A/N: This has been in the works for a long time coming. It's a three-piece short story, inspired by where the Kagome/Kisame could have gone in Piano Man. If you don't know what I'm talking about, maybe you should go check it out! If you do know what I'm talking about, then I hope you'll enjoy this.
I'm excited, because spring is coming. This story will have all my attention until it's completed.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, I don't own InuYasha.
the principal of drowning
i – against the tide
by ancient relic
-::-
It was a dark and stormy night.
Well actually…
It wasn't quite night, so it wasn't dark out… and it wasn't stormy per say, it was more… foggy. The air was thick with a sound-choking fog that he had created.
Because what Itachi wanted, Itachi got. End of story.
Now, as an assassin-for-hire, he could understand the concept of 'cover' and thereby fog; and just why it was useful, and just what it was useful for. Yet one lingering factor was driving him crazy… they were currently on an espionage mission. Espionage, as in spying. And they were wearing disguises to boot.
Then of course, there was the cherry on top of all the other bullshit mission parameters – they were spying on a civilian.
"Our intel claims she is a civilian," Itachi corrected offhandedly, as if reading his mind. "But I have reason to believe that there is more to this woman than has been previously assumed."
With that, Itachi turned away and made to move into the sleepy little town before them, confident in his assessment of the situation. Having no choice but to follow, he trailed slowly after his partner, a feeling of dread unfurlingi n his stomach as if to remind him of the anagram assume spelt.
"Why won't you people just leave me alone?"
Every word was punctuated with a fierce, downward strike that reverberated all the way through Samehada and up his arms to his shoulders. This girl… this petit, frail-looking girl was so skilled with her blade that it had him on the defensive. Kisame ducked a swipe that could have severed his head from his neck and rolled to parry a low hit to his knees.
Her motions were so quick and precise that he hadn't even had the time to stop and use a jutsu to his advantage. The moment the thought occurred to him however, he realized that he'd been restricted to fighting her in close combat. Kisame immediately pushed on the offensive, swinging down with all his might and sending her small form skidding backwards. Hopping away, he watched her rise to her feet, dust off her legs, and crack her neck.
"It won't work," she called as he began flipping through hand signs. "Do you think you're the first to come after me? You aren't. Ninja have come for me before – and as you can see, I'm still here."
It made logical sense—her argument—it really did. He could tell she was more than tough enough to take care of herself. That being said, she'd likely never fought someone of his calibre… nor Itachi's.
Spitting several water bullets at the girl, Kisame realized that it still remained to be a one-on-one fight. He didn't have another moment to dwell on the thought, let alone search for his partner in the surrounding foliage, because the girl and her sword began doing something peculiar. A wind current began forming around her body, whipping her hair and short kimono into the air. Yellow light began to form around her, and the sword began to glow with the same light as his bullets approached her and then suddenly, time seemed to slow down and stop.
"Bakaryuuha!" was her battle cry, and she swung her sword against his attack with an explosion of light and wind.
Streaking beams of yellow light mixed in with the wind to create cyclones twisting at impossible speeds, and they spun towards his attack and easily overtook it. As the two attacks collided, they released a giant shockwave of raw chakra that splintered the closest trees that had remained standing after the initial blows had been traded.
As the wave of the girls chakra washed over him, the sheer strength behind it left him staggering. Less than 30 minutes ago, the woman before him had been nothing more than a civilian out for the evening at a bar. Now she stood before him, chest heaving, earth-stained with leaves tangled in her hair as a chakra-wielding swords master, the likes of which he'd never seen before.
His water bullets rebounded with the shockwave, and propelled by the cyclones they came flying back at him with twice the speed he'd shot them with. Luckily there was no impact, as a thick wall of earth rose before him, effectively shielding him from the rebound.
"Itachi!" Kisame yelled. "What took you so long?"
The wall before him finally crumbled and dispersed, and his eyes fell upon his partner who was hefting the girl, unconscious, over his shoulder.
"I was evaluating her fighting style. She is exceptionally efficient in close range combat – perhaps as efficient as any non-ninja could be."
"I noticed," he replied scathingly, but as usual, his partner remained unruffled by his tone.
"I tried trapping her with Tsukiyomi," Itachi continued, "It was ineffective. Her mental barriers are too strong for me to breach."
"Seriously? Is that even possible?"
"And I cannot touch her sword."
They both looked down at the rusty blade lying on the ground curiously—simultaneously. Bending down to grasp the hilt, he was surprised to be electrocuted with a low volt of power humming from the blade. He promptly withdrew his hand.
"What the—" his words trailed off as both the blade and the girl glowed a brilliant yellow, and the blade disappeared.
"Now that that particular issue has been taken care of, what shall we do now?" he nodded at the form of the girl dangling over his partner's shoulder.
"We proceed to a secure location for interrogation. There are many questions that need to be asked, it seems."
"I will ask you again. What is your name?" Itachi said slowly, his voice carefully neutral.
"My name is Kagome Higurashi." The girl said, glaring at his partner as best as she could from her position against the tree she was bound to.
"That is impossible. Why you feel the need to spout such obvious lies is a mystery—"
"Goddamn it, it isn't a lie!" Kagome shrieked. "Why would I lie so obviously? And better yet, what reason would I have to lie about my name? I think there are better questions to be asked and answered here." She snorted.
Kisame studied her carefully, her bright blue eyes flashing with anger, her chest heaving through the ropes she was bound with. Her sword was still nowhere to be found, but he figured that Itachi would get there in due time. All he had to do was mind the fire and cook their dinner, and he did so willingly. This girl, Kagome, was a handful.
"For one, what do you people want from me? And why did you feel the need to kidnap me instead of discuss it with me like a rational human being?"
"Cease your incessant shrieking." Itachi said disdainfully. "Your volume is unnecessary. You seem familiar with the interrogation process, so you should understand the concept that it is I who will be asking questions, and it is you who will be providing me with the answers."
"I will provide you with no answers," Kagome spat, mocking Itachi's lilting tone, "until you answer mine."
Itachi stared Kagome dead in the face, his own expression devoid of everything but disdain. Kagome met his stare angrily, and for a few minutes, there was a tense silence in the clearing. In that time, Itachi seemed to come to some sort of understanding, because a moment later, he blinked and simply said,
"Very well."
He walked over to the tree Kagome was tied to, and deftly cut her bonds. Kagome stilled in surprise, allowing the ropes to slither and pool around her feet before she made any motion to flee. However, her shock had cost her, and Itachi had already secured her wrists and ankles before she had realized.
"Sit. I will speak, you will listen, and when I am done, you will answer my questions." He ordered, pointing at a log beside the fire.
"Or what?" Kagome huffed, narrowing her eyes at his partner.
"Do not test my patience further, girl." Itachi said solemnly, giving her a push towards the log.
It was mildly entertaining to watch her struggle towards the log with both her hands and feet bound, and both he and Itachi watched with satisfaction as they ate their fish.
"Dinner and a show," Kisame commented snidely; not expecting a response from his partner, but merely a reaction from the girl.
"Shut your trap, fish-face." She snapped, righting herself on the log and blowing her bangs out of her face with a puff of air.
"Shut yours, pipsueak." Kisame laughed. "I'm not the one tied up, being held hostage."
"Oh yeah? Well your mom didn't seem to mind it too much last night."
Her comment took a moment to register, but when it did, his blood almost immediately began to boil.
"Why you little—"
"You heard me," she snorted, giving him a dirty look.
"That is quite enough," Itachi intoned, tossing the stick his fish had been roasted on into the fire. "I will now provide you with some of your answers, and you will remain silent and listen."
Kagome huffed, glared at the both of them, but fell warily silent, her attention focused on Itachi. Itachi allowed the silence to stretch on as he simply stared into the glowing embers around the fringes of the flames.
"I say it is impossible for your name to be Kagome Higurashi," Itachi began solemnly, "because it is. The Higurashi clan was wiped out almost six years ago. There were no survivors from the massacre."
"There was a massacre…?" confusion coloured her features.
"The Higurashi clan had a series of shrines north of Waterfall. They had lived peacefully there for centuries, until they had harboured a fugitive ninja from Mist. Even though they remained untroubled for sometime, eventually the price on the nin's head brought fighting to the shrines, and head hunters searching for the missing nin."
"Why haven't I heard of this?"
Itachi turned his stare to his partner, and looked on in silence for a long while.
"You were not privy to this mission. It is understandable why you would not know these details."
"That means that you were…" Kagome spoke up. "You were one of the ninja sent for the runaway's head, weren't you?"
"Correct. It was one of my first missions as a member of the Akatsuki. When I arrived to take out the target, he had already destroyed the shrine. He was locked in battle with a survivor from the shrine. Her name was Kagome Higurashi."
"What?" a tendril of dread curled down Kagome's spine.
"She was a priestess. She fought him with bows and arrows that glowed like pearls in the sun. However, her long range fighting techniques proved to be useless when he got close to her, and she fell with an abdominal wound."
"Do you – was it… here?" Kagome pointed at her side, where the Jewel had emerged from her body so long ago.
"Yes," Itachi seemed surprised. "I killed the rogue when he was knelt over the woman. He seemed sad to have her blood on his hands, and did not fight back. When I left, the priestess wasn't yet dead, but was doomed to become so. The wound was fatal."
"So you left her there to die?" Kagome said, both shocked and angry.
"I am no healer." Itachi said simply. "It is not my duty to save lives, only take them. This is why you cannot be her; she died."
"You have no proof she—I actually died. How can you say I'm lying?" Kagome retorted.
"I do not sense the same power, you do not share the same visual, physical characteristics. It is without doubt that you are a different person. Perhaps if someone lesser saw you, they might believe your lie. I, however, do not. My eyes do not lie."
Immediately, Kagome had realized whoever Itachi had been speaking about was likely a reincarnation, or another form of her that had once lived in this world. Now, judging by his physical description, she wondered if it was Kikyo he spoke of. Kagome considered playing up the idea of reincarnation, or even amnesia, but finally decided that it would be best to let them draw their own conclusions.
He had remained silent through Itachi's brief history lesson, but now looked to the girl to gauge her reaction. She seemed lost in thought; her eyebrows furrowed and staring off into space. As if she had sensed his eyes on her, she looked straight at him.
"Well that's all fine and dandy." She said with a grin. "I've never lived north of Waterfall, and I've never seen either of your ugly mugs before now. My name is Kagome Higurashi. And you can ask me that question as many times as you'd like, but my answer won't change."
"Hnn. Very well." Itachi rose. "You can consider yourself our hostage until further notice. You will be travelling with us until further notice. Do not try to escape, or you will suffer the consequences."
"Pack up camp. We will leave in an hour," Itachi said, gesturing to where he sat. "Keep an eye on the girl. I will be back."
"What—" his question fell on deaf ears however, as his partner had already disappeared.
"Clean up camp," Kagome mocked. "Watch the girl. We leave in an hoooour." She snorted. "Sounds like you're more of his slave than his partner."
"Watch it." He snarled, baring his teeth in her general direction. "It will be easier for me to keep track of you when you're unconscious."
"Do it. I dare you," Kagome taunted.
"Don't test my patience. I don't have nearly as much as my partner does." Kisame responded, and then set about erasing their little campsite from existence.
"Itachi." Kagome called, tugging her wrists, pulling on the rope that Itachi led her by. "Itachi," she repeated.
Itachi steadfastly ignored her. Kagome snorted.
"Itachi,"
As he watched Kagome irritate his partner, Kisame thought back to the night prior when Kagome had tried to escape. She'd successfully escaped her bindings, but didn't make it out of the ring of firelight before Itachi was upon her.
"I was testing your ability for stealth and your tenacity and drive to escape." Itachi had said by means of explanation.
He snorted.
Now Itachi was leading her around by the wrist like some kind of farm animal, and Kagome wasn't pleased.
"Itachi."
"Itachi."
"Itachiiiiiiiiii."
"Ita—oof"
Kagome hadn't been paying attention as she did her best to annoy her captors. She'd been focused on twisting one wrist around far enough to reach the knot that secured her wrists, and Itachi had simply stopped walking.
"You will cease this repetition of my name." Itachi told her stonily. "Or I will silence you in the most unpleasant of manners."
Kagome sneered at Kisame briefly when he laughed out loud. He could imagine several rather painful ways Itachi had used in the past to silence others. It was unfortunate that they couldn't kill her.
"I'm not going to get far on foot from you guys. This is killing my wrists and ruining my back and my posture. I'll walk with you guys and not cause you trouble, I promise. Tie me up at night if you have to, I just can't stand this anymore." Kagome held her wrists up to Itachi pleadingly, although her face didn't change much.
"You have given me no reason as to why that is plausible."
"I will answer some more of you questions." Kagome offered bluntly.
Kisame reigned in his surprise, searching his partner's face for any sign of his intention. Finding nothing, he turned his attention back to Kagome, who held her arms up in the same pleading gesture. Itachi blinked twice, and turned his back to Kagome's form.
Kagome let her arms fall and her shoulders slump. As her arms fell, however, the separated as the rope slithered off her arms and they feel free to her sides. Satisfied, she rolled her head, popped her shoulders, and twisted her back. After half a dozen satisfying cracks, she simply beamed at Itachi and said,
"Thanks."
Kisame snorted again. If he didn't know any better, he'd think Itachi was going soft.
Itachi immediately began walking again, and Kagome turned her nose up at Kisame before sauntering off after his partner. She kept a steady pace beside him, her arms swinging freely, making the sides of her short kimono flap.
Kisame took a long moment to study her as he walked sedately behind his partner and their hostage. She was wearing a short summer kimono, and though the colours seemed faded with age, it was by no means ratty. It was pastel and light, probably meant for ease of movement.
A kimono didn't seem like something a swordsman would be found wearing, however, which mildly confused him. Her legs were long and lithe and lightly muscled, and she wore no armour whatsoever. She wore ankle-high, dare he say it, dainty boots, and her long dark hair fell in loose waves to the base of her simple obi.
What kind of person was she? She looked like nothing more than a civilian, but her proficiency with a blade proved otherwise. The way she held herself and the way she moved spoke of training, and the way she spoke told him that she'd grown up in a well off family—she was both well spoken and well educated.
"Stop staring at my butt, fish-face. Eyes forward." She tossed over her shoulder, giving him a clever smirk.
"Like there's anything there to stare at, you shrimp." Kisame shot back, but still he looked away from her, surprised to have even been caught looking.
"Hey, Itachi." Kagome spoke up, as they sat around a smile fire.
Itachi didn't respond, but looked up from the flame to meet her questioning stare as a response.
"Don't you want to ask me some questions?" she asked, picking at the grass around her ankles. "You haven't tied me up again, and I did promise to answer some more questions"
"Are you a trustworthy person, Kagome?" Itachi questioned solemnly, his blank face at odds with his grave tone.
"What kind of question is that?" Kagome wrinkled her nose, and stared into the trees behind Itachi, unable to meet his stare.
After a long, borderline uncomfortable silence, Kagome sighed, and looked back to Itachi, who sill stared at her, unblinkingly. Kagome gave him a wan smile.
"I don't go back on my word." She said breathily, as she let out a sigh. "I never break a promise that I make, no matter whom it's to. Obviously, I wouldn't promise to do something completely stupid, but if it's one thing that I've ever learned over my lifetime, it's the value of honesty and promises. I take them very seriously."
"Make a promise then." Itachi's voice morphed into a mocking sneer as he said the word promise. "That you will answer my questions when I ask them of you."
"I—"
Kagome paused to weigh her options. She currently did not possess the power to free herself from her captors. Itachi's ability was a mystery. He did try to overwhelm her mind, but she was not worried about him attempting that again. Her mental barriers were more than strong enough to keep anyone she came across in these lands out. Kisame was more than skilled with a sword, and she suspected that there was more to both him and his sword that she'd seen so far. Together, they were a formidable pair, and she was outnumbered. That alone was enough to stop her from trying to flee, certainly not with so many unknowns in the equation. As long as they were powerful enough to keep her subdued, then she would follow them willingly enough. However, as soon as she found a weakness between them, she would exploit it, and she would escape. There were very few who had been able to hold on to her as long as they had already, and Kagome knew it wouldn't last.
"As long as you can overpower me, I will answer your questions to the best of my ability." Kagome said slowly. "If you show me any weakness, I will exploit it and I owe you nothing."
Itachi's widened minutely in surprise at her answer, not having expected such a thoughtful response.
"That is acceptable." He replied. "Since there is no weakness for you to exploit."
"Is that a challenge?" Kagome's eyes glittered with mischief, a grin stretching across her face.
"It's fact, you shrimp." Kisame replied. "There is no weakness between the two of us that you will ever find."
"We'll see about that," Kagome smiled sweetly at him, and a tendril of uncertainty made itself known at the back of his head. Scoffing, Kisame looked back to the fire.
Why is it so uncomfortable to meet her eyes?
"Well, with business all out of the way, I have a request to make." Kagome chirped, turning her attention back to Itachi. "I don't know where we are, or where we're going, but it'd be nice if we could grab my travelling stuff; it would make all our lives much easier than it is now."
Itachi merely raised an eyebrow in question.
"I left it in a town just north of where you found me, I'd been in that little town healing the head of the village."
"We need nothing else to slow us down." Itachi said dismissively.
"Oh come on, it's one bag that I carry on my back." Kagome scoffed. "It won't slow us down, it's just my travelling essentials. I'm no ninja, I need a few things to get by."
Itachi didn't seem interested in agreement, so Kagome decided to sweeten the deal.
"I'll cook you guys dinner every night," she offered. "I roast a mean rabbit."
Kisame couldn't help but perk up at the thought of no longer having to cook fish, and eating something more substantial that he didn't have to cook. Itachi always stole the bigger fish, and he always burnt it so it tasted like he was munching on fishbone.
He turned to his partner, who seemed to catch his interested glance without even meeting his gaze. Turning back to Kagome, Itachi gave her an undecipherable stare for a long moment before speaking.
"We are less than half a day's travel from the town of which you speak. Tomorrow, we will retrieve your belongings, and you will be satisfied. You will request nothing else of me. Do not forget your place, you are a hostage, not a travelling companion or an equal." He said stonily, and rose from his spot beside the fire.
"Kisame, keep an eye on her. I will be back." He ordered, and disappeared into the shadows of the night.
Kagome stared at the spot where he disappeared for a long moment, before a wide smile split her face.
"Yessssss!" she laughed to herself, stretching backwards on the grass, completely ignoring Kisame, who was steaming at being left to babysit yet again. "This could be much worse."
"You bet it could, shrimp." Kisame let out a dark chuckle.
"Shut your yap, fish-face." Kagome waved her hand in dismissal at Kisame without looking at him. "I'm not going to let you take this victory away from me."
Kisame growled. Kagome lifted one leg up, crossing it over the other, and bounced her foot.
"You're just jealous that I've already wrangled more out of your partner than you have in all the years you've worked with him."
"Hardly," Kisame laughed. "Itachi and I have an… understanding of sorts."
"Sure," Kagome snorted. "Whatever you want to call it. You should really consider approaching him with a different method if you want to get it in."
"Get it—just what are you trying to imply?" Kisame felt his face flush despite himself.
"You know what I said," Kagome snickered. "Envy is a nasty sonnuvabitch, you should be careful. With your lovely complexion, I hardly doubt green would do you any justice."
"Why you self-righteous, troublemaking, loud-mouth piece of sh—" Kisame was on his feet, his voice raising with every word. A cool hand on his shoulder silenced him immediately.
"Kisame. I suggest you ignore her attempts to rile you." Itachi said quietly. Kagome just chuckled.
Fuming with anger and embarrassment, Kisame sat down, returning to his spot by the fire, plotting Kagome's demise.
The next morning, Kagome was the first to rise. The sky was still speckled with stars, the East tree line just beginning to glow with sunlight. Itachi was nowhere to be seen, and Kisame snored softly by the glowing embers of the fire.
Kagome closed her eyes and sent a wave of her power out into the forest, searching for any hint of Itachi's aura. It tingled a little ways off to the west, but it did not move, and he didn't seem to sense her as she searched for him, so she shrugged and knelt to the forest floor. Focusing her energy into the hand, she placed it amongst the roots of the nearest tree, and traveled through it's roots into the earth, searching for the nearest water source.
Kagome's mind almost writhed in the pure, earth energy, and she felt her spirits soar with the life of the tree before her. Trees carried a natural sentience, and Kagome was grateful every time she delved into the earth's energy, because the trees gave off such a warm, welcoming and wise energy that she found comforting beyond no other. Once the tree and its roots had pointed her towards the little creek that flowed nearby, Kagome filled the tree with her energy in thanks and withdrew from it. The branches above her creaked and groaned as her power thrummed through the tree, waving to her in the morning breeze.
"Thank you," she whispered, patting the trunk. Glancing to confirm that Kisame was still asleep, Kagome set off in the direction of the creek, which was halfway between where she'd last sensed Itachi and where they'd made camp the night before.
The water of the creek tricked merrily, and Kagome heard it before she saw it. Wide rocks covered in moss lined the little creek, and she judged that at one point, the water must have been much higher; perhaps a river. The water was crisp and clean, and so with out wasting anymore time Kagome shucked off her obi, outer kimono, boots and socks, until she was standing in nothing more than her undergarments, and the long thin sheath she wore under her kimono.
Picking her way along the slick rocks, Kagome knelt down and dipped her hands into the water, splashing her face and washing her hair. Without her bag, there was little she could do to wash fully, but there was no way she was going to travel with two men smelling like a dirty pig.
Kagome flipped her long hair over her shoulder, and dipped her head into the water, combing through her dark locks with her finger. Her shirt was wet, but it wouldn't matter for long, as the sun was already warm on her back.
When she was finished with her hair, Kagome returned to her knees before the creek, twisting her hair into a braid. As she looked up, she was surprised to find Itachi sitting in a tree on the other side of the creek, watching her contemplatively.
"Good morning," Kagome greeted politely, flicking her hair over her shoulder and standing. Her state of dress lingered at the back of her mind; that her undershirt was see-through with water and her undergarments were the only thing protecting her modesty from this strange man. However, Itachi didn't seem interested in her body, although an unseemly amount of skin was currently bare to his view.
"You did not try to flee," Itachi asked, although it seemed to be more of a statement than a question.
"No," Kagome smiled. "I'm smarter than that – as I've told you. You have yet to realize I speak the truth, it seems."
"Hn," Itachi replied, glancing away.
Kagome turned and made her way back to her clothes, a morning breeze chilling her skin. Itachi's glaze returned to her form while her back faced him, his eyes tracing her warm skin, lingering on the pale scars that littered her back.
It was clear to him that she'd been through more than he'd been informed of, some of the scars long and jagged; some of them round and puckered, like she'd been pierced. The morning wind lifted her shirt, and bared the soft flesh of her stomach, and Itachi felt his eyes widen in disbelief. There was only one mark that marred her front, and it was a puckered starburst shape just near her hip, where she had pointed to the other night.
Curious. Itachi's eyes narrowed in inspection, but Kagome finished dressing and hid it from his view. Most curious indeed.
"Shall we?" Kagome turned to him, taking in his puzzled look. He must have seen my scars.
Itachi cleared the creek and landed a little ways ahead of her, and began the walk back to camp. Kagome followed wordlessly, hoping that he wouldn't question her about her scars.
Surely, there's no way to explain that they're caused by years of war against a demon and his offspring, Kagome thought to herself with a chuckle. If he does question me, I'd best have a response ready.
tbc.