Serve and Protect : Itachi Uchiha

Chapter 12

It was Itachi's birthday. No-one knew it. Anyone who would have known was dead. Because of him. His mother used to wake him, card and present in hand before Sasuke would barge in and shove the card he made at the academy in his face. Kami how he treasured those cards. He kept them in a shoebox beneath his bed. Card after card was in the box, so crammed that he had to tie the lid down with tactical wire.

When he woke today there were no cards and definitely no Sasuke or Mikoto. He never expected to see another birthday, he had accepted that he would never see another year of life. Yet here he was. Another year older.

He didn't look much different. His reflection still looked as it did when he was younger, give or take a frown line that had deepened over time. He looked at himself in the mirror. It was like looking at his father. He had his father's eyes, alongside his mother's smile. He was an amalgamation of decades of hatred and a mother's love.

He had requested the day off, telling Reina he had business with the Hokage. He hated lying to her, but then again, lying was second nature to him. He lied as easily as he breathed. However he couldn't help the bitterness that had coated his tongue when he had lied to her face. Those eyes of hers likely saw through his deceptions; it was like shining a light on a shadow, it dissolved instantly.

Reina knew it was Itachi's birthday. They were in the heat of summer after all: the season of the Uchiha. Personally, she was more of a winter baby. Snow on the windows and hot tea that put the feeling back into her icy hands. That was her season. Summer was not.

It was however Itachi's season.

Itachi wasn't the only one who could lie. Whilst he went off doing ‘Hokage stuff’, he thought she was preparing for their trip to Tsuki no Kuni. Her father's homeland. One of the trade agreements had come in the post and Reina had decided to answer their proposal in person.

They would take their peculiar friendship on the road.

Before that though, Reina had a birthday to celebrate. And she was going to make sure he'd never forget it.

“Reina? I'm back.” Itachi called from the genkan, when he received no reply he instinctively unsheathed a kunai from his pouch. “Reina?” He called again. No reply.

Itachi crept along the hallway towards the living room, perhaps she had her grandfather's record player on again. Silently he entered the living room, his sharingan in full blaze; it tingled at first. It was the first time he had activated it since waking up alive.

“SUPRISE!”

An eruption of light caused him to shield his eyes, they susceptible to the sudden light. Deactivating his sharingan, Itachi stared around the room, a multitude of faces coming into focus. Another flash made him wince and shield his eyes once more.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY ITACHI!” The crowd cheered in unison. Itachi gaped, his mouth ajar. Innately, he searched for Reina in room, it took him a while but he found her in the crowd, a polaroid camera in hand and a sly smile plastered on her rosy lips. Reina pouted her lips and cocked her head in acknowledgment.

Kakashi, Iruka, Anko, Ibiki. The list went on. People he hadn't seen in over a decade approached and congratulated him. So many hugs. So many happy faces. All aimed at him. Occasionally a flash would catch him off guard and a blur of mahogany hair would whiz past alongside the smell of peppermint.

Someone passed him a drink at one point, he was pretty sure it was whisky, judging by the coppery colour and metallic scent. People would clink his glass in merriment and pat him on the back, he was awestruck. These people. His friends. When he came face to face with a certain copycat ninja, he almost dropped his glass.

“Kakashi-san?”

“Hello there, Itachi.” The grey haired ninja saluted lazily, a smile visible underneath his mask. The pair embraced tightly, they both secretly watery eyed.

“Kami, Death looks good on you.” Kakashi held Itachi at arm's length, inspecting his old teammate. Itachi rubbed the back of his neck, he feeling like the newbie all over again.

“Who?” Itachi motioned about, he still in shock. Kakashi chuckled, wrapping an arm the younger male's shoulders and turned him about the room.

“She's been planning this for weeks.” Kakashi said, the pair locking their eye/s on the camera wielding kunoichi. “Despite her size, Reina can be quite terrifying when she puts her mind to it.”

Itachi watched in awe as Reina continued to snap sacred moments between people. If it wasn't for the flash of the camera, her smile alone would light up the room. Every time the camera regurgitated a photo she would inspect her handy work before popping the photo in her pocket.

Around them, balloons and streamers hung in boughs from the room; on the main wall a banner hung that read: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ITACHI! There were mountains of food and buckets of alcohol; Reina was going to make sure that they made up for the time and life that he lost.

Reina sat from her perch on the kitchen counter, watching the room. Her grandparents would have loved this. So many funerals, not enough parties. For once the crowds that gathered in her home were not in mourning, but celebration. It warmed her chest where it usually ached; to see so many smiling faces and hear so many laughs.

Across the room people played a drinking game that required them to throw ping-pongs into plastic cups. Now, with civilians the game was amusing; with highly trained shinobi, the game was deadly. Acute aims and nerves of steel, the game ended as quickly as it began. Shouting caused her to burst out laughing: Kakashi was caught using his sharingan.

The smell of rain tingled in her nostrils causing her lips to curve upwards. “If it isn't the birthday boy.” Reina smiled. Itachi leaned against the counter beside her, eyeing the ocean of laughter and smiles.

“I…I don't know what to say.” Itachi began, his eyes never leaving the crowd.

“You don't have to say anything, just enjoy it.”

“Why?” It was more why she did it, than why enjoy it. Reina understood.

“Because, you were never meant to have another birthday. Yet here we are.” Itachi turned to look at her, his eyes wide.

“Come here, I want to remember this moment when we're both old and grey.” Reina unfolded her legs from the counter and ushered him to stand between them, it as though he were ready to give her a piggyback. “Iruka-san! Would you take a photo of us please?”

Iruka chuckled and held the camera, looking through the lense. “Say kampai!”

“Happy Birthday, Itachi.” Reina whispered into his ear, her arms wrapped around his shoulders.

When Iruka looked at the polaroid, the pair weren't looking at the camera at all; they were looking at each other, their smiles brighter than the flash of any camera.