Itachi was doing the dishes with his mother when his entire world changed. Like any good shinobi he multi-tasked without giving it much thought, admiring the pattern on their new dish set while listening to his mother tell him about little Sasuke 's training progress at the same time, each task given the same amount of attention. Something about the particular shade of red on the plates she was handing him drew his eye to trace the swirls and dips as though he might find some hidden meaning in them. He didn 't realize quite how closely he was staring until elegant fingers reached out to wave in front of his face and a quiet laugh chimed in his ears like bells.

'Obviously I thought they were pretty enough to buy but I didn 't realize you would find them so fascinating, ' she said.

'Did I miss something you were saying? My apologies. '