Part Seven:
~Kakashi's P.O.V.~
I sighed as I watched Naruto stuff his face with ramen. Iruka sat beside me, smart not to say anything. My search for Katara had ended at a little house a few villages over. They said she had left. I sighed as I looked over at Iruka. He gave me a sad smile and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.
"Kakashi," Naruto said over a mouthful of ramen. "Where is Katara? I haven't talked to her in awhile."
I sighed out a breath and pulled out my book. Reading didn't excite me. I closed my eyes, pressing my hand against the one that wasn't covered by my mask. Naruto didn't know. Sakura didn't know. Sasuke didn't know. Nobody but the senseis knew of Katara's disappearance.
"I just threw a kunai. It was sorta reaction," a man beside me was telling his buddy. "Of course, after I saw it go down, I saw it was a dog. A huge tan dog. I felt so horrible. Then this girl ran up and was crying and yelling over and over to the dog. Apparently its name was Harp. Man, did I feel guilty. I hightailed it outta there."
I snapped to attention. I spun around, scaring all the men surrounding me. "The girl. What did she look like?"
"Well... Shorter, black and blonde hair, long, had it tied back-"
"Where and when did this happen?"
"Well... A few days ago. Outside of... where was it, Adieu?"
"That little town with the pink building that looks like a fish."
I looked over at Iruka, my eyes screaming with an apology. He nodded and lifted a hand. Naruto didn't even look up from his ramen. Harp was dead. Katara would be... God, I hoped she was still alive. That dog meant everything to her. Absolutely everything. More than her own life.
I quickly ran from Konoha. Everybody stared at me wide eyed as I dove between them, not bothering with excuses or apologies. I had my first lead in a few days. She wasn't going to get away this easily. Sasuke was standing in the middle of the training grounds, throwing kunai at targets. I shook my head. He really was going to become a great ninja.
I sighed as I realized that Harp wasn't going to keep her promise. She wasn't going to keep Katara out of trouble. The girl was going to go slowly insane without that dog by her side. I shook my head and continued to run. She was going to be fine. She'll come home and we can go back to how it used to be, I thought to myself.
~Katara's P.O.V.~
I groaned as I woke up, groggy as hell. I immediately knew we were still moving. With a sigh, I looked around, looking for my dog. Then my heart broke as remembered what had just happened. I stirred in Itachi's arms and he shifted me to where I would have laid more comfortably against him. I laughed and looked up at the man who had done so much to me, for me.
"Hey!" he whispered softly as he gave me a smile. "You're awake. I was wondering how long you'd sleep."
I yawned and looked around. Darkness was around us. We were no longer on a trail. I slowly looked around, flinched when part of a tree scraped against my arm. We weren't near any town. I could guarantee it. I looked up at Itachi in suspicion. He wasn't looking at me. Not a good sigh.
"Itachi?" I asked, squirming in his arms. I was scared and nervous. "Itachi. How long have I been out?"
"Well... The rest of us kinda kept you sleeping. We didn't hit you or anything but we just kept you asleep."
"Why."
"Kakashi."
I nearly slapped him. The way he said his name, full of hate. It wasn't right. Kakashi had taken me in when nobody else would. He had shown me that people cared. He was a great guy. And he didn't deserve how Itachi was talking about him, metaphorically thinking about him. Kakashi... The name itself sent me headlong into a brick wall. I was screwed.
"What about him?"
"He caught up with us. So Deidara and Sasori stayed behind to take care of him."
"They didn't kill him, right?"
"Sadly, no."
I smacked him. "Don't be like that! Kakashi took me in when nobody else would. After you killed everything that meant anything to me! Don't think its his fault when it was yours."
Itachi glared at me, his eyes cold and glinting in anger. I nearly flinched away, but everything that had been repressed from the past few days was rising, spilling out of my body in pissed off waves. I glared at him as I walked away from him and over towards Hidan, who was standing near a giant rock. He looked at me, as if somewhat afraid what Itachi would do.
I sighed and leaned against the trunk of a tree. Hidan laughed and spun his hand around in the traditional turn-around sigh. I glared at him for a moment before I turned around, pushing my knuckles into the bark and laughing slightly at the blood that seeped down the grooves of my new found friend. I decided to name him Skeeter.
"Uh..." a feminine voice from behind me sounded. "Can anybody explain why there's a chick currently pounding in the face of a tree?"
"Its name is Skeeter," I said without turning around.
I turned around and looked at the newcomer. I had been correct. The new specimen was a woman. She was average in the build, minus the fact her boobs were slightly larger-than-normal. I almost laughed. She had beautiful orange eyes, purple hair that was nearly as long as mine, and a strange aura about her.
"Who are you?" we asked at the same time.
I laughed at her and shook my head. I had asked first. With a sigh, I leaned back against Skeeter and noted that the large rock had been moved. Of course they would hide a base in a giant ass rock. I looked over at the others who shrugged and walked into the split rock. With a shrug, I walked after them. I gnawed on my bottom lip as I realized that Itachi wasn't walking by me. Maybe he was too mad...
"I'm Katana, by the way," the other girl muttered as she did some fancy hand signs and the rock closed behind us.
"I'm Katara," I said as I fell into step beside her. "Why do I all of a sudden feel like we're going to cause a hell of a lot of confusion?"
She grinned at me. "Because we are."
"Heh."
I sighed and thought back to what had been said to Itachi. I winced at my cruel words. I really had been too hard on him. He didn't deserve any of that stuff to be directed towards him. I dragged a hand through my hair and winced at the dried blood my fingers went through. I growled at myself, and Akira laughed inside of me. I growled again in annoyance.
"Uh Katara?" Katana asked beside me. "Is there a reason we're doing this growly-growly routine?"
"Huh? Oh! I need to shower."
She laughed at me, the sound relaxed and somewhat calming. Nothing like the demon I sensed growing inside of her. "I know. I could smell the blood on you. But its not human..."
I ground my teeth together. "Dog."
"Oh. I'm sorry. Yours?"
"Yeah." I looked at her, and sprinted ahead.
I wasn't prepared to talk about Harp's death yet. I didn't even know how long she had been dead. And Kakashi... What must he think now? Did he think I betrayed him? I bit my lip and dropped my head, staring at the floor while I tried to force the tears back. I gasped when I bumped into somebody. I stepped back, raising my head, mouth opening to begin to apologize.
"Itachi..." I breathed as I bit my lip once again.
"Hey, have you been crying? Did Katana say something...?" he asked as he raised my chin even higher so he could look at my eyes again. His mouth was set into a grim line.
"No. She didn't say anything bad."
"Then what did she do?"
"She asked about the blood that was on my body. She knew it wasn't human."
Itachi's eyes softened slightly. He was concerned, sorry. I smiled at him, laid a hand against his cheek. He kissed my lips lightly and pulled me against him. I wrapped my arms around him and breathed in his scent, feeling safety in the steel of his embrace.
"C'mon," he said as he picked me up and walked off. "Let's go get you cleaned up."
"Don't you mean I should go get myself cleaned up?"
He grinned mischievously. "No. I mean we should go get you cleaned up."
"Mr. Uchiha!"
He chuckled all the way down the hallway.
~Sorry about how short is is. Haha. But yeah... I'm getting used to OpenOffice right now. I don't like it too much. But I will be uploading soon! And I do have secrets that you probably won't like. And yeah... Let me know what you think about it!~
