Chapter 10: That Secret Lover
It was that night, I had seen all the elders, met with Madara Uchiha, and was dreading my return home. For some reason I had found myself in my office of the ANBU base. I was staring out the window at the birds and that sun that was mocking me and the sorrows that were about to befall this place. I was lost in thought, my eyes kept flashing back to the image of Sasuke, and he was the only thing on my mind at the moment. Though the Hokage was the first person I would see after the deed was done in order to protect him something still nagged the back of my head, like I was missing one last piece to this puzzle.
I heard the door open and I jumped to look at only to find Kaeda there with a tray of tea and dangoes. "I thought… you would be working…" She whispered.
My head lowered and I went back to looking out the window. "No, Kaeda, I am just thinking." I informed her.
"Anything I can help you with, Captain?" I heard her approach me. I turned to her and saw her eyes looking at me with perfect curiosity.
A moment was needed for everything to come together in front of me. "Kaeda." I said and stepped forward. She stood exactly where she was before and wearing her usual, pleasant smile. I leaned forward and kissed her forehead without thinking about it. "Thank you for everything you have done for me." I told her, I moved to the side and left the room leaving her shocked there. I had marked her as my lover, and the lover I was meant to kill and the lover I would kill and with her the end of my ANBU days, the end of my work for this village and the end of my days as a loyal shinobi of Konaha.
Along with the blood of my family, the blood of my friends would be intermingled.
I never thought that I would be the one shedding the blood of my comrades. With this, the very last two people remaining in the picture frame would be gone.
Kaeda went home that day, early that day and seeked out her mother. She found her in the kitchen making a pot of tea. "Mom." She called out softly. The woman turned to her only child. "Mom… um… can I, um, make some sweets?" She asked softly. The night came, the horrible black night that would be washed in a river of blood. It allowed the girl time to make her way to my house. With the most careful knock on the door, my mother opened it. "Huh, Mrs. Uchiha." Kaeda said timidly.
My mother smiled. "You must be Kaeda." The girl bobbed her head. "If you are here to see Itachi, I am sorry but he is not feeling particularly well." She explained. Kaeda chuckled lightly under her breath. "Is something the matter?" My mother asked, catching the small action.
Kaeda smiled back at my mother. "Actually, Mrs. Uchiha, that's why I am here, I noticed that Itachi wasn't feeling well today when we were in the office. I simply wanted to bring him some sweets in hopes to possibly make him feel better or cheer him up." She said and held out the box. "They are treats that I know he enjoys." She explained to my mother.
The two women exchanged warm smiles finding some comfort and middle ground in the wanting of my well-being. "Thank you, Kaeda. I'll be sure to tell him that you sent these."
"No, thank you." Kaeda stepped back. "Have a good night."
"You as well, stay safe." My mother told her.
On her way, home Kaeda was mindlessly braiding her pony tail, out of the corner of her eye, she felt like she saw a shadow of a man, perhaps an Uchiha returning home, but with the way she bit her lip, it was evident that the feeling she had gotten from this shadow was negative.
But me and this shadow would begin a bloodbath within the walls of the Uchiha complex and destroying my name in every single means possible. At that night everything sweet that anyone could have possibly given me would in one way or another turned to nothing but sand in my mouth.
Kaeda stepped outside and sighed loving the rain like she never before. She took off the straw hat and took off the cloak. She smiled at the rain on her face. "This is nice." She whispered loving the coolness of the rain. She loved the wind that blew; she loved everything about nature all at once. She never appreciated being outside this much. Now because she was forced to be cooped up in a room, she understood what a privilege it was to be able to step outside and smell the morning dew every day.
Kisame chuckled at her blissful expression. "So I take it the pet is enjoying this?" He asked.
She smiled, "My name is Kaeda." She said.
"Kisame."
"I know." She said. "And Itachi just informed me of your enjoyment from cutting limbs off." She said and took a few more steps towards the edge of the balcony they were on.
The fish man watched the captive girl closely as she danced around in the rain and wind while he pondered her reason for being there. "May I ask you a question?" Kaeda froze in her tracks and looked back at Kisame. "You are an ANBU and we let you out, why are you not running away or tried to contact someone?"
Kaeda looked at him. "I haven't been an ANBU for years. It's hard to raise a teenager when you are never there. I gave up some things in order to protect someone important. Being an ANBU was one of the things that I had to sacrifice. I no longer have the endurance to run that far, nor do I have the means of contacting anyone for help anymore. The only thing that I have to show of the power that I once had is a tattoo that all ANBUs are given." Kaeda said, "Plus, you have an enormous amount of chakra, you could outrun me and outdo my energy."
Kisame chuckled, "You're smart." He stated regarding her last comment. The girl shrugged off the compliment. "And I assume that the teenager you gave up your position for was… Sasuke?" Kaeda nodded. "Sasuke is still of some emotional value to Itachi."
Kaeda turned away from him. "No, he is a means of getting more power, another pawn to test if he is strong enough. As if him killing his entire clan wasn't proof of his power. He's willing to kill his little brother too. Just as long as the boy is strong enough and for him to become strong, time needs to pass." Kaeda was fiddling with her hands in order to keep herself talking and not think about how much the topic upset her.
"And where does your role play into the conflict?" Kisame asked.
He watched Kaeda turn back to him. "I'm holding Sasuke back from power… because I care for him."
Kisame was beginning to enjoy this. He had gotten more information about Itachi in the past few moments than in the few years that he had been with Itachi. "Who are you to Itachi?"
The Konaha shinobi sneered at the question as if it was a rotten joke to her. "Who am I to him? I don't know, but I know who I used to be." She looked at Kisame and her hand reached up and cupped her throat as if to shield it from the past bruising and damage Itachi had once done to it. "I used to be his first cadet, his right hand and I used to be one of the two remaining members of his ANBU team, him being the other one."
Kisame smirked. "Itachi and I have a history… I suppose, but he is very quiet about his past and what he has done and how he feels about things-" He didn't have time to complete his thoughts because of the sheepish smile Kaeda was wearing. "What?"
"It's good to know he hasn't changed much then." She stated happily before the thunder in the skies played like a child with drums.
Itachi had finished clearing the room and clothing of any sort of weapons, except for one last kunai that he was currently holding in his hand. She came so close the other day. I didn't think that she was would actually have the audacity to try to kill me. I suppose I underestimated her again. Clever girl. Itachi sighed heavily. I should move her to another room, this could be dangerous.
He left the room and placed the kunai into the nearby kitchen since he was in no mood to go all the way down to the armory for a single kunai. He grabbed himself a cup of water and continued his journey back to his room. He thought long and hard about where he stood. Perhaps… a nice cell. No, no. Any form of imprisonment that she is familiar with she has the opportunity to escape. Itachi mauled his brain over the idea of returning her to Konaha. No, that would jeopardize Akatsuki and my staying here.
The thunder roared in the sky. He got to his room and flipped the lights off before Itachi looked out the window. I should get to bed. He thought. He set the glass of water down on his nightstand after taking a few sips from it. He pulled the covers back and slipped into his bed. He nuzzled in getting comfortable for once allowing himself to relax. Kisame will return her soon and he will be careful that she isn't being loud. With a few more buzzing thoughts he drifted to a restless sleep, right from one nightmare to another.
I felt the tears rolling down my face and my hands trembling as a clung onto my sword. My body wanted to stop, I wanted to stop and I had to pull everything in me to keep myself from stopping. "You really are a gentle child."
Itachi felt a small gasp leave his lips as he woke up in cold sweat, his mangekyou glowing in the dark, an uncharacteristic feeling of fear and sorrow washing over him. "I-Itachi?" A drowsy voice asked. A heat unlike any Itachi had ever known washed over him. He began to pant his body not listening to him. He sat up and tried to cool himself by moving all the covers off of him and removing his shirt. He was hot and unreasonably so. He began coughing in a painful manner, his chest felt like stone and his lungs felt like they were tightening beneath the barrier.
Kaeda stood from her place on the coach and flipped on the lights. She rushed to his side. "What's wrong?" She asked him, her own eyes barely awake.
Itachi looked up at her but his eyesight had gone cloudy. Affects from the sharingan? He asked himself before shaking his head, silent to the girl. No, this is different. This isn't just my eyes… it's my whole bo… He couldn't even finish his own thoughts before his upper body lost its strength and began to fall back. "Itachi? Itachi!" Kaeda called out to him, but he could no longer hear her.
She began to shake him and tried to even heal him but no avail. She rushed to the door. "Help!" She shouted into it. She kept screaming the word at the door but no one seemed to hear her. Kaeda began to panic. She looked at the door and then at Itachi. "Sasuke forgive me…" She whispered to herself and rushed back to the bed. She pulled Itachi's arm over her shoulder and dragged him up. She brought him to the door and used his hand to trick the seal on the door that it was him. With that she stepped outside still barely carrying Itachi at her side.
"Help!" She shouted again. This time she saw two men sticking their heads out of their rooms.
The blonde one approached her. "You, what happened?"
"I-I, I don't know, he just woke up and started coughing and then he just collapsed." She tried to explain but her head was spinning, she was sure she sounded like an idiot.
"Oi! Hidan!" He called to the other man down in the hall. "Get Kakuzu and Kisame." The white haired man there nodded and started leaving. "Can you help me get him to the medical room?" He asked. Kaeda bobbed her head. Deidara pulled the other arm over his shoulder. "I hate this guy." He said as he started walking.
"Then why are you helping?" Kaeda asked.
"Because my master would kill me." The man answered. "My name is Deidara and yours?"
"None of your business." Smart girl.
They took Itachi to, what seemed like, a hospital room and Deidara left. Kaeda settled his head down gentle but once she rested his head completely on the pillow Itachi started coughing again, this time worse. Her hands immediately went to pick up his head again before she realized that he was coughing up blood. She jumped and stepped back. Kisame came into the room and saw the blood as well.
Kisame went to her. "I don't think you should be here."
"No, I have to be." She said. I think… I think Kisame figured it out.
Kakuzu stepped in. "If he isn't badly sick, I will cut someone's heart out." He muttered sleepy himself.
Kaeda noticed a cloth on a table and went to reach for it. Kisame grabbed her arm and yanked her back to his side. "He's coughing up blood." Kisame said.
Her hands immediately folded together like in prayer, "And his burning up, please do something."
The sleepy man was quick to respond, "Shut your mouths and get out." Kakuzu snapped.
Kisame picked up Kaeda with ease and with only one arm. Her feet tried to reach the ground as he brought her to the door. "Let's go, pet." He said. Don't worry too much, Kaeda.
Kisame shoved her out the door. "B-But! Please, I am a healer, I can be there-!"
"A healer, not a medic." Kisame told her. Well… she used to be for a short period of time, but you wouldn't know that, would Kisame?
She looked flustered, panicked, and unsure of herself and what she was meant to do. "Can I make him some soup at least?" She asked feeling very useless. "Just that, some soup to help his system clear up?" She whispered. "I need to do something to help, I need to. I am his right hand, I need to help him." She begged, lowering her head into her hands. Kisame couldn't help but smirk at this.
After a moment of analyzing the situation he finally let out a sigh, "My, my, you are a handful." He began to walk but Kaeda stood still. "Well? Are you going to make the soup or not?" He asked after a few steps and Kaeda dashed forward after him.
I stirred trying to reach the surface but I felt nothing but being pushed down deeper and deeper into darkness. My hands reached up and tried to grasp something, anything. I felt someone grab my hand and held me in suspense. I knew the hand of my best friend. He was holding me up, supporting me even when I was so completely low. "Don't lose hope, Itachi." Of course, Shisui.
Itachi's eyes began to flutter open and his sense of smell became overwhelmed by the smell of salmon. "Good to see some color in your cheeks, princess." Kisame's teasing voice rang in his ear like it was a trumpet. Itachi rolled his heavy eyes. Slowly as his senses began to return to him he felt a weight pressed on his hand and many needles in him, however all stimuli around him felt ten times worse than they should. "You gave us all quite the scare."
His obsidian eyes went to the source of weight on his hand and found Kaeda asleep but her hands holding his. Itachi slipped his hand out of hers and pushed himself up with his hands before wincing in heavy pain. "What happened?" He asked.
"You are very sick." Kisame said and gestured towards the bowl of soup beside him. "And you also have a very dedicated shinobi at your side." Itachi glanced at the soup. "You can eat it. She didn't poison it." Itachi had to succumb to his hunger and reached out and took the bowl. "Kakuzu said that you are in poor health, he advised that you take medicine and see a healer daily, but considering you are keeping one in your room… there's no problem."
Itachi began to eat the soup. "Why would I have her heal me? She is a Konaha shinobi, she can't be trusted."
"But she trusts you." Itachi's eyes glared at Kisame as the fish man smiled. "I promise not to utter a word." He said. "I will tell no one that she was the lover from once upon a time and the fact that you lied to me when I asked. Is that why you brought her with your? Are you getting sentimental on me, Itachi?"
"She was in the way…." He thought to the night of the massacre. "She is always in the way; I just had to remove her."
"Why not kill her? Are you going soft?" Kisame asked, which was quickly responded by Itachi's sneer. "I guess not. Just remember there will come a time where you will need to kill your comrade to save yourself." Kisame warned.
"And I've told you a million times..." his hand, without Kisame noticing, slide next to Kaeda's head brushing her hair, "we are not fish. We are human."
Two days later, Itachi and Kaeda returned to Itachi's room. Well, Itachi was still a bit weak from his episode but Kakuzu declared that the medical area was an experimentation center not a hospital. It was a pain to get out of bed and onto his own feet but he did it and without voicing a single complaint. Itachi had not even spoken to her in those two days. He had pretended like she didn't exist, which had made it two long grueling days for Kaeda. She wanted him to say something to her. Anything at this point! It was so utterly depressing that she had helped him and he refused to even give her the time of day. Once they got into the room Itachi contented himself with picking up one of his books and sitting on the small couch she had been sleeping in.
Kaeda sighed and went to his bookshelf and looked through the bindings at the titles. 'The Complete History of Five Great Shinobi Nations', Kaeda examined it and nodded at the idea of reading this book. She took the rather thick book and brought it to Itachi's bed. She sat there, one leg off of the bed while another foot rested on her opposing knee to create a platform of the book. She leaned back against his pillow so it helped her sit up. She opened up the first village and began to read about the history of the Land of Earth, Iwagakure.
The young kunoichi looked over at Itachi who had his usual cold expression. She looked to see the cover of his book and ended up seeing was that it was 'Forbidden Ninjutsu: Harming the Strength of Villages'. "Are you serious?" She asked. Itachi looked up at her, confused by the sudden outburst in the midst of silence. "You are one of the strongest shinobi in Konaha and you are reading the history of Forbidden Ninjutsu? Do you even have a single Forbidden Ninjutsu in your arsenal?" She asked.
Itachi was taken back for a moment by her sudden and blunt behavior. Yet again, she was like this sometimes when they were young, especially when Youhei messed up her filing system, it drove her up the wall. He assumed that he was driving her up the wall as well with his long silence. She would somehow be blunt yet polite and gentle. Itachi shook his head and didn't reply, just went back to his book. Reading the minor chapter on Orochimaru and his mass gathering of powerful forbidden techniques, he thought about how every piece of the chess game was moving and continued to push forward on his agenda.
Oblivious to the deep thoughts of the shinobi, the kunoichi groaned, attempting to get his attention. Needless to say, she failed in the task. At least, he remembered that she existed. She smiled at him and looked back at the window beside the bed. Itachi raised his head when he heard her getting up and going to stare out the window. A taste of freedom and they want more.
About two months had passed since Sasuke had seen Kaeda at all, hadn't heard from her and hadn't gotten a letter from her either. As he laid down silently contemplating things in his hospital bed, his mind drifted to one logical person. Itachi Uchiha. He remembered his last encounter with him and it made his skin boil. "Right now, I have no interest in you..."
He could hear Sakura and Naruto entering, both of them talking nonsense, things that he didn't care about, he was just trying to get the image of Itachi out of his mind and then he thought about Kaeda. The thought of adding another corpse… the corpse of one of his best friends to the pile of the massacre made his head reel with thoughts. Naruto's voice began to plague his mind, the fact that Itachi had gone through the trouble of getting into Konaha for Naruto instead of him lit his eyes with fire and his teeth grinded together with the tension he was feeling.
"You are weak. Why you are weak? It's because you don't have enough…hate." Itachi's voice rang in Sasuke's head.
Sakura had cut up an apple for him and as the slice she had picked for him approached Sasuke, he knocked it out of her hand making the pink haired kunoichi jump. The apple went flying and unfortunately hit Naruto who was recovering from Sakura's punch.
"What?!" Naruto said as the plate clattered on the floor. "What happened?" He asked.
"S-Sasuke?" Sakura whispered, frightened from his intense glare and his sudden action.
Naruto looked at his comrade. "Huh? What's going on?" He asked. Sasuke glared at him and Naruto simply gave him a sheepish look, confused at this one-sided hate. The scowl Sasuke developed on his face made the blonde haired boy jump. "Wh-What?! Y-You don't have to glare at me like that!"
Sakura looked between them, frightened and confused. "Hey, Naruto…" Sasuke began.
"What is it?" Naruto replied.
"Fight me… Right now!" Sasuke shouted.
"What?! Here you are, just treated by Old Lady Tsunade." Naruto said, taken back.
"Just fight!" He shouted, his sharingan activating. "You think you saved me? I don't care if she's the Fifth Hokage or whatever, but… she should've just minded her own business!"
"What?!" Naruto said, become defensive.
Sasuke jumped out of his bed. "You said you wanted to fight me, right? I'm saying let's do it now!" The two of them were now staring face to face. "Or have you chickened out?" He asked with a cocky smirk on his face. Naruto teeth began to grind against each other in anger.
Sakura stood from her chair and stood beside them. "S-Sasuke. Hey… what's going on?!" She asked worried about them. "Naruto, you say something too!" She begged trying to break their staring contest and end the waves of anger that were flowing back and forth between them.
Naruto smirked. "This is perfect! I was just thinking I wanted to fight you!"
"Stop it, the both of you… okay?" Sakura said trying the best she could.
With glowing red eyes, Sasuke pointed his head towards the door. "Come with me." He said to Naruto. He began to walk away. Sakura stood back watching Naruto follow Sasuke and taking in the angry aura they both were emitting.
Sasuke and Naruto went to the top of the building where all the laundry was hanging out to dry. They both walked to the middle of their new battle ground and stood there facing each other. Naruto laughed a little at Sasuke. "What's so funny?" the raven haired boy asked.
"Nothing's funny, I'm happy!" Naruto stated with his usual bright grin. Sasuke was taken back for a moment. "When I think I can finally beat you here!"
Sasuke's expression became a hateful scowl. "What did you say? Don't talk foolish, you failure!"
"I am not going to be a failure forever!" Naruto exclaimed. Sasuke glared back at him. Sakura entered the scene a moment later. She wasn't sure whether she should take a step from the door frame, whether it was safe.
"You… a loser like you better not act all high and mighty!" Sasuke snapped at Naruto.
"Ha! It's unlike you to lose your cool and raise a fuss!" remarked Naruto. "So uncharacteristic, it couldn't be that you picked a fight and then got scared, could it, Sasuke?"
"Just bring it, now!" Sasuke shouted his own cocky smirk on his face.
"Put your headband before that. I'll wait."
"I don't need such a thing…"
Naruto glared at him. "Just do it!"
Sasuke smirked again and pointed at his forehead with his thumb his hand in a fist. "You wouldn't even be able to put a single scratch on my forehead!"
Naruto shook his head with a light scoff. "You're wrong!" He held the metal in between his thumb and pointer finger. "I say this is a testament to fighting on equal terms as a Leaf Shinobi!"
"And I'm saying stuff like this is acting high and might!" Sasuke yelled back. "Do you think that we're equals?!"
"Yeah, I do! I've never once thought that I'm inferior to you!"
"You're an eyesore!"
"That's because you remain weak! Little Sasuke!"
"Naruto!"
"Sasuke!" Their battle began as they rushed to each other fists clenched and ready to fight.
When both caught each other's fist and stared at each other only a more experienced shinobi who had seen battles one too many times with and the hate that came with the shinobi world they would see a familiar clash. A clash that had been seen in every generation, the friends, the brothers who had become foes.
Itachi watched Kaeda sleep on the couch as he stood near the window looking out. Everything is beginning to move and to turn. All the powers of the game are moving and everyone has made their mark. It's your turn, Sasuke. What will you do with the options in front of you? How will you act from here on out? Will you be the person I know you are or will you surprise me and all the other players in this game?
Itachi opened the window letting the humid air from the rain into the room. "Senju and Uchiha. How typical." He whispered under his breath.