17 Poking Yoda's Head

[Project 001

October 17th, Log 009

Subject's roots' growth continues at an exponential rate – very fast for a hardwood tree. They show similar destructive characteristics of Ficus benjamina's roots – caution for the possibility of the subject's connection to its parent tree through root system; disturbing possibility of clone colony.

Subject's stem's growth is still fairly slow, possibly due to the lack of nutrients.

Subject's taxon remains indeterminate. No flowers, fruits, or seeds have been sighted. Current known characteristics still indicate it to be a dicot, possibly a eucalyptus. Further observations are recommended.

Subject has not shown new peculiar behavior. Its diet remains the same as its parent plant, i.e. blood. Subject has not shown the ability to catch its own prey, currently still relying on daily blood intake from the observer (24 mL/24 hours). Needs another donor.

The full extent of the subject's – and subsequently parent plant's – prowess remains unknown.

P.S. Find iron supplements.

P.P.S. Devise another plan to visit the parent plant.

P.P.P.S. Evolve sharingan for observation purpo–]

"Little brother?" A voice called from the door.

The pencil in my hand halted.

I shut my eyes, briefly identifying the person's chakra signature whilst I used my free hand to cover my journal with a plethora of children's books. A big drawing book was placed at the very top. I then switched my pencil for a green crayon, drawing various shapes on the paper.

"Yes?" I answered.

I threw a glance over my shoulder. Itachi was approaching me whilst carrying a plate of dumplings and sweets in his hand. The preteen really liked those, I noticed.

I quickly squashed the irrational – or rational – fear that was always rearing their heads whenever Itachi was nearby. It was unfair to the boy, as he had not done me any wrong...

...yet, the paranoid part of me quickly supplied.

I ushered the thought away, it was counterproductive to my effort to have a healthier state of mind. Observing and researching the plant had been a good decision, it gave me purpose – something to occupy my mind with. I did not want a setback on my progress and I certainly did not want to revert to my old shove-the-bad-feelings-down-a-dark-hole habit.

Itachi must have been coming to inspect my eyes again, just like what he had done for the last six days, either out of Fugaku's order or his own volition.

So far, he had done nothing but being a good and caring sibling, thus he deserved to be treated with the same respect. It was unfair to treat him like a monster simply because of something that he might or might not do in the future. Hopefully the boy would not be too offended if I still cringe whenever I was within his proximity. God knew I'd tried.

Itachi sat cross-legged, a good respectful distance away from the puzzle pieces and the toy blocks that I had purposely cluttered around my personal space. He put his plate in front of him, his eyes skimmed over my drawing as he stuffed a pink-colored dumpling into his mouth. "What are you drawing?"

I glanced at the vaguely humanoid drawing. It had long, pointy ears, two droopy eyes, along with short malnourished limbs. It could have been Sméagol, if Sméagol was green and frequently smoked weed.

"Yoda," I decided.

Itachi nodded thoughtfully, earnestly indulging my nonsense like a good brother even though the word meant absolutely nothing for him.

"What are those?" He pointed to the small circles that were hovering near the blue-green glob.

"Those are…" I did not know what those were, they resembled cat feces, "...seagulls?"

"Is that so?" Itachi quirked a brow. "What are they doing?"

"Poking Yoda's head."

The corner of the boy's lips twitched into a smile. "Does that make Sasuke a Yoda then?"

Yoda was not a noun, I wanted to say. Yoda and Sasuke were a complete opposite – personality wise, I would have said. However, showing such level of comprehension would raise questions and cause suspicions regarding my actual language capability. Though I did not exactly behave like a proper toddler, people still treated me as if I was a clueless invalid, which was very useful whenever I wanted to eavesdrop on conversations. I'd rather not push my luck, especially since everyone was keeping a closer eye on me. Suspicious ninja was a dangerous ninja, especially one of Itachi's caliber.

On the other hand, I did plan to tell Itachi some things – just enough to nudge him into the right direction – which hopefully could mitigate the casualty to the absolute minimum should the massacre happen. However, to be taken seriously, I needed to act beyond my supposed age, which could backfire and put me in an undesirable position.

My indecisiveness regarding the matter had been eating away at my conscience for the past one week. I might never know my clansmen personally, it might even take me forever to truly see them as anything more than drawings, however ethics dictated that I reduced harm, thus that was precisely what I was going to do – if I could gather the courage to do it first, that is.

I put the crayon down and steeple my fingers together, hoping that I would be taken somewhat more seriously with the gesture. It was now or never.

"Nii-san, I have a question."

Itachi smiled encouragingly. "Go ahead."

"There's something happening in our clan," I started, choosing my diction carefully and being mindful of my intonation. "It's always there, but not… not like this. The..." I racked my brain for the appropriate Japanese word, "atmosphere... and the people just feel… weird. Mother and father – and you – are rarely home," I maintained our eye contact. "What's going on, brother?"

Logically speaking, Itachi would either lie and/or deflect my question under the pretense of protecting my 'innocence', or tell me the honest truth since I was insignificant in the grand scheme of things (it was not like I could report it to anyone) – it might even help him to unwind a bit.

"You've grown so much," Itachi observed.

I forced myself not to tense.

"I do miss a lot of things, don't I?" Itachi smiled wistfully. "I wasn't there when you were born, I wasn't there when you spoke your first word, I wasn't there to cheer you up when you were sad, I wasn't there to help you fight your illness…."

I had half a mind to call Itachi out on his deflection, however the mention of my illness made me pause. The preteen might be able to shed some light regarding what had happened to me after I was born.

I pursed my lips, frowning. "Brother, what–"

Itachi rubbed his eyes, bringing my attention to his pronounced tear-troughs. "You said that you felt our turmoil, correct?"