Title: Break Away
Chapter: Prologue
Rating: M
Warnings: Alcohol references, some language, some spoilers, and possibly lemons in later chapters.OOCness in some characters, too.
Summary: Temari, feeling unwanted by her brothers, and Itachi, feeling used and irritable with Akatsuki, both leave their lives behind. By a coincidental meeting, the two are drawn to each other by their similar situations. The arrangements were as travel partners, but when both begin to feel more attracted to each other, how will the unlikely love grow? With bad habits and Temari's yearning for the familiarity of home, will the couple be able to overcome the difficulties?
Author's Notes: It took me forever for any kind of inspiration, and here it is- another Itachi/Temari fan fiction by Icee. This was inspired by a great friend of mine, Hisara, from role plays. I owe a lot to her. This is a sort of humor story, and I know the characters- Itachi…- are going to be out of character. I know already, so just remember it, please. This first chapter is the prologue of the story, so I'd appreciate any feedback or suggestions. I have the plot written out, and hopefully, I can update enough; this is my first chapter story. I accept constructive criticism. Please read and review.
Icee
"So, Temari-san, how was your mission?"
The soft question was barely audible over the noise of the small teahouse, packed to the last table with jubilant people, laughing and talking loudly over bottles of sake.
It was about ten at night, and this was time when the many places that served anything alcoholic at Suna were crowded. Unlike the lush village of Konoha, Suna wasn't quite as rich both economy-wise and culture-wise. Sure, the structures were uniquely built and their ways were different- like every other village from the next-, but the inhabitant's attitudes and habits were rather unrefined. People flocked to any place to drown their sorrows in sake, while others just came in good fun- parties or just friendly get-togethers. The reasons were normally about half-way in each restaurant, but either way, the amount of drunkards on Suna's streets in the evening was rather unbecoming.
Two young women sat at a two-seat table, seeming to ignore- or perhaps they were used to- the commotion around them, and a few bottles of sake were scattered about the table. One was fisted in the hand of the speaker, a girl with oddly-colored pink hair and large, somewhat dazed green eyes, and she leaned across the table rather clumsily to pour some of the bitter, clear liquid into the aforementioned kunoichi's cup.
Twin blue eyes, focused and sharp in comparison to her companion's, gently lifted to the other female's face as she spoke, her hand wrapped gently around the white ceramic of the small rounded drinking mug, and her cheeks were faintly flushed from the alcohol contained in the bottles before them. A soft sigh passed her lips, glancing down at the newly-poured drink, and her shoulders shrugged subtlety in disinterest.
"The same as usual, I guess- tiring," Temari replied somewhat agitatedly to her friend's question, though her second statement sounded more light-noted and teasing, "You're lucky you're here right now, Sakura. The people in your village are awful- loud, anti-social, or just… annoying!"
The pink-haired girl laughed softly with a small smile twitching upon the corner's of her lips as she rested her chin on her fist, leaning against the table again. When Temari said annoying, it was pretty obvious she was speaking of Shikamaru. They seemed to get along well- the gossip in the village, started by Ino and spread by her and her newfound accomplice, Naruto. (He talked to everyone, and with proper bribing- ramen-, he was rather easy to manipulate)-, but by the stories the fan-user told, she didn't seem to like him all that much. The other two categories were easy to place people under; her statement wasn't exactly unjustified, but a wistful sort of half smile replaced her once jovial expression.
"It's nice to get a break, but I do miss all of my friends," the young medic replied quietly, trailing off with a sigh. "But anyway," Sakura began again, knowing the previous conversation probably wasn't going any further and that she didn't want to upset herself, "are you going to the party tonight?"
A note of excitement was in her tone at the question, and her thoughtful expression changed to a slight grin.
Sakura had been sent to Sunagakure by her mentor, Tsunade, to take up a job in the hospital staff until the weaker village was able to establish a stable stream of medical education and get their teams properly staffed. As the next best medic in Konoha and having previous acquaintance with the Kazekage, Gaara, Haruno Sakura seemed like the prime candidate. She knew Temari only a little before, having seen her at the Chuunin exams, the Sasuke mission, and a few times around Konoha in her job as the mediator. They weren't all that great of friends, but after speaking to the fiery blonde and meeting a few of her friends, they got along okay. The Suna kunoichi took her out to her usual whereabouts after both of their jobs were over for the day, mostly to drink away their stress and talk.
Places that served any sort of sake- preferably heavy-, Temari enjoyed. She was so busy, so overworked, that she just came by so often. Parties, drinking, doing stupid things with her friends… It was just who she was since she was younger, and over the years, it had gotten worse. She didn't think it was that much of a problem, though, in her mind; Gaara and Kankurou didn't care much anyway…
The blonde blinked with a frown as she realized she was asked a question, and she sighed again, shaking her head.
"I can't. I have to go home and check up on my little brothers; it's been two weeks."
Sakura seemed disappointed with the answer, while she discreetly rolled her eyes.
"They're big boys, Temari. You don't need to stalk them and smother them like you do," she muttered, somewhat under her breath in quiet complaint, and somewhat to try and convince her friend to become more independent of them.
It was unlikely; those two were pretty much her life. Sakura actually pitied her naivety; the Kazekage and the puppeteer really didn't need her constant assistance. She flinched slightly; however, when a dangerous flash in Temari's blue eyes indicated she had spoken out of line.
The fact people didn't understand her care and her need to protect was agitating to Temari! It was just… hard. They didn't really have parents, and being the oldest, she took it as her responsibility to care for them both as best she could. They grew, she knew, but old habits died hard, and loyalty to them blinded her of their actual wants and the fact she seemed more of their mother than their sister. She shook her head, resting her head in her palms with a quiet groan, mixed thoughts buzzing through her mind.
"I know…"
She trailed off, raising her head again to note her friend's rather concerned expression, and before Sakura could give any medical advice- or any in general-, Temari spoke once again.
"I should go."
The medic ninja made no comment this time, instead muttering something under her breath, the only understandable words being 'I'll pay', and Temari forced a half-hearted smile before rising from her seat.
"Thank you, Sakura. I'll see you later."
She weaved through the masses, ignoring her surroundings before heading out the door.
Maybe Sakura was right… Maybe she needed some other thing to occupy her time…
Her care had been welcomed when Gaara and Kankurou were young boys, and even now, she cooked for them, cleaned, did everything around their house… They were so close, too; they had vowed to stick together no matter what, and when Gaara and Kankurou became closer, she did more for them to prove her worth to the family. Never once had they thanked her, never once had they even acknowledged her hard work.
Teal eyes, alight with somewhat of a confusion gazed up to the skies above, painted an array of blues and blacks to create a serene night in the village of Sunagakure, and she crossed her arms firmly over her chest as she suddenly felt a rush of cold surge through her veins. The mediator pushed any negative thoughts away; it was probably just the sake, anyway.
Silently, in the perfect tranquility of the night, she wandered through the streets once more and back to her home, where her adored brothers would… be eagerly awaiting her return. She was sure of that…
---
"Oi! Gaara, Kankurou! I'm home!"
The sound reverberated throughout the Sand Siblings' home, which was one of the wings of the Kazekage Tower. They had lived there all there lives since their father was the village's leader before Gaara. It was… sort of in their family, it seemed, and Temari and Kankurou had jokingly confided in each other they'd be upset to leave memories behind when the new Kazekage moved in- they were a joking, tough group; joking on the past, they thought, would help them ease the pain more than to just brood over it. They were lucky they didn't have to switch residences, too.
Bright eyes scanned the area before her as she walked farther into the wing of the building where she and her family resided, her hand tentatively brushing along the walls. At the lack of response from the two people whose names were called, a frown marred Temari's face, and she quietly walked into the room they called their living room to see Gaara, lazily sprawled out on the couch, reading, and Kankurou, on another chair fixing something or other with his favorite puppet, Karasu; she couldn't understand how many additions that creepy thing needed…
Still, they regarded her as if she did not exist, and she scowled slightly, clearing her throat as tapping her foot rhythmically upon the floor. Kankurou glanced up for a few moments with an expression that seemed to read 'what?', while Gaara simply let out a soft 'hn' of acknowledgement to another's presence in the room. Temari let out an exasperated noise, sounding somewhat sarcastic, though a rather hurt look was evident in her eyes, but she blinked it away.
"Well, I'm back…"
There was a pause before the awkward silence was broken again.
"Good… I expect a report by tomorrow, then," Gaara actually graced her with a verbal response, though his tone was business-like if not distracted, and the young Kazekage did not deem his sister's arrival as something to close his book over.
"Hi, Temari," was the only intelligent reply Kankurou could formulate at the moment, soon after adopting a rather annoyed expression as one of the arms of his precious puppet swayed precariously on his hinges, and he glanced accusingly at the screwdriver in his hand.
Temari didn't exactly know what to say to the youngest of the three, an anger boiling up within her that he would be so insensitive as to say that to her within the first minute she arrived home again. Kankurou, however pathetic, seemed to make an attempt, yet she was unmoved by the lack of any care in his voice. Her gaze strayed from the two young men before her to the rest of the room, which seemed to be in okay shape, but when she craned her neck to examine the kitchen in the next room over, the stacks of dishes lined up on the sink seemed to be at risk of toppling over with a domino effect to leave destruction in its wake. She clenched her fists and grit her teeth discreetly before relaxing again, the warnings and other words from all her friends finally dawning upon her. Her brothers were just ungrateful, uncaring, and not even making any attempt to make things easier for her…
"Good night," the kunoichi growled mutedly, turning on her heel as she was unable to speak any more to them.
It was only moments later when she burst through the door to her room, flinging open drawers and closets in her current state of anger and the beginnings of intoxication. She growled streams of curses as she stormed through the room, taking everything of importance to her and stuffing it into her already filled packs from the earlier trip.
"I'll teach them respect for me! See how they manage without my help!"
Temari swung her bags over her shoulder, and grabbed the heavy iron weapon that was her fan, which was leaning up against the wall of her room. She thought on nothing, simply set on getting away from this life that everyone who observed seemed to think made her miserable. She just wanted to be free right now, be away from anyone who could impose upon her. Slowly she walked to the glass door, leading to a balcony on the side of their luxurious home, and let herself look out over the desert one last time before getting the hell out of this awful place. The peacefulness always soothed her somehow. There were no trees to block the view of the sky, and the sand drifting over the vast expanses of desert was calming; it helped her think. A pang of guilt stabbed at her heart momentarily as she became more aware of what she was doing.
A tanned hand reached hesitantly towards the glass barrier, separating her from her freedom. She still had doubts in the very back of her mind of whether this was a good idea, to leave her brothers alone, break the pact they had made to stay together…
"Screw it…" Temari muttered, and a sudden instinct in her mind telling her to go; something better had to be out there, waiting for her.
She pulled the door to the side, receiving a slight chill from the change in temperature, but she stepped out onto the concrete of her balcony, eyes narrowed determinedly as she flipped open her fan with one hand. She swung it with vigor driven by hurt. The forceful gale she had conjured blew out over the sands with a wailing song, and she swung the fan again, bringing it fully around to kneel upon its iron skeleton. She and the weapon both drifted off in the wind, carried to no definite destination where somehow, she knew something better was there.
Wherever there was…
In the depths of River Country, the night lay peaceful and silent. At this time of night, around eleven at night, the moon had rose into the sky, the beauty and brightness of it contrasting sharply against the complete blackness of the starless sky.
Itachi suspected it was from the pall of rain clouds drifting in from another direction, carried in by the faintest of winds.
"Looks like a big storm's coming," a sardonic voice broke the complete silence of the night, and even the soft tone seemed to be blown out of proportion to a seeming high octave since it had been so still outside.
The young man of twenty simply grunted at the statement directed more at him than in referral to the weather, and his crimson gaze, clouded by something previously unknown to him, stared out into the forest, completely blankly.
"Storms follow you, Itachi-san. Do you think it's a bad omen?"
Itachi's stoic features were disrupted by the faintest signs of displeasure- the very corners of his mouth turning downwards into a frown at the question posed to him. The Uchiha could hear the mocking, the real hidden question interlaced within such simple words. His partner, Kisame, was goading him now. For what, he did not know, but the constant bringing up his brother was wearing thin on his patience, and he knew very well he was implying if the younger male could kill him.
Itachi closed his eyes for a few moments, his heavy eyelids tinted a sickly gray from lack of sleep, and he rested his elbows on his knees as he brought his intertwined fingers to his lips.
"I hope so."
His answer was rewarded with a soft laugh from the older man beside him, who was leaning on the heavy scaled blade of his sword. Kisame thought Itachi seemed to be going soft; he could pick at subtle things that he knew his partner was aware of, and he hadn't reprimanded him in a while. He seemed somewhat sensitive now as well since the news of Sasuke was of prominent concern.
"Eh, you're needed in Akatsuki. Don't say that," the swordsman decided after a long pause, shrugging uncaringly.
Itachi stiffened slightly at the mention of his organization, and more so at only being wanted alive because he could be of service. He knew no one would want him for any other purpose, but the grating jobs and expectations placed upon him were agitating and wore him down mentally. With the new craze with his brother, feelings within him he thought were locked away slowly began to bubble to the surface of his conscious, and the deterioration of his sanity was probably speeding up at this rate.
But he didn't feel insane. He just felt lethargic and pained- physically and mentally. He just felt depressed. The longing to end his existence had been tempting recently; he could end everyone he had harmed to be happier- he didn't care of their feelings; he was just looking for some reasoning, he wouldn't have to assist Akatsuki any longer. Perhaps that was the best part. Itachi knew he couldn't do it, though… Sasuke would be devastated he hadn't been the one to kill him, and he just felt that ending one's life so selfishly was just weak. He would not succumb to weakness in any case.
But if he was to die now, he wouldn't exactly mind. Pain was daily, emotions resurfaced, and each day helping a worthless and idiotic cause was driving him to his breaking point, and he wasn't too sure what that would be like.
Pein, their leader, was truly a fool. Members of a 'notorious' organization were dropping likes flies, the Biju's chakra had been working up within that statue- Itachi considered the possibility of them being freed-, the plan was flawed, and the Kyuubi was just impossible to capture. Konoha had him too guarded. And yet, Pein believed they would succeed in the end.
The young Uchiha scowled discreetly in his thoughts. He wanted something better to live for instead of that and just waiting for someone to end his suffering, miserable existence. How, he did not know. There was no way anyone would possibly accept him anywhere. So, he was stuck living out his days like this.
"Oh, Itachi-san… We're being called," Kisame's voice broke his trance, and the black-haired nukenin regarded him with a somewhat loathing gaze.
---
The blackness of the Akatsuki's meeting place was disturbed by the faintest flickering of lights. Quickly, differently-shaped holograms appeared on six of the ten spots on the large statue summoned.
The other four were absent; one from the position's wring being stole, while the other three met their untimely end, and the room seemed oddly silent. A sort of pall hung over the room despite the members present being fairly emotionless.
"As you all know, our numbers have been dropping," started the flat and robotic-sounding voice of Pein, his eyes scanning those present with a piercing glare, and the only one able to meet the oddly-colored eyes was the young Itachi, who remained fairly indifferent to the situation.
He hated Deidara, quite frankly; he didn't care he was dead.
The assembled group remained silent, almost as if awaiting the next words their leader would have to say.
"so…" he continued from his previous statement. "I find that it would be beneficial for us to gather new members to help with our cause." It seemed to end at that, and much to everyone's surprise, the next voice to speak was the normally silent Uchiha's:
"With growing opposition, I find that… rather useless. They will be killed off quickly."
Ten eyes burned into his form, one somewhat irritated, while the others were disbelieving of speaking against the 'new plan.'
"Itachi-san, are you trying to get us in trouble?" Kisame hissed from beside him, the yellow and shark-like eyes of his partner somewhat worried as to what the 'punishment' for openly contradicting such a highly ranking person would be.
"Too bad for you, Itachi-san," started a bitterly mocking voice, coming from a few spaces down, "that you are the one performing the useless task of recruiting people."
The masked man, Tobi, seemed to be beaming beneath the orange, swirled object concealing his identity. He changed quickly- most of the members didn't seem to realize he was truly calling the shots of Akatsuki yet-, and most had adjusted to his apparent multiple personality disorder.
"What?!" Kisame snapped, ironically most likely being the cause of their unfortunate predicament. "Why us? We're already…"
"No, you're recruiting," Pein cut in abruptly, his fierce glare resting on the Kiri nukenin, "My partner and I will be taking over the capture of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, as you and Itachi seem to be too incompetent to capture a child."
Kisame loathingly fell silent, while Itachi inwardly seethed. He was demoted, doing an even pettier task for a bunch of idiots.
---
Itachi has tuned out the rest of the 'meeting', which probably Pein was dictating more trivial things to go about their world domination or whatever they were doing now. Since they were dismissed, he was now listening to his partner rant and rave about them always getting the worst jobs in this organization and how it wasn't fair, and many other hateful words that the Uchiha struggled to tune out along with the rest of Kisame's monologue.
"What do you think, Itachi-san?"
Itachi took this as his conclusion, and those nagging sensations of being troubled boiled up in his mind again as he glanced momentarily to the skies, which looked as though they were about to send down the rains at any moment. He sighed mutedly, frowning.
"I think I am not going to deal with it…"
"Huh?"
He turned his head slightly to look at Kisame.
"I am leaving. Please tell them I am dead," he explained mutedly and monotonously as he shook his head distractedly.
He didn't mind telling Kisame because he knew he hated Akatsuki about as much as he did, and he probably wouldn't be stupid enough to come looking for him anyway. If Uchiha Itachi did not want to be found, he would not be found. It was as simple as that.
He then turned, not really caring about any reactions from Kisame at the moment. Bothering with good-byes would be a waste of breath, and while they tolerated each other, by no means did they like each other.
Itachi had no idea where he would go or what exactly he was looking for, but anything at this point seemed better than what he was doing right now. Something in his mind just made him consider that perhaps somewhere, someway, there would just be something that could keep him going through life without being miserable.
Kisame could only stare dumbstruck with a heavy sigh at Itachi's sudden leave. Another one gone, he guessed. He half wanted to stop him- mostly because he was somewhat perturbed at what Pein would do. He really did have nothing to lose anymore; however, so he almost jealously watched his partner go. Lucky bastard could probably hide; Kisame knew he'd probably be killed to even think of running off.
He frowned thoughtfully. Eh… Good riddance.
Author's Note: This is the end of the prologue, mostly just explaining both Temari and Itachi's situations and why they took off. The next chapter will be up soon- maybe next week or in a few days. Please read and review- tell me what you think. Itachi and Temari will meet in the next chapter.