I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. If I did Itachi would kill Sasuke and run away with Sakura.
Raison d'être (plural raisons d'être[2 or raison d'être)
1. The claimed reason for the existence of something or someone; the purpose of something or someone.
2. A "reason for being"
Chapter 2
Itachi carefully scanned the area for other chakra signatures and upon finding none, dropped to the ground and walked towards the woman. Despite his curiosity, he still had a mission to complete, and the woman was standing next to the body of the leader of the group.
She made no attempt to even acknowledge his presence as he approached her. As he got closer to her he noticed her smeared make-up and the dried tear tracks. Despite her obvious lack of emotional control, he had to give her credit. Taking down a large group of rogue-nins, armed with a single katana was impressive, especially given her obviously grief-stricken state of mind.
He paused in front of her, staring at her tear-stained face. He was certain that he had seen her before but was unable to remember where. She turned her head slowly, taking in his appearance before staring into his eyes.
The moment he saw her emerald eyes, he knew who she was. She had been a teammate of his brother and the Kyuubi. The foolish little girl who had been obsessed with Sasuke. However the woman in front of him was quite different than that girl.
He remembered the last time he had seen her, she was weak, but her eyes held a fire and determination that surprised him. The woman standing before was clearly much stronger but her eyes were empty. Completely devoid of anything. It was almost a shame. Such determination and fire was a rarity among shinobi.
He turned his gaze to the body lying behind her and continued to approach it. As he crouched down to retrieve the scroll, he heard the woman move behind him. He chose to ignored it. Regardless of her abilities, she was too low on chakra to be any threat to him.
He stood and turned just in time to see the woman disappear into the forest he had just come from. He started off in the same direction, curious to see what she would do now.
Sakura wandered through the forest in a daze. She had done it. She had killed them all…and now she felt nothing. She couldn't even manage to feel afraid that she had just stood toe-to-toe with Itachi Uchiha. She couldn't even bring herself to feel the slightest bit concerned that he was now following her. She knew he was there but somehow it didn't seem to register.
She looked down at herself and saw the bloodstains covering her once beautiful gown. She stopped walking and just stared for a moment, before stabbing her katana in the ground and slowly unclenching her stiff fingers from around the hilt.
She lifted a shaking, bloodstained hand to the back of her dress and slid the zipper down. She pulled the dress off slowly and was left wearing her tight black shorts and white bindings around her chest. She held the dress in front of her for a moment, staring at the crimson stains.
It was covered in his blood. It was proof that he was gone. Proof that she had failed to save him. She gently folded the dress and placed it on the ground placing his hitai-ate on top of it. Taking a step back, she quickly formed a few hand signs and with the last of her chakra, set the dress on fire.
She sat down on a fallen log and simply watched the fire burn.
The sun had long since set and the girl hadn't moved from her position except to add some wood to the fire. Itachi continued to watch her as she stared into the fire. She was a very strange girl, not to mention foolish. She had burned her only set of clothing and was now sitting on a log, in the middle of the forest, wearing nothing but shorts and chest bindings.
She shivered slightly and he smirked at her thoughtlessness. Although, her foolish choice to burn her clothes was giving him quite the show. He had a chance to study her as he sat there watching. Her creamy skin and petite appearance masked her finely toned physique, no doubt achieved by years of strenuous training. She was muscular but not overly so. Her body was lean and flexible, allowing for faster and more graceful movements.
He almost wished he could have been there to see her dispatch those rogue-nins. She was probably a very graceful fighter. He could also see several scars marring her pale skin, however he had always admired shinobi who could wear their scars proudly and kunoichi were no exception.
He could have continued his evaluation of her all night, but he noticed that she had turned her head in his direction. She was staring at the exact spot where he was sitting but he knew she couldn't see him in the dark. He wondered if she had finally sensed him.
She spoke softly but he was able to hear her perfectly. "Are you planning on sitting there and watching me all night or was there something you wanted?"
He smiled inwardly. She had known he was there all along and had done nothing. He dropped from the branch he had been crouching on and stepped into view.
She stared at him for a moment before turning back to the fire.
"Itachi Uchiha. Have you come to kill me?" she asked, her voice flat and emotionless.
"If I wanted to kill you kunoichi, you would already be dead." he said in an equally emotionless voice.
Though his face was completely blank, he was actually intrigued by this girl even more now. She appeared to be unafraid of death. She even sounded as though she would welcome it. It had been some time since he had met someone who was not afraid of him and it was quite refreshing.
Contrary to popular opinion, he was not a sadist. He derived no pleasure from the fear his presence instilled in others, nor did in enjoy killing. He had no aversion to killing people when they were in the way or those who posed a threat, but he did so only when necessary.
The only time he ever enjoyed killing was when he killed his clan, but he had his own reasons for that.
"So…for what reason have you decided to grace me with your presence?" She said sarcastically.
He smirked slightly at her shift in attitude but made no attempt to answer her question. He moved to the other side of the small fire and sat opposite her.
She sighed softly, realizing that he had no intention of answering her.
"I assume you were here for the scroll that those rogues stole from the ANBU squad. Am I right?" She asked.
He stared at her for a moment, as if deciding whether to confirm or deny her suspicions. He quickly decided that she was no threat to him and that there was no reason not to tell her. He nodded in confirmation.
"So now that you know why I was there, why don't you tell me what you were doing there, and in a wedding dress no less." He said, genuinely curious.
She paused for a moment before answering. "I was wearing my wedding dress because I was in shock when I left the village and I didn't realize I was still wearing it." she answered honestly. "And as for why I was there well…I went there to kill them all." Her expression mirrored his own, blank and emotionless. The same look he had seen on her when she was standing amidst the bodies of the men she'd killed.
He didn't like this look on her. It was boring him. He knew she still had some fire in her and he wanted to see it. That fire she had when he first met her, years ago, was very entertaining.
"So you knew I was after the scroll that the ANBU were protecting and yet you did nothing to stop me?" He asked, his eyebrow raised.
"Even if I could have stopped you, why would I?" she asked harshly.
He could see small sparks, lighting up in her eyes and dying embers struggling to stay alight. He decided to push her a bit further.
"You are a Konoha shinobi, are you not. Are you not loyal to your village?"
He watch the dying embers begin to glow brighter as an unknown emotion flickered across her face.
"I am no longer affiliated with any of the hidden villages. So no, I am not a Konoha shinobi." she said, her voice struggling to contain her emotions.
He pulled the scroll he took, out of his pocket, and just held it in his hands.
He wanted to give her one last push to ignite the flames in her eyes.
"You don't even know what this scroll is. It could have a forbidden jutsu that would destroy the world. And you're just going to sit there and let myself and the Akatsuki have it?"
He had been hoping to make to kunoichi angry, he wanted to see her lash out. It was probably cruel to purposely harass her about subjects that were obviously sore points for her, simply to alleviate his own boredom. But he'd never been accused of being kind.
Now he'd tried to make her lose her temper by implying that, through her incompetence as a shinobi, she would be the cause of whatever destruction that the Akatsuki caused.
However, he never counted on her being completely apathetic.
She looked at the scroll and then up to stare into his eyes. "Well, If that's the case Uchiha…then I guess I'll see you in hell." Her lips formed a slight smirk as she stood and walked away from the campsite.
That certainly wasn't the response he expected.
First I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed my first chapter
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