"I'm nobody." A whimper escapes me as the senbon is pushed between the webbing of my left hand index finger and thumb. It shouldn't mean anything, I shouldn't feel it. Danzo-sama taught us…
Danzo-sama…
A cry leaves my lips as it is pushed deeper. He thinks I'm lying, but I'm not. I don't say anything but truth, Danzo-sama taught us better than that. Lies in truth, truth in lies. I would never disobey…
Except… for her…
"Who are you?" The man asking is scarred, silver closed cuts and rough old burn marks, a patchwork skin. I can appreciate the talent that went into them, the pain inflicted gave him no obvious detriments and he seems to have learned from his treatment. Pain is just another lesson, a tool on others, a nuisance, yet not as easy to ignore as it should be. A lesson I thought I had learned well. Another shiver wracked by body. Danzo-sama taught us better than that, but…
"I'm nothing." I am the shadow at night, I am the water of the raging river, I am the breeze through the trees and the roots of the forest. I am nothing except what I am told to be.
I am a failure.
The hospital gown say nothing different, a bloody spot where the bandages soaked through. Not enough drugs to dull the pain, just enough to make me a little loopy. I'm not bleeding enough to do any good, to do what I am supposed to do. A tooth is missing from the back of my mouth, it's been missing for a long time, but it feels empty without the capsule there. Nothing's that easy.
Another senbon is pushed through the webbing of my pinky and ring fingers, soon my left hand will be just as pinned as my right hand. The man is good, there is only small dips of blood around the holes… so much pain… yet, easily fixable by a med-nin. The senbon are coated with something, I can't figure out what… the drugs make me loopy… but it burns more than it should.
Amaya would know… Amaya… she always knew. She was much better with senbon than me.
The door swings open, the heavy metal door I walked in through… the one I am sure I won't exit alive. There is an imposing figure on the other side, one I know of very well. I was on his guard duty once, looking for cracks where enemies could get in… where I could get in.
"Hokage-sama." The scarred man stands to attention, back to me. I couldn't attack if I wanted to, my hands are pinned, but still he should know better. I would teach him, if I had the energy, same as we were taught… never turn your back on an enemy.
My foot scoots over the line of the seal painted to the floor, another mistake, Danzo-sama's seals were always carved on interrogation floors. I knew this one well, I had helped carve it once, but Amaya's were always better. A classical death seal if you were to attempt to escape. Easy enough to modify if I could reach…
"No." I startled back, looking up at the two men. Hokage-sama held the scarred man's wrist preventing it from striking me. Apparently I wasn't as stealthy as I hoped… hard to be with the drugs.
Hokage-sama was bright, serious, but so colorful. I wanted to pet his hair, I wondered if it would be like petting the sun, yellow and warm, hiding amongst the blue skies of his eyes. Maybe it would burn, if I were lucky…
"You have pretty eyes." The words slipped from me, too late to pull them back, once they are gone they are gone forever.
The scarred man looked like he wanted to slap me again, I wanted that too pain would be a welcome distraction. Maybe I could convince Hokage-sama to allow it, but it didn't look like he wanted to. A frown tugged at the corners of my lips.
"Ibiki, no." Hokage-sama's voice was like the soft breeze on a hot day, it was such a pretty day too. I could sit and listen forever. Maybe that's why I failed, couldn't stand the heat… that wasn't why I failed… I had a reason didn't I?
"She knows something." Ibiki, the scarred man, a good name for him. I wonder what it would be like to have a name that fit so well.
"She's an eight year old girl." Am I? How curious, I've never been an eight year old before, I wonder what it's like?
Is that like a child? Don't children like to stick out their tongues at things? I never understood why, maybe I would understand if I did it? I opened my mouth and displayed my tongue, nope, still didn't understand.
Hokage-sama seemed to still at the action, maybe he knew what it meant… maybe I could ask?
"Can you please do that again?" Hokage-sama release Ibiki's hand, but took his chair. He was so close now, if only I could move. Maybe if I followed through on one of his orders Danzo-sama would take me back, and this was the biggest one. I still had a little energy left, maybe I could if he came a little closer.
I stuck out my tongue again, he seemed to understand better than me. Not hard, I wasn't the smart one that was Amaya. She deserved to win, not me. Only one could get through, could get a name, should be her… was her. His hand hovered over my pinned left one. Sympathy, Danzo-sama always said that was the Hokage's downfall. I could use that, my eyes were watered anyway, the tremble of pain, all real. He was supposed to like children, right?
His hand gently pulled the two senbon from my hand, I cried out a little, but it meant nothing, I could do this. The pain was not enough to stop me, the injury not debilitating, I could… for Danzo… Amaya liked senbon too…
My left hand shot forward, only need one good strike to crush the windpipe, a spark of chakra, killing is as easy as breathing.
I cried out again, my head snapping back from the force of Ibiki's blow, hand pinned down again, five senbon to replace the two lost, a matching set to my right hand. Hokage-sama looked shocked, sad blue eyes opened wide. It made me ache to look at, I'm not sure what part though… the stab wound was the closest must be that. An ANBU held a kunai to my throat, the whole room had reacted faster than I. Not good enough… never good enough.
"Inoichi?" Hokage-sama asked facing the door and ignoring me again. It was for the best, there was nothing here for him to see.
The man in the doorway also had yellow hair, less bright, but still so much more than… long hair was tied behind his head in a long ponytail. Danzo-sama would never have allowed that, too much hair got in the way, was a pulling hazard, better bald than long hair.
The man slipped closer to the Hokage, serious eyes scanned my useless body until they found my eyes. Piercing, striking eyes stabbing where they shouldn't get to reach. They seemed to be looking for something, I doubt they could find it, there's nothing for them to find. A hand touched my head, so warm and large. Overwhelming and warm, it felt like a blanket fell on just my head, I shivered and tried not to nuzzle it.
Its' absence was felt as he moved to look at the Hokage, I let out a breath I didn't remember holding.
"She's too young, the damage would be irreparable." Inoichi shook his head. I didn't really understand what was stopping them. Yamanaka's skills were needed if they wanted to get anything from me, the seal made sure of that, and I wasn't anything anyway. No one would miss me… except maybe Amaya, but she had already said goodbye.
"Minato" Another man stood in the doorway, spiky brown hair and two distinct scars marked his face as the jonin commander, second in line. Danzo-sama would be ashamed of my failure, a waste of such a good opportunity, the two so close and the seal on the floor would have been perfect.
"Shikaku?" The Hokage looked more worn than I could remember seeing him, he shouldn't look like that. My chest ached a little more, I don't know why.
The jonin commander approached slowly, hands in pockets, perfectly calm. Deceptive. Amaya's voice whispered in my head. I wouldn't be fooled by his tricks.
"ROOT assignation?" The stern voice shocked me, a shiver down my spine, you couldn't refuse to answer that voice, Danzo's voice.
"SD34." The gasped words were pulled from me. I looked around the round, what little I could see without moving my head, but he wasn't there. Danzo-sama would never come for someone like me, I was nothing.
"Last assignment?" That voice, uncompromising, I couldn't refuse… but, I couldn't speak. The words caught in my throat, stuck there by unmoving tongue.
"Fine. Your failure is known." The words cut like a knife, words that I know are true, that I can't escape. I am a failure.
The ANBU pulls my head up by the hair, tugging roughly, forcing me to look into the Hokage's eyes. They're so bright, blue like the sky… the sky… the sky I miss so much when I go back to Danzo-sama… but I couldn't go back again… failure. I was so happy when Amaya laid me outside at my last. It was more than I deserved for being a failure, but the blue of the sky and the white of the clouds were the best last sight that any of ROOT could hope for. She deserved to live… far more than I.
"You have pretty eyes… but not as pretty as Amaya's." My head pounded, my chest ached, my fingers burned with unknown poison, but she deserved so much more. "She has pretty red eyes, they swirl in anger, little shuriken attacking when you look at her."
The Hokage's eyes widened, maybe he could hear me, maybe he understood, like he understood the tongue thing that I couldn't.
"The Uchiha." The soft breeze, was replaced by the harsh one pulling trees up. A tornado in disguise as the Hokage.
"You think he's planning to attack them?" Ibiki's surprised question startles me, I had forgotten there were others here.
"I think she's giving us a hint. As much as she can, which I hate to say isn't much." Inoichi sounds as nice as he looks, Amaya would like him.
"Why would she do that?" Ibiki asks suspiciously, I don't blame him. I don't trust me either, no one should.
"She has no reason to remain loyal to Danzo, he attempted to kill her." No that's no right, I shake my head. It wasn't Danzo-sama. It was my duty to the village and I failed, it was my failure not his. No, not failure… success… Amaya's success.
"She tried to kill you not two minutes ago." Ibiki stated, the voice of reason. I would do it again, if I had the power. Danzo-sama needs me to… wants me to… I don't want to…
"I have no doubt you would do the same in her position." Inoichi is so nice, my ache lessens… maybe it isn't the stab wound.
"Regardless of the validity of the source, even if it is a trap it still needs to be investigated." The scars on Nara's face stretch with his frown. He nods at someone. The kunai is finally pulled from my throat, the hand clutching my hair lets go. I would droop if I could, but the shadows have me snared. I envy the darkness that attaches to my shadow, to be one with the shadows is an accomplishment I will never reach.
"Agreed." The Hokage nods sharply. "We need to know more, it sounds like Danzo has overstepped his bounds once and for all. Stealing an Uchiha girl will make him no friends with the council."
Amaya… I hope… no… hope is as useless an emotion as the rest of them.
The Hokage stands from the chair, ready to exit the room, and I… I need to… a hand is arching down, Shikaku will only be moderately nicer than Ibiki, the hand is headed to a nerve center. I wonder where I will end up next, a cell or a hospital bed, or maybe… maybe I'll get lucky and not wake up. Maybe I will end up where I should have after my fight with Amaya, and this last sight won't be as nice as my first, the trees and sky and clouds flash in my mind, calling me back to rest, but first I have to tell them… have to hope… Amaya deserves so much better than me… better than Danzo-sama… there is no one better than Danzo-sama, what am I…
"Itachi…" The name escapes my throat, but I don't remember why it is important, maybe it's not.
The hand snaps against my neck… I hope I don't wake up. The shocked faces of the room will have to be enough. My eyes close and all I can think about is the soft breeze through the trees and the clouds and the blue, blue sky… and Amaya's eyes, her pretty, pretty eyes swirling and crying… it didn't hurt me, except I didn't want to hurt her either… she deserves far better than me…
I am nobody… nothing to cry about.