A peaceful day in the leaves[Ashuri/ OPEN]

[Itachi Uchiha]

The morning sun's rays found its way into Itachi and Ashurii's room. The sun had awoken the long haired demon prince from his slumber. Itachi blank a few times to adjust his eyes to the light. He rose from his bed but not before placing a quick kiss on his wife who lay next to him on the bed. Itachi got himself prepared for the day and got into his ANBU clothing.

At the exact moment he stepped outside his home two ANBU had appeared. He recognized them as members of his squadron. "What it is?" The two ANBU handed over a mission sheet to Itachi detailing their new assignment. A band of rouge ninja and bandits were closing in on the village and his team was to stop them. Itachi nodded and in moments all three had vanished using the shunshin jutsu.

They reappeared at the villages gate and met up with the remaining members of the team. "Let's head out." With that said they all departed to locate and eliminate their targets. It wasn't too long until they had come upon the camping site of the targets. Itachi gave hand signals telling his men to fan out and search for any others who may have been away from the camp and eliminate them upon site.

With that they all dispersed and Itachi made a quick surveillance acquiring the enemies numbers and positions. Itachi then placed himself in the center and fell from the top of the tallest tree. He then shot out kunai into the directions of the targets and used some more kunai to change the direction of the ones that had no target. Itachi had also placed explosion tags on some of them and when he landed on the ground on his feet the tags went off.

After all the smoke from the explosions had cleared Itachi did a body count and they were all dead. A few seconds later all the members of his squad except one had arrived. "Alright you guys head back to the village, I'll go locate Kazuki and meet up with you." With that said Itachi vanished and soon located his partner’s unconscious body lying on the ground. Itachi was cautious of the possibility of it being a trap so he sent a shadow clone in to go and check on it. When the clone got near it saw part of the man’s body covered with explosive tags.

The clone detonated and killed the clones. When Itachi got down he was soon ambushed by the leader of the enemy gang. It was a ninja of the Hidden Mist and he proved to be a very skillful ninja, most likely of Jounin level. Without any hesitation Itachi activated his Sharingan and made quick work of the man by entrapping him in a genjutsu and decapitating him with his katana. Itachi then regrouped with his squad and informed them of their comrade’s death.

They soon returned to the village and Itachi found himself going to visit his father and report the success of their mission, but was turned away and told that his father was too busy at the moment. Some father he was, too busy enjoying his new title that he didn't have time for his own son who made this whole take over possible. Itachi then found himself back at his home where he was planning on changing into his regular Chuunin outfit.

[ashurii mitsukai-uchiha;;]

Even as the sun's rays began to creep farther into the room and Itachi kissed her, Ashurii remained asleep. Since officially becoming a civilian, she figured it was her right to sleep as late as she damn well wanted to. Fugaku couldn't command her to continue following the same hours as a shinobi. Sure, he could--and had-- sucked the joy out of most of the rest of her life. The only good thing the fool had done was forcing her and Itachi to get married.

The steady rise and fall of her chest didn't change, even as time wore on. It was about an hour before she finally awoke, mouth open in a gaping yawn, to begin her day. She had known that Itachi wasn't there; she hadn't let her senses dull that much. That would have been an insult to all of her teachers, and one of the only things all of her teachers had in common was the fact that they didn't take kindly to insults.

She remembered her original sensei, Kukiko, and how she had reacted the day Ashurii's teammate Junko had inadvertently insulted her. It hadn't been pretty, and the only rival to her anger was that of Tsunade the sannin's. It was only a fool who didn't fear the Slug Princess when she was angry; and many of those fools were now six feet under. Ashurii had always been careful not to get her angry. Ah, the good old days when I actually had to be productive. she thought, uttering a long sigh.

The most work she had had to do since Fugaku came into power was attempting to cook. Attempting wasn't the best word; mutilating, murdering, and defacing were more accurate terms. Ashurii couldn't cook to save her life. She caught toast on fire. Not the kind of housewife anyone would want to have... Unless they were downright strange and liked mutilated toast.

It wasn't like she wanted to be stuck in the Uchiha compound all day; no one would hire her for any kind of job. The ramen stand.... She wasn't even allowed to eat there anymore, let alone cook there. Yamanaka's Flowers was another no; the Haruno family, now in control of the shop, had never really liked her. The other various businesses in town were too afraid to hire her after the time she broke into the Hokage's office and broke everything breakable.

So she was stuck in the compound with Mikoto, who was still trying to teach her how to cook. Her mother-in-law was endlessly patient, a quality she admired. She had always been rather hot-headed, and all the changes in Konoha hadn't helped very much. Actually, they had made her condition worse, and every so often she absently wondered if she was still sane. Did sane people think about being sane? She didn't know. She'd probably never know.

Thinking about her sanity, she remembered when Fugaku had publicly called it into question. I'm still trying to figure out who would be stupid enough to make Ibiki a psychological counselor. Oh, that's right, the fool we call Hokage. she thought, snickering. She hadn't taken any of the ANBU T&I department head's questions seriously. She remembered telling him with a perfectly apathetic face that Fugaku was the useless slime born to a trout and an amoeba, with the brain the size of a particle of dust.

And he had classified her as clinically insane. Probably another reason why she couldn't get a job. She had been thinking about all of this as she went through her morning routine; getting dressed, brushing her hair, burning and eating toast, and then pulling out a good book to read, lounging underneath a sakura tree in the yard, waiting for Itachi to come home. Even though it hadn't been long since he had left, his missions took an abnormally short amount of time. He was a genius, after all.

As her husband appeared at the door to their home, Ashurii grinned. Full of bitter thoughts and memories as she was, she genuinely enjoyed spending time with him. "Hey, Tachi!" she called out, waving him over. She couldn't help but absently note that he looked hot in his ANBU gear.

[Itachi Uchiha]

Coming closer and closer to his door Itachi went through his past memories of when things were fun, when his father wasn't some power hungry dictator. He remembered when Sasuke idolized Itachi and wanted to be just like him. Before he got a chance to open the door he heard a sweet voice call out to him. Considering the way his name was said he immediately realized who it was and snapped out of his daze.

He turned to where his wife was located and smiled as he responded to her. "Good morning Ashu-Chan. I see your enjoying another book under the tree again." Itachi decided that instead of just aimlessly walking about the village, he decided he would spend the day with his lovely wife Ashurii. His missions kept him from spending too much time with his wife, and that fact that she couldn't really get any employment anywhere didn't help either.

Itachi walked over to the tree and sat next to his beautiful wife. He enjoyed moments that the two of them could just be next to each other and relax. Of course he would prefer for them to also be able to do missions together, but thanks to his evil father that was impossible. Itachi just could not wait until he and Ashurii executed their coup DE tat and he kills the tainted Uchiha, but what would he do about Sasuke? He couldn't kill Sasuke could he? After all Sasuke didn't truly understand the wrong doings of their father, he didn't understand what was truly going on.

Itachi turned to his wife and decided to strike up some conversation. "So what have you done so far today?" He felt a slight breeze and watched as it scattered the sakura blossoms around them. Seeing his wife surrounded by such beautiful pedals only made her seem even more radiant than before. She was one of the best if not the only best thing his father had even made him do.

[ashurii mitsukai-uchiha;;]

"Good morning Ashu-Chan. I see your enjoying another book under the tree again."

"Of course. This one's just a volume on medical history, nothing much." Ashurii told him, grinning. Spending time with her husband was one of the only joys left in her life. He was able to hold an intelligent conversation, she didn't feel uncomfortable around him in the slightest-- like most did, simply because of his stoic outer facade-- and he genuinely cared about her.

Until he had come into her life, along with their sensei and other teammate, she hadn't had anyone that had ever given a damn about her. She was surprised that she hadn't turned out to be some kind of little street urchin, or something of the life. With her parents' early deaths, she hadn't known the comfort of a home and family like Itachi had-- no matter how dysfunctional they truly were.

When he sat next to her, she carefully placed the book on the ground after memorizing her page number and hugged him. He wasn't the most affectionate of people, and neither was she. An occasional hug or kiss was enough for both of them... Not that they really had enough time with each other to get to do much more than that, just another way Fugaku had ruined her happiness.

She pushed away the bitter thoughts; those were best left to times when he was on missions. Otherwise, one day she would end up ranting at him... And then he would try to execute the plan early, which would screw up the timing and possibly get them caught. And really, they were too professional to get caught; how else could they have managed the night visits to Iwa, Nami, and Suna?

"So what have you done so far today?"

"Oh, you know, the usual. Caught some toast on fire, ate it anyways, came out here. What about you? Tell me all about the latest flawless mission performed by squad three." she chattered. "And before I forget to tell you, we've got another scroll from Tsunade."

She held up the small rolled paper with a bit of slug slime still stuck to it. The seal was still intact; she hadn't wanted to open it until he got home. Of course, the latest news from Wave was important, especially to her, but for some reason she always let him open Tsunade's letters.

[Itachi Uchiha]

Itachi smiled and let out a small chuckle at the events that took place in his wife's day. She had somewhat always been a terrible cook which caused them to always eat take out, or have to visit Itachi's mother for dinner. He had sighed as he began to tell his story about the mission earlier, but was cut off by Ashurii's announcement about them having received another message from Tsunade.

His face became serious and he took the scroll from Ashurii. It had the special seal that only Itachi and Ashurii knew how to remove as to keep outsiders from reading it. "Let's go inside, it's too dangerous to read it out here in the open." Itachi got up and smiled at his wife as he continued the story of his mission earlier. "Well the mission wasn't as flawless as it would usually be. We lost Kazuki today when he dispatched a band of bandits lead by a rouge Jounin from the Mist. But other than that the mission went off without a hitch."

Once Itachi entered his house he went over to his table and did the hand seal required to release the special seal. He took a quick read through of the scroll. It spoke of the progress of the new village and of their ever stronger alliances with Konoha's enemies. Itachi was glad that the message contained nothing but good new. "Good it seems everything is going smoothly." Itachi allowed Ashurii to read through the scroll before he destroyed it. Itachi then let out a sigh and went to the fridge to pour himself a cup of water. He also took a quick look at the burnt toast. He was a bit hungry, but not enough to destroy his taste by eating burnt toast.

[Uchiha Fugaku]

It had been a boring day for Fugaku; cooped up in his office with nothing but paperwork to do. Usually, he would have had one of his underlings handle the paperwork, but today, he was creating documents of top secret nature, which meant that only a few people needed to know about them. As such, he did the work himself, and after a long day of it, Fugaku was worn out. Deciding that he would amuse himself with a stroll through the village, Fugaku got up out of his seat and wore his Kage robes. Before this, however, he stopped to admire the Kage robes, and a smile came across his face. Naturally, his Kage robes bore the Uchiha insignia, so as he adored the robes, his mind drifted off to other subjects.

He allowed his mind to wonder, thinking back to the times when the Uchiha dominated the ninja world. He thought of those amazing ninja that the Uchiha produced. He thought ahead, to the world that he would create, with the Uchiha at the head of it once more. His smile developed into a grin, and then a chuckle, and then an incredibly villainous laugh. He stood there, basking in his own glory. Basking in the glory of his clan. As he stopped laughing, a thought came into his mind. A thought that had been troubling him for a while.

What if my plans are foiled...? What if these treacherous villagers try to usurp me?

His smile quickly turned into a frown, and out of frustration, Fugaku found himself punching his desk, brows furrowed, sweat pouring down his face. His mind was racing, and his heart was pounding. Furiously, thought of all the possible people who could've led a rebellion against him. Many names passed through his mind, but none of them were evaluated to have the guts to. He stopped, however, when he came to a certain name. That name, was Itachi.

Fugaku's own son, his first son, was the only one in the village who he could think of to try and take him on. He let out a low growl, as he thought of his son. He was a prodigy, even among the respected Uchiha. A man that Fugaku himself, saw as exemplary. Still, the fact remained that he was his son, and there was no way that he could betray him. Sure, he may not have liked Fugaku's dictatorship, but there was no way he could turn against his own father... was there?

Was there?

Was there?

As the thought echoed through his mind, Fugaku decided that he would go and see his son; it was the only thing that could calm his mind at this time. Putting on his robe and hat, he left his office, unintentionally slamming his door as he did.

Maybe he wasn't as calm as he thought.

After a good walk, Fugaku had reached Itachi's household. Having just returned from a mission, he assumed that Itachi would be tired, so he had brought him a present: fresh Dango. He smirked as he approached the gate to the compound, overwhelmed by his own genius. His 'gift' was a subtle attempt at insulting his wife: when their husbands returned from missions, most women would cook him a nice meal. Of course, he knew that Itachi's dastardly wife couldn't, so bringing something freshly made by his own cooks would highlight what Itachi was missing. Ahh, how he loved subtlety.

As he proceeded through the gate, he just caught Itachi and his wife entering their home, so decided to follow them in. A few moments after they settled in, he poked his head in the main door and shouted his greeting them.

"Hey, Hokage-sama here! Is anyone in?"[/font][/color] Being the 'polite' man he was, he didn't just barge into his son's home, but waited for them to come and get him from the door.

[ashurii mitsukai-uchiha;;]

"Well the mission wasn't as flawless as it would usually be. We lost Kazuki today when he dispatched a band of bandits lead by a rouge Jounin from the Mist. But other than that the mission went off without a hitch."

"Oh, not Kazuki! He should've learned to be more cautious though." Ashurii commented, following him inside to read the note from her former mentor. She scanned it with sapphire hued eyes, grinning. "At least all is going well on their end. We should be getting another note soon, from... Iwa, right?" The final part was murmured in Itachi's ear; they could never be too cautious.

"Sorry about the toast. But Mikoto-kaa has been teaching me, and I can almost make edible cookies now." she announced, snickering slightly. "Are we going to go out for dango tonight, like we planned, or would you rather we eat here?" Hopefully it's the former; don't think I could stand looking at Fugaku's ugly mug today. One of these days I'm going to go blind from the exposure. she finished mentally, though the utterance of the words would probably elicit a chuckle from Itachi.

"Hey, Hokage-sama here! Is anyone in?"

"Does he live for the sole purpose of annoying us?" she muttered, going to answer the door. She put a polite smile on her face, trying to seem genuinely pleased and surprised that he had come for a visit. "Good afternoon, Hokage-sama." Oh, how it irked her so to call him that; even fake respect for the man made her twitchy. "Oh, and you brought dango. What a nice little surprise."

Like hell it was. She knew that the dango was meant as an insult to her cooking skills, and she didn't like it. You think you're so subtle. Well, fuck you. Someday.... Maybe someday, anyways, I'll be able to make Itachi dango myself. It didn't hurt her feelings so much as irritate her; she continually insisted to Itachi that Fugaku was hell-spawn with a smaller brain than an amoeba-- many of which she had studied in her time.

She took the box of dango from him, setting it on the counter, still trying not to twitch. "Wasn't that thoughtful, Tachi-kun?" She shot her husband a look, telling him that if he disagreed she would castrate him in the middle of the night. Of course, they both knew she wouldn't; she would, however, come up with an equally painful alternative that would leave his genitals safely intact.

She pulled out a chair for Fugaku, taking the on on the far end of the table for herself. She may not like the man, but she wanted to stay on his good side-- if he had one-- in order to keep him from suspecting too much. If there had been one thing she excelled at above all others, it was faking. Very few people could see through her deceptions-- and those few people were the only wants she wouldn't try to deceive.

[Uchiha Fugaku]

Fugaku smiled as he walked into the house. As Ashurii pulled the chair out for him, he said his thanks, and sat down. It seemed as though he had interrupted a moment between the two, but he genuinely didn't care. He did, however, care when he noticed the scroll on the table, one which he knew nothing about. As he looked at it, an eyebrow raised. His suspicious side surfaced once more, and he began to think of what it could be. Naturally, he didn't just ask what it was. That'd be to obvious. No, instead, he was going to have one of them tell him what it was.

Turning to Itachi, he began to speak.

"Sorry about the sudden intrusion," as he spoke, he beamed a smile at his son. It was fake, of course, and Itachi would probably realise that: his intuition was second to none. "I just felt bored in the office all on my own and decided to visit my son and see how his mission went. That's a decent excuse, right?" As he finished the sentence, he let out a low laugh, an indication that it was an attempt at humour. Of course, he expected Itachi and his wife to follow suite, even if they did fake their laughs.

"Anyway, Itachi, how was your mission? Successful as usual, I suppose? Did you retrieve anything of interest?"[/b][/color] At this point, he gestured to the scroll, showing that he was indirectly asking what it was. Then, he looked back at Itachi. At times like this, he was genuinely proud of the boy. If only he wasn't such a rebellious brat, they might have had a decent relationship.

[Itachi Uchiha]

Itachi nodded in response to his wife's question about them receiving another scroll soon from Iwa. Itachi couldn't give a response with words because he felt a presence outside his home. He had hoped it was just one of the neighbors or Sasuke coming to ask Itachi to train him. But his hopes would soon be crushed as the person outside spoke.

Itachi's eyes widened a bit as he heard his father announce his presence. This was really bad. Itachi didn't have time to destroy the scroll, but it was good that they had accounted for such a thing. Before Ashurii had managed to open the door Itachi did a hand seal and activated the special seal on it that would change it to appear to be a long Poem. He smiled as his father had seemed to bring food, now Itachi wouldn't bother having to go to the restaurant, although it would be nice to go on a date with his wife.

Itachi gave his father a respectful bow after Ashurii had opened the door and greeted him. "Hello Father." Itachi could tell that his father had brought the Dango in an attempt to insult Ashurii's cooking inability. Itachi looked to his wife after asking him if it was nice that his father brought food. Itachi couldn't help but be nervous by the look his wife's face gave him and what it said. "Ha ha yes, how kind of you father."

Before his father had sat down Itachi noticed that his father noticed the scroll. He knew his father would probably try and get them to tell him what it is, good thing that he activated the fail safe seal. His father apologized for his intrusion and tried to make the excuse that he came to see how Itachi's mission went. If he truly cared then he would have seen Itachi when he went to report to him earlier. Itachi had no choice but to let out a small chuckle as not to raise any suspicion, "I guess that would be as good as any. But father you know you shouldn't wonder about without some ANBU to guard you."

Now its when his father got to the real point. He asked how Itachi's mission went and asked if he gained anything interesting from the mission. "It went quite well, although we suffered one Casualty. And no I got nothing of true value, but I grabbed that scroll. It has a nice poem on it so i decided to give it to either her or mother." Great, Itachi knew that his father was starting to become suspicious of Itachi. Otherwise why else would be bother leaving his comfortable seat of power to just visit his little weapon?

[ashurii mitsukai-uchiha;;]

"Sorry about the sudden intrusion. I just felt bored in the office all on my own and decided to visit my son and see how his mission went. That's a decent excuse, right?"

Like hell you're sorry, you cheap excuse for a human being. Ashurii thought with disdain. Her laugh was entirely real, though she didn't find his words that humorous. Rather, it was her internal monologue that amused her so-- not that either of them would be able to tell that from the simple fact that she was actually laughing.

Isn't part of being a shinobi being subtle? Because that sure isn't subtle under any terms. she thought as he gestured at the informative scroll, which thanks to Itachi, couldn't be read by Fugaku. She let out a derisive snort, shaking her head slightly.

"It went quite well, although we suffered one Casualty. And no I got nothing of true value, but I grabbed that scroll. It has a nice poem on it so i decided to give it to either her or mother."[/b

"And it's a lovely poem indeed. Not really my type of thing, but it was nice all the same." Ashurii commented, leaning over the table to give Itachi a kiss on the cheek. Hopefully, it would irritate Fugaku to some degree, and she wouldn't have to go harass him later to get her daily amusement.