Hey, I'm back peoples. Yea, I say that a lot. Any who. I laughed at this. I'm such a failure at writing angst. It went from dark and rainy to chocolaty…don't ask, just read. XD

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I only own the plot and Akane Isamu.

Pronounced: "Ah-KAH-Ney" "EE-Sah-Moo"

ROFLMAO.

…I wish I owned Itachi…-eyebrow wiggle- bahahah!

Crimson was everywhere.

Why didn't they listen? Why did it have to have come to this? It had gone wrong; so very horribly wrong.

Crimson stained her face, her clothes- her hair.

Family was to be cherished, not thrown away. So why were they gone?

They were gone-killed-because they had threatened him.

They could tease, hurt, and abuse her, but they would never, ever touch him.

She had done this with her own hands. She had killed every last one of them, so they would never be able to hurt him.

He was her brother. She would die a million times over for him.

But he never understood.

And before she could protect him again…He took his own.

Through it all she never shed a tear. Shinobi should never show emotion, even when they're completely and utterly alone. But just because she didn't show it, it didn't mean she didn't feel it.

"Itachi, Kisame." From within the shadows called a deep menacing voice.

"Sir," A tall muscular man with an unusual blue skin-colour and a large sword tied to his back answered. The man in the shadows paid no attention to the lack-of-speech from the blue man's companion.

"I have a new mission for you. It is a search and retrieve mission." The man paused briefly to assess his shinobi. He got a nod from one, and a stare from the other.

"You are to find a man by the name of Akane Gin. He seems like he would be a valuable asset to our…organisation." He tossed the blue man a small black scroll and he caught it without sparing it a glace. The blue man grinned like a shark. Hoshigaki Kisame, one of the legendary Seven Swordsmen, was ready for a new challenge. Recruiting new members meant testing their strength, and they would only gain entrance by beating either him, or his deadly companion.

"All you need to know is in that scroll. The mission starts now." With that, the man in the shadows disappeared.

"Itachi?" The blue man turned to his companion, holding the black scroll out. The man had long black hair tied at the base of his neck, and piercing red eyes. Uchiha Itachi, ex-Konoha shinobi, took the scroll from his hand. He opened it and scanned the page, red eyes roaming dangerously.

"Akane Gin resides near the village hidden in the Rain."

The first thing I remembered- after committing the horrible deed- was waking up to the harsh clash of thunder outside her blood-stained window. I had not left the house, and the broken bodies still lay around me. Trying to ignore the faces- the shocked, fearful faces- of those around me, I moved-glided- silently across the floor. Another flash came. The raised hand on the doorknob stopped, reflexively, as there were two people standing outside.

Who are they?

My eyes widened as I peered through the whole in the door a stray kunai had made. I gasped and fell backwards, nearly landing one of the corpses. I made the wretched mistake at looking down and a lone tear fell from my eye as I saw my mother- the only one who had enough sense to fight- staring lifelessly back at me.

Another flash came from outside and my heart of stone finally cracked.

"No…" I buried my face in my hands, but pulled back when I noticed they-too were covered in blood. The rain seemed all-too-tempting. But it could never wash away what I had done, unlike I had hoped.

Never-the-less, I stumbled to my feet and ran to the door. Was there anything that wasn't stained crimson? I opened it and threw myself outside, not caring for the people standing there. Tears were now flowing freely, as they mingled with rain and in just a few seconds I was soaked to the bone.

"Hey. Where can I find Takashi Gin?" Spoke a harsh voice. I laughed bitterly and pointed to the sky.

"He's gone. They're all gone." My voice which was meant to come out as rude and uncaring came out as a broken whisper as I fell to my knees. Water splashed around me. I could hear the ground squish under the men's footsteps and one of them bent down so his face was level with mine.

"What happened?" His voice was different from before.

I looked him straight in the eye-glared at him- and spoke with a dead voice- this time it didn't betray me by sounding week. "I killed them. I killed them all. They were going to hurt Gin." I cut of my sentence there. The name still hurt so badly, and I doubted the pain would ever leave.

"They were going to kill him." They gave no response. "I would not let my brother die."

Then it happened. The other man was in front of me before I could blink and had his hands on my shoulders.

"Where is he?" He asked. His voice was not as cold and dangerous as he looked.

I looked down as I could no longer handle the gaze of his deadly red eyes that bore into my mind. The question had me gritting my teeth.

"DEAD," I hissed and tried backing away. It didn't work; his hands firmly held me in place. "My brother killed himself because he couldn't live without his precious family. The same family that was willing to kill him so they felt safer!"

The rain kept pouring, beating down on me mercilessly as the cloaked man held me in place. Someone up there felt the same way as me. I'd cry until I had no more tears, and it would rain until the skies dried out.

"…What is your name?" I spared a glance up at the man. Those dangerous eyes of his caught mine, and this time, I found that I could not look away.

"My name is Isamu. Akane Isamu." I stated robotically.

"Courage? That's a boy's name." The blue man spoke from behind the other.

"My brother named me for what he wanted me to have. Courage." I boldly stated. I then proceeded to glare at him. "I'd much rather be courageous than looking like a shark." Lightning flashed in the background and made my seemingly black hair shine dark purple.

He growled and tried to look menacing. "What was that, shorty?!" Oh, he did NOT just make fun of my height.

"Bring-it, fish-face! And I am not short- I'm vertically challenged!!" I growled back.

"Enough. Kisame. We're just going to have to recruit her." Kisame whipped his head to face the red-eyed one with a look that was a mix of surprise and humour.

Wait a minute. Recruit me?

It was then that I noticed the cloaks these guys were wearing. They were black with red clouds. Akatsuki!

SHIT!!

"I'm not going anywhere with you." I growled, barely keeping the nervous stutter out of my voice.

"Oh? Then where will you go? I'm pretty sure your family won't be able to care for you." Kisame sneered.

"Ouch. That was low." I grumbled and took a look back at my- old- house. He smirked, sharp shark-like teeth showing.

"Besides, you're a wanted criminal now. You won't be able to hide." Well, he's got a point.

"One second." I said, and ran into the house. "Come in, if you want." I wasn't surprised to see them follow me, trying to rid themselves of the rain. I don't think they wanted to see what was inside, though…

I stepped inside, once again manoeuvring around the bodies so I could get to the stairs. I walked up the stairs like I normally did- a kind of floating walk. I entered my bedroom and heard a gasp and then evil laughter from downstairs. So Kisame found my brother's, as well as the rest of my family's bodies.

I quickly grabbed my trusty black back-pack and slid random items that I need into the main pocket. I changed from my rain and blood soaked black shirt and capris into a clean, tight, black cut-off t-shirt that stopped right below my belly-button and showed off the black swirling design tattooed to my left arm. I slipped on a black skirt with slits on the sides over dark purple shorts. I also clipped my choppy bangs back with a deep red anemone clip-my clan's symbol.

Akane means deep red. There was a story on my clan's origin that was passed down from generation to generation. Long ago, a man- the first Akane- settled in a small spot of land with his wife. It was near the edge of a forest that covered the land. While taking a walk with his wife, he noticed all the wildflower that grew there. But only one caught his wife's eye. One lonesome deep red anemone was nestled in the grass. It became the clan's symbol. In the language of flowers, anemone means forsaken. I nearly laughed at the irony.

After the little semi-flashback, I but on my back-pack, took one last look around the room, and with a sigh, I walked out. Here goes nothing.

I walked down the stairs with my head lifted high. I figured nothing could get worse than this, so there was nowhere to go but up. As I reached the bottom of the stairs, Kisame rushed up to me.

"YOU did this by yourself?!" He looked like someone bought him a pet fish.

"Yes, though I was a bit loopy at the time." I walked around the bodies again. Reaching the door I opened it for my 'guests' and myself.

"Let's go."

"Itachi-san, I'm tired!" I whined. Kisame glared at me and kept walking. I had been whining for at least an hour now, and it was pissing me off. I think it was pissing them off too. But really, we were walking for half a day! It was FREEZING. And it only recently stopped raining.

"Fine, then. I can't expect YOU to know what it feels like. Heartless assholes." I grumbled under my breath while rubbing my bare arms. I didn't expect them to hear it, but I was proved wrong when I bumped into the Itachi's back.

"5 minutes." I heard him say quietly. Ha-ha, I hope he didn't hear that last part.

I sighed in relief, took off my back-pack and sat with my back propped up by a random tree. Kisame sat next to me, but Itachi stayed standing. What was his problem? Oh, right! He's just like me… well, kind of. He killed his entire clan except one. No one can do that and not feel at least a little bad about it. Man, it was tearing me up bit by bit. Then I realised something. I knew quite a bit about Itachi but almost nothing about Kisame.

"H-hey, Kisame…w-why did you j-join the Akatsuki?" The cold was seeping through my skin, impairing my speech as well as my movements. Kisame ignored the stutter, and grinned.

"…Why else? I like killing!" I could tell it was more than that, though, if he didn't want to say it was up to him. I doubt Itachi wanted to share his story.

Suddenly my head perked up and my eyes widened. I had heard a sound in the woods that screamed 'danger!!' I looked over to Itachi and gave him the "did-you-hear-that?" look. Apparently he had heard it too because he returned the look. I mentally cursed as I tried to stand. If I wasn't so cold, I would have already been confronting the enemy. Kisame finally clued in and stood, surprisingly helping me stand.

I was shivering all over and cursed again as I felt just how massive the chakra was. I could barely stand, let alone fight. I heard another snap from behind me, and I whipped my head around. My eyes caught the little spinning black objects that were flying towards me. I just shifted as quickly as I could but one managed hit my shoulder.

Cringing, I removed the shuriken and moved my hand to my hip, where my katana hung. I pulled it out. Next time I would be able to block the weapons. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Itachi already locked in battle with 4 ninja and Kisame against three. I nearly laughed; this battle would be over in an instant for those ninja. But something still bugged me. Why was nobody attacking me? Where was that shinobi with the massive chakra? And where did those shuriken come from?

Then I saw him. Just as Kisame was finishing off his last opponent and Itachi was on his second last one, a massive, ox-like man jumped from the trees, sword raised, ready to strike Itachi down.

"Itachi!!"

Without thinking, I raced in front of the Sharingan user and slashed at the ox-man. His sword clashed with mine, and then he swung again. I was still in the air so I couldn't dodge his attack, and I fell to the floor, landing quite harshly.

"Akane!" Kisame rushed over and helped me up. I coughed a bit. Kisame left my side and attacked the ox-man. I looked behind me to see Itachi finishing off the last shinobi. He turned to glare at me.

"Did I ask for your help?" Instead of answering the jerk, I stuck my tongue out at him –childish, I know! - And took my back-pack off, cringing at the soreness. It was hard to breathe enough with that cut on my chest. What was worse was that it nearly cut my shirt clean in half! I took out my med-kit from my pack and cleaned off my cut, slowly. My hands were still shaking from the cold, and I had sunk to the ground because I couldn't stand anymore. I took off my useless shirt and just remained with the tank top I had put on.

Did I mention it was cold?

Yeah, I was freezing. I knew I wouldn't be able to function if I kept it up like this.

That's why I was pleasantly surprised when a warm cloak found its way onto my shoulders. I looked up from my spot on the ground to see Itachi wrapping it around me, his menacing glare no-where to be seen.

"Thank you…" I spoke quietly, looking back down at my cut. He then made this noise…I can't really describe it. It was like…an "Hn." What the heck is an 'Hn'?!

Anyways, he made that noise and turned his head as Kisame returned, with only tiny cuts. I looked back down at mine. I would have used a medical jutsu, but I was just too tired, and my cut was just too big. So instead of healing mine, I struggled to my feet and walked closer to fish-face.

I peered at one of his cuts. It was on the base of his neck and was bleeding like a runt, but it was small enough for me to heal. He gave me a curious look as I placed my tiny hands on the cut and made them glow green. As soon as it was healed my hands left him. Then I turned to the ungrateful one and placed my hands over a similar cut that was on his face. I frowned as my chakra faltered a bit before healing his cut.

I stepped back- bad idea! I was soooo dizzy! Soon I found myself falling, but I was caught by fish-face.

"You ok, kid?" He asked, and I think he was genuinely concerned. Aw!

"Uhm…no," I sighed and gave him a weary smile.

"And I-I'm not a kid…I'm 18." I heard him chuckle a bit and then everything went black.

When I woke up, I was in a dark room with red and black everywhere; go figure. I propped myself onto my elbows- well, my right one since my left shoulder was killing- and carefully slid the silky comforter to my lap.

"Ugh," I cringed as a sharp pain shot across my body. Oh right, the cut. I moved more slowly and looked down at myself. I was now rid of the cloak and back in my tank top and skirt. And there were bandages under my tank top. I blushed. Who had put them there?

Then I felt a familiar chakra outside of the door. Fish-face!

"Itachi?" His muffled voice came, as he knocked and entered. He came in and stopped in his tracks.

"Oh, you're up? Might as well come and get something to eat. Konan-san made waffles!"

I chuckled at him, and slowly walked over. Together we left the room, took a left down the corridor, then a right, then another left. We came to a stop in front of two swing-y doors. You know those ones that you can't slam? Yeah, those kinds. They were big and painted dark red.

Kisame opened the door and we went in. I couldn't believe how awesome this place was! There were at least 3 refrigerators full of food, and the whole place seemed shiny and new. I giggled like a school-girl and ran around the place wildly looking for something to eat. There was only one thing on my mind, and I was going to eat it no matter what!

A blue haired woman that had been eating waffles at the table looked at me curiously. I guessed that she was Konan. Any who, I ran over to each cupboard and opened them, only to close them when I didn't see the white-labelled plastic bottle in them. Finally I spotted one last cupboard next to the third fridge and opened it. I gasped in relief; it was there!

"NUTELLA!!"

I swiped it from the shelf, took out a piece of bread, took a knife, and smeared the chocolaty goodness all over it. I then proceeded to stuff every last crumb into my mouth.

"She's crazy!" Kisame said.

"She's also dead." Konan said from the table. When Kisame gave her a confused look, she continued. "That's Itachi's Nutella." Kisame paled.

"Akane! Put that away!" He rushed over and closed the lid, placing it back on the shelf.

"Itachi will kill us all if he finds out about this!" I laughed.

"No, he'll kill you. I'm all good." I smirked and cleaned up.

"What makes you say that?"

"This." I took some Nutella off of the knife and smeared it on his face. He looked at me in horror. And as fate would have it, our favourite Uchiha happened to walk into the kitchen at that exact moment.

"Kisame. Is that my Nutella?"

Oh, Jeeze, I'm NOT in the mood for sad shit. R AND R!! And maybe I'll continue. ;)

Love yaaa,

Shadow.