Improbability
7
Not an Uchiha
"Itachi! Thank god I found you!" A panicked woman yelled as she ran towards the two children. She had dark eyes and dark hair, and was wearing the standard medic uniform. She seemed almost frantic with worry and relief as she hurried towards them with a concerned look on her face.
From behind her, the bright florescent lights of the makeshift medical center lit up a section of the ruined village like heavenly light lit up a safe haven. Groups of medics hurried from patient to patient in an organized frenzy. Those with the most dire of conditions lay on stretchers and wooden boards, while those capable of standing did, hanging around the center, forming lines as they waited to be treated. As Keika watched, another man was rushed in on a stretcher. Hanging curtains of an off white color separated sections of the hospital area off from one another, creating more private areas to treat the wounded.
The woman dropped to the ground and pulled Itachi into a hug, practically crying in relief. "I heard that you were missing! What were you thinking?! I was out of my mind with worry! Do you know how much danger you were in?! Why on earth did you leave home?! I was so scared!" she sobbed, the skin around her eyes becoming red and puffy.
Itachi tried to worm his way out of the hug, not because he was being rude, just because he wasn't quite sure as to why she was hugging him, and really not used to be hugged either. The woman pulled back and looked at him, searching for injury, "Are you all right?" she asked, as if she was ready to get him the best medic in the country if he had a single cut.
He nodded, and glanced over at Keika, "O-ka-san, this is Okugi Keika," he said, as the woman clearly hadn't noticed her yet.
"Keika-chan, huh?" the woman, who Keika now realized must be Uchiha Mikoto, took one glance at her headband before her face softened into one of pity, "Dear, where are your parents? Should I call for them? Is your sensei waiting for you?" she asked, trying to get Keika to help herself.
Keika managed a clumsy bow, "I was told to wait with you actually," she said, avoiding the topic of parents, "Hitomi-sensei… umm… she told me to find you and wait with you until she could come get me." She nervously shifted under the woman's gaze. She didn't like the pity and sadness in her eyes, especially when it was directed at her.
"Well, I don't know… But if you're waiting to be picked up, you can sit in the back of the medical center," she said, and then stood, grabbing Itachi's hand, "Come on you two, you'll wait in the back until I can get you somewhere safe." And with that, she took hold of Keika's hand as well and marched the two children towards the center.
After a moment, Keika realized that she didn't really mind Mikoto holding her hand like this. Was this what a mom was supposed to be like? After everything that had happened that day, the simple gesture was surprisingly comforting. So she let Mikoto hold tightly onto her hand and walk her over to the back of the medical center. They took a slightly long way, avoiding the lines of gruesome patients and ended up in a small section that opened up to the back of the center. Apparently, the cloth curtains that hung from the ceiling were really good at suppressing sound, so there was barely any noise coming from the occupied rooms.
Mikoto deposited her and Itachi on a bench and hurried off with talk of only a few more minutes till the end of her shift and the promise of tea when she was back. And then it was only Keika and Itachi, sitting together in silence as the garbled mess of the hospital chattered away in their ears.
"Hey," Keika said quietly after a few minutes, "Your mom… she's really nice." It wasn't the most intelligent thing that Keika had ever said, and it wasn't really what she had been hoping to voice, but it was good enough for right now. And it wasn't a lie, which was always a plus.
Itachi looked down at the ground, "I suppose," he muttered, "She always agrees with father though. She doesn't… she doesn't say what she wants to. She just goes along with whatever father says, even if it's horrid."
Like how she so clearly pitied Keika for being a shinobi at her age, but said nothing. Or how people back in Kawagishi pretended that they didn't notice when Keika walked home beaten up and bruised. Or how the same people that hit her didn't notice when she cried. Or how her parents didn't say anything when Keika couldn't sleep from nightmares. People were never black or white. They were all painted in shades of grey. And sometimes, you had to look very hard to see exactly what shade they were.
"Oh." Keika said simply. There was nothing else that needed to be explained. She understood, plain and simple. It wasn't something very nice to know about the woman that held her hand, but it was necessary to see just what shade of grey Mikoto was.
The two waited patiently, neither speaking. Keika stared out into the distance, her eyes scanning the ruins of homes, waiting for some shadow to turn into the form of Hitomi-sensei, or even better Fushidara-nii-san, the tall brotherly figure promising that he would take her home, somewhere safer than here. Itachi stared at his hands, his eyes flashing between red and black, as if trying to figure out exactly how his eyes changed colors.
Inside the hospital, they could hear the sounds of stretchers being wheeled to different sections of the medical center and medics rushing out to the battle field to heal patients, or the shouts for more sedative or antibiotics or a plethora of other names that made no sense. The entire center smelled sterile, and strangely like an odd mix of chemicals and alcohol trying to cover the metallic tint of blood. Keika made the snap decision that she didn't like the smell of blood. It reminded her of why people bled, and that just reminded her of earlier, and then her thoughts were consumed by flame, just like the man who had become a human torch and- Best not to go there.
Why did people have to die? Why did they have to fight? Was there some purpose to this war? To Keika, it all seemed senseless, pointless, and completely lacking of humanity. She killed because they would have killed her first, but why were they attacking her? Were they simply acting on orders from a superior, or did they honestly believe that their deaths would serve some higher purpose? Was there a higher purpose to all this slaughter? If there was, she couldn't see it.
"Keika?" A voice called from outside.
Keika jumped up, "Hitomi-sensei!" she called eagerly. Finally! Maybe she could go home now!
Hitomi-sensei came into view, stepping onto the simple wooden platform. She was bruised up a bit, and there was a long but fortunately shallow cut on her left arm. The tips of her hair had been singed, evidence of a fire jutsu gone badly. But mostly the damage was on her face, a large angry red welt that began on her right ear, covered her cheek, and went up as high as the tops of her eyebrows. Fortunately, her eyes had been spared the damage.
Hitomi-sensei was scowling, clearly displeased as she stalked over to a box of medical supplies in the corner. She rotted through the box, finally pulling out a roll of white bandages and began to wrap up the side of her head. Her frown only deepened when she cast a glance at Itachi. "Made a friend?" she asked Keika, her voice full of undisguised malice that went deep into her eyes.
Itachi stood and gave a polite bow, "I'm Uchiha Itachi. It's a ple-"
"Hmph. An Uchiha." The name sounded like an insult on Hitomi-sensei's tongue, and indeed, that was what she intended. She was glaring at Itachi, but at the same time, she wasn't glaring at Itachi, more as if she was glaring at Uchiha. It was the family that she hated, that she despised, that she wanted to get rid of, and at the same time, it was the family that she so longed to be a part of. Keika tilted her head, trying to get a better look at her teacher and wondered how all that hatred had gotten mixed with longing.
"I don't-" Itachi tried to ask, his eyes hurt, but Hitomi-sensei cut him off once again.
"You're an Uchiha. Rotten, the lot of you," the insults were childish, but Hitomi-sensei meant every word, "Got your precious Sharingan eyes yet, have you boy? That's all your filthy clan cares about anyways, your damn eyes." She spat on the ground, before throwing what was left of the bandages back into the box.
Keika's mouth fell open, "Sensei! What are you saying?" she asked incredulously.
CRASH!
There was a loud shattering of porcelain that shut them up. Shards of pale pottery rolled around on the floor. A puddle of green tea formed around two feet that had just stepped into the room. Keika's eyes followed up those feet until she met the shocked face of Mikoto. The woman's hands were shaking, and dripping with green tea. But it was her face that looked broken, not the tea cups. Her eyes were shocked, wondering, and greatly relieved, like she had just seen a ghost.
"Kai…nashi?" she muttered, like the name was a great question. Her eyes filled with tears and relief as she began to sob, "Oh Kai-chan! I thought you-" she stumbled towards Hitomi-sensei, her hands clasped in front of her chest, "I thought you were dead!"
Hitomi-sensei snorted, "Thought I was that weak huh? That I couldn't handle myself?" she asked furiously, spitting the words out like fire. Her eyes showed more than hatred, her eyes showed the lust for something more, revenge.
Mikoto recoiled, as if the words were a physical attack that had hurt as much as any kunai, "No, of course I didn't mean that!" she tried to amend, visibly hurt and wounded from the harsh rebuttal, "I just meant… it's been so long and there had been no word from you! I didn't know what to think, I thought you had gone and died, I had no idea that you were still alive! Kai-chan, where were you?"
"Do not call me that name!" Hitomi-sensei said with a glare, her voice rising to an almost dangerous level, "I am not Kainashi, no matter how useless you and everyone else may think me to be! I've spent years proving just how powerful I am! I am respected like no other! Danzo-sama trusts me! I have become much stronger than you or anyone else!"
Black eyes glistening with tears, Mikoto looked at the younger woman with pity and sadness in her eyes, "Oh Kai-chan, what happened to you?"
"What happened to me?! What do you think?! You were there! Do not pretend that you have forgotten!" Hitomi-sensei yelled, "They hated me! They despised me! They called me worthless and pathetic and a waste of space! You know exactly why! You were there! You saw that cheep, cowardly move! You saw him explain exactly how I could have won and exactly how I lost! And you think I can forgive you, any of you?!"
"I wasn't my fault! I only wanted-"
"Wanted what?! You had everything, were given everything! So what if you weren't the strongest?! None of that mattered! I know, 'big brother was stronger than me', right?! That's always been your tack! So what!? That didn't matter! At least you were loved!"
"So were you, I love-!"
"You, love me? What a joke! You had everything! I had nothing! That has always been the way of the Uchiha! Those gifted are of worth, those not are worthless!"
"I never thought of you as worthless, I-"
"You?! With your precious eyes!"
"It's not my fault that I have-"
"And your precious son! With his precious eyes!"
"It is not my son's fault that he has the Sharingan!"
"THEN WHY WAS IT MY FAULT THAT I DIDN'T?!"
Angry, red-hot tears flowed freely from Hitomi-sensei's eyes as she glared at Mikoto with all her hatred. For once, it seemed that Mikoto had no defense. The older woman collapsed into a mess of sobs, and whispered, "Oh, nee-chan…"
And suddenly, everything that Keika had ever known about her teacher suddenly made sense. The loneliness, the hatred, the feeling of being cheated and robbed.
Her teacher had pretty blue eyes.
Blue eyes.
Blue would never turn red, no matter how much Hitomi-sensei wanted. In a clan of people famed for Sharingan eyes, she had been shunned, hated, deemed worthless, all because her eyes would never awaken the Sharingan. It had been so very, very like Keika's own story. Hitomi-sensei had been doomed from the moment she was born, hated from the moment that she opened her eyes. When her family looked at her, all they would see were her eyes, and how they were so very wrong. They would not see personal achievement, or intelligence, or merit. All they would see was how wrong her eyes were. And Keika wasn't sure that she was fully talking about Hitomi-sensei anymore. Because the same thing had happened to her. And now, everything made sense. The reason why Hitomi-sensei hadn't mentioned Keika's betrayal to Danzo. Because Hitomi-sensei was just like Keika. Hated for her eyes. She wasn't loyal to Danzo, she saw him as a stepping stone in the world, someone to use to further her own worth. She didn't trust him, because who would trust anyone when they had been hated their whole life.
There was a knock on the door, just loud enough to rouse Mikoto from whatever stupor she was in.
Slowly, like in a sleepwalk, she opened the door. And then she suddenly gasped and asked, "Wha- what may I do for you?"
As Mikoto stepped aside to allow the man into the room, three things happened simultaneously. Itachi stood up and gave a bow, Hitomi-sensei stepped protectively in front of Keika, and Keika simply said, "Wow."
The man was probably in his early thirties or late twenties, with light blue eyes and messy blond hair that fell just to his shoulders, but stuck up all over the place on its way there. He wore the standard Konoha hitai-ate, as well as a traditional green flak jacket and navy blue fatigues that marked the rest of the jonin. He was saddened, for something terrible had clearly just occurred. But that wasn't what Keika was staring at.
She was staring at the most fascinating object that she had ever seen. It was a simple, three-pronged kunai that the older man was holding. But on the handle, oh, on the handle was the most beautiful and intricate seal that Keika had ever seen. Her eyes drank in every line, every single word. She was so engrossed in the marvelous piece of fuinjutsu that she almost missed the conversation going on.
"You are Uchiha Mikoto, right?" The man asked, and then glanced over at Hitomi-sensei, "And Uchiha Kainashi?"
Mikoto nodded, while Hitomi-sensei remained passive and unresponsive. Mikoto asked, strangely worried, "What- what has happened? It's not- it's not Obito-chan, is it?"
The man gave a sad nod, feeling sorry, and partly like whatever had happened was his own fault, "Obito perished on our task to destroy Kannabi bridge. There was a run-in with Iwa shinobi along the way, while I was separated from the group. One of our team was kidnapped by the enemy and Obito… was taken down while trying to save her."
A great wave of sadness passed over Mikoto, who collapsed to the floor, too shocked to truly sob, but not aware enough to stop the flow of tears that poured from her eyes like a leaking faucet. The sadness and horror radiated out from her face, full of a hoping, a dear and pointless hope that she had heard wrong and that this was somehow not true. "Oh god…" she muttered, as if not fully able to come to terms with this, "Obito-nii-chan…"
Hitomi-sensei snorted, "Our little brother? Dead? Let me guess, the fool died protecting someone?" she rolled her eyes, and she truly didn't care, "That idiot always cared too much. He probably spouted some nonsense about teamwork, and comrades, and then when it actually came down to fighting he fell like the weakling he was. Last I heard, he didn't even have his Sharingan."
The man gave her a stern look, as if she had just said something blasphemous, "Obito saved Kakashi on the mission. And he was strong enough to awaken his Sharingan. Perhaps his ideals have more merit than you think," he said proudly, looking her right in the eye.
Greed awoke in Hitomi-sensei's eyes, a deep greed that came from a dark place within her and would never be extinguished, "Oh?" she asked, her voice oddly calm, but buzzing with excitement that had yet to be released, "And then tell me, where is his body? Where are his eyes? Surely you weren't so foolish as to leave such precious eyes behind in enemy territory."
"His right eye was crushed," the man said forecfully, as if he knew why Hitomi-sensei would ask such a thing and exactly why she should not get what she wanted, "Kakashi has his left. Trust me when I say that Obito's remaining eye is in good hands."
"What." Hitomi-sensei said, her voice cold and disbelieving, "This Kakashi is not an Uchiha. How could he ever hope to wield the Sharingan. Give me his eye. God damn it! That eye belongs to me by right!"
"No." the man commanded, his voice holding no leverage, no weakness, only an unyielding command, "Obito's last request was for Kakashi to have his eye," he said calmly, but certainly, "I will not allow his last wish to go unrecognized."
Hitomi-sensei unwillingly bowed her head, "Understood," she muttered.
Who was this guy, Keika wondered. Who the heck could make Hitomi-sensei become submissive? And more importantly, how on earth did he create such an elaborately detailed seal? She had never seen so many words and meanings crammed into such tiny writing.
"Come on Itachi-chan, let's head home," Mikoto said, grabbing the boy's hand with her own and proceeding to practically drag him out of the room, not wanting him to be anything less than 100% safe at the moment.
Itachi waved sadly to Keika, not wanting to leave, but at the same time, he still had that sadness of wanting to get out of here, to leave, to go far away, "I'll see you around I suppose," he said, before following his mother out of the center.
"I'll see you again! Don't forget our deal!" Keika reminded him, waving as well, not wanting to say goodbye, but knowing that she would see him again. She had to see him again. They had made a deal, after all. Deals were not made to be broken.
This deal would not be broken.
She would ensure that.
So she stood there, waving with one hand, smiling a partly fake smile as she watched her friend disappear into the night. Friend? Was that the right word for Itachi, the shy boy who, like her, had seen the bodies? The boy who had so desperately wanted to run away but refused to act on it? The boy who was, without a doubt, carrying the same emotional baggage as Keika? The boy who had seen the same things as her, but unlike her, had found some resolve, some goal, in the chaos? Yes, she decided, it was a good word to describe him.
Lowering her hand, Keika walked up to the tall man and poked him the thigh, which was as high up as she could reach. He looked down at her, surprised, but not openly hostile. "Hey," Keika asked, "Can I see that?" she pointed to the seal written on the kunai.
"This?" he asked holding it up, "It's just a special kunai that I use when I fight." He replied to her question with a faint smile, as if she had the mind of the child that she pretended to be. But he wasn't trying to be rude, Keika realized, he was simply trying to be kind to her.
Keika shook her head, "I don't mean the kunai! I mean the seal!" she said, tilting her head in that same look that she always got when she was examining things, "Hiraishin 'Flying Thunder God'" she read off, "Teleportation, right? That's what it says most clearly, but there are about a million other things written underneath that so it's pretty hard to tell. Jikukan ninjutsu always gives me a headache. From what I can see, you can instantaneously teleport to any spot that has this same marking. So it's not true teleportation, it's more like fault lines that you can use to travel on. It looks like it can only take one person, but that could probably be overridden with physical contact- if the user was touching the companion. How did you make it?"
The man was stunned. Visibly stunned. It wasn't a negative surprise, in fact it was a positive one, like he was honestly glad that she was clever, even if it unnerved him a bit. From the next look on his face, it seemed as though he decided not to ask how such a young child could know such things, instead deciding to treat her as an adult. He crouched down so that he was at eye level with her, "Well you see, the seal looks like only the basic kanji that are the techniques name, but if you look closely," he pointed to the seal, "Each kanji is only… well, it's like tape. The real inner workings are the chakra part, the kanji just act as a binding agent to hold the chakra portion together."
"Oh," Keika muttered, "That makes so much sense. I think of the chakra half as different layers to the same technique, I didn't know that they were so interrelated. Hmm… I must have been doing it all wrong. See I kept thinking that the two were separate, because when I work, it's the chakra half that I use to determine the function, but I've never used kanji in seals before."
The man handed Keika the kunai, "Well, you're not wrong, you just are missing pieces. You have to consider more than simple layers and have to begin thinking of the world as a tapestry, every thread connecting to others. How long have you being studying fuinjutsu, by the way?"
Keika took the kunai into her too-small hands and looked at it with relish, "Umm… two weeks," she said hesitantly. For such a long time, to have been so completely wrong about her theories! Ugh, it made her want to run back to her stack of papers and burn the entire stupid thing.
Perhaps if Keika hadn't been so absorbed in what she believed to be her failure, she would have looked up and seen the shocked expression on the man's face. But Keika did not look up, and instead only heard him say calmly, "Well take a look at it, I need to talk to Kainashi for a moment."
Keika nodded, vaguely aware of him standing up and walking over to Hitomi-sensei. She had drawn herself into her mental world of fuinjutsu, filled with runes and spirals and the most complicated seal designs. The Hiraishin was her latest challenge, her puzzle to solve. This was like one of Hitomi-sensei's tests, only this, this was facisnating.
Then Hitomi-sensei yelled.
"What do you mean, teach!? Do you have any idea whose shinobi you are messing with!? She's studying under Danzo-sama himself!" Hitomi-sensei declared, crossing her arms in defiance.
The man did not seem to get angry with her, instead sighing, and attempting to reason with her again, "She needs to learn Fuijutsu properly. She clearly has a gift and a gift like that should not go untrained. Besides, it was my belief that Danzo-sama's program hadn't much more time before it was cancelled," he said carefully.
Hitomi-sensei opened her mouth about to reply with a furious retort, but then she closed it and ran a hand through her hair, "Fine, damnit. Only one day a week, otherwise I can't train her properly either. And no 'Will of Fire' crap either, all that Senju inspirational stuff is rubbish." She sighed and then glanced down at Keika, "Kamiko, could you come here a moment."
It was a command, not a request, but that wasn't what made Keika paused for a moment before she walked over obediently. The name Kamiko. Her false name, given to her by Danzo. Whatever reason Hitomi-sensei had for using her false name, Keika knew that it couldn't be good. Somehow her fake name signaled the return to the world of technicalities, where her 'official' name must be used. "What is it, sensei?" she asked, leaving off a name, unsure of what to call Hitomi-sensei-slash-Kainashi.
She sighed again, and then looked the man in the eye, "Namikaze-sama is going to be your fuinjutsu instructor from now on. He has agreed to take you off my hands for one day a week. You are not to mention to anyone where you are going. You are not to tell Danzo-sama, or Mitsuo where you are going. Is that understood?"
Keika nodded happily, "I'm going to learn fuinjutsu!? Really?! That's awesome!" she declared, clapping her hands together, "When do I start? What's my first lesson? I've never had a proper teacher on the subject before!"
She couldn't believe this! After so long of Hitomi-sensei telling her that there was no way that Danzo would allow her to learn fuinjutsu, she had finally become used to the idea that she would have to study the subject by herself. And now, she wouldn't have to be self-taught after all!
So after she had waved goodbye to her new teacher, Hitomi-sensei had carried her on her back as they ran through the forest, returning to the Root base. Keika had tucked her head into Hitomi-sensei's shirt, blocking the smell of blood and the sight of the bodies.
It seemed like part of the world had ended.
Hopefully, life would begin again.
