AN: Hello everyone, so I, -ahem- wrote... this. (Whatever this is.)
I'd like to begin with some serious warnings, please read:
This story is going to squick for some people. Some of it is not supposed to be pleasant, so please take this warning to heart. There will be gore, violence and some serious child abuse. There are mentions of rape- for both genders, at young ages. It won't go into heavy detail with the last one, because I'm not that awful. But please be aware that it is mentioned.
This story was inspired by Tozette, not any one specific story, just the author, because I don't think she (he?) has written anything I haven't enjoyed.
This story has a few AU qualities concerning background stories which I'm sure you'll figure out as you read.
I don't own Naruto.
This story has no Beta.
Hisae, pronounced He-Sai: endure eternally/eternal blessing
She knew at a young age that there was something… off about herself.
She wasn't just Hisae. Or maybe she was, but in the very least she was pretty sure she had been someone else before who she was now. Who exactly, she didn't know. But there were... memories. Feelings. Thoughts.
As she got older, some things became clearer, and others… just went away as fast as them came.
One thing she knew for sure was that she wasn't supposed to exist. This world was fictional... Right?
...Right?
She seemed real enough. The dirt beneath her feet, her brothers hand on her shoulder, the pain of the splintered bone in both her legs felt pretty real.
Hisae died a lot, actually. So it probably wasn't a big deal if she'd done it before. It probably wasn't very good for her already tenuous grasp on reality though.
Hisae lay plaint and quiet on the stone floor. Her body ached, her flesh burned, her bones felt brittle. The priests ambled around her, murmuring quiet things in a cadence that matched her ragged struggling breaths.
This was it then. She was going to die- again.
She didn't like it anymore this time than she had the last.
The stone was so cold, if she had had the energy she might've shivered against it.
Instead she lolled her head to the side, even though she wasn't supposed to move. Hot, sticky blood peeled behind her skull and her hair clung to the stone she lay on; sodden with her own bodily fluids.
The head priest made a clipped warning gesture and she flinched in anticipation of the blow that would rein more agony down on her little body; but it never came.
They didn't like to interrupt the rituals, but she knew she'd probably be punished for it later. Hisae didn't care, just this once she didn't care.
Her brother lay at her side, his eyes glazed in pain as their blood mingled between them.
He was all she had.
They shared the agony of this life together, the priests always told them. And Hisae agreed in this- because it was so morbidly, sadly true.
He was her twin, they shared everything.
The soft things; words, silence, gentle skin contact. And the harsher things; blood, pain, death- life.
Her fingers twitched at her side as she desperately tried to command her body to do as she wanted. It was so hard, everything hurt so much.
"-slaughter, our one true divine purpose-" Someone was saying gently as soft padded footsteps carried them by.
Her arm slid across the bloody floor, tugging at the gaping laceration that ran the length of her entire arm, spreading it further apart. Blood stained bone peaked out from shredded muscle.
Her brother's eyes slanted towards her, and he blinked slowly, lethargically.
He was close.
He didn't offer her a reassuring grin, like he sometimes did when they were alone but his arm twitched towards hers.
Their fingers touched in the space between them, and for one bright moment she felt like everything might be okay.
As long as she had Hidan, everything would be okay.
"-and in this, together, we shall cleanse humanity of sin, and a pure world shall be borne of blood and decay. Let Jashin-sama take you, young children, and together bring light upon the heathens of this land."
Her brother held her eyes as the head priest snapped his book shut. It echoed ominously through the gaping stone cavern, timed perfectly to the lull in the hummed prayer that the many others around them provided.
Hisae knew what came next, and she burned with hatred for a split second when the sacrificial knife reflected the dim candlelight. The others murmured together again, words spoken in a seamless rhythm as she and her brother shared in agony together. Her anger was quickly forgotten as the prayers washed over her, cleaning her mind of thoughts and distant memories that told her this was wrong. So very wrong.
That voice was almost gone now. It rarely ever spoke.
The knife descended into her brother's skull; piercing his temple as his eyes held hers. Warm blood splashed across her face. She didn't flinch this time. His blood slid thickly down her cheek.
The old man's hand left the leather wrapped hilt behind as the light left his eyes.
She seen this so many times, watched him die so many times she wondered how she could possibly still feel anything at all. The priests had been preparing them for years this way.
And then another sanctified blade pierced her own soft fleshy temple, and for a while Hisae knew nothing at all.
When they were five their village placed them in the shinobi academy, as all orphans were mandated to do; regardless of their caretaker's status as monks and priests of the temple situated at the outskirts of Yugakure. The siblings didn't mind, and the monks encouraged them to learn everything they could to better them towards the beauty of slaughter.
There were problems immediately.
Her academy sensei squeezed her kunai wrist hard enough for her to hear the bones creak, but this didn't bother her much, and she didn't drop her weapon. That would earn her a severed limb as punishment, and they had only just arrived at this school, she didn't want to fail her first task.
She looked up at the middle aged man, confused.
"Friendly spar." He repeated through clenched teeth. Her brows furrowed and she looked over at her twin who was standing in the circle of children around her and her opponent.
He looked just as confused as she felt.
"But…" She said quietly, because she wasn't good at being heard- not like aniki was. "How will he learn if he doesn't suffer?" How will he be cleansed?
The child beneath her knife sobbed and she turned dark eyes on him, some part of her pitying, but most of her feeling derisive. He was so… weak. He was just some dirty heathen boy. She didn't understand.
Her sensei yanked her up and away, and she went because he was bigger than she was, and she felt deeply confused by his words and actions.
Was her sensei also a heathen?
Hisae was horrified. Her instructor was forcing her to commit a terrible sin- nothing less than death was an acceptable end to a battle.
Oh… dear. That wouldn't do.
"Sick fucking freaks." She heard him mutter. He tossed her away, and Hidan was there in a flash, faster than most children their age to catch her. Not that she couldn't have caught herself, the priests of course had never slacked on their shinobi lessons; but her brother was possessive.
"Winner, Hisae." He said a little louder, and the children in the circle inched away from the twins who didn't seem to understand what violence in moderation was.
Hidan's little fist circle around her wrist in a tight grip, and she let him because neither of them really enjoyed having their world view challenged by people who were supposed to be their teachers.
"Dirty heathen." He leaned down to hiss in her ear. They were the words she had just been thinking, and she nodded in agreement.
They were bumped up five classes by the end of their first day, and the siblings could feel only trepidation at the lack of bloodshed their school was willing to condone.
But at least ten year olds were more of a challenge than five year olds.
Hisae spelled her name with the same first character that her brother also spelled his with. 'Hi' the rook from shogi. Sometimes she wondered why the priests had chosen their names this way. She'd never seen them play any games, let alone shogi.
She wondered briefly at it during their writing and reading lessons. She liked these lessons, she was good at them. They were quiet and still times. Her brother hated them.
Where she was studious he excelled in combat, a heavy hitter, agile and quick on his feet; and she learned quickly to dance seamlessly at his back. She was his support in everything, and he was hers.
She liked it this way, the monks liked it this way. And Hidan was better at grabbing attention than she was.
They lived here in the temple together. Well… if you could call what they did living.
And when they left down the stone steps into their village they were expected to act like normal children, like their lessons didn't include the brutal torture of young children on a daily basis.
Maybe if she had been a normal little girl, she could have been better at accepting their lessons like Hidan was.
Still, there was only so much a person could take of having their flesh maimed and their innards strewn across the floor- of watching the same happen to the only person in the world they cared about before they started to believe.
She supposed she did now.
Jashin-sama was their God, and he loved them for all the pain they bore. She had to believe it, because if she didn't- then what was the point.
And not having a point would hurt more than watching a grown man reach into her chest cavity to squeeze her still beating heart.
It would hurt more than the clear arousal on the head priest's face when he stroked her brother's cheek before carefully and methodically slicing off his arm, one cut at a time.
Her brother's screams were as beautiful as hers they were told time and time again.
She believed them.
"Aniki," She called to him softly in the dark of their room- even though they were the same age. She supposed she'd picked up 'elder brother' more out of respect than any actual age difference.
"Hm?" His childish voice responded even though she couldn't see him. She felt him rustle beneath their shared blanket and his hand moved forward to snatch her little wrist away from her chest where she had curled around his side.
They never held hands, Hidan wasn't the type, and neither was she. Their relationship was something more damaged than the regular loving kind of thing normal siblings would have had.
Something more than a little broken, a possessive, single minded, shared codependency. An obsessive love bathed in psychosis and their shared pain through mutilated flesh.
Jashin-sama guided them in this way, and neither of the siblings refused his teachings. Not when they could hear his whispers in their heads, not when the agony of others called out to them, crying out in their need for death.
"Will you always stay with me?" She whispered. A single purple eye cracked open tiredly to look at her in the dark. He gave her a flat, unimpressed look like she was stupid for asking.
His hand squeezed around hers. "Always." He promised anyways, and she believed him; because Hidan was many things, but he never lied.
The scythe was much too long and heavy for him. It wasn't even really a proper shinobi weapon. Hidan didn't let it hinder him though, and the scythe was as good as any weapon at tearing flesh- better even. And seeing as how they couldn't really die in the conventional sense, she supposed it didn't matter if it slowed his speed and threw his balance off. It wouldn't for long though. Her brother was a genius at physical activity.
"Hisae-chan." The priest called her attention back, and she turned away from her aniki to return to her own lessons.
"Houshi-sama, I'm sorry." She demurred at the irritated look on his face. She knew her next lesson with Jashin-sama would be twice as difficult at the perceived slight, and she held back a resigned sigh.
"In addition," He continued as if nothing had happened; a careless wave of his hands through the air between them, as if he could physically brush away her distractions. "Genjutsu will fill the gap your brother has, where he is strong you are weak, and where he is weak you are strong. You must aid him when he falters as he does for you. Nothing is more important than the cleansing." He told her, and she nodded dutifully.
"Excellent, may Jashin-sama guide you." He held his hands together between them in the snake seal and then slid it into the rat seal.
Only two seals? She didn't really have time to wonder at its simplicity.
"Magen: Narakumi no jutsu."
Her world melted.
Hisae craned her head, looking around from her seated position as her surroundings darked, and finally turned black. She let the genjutsu take place, because she knew if she broke it her sensei would be displeased for not allowing herself to experience the mental pain.
Her heart beat picked up, and she wondered if it was a product of the genjutsu or if she was experiencing genuine fear. It had been a long, long time since she had felt afraid. Sometimes she wondered if she was even capable of such a feeling.
Maybe it was just indigestion.
"Hisae." She stood, graceful limbs bringing her to her feet. She brushed absently at a stray lock of long silver hair that had escaped it's tie.
Her brother stood behind her, whole and unmarred. He looked... older? She tilted her head at his image. He looked more like what she knew he would look like in a few years, black cloak with red clouds and all.
She supposed it made sense that seeing him injured didn't really count as her deepest fear. If that were the case she'd be a lot more unstable than she already was, but she was unsure of what to think of the age discrepancy.
"I think you should go." He said with flat uncaring eyes, and she felt it as her entire body froze.
For a solid second, her breath hitched and if anyone had ever asked she would have told them that yes, absolutely. The world had come to a complete stop.
"But…" She whispered, eyes wide.
"I don't need you." He went on. "Jashin-sama doesn't need you."
No.
She turned her head away, silver hair sliding to cover her eyes. "This isn't real." She breathed.
Just a genjutsu, she reminded herself. It's not real- it's not true. Aniki would never say things like this. Jashin-sama would never abandon her, aniki would never abandon her.
She trapped a sob behind her teeth because it had been years since anything had made her cry and she refused.
"Kai." She whispered in her light, almost inaudible voice.
The illusion wavered, and dispelled.
She nodded with dull eyes to her sensei, and his lips quirked; he was pleased.
"There is more than one way to cause suffering." He told her, his voice like an iron bar. And she nodded again without words.
If Hidan would rend flesh, then she would rend minds.
And together they would be a study in the perfection of slaughter.
She was sitting in the grass, on the edge of a precipice that overlooked the village. A year ago, it had been a gently sloping hill, but there had been a lot of rain that season, and it soaked into the ground and when the spring came with the heated sun the earth had shifted.
The mudslide had killed three people, and left a sharp drop off on what had once been a grassy knoll. Hisae like it better now though.
Yugakure was not a large village, but it wasn't exactly small either. Red brick buildings sat in clean, neat rows along hard packed earthen roads. Powerlines hung from tall poles, cutting swaths across her view as they strung from one building to the next.
The sun would be setting soon, and the lights that hung from the lines would come on to lite the walkways.
Hisae was contemplating getting up to go see what her wayward brother was up to at the bottom of the hill when a beautiful raven's flight cut across the sky between her and the village. She stilled again, because being still was easy, and she enjoyed it.
And she liked ravens.
The large bird circled around, its large wings giving a heavy beat at the air before it swooped forward to land with a hop in the grass next to her.
She blinked, surprised at it's desire to approach a human.
The bird tilted its head to the side, one eye peering at her. It blinked back, it's wings fluttered in an impatient kind of way.
It turned it's head to look at her with its other eye, and she couldn't help but notice this eye was red.
So very red.
Tomoe spun in lazy circles, and she knew she recognized the shape and form of the eye- but she wasn't sure from where.
Perhaps it was one of those death things. Hisae had come to the conclusion long ago that as a messenger of Jashin-sama he had found a way to communicate with her through it.
"Good afternoon, Raven-san." She tried. The bird's head cocked at her again in a particular way. She vaguely thought birds probably couldn't bend that way, but Hisae wasn't an expert on these things so she didn't question it.
Aniki would probably know.
"Hello." The raven replied, and her lips twitched in a strange mixture of pleasure at this sign from her god; and the acute sense of unease that this probably wasn't… normal.
It's eye was still spinning.
Oh, thats right. It was called… sharingan… it belonged to…
To...
"U-chi-ha" She tested the word out loud, and found that it was familiar. What was Jashin-sama trying to tell her? The bird didn't seem very forthcoming with the answer.
"Uchiha… Sasuke." She told the bird, and it's head cocked again, and she was absolutely sure this time that birds didn't bend that way.
"Uchiha Itachi." She said another name, plucked from nowhere like she had always known it. Like the words had been sleeping on her tongue the whole time.
That happened sometimes. It scared her when she was being honest with herself.
"Hisae? Who are you talking to?" She broke her gaze away from the raven to meet the glowing purple of her brothers eyes as he trudged up the crest of the hill towards her. His silver hair shone red in the light of the setting sun.
She gestured at the large bird. "I was talking to Raven-san."
His steps faltered, and he paused, his lips quirking down into a concerned frown.
"Hi-chan…" He said carefully, "What raven?"
Her hair swung as she turned to look at the bird again, it's wings beat at the air but it didn't take off.
She frowned too. "It's right here, next to me." She pointed for emphasis.
Hidan's brows drew in and he took the last few steps up the hill to lay the back of his hand on her forehead. She batted him away with an absent minded scowl.
"Aniki..." She said a little louder, but because it was her, it only came out slightly below an indoor voice. She pointed at it again because she wasn't sure what words to say. The raven crowed loudly, eye spinning in maddening circles.
"Hi-chan, there aren't any birds here." He said softly. It was quiet for a moment, and she looked back over to find the raven gone.
It was more than that though, the bird hadn't simply just disappeared. Now that Aniki had pointed it out she became aware that there really hadn't even been a bird.
Hisae started at the realization.
It had looked real, sounded real, it held the space around it like it had been real.
But now that it wasn't there she was aware that it hadn't been. She'd… daydreamed it? Imagined, hallucinated?
That was the first time that Hisae came to realize that her mind wasn't a solid thing. She often saw things that weren't there. She never knew what was or wasn't a thing until her brother would shake his head, or touch her elbow in warning so that other people wouldn't catch on that there was something seriously wrong with her mind.
Not that they didn't already think that about the twins, they just didn't really know how bad it was.
After the Uchiha Raven, as she privately liked to call it, Jashin-sama began to speak to her more and more often. Because as often as she saw things that weren't really there, she heard voices twice as often. Jashin-sama told her things, things about the future, things about people she wasn't sure really existed or not. But- it was Jashin-sama so she believed.
When she told Aniki, his eyes became serious and he gripped at her little wrist in hers.
"It's a blessing." He declared into the dark of the room, late into the night with a breathy whisper of awe.
And she nodded even though she wasn't sure, because aniki knew best. Sometimes though, the things Jashin-sama told her didn't sound like a blessing.
A never ending genjutsu for everyone in the whole world? How would she and aniki be able to make sacrifices if they were trapped in a genjutsu? It sounded like a fate worse than death- and she would know; she died a lot.
Her arms were tied with heavy biting wire behind her, and she slumped forward in on herself as the priests circled.
Their murmured words matched the sluggish beat of her heart this time, and she kind of liked the way the cadence throbbed with the aggressive pain that connected her to Jashin-sama. Connected her to aniki.
Blood dripped from the tips of her silver hair, dying it a beautiful crimson color that was only enhanced by the low candlelight. It fell heavily before her eyes like a morbid curtain; blocking her view from the room. She was too tired to lift her head, this had been going on for hours- maybe days?
It pliped onto her lap.
Once, twice, three times before it began to slide over the side of her naked thigh and between her legs.
It burned a bright red trail across her pale flesh, distracting her.
She exhaled a ragged breath with her one good lung, the other strewn across the floor somewhere.
She saw the head priest's shoes appear next to her dirty feet that bent at a strange angle.
His gnarled old hand laid gently on the bared flesh of her leg, and he ran his fingers across the blood that had dripped there, smearing it between and upwards…
"Hisae-chan, you are so special in the eyes of our God." He crooned in her ear, and it took all of her will power not to flinch. He would probably like it too much if she did.
"You, like your brother have the power to provide a special task." His breath was hot and disgusting in her ear. And then he gripped her tight, too tight, nails digging inside, splitting flesh apart as the old man was wont to do.
"You must never give this to anyone, save for Jashin-sama and his loyal followers."
He bit her ear, and she didn't cry when he removed a section of cartilage and spat it onto the floor. She didn't look at him, she couldn't. She tilted her head to the side to watch as he moved away and towards her brother.
He was painted crimson just like her, panting through bared teeth as the old man bent him forward to slam him over the side of a table. She head his head crack on the wood, and saw as his eyes took on a dazed look.
The priest caught her eyes even though she didn't want to as his hand slid down Hidan's back.
He laughed a deep, rich sound that felt so out of place; but she was used to his laugh. She'd been listening to it her entire life.
"So precious, you both are." He crooned lovingly. "Jashin-sama loves your suffering, he purifies your sins through your shared pain. Remember, little ones, that together you will cleanse this world." He repeated the oft-said words.
"But first you must know suffering, know every inch of pain within you so that when Jashin-sama turns his hand towards you, you will know what to do."
She believed him.
Their screams were beautiful that day.
Pain, after years of gritting her teeth and enduring it, a life time of it even- was more of a concept for her at this point then something that actually hindered her.
Hidan held her wrist in a loose grip as they murmured their morning prayer together. Quietly, they called out to Jashin-sama and in return he filled them with purpose each day. Her free hand lay limp in her lap and her hoko yari was a familiar comforting weight at the small of her back.
She loved her weapon, just as much as Hidan loved his; the tools they used to cleanse sin from humanity. Where her brothers scythe was long with three curved blades, hers was much shorter. A one handed weapon, with a single curved blade at the end.
She didn't have the same upper body strength that her aniki had, and she found the shorter and much lighter blade less of a hinderance during rituals.
She could hear her brothers scythe clink against the stone when he shifted, it's long metal coil piled on the ground between them, entwined with the coil that attached to her own weapon.
"Through suffering, we know we are alive, and as long as we live we shall serve in the glory of our God…" The head priest joined together with them as he approached.
He held a strange tool in his hand, one Hisae had never seen before, and she wondered what their lesson might entail today.
It was their last lesson they were told, and the twins were eager to leave behind their disbanded village. They had always known just beneath the surface that it was coming to this, because the shinobi here were weak, vile people who didn't understand or even care to understand the beauty of suffrage.
Their prayer ended soon enough, and the twins stood to face the man that had spent many years preparing them for the world they would be entering.
There were slashes across their headbands.
Hisae's eyes followed the strange object that the priest held, and somehow it was familiar. As if she had seen it before. He gestured with it as he spoke; she had a hard time listening as the blood seemed to roar inside her ears.
A moment later a hand gently touched her elbow and she looked over to find her brothers purple eyes looking into her with that expression he got sometimes, the one that said, "It isn't real, Hisae." But as these things usually were, she wouldn't know what wasn't real until it disappeared.
Her attention wandered back over to the priest, his grand proclamations nothing new to either of their ears, but she put in a token effort to listen diligently nonetheless. At least, right up until the strange object snagged her attention again.
What was it?
Her brother's fingers tightened around her arm.
It was almost like a kunai, but not. It had… three prongs…
Why did that feel so familiar? Her eyes narrowed, and with a snap of something insubstantial within her she realized it was the thing that wasn't real. She blinked, disappointed to have not figured out Jashin-sama's message before it faded. Perhaps she would think on it more later, after their final lesson.
Her brother had adopted a jacket with a hood that had a lining of fur around the rim. She teased him about his choice mercilessly, and he gave her just as good as he got.
Their choices in clothes now left completely up to them in their new found freedom, they had both swayed away from the usual sacrificial robes.
Hisae wore a simple brown cloak with a deep hood, something to compliment her brothers loud, overbearing choice. He was their heavy hitter after all, and he was perfectly designed to garner any and all attention. Hisae was his backup, the genjutsu user that twisted minds from the sidelines.
It worked for them, and in their wake they left a trail of bodies; cleansed by the might of Jashin-sama.
It was late, and their fire had crumbled to smouldering embers hours ago, but Hisae didn't move to add more wood. She was far too distracted.
Moonlight filtered through the treetops, bright and luminous as it dappled across the ground, shifting every time the trees moved in the breeze.
She folded her legs beneath her and watched as the silky raven tore chunks out of the white snake that had dared to cross its path. Hisae thought it was a beautiful death, but when the bird turned to her, sharp beak dripping red she felt her breath catch.
She blinked, and it was gone. Her nose scrunched subtly in frustration, and then a chakra signature caught her attention. She looked up, feeling its languid approach.
Hisae tilted her head, unmanaged silver hair sliding over her shoulder in thought. She was a patient creature, so she waited for it's approach quietly with still hands and calm breaths.
"Hmm." She made a small sound of interest when silent footsteps brought two men into her little clearing. She gave a them a small wave in greeting.
"Hello." Her voice was as soft as it had ever been, and the two turned to her, black cloaks with red clouds stark against the moonlight.
"Well, aren't you cute chibi-chan." A tall, very tall man with blue skin and silver eyes split into a grin with sharp feral teeth. She liked his smile, it sort of represented everything she felt Jashin-sama did.
He blinked at her, smile slipping slightly. Oops, maybe she had said that out loud?
"I've never hallucinated people before." She told them, her attention snagging on the slightly shorter man.
She knew him, she was sure of it. Jashin-sama had told her about him, perhaps he was important? He had hair the colour of ravens feathers tucked into a tie at the nape of his neck and deep stress lines beneath his eyes.
"Oh," She said, surprised. "Itachi, it's been a while." The men shifted, and their eyes pinned her in place, she wasn't sure what to do with her hands then so she folded them neatly in her lap.
"Have we met?" A smooth, deep voice asked her. It lacked inflection.
It startled her, and she blinked. Sometimes, a single moment felt like forever and she might have forgotten they were there while she'd been deciding what to do with her hands.
"Hmm?" She quired dreamily, head lolling slightly to the side. The blue man chuckled, it was full of good humor.
"She's nuts." He declared. Her head snapped to look back up at him, and she furrowed her brow in consternation.
"Only sometimes!" She whispered petulantly. His throaty chuckle deepened. Itachi said nothing, most of his face hidden by his high collar, but she could see his eyes. He was still watching her.
"We're looking for a man named Hidan." The Uchiha said. The statement blew over her head as she became fascinated with his eyes.
"How come they are black?" She asked, and she wondered if her hallucinations would even be able to answer. "I thought that they would be red, you know with the-" She cut herself off to make a swirling gesture over one eye.
"That's what the raven looked like at least." She hummed finally. They shifted again, and annoyance crossed the blue man's features.
"Let's just kill her." He told the shorter man, his palm coming up to lightly touch the long hilt that jutted above his shoulder.
"Hmm?" She made another sound of interest. He blinked silver eyes at her, unaccustomed to such a response.
"Anyway" she said suddenly, mind jumping backwards in their conversation. "Aniki is right here-" She turned to where her brother was sleeping with a pointed finger only to find his bedroll empty.
"Oh," She blinked, and turned back to the men, the blue man seemed bewildered, but Itachi stood impassive. His eyes were so, so black; like pools of the deepest water falling into eternity drowning in his own suffering. Jashin-sama loved his suffering, and oh did this man know pain.
She blinked again, coming back. "I'm sure he'll be right back." She assured them. "Would you like to sit?" She swept a hand in front of their crumbling fire.
Itachi said nothing, but moved forward like fog rolling across the ground to fold himself neatly onto the ground before her.
The Blue Man… what was his name? She thought he had said it was Kisame. That seemed right. He snorted and made his way over to his partner before crumbling to the ground in a graceless heap.
"You're a polite nut case." he told her.
She nodded. "Thank you."
Hisae reached for her bag, noticing but dismissing their aborted gestures towards their weapons as she pulled out her teapot.
She shifted forward onto her knees to stoke the embers back to a bright red before pouring some water into the little travel container.
"What kind of tea do you like Itachi?" She quired softly, and for a moment he kept his silence.
"Anything is fine." She blinked and turned to the larger of the duo. "Kisame?" she quired.
He froze, silver eyes flashing and sharp teeth poking out behind his lips as they thinned in a mirthless smile.
"I don't like tea." He said finally and she nodded in acceptance before turning back to her pack.
The two men looked at eachother, something silent passing between them.
"Oh," She said again, gathering their attention once more. She was looking off into the trees. "It looks like tea will have to wait for another time."
It was then that all three of them could hear the snapping of branches and the crunch of grass as her brother made his way back to the clearing. He never had had any talent for being quiet, or subtle for that matter.
Hisae stood, brushing off her brown cloak fondly.
"Well," She said, turning to the slowly rising Uchiha. "It was nice seeing you again Itachi. You too Kisame." She told them politely with a little bow.
"You going somewhere?" Kisame asked her, shifting her large sword on his back as he stood as well. She blinked at him.
"No, but aniki is very good at breaking my hallucinations. Maybe we'll meet in real life someday." She told them with a soft reassuring smile. It wouldn't do for them to think she was being rude, then they might not want to really meet.
Kisame chuckled, "We'll see how that works out for you."
Her head tilted. "Okay?" She wasn't sure how to respond to that, but her attention wandered over to her brother who stepped into the clearing, adjusting the buckle on his pants with a frown.
"Hisae where-" He looked up and froze.
His eyes darted from her, to her guests and over to his bedroll where his scythe was lying.
"Hi-chan…" His voice dropped an octave. "Come here." His hand came up and she trotted over at a languid pace to let her brother grasp her wrist in a familiar gesture. He pulled her closer to his bulk in a possessive motion.
She turned back to the men, whos stances had changed to something only slightly more aggressive in nature.
"Bye!" She waved with a smile before turning back to her brother who was looking down at her with furrowed brows.
"These ones are real Hi-chan." He said lowly, which only cause Kisame to bust out in a fit of deep laughter.
She blinked, turning back to them. Kisame turned over to Itachi wiping at an eye with a large blue hand.
"I like her." He grinned ferally. "Let's take her too." Itachi only watched impassively, sharp intelligent eyes continuing to pick apart her every motion.
"Fuck off." Her brother snarled loudly, much louder than anything that had been said in the last… well time was a confusing thing and she wasn't exactly sure how long it had been.
"Aniki," She whined softly. "We should go with them."
His head snapped down to give her an incredulous look. "The fuck, why?"
"Yes, why should you?" Itachi's soft voice carried over and it was his partner's turn to give him an incredulous look, but Itachi seemed to be asking for a different reason than the one her brother had asked with.
Her head lolled to the side, distracted for a moment by a bird crossing over their clearing. It casted a squiggly little indistinct shadow across the ground and it reminded her of a genjutsu she had once-
"Hisae." Her brothers hand touched her elbow and she blinked harshly.
"Oh, right, because of Infinite Tsukuyomi." Her brother's eyes widened with realization. She had often spoken to him of Jashin-sama's vision to her when they were children. For years she told him the stories, the things that would come to pass and what they would need to do in order to prevent it from happening. A world genjutsu certainly wouldn't help in their mission after all.
"Hisae!" Hidan barked at her, snapping her back once more.
"Sorry" She apologized with a soft smile.
She turned back to the men. Kisame once again had that bewildered look on his face, but Itachi…
Itachi had gone still, very very still.
She thought his eyes might be bleeding red, but it was hard to tell and when he blinked it was gone.
"Alright." Hidan agreed suddenly, and Kisame seemed to deflate a little and the easy acquisition. He grumbled something she didn't hear.
Her brother dragged her over to his pallet, rolling it up with mumbled complaints. Hisae broke away from him, completely missing his upset look as she went to gather her own things. They shouldered their weapons, and Hidan hissed a very uncomfortable, "Let's just fucking go already."
It was a very uncomfortable… however long it took to get there… wherever there was.
Hisae didn't really care for things like that, all that mattered was that she had her brother, and they were right where they needed to be.
-Extra-
The man with bright orange hair and many, many bolts sticking out of his face gave her a disgruntled look and her brothers face twisted into something ugly at the man's attention on her. He pushed her farther behind him, but the move was moot when the man turned to Itachi and Kisame a moment later.
"I told you to bring back one member. One." Strange, but fascinating ripple patterned eyes narrowed on Itachi. "You of all people should be able to count."
Itachi met the man's eyes with a flat look.
"There were complications."
"What kind of complications." It sounded more like a demand than a question, and it was Kisame who stepped forward. She nudged her brother a bit when he started to growl. They didn't really like each other.
"Hi-chan," Kisame said, and she leaned past Hidan to give the large blue man an inquisitive look.
"Yes?"
He gestured at the man with ripple patterned eyes, "Do you know his name?" Kisame asked, lips spreading into a grin she was becoming familiar with.
Her eyes darted over to the orange haired man. "Sure." She said, and his fascinating eyes narrowed on her.
Her brother shifted uncomfortably.
"What is it?" Itachi prompted her next.
"Well, he has a lot of names." Hisae tapped a finger against her lips in thought. The Akatsuki leader's body language stiffed slightly.
"How about the important one." Kisame offered.
"They're all important." She rebutted.
"Get to the point." The subject at hand grunted.
"Well, which name do you think is the most important." Hisae asked him, completely ignoring his quickly thinning patience.
Maybe she should try to be a little more lucid when dealing with these guys?
Her head tilted slightly at her own thoughts, and quickly dismissed the notion.
What were they gunna do, kill her?
She tittered a bit, seemingly at nothing to them. It was a funny thought.
FIN
AN: So this is a one-shot, and I acutally dug it up from the void of GoogleDocs, and I don't think I was going to orginally post it becuase well... its a bit... much there at the begining and I really don't usually write stuff that puts your teeth on edge like that. But I found it again and I figured well... why not. So I hope you enjoyed this little ficlet, please feel free to drop me a review and let me know what you think!