Those Who Favor Fire
AU—Some say the world will end in fire. But one missing-nin, left for dead and taken by Konoha, is about to forge a new destiny in that same flame. ;;canon up to chapter 402.
(a/n) This is absolute madness. But since I am an AU addict, it is madness that is getting written.
And if I hear the word ItaSaku come out of your mouth, there will be hell.
This fic was inspired by, and takes its title and most of its themes from, the Robert Frost poem, "Fire and Ice:"
Some say the world will end in fire
Some say in ice
From what I've tasted of desire
I'd hold with those who favor fire
But if I had to perish twice
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice
Note that literary and poetic references are by no means limited to this one poem. As will soon be demonstrated below.
xxxREVISED VERSION, 8/15/09: changed tense to present, corrected style and characterization.
(acknowledgements) I would like to thank Feilyn for beta-ing this chapter and hopefully most future chapters royally.
(disclaimer) Naruto is owned by Viz Media, Shonen Jump, and Masashi Kishimoto. All rights reserved.
.prologue.
.no light but death's.
( Out where the breath of war may bear,
Out in the rank moist reddened air
That sounds and smells of death, and hath
No light but death's upon its path )
-x-
Barely the fifteenth hour of the day, and the sky seethes black with the promise of apocalypse.
It's interesting, Itachi muses, that the bright concussion flash had robbed him not only of the remains of his sight, but much of his hearing as well. There had been no real sound that he had heard when it descended—only a faint crackle-snap and the silent flaming roar of Susano'o going up around him just in time before the brilliant searing blaze struck home, perforating his eardrums and stamping his darkening retinas with pure white.
Sasuke, you will be my new light, he had said, and how ironic that he'd actually spoken the truth. For once.
Forward. When you can't hear beyond a faintly growing buzz, and you can't see beyond softly flickering shape-masses, and you can't feel beyond the scraping burn of energy rushing out of your skin like so many licking flames to sustain the pandimensional warrior that both shields and wounds you, when all of these things and more have taken away all sense of where and what, there is only one direction that you can be sure of with all of your heart and soul, and that is forward.
His fingers tremble, and—I'm sorry Sasuke, the familiar words flow unbidden from his lips, which twitch into his first smile in ten years, but this...
...is the last time.
Despite the pain, which he's too far gone to even feel now beyond knowing that yes, his bones are crunching with every step and yes, his lungs are dissolving like wet paper cranes with every breath, can we get on with it please; despite the pain, he hasn't felt better in ages.
The last sensation he feels, as his balance leaves him and he pitches forward into the soundless light, is that of Sasuke's forehead against the bloodied tips of his fingers. A faint tingle of chakra, and then—
Then, nothing at all.
-x-
Two bodies lie side by side in the pouring rain. The blasted terrain is slick with water and blood.
Two people stand on a short ledge above, looking down. One turns to the other and said, "Leaf approaches. I can't carry either one if we need to move quickly." A second, harsher voice from the same figure: "Yes, and one is dead weight, anyway."
The other jumps down to the bodies with catlike grace. Predatory grace. "I'll take Sasuke, then. Let Itachi rot—I've no further need for him." He reaches down and carefully, almost tenderly, lifts the smaller of the two bodies. Thin rivulets of blood still run down the youth's face from his left eye, diluted by rain into mottled soft red-pinkish blotches. The man wipes it away. "His Mangekyou have awakened," he says softly, prying open the youth's left eyelid with a thumb. "Perfect."
"They—"
"I know, Zetsu," the man snaps, flexing his legs and leaping up to the higher ledge again. "Let's go."
Four seconds later, the only figure left was the corpse of one Uchiha Itachi, as the rain slowly washed the blood from his hands.
-x-
"Someone's up there," Hinata says suddenly, as the eight Leaf-nin press on towards the mountaintop, where the clouds swirl blackest and the ground lies rent open to the sky. She squints unconsciously, the veins surrounding her eyes bulging slightly more as she strains her extended field of vision. "There's someone lying on the ground—a body. I can't see any clearer until we get closer, but—"
"That's gotta be Sasuke!" Naruto bites out fiercely, and though they're already running at top speed, he surges ahead of the group. Sakura leaps forward to match pace.
"Naruto! Wait!" she calls. He whirls on her with a furious look, as if betrayed by her seeming lack of hurry. But she matches his look with one of her own, and adds, "We do it together."
He relaxes a little, and gives her a hard, grateful smile.
The two of them reach the summit about half a minute before everybody else. As Hinata and the others draw closer, she flinches a little. Surprised. Disappointed. Anxious.
"Kakashi-sensei?" she whispers to the jōnin on her right, "I don't think—"
She doesn't even need to finish her sentence. It's obvious from the expressions on Naruto and Sakura's faces. Naruto turns to Hinata, despair and hope warring in his eyes. "Hinata," he says, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You can scan the area with your Byakugan, right? He's—he's got to be somewhere around here—"
It's desperate, pleading, already defeated. Just by truth, he's beaten.
"Then who's up there?" Sai asks, always practical, adjusting his waterproof cloak. Naruto clenches his teeth, but shakes his head, apparently not trusting himself to speak.
The others jump, climb, and lower themselves over the rubble to where Sakura now kneels next to the body that Hinata had seen. She looks up at them, her expression betraying barely checked rage mixed with frustration and disgust. "Itachi." She spits the name as if it's poison. His body is soaked in blood and rainwater. His blasted, sightless eyes stare beyond the sky, the milky-white irises downright eerie to behold.
Kakashi calmly takes in the scene. Assessing. "Itachi," he says, "dead, but with no Sasuke." A pause. "Did he walk away, or was he taken?" He doesn't seem to be posing the question to the genin, but wondering aloud in half-frustration.
Kiba sniffs the air. "Hard to say. His scent is all over the place, but—" He points. "—two new scents mix with it over there. I can't say for sure." He closes his eyes, concentrating on gathering more chakra to his nose, to better separate the smells in the area.
He opens his eyes. "Wait." Kiba looks like he's realized something, but his gaze keeps flickering over to the body. "Wait. Something doesn't smell right."
Shino turns slightly. "Well, there is a corpse sitting right—"
"That's the thing. He doesn't..." Kiba inhales deeply through his nose, almost for effect. "That's not how a dead body smells."
Hinata trains her Byakugan more forcefully in Itachi's direction, and gasps. "His keirakukei—"
"Impossible," Sakura says, placing a hand to his bloody chest (with some hesitancy, a spasm of something between anger and distaste crossing her face), closing her eyes and concentrating. "It's not—" Her eyes snap open. "No way."
Sakura looks up. "He's alive! He's on the brink, Kakashi-sensei, but he's alive!"
"What?" The others (excluding Kiba and Hinata) flinch and back away some. All eyes turn to Kakashi.
His one visible eye flickers to everyone present, to Itachi's body, to the horizon, to the direction they'd come from, to the sky, and back around the circuit.
"We're heading back," he says, finally. "Take him. Sakura, keep him alive until we reach the village."
"WHAT?" Naruto bellows, incensed. "But, Sasuke—"
"Naruto." Kakashi turns away. "That's an order. Our objective was to capture Uchiha Itachi alive, remember? Konoha needs intelligence on Akatsuki more than they need us in the field right now." More quietly, he adds, "I'm sorry."
Sakura bites her lip, clenching her fist. "You want me to—?"
"Yes, Sakura. I do." The finality in his tone brooks no argument. Sakura grinds her teeth, but sets a green-glowing palm to Itachi's heart.
The only sign of life he gives is the soft twitch of a pulse, fluttering at his throat.
..(the beginning)..
(a/n) The poem quote after the title comes from "Epilogue," a poem by Algernon Swinburne.