My Mother's Doll
ARC ONE
AGE OF IGNORANCE
Chapter One
Ashes, Ashes, Bones and Ashes
OOO
"For it was said she was bleeding out before him, that peasant's blood. A woman who had once been indomitable before this very moment, her eyes wide in shock. She was dying. But it would be okay, for she had protected her King. For what else was a Queen good for?" - Chapter seventeen of the History of the Warring Clans Era.
OOO
He'd only been gone for a few short months, but it felt longer. Itachi walked his tired, old stallion through the gates, the plain colored bay nickered tiredly and nudged his shoulder blade. Itachi carefully stroked the beast's jaw, "You've done well Raki," the horse nodded energetically at his words, and the young Uchiha grinned a rare grin. His father hated the old beast, claiming his son needed something much more grand, and better for war. But, Raki was what he needed, a horse willing to please him, not as subservient being - but as a partner. He had learned to ride on him as a colt, and he had been with Raki when the old beast had gotten speared through his front left leg. He had fought for the horse when his father wanted to end his misery.
Raki had also been there for him, jumping into a rampaging river after him. Scaring of predators with a spear stuck inside him as Itachi recovered from a terrible hit to the head that him out cold for days. Raki and Itachi were one, and they would stay as one until Raki could only graze in a pasture. Even then Itachi would forever be loyal to the beast. The gates to the Uchiha compound suddenly were before them, and the great ancient village of the Leaf seemed so pale in comparison.
Itachi would always be loyal to the village, but his clan had built the greatest part of the Leaf. Giant columns stood a hundred feet high, carved of dark marble, and the gates were swung open, the sun highlighted the wide cobblestone pathway where young Uchiha children tossed balls, wrestled and battled with sticks. This was home.
He continued to walk, Raki lagging slightly behind. His old bones tired from the trip to Rain Country. Itachi had greatly enjoyed working under the great Uniters of Rain. The trio were worshiped as Gods there, and they had truly turned the drug and crime ridden country around. He had especially enjoyed the quiet training with the red haired Uzumaki orphan, Nagato. Yahiko was too chatty, clearly talented in the art of war and politics, but Itachi could only handle so much chatter. Lady Konan was a true master piece, uniquely endowed with hair the color of an open ocean and amber eyes, she had the ability to silence a room with just her presence. She was a force to be reckoned with on the battle field as well. He touched the scar on his left cheek bone, it was slight and faint, but still present.
His family's compound was suddenly there, it looked older than before. But still grand in it's breath taking way, the gardens were in full bloom, and his father's hound sat at the front porch at his father's feet. Fugaku was reading a large old text, as he usually did in the early morning. Itachi smiled and waved, his father lifted his head and nodded. His father was a great man, and a good father. Fugaku had pushed Itachi hard to become as talented as he is now, and Itachi would forever thank him for that.
"Mikoto! Sasuke! Itachi is back!" he shouted through the open dark oak door, and by the time Itachi made it the large front porch his younger brother and his aging mother were hugging him, excitedly asking questions and his mother was crying - because you never knew if he would die on the road, or in some unforeseen battle - and smoothing his long, dark hair down.
"Oh, Itachi!" She sniffled, and she hugged him, her face in his chest and he laid an arm around her, as Sasuke side hugged him. Excited and happy, Sasuke had always been oddly cheerful for an Uchiha, part of that due to the fact he was close friends with the Uzumaki heir, Naruto, who was by anyone standards - the most optimistic, knuckle headed kid around. It reminded him of a distant cousin that worked closely with the legendary Hatake Kakashi, Obito.
Then the whispers came.
Help me!
Why..
Why am I so alone...
Where has everyone gone?
Oh please, don't leave me alone.. it's...
HELP!
"-tachi!" His body was on the ground? Why? Why was that voice - he shuttered - he knew that voice, his heart began beating faster. She needs me! But how could he even... and the world became black.
It took hours for him to wake up, but eventually he did wake. The moon was high in the sky, and his stomach rumbled loudly. I should eat. He stepped out of the large bed, and made his way to his mother's kitchen. But when he passed her.. he couldn't help but stop and stare.
Itachi stared at the doll, like he did every night before he strolled into his room to sleep the night away, and start a new day - tonight was different, he had slept before bidding her his good nights, and he felt oddly guilty about that. The doll had been his obsession for such a long time, he felt as if it were a part of him. His charcoal-grey eyes stared at the eyes made of smoothed, green jade rock, with onyx fused in as the pupil. The entire doll must've been worth a fortune, she was hardly a foot in height. With a lean body, wide hips and soft, plump lips painted a dark coral color. But, it was odd, while in Rain.. he hadn't thought of her. His brows furrowed together as he examined the doll more closely.
Cocking his head, admiring her pink hair - made of something he never could figure out - it was piled behind her shoulders in delicate curls, while a band made of diamonds and green jade shaped in leaves, pushed her wild hair back, leaving a few well placed strands over her forehead. Her face was carved from ivory, and she had the most well-defined face he'd ever laid eyes. High cheekbones, a delicate nose that curved gently and large, round eyes - he squinted - with long, thick pink lashes.
He sighed, and admired who outfit. Very Mediterranean in it's appearance, yet elegant. She wore a turquoise green dress, with only one sleeve. The sleeve was skin tight with silver edges. Her right arm was all but bare, except for a stylized silver snake, that twisted and turned around her toned arm, it started from her shoulder and went to her wrist, it's defined face fell on top of her hand, it's ruby eyes gleaming mischievously. A belt made of opal, emerald, ruby, tanzanite, amethyst, diamond and several other gems he felt to exhausted to name, sat around her petite waist and seemed to make her wide hips more noticeable. The belt made the skirt of her dress seem more gown-like. A glimmer of feet was visible through the long skirt, and the sandals were silver and styled in a Gladiator fashion.
Itachi touched her nose with the tip of his finger, and then brushed the hair from her forehead-she had such a huge forehead. His eyes fell on something that had never been there before. A dark, plum purple colored rhombus. Where had that even -
"Big Brother, are you okay? Mom was freaking out, it took hours for dad to convince her to go to bed." Itachi, startled, turned and faced his younger brother. Sasuke stood two inches shorter than Itachi - who was barely six-feet in height himself. Sasuke's alabaster white skin was a sharp contrast from his black hair, which was hued blue in the right light. Sasuke's lanky form was peering from the top of the stairs. Itachi sighed,
"Oh.. ah, yes... just exhausted.. Sasuke." He licked his lips, his mouth suddenly felt dry. A small whisper tickled that back of his neck. Please... don't... leave... It chilled his bones, her voice.. it was so pained, so sorrowful so -
"Why are you always eyeing that doll?" Sasuke asked, it wasn't rude or mean, just honest curiosity. Itachi was a little perplexed that it had taken this long for anyone to even ask him that.
"It is a dreadful habit that I have not been able to shake from childhood." Itachi half-smiled, "I doubt that I'll rid myself of this habit anytime soon, anyway."
"Why are you so intrigued by a doll?" Sasuke asked, truly interested. Itachi heard Sasuke's soft footsteps as his younger brother crept beside him, eyeing the doll with such... such ignorance. Itachi felt sickened to see someone eye her as if she were just a doll.
But, that is what she is... She isn't even a she, really... Itachi thought, he eyed his brother as Sasuke continued to eye the gir- no, the doll.
"Mother used to me stories about the doll, and how she was secretly our ancestor's, Madara Uchiha, beloved but she was being faught over and in the end cursed to live as a doll until she found love again."
"How old would that make the doll?" Asked Sasuke, and Itachi rolled his eyes, Of course he'd ignore the best part of the story...and did he even pay attention during history?
"Five-thousand years old, little brother." Itachi answered in a monotone voice.
"Well, tell me the story."
"Sasuke, there were many stories."
"Well, condense them."
"You cannot condense the beauty of her life."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at his brother, truly perturbed by his brother's admiration for this doll. Crossing his arms, "Well, summarize."
"Ah, I can try." Itachi whispered, he touched the doll's cheek and regarded her with loving eyes, and for a split second Sasuke thought her eyes met his brother's. Sasuke shook his head, denying such witchcraft.
"Her name is Haruno, Sakura." Itachi began, he smiled at his brother, "First let us go get a midnight snack... " and as the two brothers made their way to the kitchen, Itachi spoke again. Hoping his voice would drown out that sad, sad whisper. "A fitting name for a girl born in the spring and adorned with hair as pink as the blossoming petals upon a cherry tree, her parents had said, when they explained her name to all those who met her." Sasuke leaned backwards and into a column, truly curious at this point. Watching his brother pull things from a cabinet. "But it was our ancestor who doomed them from the start... at seventeen he destroyed a once powerful village called Aomori..."
00O00
"Ah, smell that?" Cackled a man who towered over the rest, his hair was the color of spilled ink and fell to his waist in characteristic spikes, and uneven edges. The small platoon of men all roared excitedly, "That is the smell of power." his eyes bled red, filled with rage and lust. Lust for the power that danced at the edges of his sanity. Then nodded, eagerly soaking up the words that fell from the mouth of their heir - of their prodigy. They craved him. "This town fell to us, an entire town fell to a mere dozen men! Now it burns. Now it knows that they are nothing to the might of the Uchiha!" he bellowed, his tan face began turning shades of red. His veins popping from the adrenaline still sprinting through his body. The men hooted, hollered and roared.
They had destroyed one of the greatest villages of the Warring Era, a huge hit to the Senju who relied on Aomori for trade goods, and medicine. Now it was gone, leaving the Senju more vulnerable than ever before.
"Uchiha scum." it was a quiet hiss, that felt like it was being spoken down their very necks. The men rigidly gripped their katanas, and tantos. Eyes scanning the foggy scene before them. Everyone was dead. The infants, the children, the women, the elderly, the men, the boys. All mutilated, some raped, some dismembered, some burned alive. The stench became increasingly stronger, and before they knew it the voice returned.
"UCHIHA SCUM!" it roared and the ground trembled beneath that voice, from where it came no one knew, not even the proud Uchiha who stood before the town that would soon become just ashes and bones. "YOU BURN THE INNOCENT! YOU RAPE THE WEAK! YOU KILLED THEM ALL!" it screeched and the men fell to their knees, bodies shaking violently, foaming at the mouth. The fog suddenly felt heavier. "SCUM! SCUUUM!"
What looked like explosion went off, sending a wave o dust and air out in spherical manner. The platoon shrieked, covering their faces to stop the dust and blood from caking their faces. A loud shrieking filled their ears, and blood began to rise from the ground, a fog began filling the air between one man and another.
But the Uchiha heir would have none of that. He narrowed those powerful, revered - feared - red eyes and the fog began to melt away. He turned his body and he found the source. It did not strike fear in him - and maybe it should have. Oh, it definitely should have. For she was not hideous, nor was she beautiful. She was just she. She was there, standing not frail, but not strong. Her shoulders crooked, her back hunched and her face blank. But, her eyes - oh her eyes - they bled with tears. Her face was streaked with red, her face oh so stoic. But Madara, for that was his name, was not scared. He did not tremble in front of the weak.
All were weak to him, and he straightened himself at that. "You dare challenge me? You think your little tricks will scare me? Ha!"
"I do not intend to scare you, Mad-Ar-Ra." She spoke his names in parts, and that made the hair on his body erect. It was eerie, unnatural. "I intend to let you live, for not I could kill you. Only one can do that." she spoke quietly, but it was loud. As if the atmosphere carried her voice boldly compared to anyone else that walked this war stricken earth. "You have a dark soul, tainted it was - and that is no fault of yours - your clan has a long history of madness, insanity and evil." Uchiha Madara gritted his teeth, and lunged for her body she dissipated, his hands went straight through her.
But even then he felt no fear. Just a rage that built within him like a typhoon over an open sea.
"You think that I am mortal? For I am not." the woman spoke, her voice suddenly sound distorted, like a thousand whispers. His men collapsed, fear etched into their faces.
But he felt no fear. He was Uchiha Madara. A powerful force that no one could strike down.
The woman grinned, showing off a toothless smile. Madara glared and straightened himself.
"Madara you will catch me - soon - but I will warn you, once and only once. For I will not beg on the death I foresee, I will not cry for mercy upon the death I foresee." her voice became shrill, panicked and it still sounded as if a thousand whispers were uttering at once, only milliseconds faster than another. It made his ears ache, and he lunged for her again. This time his large hand encased her neck. She only grinned wider, and it irked him - she should be begging! "I will curse you, Uchiha Madara. You will kill me, I foresee this, and I will curse you." Madara snickered, at least she was sensible - but something was churning within his gut.
Fear?
His heart raced, and he frowned.
No! NO! He was to be feared! Not this... this witch! He tightened his grip on her neck, he felt her bones begin to crack. But no sound of pain fell from those thin, ugly lips. Just that wicked, toothless smile.
"YOU WILL KILL ME!" She screeched and he tightened his grip again, her neck snapped, but she still stared at him and he dropped her. Frightened. "AND I WILL CURSE YOU!" She shouldn't have gotten those words out!
Frightened.
"YOU WILL KILL ME, UCHIHA SCUM!" She cackled, she was laughing - she should be limp! The bodies of his men began to burn, and their screams haunted his mind - they were dying? He turned to look at them, their flesh falling from their face's like melted wax. "I WILL TAKE YOUR MEN THAT YOU CARE NAUGHT FOR! BUT WHAT ELSE SHALL I TAKE?"
Suddenly she was in front of him, her neck completely bent to the left, her eyes wide open. Those eyes had no life in them - they were dead.
"What else shall I take?" she whispered hauntingly. Her body turned to smoke and it whisked around him like the breath of summer stuck in winter. Foggy and quick to fade.
"I shall take the love of your life... which you will find, and it will be wondrous, she will be the queen on your chessboard..." she laughed, insanity must have taken her. It must have taken him, for he knew naught of curses, he knew naught of love. He was a warrior - he hated women! They were weak! "But the queen must die to protect her king."
The entity laughed, and laugh, and laughed. It cackled, it snickered, it snorted.
And it drove him to madness, he screamed and swiped out at the air before him. Blind rage controlling him.
Then for the last time that day... for years, it spoke one last time.
"Uchiha Scum. I will not forget you."
