Chapter Fourteen: Ruby Red

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

Five Years AM

They made it to the base quicker than expected. Itachi had used his sharigan to knock her out once they were within ten miles of the area, which was a struggle he would have rather not relived. She had known what was coming as soon as he had closed his eyes, and she had tried to run. Zetsu had grabbed her by the shoulders, Kazuku's tentacles by the stomach, and Hidan was swinging his scythe around like a maniac trying to get to her to open her eyes.

Shin didn't believe she would not be sent back to the mental torture he had previously inflicted the last time she had looked into the swirling sharigan. She never wanted to see it again.

Once they arrived, they had brought her to Pein. She had barely woken up when she was greeted by the orange haired leader, who had ordered everyone out.

"Do you know who I am, Shinwari?"

"Someone called Pein," she replied, and he took note that her voice was much too soft for a demon. Her eyes were coal black, which, besides the pointed teeth, gave her a very human appearance. He did not expect that from the daughter of such a reputable demon.

"I am an acquaintance of your father," he replied. "He has requested your protection. Therefore you shall not leave here until he gives the okay. Do you understand?"

She only nodded.

"There will be no contact with the outside world. I understand your duty lies with Kohana, so you must understand the precaution. Should you try to escape, you will be reprehended and contained. If you choose to abide her peacefully, there will be no ill will for any of us. Do you understand?"

She nodded once more. Pein took note of her lack of argument before escorting her to her room.

Shin was in there for no more than fifteen minutes before a pair of cold white hands wrapped around her throat and pushed her into a nearby wall.

"Explain, bitch."

The girl only smirked and closed her eyes before kicking the silver haired shinobi off of her and rubbing her neck.

"Explain?" she questioned, looking at the man through half-lidded eyes.

"If you're so sure that Jashin doesn't reign, then who does? What do you know, creepy girl?"

She actually had to stop herself from smiling. Creepy girl sounded much better than devil child.

Hidan couldn't explain what happened next. The dim lights that were scattered around the room began to flicker, and Shin was in front of him in a flash with pointed teeth and glowing red eyes. It was she who grabbed him by the neck this time, her pointed claws drawing blood as the man began to laugh.

"Holy shit! Yes, Lord Jashin yes!" Hidan fell to the floor as she released him, tears streaming down his face as he belted out his laughter. "I should be bowing to you, but I fucking can't stop laughing. I'm sorry!"

Shin's eyes turned coal and her teeth retracted.

"The rumors... the great anti-God did fall in love with a human... and... gave her his powers! Ha..." he stopped mid-laugh, sitting up straight and staring in her direction with wide eyes. "Wait. Those rumors are from almost nineteen years ago... and the woman... they killed her. That means, holy shit," he scrambled to his knees, realizing his error. "I'm so sorry for laughing! I didn't realize he had a child. Please have Jashin spare me!"

"I have no idea how that works," she replied blanking, closing her eyes and stepping over him. "I was just fucking with you earlier."

She heard him laugh again as she entered the bathroom, this time with more panic in his tone.

It was days before Itachi saw her again.

According to Hidan, Shin had locked herself in the bathroom that was attached to the spare room she would be staying in and was refusing to come out. Not so much refusing as just sitting in front of the door so nobody could come in. Itachi wanted to ask how it was possible that he was the only one that knew where she was, but he knew that would be much too suspicious. Kisame had already started to notice his tense behavior, and was constantly pestering him about the condition of his health. How many times did Itachi need to say he was fine before it became law?

Four days passed with no interruption. Shin wondered how long she could go without food.

If she couldn't die, then how was starvation possible?

She sighed, bringing her knees up to her chin just as the door knob turned.

"Stop the games, Shin-chan," a familiar voice called. She narrowed her eyes.

"Go away, Itachi," she said, and though she spoke barely over a whisper he heard her clear as day.

"Open the door before I force it open."

I'd like to see you try, she wanted to say. But she remained silent.

Itachi closed his eyes. He gripped the door knob, focusing his chakra to his hand before pulling the door backwards and off its hinges. He was greeting with Shin's back, as she remained crouched with her chin on her knees, barely moving.

He almost felt as if she had reverted back to the child she once was. It had taken him so long to coax words out of her he was unsure of his ability to do it again. Did he even want to try? Could he? She had wanted so badly to speak at Ayame's, yet he had shut her down completely, even accusing her of being pathetic for wanting to rekindle any sort of friendship. So why did he feel the need to speak to her, to assure her everything was going to be okay?

He sighed.

"Shin."

No response.

"You need to eat."

She moved her knees closer to her chest.

Please. But the words would not leave his lips.

He sighed, leaving the room completely only to return a few minutes later. He dropped the rice ball beside her.

I'm so sorry.

Please forgive me.

I never meant to hurt you.

But the perfect shinobi owed no apologizes for his actions.

So he said nothing, simply turned his back to her and walked away.

These people aren't human.

There is a man who killed his entire family at the drop of a dime.

There is a man who walks around with gills and pointed teeth, whose skin is blue and eyes are void.

There is a man who lives in a plant, whose split personality has morphed into his physical being.

There is a man with the personality of a child, but the ability of an ANBU.

There is a man with four mouths and a mechanical eye.

There is a man with five hearts, whose body must have been torn apart hundreds of times.

There is a man with orange hair who hides in the shadows.

There is a woman I've never seen.

And there is a man that stares into my soul, whose killed thousands of people and himself thousands of times, with no remorse for either.

I thought I was a monster.

But I am the most human of them all.

Five Years, Four Months AM

"Thank the Heavens Itachi is home! He'll be sure to make Hidan shut up. He's giving Tobi a headache."

Itachi only glanced at the orange masked man, an irritated gleam in his eye. He did not have time for Tobi-Madara games; he had worked himself to the point of exhaustion, the previous mission being nothing short of a death trap. His body ached in places he did not know possibly.

"What's the fucker doing now?" Kisame grinned, obviously amused at Tobi's irritated state. It wasn't often that the child got irritated, and the annoyance lingering around him was enough for the shark man to stay. The masked man did not have time to reply, because the shinobi in question had practically sprinted into the room.

"Okay, listen up. I have more choices. Do you like the black gold with the coal diamond or maybe black gold with a ruby?"

Tobi screamed, flailing his arms in the air and running out of the room.

"Are those..." Kisame gaped.

"Shut up and pick," he shoved the open boxes in the shark man's face. The monstrous man backed away, grabbing his stomach as tremors of laughter raked his body.

"Who the hell would want to marry you?"

Hidan only shrugged. "I've bought seven rings. She has to say yes to at least one of them."

Itachi sighed, walking away as Kisame inquired about the woman of the serial killer's choice.

"Shinwari, of course. You think I want to marry Konan?"

Itachi stopped mid step, narrowing his eyes.

"Don't call her that," his voice was deadly.

Present Time

He wanted to stop looking.

Hidan's deal was simple: put his body back together, and Itachi could look into his mind for as long as he liked.

He had found the man's body parts with ease, sewing him up and watching as the man danced around the forest. When he was done bragging, and praising his non-existent God, he came back to Itachi with a crooked grin and asked him what he wanted to see.

"Shin's dead," Itachi said, as if Hidan hadn't already known. "She wants me to find out who she is. You know, don't you?"

Hidan had only laughed in response.

"I could just tell you," he said. "But I don't think you'll believe me."

"I want to see it," Itachi dead panned."I do not trust you. But your memories will not lie."

Now he was wishing that he had just let Hidan tell him.

The man's memories were bringing up some of his own he would rather not remember, and the memories shared between the two was something Itachi would rather not see. How could he have missed it?

But he put those to the back of his mind as he focused. He remembered Shin's face as it changed into a monster before his very eyes, as she held Hidan up by the neck and practically ordered submission without having to say a single word. Hidan's words rang through his head.

"The rumors... the great anti-God did fall in love with a human... and... gave her his powers! Ha..."

"Wait. Those rumors are from almost nineteen years ago... and the woman... they killed her..."

The great anti-God? Was that Natasu?

He sighed, and continued to work his sharigan through Hidan's mind.

Five Years, Six Months AM

"It was almost sickening how fast she fell under his spell. The fighting, the minuscule joking, the proposals, but above all the understanding he had for who she was sent shivers down her spine and tremors in her heart.

They fell into each other faster than either of them could breathe. Shin had gone her entire life without touching anyone in that way. There was always a small part of her that had hoped for the perfect dream, of having sex for the first time on her wedding day with the perfect man... which, at one time she had secretly hoped would be Itachi, and then at one point maybe Kakashi... once she was old enough for the age gap to not be awkward... but at that point Itachi had made it clear that he had hated her, and she would probably never see Kakashi again... and her reality was always the same when it came to disappointment. A mass murdering Jashinist was not her dream, but she had never gotten what she wanted anyway.

It had started as an argument, one that Shin herself had started. As fate would have it Itachi had walked out of her room just as Hidan walked in, leaving the silver haired man the only force her anger could go against. She had screamed at him, punched him, burned him, and it was as she went to strangle him that Hidan threw her against the nearest wall and -

kissed her.

She was so appalled she flung him backwards, baring pointed teeth only to jump on him. The red haired woman wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, their lips colliding in a desperate attempt to calm herself.

Itachi didn't want her. He hated her.

Hidan wanted her. Accepted her. Maybe even loved her.

She had to take what she could get.

It wasn't romantic. They undressed themselves and the selfishness of the act was nothing short of a mental focus solely on their own release.

Afterwards, as they laid there with their hair sprawled out and their bodies naked, Hidan pulled out another ring. This one silver, with a red ruby surrounded by tiny black diamonds.

"Stop," she said, glancing at him through narrowed black eyes. He did not respond, simply picked up her left hand and slid the ring on her finger.

"He will die some day. We won't. And even if it was possible, we both know you won't allow him to go where we go. So until his time comes, you can tell me no. You can act like this means nothing, and maybe it fucking does. But when he's gone, everyone else will be too, and you'll only have me. Which, shouldn't be too terrible. I understand you, you understand me. Itachi will never love you, and I've come about as close as I can. So keep it. And when the day comes where you are free from the burden of Uchiha Itachi, allow it to mean something."

She lifted the ring up, glancing at it from all angles, the same blank expression aligning her face. Her composure that day had crumbled, the emotion she had hid for the past nineteen years had surfaced and destroyed absolutely everything.

It was then she knew what the rest of her life would hold.

She would go to Orochimaru in the morning.