"A Shinobi`s duty is to hide behind a mask. It is their job to complete the mission from the shadows."
"No, get away from me!"
"Guren, I need you to listen to me!"
Guren ran as quickly as she could to the other side of the room, knocking over a table in the process. "What are you?"
Sasori walked towards her and she stepped back, bumping into the wall. "Don`t be scared, Guren. I`ll explain." He put on his cloak so he didn`t look quite as frightening anymore.
"Why do you look like that?" Guren asked shakily, trying to calm herself down.
"Relax, I`m not going to ever hurt you. I just need you to give me your undivided attention, all right?"
Guren nodded slowly, attempting to calm down.
"I`m the same person I was before. You know those Human Puppets I make?"
"You...turned yourself into a Human Puppet..." Guren knew that Sasori used corpses to make puppets since it saves him a lot of time and the puppet can wield the techniques it had in its previous life. But it was difficult for her to accept that he turned himself into one."But if you`re a puppet...How are you alive?"
Sasori turned around and shut the door. He undid the top two buttons of his cloak and pointed to the container that had said "scorpion" on it. "This contains chakra and it`s also a part that`s living. As long as no one touches this.."
Guren placed her hand against it softly, taking everything in. She felt a faint heart beat. "Orochimaru...did you kill him?"
"No, it takes much more than that to kill him."
"Oh." Dark images ran through Guren's mind at the thought that she would still have to deal with Orochimaru. "So, I`ll still have to see him...?"
"No, you won`t see him anymore, don`t worry. I told him to get lost or I`m bringing Leader into this."
Guren let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness, he was such a creep..."
The door slowly opened and Sasori disappeared. Itachi poked his head in.
Hatred filled up Guren. "What do you want?" Her voice had a hint of bitter distaste.
"I understand your hatred, Guren, but I would wish to speak to you."
"I don`t want to be even near the likes of you."
Itachi ignored her and walked into the room. "Guren, do you remember my genjutsu that I put you in two years ago on that night?"
"Yeah, the night you killed my parents."
Itachi sighed. "Do you remember the last thing I said in that genjutsu?"
"Yeah, 'One day, you will understand. Protect Sasuke and the next time we meet, you will know.' I could never figure out what the hell that meant..."
"Taking care of Sasuke seems to have matured you."
"Yeah, well he`s a stubborn one. You should know, he was your little brother." The memories of her childhood before everyone died warmed Guren, putting a smile on her face. However, after the dark memories of her parents blood splattering the ground arrived, Guren's smile disappeared and her face darkened again. "Why`d you spare me anyway?"
"I believe you`ve already met Danzo Shimura."
The sound of Danzo`s name filled Guren with anger which ended up activating her Rinnegan. Soon the whole room was filled with massive chakra. Guren's hair was semi-standing due to her anger. "I`m...going...to kill him. I guarantee it. I will not rest until he is dead," she snarled.
"Calm down." Itachi looked her in the eye.
"Why should I? He took everything from me! My life..."
"Did he really? He gave those eyes after all..."
Guren looked over at the window and saw her reflection. A chill crept up her as she saw her eyes. My eyes look like that again... She saw the pattern of the Rinnegan, purple with ripples. "I don`t know how to feel about these. These eyes...they`re not mine."
"Fine. Look at it this way, then. If Danzo didn`t assault you, you wouldn`t be here with Sasori-san."
Guren didn't say anything, knowing that Itachi had brought up a good point. "Whatever. What is it about Danzo that you want to tell me?"
"You are not to tell anyone of this, especially not Sasuke," Itachi said. "The assassination of the Uchiha clan was my idea, but from the encouragement of Konoha."
Guren's eyes grew wide in shock and she whipped herself around. "What?!"
"The Uchiha`s were planning something big; A plot to destroy Konohagakure. Your mother was involved."
"No way. You`re lying."
"Am I? Why do you think your parents fought all the time? Your father didn`t approve."
This brought up one of Guren's less pleasurable memories of her childhood and her parents. It was three years ago, the first time she ever witnessed her parents fighting.
"Clone Technique!" Guren formed a perfect clone.
"Good job, Guren! I`m so proud of you!" Anari patted Guren on the back.
A knock was heard from the door. Lelouch walked in, an unhappy look on his face. "Anari, we need to talk."
Anari pursed her lips, a habit she's always expressed right before she got mad. She exited the room. Guren silently followed behind her and peeped around the corner listening carefully.
"Shisui told me what you guys are up to," Lelouch had a stern look on his face.
"What are you talking about?" Anari asked.
"Here`s a hint: Madara Uchiha."
Anari pursed her lips so much that her lips were just a thin, straight line. "Stay out of this, Lelouch."
"My great grandfather built Konohagakure!"
"And yours was always defacing mine!"
"That`s because all yours cared about was death and destruction."
"Why are we even fighting about this? We`ve had plenty. And it`s not like it matters, anyway. You and I both know that neither of us are going to change our minds. We`re just strangers to each other. The only reason we`re together is so that there`ll be a child with both the Senju and the Uchiha Clan`s blood; Like the S-"
Anari saw Guren and gasped. "Guren! What are you doing?" She picked Guren up and took her to the other room.
"Mommy, why do you want to destroy Konohagakure? They`ve never done anything to you," Guren asked, a sad look on her face.
She looked around and whispered, "You`ll understand someday. You`ll be the greatest leader of them all."
Guren snapped herself back to reality and stared at Itachi. "She had said that I would understand why she sought out the destruction of Konoha."
Itachi chuckled. "Of course she would. Now do you believe me?"
Guren attempted to ignore the smugness in his voice, but a blood vessel popped out of her head. "Just keep talking."
"The Uchiha`s had me as a spy inside of Konoha, since I was in the ANBU Black Ops. However, they had no idea the ANBU also had me as a spy against the Uchiha.
"Konoha didn`t know what to do with our clan. The Third Hokage wanted to peacefully settle things, while Danzo said that we should just eliminate the Uchiha`s out of the picture.
"After the meeting, Danzo talked with me. He said the the Uchiha`s would inevitably die. But I had a choice of how they would die. I could deflect from ANBU and join my family in the revolution, or I could get rid of the Uchiha myself. He said that if I chose the former, you and Sasuke would know the horrible truth and perish."
Guren stood there in shock. "So…you saved our lives…" She held herself and she felt herself beginning to shake.
"Frankly, I'm quite surprised that you believe me…"
She held herself tighter, "Y-Your chakra…feels w-warm. I-I…" Her voice broke and tears flew down her face. Guren ran towards Itachi and hugged him, finally forgiving him after hearing the truth. "Itachi-san, I…I can`t believe you`d do that for us, but-" Guren took a step back. "You know Sasuke wants to kill you, right?"
"Yeah, I figured as much."
"I`ll stop him! I-I won`t let you die…You deserve better…"
"No…let him come. I told him to come after me."
"So you`re just gonna let him kill you?"
"His hatred for me will make him strong, and my death will extinguish his hatred."
"No…" Guren shook her head. "I won`t let you. I`ll keep Sasuke away from you. I-I`ll tell him the truth-"
Itachi clamped his hand over Guren's mouth. "Promise me that Sasuke won`t know. I don`t care what else you do."
"But-", Itachi's hand muffled the sound of Guren's voice.
"Oh, so you agree?" Itachi said, ignoring Guren's protests. "Good, so we have an understanding." He flashed a smile down at Guren and deep inside, she knew that there was going to be no changing his mind.