This wasn’t the plan. Tonight was to end with a massacre and a broken relationship between siblings— not with Itachi submitting to his cowardice and taking you with him, his protective nature too strong for him to outright abandon you.

That was how Itachi found himself carrying you in his arms and walking down the path that led out the village. You swayed against his chest drowsily, having been plucked right out of bed in the dead of night; all you managed to process was Itachi’s warm embrace, which combatted the frigid air.

“It’s alright,” Itachi murmured softly, stroking your back to soothe your quiet stirrings. “Just go back to sleep.”