Please note that this is my first story that I have EVER written. Well, besides the hurriedly written ones for creative writing, and that doesn't count. But anyway, I'd like some healthy criticism (as in suggestions for the plot and stuff, and not WTF this is an awful piece of crap). I hope you enjoy reading this, and please review!
Chapter One
A terrified woman zigzagged between burning tents, ignoring the screams of pain and agony all around her while clutching bleeding profusely from many wounds herself. Narrowly avoiding stray knife, she almost tripped over a dead body as she dodged into a stately white tent that was still standing. She was as quick to leave the tent as she was entering it; barely a second had passed before she sprinted out and into the woods carrying a squirming bundle in her arms. Her escape did not go unnoticed; three men in black cloaks with scarlet clouds printed on them watched her flee.
One of the three men spoke. He had dark grey eyes with thin black rings in them; it almost looked like he had multiple irises. From his tone and words, it was clear that he was the leader of the trio.
"That woman is the wife of the leader of these nomads. Her name is Kaya. The thing that she was carrying is her child of about three years of age. Go, Itachi. You know what to do."
The man named Itachi disappeared in a trace. Like his leader, he had unique eyes, but his were a crimson red with three pitch-black tomoes. The third man, who sported light blue skin and gill-like whiskers on his face, started after him.
"Stop, Kisame. Itachi is more than enough to finish her off. I need you to help obliterate the nomads…Although I appreciate the…ah…brotherly feelings you have for your partner." With a flap of his cloak, the leader disappeared. The man called Kisame snorted.
"Brotherly feelings my ass…"
Itachi's cardinal eyes bored into Kaya's sparkling emerald ones. Both gazes were equally intense, and each never took his eyes off the other. At last,
"…Where is your daughter?"
Kaya flinched, visibly shaken. Breaking off her gaze, she lowered her head and pleaded, "Please leave my daughter, please! I don't know why you've targeted us nomads, but now that you've obliterated us, can't you leave –"
The faint swishing of tree branches in the wind contrasted sharply with a loud crack as Kaya's plea was abruptly cut off by a snap to her neck. Itachi stood there, expressionless, as a small, thin girl of about seven years of age emerged from behind a bush. Her amethyst eyes flicked from her mother's still figure to the tall man with the pretty red eyes.
"Is mama dead?" She asked Itachi with a slightly concerned expression.
For the first time in two months, Itachi's countenance changed. Struck by the little girl's innocence and purity, his face registered a small amount of remorse and anguish. He realized that this girl, clad only in a thin tank top and shorts, believed death only to be another reachable place to go to, perhaps on a vacation.
"Yes…your mother – mama – is dead."
"Oh. Then I guess I'm dead, too…and so are you! This must be heaven – my name's Airi, Kiyomi Airi. What's yours?"
"I'm…"
He stopped as a mental wave took hold of his consciousness. Airi looked on worriedly as Itachi listened to his leader's voice berating him.
"The rest of us are already going back to the hideout. I don't know what's keeping you – I don't want or need to know – but don't be long… Or Kisame will start to fret."
Itachi grimaced as he replied with, "Yes, leader." As he looked around for Airi, he spotted her running in the direction of the camp. Slowly, he followed, glad that he could not see the little girl's face as she suddenly stopped short in sight of the ruins of her home. Silently, Itachi halted beside her, watching the conflagration consume the tents. Bodies were strewn across the once lush clearing, and the green grass was now dotted with pools of red – blood. Itachi forced himself to turn his head and look at the emotions carved onto Airi's face. Shock, then fear, then anger, and then sadness – it was all there. Her wiry legs trembled, and she would have hit the ground hard, had Itachi not caught her. He leaned his back against a tree as she sobbed into his chest. As her tears soaked through his cloak and into his netted shirt, he remembered that just two months before, he had witnessed a similar scene. And he had caused it. The incredulity of his father. His mother's horror. Sasuke's grief-stricken face as he saw their parents' corpses.
An hour passed as he went through his box of memories. Looking down, Itachi saw that Airi had fallen asleep. Her shock-white hair framed her heart-shaped face, which rested on his chest. Her arm was flung out over his stomach. Her own chest rose and fell in a steady beat. As Itachi looked her over, he realized that her entire body, while extremely light, was composed entirely of muscle. She'll grow up to be a strong shinobi. With that thought, he bit his thumb. Using his blood, Itachi wrote one word on Airi's bare arm.
Konoha.