persecute the child for the consequences he didn't choose, Akane."

She understood what he meant very well, even in her lone moments, those words of his had wandered in her little mind. Akane bit her lip. If there was ever a time to say what needed to be said, it was now, yet she didn't take the opportunity—likely would never be honest enough.

Angling her head down, she held his hand even a little firmer, her thumb awkwardly fumbling the shape of his fingertips.

"I supposed, so . . ."

" . . . And yep, I supposed not." She deadpanned.

After throwing her four kunais for this round—simultaneously hitting each target on the center—there came the same kid who abruptly showed up at her kunai training area, and eventually made her motionless to her whereabout. Akane still had vacant targets and was capable to shoot them precisely and perfectly, so.

"Whoah! Nee-san, so amazing!" The yellow-haired child cheered, astonishment was swelling from his face. And in his hands, the Naruto kid was carrying a basket full of mushrooms.

Akane only sighed from the deepest part of her stomach, pacing sluggishly towards the marks and retracted her kunais, as she lost her concentration training.

Naruto, who sat crossed-legs nearby, clapped his has stubby hands happily. "Do it again, do it again!"

Am I some kind of an entertainment?

"Haven't I told you to leave me alone?" The young miss sounded so displeased, sighing once again just to vent her irritation.

"Datte," he said with a playful, guile tone, eyes looking up while thinking, "it happens that you're on my way, nee-san."

The corner of Akane's lips curled upward, it might resemble a smile, but the feeling gave off a bitter aversion. Being ignorant and unknowing was sure making for him so easy to say things.

"Wait, are you pissed or something, nee-san?"

The kid noticed, yet his clueless remark had made her a lot infuriated—her