Well you know it's that time of the week and here is an update.
Leader-sama wasn't happy about the 'death' of Nikkia, Sitka could tell by his voice though he did not raise it. Their next meeting found Sitka there standing on her respective finger without a partner to explain her situation. If was frustrating to say the least. Especially since only leader-sama and the Uchiha could tell what she said by her body language. Her image was just too fuzzy for her just to mouth the words that formed in her mind.
Frustration was especially high when the shark man prodded for what she was saying. The snake man stared at her with an intensity that annoyed her and she stared back. Most of the meeting found them in a blank faced staring contest on Sitka's part and a smirking look on the part of the snake.
She was not comfortable with his gaze on her, him nor the Uchiha. It could not be helped so she endured it for the meeting.
Several weeks passed. Sitka remained at a much hidden base during this time, training. Leader-sama had not yet contacted her for what he wished her to do next. Sitka guessed he was trying to find a suitable partner for her but had not yet done so. She wasn't in any hurry to go anywhere.
It didn't come as any surprise to her when they had again convened for a meeting and Leader-sama announced that she had a new partner. She was surprised however when he announced that it was the Uchiha. The Uchiha had a partner; well he had until Orochimaru had recently defected. Now it seemed that there were two of them without partners. What a good idea to put them together. Sitka personally wasn't crazy about the idea, but right at the moment life was a road and she was just along for the ride. So unless she wanted to do something about it she was going to have to deal.
The leader knowing that neither the Uchiha nor Sitka would be motivated to arrange a meeting arranged a meeting place for them. A halfway point.
She met the Uchiha face to face for the third time. He wasn't any different than when she had seen him before. For a second they stood across from each other in the underground base and just sized each other up. Really it wasn't that much different than the other times they had met only now they were expected to play nice on the same team. The Uchiha was going to find out that Sitka didn't trust anybody that she hadn't grown to know would watch her back. Right now there was a very small amount of people that she would trust. Two to be precise. She didn't think that she would ever trust the Uchiha.
Minutes passed and neither of them moved. Sitka could not, and would not say anything. During the last couple days after the meeting she had spent her time remembering everything she had ever learned about the sharingan and this particular user. She also attempted to drag up memories of her training oh so long ago. She wasn't entirely satisfied with what she came up with but she knew the basics, which was more than he would know about her so she was comforted.
Without words the Uchiha once again turned to the door he had just entered and moved to exit. A strategic move that Sitka didn't approve of. The display of his back to her was meant to loosen her tense stance that she hadn't attempted to hide. It was her way of telling him she didn't trust him in the least. He was trying to calm her down in a sense; relax her. She was going to let him know that it wasn't going to work, no matter what he did. There was going to have to be some serious sweat and blood shown on his part if he wanted to make this partnership a success. As for her, she would cover his back, she didn't care if he didn't trust her or not. She had no quarrel with him and right now her assignment was to cover him, so she would. But there was no way she would tell the Uchiha that, she would let him suffer.
Missions continued on as before only things were much more interesting and difficult now. Trust the Uchiha to make things more difficult as she attempted to watch her back and focus on missions simultaneously. Leader-sama continued to send them out to headhunt, but once in a while there would be a change. They were also keeping close tabs on all of the demon containers currently known in the ninja world. Some missions were simply to collect info from Akatsuki contacts about such containers. Also they were to strike fear into the hearts of such contacts so they knew what would happen to them if information slipped.
On more than one occasion a single ninja, or contact was used as an example so that the others would know their place. Several severely unlucky individuals experienced the excruciating pain of Sitka's torture technique. Sitka saw this as an opportunity to show the Uchiha what would happen to him if he attempted anything. His body language told her he was impressed but not intimidated. This bothered her but she didn't care to take action for such a thing as scaring the Uchiha into a state of submission. Besides she doubted she could, after what he had seen she doubted he would fear even imminent death. They were the same in this. If death were to come knocking she had prepared herself more times than she cared to remember. She assumed he had seen the same.
Despite her distrust of him she respected his level of skill. Never before had she seen anybody with such strength in genjutsu. This was understandable considering his status as Uchiha protégé.
On one occasion they had been given the assignment by leader-sama to wait at one of the hidden Akatsuki bases in sand country. They were to scope out the lay of the Village hidden in the Sand for raids to take place some time in the future.
Sitka considered this mission a waist of time. She guessed that Leader-sama merely wished to pull them off the radar for a short amount of times, for what reasons she was not entirely sure. Lacking knowledge bothered her; she did not appreciate the deliberate way in which Leader-sama kept her in the dark. Judging from the Uchiha's restless demeanour he felt the same.
It was because of these emotions that they found themselves facing off against each other in a place surrounded by a mix of sand dunes and rock faces. Sparing was what was natural for both of them to relieve themselves of the emotions that they were not supposed to possess.
For a moment they stood assessing the others stance. Neither moved save for their eyes, the Uchiha had not yet activated his sharingan but she knew he would the moment she moved. He was strangely reliant on it, something she disapproved of, no one technique should be relied upon to such an extent by its user. But maybe he would surprise her, she sure hoped so, it had been so long since something had quickened her blood. Nothing ever motivated her anymore; there was no sensei to please, no freedom to gain. She was abnormally strong for her age but that was not a goal she had ever strove for, she didn't now. She anticipated this fight with the Uchiha because she hoped he would give her a reason to continue working toward some sort of end. She really was far from emotionless but nothing brought her emotions forward anymore, nothing surprised her, scared her, frightened her, life was strangely…. boring! She didn't enjoy it; she no longer cared about it or anything.
The Uchiha didn't feel the same way about life. She wanted what he had, something to work toward. She admired what made him keep going, maybe one day she would know what it was…maybe.
She made the first move revealing her anticipation of the fight. Her image flickered and she appeared behind the Uchiha swiping with a kunai at his head but he had ducked. She aimed a kick at his head, he grabbed a hold of her foot with a practiced ease but despite this she once again flickered and was gone.
The exchange of taijutsu lasted for a long time. Nearly a half an hour past of close quarter, hand to hand combat. Each of them waited for the other to bring out their true weapons but neither was willing to be the first to do it.
It was Itachi that gave in first, activating his sharingan without flare. The taijutsu very suddenly and abruptly turned in his favour. He landed a few hits on her before she could pull away to a safer distance. She hardly noticed the new ach in her chest and leg as she assessed the situation crouched on a vertical sand stone rock face. The Uchiha remained on the ground as he analyzed her in turn. His body's stance was tensing showing that he expected her to play her cards now that he had drawn his. A slight smile turned up the corner of her lips beneath the fake visage of her snakes.
She flickered and they once again came together in a clash of kunai and flurry of blows. Itachi obviously had the upper hand but Sitka was managing. She loosened her body so it acted more on reflex then on commands sent consciously.
It was in a more severe attack on the Uchiha's part that she finally implemented a use for her snakes other than a false face. The full mass of both of them was pushed out through her pores, and using her chakra she hardened them into a full body shield that was hard but also able to flex with her movements. Now the Uchiha's hits would touch her but no longer bring any sort of pain to her, at least his current attacks. The Uchiha with his sharingan saw what she did. It was her way of telling him that she was ready to see what else he had. She was pushing him to increase his attacks and waited until they overpowered hers before stepping hers up also.
'Interesting' the Uchiha thought absently as she charged again. 'Mind games' he commented to himself as he blocked kicks and punches. A slight tip of his lips showed his amusement, and anticipation. For just this moment he could fight without a gory and bloody end, he could be relaxed and natural. But he could not loose, the nature of his partner he did not know. If he showed weakness he might end up with a knife in his back.
Itachi is officially a part of the story now! I'd love some feed back of where people think this story is going or where they think it should go. I have a general idea but I would love to hear the opinions of my readers. Until next week. TTFN.
