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Kumi had never attended the academy but she imagined that her first day there would have played out the same as her 'official' entrance into Anbu was. Her new comrades were openly cautious around her, rightly so, they knew nothing of her heritage or past that would influence their opinions but the 'Root' name alone assured them that she was not to be trusted. She made no obvious reaction to Itachi's presence in the room, he was on the far side blending in poorly at half a foot shorter than the others. Calmly, she positioned herself by the window so that her thoughts could fly around the beautiful backdrop of Konoha until Kakashi finally arrived.
Amidst the dull conversations passing back and forth stood the Uchiha prodigy, his exterior cool as ice but underneath told of a very different person. His heart still hadn't stopped racing since she entered the room, for days he had been trying to run into her, 'accidently' of course and now here she was in body but not in mind. He wished that he was the source of her daydream or at least that he was enough to bring her focus back into the room. Little did he know, he was the reason that she sent her mind drifting away. She longed to see him again, speak with him again but at the same timeshe felt utterly ashamed by her own actions, hiding like a coward from the most minimal physical contact.
Kakashi's hand landed on Kumi's shoulder, not startling her like he had hoped, he never had been able to sneak up on her. "So the rumours were true after all! Here you are completely under my command." She shrugged his hand off, if the others thought that she was getting any special treatment they would only hate her more and she could do without any more people trying to stab her in the back. "Within reason, Senpai." she corrected quickly, last time they had worked together he had labelled her the errand girl, giving her the misformisfortune of carrying all of the equipment and fetching snacks all day...she had never seen Kakashi laugh so hard. With that in mind she decided that he owed her at least one and when better to take advantage of it than before a mission.
"Senpai, I don't want to be paired up with the Uchiha." She couldn't even look at the guy, how on earth was she supposed to work side by side with him all night? In true Kakashi style he turned and waved manically to Itachi until he got a hesitant wave back. "I completely understand. You probably won't be able to find anywhere to hide from him once we leave the village."
Without thinking she lashed out and punched him in the arm, " How do you even know about that?!" she hissed quietly,trying not to draw anymore atattention than she already had by hitting an Anbu Captain for no apparent reason. "Itachi-Kun mentioned meeting you the other day and that's just how it sounded to me...judging by your reaction I'd say I'm right." Nothing scared her, he had tried all sorts of things over the years- spiders, snakes, scorpions. He had even known her to stare death in the face without so much as flinching, Kakashi just couldn't comprehend what had finally phased her.
Thick fog engulfed everything in a spooky, impenetrable whiteness, the six ghostly figures that were wading through could see no further than their own outstretched hands. Every movement felt loud and exposed in the silence that only dwelled inside such a vast suffocating mist. The air had an icy chill, cold was stalking them deeper into the unknown until someone's teeth began to chatter.
Kumi didn't falter, not once, she didn't want to lose sight of Itachi, so far he had guided her through with his mask in hand and eyes blazing red. Although no words had been exchanged he must have known because he slowed whenthe numbness in her legs made her lag behind. "Are you alright, Kumiko-san?" he asked smoothly, the low rumble of his voice was increasingly comforting to her as it lingered in an echo, wrapping around her like an embrace. The others weren't so courteous, Itachi's sharingun picked up on their chakra flows continuing north, abandoning them in a maze of white.
"I'm fine. You don't need to wait, I can catch up." The black shorts that hugged her thighs provided her with unlimited flexibility and minimal extra weight but damn she was freezing!
Kumi found herself only inches away from him and gaped openly at his appearance. She had been trying to convince herself that he couldn't have been as handsome as she had been constantly picturing since their last meeting but her widened eyes were conveying to her brain that he really was the most beautiful person she had ever seen. Every striking chiselled feature his face had the fortune to bare looked as though God had sculpted him to perfection and the distinctive outlines of his toned body boasted a flawless physique even through clothing. He shook his head defiantly and allowed his bloodline to consume the raven blackness of his eyes once again.
"I could never leave you behind." he stated softly. A single word rested on the tip of her tongue but she couldn't bring herself to utter it- 'why?'
Kakashi waited impatiently on the edge of Kujimara's estate with the three Anbu that had chosen to follow his sharingun through the fog instead of Itachi's. Barely two minutes after his squad had made it through did the two young shinobi emerge side by side. It was honestly the closest he had seen Kumi willingly stand next to another person and she seemed quite comfortable. Just as they rejoined the group one of the others took the opportunity to make a snide comment, obviously loud enough for Kumi to hear, "I'm surprised she didn't burn him alive, that's what Root are doing to Anbu now, right?" Kakashi immediately jumped to her defence with a stern bark of authority, "Enough." But she felt her Senpai's actions were unessessary, the remark was correct in a sense because she had been involved in the incident and anyway worse had been said about her. It was a mission just like any other, if she allowed herself to feel remorseful for every person she killed or assisted killing the guilt would crush her.
She felt Itachi's body tense without even having touched him, the conversation had changed his entire demeanour in an instant. The welcoming smile he liked to wear had vanished, leaving behind an emotionless expression that quietly warned of a dangerous hostility and his eyes burnt fiercely with the fiery crimson of his sharingun. Kumi froze to the spot, the familiar sight of a sharingun controlled by someone who was prepared to ruthlessly injure another robbed her of everything other than a fear she didn't know that she possessed. Too many times had she been forced to look into that blood red eye that her master had stolen from an Uchiha as she faded in and out of consciousness. She hated it, that one ability that rendered all of her attacks useless and made her see things she never wanted to remember. Danzo had made sure that a fear of him was embedded in all of his subordinates, Kumi especially, as his protégé she had come to terms with the way her life was but she didn't want to be scared of the sharingun...be scared of Itachi.
"Taku-san, I'm afraid that you are mistaken. Whilst a member of Root was present it was I that killed him, therefore I would prefer not to hear anything else spoken against a comrade." Itachi's words were spoken with a cold formality, a frigid tone that was far chillier than any fog.
The silence that followed was just like a poison that seeped through their skin, paralysing them from moving or replying in a suspended moment in time until a voice shattered the quiet like a glass dropping onto a tiled floor. "Captain, what are we supposed to do with him?" A more level headed Anbu called Hayate reluctantly asked. Kumi held her senpai's gaze with a pleading look but he couldn't defend Itachi whilst such a killer intent was seething from his rigid body.
"I could never leave you behind." Itachi's words began to ring in her mind, slowly nullifying the fear and igniting life back into her. Without thinking she lunged forward to do something that she had never done before- initiating physical contact. Slender fingers curled around a clenched fist, absorbing the tension and anger until Itachi's hand began to unravel to entwine itself with her.
"Please stop, Itachi." she breathed shakily in a way that reminded him of someone speaking a prayer that they expected would never be answered. The two deep oceans that were her eyes washed over him, reducing his rage into a simmer of annoyance. It was irritating that Kumiko had the power to manipulate him so easily, whether she meant to or not.
"It was self defence. " Itachi relented to the group, keeping Kumi's hand firmly in his own. Kakashi nodded in agreement to those that looked for his reaction, if the mission had a time limit he would never have allowed things to progress the way they had, infact it was the perfect opportunity to settle things once and for all. "Eiichiro was the ring leader of a pathetic little rebellion against Itachi and as for Root, we are allies not enemies, we both exist for Konoha. " He could tell that Kumi was uncomfortable with the brightness of the spotlight he had cast upon her but she didn't deserve to be hated. The Hokage had confided in him his plans for Kumi's future, it was time to start stepping out of the shadows.
The others weren't convinced, the only source of information about Root were the rumours that shrouded the mysterious group, some were true but most were purely imagination. Soulless murderers that would follow Danzo with unbreakable dedication into the fires of hell, Kakashi sighed, maybe words weren't enough to combat the years of fabrications.
"Kumi, take off your mask." Itachi could no longer keep hold of her clammy hand as she moved away from the protection he would have given. "Senpai, you know it's not allowed." Danzo's image loomed behind her, she was afraid of breaking his rules and becoming one of those unfortunate victims that he made disappear. There was only one way that would force her to reveal herself, her oldest friend was far more intelligent than his goofy exterior portrayed and far more sly.
"That's an order." he commanded with an affectionate smile hidden away. Reluctantly she removed the cat mask that had become more like a part of her body over the years and handed it over to Kakashi.
Three sharp intakes of breaths followed from the Anbu men that had never seen what lay beneath a Root uniform. After the initial shock had passed at such a young girl standing obediently before them they couldn't help but admire her beauty. Icy and unfeeling eyes fluttered methodically under sets of thick black lashes that would momentarily break the lowered gaze that was fixed on the floor, against the moonlight paleness of her skin they were the most striking. It was almost impossible to imagine such an angelic young woman drenched in the blood of others.
"Does she look like a monster to you?" Kakashi chuckled.
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