Chapter Eleven

No, she thought, I can't let him get away. Not again. She shook out of her petrified state and left Sasuke - who she hoped was still alive - to chase after the two cloaked ninjas. Finally, after all these years, she finally saw Itachi again and of course he would be running away from her. "Get back here, you goddamn coward!" She shouted. She heard laughter and then his partner stopped while Itachi continued ahead. It was obvious - this man wasn't planning to let her through.

"So many young ninjas willing to throw away their lives today," the man chuckled.

"You look like a shark," Hanako commented distractedly which earned her another snicker. Although he seemed easy going, the huge sword behind his back and the fact that Itachi would associate with him clearly indicated he was both dangerous and skilled. She quickly formulated a plan in her head.

"I don't know why I stayed back to handle you, but hey, if it gives me a chance to fight, why not? And for once, Itachi didn't stop me." He pulled out his Samehada which Hanako recognized immediately. You could say that after all of her run in with kenjutsu, she starting doing her research on swords.

"You can't slice through me with that sword if you can't catch me," Hanako commented, then in the next instant, her eyes changed into the Sharingan that was all-too familiar and her face broke into an excited grin, adrenaline rushing. It wasn't every day where the opportunity of a fight with the Akatsuki presented itself.

"Let's see about -"

"It's over."

And that was it.

Before Kisame could even get a word out, Hanako flicked herself directly behind him, charged her lightning chakra to her hands and directly over his heart, her arms around him and fingers digging into his chest. Her other hand was on his arm, chakra paralysing the muscle. He didn't seem surprised and that shook her confidence.

But then...he laughed.

For a quick moment she thought he used some sort of clone jutsu and she was about to turn around but still, Kisame was in front of her. His hands lost grip on the sword and it came crashing down loudly as the scales of the sword started retracting.

"You're pretty fast." He complimented.

"I'm more than just pretty fast," she said. She didn't know why she was talking easily with this man when she should be killing him and going onwards to Itachi but something made her stay. Maybe it was the fact that this was the person her ex-comrade was spending all his years with. Heck, this was her ex-comrade's new comrade. Maybe this was some sort of shinobi-version of jealousy, she didn't know, but still she stayed.

"You're Hanako Hyuga," Kisame said but his voice was getting shaky now since her fingers were still buried in his chest. She felt his blood drop down her nails and between her knuckles. "Go ahead, go to him. I couldn't care less."

Her nails and lightening chakra sent a shock to his heart, while the other hand quickly targeted his limps to prevent mobility for awhile. And then she ran off. After Itachi... She thought she had her troubles in front of her now - finding Itachi who was probably miles away - but instead, she was moving for less than a minute when she suddenly stopped and stood her ground on the edge of the forests next to a river. Itachi was standing there, waiting for her.

That's not good, she thought, Itachi's had always been good with water elements. She wondered quickly about how pure it was, hoping that maybe it would conduct electricity...

"Itachi Uchiha," she said dryly, "well it's been a long time. Maybe you didn't get my message while you were out murdering clans overnight, but here's the gist of it," she stopped, "I am going to kill you."

If it wasn't for the absolute seriousness in her little smile and threat, Itachi may have thought she was the same girl years ago. But her eyes shone with well assurance of following through with her message. It was exactly why Danzo wanted her dead...because she was a definite threat. Too late for that now, he thought, but he did not regret it. Not one bit.

"Hanako," he closed his eyes, making plans in his head, "it's good to see you again."

"I wouldn't think that with you running away and everything." He heard the sounds of lightening sparking.

"I wasn't running away," Itachi stated and he opened his eyes and she reacted with a glare. His eyes were still black - no Sharigan. She took that as an insult, as if she wasn't even a strong enough opponent to use his kekkei genkai. She wanted to do the same, to be on equal terms with him, but she knew that she stood no chance of following his movements without it.

He stared calmly at her, looking at her face, at her eyes. She looked exactly the same - yet completely different. The long dark hair and eyes to match, and strangely enough that scar-like dimple that ran down one cheek was more familiar than anything. "I'm not going to fight you, Hanako."

"Who said you're going to have a choice?" She stopped talking and then started racing towards him, her chidori stronger than it was five years ago. Itachi, having already easily deflected another chidori only moments ago, was not concerned. Hanako ran up to him, and she -

Damn.

It was a genjutsu.

His body blurred off and disappeared. Slowly, she turned around and several feet away from her was Itachi, his face half hidden with the collar of his coat, his eyes still calm as if he was merely observing a show. A growl escaped her lip and she hated herself for falling for his stupid tricks. And what's worse was that his sharingan was still out of sight. Standing up straighter, she walked to him slowly, one hand in genjutsu release while the other summoning up lightening.

"Hanako, really," he sighed, "what do you think you're getting out of this? What do you want to leave here with? The pride of killing me?" This made her pause, but she hid her feelings. She released her chakra and stood in front of him.

"I want to know the truth," she said through her teeth. He didn't respond for that was the one thing he could not give to her.

"You need to move on, Hanako." She ignored the aching feeling she got in her chest at the sound of his voice saying her name. It wasn't just the familiarity of having heard her name in so long, but it was the way he said it.

"You killed everybody," she said her eyes wide with disbelief, "and you're telling me to move on? To hell with that! I need to know why you did what you did, and why you kept me alive when you were willing to murder Shisui."

This caught him off guard. He didn't expect her to care for Shisui to even mention him, after all, nobody has all these years. Out of everybody, he did not expect Shisui to mean so much to her...But he couldn't give her an answer, so he insisted his point. "You're alive because I saw no need for your death -"

"But you saw the point in murdering your mother?" She shouted, her hand reaching out to him.

His eyes flashed at her in anger that broke through his unreadable mask. Her guard shot up immediately and she moved away. Mentioning his parents like that...it hit too close to home - his parents death was...unbearable but it had to be done and she would never understand why. Her innocence of the situation, however, didn't smother his annoyance.

"It was an Uchiha clan massacre, and you are not an Uchiha." He said coldly. His voice was sharp. "Your Sharingan is merely that: a Sharingan - not a representation of my clan. My affairs are my own. Get on with your life and do not even allow yourself to further indulge in heroic ideas like trying to avenge a clan that was not even yours to begin with."

This struck her silent.

She stared at him, lost in the moment and then looked down like a scolded child.

"Itachi." It was Kisame. "We should get going." Itachi turned just barely to his partner and nodded, knowing that he killed the spirit in Hanako. It troubled him and he knew that he would probably beat himself up mentally later...that he would replay the way the light in her eyes (that he so clearly remembered) had dulled and turned away from him.

He couldn't leave her staring at the ground like that - even if it was him that crushed her. His actions were contradictory but he didn't care, he needed to give her a reason to have that passion again. Itachi's eyes softened immeasurably, as if he had no burden at all and he was once 13 again. She wasn't looking at him, but Kisame caught it immediately and could not hide the utter shock he felt. I guess Itachi's got a heart after all, the rogue thought.

"The truth," he said slowly and she immediately noticed how familiar his voice was, "is dead and buried in the Leaf village." With the Hokage. He stared at her intently, hoping she would look knew the possibility of her understanding his hint was slim, but if she were to find out...it may change all of his plans. Yet still, he wished that maybe, she would understand. And when she did, maybe she would hate him just a little bit less.

l-l-l-l-l-l-l

"Sakura?"

The pink haired girl turned around, green eyes brimmed with tiredness. She blinked. "Hanako! You're back!" She turned to Sasuke to check on him quickly and habitually before she looked back at the dark haired kunoichi and immediately realized that something changed in her. She looked bare, her emotions visible on her face. Hanako slowly walked towards her and sighed.

It had been several days if not weeks since she was last here. After seeing Itachi again, it was as though every single thing that she thought was stable was thrown into havoc. Now she had no idea what to do with the rest of her life. Such a teenage problem, she thought. Yet she was back and the only thing she could do was offer help.

"I saw Lady Tsunade coming towards the Village. She should be here soon and get Sasuke back up and running. I'll be with Kakashi." Hanako said and with that, she left to the other room. She took off her coat and threw it to the side. She stared at the shinobi in front of her, and slowly, got lost in her thought.

When she heard the door open and a rather excited boy talking, the only acknowledgement she gave was her eyes that slid to the blonde ninja in bright orange jumpsuit and the Sannin. Hanako, still feeling rather depressed and tired, did not move.

"Now Kakashi sens - HUH? WHO ARE YOU!" The boy pointed a finger at Hanako, his face slightly eccentric. This girl's pretty! And way too young for a guy like Kakashi! That creep, I wonder what -

Hanako got up restlessly and moved out of the way. Tsunade looked at her, her golden eyes suspicious. "I know you," she said slowly, "you're Hanako Hyuga."

"H-Hyuga?" Naruto repeated and stared at the dark haired girl. Her eyes were black - not at all like the clear lavender that Hinata and Neji had. "Wait a sec! Why are you here? Do you know Kakashi? Huh?" He tried desperately to get the two kunoichi's attention but Tsunade was frowning down at the younger girl, while Hanako just look like she couldn't care less.

"Well, your past is not my business," Tsunade concluded.

"I appreciate that," without a doubt, there was a genuine touch in her voice that surprised the future Hokage, "thank you."

Hanako found herself slipping to the corners of the room, as if embarrassed to be in the Hokage's presence. She was in the state of self hatred, and she knew that she was not a ninja of the Leaf village or honourable or any of that. Especially with all the mistakes, all the things that she had abandoned and ran from. With each passing moment, Hanako learned to hate herself in more ways and wasn't snapped out of it until Kakashi made a move and got up.

He sat on his bed, his eyes dead and tired and completely unfocused. Tsunade moved back and at her hands at her hips, she let out a loud sigh. "Disgraceful." She said. "To be taken completely out of the game by two low life punks like that. I thought you were suppose to be the best."

Kakashi still seemed out of it. "Sorry to...disappoint you."

The sound of Kakashi's voice made something stir inside of her. She looked up and Kakashi met her eyes. For a moment, their eyes locked and she knew that they would be having quite a long conversation after this. The other ninjas were talking but they, too, left.

"What happened?" Kakashi asked, his voice still empty with fatigue. Hanako took a glass and gave it to him but he ignored it.

"Let's see," Hanako said, and it was horrible because both of them seemed completely lifeless, whereas Kakashi had an excuse but Hanako was just simply pathetic. "You were knocked out for a while, Sasuke ran after Itachi, I'm guessing that Itachi knocked him out as well, that little blonde kid got Tsunade here somehow and then she cured everybody and happy ending."

"I see," he said and then he looked at her. "And what have you doing this time?"

"Moping about how much I despise my existence," Hanako smiled. He sighed and looked at her considerately, both his eyes open and gazing. "I have no motivation right now, but I'm sorry. I really should have came back to the village to help as much as possible...it's just that..." she realized she had no excuses.

"You're a good kid, Hanako," Kakashi said and then swung his legs out of the bed. He tried to stand but he stumbled and Hanako had to catch his fall. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it, comrade."

l-l-l-l-l-l-l

It was nightfall by the time they finished talking. Hanako left for fresh air as Kakashi prepared himself for the missions he would be sent out on tomorrow during daybreak. Hanako wandered around the village, trying to not get lost in her thought as she so often do. She heard a step. "Hanako Hyuga?"

She turned around as three jonin stood in front of her. Hanako frowned. "Yes?"

"You've been requested a meeting with Danzo Shimura."

[ End ]

This one was long, I'm sorry for that! Hope you enjoy, nonetheless.

I appreciate all the reviews the last few update has been getting, so so so so much! And I hope you continue to like this story :)