Chapter Nine: Where Her Loyalties Lie
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. But I do own Kirari!
The five-year-old boy stood inside the house, watching the scene before him unfold with innocent eyes. Two people stood facing each other by the wall of the Uchiha compound. His sister was standing there, glaring up at their father. He was looking down at her, obviously angered by her unwillingness to do as he said.
"You will take the mission. It is for-" he was cut off by her sharp tone.
"The betterment of the clan. I've told you before, I'll tell you again. I don't care!" She was shaking with anger, her fists clenched at her sides. "You can't control me." Her father stood there, shocked for a moment at her rebellious outburst.
There was a sharp snapping sound, and the young boy's eyes hardened. The man, that wasn't his father anymore, had slapped her. She stood absolutely still, her eyes wide in shock.
"You will do as I say." His tone brought shivers to the small boy's spine. The boy couldn't believe what he had just seen. Kirari looked right back up at her father and smirked. Faster than any of them could see, she pulled out a kunai from the pouch on her leg, and held it in front of her face.
"I don't think you quite understand Fugaku. You can't control me." Before her father could act, she rammed the kunai into the wall, directly in the center of an Uchiha crest. She turned and walked away, leaving a scowling Fugaku standing by himself.
"Kirari." Tsunade's voice brought Kirari back to reality. She looked around the circular office. Only four people including herself were in it.
"Yes?" She said, not looking at the Hokage. Tsunade let out a heavy sigh before speaking.
"I was asking you what you thought of the situation. Your input would be appreciated." She was glaring at Kirari now, and waiting for a response. Kirari looked over at the Hokage with a blank face.
"You want my honest opinion?" Kirari leaned against the wall, but continued to look at Tsunade. "You're about to be attacked by Sound, most of your forces are either gone or injured, and you're still recovering from the last attack. What do you expect me to say, that I think you'll be able to pull through?"
Kirari let out a solemn laugh. "You might as well give up. The chances of this place standing by the time the fight is over are slim to none."
"Good to hear you think we can make it." Kakashi's sarcasm did nothing to brighten the atmosphere in the room.
"That's not our only problem. I've just learned that two Akatsuki members have been sighted heading towards the village." Jiraiya spoke from his corner of the room, looking from Kirari to Tsunade. "And Tsunade-hime, you still haven't told me who she is." Tsunade sighed and spoke.
"Kirari Uchiha, former Uchiha heiress. I'm sure you know of her." She gave Jiraiya a look that told him not to push the questioning any farther.
The four stood in silence for a moment, and then Tsunade spoke. Kirari looked out the large windows, disinterest clear on her face. After a moment, she turned to Tsunade.
"Either tell me why I'm here, or let me leave. I'm of no use to you."
"Actually, you are of use to us." This time it was Jiraiya who spoke. "I'm sure you're well aquainted with one of the Akatsuki heading this way." Kirari's eyes narrowed as Jiraiya continued. "Does the name Itachi Uchiha ring a bell?"
"Enough!' Tsunade yelled. She locked her gaze with Jiraiya and glared. "I want you to leave. Kakashi too. I want to speak with Kirari alone." Both the males looked displeased with what Tsunade had said, but obeyed her orders anyway. When the door clicked shut, Tsunade began ruffling through a stack of paper on her desk.
Kirari stood facing the door, her glare full of enough hate to actually burn it down.
"You know…" said Tsunade, "Glaring at him through the door won't work. And if you attack him you'll be locked up. Besides, I need to ask you something.
Kirari rolled her eyes, but inclined her head towards Tsunade to let her know that she would listen.
"I've been looking through your records, but I haven't found anything important. Some mission reports, and a few medical records from the hospital. But it seems that there should be more. Do you have any idea where the rest could be?"
Tsunade leaned forward, placing her chin on her hands. Kirari leaned back against the wall again.
"Uchiha compound. They didn't want my records to be accessible to just anyone. You're lucky to have found those. You're going to have to search the record files in the compound if you want to know more about me." Kirari closed her eyes and let out a sigh.
Tsunade scowled. She was glad that Kirari's records were intact. The woman was an enigma who refused to provide answers. But the hokage also knew that searching the records in the Uchiha compound would not be easy. She would have to send a team right away if she was to get the information she was looking for before the attack.
"Kirari?" Tsunade questioned. Her only response was another inclination of her head. "Where do your loyalties lie?"
Kirari's head snapped up, and her eyes widened in shock. She quickly regained her composure, and walked up to Tsunade's desk.
"My loyalties lie with two people, and two people only. Who they are is none of your business, and I will not answer any more of your questions." Kirari turned swiftly, and walked out of Tsunade's office. She turned right as she was about to close the door and spoke softly. "I'll be around. Make sure that next time you send for me, the ANBU will know that if I don't want to come, I'm not coming." With that, Kirari closed the door an dwalked down the hallway, not noticing that Kakashi and Jiraiya were standing very close to the door.
She stood there, looking at the blond man in front of her. He looked down at her, a serious expression on his face. It was a simple question, one she should have been able to answer instantly. But she couldn't.
"Well?" He said, his voice cutting like a knife through the silence. She winced unintentionally. Why was answering the question so hard for her? He was the Hokage, and she was a ninja. Questions were supposed to be answered immediately.
"I'll ask again Kirari. Where do your loyalties lie?"
"I…" The words caught in her throat. She hung her head in shame. She had never been this vulnerable before. "I don't know…" Her body began to tremble as tears welled up in her eyes. "I just don't know!" She felt two arms reach around and pull her to the older man. She gasped at the action, but didn't pull away like her instincts told her to. A hand massaged her back and her trembling slowly died away. He pulled away from her and she looked into his bright blue eyes.
"It's okay. You're going to be fine. Just calm down and I'll take you home." Kirari could only nod and wipe her tears away. When she had finally calmed she looked over the edge of the bridge into the water below. The light of the moon reflecting on the water seemed to cause her reflection to multiply into several Kirari's. All of them shaking as the girl on the bridge had only moments before.
Wow, it's been FOREVER since I updated. I feel proud. This chapter was being especially mean to me. And the beast called writers block kept eating my thoughts...
So about this chapter. The second flashback, was originally at the beginning, and not as long. The first flashback was originally not written, and only added because I figured out that I really like writing in italics. You might notice that my flashbacks are better written (in my opinion) than the story. That's because I prefer to write in italics. I think I have a probem...Italics, YAY!!
And my friend MizukiUchiha12 made a fanart!! It's of Kirari and Kakashi from my crack chapterI love Kakashi's face! So if you want to check it out go look u her name (as perviously stated) in deviantart. It's called "Make Uchiha Babies With Me!" On the topic of deviantart... I have one. Same name as this... Selene98. Heck, I have an account for just about everything under the name Selene98, so go ahead and look me up. I bet you'll find me somewhere!!
And an FYI... I shouldn't have been writing this. I SHOULD have been writing my script for script frenzy, but I felt like procratinating. So somepne go check out my profile on scriptfrenzt (dot) com. I've got a sample of my script there. Again, Selene98...
Anyway, I need to thank my reviewers...AkemixHanako(I'll message you with my Akatsuki's info when I stop being lazy...sigh...) SophiaRosalieGibbs, MizukiUchiha12, and Diablo's Heir(you changed your name... it confused me until I figured out it was you...)
So please review... And if anyone can think of a good summary, please, tell me. I hate the one I have...