Second Arc:
Komorebi
"Growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together."
James Cash Penney
Kira acknowledged that the pain she felt was hardly from the wound slashed across her arm but instead, the throbbing in her core that seemed to be synchronized with the sound of a heart monitor. Hospitals were unsettling especially when coupled with her sister's case and now, her own bizarre incident. The nurse was stitching her up when the swinging doors opened and Kakashi strolled in.
He rested his hand on the nurse's shoulder to relieve her. She snipped the excess string and passed him the supplies needed to finish cleaning and dressing the wound. When she left, he snapped the privacy curtains shut and gave Kira a long hard look.
"What," she muttered in annoyance as he disinfected her wound. Whatever the ANBU had to say, Kira was sure she didn't want to hear. After everything that had transpired over the past months, Kira had kept everyone at arm's length. She convinced herself it was in her best interest lest she be ruined all over again.
Kakashi, as always, was rather unphased. "It's been happening more frequently, hasn't it?" he asked. By the way she lightly huffed, he imagined he was correct. Before wrapping her wound in gauze, he turned her arm over to inspect the break in her skin where the stitches pulled the rut together tightly and would surely leave a nasty scar. "Look at how the skin ruptured." His finger trailed alongside the lengthy and jagged lesion. "It's not like any of your other scars."
At that, Kira found herself inspecting the older scars on her left arm where the pinkish marks were shorter and seemed to be straighter cuts. Ever since Hikaru's death, Kira had put her all into her training with some rather bizarre results. It seemed that every time her chakra peaked, her skin would burst as though from the pressure of the release. The new abrasion, as Kakashi had pointed out, was quite unlike the former wounds she'd gotten. It stretched the length between her elbow and wrist but in a sporadic way, much like the shape of a river. And it was deep and painfully, too much so to ignore.
"I don't know what to do," she confessed. "I can't predict when and where it's going to happen; it just does. I get this overdose of chakra and it's almost like it doesn't know where to go...so it just breaks out from under my skin."
As Kakashi finished dressing the wound, Kira watched as her fingers curled in. She was supposed to a nin for the Village Hidden in the Leaves and yet, she somehow managed to come out defective. At first, she had welcomed the sudden excess of chakra; it had proven beneficial for her team's difficult missions and yet, she quickly realized the power to be more of a nuisance than anything. She couldn't control it and with each day, the ruptures were becoming more and more violent. She feared that soon enough, she would incapacitate herself and potentially through her team members in the line of danger. That was something she couldn't allow.
Kira hadn't realized that in her musings, her face had scrunched into one of evident distress and Kakashi sighed in order to gently pull her from her reverie. The look dissipated immediately to be replaced by her infamous scowl. "Teach me how to control it," she demanded, hands curled into fists. "I don't want to be a risk to my team. If I wasn't capable of defending myself because something like this—" She held out her arms for him to see her wounds, new and old. "—were to happen again, I know the Hokage would take me from my squad. C'mon Kakashi, help me out?"
Kakashi could admire that about Kira, her loyalty to the village and her fellow nin. She was by no means the strongest kunochi of her age but she definitely was resilient. It was this that he had in mind when he had to turn down her request and hoped he hadn't mistaken her resilience for stubbornness. "There's nothing that I can teach you," he said in a short breath. "Chakra control is one matter but what you're dealing with is separate from that. You can control your chakra and I have sensed it during an influx. That's not your chakra. And I'm not equipped to teach you something I have no knowledge of myself."
Kira's face flashed with confusion, hurt, and anger. She gave an exasperated sound. "You've got to be kidding me! Isn't there someone who can help me?"
"I'm afraid that this is something only your clan completely understands." At her perplexed look, Kakashi sighed in the realization that an explanation was in order. "Your condition is something common to the Tottori clan. Outsiders don't really know much about it and consider it some kind of kekkei gekai gone wrong. I don't know much about it myself but I'm sure someone in your clan can help you—"
Kira scoffed and rolled her eyes. "They're more concerned with the merger than my training. Besides, they don't want to encourage any shinobi behavior lest I make myself unmarriageable. Come on, Kakashi. There's gotta be someone you know who can help me?"
At that moment, the privacy curtain slid open and Kira found herself both annoyed and disappointed with herself for having not detected his presence at once. As Itachi stepped in, Kakashi rose and gave a single nod to the Uchiha to signify that he was leaving. Before he left, Itachi rested his hand on Kakashi's shoulder to stop him.
"Are there any others who know of her predicament?" Itachi questioned.
Kakashi glanced back at Kira for a moment before responding, "Teammates, maybe. Myself but no others that I'm aware of."
"Very well." At that, Kakashi left so that only Itachi and a peeved Kira remained. Itachi stood for a moment, neither he nor Kira fully acknowledging the other's presence. He wasn't one to expect people to regard him because of his nobility but there was something about Kira that had always unnerved him. As he sat down across from the kunochi, he found himself immediately regretting being the first to speak and moreover, saying what it is he wanted to say. "Kirameki," he started and her annoyed façade didn't falter. Apparently, she had never forgiven him for his intervention with the Hyuugas sometime before. A blow to her pride, he supposed. A demonstration of her character, too. He wasn't to be dissuaded.
He took her suddenly by the wrist and turned her arm over so they could both see the bandaged wound. She had made a sound to protest but he cut her off before she could actually speak. "I'm not sure what all you know about your clan," he said, "But it appears to be very little." She was thrown off by his forwardness and clearly offended, but she kept her mouth closed. "What's happening to you," he turned her arm over, "This. This is your kekkei genkai. This is your power wanting to be unleashed and you either learn to control it or it will consume you. And you should know, the latter isn't something uncommon from what I've been told."
Kira snatched her arm back and out of Itachi's reach, narrowing her eyes at him. "And how do you expect me to do control it when no one in my family is willing to teach me? You don't expect me to forfeit my headband, do you?" The thought alone sent her heart pounding in fear.
Itachi rose then and offered his hand so that Kira could do the same. And this was, ultimately, what Itachi regretted most as the smallest of smiles played at his lips.
"That's the thing about the merger," he said slowly. "We're allies now and it's my duty to help you."
Kira was skeptical but found herself considering Itachi's offer as her hand warily slid into his. As he helped her to her feet and their hands parted, she knew that they had sealed the deal with the brief brushing of the palms of their hands.
She wasn't sure what to expect; she wasn't so grateful yet either. Nevertheless, she followed Itachi out into the hospital wing until she fell in step beside him and said, "Kira." Itachi arched his brow quizzically, unsure of what she meant. "Don't call me 'Kirameki.' Just Kira."
If just a ghost of the smile from before, Itachi's lips pulled upward just a bit.
A few months have passed since Hikaru's death (think 2-3). In that time, Kira has gained a number of small scars as an effect of her kekkei genkai.
Ages: Itachi and Hikaru 14, Kira 13, Shisui 16, and Sasuke 5.