A/N

Above is Kana's outfit! Credit to original

~~~~~

The sun hadn't even risen when Kana woke up. The moon and stars were still out and dominating the sky, the sun wasn't even on the horizon.

Kana got dressed the next morning in her battle kimono and strapped her weapons pouch to her waist. She slung her packed bag over her shoulders. After putting her hair in a ponytail the way Konan showed her to, she left her room. Itachi stood next to the door, his hair tied in a low ponytail and clad in his Akatsuki cloak with a brown backpack.

"Are you ready, Itachi-nii?" Kana asked.

"Yes, are you ready, Kana?" Itachi replied.

"I'm ready to go!" She chirped.

"Then let's get going." Itachi said.

Itachi silently lead the way to the bases only entrance and exit, Kana silently following after him. Once they reached the exit, Itachi turned around to face Kana.

"Do you have everything you need for a several night trip?" Itachi asked.

"I have extra weapons, extra clothes, a thingy to sleep on, a squishy thing for my head, and a scroll Sasori gave me on chakra control." Kana replied.

"Good," Itachi nodded. "Now let's cover lot's of ground while it's still dark."

Kana nodded, and as Itachi dashed into the night, Kana ran after him. Itachi adjusted his pace so that he wasn't too fast, but Kana was keeping up surprisingly well. Extra stamina he supposed.

The stars twinkled high above them, with only the light of the moon and stars to light the forest floor. Itachi decided against using the trees when it was harder to see the branches, plus, Kana still needed more practice at using her chakra. On the bright side, they wouldn't have to stop and eat often, Kana said she didn't think she'd be hungry for a while. Who knows how long a while is.

They ran along the forest floor until sunrise, when Itachi decided it would a good time to take a break and let Kana train.

"We will rest here for a while, this is your chance to train." Itachi said, looking at Kana.

"Okay, I'll get started." Kana replied, pulling the scroll from her pack.

She unfurled the small scroll and spread it across the ground. Staring at the characters in confusion. She could read very little and understood even less.

"Itachi-nii, could you read this to me?" Kana asked shyly.

"I don't know why Sasori thought giving you a scroll was a good idea." Itachi sighed. "I'll read it to you."

Itachi pulled an apple from his bag and took a seat next to her, taking a bite of his apple and swallowing.

"After I read this we'll get right to training." Itachi said.

Kana nodded, her face scrunching up as she peered at the scroll.

~~~~~
Kana and Itachi spent the night in a small inn in a town in neutral territory, near the sea; the path to Kirigakure. Kana spent all her free time channelling chakra into her feet whenever she could spare the attention. She could now walk a fairly large distance up a tall tree before falling. She asked Itachi why it was so hard and he simply told her that it was because she had lots of chakra, which she supposed made sense. 

They left the inn early in the morning, continuing on their way to the edge of neutral territory, towards Kiri. While travelling they spoke to as many travellers as they could, gathering information when they could. All the information seemed to point to a small port town where a tall man with shark skin had been spotted. He travelled with a huge sword, wrapped in bandages and still had a Kiri headband wrapped around his forehead with a scratch.

"Itachi-nii, why do people like you scratch your headbands?" Kana asked, confused as to what the symbols meant and why they wore them. "What do they mean?"

"The headbands shows what village people are from, and the scratch means that they have left their village for a reason." Itachi explained, not meeting her gaze.

"What village did you come from? Why did you leave?" Kana asked.

"I'm a member of the Uchiha clan, a clan that is- was a powerful clan in Konohagakure." Itachi said, mentally cursing himself.

"What do you mean by 'was?' And why didn't you answer the rest of my question?" Kana huffed, narrowing her eyes.

"The Uchiha clan is almost completely gone now." Itachi replied, still not meeting her eyes.

"Gone?" Kana asked. "What do you mean?"

"Dead," Itachi said, keeping his sentences short. "They were killed."

"By who?" Kana pressed.

"Me."

Kana went silent for a moment, looking up at Itachi. He glanced at her face, expecting to catch a glimpse of hate, or anger, or even disgust.

"I'm sure you had a reason, Itachi-nii." Kana smiled. "But what about your brother?"

"My brother is alive." Itachi said, smiling softly. "Why aren't you angry?"

"Itachi-nii, you're a good person, I'm not." Kana said, walking ahead.

"A good person?" Itachi sighed. "Kana, I killed my clan."

"And I kill all the time, since I was young before I was even conscious of what I was doing." Kana countered. "You were not born a killer, I was always a killer. I may not have known about this world for long, but I do know how it works."

"I killed all of my family," Itachi challenged.

"You didn't kill all your family!" Kana screamed. "I never had one!"

Itachi went silent, watching as Kana's fists began to tremble as her shoulders shook with ragged breaths. He couldn't see her face, but he could already tell she's crying. They continued walking in silence for a while until she spoke again.

"I learned something from Pein-sama," She whispered. "Shinobi are trained to take orders, so let me ask you this..."

Kana turned around, a smile on her face as tears trailed down her cheeks.

"Were you just following orders?"

Itachi stayed silent. He vowed that he wouldn't tell anyone, he would carry his secret to the grave as a loyal shinobi of Konohagakure. Sasuke would one day kill him and restore honour to his clan, that was the plan. He would die in peace as Sasuke's hands. However, Kana expected an answer. She stared at him with unwavering determination, the question still hanging in the air.

Were you just following orders?

Itachi smiled sadly at the overly intelligent girl. All he managed was a sharp nod.

Kana nodded back, turning around so her back faced Itachi once again. They continued in silence, however, it wasn't an uncomfortable one. Itachi felt much lighter than before, he didn't have to keep his burden to himself.

He just had to let Kana in.

A/N

Part of this was written on my phone, so it's meh quality as the beginning. However, I did love writing this chapter. Gtg, boyfriend calls~! VOTE COMMENT AND ENJOY!