~~**~~ Okay, so this is an old story I worked on for a friend of mine as a companion to her story "Akatsuki House of OC". I know I posted this a long time ago, but apparently when I posted I didn't understand what I was doing because I reread it and found so many errors I wanted to cry. So, I'm updating the chapters a little. Key words there, A LITTLE, lol. I've kept almost all of it the same, only going back to reword a few sentences that didn't make sense and check over some spelling that was ridiculous. This was my very first ever attempt at a Naruto fanfic lol So, while I've updated a little, like I said, I left most of it the same for authenticity XD Cut me some slack lol --Anywho, her character is Nikoru, the little map maker's daughter the Akatsuki snatched. If you want to read her version, the prelude to this version, look her up under "Nikkias"--Thankyou for reading! Hope you enjoy it at least a little! XD~~**~~
"Retrievals Mistaken Identity"
Wind had a sound here. Summer had a sound here. The warmth of the sun set crickets and cicadas into churring all through the day; giving the emptiness of the heat a noise. The wind breathing through the thick, tall grasses, murmured like soft sighs. It would have been strikingly peaceful, had it not been Grass Country. The place appeared barren, nothing but forest and empty plains of tall grasses; all of it appeared unsettled and wild. Though, if one knew what to look for, one would see the country was as settled as any other. These ninja hid and slunk through even their own home, distrusting and hating each other as much as she distrusted and hated them. The whole of them were sneaky and vile, betraying one another and hiding much more than themselves amongst the grasses. And now, now that they were in suspicion of taking Her…she hated them even more.
The girl paused on a tree branch, panting softly as she touched the bark of the trunk, glancing around with hurried eyes. The left burned; it always ached when she peered through it. The entire journey over she had played her mission message within her mind, looping it constantly to keep herself in check and under control; to keep herself from becoming frantic. "She's somewhere on the outskirts of the grass village…You need to retrieve her with as few casualties as possible, Hokage-sama doesn't want another war on his hands. And you need to bring her back alive, unwounded, as you should be. Don't come back a failure." She wouldn't be kept out of the village if she couldn't find Her, of course, but it was understood by all that she wouldn't return without Her anyways. She suddenly caught a strong whiff of the scent, head whipping to the right as her nostrils flared, eyes widening before narrowing in calculation. Fourteen meters off…She should spot a hideout or enemy camp before she reached the fourteenth meter. She launched from the branch, her getta sliding soundlessly over the wood as she glided from tree to tree, hardly tapping the branches she lept over.
She spotted what she had expected ten meters back, crouching low on a branch when she came as close as she wanted. There was a genjutsu shielding the house from view, making it appear to be a large tree, but her keki genkai picked it out easily. Dropping from her branch she wondered who was watching her as she walked up the front steps casually. She tossed thick curls over her shoulder, rolling her neck as she did, letting it crack quietly as she laced her fingers together in front of herself, popping them loudly at the same time. It was time to get her best friend back. Forming quickly symbols with her hands she stopped, her index and forefinger creating an O in front of her lips. Taking in a deep breath, her eyes shot open, the pinwheels of her left pupil spinning as she released the air, blowing a long stream of fire at the front door for entry. She bolted inside before any sort of trap could be set off, if indeed there were any at all.
"Where is she?!" Her voice echoed sharply in the house, deepened to a pitch or rage as she looked around with a wild glint in her eyes. She had expected to be attacked from all sides, more possibly pouring in from the perimeter when they heard her attack and realized she had breached them. Instead, she was greeted with the mildly surprised face of a single boy, a bit shorter than herself.
"What did you do to the door?" She turned to face him, seeing that he was standing at the head of a hallway, and she was standing in a foyer, looking into a casually decorated living room. Had she gotten the scent wrong? The boy that had spoken was staring wide eyed at her, but appeared to be upset at the same time. He wasn't very tall, more of an average height, and had bright red hair. Thick eye liner surrounded his eyes, making him appear deeply angered and troubled.
She let her own eyes harden into a glare, "I said, where is she?!" She lunged, whipping out a kunai and holding it breast height, blade turned out to the side for a back swipe. As she struck he leaned back from, pulling his hands up to splay his fingers before her. She caught sight of the chakra strings and bounced off the wall, flipping backwards to her spot from before.
"She's quick--Deidara!" The red head shot the strings at her again, her eyes focusing in on them, fingers drumming lightly on the kunai beneath them as she bided her time for movement. Just as she jumped, a strangely masked man shot over the back of the couch to her left, flying at her with his arms out stretched to catch her. She hadn't accounted for another just yet.
"Tobi's got her!" The voice was childish, almost catching her off guard and making her stop to double-take. Instead she caught herself and managed to duck, rolling backwards just in time. The blue chakra strings tangled around the masked boy, infuriating the red head. He shook his hands to free the strings, the other boy writhing on the floor in the tangled mass.
"Tobi! Dammit!" The red head couldn't get his strings untangled and was, for the moment, preoccupied.
She stood up and smirked, turning and getting ready to infiltrate the sad excuse for a hideout. Something bumped into her foot and she flinched backwards a step, looking down with a frown as her body tensed for an attack. A small white bird was tipped on its side now, its feet kicking rhythmically in the air where it was attempting to still walk. Her brow furrowed into delicate lines as she knelt to examine the odd creature, reaching with a timid hand to right it again. When her fingers graced its fat little body and her eyes widened in registered understanding and surprise at the feel of molded clay, it was too late. The bird exploded, sending her flying backwards with a screech of rage.
She landed, jerking out a second kunai, eyes flitting this way and that as she tried to pinpoint her new attacker. She caught sight of the blonde hair as it flitted past her shoulder, leaving a scent trail of clay and fire. She spun, catching flesh with her blade before jumping onto the back of the couch.
"Bitch! You cut my face, un!" Another boy was now wiping blood from his cheek, glaring at the blood smeared over his fingers, his long blonde hair held in a high ponytail. The red head had gotten free of the one called Tobi, making them moveable opponents once again. Her eyes flit left to right, searching for strategies and escape. She tossed strands of hair out of the way, white knuckling her kunai with another series of threatening pops from her joints.
"Ooooh, lookie, lookie! She's got one eye like Tobi!" The masked boy jumped up and down, pointing at her ecstatically.
"Don't be stupid, Tobi. She has two, you can see them plain as day, un." The blonde scoughed as the red head shot more chakra strings at her.
She lept out of the way again, flipping to bounce off of the ceiling, dive bombing him with a malicious smirk. He cried out and jolted to the side, barely missing the two kunais she drove hilt deep into the flooring. She snarled, ripping them out of the flooring before lunging at him once again. His strings managed to catch one kunai and pull it away, sending it flying into a wall. She swiped his throat with the other, twirling to connect a foot with his chest before bouncing back once more. Each panted heavily as they stared each other down, glowering like predators fighting over territory.
"No, no! One eye red, like Itachi's! So, she has one eye like Tobi!" Tobi bounced again, crying out childishly. The red head jerked towards the girl first, this time, fingers out and splayed once more.
The blonde arched a brow as the other spoke, "Well, that would explain how she found this place…" He mumbled and Tobi nodded vigorously. The girl lept up, leap frogging over the red head, driving her remaining weapon into his shoulder. He screamed, collapsing to his knees, gripping the weapon with a shuddering hand as she rose behind him, turning to face him with a triumphantly smug smirk.
"But, you know no one except a little boy has eyes like Itachi, Tobi. And that non-Uchiha man." The blond shrugged, finishing a second clay bird.
He looked up and hurled it at the girl, its wings flapping to life as wind swept beneath them with the force of his pitch. But, she tugged a sinbon out of a fold in the short kimono she wore, moving too fast for their eyes to catch; failing to give it a second glance once it left her fingers. It slit through the bird easily, continuing towards the blonde. He dodged, letting the needle cut through stray strands of his ponytail.
She continued towards the bleeding red head, glowering insanely, "Tell me where she is!" She roared once more, flying at him with open hands; aiming to strangle him. Tobi launched forward at the same time. She spun towards him, noting his movements were suddenly faster and better calculated than before. She dropped low, sweeping a long leg towards him. He jumped over it, planting his hands on her shoulders and gripping down as he somersaulted over her, tugging her backwards with the tight grip.
She shrieked and reached up, gripping his hands and driving her long nails into the thinly gloved flesh, causing him to cry out and let go; the red head spotted the opening. Removing the kunai quickly he hurled it to the floor, shooting his hand out with a wince of pain. The pale blue of chakra streaked the air once again, this time wrapping around the girl's wrists and pulling her arms backwards. She screeched again, tugging against the restraints like a bound animal.
The blonde laughed and started towards her as the red head rose to his feet behind her. She lashed a foot out in anger, kicking the blonde in the jaw, snapping his teeth together and splitting his lip open. "Gahh! You whore!" He snarled and she glared, still struggling against the bonds.
"Let me go and tell me where the girl is." She growled, narrowing her eyes at him, as if she were in the position to be giving orders. He spat blood at her feet, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He got ready to say something when two things stopped him. He caught sight of the glimmering red eye behind the bell of chocolate hair over the left side of her face; and the rest of the group came in the back door. The blonde turned and looked at the kitchen doorway, seeing Kisame and Itachi starting through it.
"Just in time…Itachi, you've gotta see this."
Itachi arced a brow, walking around the blonde boredly, eyes roving his smirking face before glancing down and over the girl. She was struggling with the bonds again, growling and looking down at them in frustration, as though she would bite through them if able. Feeling a new set of eyes on her she whipped her head up, baring her teeth in a feral hiss. When she caught sight of Itachi's face, she froze, her body falling still as her jaw slacked and eyes widened.
Kisame walked up behind the raven, easily looking over his head and down towards the girl. "Another kunoichi?" His voice rumbled as it fell from his lips, the blonde shrugging with his eyes attached suspiciously to the now still girl.
"She 'sploded in! Demanding for "the girl" and fighting like a mad woman!" Tobi bounced around Kisame and the blonde, flapping his arms wildly as he did. The fight hadn't seemed to have affected him at all. Kisame watched him with interested eyes before looking back to the girl, who seemed to have forgotten everyone was there except for the Uchiha.
Itachi rolled a shoulder, looking at the blonde boy again and away from her. "Why do I care what you've drug in to amuse yourselves with?" His voice was listless as he spoke. She knew that voice. She knew that face. She knew those eyes.
"One eye like Tobi! One eye like Itachi! Lookie, lookie! One eye, one eye, one eye!" Tobi grinned behind his mask and pointed to the oddly stilled girl.
"What's he babbling about?" Itachi mumbled, glancing dismissively at Tobi, then at the blonde again. The red head tugged tighter on the girl's bonds, as the blonde gestured to her a second time, grinning now.
"Take a closer look at her eyes, is what he means." He muttered, sparking the man's interest enough to cause him to kneel at his feet, feminine brow furrowing as he reached out to brush hair from her left eye with strangely gentle fingers. She caught a whiff of his flesh as the inside of his wrist brushed past her nose. Absently, her eyes closed, a quiet murr leaving her as she lost herself to a scent she knew all too well. Though masked with others she didn't recognize, she knew that base scent. Gods, how she had missed that smell. It made her shiver to have it so close to her once more.
"Open your eyes again, kunoichi." The dead voice commanded, her eyes shooting open without her telling them to. She looked up slowly, once again settling her eyes on his own. He flinched away from her; she couldn't tell if in disgust or shock. "Is this someone's idea of a joke...?!" He hissed, looking up between all of them with a vicious glint to the crimson of his eyes.
She sat up a little, "Don't you recognize me?! It's me!" He frowned at the sound of her confusion and desperation. Everyone else did too, looking between them with new interest.
"Don't act as if you know me...! Who are you?! Where did you learn that technique?!" He snarled at her, becoming enraged as she sat with a cluelessly helpless look on her face.
She frowned, once again letting the confusion play over her features in a painfully obvious way. "What do you mean "learn that technique?" It's mine…Ours." She murmured the last word, dropping her eyes as they softened in memory. He fixed her with another look of disgust, pain flickering in her eyes as she looked back up at him.
"What did you do for that eye?!" He commanded, pressing on, trying to get answers before she enraged him to the point of killing her beforehand.
"Sasuke, it's me!" She pleaded suddenly, everyone looking to her in surprise.
"How do you know that name?! Who are you?!" Itachi barked again, voice rising and control fading as she continued to find new ways to anger him; appearing to not even realize it. She shook her head wildly, as if in denial of what was going on and what was being said to her face. She began to tug violently at the strings again, making the blonde touch Itachi on the shoulder lightly.
"You may wanna step back, she kicks when she's like that." He warned, but Itachi failed to acknowledge him or move as suggested. She began to writhe, managing to get to her knees before looking up at him again.
"Sasuke! I know you haven't forgotten me! You know me, Sasuke!" She cried out, begging now, failing to stop her squirming.
After a moment she got to her feet, turning enough in the bindings before the red head could tighten them, managing to connect her foot with his jaw too. He went reeling backwards, releasing her with a cry of anger and hurt. As soon as the strings let go she lunged forward, the blonde moving to catch her by the throat and protect the Uchiha; she palmed heeled him to the nose without a second glance.
She grabbed Itachi's cloak front desperately, "Sasuke, it's me! Hotaru! You remember me, you have to!" She pleaded loudly, Itachi only responding to snarl at her. He slapped her away, causing her to step back and touch her cheek in horror. She froze, staring blankly at their feet, her fingertips sliding over the red of her cheek, her body beginning to shiver lightly. Her brows furrowed again, the house stilling around them.
"Don't you think you were a little hard on her, Itachi? She seems really confused…" Kisame mumbled quietly, but Itachi glared up at him, shutting him up quickly. Slowly the girl looked up at all of them, as if suddenly remembering where she was and what she was doing, then she looked at Itachi again and all of the pain came back into her eyes. Tears rolled down her cheeks in fat tracks and she drew her bottom lip in to keep it from quivering.
"I-I don't understand…you LOVED me, Sasuke Uchiha…How could you FORGET me?" She looked to the floor, sniffling and trying to get her composure again.
Itachi snorted in disgust once more, looking away as he waved her off, "Feh, Sasuke's my little brother." Her eyes opened in horror, remaining glued to the floor as the words continued to sink in. "I'm not Sasuke." He continued on, reiteratting his point; driving the pain home. For a moment she didn't move. She didn't breathe, the air caught in her throat. Her tears stopped, and her body tensed. Then, she collapsed to her knees.
Flashing before her eyes, replaying like a sick movie on a big screen, she watched it; she could SEE it. She could see HIM. The picture…the bloodied picture on the coffee table…"You…" Slowly she looked up at him, pupils dilating with the pain of the realization as her eyes focused on his own. "You slaughtered them! ALL of them!" She jabbed a finger at him, screeching in horrified rage as she did. She looked deep into his eyes, her own burning even worse than before. Her body began to quiver again, her fist clinching and opening at her sides as her lips paled with rage. Everyone tensed and readying for her to make the first move once again. "You killed them!" She shrieked again, this time slowly pulling a kunai out of its leg holder, rising to her feet just as slowly; eyes never leaving his own.
Itachi smirked now, "Tell me something I don't know." He dodged a swipe and she let out a cry of rage; sounding more like a banshee now than anything human. She was moving faster than before, now too much for them to counter, let alone comprehend. Now it was simply a battle between sharingons. "Who are you?" He ducked another swipe, failing to send back any counters of his own.
She grinned madly at him, "I'm the one you overlooked." With a laugh she committed another suicide lunge. When she did he caught her wrist, twisting it easily, the bones snapping loudly, her knife falling to the floor with a dull thud. She screamed, their quick movements stopped as suddenly as they had come; everyone watching once more.
She had never been able to wrap her mind around the idea of giving in though; especially when she was this blinded with rage. She snarled, her leg shooting up and bending at the knee, her foot planting against his stomach before she gave a hefty shove. He let go and she backed towards the kitchen, holding onto her wounded wrist as she readied for a second round.
"Hey, can anyone tell me where Kakuzu is? I need him to sew up my teddy." She spun on her heel quickly, mouth falling open as surprise once again took over her features. The girl that had spoken stopped dead in her tracks, dropping the beheaded bear she had been talking about as she stared at the wounded kunoichi, and the girl stared right back. They cried out in unison, running for one another, their bodies slamming together in a tight embrace. Hotaru whimpered, holding her shattered wrist out to the side to avoid hurting it further, but burying her face in the girl's hair, wrapping her good arm tightly around her.
"Gods…did they hurt you?! Are you okay?!" She pleaded, pulling back and looking over the beaming girl.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. They just needed a navigator." She waved it off casually, laughing softly as she did, hugging her best friend a second time.
"Well, they can find another. I'm taking you home." She took hold of the petite blonde's hand and turned, starting off as if nothing before hand had happened. Itachi side stepped in front of her, causing her to look up with narrowed eyes and thinly pressed lips.
"Neither of you are leaving. I won't have a false Uchiha parading around to give the clan a bad name." She put a hand on her hip, looking at the set of his face with a sarcastic glower.
"As if you havn't already done that?" She arched a brow, tilting her head as the word "murderer" screamed its way through her head. "And I AM a full blooded Uchiha. I could have this eye no other way, you KNOW that."
"It's true, Itachi...I would know..." Nikoru murmured quietly, residing in the girl's shadow, though she was taller than her by a few inches, even with her in getta.
"You stole it. Just like that fool shinobi, Kakashi." He sneered at her, ignoring Nikoru's comment. Hotaru's eyes narrowed farther and her fist clinched at her side once again.
"He's not a fool! He didn't ask for that eye! And mine's a damned BIRTH DEFECT! I'm the real thing!" She shrieked, stomping a foot and glaring.
"I don't care WHAT it is, you're staying. And so is she." He let out a long breath, as though calming himself from the little bout, before turning and stepping quietly into the background. The cloaked boys parted, letting him pass without a word, all of them watching as he gestured absently for them to move forward. Turning the blonde and the red head started in on the girls.
"Wait! Wait! Why me with her?!" Nikoru whimpered as the chakra strings wound around her body, beginning to instinctively struggling as Hotaru began thrashing about as wildly as before. He failed to answer, rather started down the hallway on the opposite end of the house, ignoring their cries.
"I'll kill you, Itachi! I'll destroy you from the inside out--just like you did him!" Hotaru shouted at him, writhing in her binds as she was drug down the hallway. "I'll never let you live for what you did to him! For driving him away from me!" She shouted, kicking her feet wildly, "You killed my parents you fucker!" Her shrieks finally died out and Itachi closed his eyes in relief, pausing at the head of the hallway to revel in the silence.
Through all his anger though, through all his rage, he couldn't help but listen to a quiet thought in the back of his mind. He could restart a pure Uchiha clan. The thought enraged him even more, especially the fact that he was even partially entertaining the idea; but it made him smile too. And it would drive his little brother even closer to the brink of insanity than he already was.