Playing Nice
Itachi eyed the elder carefully, dark pupils matching one another without pause as the two seemed to slow in their efforts of sizing the other up – the elder content to take hold of the conversation’s reins and the younger willing to allow it for now.
“...Itachi Uchiha.” he answered after a split second, bowing his head only briefly as he introduced himself; just long enough to convey the respect he was sure the other man felt was owed but short enough that he wasn’t leaving himself open for a second longer than necessary. He said nothing more as he straightened his back to look at the other, waiting for him to introduce himself next.
It did not come however, the man merely nodding and jerking his head slightly over his shoulder instead. “And the others? Who are they? What are their relations to you?”
His voice was cutting and to the point, leaving no room for evasion or manipulation of the truth. A slight buzzing rang in the back of Itachi’s ears as he spoke, all his instincts and training warning him off against answering truthfully.
...Yet there the crows sat, mere feet away, with all the information the man sought and likely no qualms about giving it to him should they be asked. Here Itachi stood, with a measly two cards up his sleeve, while the elder likely held countless.
A thin frown crossed his lips before he began – hoping his honesty would at the very least not heighten his guard as lying might manage to do. Perhaps, if he was lucky, it could even lower it.
“...The elder two are Shisui and Izumi Uchiha; both friends and cousins of mine. The younger is Sasuke Uchiha, my younger brother.” keeping his own voice equally as firm and to the point. When the man only nodded slightly, bringing his hand up to his chin in consideration as he glanced Itachi up and down, Itachi pressed lightly. “...and you are?”
He made a distinct effort not to twitch as the summoner’s eyes narrowed slightly, head tilted to the side as though having decided upon something. “I am Tajima Uchiha, head of the Uchiha Clan.” he folded his arms as he spoke.
Itachi tried with all his might to recall the name, to think back through the former leaders of their clan. To try to connect the man before him with any of the books from the library he had spent hours pouring over, trying to find anything at all that could be blamed for the current predicament between the village and clan...
After a long few seconds, he found something, stored far in the back of his mind.
“Madara’s father.” he acknowledged after a moment, the information all that was really able to come to mind as he thought the name over. The last known leader of the clan before the founding of the village, the final hurdle which had refused to move during the initial planning phase – right alongside Butsuma Senju on the opposite side. A stubborn man, unwilling to let go of the past just like the other...
“That is correct.” Tajima inclined his head; something between faint amusement, bitterness, and pride washing over him as he spoke.
Itachi supposed it made sense. To be nothing more than a footnote in history, to be reduced to merely being the father of a great man...he wouldn’t be surprised if it drew out conflicting feelings from someone of his position.
Before he could say anything to smooth over the slightly ruffled feathers, however, the emotion had slipped off the other’s face. Replaced once more with one of thought as Tajima continued, turning on his heel. “Follow me – both of you. Be sure to bring the unconscious along.”
He began walking from this room and towards the doorway, not so much as looking behind him. He only paused once he reached it and seemed to notice both Itachi and Izumi’s lack of movement – head tilting over his shoulder once more as he implored them, “We have much to discuss. We can either do it here while they lay crumbled up on the floor, or in my office while they rest in the room over. It’s up to you.” he mused, “I’ll even allow one of you to stay back and keep watch over them if you’d like, for your cooperation.”
Tajima’s smooth words filled Itachi’s ears, the boy nodding slowly as he saw the man watching him out of the corner of his eye and Izumi’s own uncertain glance. He moved to lift Shisui up just as his friend did the same with Sasuke, the child beginning to stir in her hold as she did so. Itachi silently willed his brother to remain asleep, taking slow steps towards the door and pointedly refusing to acknowledge Gara or Asu as he walked past them.
Shisui’s body felt heavy in his hold as he followed the elder Uchiha out of the room and down though a second doorway – until finally they made it to what seemed to be a master bedroom. It was sparse with only a single large bed in the middle, a wooden trunk sitting at its base while swords hung mounted to the wall nearby. Swords which were far too old and worn to possibly do any real damage, Itachi noted internally as he lingered briefly in the doorway.
His eyes flickered away from the blades and back towards the clan head after a brief second, eyes averting slightly as he saw the other merely raise a brow at his mild snooping.
Carefully, he moved forward, laying Shisui on the bed and frowning a bit at the pained grimace that fell over his cousin’s face. Shisui’s arm moved upwards as if to block the sliver of sunlight than came in through the window from reaching his eyes, his body seeming to move on its own as he remained unconscious. Unknowing of just how deep the crows has managed to drag them in.
Itachi would make sure Shisui didn’t wake up to a mess. He would rein in the situation and make his cousin proud. He would make things manageable, for both his friends and brother’s sake.
He had it all under control, he promised himself as he watched Shisui and Sasuke lay motionless atop the unfamiliar bed.
“...Izumi, please do me a favour and keep an eye on these two while I talk with Lord Tajima.” he asked her from the opposite side of the bed, Tajima’s intense stare boring into him from behind as he spoke.
His friend sent him a thankful and promising look as she nodded, “I will. You don’t have to worry about them.”
...
Slowly, he turned back to the elder, their dark eyes meeting once more before Tajima turned to lead him into a connected room. His office, Itachi supposed as he reluctantly made his way inside – leaving the two in the care of Izumi for now.
Unwavering even as the door was clicked shut behind him – or at the sight of the two crow summons which seemed to have snuck their way in along with them.
Itachi watched as they made themselves comfortable on the perch which sat on Tajima’s desk, the man moving quickly to clear maps and bundles of notes from it. Shoving them off to the side until the surface was empty, making the space between them feel all the wider as he sat easily in the chair behind it.
Sharp eyes waiting, boring into him until finally he did the same in the chair placed directly outwards.
A light breath left the other as he seemed to resign himself to the conversation, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the desk and fold his hands atop it. Matching Itachi’s cooperation with what seemed to be some of his own.
“I take it you understand when, roughly, you have fallen. However. Do you know why, exactly, it has come to be?” his firm words not unkind, per se, but far from easing in the least. As Itachi considered his response for the briefest of seconds, Tajima pressed, “...I ask only so that I don’t waste time explaining things you already know – be it information you’ve gathered yourself or information the crows have opted to share with you. I ask that you are honest with me, if nothing else, so we can figure out what exactly we are going to do and where we can go from here. There’s no point in wasting either of our times with the dance of half-truths and lies, so let’s not sabotage ourselves.”
Itachi's chest felt impossibly tight as he forced another nod. Not all that certain of the man’s sincerity, but knowing he had little choice but to work with it for now.
“...Very well. Yes, I understand when I am, at least mildly.” using all his focus to not crumble under the thought alone, refusing to let himself give into panic at the idea that they were back in the time before Konoha. Back to a time when war ran rampant right alongside the tailed beasts, before the relative safety of Konoha’s walls had been built... “As for why, I have a vague idea, but no specifics.”
He stilled his hands in his lap, keeping his tone even. “Gara merely mentioned during one of her visits that she wished to bring us to her summoner in order to offer aid,” he pointedly did not repeat Asu’s own words which had claimed they would bring him comfort, his skin crawling a bit as he tried not to think too much into the phrasing. “...Then as I woke, I heard Asu mention his intent for us to remain here, as an... offering, from them to you.”
Itachi’s fingers twitched a bit under the table as the elder Uchiha let out a long sigh, keeping his face as neutral as possible as the man leaned back in his chair with two of his fingers still pressed to his temples. “...Yes, I’m afraid they – as summons with a limited understanding of the human mind – misunderstood my wishes.” he didn’t so much as do either of the outraged crows the courtesy of looking at them, instead closing his eyes momentarily before opening them back up. Something almost vulnerable flashed in them, something the man stomped down less than a second later. “I have recently lost my third son in battle, leaving behind only two.”
His voice was tight, unwilling to become choked up but also refusing to dismiss his lost child with cold words. Itachi wondered, briefly, which way his father would speak of them if they ended up unable to return.
“Asu and Gara are trying to, as they put it, refill my nest – something which you have unfortunately become caught up in. For that, you have my apologies.” he frowned, bowing his head briefly.
Itachi was unable to say it was alright despite the small bit of relief that filled his chest; not when his little brother and cousins had both been caught in it all. Instead, he only nodded briefly as Tajima continued. “However, as the head of the clan, I am not able to ignore the benefits your arrival proposes. As someone born to our future clan, I’m sure there is much you know that can benefit us greatly both present and future.”
The tightening in his chest returned ten-fold as he quickly began filing through all he knew that the elder may also want to know, of what would be acceptable to give up and what would be catastrophic. What would be worth offering to keep things calm, and what would be worth ending up in the clan’s interrogation division.
“...If you want information about the future of our clan, could you not simply ask your summons?” his brows furrowed, the pre-teen refusing to acknowledge the itch in his fingers which begged him to draw his weapon and make a run for it.
A small breath left his lips as the other shook his head, Gara tsking from her spot on the perch, “Oh, no, no, we cannot interfere in something as large as the fate of a clan. To play god would surely upset the Sage and Shinigami alike...” her voice was pleasant despite her corrections, “To do our dear Tajima a favour, however? To bring him a gift to soothe his pain? What useless summons we would be if we couldn’t even manage that much...”
Itachi could just barely make out the elder’s scoff at his summon’s words.