The Ring
Chapter 12
Wolves
Shiki stared out the window as she took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. Temari glanced at her in surprise before glancing at her brother questioningly. Gaara shrugged and studied Shiki with concern, hoping her eyes weren't changing in the middle of class. Shiki sighed again and this time caught the attention of the science teacher, Kurenai.
"I'm sorry Ms. Uzumaki, does the human anatomy bore you?" Shiki's head snapped up and she stared at her with vacant eyes.
"I'm sorry, what?" She asked blankly, Kurenai frowned and stepped a little closer to Shiki.
"Are you alright? Are you sick?" Shiki laughed softly then and Gaara was struck by how hollow it was. This time it wasn't only Temari who glanced at him with questions, he could only shake his head though.
"I guess you could say that." Shiki commented, a strange smile on her face as she stared at the teacher. Kurenai began to take a step back before she managed to catch and steel herself.
"I'm writing you a pass to the nurse, I want you to go immediately." She said firmly, staring at the redhead intently. Shiki sighed as she stood up and grabbed the sticky note Kurenai held out to her.
"Alright." She said, resigned as she headed out not even bothering to wave goodbye to her friends.
The Ring
Shiki stared at the ceiling of the nurses office letting her mind drift to thoughts about Itachi and she sighed again. Kurenai was right, she was sick, just not the kind of sick everyone was thinking. She, Shiki Uzumaki, resident tomboy, smartass, and Ring fighter, was lovesick and over an Anbu member. Shiki groaned as she put her arms over her face and blew out her cheeks in frustration.
Stupid Itachi with his long black hair, his sexy smirk, deep voice, and soft lips. Shiki cursed herself as she shook her head to get rid of the memory of him kissing her not just once, but three times. The way he'd looked when he'd leaned in and that expression in his eyes as he'd pulled back and watched her. The way his lips turned up at the corners or how his shirt…
"UGH!" The nurse, Shizune, ran in as her patient let out a scream and stared for a moment before jumping into action.
"SHIKI, STOP BEATING YOUR HEAD INTO THE WALL!"
- The Ring
Itachi walked down the hallway at the Anbu Headquarters and frowned to himself. Tsunade had walked in with news of a raid that had occurred late the night before. It apparently had connections to Orochimaru, but she hadn't told them how.
"This is so exciting, un!" Deidara exclaimed with a giant smile, bouncing a little as he walked beside his raven haired coworker. "The first break in awhile concerning Orochimaru, un!" Pein looked up from a book he was looking at and frowned at the overenthusiastic blonde.
"Be still Deidara," He ordered, "We don't even know anything yet." Itachi silently cheered for their leader in his head while on the outside he merely nodded in silent agreement. Deidara pouted and crossed his arms as he fell back to walk beside Sasori.
"Kill-joys." He muttered, before shutting up for the rest of the walk. Kisame chuckled from Itachi's other side causing Itachi to smirk at his partner.
After another five minutes of walking through the building they reached the holding cells and spotted Tsunade leaning on a wall near the doors.
"'Bout time." She grumbled, glaring at them as she dug into her pocket to grab a set of keys. "Now lets go." The group followed silently as she opened the door and led them through a maze of twists and turns. "Their extremely violent so their in the farthest cells back." She commented to the team, Pein nodded and wrinkled his nose at the smell of one of the cells they were passing or maybe just the dirty man inside.
"We understand." He replied, Tsunade nodded in a distracted fashion as they came to another door. She paused and looked back at them solemnly.
"Prepare yourself." She opened it and ushered them inside before anyone else could walk by. She sighed when it was safely locked and turned around. The group was staring through the cells doors at the three people inside.
"Holy shit." Hidan finally croaked out.
The Ring
Shiki sat on the hood of Sasuke's car as students milled about after school and glanced at her watch. She growled and tapped her foot on the bumper in irritation.
"Don't scratch the paint." She looked up and deliberately ran her foot repeatedly across the front. Sasuke winced at the sharp sound her shoes made and glared at her.
"Jerk."
"Ass-hole." She crossed her arms at his as she raised an eyebrow.
"Bitch." He growled, clenching his jaw as he did so.
"Bastard."
"Idiot." Sasuke ground out at her, Shiki grinned and leaned forward.
"Cock-sucker." Sasuke stared for a moment in disbelief before shaking his head and unlocking the car.
"You've been listening to Hidan." Shiki laughed as she jumped down and leaned on his window to stop him from opening the door.
"Yes, I have, now let me borrow your science notes." Sasuke rolled his eyes and dug through his bag for the notebook.
"Here, don't get food all over the pages again, my papers smelled like ramen last time I turned them in." Shiki laughed before she gave small shrug.
"Can't make any promises." He smirked at her and drove away, leaving her to stand there and watch him go. "Silly boy." She muttered, putting it away in her own bag. She laced her hands up behind her head and stared at the sky as she walked down the street to Zabuza's.
The Ring
Sasuke pulled into his driveway frowning as he noticed his brother's car parked ahead of him. He studied it for a moment before heading inside and going into the kitchen. Itachi was sitting at the table with their mother and both looked up when he came in. He stopped when their eyes locked and glanced between them.
"What happened?" The two older Uchiha's glanced at each other before Itachi looked back up. There seemed to be a haunted look in his eyes as he spoke. When he was done, Sasuke sat down heavily in the chair across from him and didn't hesitate to give him the numbers he asked for.
When Itachi had gone, Mikoto looked up and spoke. "This is going to be hard, be there for them." Sasuke nodded and stood up to grab the phone. He looked directly into her eyes and smiled.
"Don't worry, we're all going to help." Mikoto smiled sadly and leaned back as he dialed.
"Poor Shiki." She whispered as she listened to her youngest son make several calls. "My poor baby girl." She covered her eyes as she let a few tears leak out.
The Ring
Shiki laughed as she dodged a hit from Zabuza and kicked him in the butt when he ended up going past her.
"Come on, you gotta be faster than that." Haku teased his boyfriend from the sidelines. Zabuza glared at him and jumped on the smaller male, Haku squeaked in surprise and Shiki laughed as the two rolled around on the ground wrestling.
"Jeez, leave it for the bedroom." Suigetsu said as he strolled in and caught sight of the two lovers. Shiki grinned at the blue haired boy and punched him in the shoulder.
"Come on and fight me." She said happily, jumping from foot to foot. Suigetsu laughed and peeled his shirt off before launching himself at her. Shiki smiled as she easily dodged his attack then frowned as his leg caught hers and she went down.
"Watch all of your opponents body parts," Suigetsu said, shaking his finger at her, "Isn't that what you always told us?" Shiki narrowed her eyes at him and jumped up.
"Yes, but I also told you to never let your guard down too." She replied with a feral grin. Suigetsu tensed and swung around, but it was to late, Zabuza hit him with a flying tackle. Haku giggled as he came up by Shiki and leaned in to be heard over the obscenities the other two were screaming.
"Someone's here to see you." Shiki frowned as she looked up and caught sight of Itachi standing in the doorway. Her heart stopped for a moment then started again with a burst of speed. She glanced at Haku then headed over, expertly dodging the two men fighting on the floor.
"Hey." She said breathlessly as she mentally hit herself for sounding like such a girl. Itachi's lips twitched at the corner in a small smile.
"Hey," He replied before he suddenly frowned, "I need you to come to HQ with me." Shiki's heart stopped again but with fear this time.
"What for?" She asked casually, crossing her arms in front of her body. Itachi's eyes darkened and Shiki noticed for the first time how dangerous he could possibly be.
"There's something you should see."
The Ring
Shiki nervously walked through the front door with Itachi and glanced around as they walked fast through the lobby. She frowned at all the white but held her tongue as they continued walking. After awhile, she looked up and noticed Gaara at the end of an extremely long hallway. He noticed her at the same time and stood up a hint of panic in his eyes. She gave a quick jerk of her head and nodded hello to Temari and Kankuro. They were both fidgeting but stopped the moment she walked into the same room.
"Why are we all here?" Gaara demanded, as soon as the two stopped walking. Shiki glanced at Itachi also wondering and watched as he glanced around at some of the other Anbu members lingering around.
"It's top secret, now follow me." Gaara growled but followed the man once Shiki nodded at him and walked after him.
The Ring
Shiki frowned as the door shut behind them and locked itself but she shook of her nervousness and took a deep breath. They don't know, they don't know, she chanted in her head as she glanced around the darkened room before spotting a window. Curious, she stepped forward after getting the okay from Pein and glanced inside. Something jumped at her causing a loud sound to reverbrate through the room from the force and she stumbled back startled. Itachi flipped some lights on and Shiki froze in horror as she identified the object.
"Oh my god." Temari choked out, turning away to hide her face in Kankuro's shoulder, he wrapped an arm around her but only seemed to be able to do that as he to was staring in horror. Gaara was glaring at Itachi and the other members of the Akatsuki as Shiki took a shuddering breath before turning back to the cell.
"Wolves." She muttered to herself, her eyes flashing completely red before returning to blue. Three people on the other side of the two way glass looked up as they felt the change, causing their own eyes to flash dangerously as one stepped forward and growled angrily.
Revised March 16, 2012
