A Piano's Heartstrings: Chapter 1

Blood pumped through the fiery veins of Uchiha Itachi as he struggled to come up with a plan to kill his opponent. With a flurry of crows the color of midnight, he disappeared from view, buying time. Meanwhile, eyes the shape of a snake's watched the Uchiha's every move.

The enemy effortlessly blocked an incoming kunai aimed at him, and was careful to avoid the paper bomb positioned right near his feet. He smirked, This is going to be easy. Turning quickly on his heels, he gracefully dodged a burst of black flames. Itachi had become desperate enough to use his infamous Amaterasu. Orochimaru chuckled, a deep booming sound; victory was so close, he could taste it as he flickered out his long tongue.

Although Itachi had the advantage with his sharingan, he was also the most injured. Itachi coughed and threw up blood. He had already suffered much from this battle and wondered how long he could last. While he was spewing, Orochimaru took the opportunity and sliced Itachi's legs, blood streaming out in rivulets. The clone exploded in a cloud of smoke.
"Come out from wherever you are. I know what you're after. Agree with me and it can be yours...", Orochimaru crooned.

Itachi rolled his eyes. He knew every promise coming out from the ex-Akatsuki's mouth was a lie. You didn't need to be a prodigy to determine that. A pain spread out across his forehead and the world became like a smudge on a wet painting; his overuse of the sharingan finally took its toll on Itachi's body. He blinked and regained his sense just as a blow crashed into his back. The pain screamed mercy and burned from the touch of Orochimaru's fist.
"Oh dear. I expected much more of you Itachi. This will be a warning to your fellow members..."

Orochimaru continued battering Itachi with nothing but pure insanity plastered across his face. With a final crackling blow to Itachi's chest, the great Uchiha fell, hitting the sand with a loud thud. Without a backwards glance, Orochimaru strutted away, the humidity consuming his image until he was nothing but a watery reflection.

The sand felt itchy on Itachi's face, but at the same time warm. He could feel the blood oozing out from the multiple wounds he had received. His crushed lungs and damaged spine made him immobile. Vision started to slip again, and he wondered how Orochimaru had seen through his invisibility technique. If only he had been stronger… As the darkness started to swallow him, he could see a figure far away wearing a dress of the purest white and the softest silvery hair. He sighed and waited for heaven to pick him up as he finally slipped into a deep slumber, his heart struggling to beat out the last few notes of his life...


Osuri Hatsurima smelled blood, something that had become a talent for her after several years as a medical ninja. She sighed and put on her white robe, dreading to work on a weekend. She discovered the blood a few miles from her home, the Hidden Village of the Sand. She smiled as she passed by the Kazekage's office, noticing the sliver of the face she knew for so long. Gaara probably knew Hatsurima more than herself and was the only one who called her by 'Rima'. She was the only one he had back then.

As she reached the outer gates, she flashed her badge up to the guards. The gate opened quickly as the guards were used to emergency visits outside the village. She reached the site of blood. As if you could call it a site, more like a pool the color of the darkest rubies. Rima groaned. This was going to take a while. She used her earth element and cleared the sand to reveal the corpse. At least I think he's dead, Rima thought. As she flipped the corpse over, a jolt of surprise greeted her inwards; her patient was none other than the infamous Uchiha Itachi. She would've pondered on whether to just leave him to the ANBU but the slight heave of his chest told her that she would have to treat him as any other life threatened patient. She quickly lifted a stretcher out of sand and rushed him towards the village. When she got to the gate she had to cover the criminal from the guards. The last thing she wanted was to be discovered bringing one of the most notorious criminals into the village.


Itachi felt as if he was floating. He wondered whether he was still alive or dead. As he struggled to open his eyes, all he could see was black, and then complete white. Everywhere he strained to look was white. A cold object pressed against his forehead; shivers ran down body. Itachi had hoped wherever he was, heaven or hell, would be a little warmer. His body was so numb that he barely felt another object piercing into his skin. In a matter of seconds, drowsiness overtook him and his body slowly shut down against his will.


Rima quickly shut the door of her house as soon as the stretcher had crossed the threshold. She released the cover and took the Uchiha to the nearest room and laid him out on a clean bed. She then wet a towel and placed it on Itachi's forehead while injecting a tranquilizer.

Snapping on white medical gloves, she cleaned out his wounds, picking out tissues too damaged to save and other debris. Rima reached into her pocket and pulled out a few chakra pills. The wounds could not be healed with the amount of chakra she had right now. Rima flexed her fingers as her hands glowed a soft blue, humming a melody as she carefully re-joined tissues and blood vessels one by one...