A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay! I was on vacation, so... yeah. I updated this as soon as I can! Please forgive me!

Disclaimer: I'm tired from all the traveling... at least I got to stay in a suite in Las Vegas. I won a tiny teddy bear in Circus Circus... TT And Naruto isn't mine.


Ch. 1: Shadows and Darkness

She slid in and out of the shadows, blending easily with the darkness. She was silent, her footsteps light as feathers. It almost seemed as though she glided instead of ran. Her silver tresses streamed out behind her, never reflecting the light. In fact, she seemed to absorb light into her body, taking its place in the world, replacing it with darkness.

She passed between buildings like the wind. Pedestrians passing on the streets gave her no notice as they headed toward their destinations. Some were laughing, some fuming, others impassive. No matter the state of their emotions, they never saw the shadow flitting between alleyways, never realized that a few feet away a young, beautiful, deadly woman was on her way to finish another of her countless jobs. AKA assassinations, to use the fancy word.

Why are there so many people out on the streets at this hour, anyway? It's not as though it was perfectly safe outside. Far from it. She was there. But they were safe from her for now, as she has more important things on her mind. Such as reaching her target.

It was the same every day; she'd receive a job, she'd stake out her target for a while, figure out how much security the target has, and she'd finish the job, preferably within a few hours.

Today, though, she'd taken a little more time than she would have liked. The target proved to be very evasive, weaving in and out of crowds, wandering from one place to another, and had disappeared around the corner so many times as if he knew someone was on his tail. Or maybe he was just stupid and couldn't make up his mind on where to go. Either way, she couldn't find an opportunity to do her job during the day.

At least she was able to watch the sunset while her target rested on the beach. It was amazing and… entrancing. It was rare to see a sunset like that. The sun, instead of shrinking as it disappeared, seemed to expand and fill the whole sky with its red light. Like fire, like blood. It wasn't until the sun had finally, reluctantly sank beneath the horizon that the man returned home, which explained her presence on the streets tonight.

Night is good, though. Night means darkness, and in darkness is how she liked the world best. Although nowadays night is hardly dark, what with all the electricity. Not to her liking at all. Too little shadow to hide in, but hide is what she must do, if she wanted to keep police from pouncing on her due to the suspicious abundance of weapons in her possession.

Oh how she wished the good old days back. She had never experienced it, but apparently one could walk down the street with a rifle in one hand and a butcher knife in the other, and no one would look at him twice. Or in this case, her. If only she could carry one of her infrared laser rifles with her, she'd never need to break into anyone's house again.

With that being said, she still enjoyed slipping through the shadows, seeing how far away from the walls can she be without being noticed. It was one of the rare things she actually enjoyed doing. The men at headquarters always tried to guess what she liked, but they never guessed hiding or sneaking. They hated it, since they easily made mistakes, and on several occasions the mistakes were fatal. All it took for them was one step outside the shadows for someone to see; and if they were expected, as is nearly always the case, then they were in big, deep, ugly trouble.

Not her. She was different. Even if she was discovered, her quick reflexes, superb skills, and not to mention beauty, were enough to save her, in most cases. Besides, she had never been caught once yet, and she did not believe she ever will be. She was too good for that. It was like she was a woman born to live in the darkness.

As she sprinted down another alleyway, a rare smirk quirked her lips, just for a split second.

No, forget that. She was the darkness.

---

An hour and a half later, she stepped into the headquarters of Shikaze. As one of the most elite criminal organizations in the world, Shikaze hired the most skilled assassins; but never had anyone in its history seen someone like her. From the day she joined the organization, she had the men swooning over her and the women throwing her dirty glances. Her beauty was the topic of discussion for both genders alike for a month.

Then she'd shown them she had other strengths beside her looks. In fact, "strength" was an understatement. In the periodic examination held by the organization, she aced everything from stealth to aim. A week later, she killed a fellow assassin whose actions she deemed were inappropriate. Not in a very clean way either. It made clear to everyone exactly how cold and heartless she was.

In three weeks, she managed to intimidate every single agent in the organization, save the boss. The boss was very happy with her indeed, although he cautioned her to be, if not nice, then at least not hostile to her fellow co-assassins. Not a single murder, or even injury happened since then, and most of the agents ceased to constantly fear her, though they were still wary. Some of the braver ones attempted to flirt with her from time to time, but their attempts were always ignored by her. It was the same with all other displays of emotion, friendly or hostile. She wore a mask void of emotions, and she rejected everyone.

As she walked into the lobby, it fell silent. Then everyone inside suddenly started talking at once, determinedly not looking at her. She was used to it; it was like their way of saying hello. A silent (towards her), noisy (attempting to sound lively and overdoing it), hushed (a futile attempt to pretend they're not talking about her), and somewhat funny hello. But she was not one to laugh at that. She never laughed at anything. Ever. Except for when she was a child, and… don't think about it.

She walked up to a counter at the other side of the room. "Report," she said coldly.

"Uh, hold on a minute please." The man on counter assistant duty today paled slightly, and with a shaking hand he handed over a clipboard with a pen.

"Thank you," she said in the same cold voice. She walked away and sat down in a comfortable armchair, preparing herself for writing another long job report. Agent code: 0189. Target code: 18471265. Status: terminated. Job duration: 14 hrs 46 min. Summary: …

Before she could start writing a full and complete job summary, she was rudely interrupted. "Hey, you took almost fifteen hours for a job? That's unusual for you. Don't you usually finish in like, two hours?"

She looked at the speaker. Ah, it's that annoying guy who somehow always managed to find something to say. He was like the only one who was not the least bit frightened of her in this organization. Well, him and the boss.

"Do I know you?" she asked.

"What? You can't remember who I am? I just told you yesterday!" he pouted. "My name's—"

"Just why does a top-class assassin to behave so childishly?" another voice cut in. She looked up at the source, expecting to see some other random man vying for her attention. What she did not expect was to see one of the most important agents of Shikaze. "Uchiha?"

The man smirked at her, then turned his attention back to the still pouting man. "Agent Wakazu. Shouldn't you be doing the rounds?"

"Well, yes, but I heard she came back, so I came in to see!" he pointed at her.

She remembered something. "Wakazu… Wakazu Sukima?"

"Hai!" the man exclaimed excitedly. "Just call me Sukima-kun!"

She turned back to her report with a stony expression on her face. "No thank you. Good bye."

"Awww… fine then, see ya!" he waved happily and skipped away, making a mental note to try talking to her again later, knowing fully well he would fail. Again. It was one of those things that repeated every day.

"Still cold as ice, huh?" The man named Uchiha eased himself into another armchair near her. "Wouldn't hurt to be a little nice sometimes, Gekkabijin-sama."

"Mind your own business, Uchiha." She scribbled as fast as she could on the paper.

"Why do you treat everyone this way? Why not smile once in a while? You'll definitely have more friends that way." Uchiha looked at her with a teasing smile on his face. "Tons more."

Why? Because she did not need anyone. Because she knew everything was fake. Because there wasn't such a thing as friendship in the world, let alone love. People showed friendliness when they wanted something from you. When they wanted to profit off you. She'd learned that at a young age, and at the same time learned how to hide her emotions away from everyone else. In time, she'd learned to bury those emotions altogether, only letting the rare smirk or two play on her lips. She learned to detest intimacy and stopped letting people get close to her, both physically and emotionally. Because she knew she would get hurt in the end. She would be shattered, and she wasn't sure if she could handle it once again. Again

A few female agents frantically waved and screamed from the other side of the lobby. "Uchiha-sama! Over here!"

"Friends… as in like that?" she pointed at the women.

Uchiha smirked.

"No thank you."

He stood and looked down at her. "Your loss, then." He made to leave.

"Why are you here?" she asked coldly. "Shouldn't you be off pretending at the FBI or CIA or whatever it was?"

"It's 12:14. In the morning. I think they might allow their agents to sleep once in a while."

"Wouldn't they find out your identity if you come here to rest? They don't exactly trust their agents with all their heart and faith, you know. I think they just might suspect something if they see you walking into an abandoned building at, as you mentioned, 12:14 in the morning."

"Since when did you use sarcasm? That's new. I like it." He smirked.

"Consider yourself lucky. That was the first and last time you'll ever hear it out of me."

"Really?" His smirk grew wider. "Somehow I doubt it."

"Leave. I need to finish my report." She turned back to her report again.

"Hai, hai." He walked over to the women on the other side of the lobby. She heard excited squeals, then she blocked everything out. Uchiha Sasuke was invaluable to Shikaze, working as a double agent in the U.S. government. Any assassination requests on politicians were carried out by him, not to mention sneaking out top secret information. Still, it did not mean she had to be nice and polite to him.

Finally finishing the report, she looked it over for mistakes. The job, in the end, had been easy. It was just the tracking the target part that took a long time. She brought the clipboard back to the counter.

"Ah! Uh, the boss just called for you, …-san." The man mumbled her name in a tiny voice unheard by anyone but himself.

She took the phone. "Yes, boss?"

"Ah, Kisaki-chan!" She narrowed her eyes. Her boss was an over-energetic man like that Wakazu. He treated her like a little sister, and it was for the sake of her job that she did not kill him every time he called her "chan." "Kisaki-chan, Kisaki-chan…" he repeated over and over again, as if to test her limits. And those limits are being severely tested. "I've got good news for you! We're getting a new member in our dear Shikaze!"

This was certainly news; but what puzzled her more was, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Well, I thought you might, you know, welcome him and get him used to us! He comes tomorrow— I mean today— at 9:30 in the morning, so I thought you might show him around, introduce him with your fellow comrades, you know? Make him feel at home! And be punctual, since he's a very punctual man, and punctual people like other punctual people, and being punctual is good for your image, since punctuality—"

"You do know this is an assassin's organization, right?" she cut in irritably. "We don't act like little kids having their friends over!"

"Yes, but," the boss's voice turned low and dangerous. "You will do it, won't you? Won't you, my darling Kisaki-chan?"

"Fine." She hung up the phone; there was no arguing with her boss when his voice became like that. Now she needed to get some sleep before this new person comes.

It was when she walked into her room at the Shikaze headquarters that she realized the boss hadn't told her the newcomer's name. How was she supposed to know who he was without his name? She needed to go call the boss and find out… or there would be confusion, lots of confusion…

She fell fast asleep on her bed.

---

The morning dawned crisp and bright— or so she thought, having no windows and all. Kisaki awakened slowly. There seemed to be something she had forgotten, but could not remember (well, she did forget it). Looking down, she saw the dirty clothes she wore yesterday. Now she'd have to wash the sheets. Great.

After a quick shower, she dressed like she normally did, a black dress shirt and dark jeans. She glanced at the digital clock on her nightstand; it read 9:30. 9:30… wasn't there something she needed to do at 9:30? Something… Ugh, she couldn't remember.

She quickly ate a piece of bread and gulped down a glass of milk for breakfast. She couldn't remember, but there definitely was something. She would ask someone in the lobby— which was on the floor above hers. The entire structure was built underground, so as to avoid the obvious attention they would receive from the government.

Taking the elevator, she walked out into the lobby at 9:45 AM. The usual greeting met her (the silence, then the silent, noisy, hushed, and funny hello), but she was able to catch some intelligible conversation amid the babble.

"Hey, did you know we have a new member coming today?" one said.

"Really? Is it a he or a she?" another replied.

"A he, I think. He's supposed to be good, too. Like one of the best in the world. Like our Gekkabijin-sama. What was his name again? I can't remember…"

Kisaki suddenly remembered she was supposed to welcome this new person. And show him around. And make him feel at home. And she was supposed to be punctual. And he comes at 9:30.

"Shit!" she ran to the elevator again, and emerged on the topmost floor, inside an abandoned building. "I'm fifteen minutes late…"

"Seventeen." A deep, smooth voice came from the doorway of the building, where a figure stood with his back against the sun. "Are you the one who's supposed to be meeting me here?"

"I suppose," she said. "And I'm sorry for being late; I couldn't remember until two minutes ago."

"You don't look sorry. So, what's your name? Or do you not remember it?" he walked inside the building towards her. Out of the sun, she could see he had long ebony hair tied into a ponytail, onyx eyes, and a lean but strong build, with a mocking smirk not unlike Uchiha Sasuke's on his lips. Dark and dangerous. She definitely did not like this man.

"No, I did not forget my name, thank you very much. It's Kisaki."

"Kisaki-san… hm? Shall we go then?"

"And what might your name be? I wouldn't want to let an agent of the FBI into the complex."

"If I was, giving my name wouldn't help much, would it? And I would think your organization should at least give my name to my welcoming committee." his smirk was becoming more and more mocking by the second. More and more like Sasuke. "But just for your information, the name's Itachi."

"Uchiha Itachi."


A/N: Another chappie done! For your information, Shikaze means 'dead wind' (I know I come up with weird names). Gekkabijin is the title everyone refers to Kisaki by, and its meaning I'll explain in the next chapter. Kisaki simply means 'queen'. If you read, please review! Reviews don't have to be essays, you know! Even one word is fine!

From the next chapter on, the story will be in Itachi's point of view. Reasons? Well, I kinda want to hide Kisaki's feelings for a while... I'll probably write a sequel in Kisaki's POV. See ya!