Shisui Uchiha stared in horror at the young girl in front of him. His eyes not leaving her face, scanning it as if trying to find a lie, something to indicate that this wasn't the person he thought it was. But the sound of her voice, that hair –
"Y – You – "
"Lord Danzō always gets what he wants." Shisui could hear the disgust, could hear the inner pain and the experience that came with that statement. "You will learn that soon enough."
"Why are you here?" Shisui asked, voice low.
"I have come to assist Lord Danzō in claiming your eye – "
"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT, SAKI!"
Violet eyes narrowed behind a white mask.
"Don't even try to bullshit me," Shisui said, voice thick. "You could never bullshit me, not when we were kids."
Saki felt her mind ache, her eyes traced the Uchiha's face with precision, trying to remember each line but not being able to even recognise his voice.
"Don't make me do this," Shisui pleaded as he saw Saki draw her Tantō from her hip. "Please."
"Shisui of the Body Flicker," the wind rustled trees, sent shivers down Shisui's spine. Shisui's name sounded so foreign in Saki's mouth, it sounded unknown and old. "Sorry."
Shisui felt a sharp pain in his neck the next second, blood poured from a wound created by a silver Tantō, shining from the moonlight.
She was fast, well, it was no wonder she was, considering who her father was.
It was too fast, even for Shisui – or maybe he just didn't want to hurt Saki, as he was once close to her, holding her dear to him, the memory of what they used to be. She was small, thin, scared to say hello. She was kind. Saki was kind, but never delicate, always stronger than one thought.
"Saki, please – "
"Stop –!" Pure desperation, it broke his heart. The Tantō sliced further into Shisui's neck, it stung but he had been through worse. Saki had too, Shisui was sure. It broke his heart. Maybe it broke hers too.
"I'm so sorry." Shisui used the hesitation in the girl's attack to activate the very eyes she came to kill him for.
It had been a long time since Shisui had held Saki, he used to lift her up and run around with her in his arms as Itachi did the same with Sasuke. He ran as fast as he could to make her giggle like the child she was, she was too busy training and trying to already be a Ninja at war. She was only a Genin, the Chūnin exams were in a year, Saki acted as if she were going off to a battlefield.
Now, Saki fell into Shisui's arms, dead weight filled with memories she couldn't even remember. Surely this must have been Danzō's doing. Red-hot rage coursed through Shisui's veins and he held Saki tighter. He ignored the scars on her abdomen.
"SHISUI!"
"I'm fine, Itachi, I'm good."
Itachi's eyes were drawn to the figure in his friend's arms. Whoever it was, was small, thin, scarred and one of Danzō's puppets.
"Shisui, why do you have – "
"I guess you wouldn't recognise her," Shisui chuckled dryly, voice thick from what Itachi assumed was fear, or maybe anger. "My eyes were always better than yours."
Shisui rested the body against a tree, placed the thing carefully like it was family.
"Shisui, who – "
"She'd have to be, what? 9 now, 10? She was only 3 years older than little Sasuke." Shisui rambled, fingers lingering on the fair skin like it would break if he moved too quickly.
Shisui's fingers than moved to the white mask – a drama mask, It looked like, one side smiling and one side frowning – and gently peeled it off, revealing more fair skin, dark shadows under small, sharp shaped eyes.
Itachi's eyes cleared.
"No…." He'd entertained the thought, thought it with a heavy heart and heavy mind as he watched the village run, as he watched Foundation members come and go, killing anyone Danzō thought a threat. Itachi had thought, when he found himself pessimistic enough, perhaps Danzō had gotten his hands on Saki, sunk his claws in and marred her fair skin, killed her small, sweet smile, and dulled her violet eyes.
It seemed like it.
"Always wondered where she went off to." Shisui placed the mask next to her legs, traced the lines of the frown with his calloused fingers while smiling faintly, sadly.
Itachi wondered how many people Saki left behind.
Shisui stood up, back straight and hands clenched.
They left, tried not to look back, promised quietly they would come back, wondered if she'd be gone when they did.
No-one would ever know, not even Saki herself, that when Shisui Uchiha died, a single tear slipped down Saki's cheek like a reflex, like a 6th sense sensed the boy dying too young.
Saki woke up in a white room.
Medical Foundation Ninja by her side, all saying she was fine and she would live.
It was the first time Saki ever wondered if she was already dead anyway.
Within a few hours it all came back, every smile and laugh she'd shared with three boys with dark hair and dark eyes.
Sasuke.
Itachi.
Shisui.
She met them in the woods – she met Sasuke and Itachi in the woods.
Sasuke was 3, or 4, he was young and suspicious of the older girl, 6, or 7 maybe, watching his older brother train. They were both scared and Itachi laughed. Beckoning the young girl with flame red hair and sharp violet eyes out from behind a tree. She didn't speak. Only watched him throw Kunai at targets on green trees.
Sasuke would sometimes smile at her.
Shisui would mock her, telling her to speak and to smile, Saki remembered throwing a Kunai at him, barley missing his face, instead hitting a tree behind him and Shisui laughed, ruffled her hair like Kakashi never did and smiled.
Kakashi never touched her, fearing if he did he would smear blood on her fair face and break her.
Saki remembered smiling back at Sasuke.
Sticking her tongue out at Shisui and liking Itachi the most out of all of them.
Saki did not cry as she lay in bed, only replayed slicing Shisui's neck, watching the blood pour out and thought how it looked like how she once saw his eyes. Dark red.
"God…."
How could Saki ever leave the Foundation? How could she suddenly walk into Naruto's life and be a big sister if she killed and hurt so naturally?
Saki, for the first time, thought herself a true monster.
"Saki Yukimura,"
Danzō's voice filtered through Saki's head, ringing alarms bells that always were too quiet to overshadow his tone that ordered.
"Yes, Lord Danzō?" Saki was always ready to answer that order, she couldn't help it; it was as if she couldn't do anything else but answer when that voice spoke.
"A rouge Ninja has been sneaking around the Uchiha Family Compound," Factual, cold. "I want you to go, I want you to kill anyone that leaves the ground. Failure to accomplish this mission will result in severe punishment, do you understand?"
Saki did not fail missions. In fact, the only one she had ever failed was the one where she was sent to kill Shisui.
"Understood, Lord Danzō."
"Good."
The moon was out, full and bright, it was like a lamp in the dull night sky.
Saki was dressed in standard Foundation uniform, Tantō at her back, mask in place, cloak covering her body. She was the darkest thing on the streets. Saki approached the Uchiha Compound quietly, no sound came from her movements; she was calm.
Saki remembered as a little girl thinking Itachi was the most beautiful creature she had ever laid eyes on. Itachi Uchiha could only be described as beautiful, dark hair and dark eyes, porcelain skin that seemed to almost shine when stood under the moon which couldn't hold a candle to the older Uchiha boy in beauty.
He came walking out of the compound, stumbling almost.
Itachi looked up, eyes focused on the dark figure in front of him.
"So, Danzō sent someone after me? I knew he wanted me dead, no matter what deal he tried to make."
Saki didn't know what he was talking about, didn't care to know anything more about Danzō or any plan he might've made. The words hardly registered.
Hands come up, without thinking, to pull the white mask off a shocked, frozen face.
Violet eyes stared, big, at dark, cold eyes.
If Saki had been paying more attention she would have seen Itachi's eyes widen, seen him step back an inch.
"Danzō sent you to kill me?"
It's Lord Danzō. Saki's obedient mind supplied.
"I always known you'd become a Root puppet." Saki had never heard Itachi sound so cold, so detached, so, so forced.
"I – I," Saki licked her lips over cracks made by breathing too hard, too fast and opened her mouth again. "I remember. Everything."
Itachi kept his head low, his Leaf Village forehead protector placed sideways on his head.
"You and – you and I were friends."
Saki moved forward, memories doing the same. She caught a glimpse of blood on Itachi's weapon and took a step back, feeling fear for the first time.
"What have you done?"
"Get out of my way." Itachi threatened. "Or I'll kill you too."
Saki stood frozen as Itachi moved past her, breathing heavily as he did so.
His body moved past hers, his feet feeling heavy on the cold ground, he wished to explain, to apologise but he moved forward. His body stopped cold when a blade hit the back of his neck.
"I was ordered to not let anyone leave the Compound." Itachi heard Saki say, her voice thick with emotion. "I won't let you get away."
Itachi's blade hit Saki's, clanking with sparks flying as it did so. Saki moved forward as fast as lighting, kicking Itachi's legs and swiping at his chest with her small blade. Itachi moved up, throwing Saki away by the legs, bringing his back down to stab the legs, to stop her movement but she blocked the attack.
Blade hit blade. Bodies moved fast, dodging attacks like they were only made to do that very thing.
Itachi could only feel a sad sort of pride fill his body. Saki was good, she was skilled and ruthless.
Both flew back, feet stopping their descent even further. They breathed hard, not out of tiredness but out of anger and frustration and guilt.
They ran at each other, blades held out in front of their faces, ready to attack.
Saki hissed as a blade pierced her lower face, a sharp sting followed by blood, flowing down her chin down to her neck. Her attack had been distracted by the pain, her blade flew higher, hitting Itachi's forehead protector on the way. The black protector unwound itself and flew off his head, hitting the ground with a defiant clink.
Itachi stood, he saw blood fall onto the ground from wounds Saki had already made. He stared at Saki who seemed to growl almost at him, blood flowing down from a cut from her ear to her chin on the left side of her face.
Saki let her Tantō fall to the ground, her hands then moved at lighting speed but a sharp pain moved through her body. Her head felt dizzy, heavy as she felt her knees buckle. A hand flew to her throat, half-lidded eyes saw deep-red, thick blood covering her hand, staining it.
She thought she heard Itachi yell something, perhaps an insult. She thought she heard another voice, but Saki convinced herself that she was hearing things.
Saki did not know what dying felt like but the way she gasped for air but finding none, the way she held her throat and only felt blood made her question whether dying simply felt like uselessness.
"There's a little boy in there, still alive." A soft, kind voice whispered in Saki's ear. It sounded far away and too much like wind.
Saki tried to lift her head, before she felt her head smash back onto concrete she thought she saw a young girl, maybe only a few years older than herself with short brown hair and delicate eyes. Saki thought she saw hands glowing green before the pain from her neck seemed to vanish almost, as if it were never there, as if the injury was all a part of Saki's imagination.
"Go." The whispered voice demanded faintly.
Saki found her footing, put her hands on the ground and pushed herself upwards.
She ran through the compound, smelling blood and seeing only pain. She ran around a corner, placing her hands together, fingers overlapping and closed her eyes.
Kanchi no Jutsu!
A flicker of Chakra caught Saki's attention, she rounded another corner and found a large street. She ran down the path, blood dripping from her face and neck onto the already stained ground until she found a small body, hunched over and unconscious. Saki fell to her knees before the boy and lifted his face up, perhaps too roughly –
Sasuke!
Saki gathered the boy in her arms, cradling his head in the crook of her elbow, her other arm holding his legs. His face was pale, soaked with sweat.
Saki remembered him smiling, pulling on Itachi's sleeves while Shisui and she laughed.
Saki did not cry, but she thought, if she had any tears left, she would have.