Chapter Text
The Lore
The notorious Uchiha clan comprises of bird demons that are mostly of Tengu and Garuda species. With their enormous wings, typically black, they dominate the skies with their ferocity and vigour. Battles are evident to be fought by the Uchiha Tengu and Garuda when dark skies are left hovering over their deceased enemies, and accompanying the storm rain, there are also black feathers. There's an infamous warning; beware the arrival of the black skies for a storm is coming to drown you, and with it, the shedders of the black feathers approach to kill and bring your rue.
Power and influence was gathered in many ways. For the bigger bird clans like the Uchiha and the Senju, who had more authority, control, and impact, part of it stemmed from the other smaller bird clan's area they had took over through peaceful negotiations or force. The way power and control was gained over a smaller bird clan determined how they were treated, what benefits and influence they were offered once they were under the rule of the more powerful clan.
Your family that carried the extreme rare features of the blue-eyed ground-dove were a small but powerful branch from the bigger dove family. With smaller cinnamon-coloured wings that differed from the variations of bigger white and brown coloured wings from the rest of the dove branch families, so did your families abilities. They went beyond simple healing and protection spells that other dove families were limited to - cinnamon-colour winged doves had the potential to awaken celestial abilities like energy manipulation and dispelling malicious intentions which made them highly sought after and hunted even amongst their own. That is what led to your family branch breaking away from their own dove family. They easily accepted peaceful negotiations for a Treaty from the Uchiha who offered their protection and benevolent living under their rule, in exchange for your clan healing abilities to help them off the battle field.
You were introduced to Itachi Uchiha, the first son of one of most influential Uchiha families even amongst their clan, as his sole playmate when you were six years old.
First impressions (third pov)
Even when he was four-years-old, Itachi knew that his clan held big expectations for him in his future. Unlike other Uchiha Tengu children, who's wings would sprout at three years old, he was born with full-feather wings. By the time he was seven, his wings were the size of a typical fifteen-years-old Tengu. They were visible from his back, and bigger than his own height. There were background conversations of even beginning his debut in their battles soon, which was five years sooner than the typical Tengu. For that reason, he was evidently surprised when he was introduced to an actual playmate, a six-years-old dove, who appeared to be completely opposite of him - weak, dainty, fragile. Her small and unusual cinnamon-coloured wings, that were not even half of her size, twitched behind her anxiously.
Gently, his mother, Mikoto nudged the girl before him with a big smile on her face. "Itachi, I want you to meet [Name]. She comes from the blue-eyed ground-dove lineage, you two are going to be friends from this day forward."
It was a straight forward statement, and both children understood there was no choice.
Itachi observed the small girl before him as she bowed to him in greeting. Upon her bowing posture, he keenly observed that in between the cinnamon colouring of her wings, the inner core of the weathers were brown, and the ends of it were white like the typical dove colouring. As she raised to her full height, which was just below his shoulders, he saw wide doe like [e/c] eyes returning his stare. However, instead of the scrutiny he observed her with, [Name] only looked back at him in general curiousity. He wondered why she was called a "blue-eyed" ground-dove when there was nothing magnificently blue worthy in her eyes.
He nodded curtly. "Pleasure to meet you."
With the surface-level introduction completed, Itachi proceeded to show [Name] around his family home. For the entirety of their tour, and beyond that time they were ever expected to spend as "friends", [Name] would be so meek, Itachi typically forgot she was even around him.
It was three months after their introduction, upon returning from his first battle, a quarter of his wings, not simply just feathers, but his wings, cut off, half at death's door, that Itachi came to understand [Name]'s value. His father, Fugaku, had rushed in their home holding him with a vice grip, but maneuvering in a such a caution manner to minimise his blood loss. Itachi was sweating profusely, his breathing become shallower with each passing second, face losing its colour, overwhelmed with the pain of losing part of his wings, bleeding from his stomach, and coming in and out of consciousness.
"Mikoto, get the medic now!" Fugaku's voice boomed, as she rushed into the room, holding a two-years-old Sasuke in her arms, gasping in shock when she saw the condition Itachi was in. She immediately put down Sasuke on the ground, and hovered above Itachi crying out in horror.
"All the medics are deployed to the main branch right now, there's no one! What are we supposed to do? What happened?" Mikoto cried, instantly starting to pat Itachi's head in an attempt to offer comfort.
"The damn Senju got him. They're building an alliance with the Uzumaki," He hissed through gritted teeth, and clutched onto Itachi tighter. "What the fuck are we supposed to do? He's going to die if we don't get help soon." And for a man who usually stayed composed or wore a frown on his face, fear was present in his voice. Their youngest, Sasuke, sensing the tension and the fear amongst his parents, also started to wail. The unneeded stress of their youngest crying agitated Fugaku, and he was about to take his anger out on him. However, a small hand lingered on the back of Sasuke's head and with the golden colour emitting from it, the boy came to feel calmer, and ceased his wailing until he felt drowsy.
"Mrs. Uchiha, please look after Sasuke. I can help Itachi." [Name] murmured softly, and she waited for no response before she started her work. Mikoto had immediately run to Sasuke in fear of her second son's safety when she noticed he had fallen asleep and was about to fall face first. Meanwhile, Fugaku was going to attempt to retort back and challenge the ground-dove, but he never got the chance to.
Weaving four hand signs consisting of the dragon, bird, tiger and bird again, [Name] put her hands just above Itachi, not physically touching him, and started to move her arms around. A white glow started to form in her hands, extending to her wings as they sprawled open, and blue flecks lined with gold started to colour her eyes. Manipulating some type of energy, Itachi's wounds stitched themselves close, and his symptoms started to improve. Miraculously, Fugaku and Mikoto observed in extreme shock, mouth gaping wide, as his wings started to regenerate to return to their original size again.
With his pain easing up, and breathing becoming easier, Itachi opened his eyes to see the deepest shade of blue, like the depths of the ocean, greeting him back to life and wide cinnamon-coloured wings, raised around him protectively. As he came to understand the situation he was in and well enough to bolt up in shock, [Name] abruptly ceased her energy manipulation she had done to heal him, and collapsed beside him on her hands. Now, her breathing was shallow, sweat dripping from her forehead, and she made a loud gargling sound, before she started to throw up blood. Immediately, Itachi was by her side, his small arms wrapped around her shoulders, rubbing her back gently.
"What have you done!" He screeched in horror, as he watched her struggle to breath. He wasn't the only one, because Mikoto had ran to her side and put her hand on her head, with chakra enveloping her hands to try ease the girl's pain. She had glared at Fugaku, and having been together for as many years as they had, he instantly knew what to do - he left the room to get medical supplies needed for brief intervention.
The small cinnamon-colour winged girl mustered her energy and looked up at Itachi. As they held their eye contact, Itachi finally understood why she was a "blue-eyed" ground dove. The rich and deep blue hue of her eyes presently was like staring in endless depths of an ocean, and a gold ring surrounded her irises. He only got to admire it momentarily, because as she coughed once again, it started to fade away to her usual colour.
"We're friends, right? Friends help each other," She murmured weakly, and although she smiled softly, it was grotesque with blood dripping down her chin from both sides of her mouth. But to Itachi, for the first time, she was not dainty, nor weak, and definitely not forgotten. Instead, she was a warrior, brave, stupid and very pretty.
"That's not-" He began to say, however, before he could finish his sentence, [Name] fainted in his arms. Mikoto, understanding that she had used her chakra extremely beyond her limits and was exhausted, and her own attempt to heal the girl's nausea had finally kicked in, remained calm. However, for Itachi, who was still a seven-years-old boy, his eyes widen in horror. He clutched onto her tightly. Thinking the worst, he cried out for her in fear and it was in that moment, that for the first time ever, his onyx eyes had turned red with two black tomes in one eye, and one black tome in the other.
Yandere
Ever since that night when [Name] had first saved Itachi, especially miraculously giving him back his wings, he had vowed that he was never going to be in a position where that had to happen again, where she would have to sacrifice her wellbeing for his. Instead, he owed her a life debt. He would protect her, would always protect her. He would sacrifice himself if it ever came down it.
Ever since that night, many things had changed in his family. First, Mikoto and Fugaku also came to become immensely fond of her because she had saved their son. He was almost at death's door, and she had brought him back, and she had returned his wings. On top of that, it was because of her that Itachi had awakened his sharingan on that night. Awakening their kekkei genkai at such a young age spoke of potential, warrior-level potential for power, and if the Uchiha loved anything, it was power.
Itachi's miraculous recovery did not come without other unwanted consequences. The clan elders had visited them and had continued to visit them in pursuit of the real knowledge behind what had happened. And although Fugaku was protective of his sons, and became more wary of the battles they were sent in over time, his clan wellbeing was his top priority. He was going to tell the villagers the truth, and propose a plan to include the blue-eyed ground-doves to their battles. But, before he could disclose the truth about [Name], or the real potential her lineage was capable of, Itachi was responsible for upholding his self-promised vows to now always protect [Name], no matter the sacrifice.
On an unexpected night, he staged an attack from the Uzumaki and killed his own parents. After all, three people could only keep a secret if two of them were dead.
Understanding what his actions meant, Itachi rose to the responsibility of carrying out his duties as a clan warrior, and raising his baby brother simultaneously. The latter had no idea his own elder brother had killed his parents, and believing that it was an attack from the Uzumaki like the rest of the clan, young Sasuke had cried his heart out until he had made his own vow that he was going to avenge his parents and kill the Uzumaki.
The one person that did know the truth aside from Itachi, had no choice but to keep her mouth shut, and submit to what he asked of her. The young boy she once believe was her best friend, had turned into a madman driven by his overprotectiveness to secure her safety.
"Please, Itachi, there's no need for this. I promised I won't use my powers, I haven't even been training. Please don't do this to me," [Name] begged softly, hoping that he would pity her and let her be for once.
Hearing the pain in his beloved's begging, Itachi's heart ached for her. He wished he could give her everything she wanted; he wished he could just let her be. However, the world they lived in was an absolutely cruel one. For someone as selfless as [Name] who wore her heart on her sleeve, he had to take drastic measures himself to make sure she could not expose what she was truly capable of. Whatever he did, he did for her good. Even if she never understood that because she never left the Uchiha clan's walls to experience the cruelty of the outside world, she did not need to. As long as she was safe, and as long as she was his to protect.
"I'm sorry. It will only hurt for a bit." He promised, and cupping her cheeks in his hands, he bent down and kissed her gently on her lips. Tears fell down [Name]'s eyes as her sprawled wings, that were currently double her size, and even bigger than now adult Itachi's powerful wings, twitched in anticipation. With relevant characters already permanently tattooed on her back, Itachi made the necessary hand signs he needed before putting his hand on her head and performing the jutsu.
[Name] screamed in pain as the tattooed characters left their placement, and travelled to her back where her wings had grown from, and they started to shrink in size until they were so small, that the end of them were only up to her elbows. More tears fell down her face as she started to weep, a bit louder this time. With sincere regret in his eyes, Itachi hugged her and gently rubbed her arm while kissing her forehead tenderly.
"Shh, it's okay. This pain will be over soon. You'll be okay. I'm away for the battle for a few days and this sealing should last until my return. I'll try to come back fast, be a good girl and look after Sasuke for me. I love you." He whispered, and pecked her lips once more.
[Name] continued to cry, but this time it was silent. Still, she knew she had to do what he expected of her. She returned his embrace.
"I love you too."