The Akatsuki from KSUH
Konoha-Suna Union High School Sequel
AU: Itachi/Suki and Sasori/Raven
Chapter 4: Preemptive Strike
Itachi was stuck doing paperwork the rest of the day, until he reached over for the next report and found his tray empty. He blinked a couple times, making sure he was truly finished. Then he looked around for anyone with another armful of paperwork ready to put it on his desk. With no such thing in sight, Itachi stood up and stretched. He had been so focused and intent on getting done that he didn't realize what time it was.
The moment of relaxation didn't last long at all as Itachi remembered that he still had his other job to do. Many things were happening, and he was sure they were linked somehow.
There was a large number of criminal sightings around the same area, information about recent village activities have been scattered and hard to pull together, village security is going haywire, and missions were being cancelled or postponed for an unknown time. Everyone he'd spoken to have been affected in some way by recent events. They all noticed things have been odd. Even Deidara thought something in air was different. But the worst thing was what he had heard from Suki just a short while ago, which was that Orochimaru had broken himself out of prison.
Itachi wondered why now? Why after four years in that supposedly high security prison had Orochimaru just recently escaped? How did he do it?
There was something missing in this that Itachi needed to know before he could figure out what was going on. Yes, he was concerned, but he had every reason to be when that snake of a man was involved. Kicking him out of the Akatsuki, shutting down his rotten Sound Academy of brain-washed loyal lab rats, and getting him imprisoned were some of the Akatsuki's best actions in Itachi's mind.
Itachi just realized he had worked over today. Several of the others that had come into the office today had already left for the night. Since he was done with his work, he could take his leave as well. He was worried about Suki having to wait up for him, since she knew he had a lot of work today, and she had said she was going to catch up with Raven and compare notes about recent events and their relevance to the Akatsuki.
With any luck, they would gather the missing pieces quickly.
The moment Itachi left the building, he felt like he was being watched and activated his Sharingan without hesitation. Did he see what he thought he saw? No, it couldn't be. But the possibility was there, so he quickly went to the Akatsuki hideout, hoping to find Pain. This day was not good at all.
As he entered the nail salon, he found it was empty. No customers at the moment, but Konan was there. "Do you have something for Pain?" she asked, seeing his red eyes.
Itachi nodded grimly without a word, so she let him pass into the back room. Of course, the Akatsuki 'base' included the back room, but it was not just the back room. The back room provided a good front as a hang out spot for the gang. It they were getting together socially, the back room was fine, but if there was truly business, there was another large and secure room far under the salon for that. Itachi knew how to get there, as well as the rest of the Akatsuki, but that was it. Pain was likely down there going through secret documents or the clues they have scraped together already.
"I take it you found something, Itachi?" Pain asked from a table with a single light on it.
"I just left work," Itachi started, that part should have been obvious since he was still wearing the uniform. "And I sense something and took a look."
Pain didn't like there this was going, but gave Itachi his full attention.
Sasori had a bad day. Not only did his meeting to display his new poison not go well, but he had come up short on any useful information regarding recent events. He had no idea what was going on.
He felt like he should know better than to hope for the best. Things never work out that easily. Today was a glaring example of that. The board was not impressed with his new metal based poison. They said it was too slow and even cruel.
Psh, he wasn't getting paid to develop the same old poisons again. The people paying him were the ones that wanted something new that enemies wouldn't have an immediate antidote for, so he developed just that. Guess there's just another secret weapon to add to his own arsenal.
The meeting went from bad to worse when they accused him of slacking since he was working from home. That irked him the most. They were the ones that suggested he have a private work space of his choosing. So where was all this crap coming from? Either way, looks like he'll be back in the lab for the foreseeable future. Maybe it was time to start looking at getting his own lab, maybe even a warehouse there? Not like he was attached to his current living situation. He'd be moving eventually since he's engaged to be married now.
Raven was not going to be happy to hear about his day. He debated whether he should bother telling her the details, and just say that he has to move his lab back to the main lab building. Of course she would ask why, but if she senses he doesn't want to talk about it yet, she might humor him for a little while. He knew one thing she would ask no matter what, and that was what he was going to do about his garage? Naturally, he was going to sell his place, with no use for it anymore. Maybe he'd follow Itachi's example and move in with his fiancée until they get another place together? Sasori considered himself a little more traditional since he was hoping Raven would want to move in with him first, but he didn't really care about it either way since the result was going to be the same. They'd be together.
Sasori just reached his home when he saw Raven waiting by his door. "What's up?" he asked, seeing she was not in much better of a mood than he was.
"Pain called, he wants us there midnight tonight, he wanted me to tell you because of your thing today," Raven explained.
"Something must have happened for him to push up the meeting," Sasori rubbed his neck for a second.
"Yeah, seemed like someone found out about something big," she added.
Sasori checked the time when he opened the door and let them inside. "It's still going to be a while until we have to be there, want to go get dinner?" he asked her.
"Might as well," she said with a small smile. "Come on," she held out her hand, "I can tell you've had a hard day," she added and led him back out the door.
In that moment, Sasori knew he was going to tell her everything about today. Good things or bad things, he wouldn't be able to help himself.
Suki felt like she had slept horribly for hours. As her eyes slowly drifted open to see just darkness, not even moonlight from her window drifted to the corners as it normally would when she woke while it was still dark out.
Must be a new moon tonight.
She was about to close her eyes again to go back to sleep when she realized something didn't feel right. It took her a few more seconds to draw together enough consciousness to realize she was not in bed. The moment this became clear in her mind, she gasped and sat up. She winced and clutched her head, there was a sore bump hidden in her hair.
It took a moment for her vision to adjust to the darkness, but when it did, she realized she was in what seemed like a prison cell.
What happened? The last thing she remembered was walking home from work.
Then it hit her. When she paused to gaze at her engagement ring, something happened. She was completely distracted while in a trip to dreamland that she didn't even see or hear it coming. Granted, whoever did this to her must have been silent, but all her years of ninja training and practicing with Raven as a sparing partner had caused her to develop a keen sense.
Getting into this situation, she admitted, was her fault. As a ninja, she knew better than to completely lose sight of what is happening around her, but she did just that. If she had just tripped or been startled while in her dreamy daze, she would have learned her lesson and taken off that precious ring so it wouldn't temp her in public.
Suki sighed. No use dwelling over could haves. Now was the time to figure out what to do and where to go from here. The first thing that came to mind was escape, obviously. Then another thought came to mind, and that was reconnaissance. No, it was not her specialty, at least not behind enemy lines, but she knew the basics at least, if not a little more from listening to the mission stories of Raven and Itachi.
If she could find out who kidnapped her and locked her in here, then she could attempt her escape afterward and take that information back to the Akatsuki. There was also the possibility that Itachi was already on his way to rescue her. If that was the case, then it would be more helpful to find out all she can before she leaves. In either scenario, breaking herself out or being rescued, gathering intelligence would be her first objective.
"You saw Kabuto?" Deidara repeated after hearing Itachi's story. Everyone else remained as silent as death. Many of the Akatsuki members were present, including Zetsu who was still the Ag teacher at KSUH, and Kakuzu, who still handled finance in KSUH but now also in Konan's Salon and for the Akatsuki. There was also Hidan, Kisame, Tobi, and Konan. Sasori, Raven, and Suki were late, but they could be doing something important and can easily be caught up when they arrived.
Itachi was a little worried when he had gone home for a short while and didn't see Suki. She had said she was working later than normal today and that she was going to find Raven. Since Raven was with her, they probably already knew of the sudden midnight meeting and would show up sooner or later.
"Kabuto's presence confirms our earlier theories," Pain began. "Orochimaru is on the move."
"Damn, I thought we got rid of that faggot," Hidan cursed angrily. "So shit, what the fuck are we supposed to do about them?"
"Simple," Deidara started. "We find them and blow them up, problem solved for the rest of lives, un."
"Tracking those two is not a simple task," Kakuzu reminded. "We don't even know how he escaped and what kind of power he might have now."
"One thing is for sure," Pain said sternly, making sure everyone was listening. "We must take immediate action, and whatever they have planned won't be good… we are likely his first target if only just as a act of revenge."
"He'll use anything to get to us," Itachi said. "He's like that." He hoped Suki got there soon. Her tardiness was making him anxious with all this Orochimaru talk.
"War," Konan spoke, drawing their attention to her. "He will surely aim for war."
They were silent, knowing this to be true, until Pain spoke again. "Then we will be ready."
"Humph, we've taken on all those Sound punks and Orochimaru and his lackey, so we can do it again, yeah," Deidara stated confidently.
"Don't be so confident, Deidara, it'll go to your head," Sasori said from behind the blond man. He had come in only seconds earlier, but Deidara didn't hear him. Not willing to admit he was caught off guard by the red-head, Deidara simply glared at him. "I apologize we are late, but Raven wanted to wait for Suki for a bit in case she didn't know about the meeting."
Raven stepped up beside him. "She wasn't at home so I figured she went on ahead," she explained.
"…What?" Itachi looked at her. "She wasn't with you?"
Raven raised an eyebrow. "No, why? Was she supposed to be?" Itachi was caught in a stunned silence as his mind reeled. "I thought she was with you…" Raven added, her train of thought obviously following a similar path as the Uchiha.
"She said she was going to find you to update you on tonight, where did she go after that?" Itachi asked, barely masking his panic.
"…I haven't see her today," Raven said. "What's wrong?" she asked, seeing his eyes widen.
"Itachi, is it possible that HE has her already?" Kisame asked, knowing full well that everyone was thinking it, but also knowing that he was probably the only one that could voice this without Itachi hurting him.
"Shit…" Itachi cursed. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT!" He was about to leave and go after her right away when everyone stopped him by blocking the basement's stairway exit.
"I know, Itachi, believe me, I know what you want to do right now," Pain said. "But don't go without a clear mind. There's nothing you can do right now, she's probably been gone for hours, and you know how Orochimaru works, he's not going to kill her right away…" Itachi's shoulders slumped as he submitted, but his hands were in tight fists. "We have to come up with a plan before we take action."
"Yes," Itachi agreed while looking away.
"We best get to work now, and make sure we're all caught up any and all information beside anything Suki found out since she last talked to Itachi," Pain added.
"Raven will start with what she now knows, her connections to Konoha's ANBU might have had something," Pain said.
Raven hesitated before nodding in agreement. No one noticed her hesitation but Sasori. He knew that she wanted to find her friend before something truly bad happened, but knew that Pain's words were right. If they all went running after her now, they wouldn't even know where to start looking. Still, Sasori was going to keep an eye on Raven and another on Itachi to make sure they didn't both run off ahead and do something out of character and rash.
It was going to be a long night.
Suki's head had cleared considerably since she awoke in the dark cell. The bump on her head was still sore, but tolerable. Within minutes since she regained conscience, she found out that she wasn't able to summon up any chakra for jutsu. Figures. There was probably chakra blocking seals all over the cell.
In the unknown time she was stuck there with no other human interaction or way to find out where she was or why she was there, she spent the time examining every stone and crevice of the cell. There was no way out and the caged door wouldn't budge even a millimeter.
She was able to figure out that she was not in any kind of building, but maybe underground or in a cave. When she paused to listen, there was a soft breeze that would whistle and moan through the tunnels from either side of her cell. She decided to sit near the caged door, close her eyes, and listen. If she could figure out which way the wind was coming from, she would know where to run during her escape.
Meditating to focus. It was all that was left to do until someone revealed themselves as her captor or guard.
The wind was coming from the left. Perfect. This thought also made her mentally chuckle. Raven used to always say that when you don't know where to go, try left. It was scary how often it worked.
With that figured out, now all she had to do was wait for someone to show up or her chakra to suddenly work again. Releasing a long quiet sigh as she thought, she ended up deciding that this was probably a good time to admire her engagement ring since things couldn't get much worse right now. She could go for a little daydreaming about her fiancé.
Her eyes were adjusted to the darkness, she could see fine, but when she lifted her hand to look at the ring, she had to blink several times to make sure she was seeing this right. Her eyes widened as it became apparent that her ring was no longer on her finger.
Suki checked her other hand. Then she checked all her pockets and even patted herself down in case it was hidden someplace else in her clothing. She didn't find it.
Placing her hand over her mouth in attempt to keep herself from panicking, she looked all over the cell for her ring in case it fell during her examination of the small space.
"No, no, no, no, no…" Suki muttered. "It's gone, I can't find it anywhere." She had no idea where it could be. It could be on the ground anywhere from just outside in this tunnel to wherever she was captured in the village. Someone could have taken it. What if she never finds it? How was she supposed to tell Itachi? He'd be crushed! The ring has been in his family for a least three generations that she knew of! It's an heirloom. His family will hate her because of this!
"Having fun?" a raspy voice echoed suddenly from the caged door.
Suki whipped around, but saw no one. She quickly wiped her eyes to get rid of the quickly forming tears from the loss of her ring. She didn't want an approaching enemy to see her crying. It would be embarrassing as a ninja and a future Uchiha.
"I am told you are Suki Uchiha," the voice continued. She figured out the voice was coming from just outside her cell, but out of view. Was it a guard coming to finally check on her?
But he called her…
"I'm not…" she started but trailed off.
"Married yet, I am aware," the voice explained. "But I do not know your maiden name, and you are all but an Uchiha as it is." Basically, it was close enough, and this man obviously didn't care.
"… What am I doing here and who are you?" Suki figured she'd give it a shot. Wouldn't know if they won't tell her until she asked.
A young man with white hair and pale skin stepped into her view on the other side of her cell door. She recognized him, but it took her a few seconds. Kimimaro of the Sound. But how? Documents in intelligence suggested his demise during the Sound Five's attack on Itachi's little brother, Sasuke. Perhaps it was not really Kimimaro. But then why use his face in front of Suki when Suki shouldn't really know what he looks like if it hadn't been for some snooping at work? This was strange.
They stared at each other, both equally emotionless and not giving away any thoughts. "He will know you are here soon," he said.
"What?" she asked, eyes narrowing. "Who?"
"Uchiha," he stated simply.
"What do you mean?" Of course Itachi would realize she's nowhere to be found before the end of the night. But maybe it had only been a few hours since she was attacked?
"Have you noticed anything missing that was once in your possession?" he asked. Even she knew it was a leading question, there was only one thing she was missing. But that would mean…
"Give it back," she said seriously.
"I do not have it either."
Suki wanted to her roll her eyes. "Then who does?"
There was a long silence. Suki thought he wasn't going to answer. But when he did, the silence after was deafening. She simply stood there as he walked away, and the name spoken rang in her mind as she processed and linked the final piece of the puzzle that she needed.
"Kabuto."
It made sense to Suki now. Orochimaru was out there, but he's nothing without Kabuto. That white-haired, glasses-wearing, leeching rat of man was never found or caught in the last three years. He must be the reason there was still so many ninja out there connected to the Sound and how Orochimaru was able to escape silently.
Orochimaru, Kabuto, the Sound, the village, the Akatsuki… Itachi. Suki had to get back to him. Tell him that Kimimaro is somehow still alive, and Kabuto was in the village. Who knows for how long or how much he has learned. Suki knew this was bad.
Suki stepped up to the cell door, but jumped back when Kimimaro appeared right on the other side again. "Stay," he commanded. "You will be safer here in the long run," he added.
"What? I don't care!" Suki exclaimed. "I have to leave, release me and no one has to know you let me go," she tried.
"I cannot do that," he stated simply then backed up to cough into his hand.
Suki's eyes narrowed down at him as she thought. "The report said you died that day, Kimimaro."
His coughing fit ended and he looked up at her slowly. "That is correct," he said.
"…Then how are you here?"
"I owe my life to Orochimaru twice now," he said. "Gaara of Sand and the young Leaf ninja known as Rock Lee did indeed see to my end during that mission to retrieve Sasuke… but Orochimaru still had use for me, for the five of us, so his right-hand Kabuto brought us back with a forbidden jutsu."
"Kabuto… has that power?" Suki felt her heart sink. If he could being ninja back to life, then that would me that even Orochimaru could come back if Kabuto somehow stayed alive like the cockroach that he is. Meaning, this battle would never be over…
"It's not power," Kimimaro corrected. "He calls it knowledge."
"Knowledge," Suki repeated. "That roach was always a smart one… if he's been alive and free all this time, I bet he had been studying us, hasn't he?"
Kimimaro nodded and Suki let out an aggravated breath. Kabuto just reached a whole new level of creepy, beyond that of a obsessed stalker.
Suki realized something. "Kabuto was the one that attacked me on my way home from work, wasn't he? And he took my ring," she wasn't asking, but Kimimaro nodded once again. At least he wasn't keeping any secrets. Not that a dead man would really care about that. He was just a willing pawn in Orochimaru's, and perhaps more like Kabuto's game. She wasn't sure who was really pulling the strings here. At the moment, Suki had another question at the front of her mind. "Why take my ring?"
"To show Itachi Uchiha," the white-haired man said blankly. "Proof, that he has you here, and thus at grave risk…" Suki's eyes widened and her hand covered her mouth.
"No," Suki muttered. "Itachi's gonna…"
"Dive head-first into enemy territory to try to save you, and yes, die as a result of his passionate rage," Kimimaro stated as if this was a fact, and predetermined by a higher force.
"No, he-he wouldn't…" Even as Suki tried to say it, she knew that this was probably the one thing in the world that could break Itachi's calm. Fluster and aggravate him just enough to make that one fatal mistake that Kabuto's keen analytic eyes would use against him.
"My orders are simple," Kimimaro began, and Suki already didn't like where this was heading as he pulled a knife made of bone from the back of his shoulder, his skin slipping off around the blade until fully unsheathed from his body. She had a feeling that Kimimaro was not here to guard her and make sure she didn't escape. "If the ring does not have the desired affect, I am to begin by removing your fingers to send to Itachi one by one, until he snaps."
Suki's eye's widened in horror and she backed up in her cell. This couldn't be happening. She squeeze her eyes shut as Kimimaro approached her cell, and she mentally called out to Itachi.
"Itachi…"
Kimimaro didn't bother with any locks or even opening the door, but instead presented a great display of his overwhelming power and busting right through the caged door with just his knife of bone.
"Itachi help, I'm not strong enough against him…"
Kimimaro slowly treaded closer to her as she slid down the wall, covering her ears with her hands and keeping her eyes closed. She knew how painful this was going to be.
"Please, Itachi…"
Kimimaro stopped in front of her shrinking form and raised his blade, ready to strike at her and whatever of her might be in the way.
Sensing his pause, something inside her forced her to open her eyes and gaze up at him. His raised arm quickly descended towards her as she sucked in what she prayed would not be her last breath.
"Itachi!"
Author's Note
Muh… ha… ha…
It's a cliff hanger. Being both a sequel story, and an OC-related story, I have to keep it extra interesting for you readers. This chapter also already hit its word count that I'm using for this story. So I'd appreciated if I don't get pelted with tomatoes for the cliffy.
The worst has yet to come. Stay tuned and review.
