"Kisame, stop the car," Itachi said abruptly. Instinctually, a hand shot out to steady Kisame's chest as he slammed on the brakes. It was a very mom-like thing to do, but Kisame was way past that now. Itachi was always the worst 'backseat driver' - shouting out instructions, like stop here, or go there, but he never actually volunteered to drive anywhere, despite Kisame's complaints. What made Itachi seem even more like a soccer mom was the fact they were driving an eleven-seater van.
"Uh, I don't know if you've freaking noticed yet bud, but this isn't really the best place to park," said Kisame sarcastically, pointing at people running around in front of them. "There's some sort of freaky-shit going down. We have to meet up with the others. Now." Nonetheless, he still brought the van to a complete stop, skidding to a halt in the middle of the road, screams and burning buildings erupting from all sides. All hell was breaking loose.
Ever since the City riots a few days ago, things hadn't been the same. People ran around, torching cops and looting stores, killing anybody who got in their way. And then the zombies showed up. It wasn't easy to tell the difference between human and undead anymore, and most people weren't even aware of the plague happening given the current commotion. All Itachi and Kisame knew was that now, no place was safe, except for of course the Akatsuki hideout. The one that Itachi was currently delaying them to by making Kisame stop the van.
Itachi didn't waste a moment in grabbing a shotgun from the glove compartment, and quickly ran out from the car. From the passenger side window he had seen a mob of guys chasing a girl down the street into somebody's front lawn. All four men were currently pinning her down. Later, he would learn that the group of men had been looting a department store when they had seen the woman running – holding a bag full of food. They meant to take the food and possibly a little something extra, but the appearance of the strange, dark-haired man pointing a gun at them startled them all and made them stop their activity.
"Be on your way now, she's ours, we saw her first!" yelled one of the men at Itachi, holding the struggling woman down by her arms.
"Leave her alone or I'll shoot," said Itachi, with a certain calm grace.
One of them made a move for the inside of his jacket, and Itachi didn't hesitate to shoot him square between the eyes.
One down. Seeing their friend murdered right in front of them, the other three bailed quickly.
Itachi sighed and walked over to the girl still sitting on the grassy lawn. The riot broke out about an hour ago in the downtown area, and seeing the girl's bags of groceries labeled "Party Store" he concluded that she must have been square in the middle of town when all hell broke loose.
He held out a hand to the girl but she shirked away from it quickly, as if he was offering her a snake.
"Hey, you don't have to thank me," he said, putting his hands up innocently and kneeling down on the blood stained grass to her meet her at eye level. "But do you at least have somewhere safe to go?" Itachi hated most people in the college town they lived in. Besides having the best business school in the country, it was also the biggest party school. Not only that, but most people were just rude. It was no surprise to him that the riots that had broken out reached their side of town so quickly.
Even as they spoke there were crowds of college students all around them, either running for their lives from the zombies and rioters (nobody could tell the difference anymore), or actually participating in the riots themselves - burning couches, beating people up, hauling stolen goods around, and many were just standing around, watching everything as it burned.
The girl shook her head, staring at Itachi suspiciously. The guy did just mercilessly shoot somebody right in front of her after all. He sighed.
"Well, if you prefer to stay here you can. Otherwise you can come with us," he motioned towards the van with Kisame waiting impatiently in the driver's seat. "We are going someplace safe, away from all this," he motioned towards the vehicle again. He didn't know what he was doing in offering her to come with. Pain would be furious if he brought somebody else to their hideout. But he couldn't just leave this innocent girl here all alone. She seemed too... nice.
"C-can my roommate come too?" she stuttered at first. She became more confident, however, as she continued. "I'm not going anywhere without her."
No.
"Sure," he said against his better judgement. "But hurry up."
She disappeared into the apartment complex nearby only to return a few seconds later with a friend who had short brown hair, both of them carrying backpacks filled with supplies, and he led them into the van.
"Itachi," growled Kisame quietly at the raven-haired man crawling back into the front seat, "who the hell are they?" He glanced back at the two ladies. They looked absolutely terrified and exhausted. They all were. With one look at Itachi however, he decided to let it go. He wasn't about to get in a fight with his friend, and he sure as hell wasn't going to dump the two girls out of the van. Pain wouldn't be happy about it, but they'd deal with it when they arrived. For now, his mission was to get through the hordes of people.
And let me tell you, they were lucky that Sasori had bullet proofed the van a few months ago. As they pulled out on Main Street along with the rest of the lunatics, a guy with an assault rifle kept rounding off shots at them until Kisame pulled the van off onto a side road, nearly running him over in the process.
"It looks like we'll have to take the long road around," the driver mumbled to his passengers. The car ride had been long already – as they had to make their way through the crowds of people, dead and undead bodies, rubble and the trash that littered the streets. And their huge van wasn't exactly sneaky. They had caught the attention of many angry mobs, but had managed to escape them all without seriously injuring anybody. Except for a couple guys holding signs that said "peace". Kisame had to run them over because they refused to get out of the middle of the street, all holding hands and chanting some mantra.
"Stupid people with their stupid ideals," said Itachi, voicing his opinions out loud. "At this point, peaceful protests will get you nowhere. It's hide or die until they send in the National Guard."
"At least they are trying to do something," mumbled the girl he had rescued, from somewhere in the back seat. He rounded on her, realizing for the first time that she had bubblegum pink hair.
"If they wanted to 'try to do something'," he said, face devoid of all emotion. "They could at least be useful. Like, oh I don't know, for example, save other people's lives."
She glanced at him with shining emerald eyes, remembering what he had done for her. "Thank you for saving me back there," she said quietly.
"No problem," he said, waving her off and turning forward in his seat again.
"My name is Sakura," she said tentatively. "And this is my friend Rin. We are both nursing students at the University, so we could be of some use to you," she pointed at Itachi's left arm, the gash and the blood that was soaking his sleeve.
Earlier that day Itachi was in a cafe on Main Street, before it was unnavigable, reading and relaxing before classes started, sipping his tea and unfolding the morning paper. That was when the tvs clicked on and the riots came on the news. Almost as if on cue, a bunch of guys in the cafe started going ape-shit - flipping over tables and firing off rounds in the place – men obviously associated with the riots. He managed to make it out of there unharmed, and was halfway to his apartment, before he was stopped by some crazy man attacking a family with a knife.
Itachi rushed in to help the family get away, but ended up getting slashed in the arm just before knocking the man out. Luckily, Kisame came running on the other side of the street at that moment, and they both made their way back to their apartment together to pick up some supplies before making it out of there in the trusty van.
"It doesn't look very deep, but I should still clean it so it doesn't get infected," said the pink-haired girl, shaking him out of his memories. He nodded and climbed into the back seat, taking his shirt off dramatically, supposedly to let her tend to his wound better but also because he was feeling cocky.
"...Because that was necessary," said Sakura unimpressed, rolling her eyes and pointing her thumb in the direction of his bloodied t-shirt lying in a heap on the floor of the vehicle.
He merely shrugged and held his arm out to her, trying to hide a smirk. She had a sassy attitude, and he liked that. Most girls he met would just fawn over him all the time – hardly good conversation partners.
"So, don't tell me you support the Riots then?" he decided to pursue their previous conversation.
"This violent monstrosity that the peaceful protests turned into? Hell no," she said as she began her work. "But I can understand why they wanted change. The Konoha Police Force has been corrupt for a number of years. People have been going missing, shot in their homes with no investigation, drug and weapon runs have been happening so frequently, that they aren't even afraid to do it in broad daylight anymore.
"The Chief of Police has been trying, I suppose, but he's basically turning a blind eye to what has been happening right under his nose for years. Not to mention, the poor are becoming poorer and the rich are becoming richer. What are the good, law-abiding citizens in this town supposed to do? Sit around as they lose their children and families to drugs and gang violence? While the rich continue to sit in their lavish homes and gated communities?
Itachi blinked. This girl was very well informed, even if he didn't agree with anything she just said.
"But I don't think violence was the way to achieve this end," she said finally, wrapping up his wound with some gauze.
"How else are the people suppose to get the change that they want then?" Itachi questioned, glancing her up and down and deciding to play devil's advocate. "They had been protesting peacefully for days - weeks - and nothing. The media finally started paying attention once it got violent. Now I'm pretty sure things might start changing."
Sakura's jaw dropped as she finished up his arm. "Are you saying this," she pointed out the van window at the hordes of people fighting as they passed by, "is a good thing?"
Itachi shrugged, pulling his bloodied shirt back on. "True change cannot be made if it is bound by laws and limitations. Sometimes people must make painful choices." Annoyed by the wetness of the sleeve, he decided to rip it off of both sides – just to make it even – exposing his muscular arms. He climbed back into his seat beside Kisame.
"Well, I still think that it could have been done peacefully," she muttered. Itachi smiled internally at her idealistic attitude, but kept his face as stoic as ever before. He was starting to like this Sakura. And perhaps Pain would like her too, seeing as her and her friend were nursing students, and could indeed prove to be useful.
About a half an hour later, Kisame pulled into a surprisingly quiet road, and up one of the driveways to a old-looking house. Parking the van in a garage, he told his passengers to get out. He led them out through to the front door. The sun was beginning to set, and the sky looked eerily blood-stained.