Chapter 10
The smoky crackling of a fire roused Kiikame from a wakeful slumber. She slowly opened her eyes, not daring to move until she was more aware of her situation.
Kiikame saw Kisame straight across from her sharpening a few kunai, but Itachi wasn't around.
Before she could twist her neck to see anything else, Itachi's voice suddenly cut in, making Kiikame jump slightly with surprise.
"I see you're awake."
Kiikame turned her head to the left as Itachi came out of nowhere next to the tree she was tied to.
"Looks like the Ice Princess is awake after all. She's been asleep the entire time, I thought you may have gone too far, Itachi." Kisame said in his dry humor, a smirk showing off his white razor teeth as he looked up from his kunai.
'Ice Princess, huh? I wonder if Itachi ever told Kisame about my old nickname or if it was something the shark came up with on his own.'
Proceeding to ignore Itachi and Kisame, Kiikame attempted to get up, but failed. Both her arms and her legs had been restrained, and not with just any rope, but with chakra ropes.
Itachi looked down at Kiikame with an emotionless expression.
"You will remain like that until we decide that we can trust you."
"I highly doubt you will ever be able to obtain my trust again."
Anger flickered across Itachi's face, but it was too dark to really determine the depth of it. Was it just slight annoyance or full-blown animosity? She couldn't tell. The only thing that Kiikame could clearly depict in the firelight was Itachi's red eyes, which narrowed dangerously.
"We shall find out in time."
Itachi turned his back to Kiikame, walked to the fire, and sat a few feet away from Kisame. Both began talking in hushed tones, clearly making sure Kiikame didn't hear anything they were discussing.
Irritated and hungry, Kiikame observed the remainder of her surroundings. She noted anything in the vicinity that may assist in an escape should she be presented with the opportunity.
A little while later as Kiikame was pondering how she could turn one of the thick pine branches into a deadly ice weapon, Itachi suddenly interrupted her thoughts.
"Kisame will undo your arm restraints, but it would do you well to remember that we've placed chakra seals on your arms."
Itachi then knelt down, placing two onigiri, a small piece of dried fish, and a container of water at Kiikame's feet.
Almost instantaneously, Kiikame felt the chakra ropes immobilizing her upper body disappear, though the bottom ones only increased in strength.
'Of course.' Kiikame thought, irritated. The ropes had already been strong enough, but now they went from being uncomfortable to completely and utterly miserable. They were squeezing her lower body with an almost unbearable pressure.
Doing her best to ignore the strain of the ropes, Kiikame watched as Kisame and Itachi walked back to the opposite side of the fire, sitting right across from her. Even though they continued their discussion, Kisame and Itachi occasionally glanced at Kiikame, making sure that she wasn't doing anything suspicious.
Turning her attention to her food, Kiikame gently picked up one of the onigiri and took a small bite out of it.
For food that was made for convenience and travel, it was really good! After a slightly larger second bite, Kiikame broke into the center, which was cabbage and seaweed.
'Interesting… I remember cabbage and seaweed onigiri being one of Itachi's favorite foods. I wonder if he made these…'
Once Kiikame politely finished her meal, she drank some water and neatly folded the leaf that her food had been wrapped in. Even when she was in the wilderness as a hostage, she still had manners!
About a half an hour later, Itachi approached her again, taking the leaf and empty water container. Kiikame glanced up at him.
"Thank you."
Itachi merely looked at her for a second, then turned and walked back to his spot near Kisame, who got up and promptly re-restrained Kiikame's upper body.
'You could at least say "You're welcome", Kiikame thought bitterly. 'He's even more closed off than he was when he and Shisui got more involved with the Hokage and village elders.'
Kiikame felt a sting of sadness at the recollection. The three used to be so close. She missed the old days, before they got older and shouldered more responsibilities in the village.
**Flashback**
"Oi, Ice Princess! Wait up!"
Kiikame smiled when she turned around to see Shisui and Itachi running behind her, attempting to catch up.
"What are you two doing? You're late!"
"Late?! As if! You're the one who is always early!"
"Hmph, well maybe you can learn a thing or two from me, Wheel Eyes!"
"Hey! What did you call me?!" Shisui laughed as he looked over at Itachi, "What do you say Itachi, should we take her?!"
Itachi nodded his head in agreement, shouting in a playful tone, "I think we should, Shisui. Watch out Ice Princess, the fire is coming to the melt ice!"
"Is that so?" Kiikame replied, tossing an ice orb up and down into her palm, "Come and see what you can do about it, wheel-eyed weaklings!"
With agility and grace, Kiikame slammed the orb down into the ground from which a giant tower of ice exploded from. Armed with a variety of ballista, Kiikame shot hundreds of sharp icicles at Itachi and Shisui from all directions.
Itachi, being incredibly skilled with kunai, immediately threw ten at the hundreds of icy projectiles, only to quickly follow up with four more that bounced off the others. This wiped out the majority of Kiikame's icicles, and Shisui had disappeared in the midst of all the clanging metal and ice.
Quickly forming an ice shield above her head, Kiikame moved to the side just in time to see her shield shatter into millions of pieces as Shisui dropped in on her from the sky.
Shisui threw a barrage of flaming kunai at Kiikame, who shot balls of water at them to extinguish the flames and throw the kunai off course. Shisui's form suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind Kiikame. He grabbed Kiikame from behind, restraining her and holding his tantō to her neck.
Just as the tantō made contact with Kiikame's skin, she turned into a solid ice clone, trapping the tantō in the ice.
Before Shisui could rip his tantō out of the ice, the entire ice fortress began to melt. Taking advantage of the weakened ice, Shisui yanked his tantō out of the clone and swiftly teleported away from the melting fortress.
Using his Sharingan, he spotted the real Kiikame hiding among the bushes at the edge of the forest.
Realizing she was caught, Kiikame burst out of the bushes flying across ice that she generated under her feet, holding a curved, lightning-blue sword.
Shisui and Kiikame clashed, the tantō and blue sword producing reddish-orange sparks to dance around as the two engaged in an intense battle of bukijutsu.
Then out of nowhere, a giant flock of crows erupted all around Shisui and Kiikame, temporarily throwing them off-guard.
"I see you've sided with the Ice Princess."
Itachi materialized next to Kiikame as Shisui made the observation.
"It's only fair that one of us take her side from time to time."
Shisui smiled and nodded in agreement, then he lowered himself into a fighting stance.
"Prepare yourselves, I won't hold back on you two!"
Kiikame and Itachi immediately stiffened, ready for Shisui's next move. Before Shisui attacked, Kiikame glanced over at Itachi, who was now right by her side.
Itachi noticed her gaze and sapphire eyes met crimson ones. His eyes were filled with something… was it appreciation? No, it was stronger. Did Kiikame dare call it affection?
A warm hand softly brushed the inside of Kiikame's wrist, breaking her train of thought. Itachi had a gentle hold on Kiikame's wrist, barely an inch from the top of her palm. He smiled softly at her, and Kiikame blushed slightly from the unexpected contact.
"This will be a battle of ice and fire, but now you have fire on your side. Do not worry so much, we have the advantage."
Kiikame smiled back at Itachi, moving her hand down to meet Itachi's in a quick display of deep affection.
"Then let us beat Shisui, in the name of ice and fire."
**End of Flashback**
Snapping out of her daydream of the past, Kiikame shook her head back and forth in small, controlled movements.
That all happened such a long time ago, besides, an Uchiha prodigy holding affection for her? Impossible.
Their situation truly was like ice and fire, the two were polar-opposite, forbidden to love the other. It was common knowledge that two of the forces of nature, ice and fire, were natural enemies.
The two could not coexist without destroying the other.
Right then realization dawned on Kiikame. Maybe that was why her relationship with the two Uchiha prodigies crumbled after a time, they weren't meant to coexist, even the natural world forbid it.
For some reason, the thought made her incredibly forlorn and melancholy, and Kiikame felt an all too familiar ache in her heart.
She still cared. She still cared so much about Itachi and Shisui. No matter how much Itachi had changed, and no matter how distant Shisui was now that he had died, Kiikame still cared.
Deep down, Kiikame knew that Itachi and Shisui were, and remained to be the honorable shinobi she grew up with in Konoha. She decided right then that no matter what happened, they would always hold a special place in her memory and heart.
No matter what, even if circumstances forced her and Itachi to fight to the death.
She knew that she couldn't be part of the Akatsuki. Despite the dark events that she experienced in Konoha, it was her home. Living the life of a rogue ninja was not one she was willing to go back to, and she would fight with everything she had to regain her life in Konoha.
What would become of Miri if Kiikame became a member of the Akatsuki? She shuddered at the thought. Miri would be absolutely heartbroken, Kiikame was sure of that. How could she put her best friend, who she'd been through everything with, in that kind of terrible position? How could she desert her like that?
No, Kiikame couldn't. She wouldn't do it, and no one in the Akatsuki could change her mind.
If she couldn't escape, she would fight tooth and nail. She would try to kill Itachi and Kisame and then hunt down the rest of them until they could no longer cause meaningless harm to other villages and shinobi.
Kiikame laughed softly at the thoughts she was having with dark humor.
'I've truly been damned since the day I came into the world. Hopefully I can shed some light on this brutal and merciless way of life, even if just a little.'
Hello Everyone!
Because I will be very busy this week, I wanted to get another chapter out incase I didn't have enough time to write. I hope you enjoy the 10th chapter to Of Ice & Fire! As always, remember to follow/favorite/review if you enjoy this story!Thank you all for your continued support.
Until next time,
-VampireKnightgrlKiwi