The moonlight poured softly through your window, casting faint, silvery patches across your room and revealing a shadowy figure standing just outside your window. You lay still in your bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, your body swathed in bandages—head, face, and limbs wrapped in gauze and cloth.

You could barely remember the details of what happened—only a violent explosion when you and your team were wrapping up a mission. Waking up at home instead of a hospital bed meant someone had to have taken care of you, wrapping you up and tucking you back into bed. But the thought lingered—was your team okay?

The situation grew even more unsettling as you realized you were wearing an Akatsuki cloak. Had he followed you again? He—Itachi. You’d crossed paths with him once, alongside Kakashi, but your interactions had been minimal. Still, he’d been watching you from the shadows more times than you could count.

Without needing to look, you knew it was him outside the window. It felt wrong. You had no connection to Itachi or the Akatsuki, so why was he here? Slowly, you shifted to a sitting position, the sound of your bones cracking as you did.