Chapter one~ Mistaken Identity

It had taken hours of non-stop begging for my twin brother Mike to convince me to join him and two of our other friends at the fair that frigid cold Saturday night. I argued that I had a test that following Monday to which he responded by promising he'd leave me alone all day Sunday to study. How could I say no to that offer?

So I sat in the back of my brother's Mustang absently running one hand through my long, jet black hair while staring into the distance with my pale blue eyes and mumbling the names of the regions of the body that I needed to know for the test, finger spelling each with my free hand in sign language to help the spelling stick.

Sitting in the passenger's seat was not only my best friend, but Mike's girlfriend, Olivia Graves. Olivia, or Livvy as we often called her, was an even-tempered 16 year old girl with long blonde hair and gleaming purpe eyes always alight with shear innocence. Sometimes our lifestyle was a little hard for someone as sweet and naive as her, but when it came down to it, she had our backs as much as we had hers.

Rounding off our secluded little group and sharing the back seat with me was a boy named Dean Electus. Dean, a boy 18 years of age, was very quiet and easy going; more of a follower than a leader, making him easy for someone who was used to being the leader like myself to get along with. He had dirty blonde hair which was grown about to his chin and always pushed back off his face. His eyes were a gold color.

None of us made any attempt to strike up a conversation aside from Dean's occasional correction of my spelling and Livvy softly whispering about how she loved the song that had just come on the radio. The silence never really bothered us since we were usually too lost in our own thoughts to notice anyway.

I continued my studying as the four of us walked- still enveloped in silence- to the main gates to buy our tickets. One thing about me is that once I set my mind to something- like studying those words- it's near impossible to get my mind off of my task. Walking into the main building, it became nearly impossible to focus with all of the cool things all over. I didn't mind too much, though. Our group didn't get too much down time in which we could pretend to be normal teenagers for a while, so I abandoned my studying to spend a little time with my loved ones.

As we started going on the rides, I took notice of two suspicious men also wandering the park. I began keeping careful tabs on them. One man was slightly taller than the other, and both looked older than the four of us. They were both dressed in the same long sleeved black robes adorn with a red cloud pattern, and each had a metal plated forehead protector with a different symbol on it. The taller man, who appeared to have blue skin and mercilessly cold eyes, had four diagonal lines on his metal plate that had one large horizontal line slashed through them. On his back, he carried a large object I couldn't even begin to identify due to it being wrapped up in white cloth.

The other man had hair nearly as dark as mine and Mike's but with more of a navy blue tinge to it and piercing red eyes, which was what had initially caught my attention. His metal plate had what looked a leaf with a spiral in the center of it and a similar slash through the symbol as his friend. His robe was open part of the way and his left arm rested there instead of in the sleeve like a sling or something.

As the night progressed, the other members of my group noticed them as well, but assumed they were performers and didn't pay them much mind. As usual, I was being the only logical one in the group. These men had Marc and Shawn written all over them.

Marc Neco and Shawn Hostis were two men who had been after my brother and me for a long time. Marc, a man in his late thirties, had black hair that was never cut in any particular fashion and murderous black eyes that could cause you to turn tail and run from a fight with him simply by looking into them. This man, who was personally responsible for the death of my mother and all of the hardships my brother and I had to face, was actually our father as well.

Shawn was an old friend of mine with hair and eyes nearly identical to the younger looking of he robed men. His longing to finally defeat me had driven him to the dark side and he had found himself on the side plotting the death of Mike and me.

I continued to keep a careful eye on the two mysterious men as our group sat down to enjoy a little bit of food. The men- coincidentally- sat down at the table right beside ours. They whispered intently, but it was far too loud for me to actually hear them.

The man with the red eyes stood up, seeming displeased, and started walking off. I had to follow him. Confronting him when he was alone was with out a doubt safer than if he was with his friend.

"I'll be right back," I rose with a very convincing smile, "just need to use the bathroom." Then I took off after the red-eyes man.

I stayed a safe distance behind him, never once losing sight of him in spite of the vast crowds. He slipped between two of the rides unnoticed by anyone but me. With a quick glace around, I followed after him. I stayed hidden and observed as the man walked across a pond- literally on top of the water- to a bridge across the center. I rubbed my eyes, trying to rationalize what I had just witnessed.

Without any warning, two other men ambushed the first. One of them was clearly older and taller with white spiky hair. The other looked to be about 13, and had dark colored hair about as long as Dean's.

While the three engaged in an unheard conversation, I sprinted over to them. Just as the two men were about to attack, I jumped in the middle of the fight with my guard up to protect the robed man. The other two stopped in their tracks.

"What the-" The younger boy shuddered, a look of astonishment on his face. "What are you doing? Get out of the way!"

"Not a chance!" I pulled out a dagger I had concealed in my combat boots. "I'm just evening the playing field. You two don't fight very fair."

"I'll take care of this Kakashi." The boy advanced toward me. "I could use a little warm up before the real battle begins."

I didn't respond to the boy's implication that fighting me would be an easy task. I just looked over my shoulder with a friendly smile at the robed man, who, upon closer inspection, was clearly not who I had mistaken him for. "So, I'll take care of the annoying, arrogant one, and you can take Kakashi." I didn't need to look to know that the boy glared at me with a burning hatred second only to Shawn's. The robed man seemed dumbfounded. I didn't blame him. I'd have the same look on my face if some random girl had come out of no where to defend me.

"Sasuke, do not underestimate this girl!." The white haired man warned. "Be careful."

"You know," I stepped deliberately slowly away from the robed man so that I was face to face with that Sasuke brat, "I won't think any less of you if you'd rather walk away without a fight now that you've lost one of your key advantages."

"Sorry," He grinned smugly, "but that's not going to happen."

"Fine, fine, if you insist on a fight, I'll give you a fight." I struck a fighting pose, grinning ear to ear in anticipation to fight this mysterious race similar to my own. "But don't think I'll go easy on you just because you're younger than me."

Sasuke scoffed at me, ignoring his partners warning completely. "Don't think I'll go easy on you just because you're a girl."

I clenched my teeth, my hand trembling from gripping my weapon too tightly. "You're annoying..." I reached into my pocket and Sasuke tensed up, preparing for an attack. He was pretty surprised when, instead of whatever weapon he was anticipating, I pulled out a pack of gum.

"Are you kidding me?" He cried as I popped a piece in my mouth.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I held the pack out to him, "did you want a piece?"

With unanticipated ferocity and speed, Sasuke threw a kunai knife right for my head. I shifted my weight slightly and felt the kunai wiz past my ear. "Well you could have just said no." In an instant, I had nearly teleported behind him. "You're just a rude as you are annoying." Then I elbowed him in the spine.

He spun around and tried to punch me in the face, but I blocked the attack with ease and kneed him in the stomach. He jumped backwards, trying to get a chance to compose himself. I didn't allow him such a chance. I charged at him with my dagger engulfed in flames. He tried to halt my assault with three ninja stars, but I leaped over them and aimed my blade for his chest.

Realizing he wouldn't be able to move fast enough to dodge the attack, he threw up his arms to protect his vital organs. An almost inaudible whimper of pain left his mouth as the blade sank into his arm, searing his skin in the process. He tried to take he opportunity to stab me with another kunai, but I tore my blade from his arm and blocked the attempt at an attack, then distanced myself from the angry child.

Sasuke gritted his teeth in frustration and pain. "What kind of ninjutsu was that? I didn't see her make a single hand sign!"

"Hey," I turned to face the robed man while still keeping an ear out for Sasuke's attack, "what's your name anyway?"

The man had been watching the battle intently but had long since gained his composure after the initial shock of me coming to his aid. "My name is Itachi Uchiha. I'm curious why you came to my aid."

I considered this question for a second before responding, "Well, I saw that these two were trying to double team you, and I always love a good fight, so I figured I'd lend a hand." I narrowed my eyes at Sasuke. "Then that little punk made it personal by insulting me."

Kakashi,who's emotions were difficult to decipher considering a mask covered his whole face aside from his right eye, spoke to me for the first time. "Do you have any idea who you're defending?"

I casually waved my hand in the air, unphased by Kakashi's serious tone. "Well, he said his name is Itachi, so I can only assume that's who I'm defending." I loved being able to give obvious answers to stupid questions. It always made me feel so much smarter that the person I was talking to.

"Itachi is an S-class criminal wanted for the single-handed slaughter of the entire Uchiha clan. Every ninja knows this!" Ninja...? Did this man think I was a ninja.

"I'm no ninja, so how would I know?" I cried, "He may be a criminal to your kind, but not to mine, so you've made a moot point."

"Who are you?" Sasuke took a defensive step back. "What are you?"

"My name is Shay, Shay Vita. I'm an Imperium."I started walking toward Sasuke slowing twisting the blood-slick blade in my hand. "You should have listened to your partner's warning not to underestemate me. Last person who did that died. You should have backed down when you have the chance, but you just had to be cocky. Now that you know what you're up against, I suggest you back down. This is your last chance. From here on out I won't hold back."