The transaction between Shimogakure and the Akatsuki was fairly straightforward. The heads of the Matsushiro and Ueda clan readily obliged to the terms given by Kisame and Itachi. They were more than happy to pay a large sum of money for bringing Yuki back to safety.
"Because of you, the union between our clans has become possible again," Ueda Taro said with great pride. "And I doubt it is just me who believes that this union will eventually lead to stronger relations among many of Shimogakure's shinobi."
A murmur of approval echoed among the entire council. Eiji and Yuki, who were seated on one end of the Council Room exchanged looks with the latter smiling bashfully at her betrothed before looking away. Eiji grinned freely until he caught sight of Itachi looking at him. He nodded his head at him in gratitude. Perhaps he imagined it but he could swear that the Uchiha narrowed his eyes at him before reverting his attention back to Genta and Taro. Eiji's smile faded.
Heavy snow fell upon the small village not long after the meeting was adjourned. Kisame and Itachi both agreed that it was wise to let this subside first before they proceeded with their journey. Northern snowstorms were notorious for being dangerously unpredictable and had taken more than a handful of unsuspecting travellers into their icy graves.
"I'm heading to the market nearby to gather some food supplies. You want to come?" Kisame asked.
The younger shinobi shook his head. "You go. I'll restock for the both of us on the next leg."
"Alright then. I'll meet you at the gates this afternoon."
Kisame didn't think twice about his partner turning down his offer and made his way to the exit of the massive compound. Itachi continued to stroll aimlessly in the vast snow-covered lot. Now that he was alone, he was once again left at the mercy of this thoughts. For the hundredth time he replayed the events from the night before. And for the hundredth time his stomach churned painfully.
She had gone after, calling out his name after he walked out of her room before his emotions got the best of him. She wouldn't have stopped chasing him had he not resorted to ninjutsu and vanished on the spot.
He knew that he was being cruel, not to mention unfair. She did beg him many times that she remained outside of the village. His curiosity got the best of him and what he found out between Shiori and Eiji hit him so hard it left his head spinning.
He knew exactly what it was. But he never thought he was capable of feeling such a potent kind of jealousy. It made him illogical, impulsive and emotional, characteristics that he couldn't afford in his line of work. Nausea came over him as a concluding thought crossed his mind. What had once been one of the best things in his life was quickly becoming his undoing.
Itachi quickly spun around as he heard footsteps approaching him from behind. He hid his surprise well upon seeing who it was. Eiji was more readable.
"Uchiha-san," he greeted him with a bow. "I have to admit, I'm surprised to see you at this part of the compound."
Itachi bowed back at him out of respect but said nothing. He gazed at the large pond in front of them. Despite the sheet of ice over it, he could see flashes of orange and red slithering underneath. Eiji walked over towards him and followed his gaze, mindful of keeping a respectable distance between the two of them.
"It's a good thing I caught you here," he said. "That way I get to thank you personally."
"We only did what we had to do and you paid a large amount of money for it. There is no need to thank us multiple times," Itachi replied flatly.
Eiji chuckled, toeing a thin sheet of ice with his boot. "I wasn't talking about the mission."
With his attention piqued, the rogue shinobi turned to look at the Matsushiro heir, his uncanny look-a-like.
"Hoshikagi-san and I were talking about you last night. He mentioned that you're the main person in-charge of Shiori. You've taken good care of her. She looks well."
Maybe it was the hint of fondness in his voice or the lack of honorifics being used when he was addressing his ward. Or maybe it was simply because he was Eiji. Either way, Itachi's nerves were grated.
"I repeat, there is no need to thank me. She is a grown woman. She takes care of herself just fine."
"The Shiori I knew was incapable of controlling her ability, much less exhibit enough chakra control to break someone out of a genjutsu." Eiji gave him a knowing look. "Everyone knows what you specialize in, Uchiha-san. In fact you're feared for it. It's not that difficult to put the pieces together."
"You seem highly interested in my ward, Matsushiro-san."
Eiji shrugged and looked out at the snowy scene in front of them. "She hasn't...told you anything about life here in Shimo? Who she was? Who her friends were?"
"No," he replied curtly. He was lying out of spite though he didn't have to admit to that. He hid the urge to smirk when he saw the defeated look on Eiji's face.
The Shimo-nin sighed. "Anyway why would she? We sent her away after all."
"How does sending an innocent girl away benefit Shimogakure?" Itachi asked. For an entire council to decide firmly on one person's fate, he could tell there was more to the story than even Shiori was aware of.
Eiji was silent for a while, deliberating on whether or not to reveal the political agenda behind the events from over two years ago. The Akatsuki-nin turned to face him. Onyx met onyx.
"Is there more to my ward that I have to know about?"
"Not really," Eiji replied. "But if you want the official reason, they were suspecting her of espionage."
Even Itachi did not see that coming. There was no way that bumbling mess of a girl from two years ago could be a spy.
"Ridiculous, I know," Eiji added when he saw the doubt crossing the young man's face. "Somehow my father dug out information about her parentage and presented a feasible case to the council. We both know her father is a Rinha. That's what got you interested in her in the first place. But the information many of us overlooked had something to do about her mother, Sotome Yugen, one of those travelling merchants who never quite settle on one place for too long."
"What about her?"
"They did more research and found something big. Yugen-san is...was a kunoichi, one of the most highly-skilled members of Kumogakure's Special Op. She was a sensor type specializing in genjutsu and memory fuinjutsu, an S-rank technique she created which allows her to seal memories in a person's mind making them nearly impossible to access during interrogations. Our intel suggested that she did a lengthy espionage mission during the Third Shinobi War before resigning from her post, or so they say. She disappeared for years after that. The next time she showed up, she was trading goods all over the Lands with a daughter in tow." Eiji paused. "Shiori doesn't know."
"Which could mean that her fuinjutsu is strong enough to withstand Shiori's bloodline limit."
"Or maybe she simply made Shiori forget prior to leaving her here in Shimo. The possibilities are endless."
"That's an interesting backstory, Matsushiro-san," Itachi pointed out. "But it still doesn't justify why you would suspect Yugen's daughter of being a spy."
"I believe it was a combination of factors. The Elders grew weary of Shiori when they found out that she was a daughter of two highly-accomplished shinobi, even if she herself couldn't do a decent roundhouse kick without toppling over. Her parents are Kumo-nins. As we all know, our relationship with the Hidden Cloud has been shaky at best since the Third Shinobi War. Yugen-san's specialty made them suspect that she was using her daughter's mutated bloodline limit to gather intel from Shimogakure. If that was the case, they feared that they couldn't control the mother-daughter duo so they sent her away. With Shiori out of the equation, Yugen had lost her eyes and ears in Shimo."
Itachi had to admit, Genta had made a good point. Still, there had to be someone who could have proven Shiori's innocence. Even as Eiji recited these information to him, he could tell that the young man was skeptical.
"I know recognition when I see it," Itachi started after a long pause. "At one point in your life, you knew her well enough to disprove these claims...if you really wanted to." When Eiji didn't say anything, he pushed through, "I saw the way Yuki looked at her and I saw the way you looked at her. One thing that both your looks had in common was guilt."
"Of course I tried," the Matsushiro heir replied, his voice straining with frustration. "And for what it's worth, I proved to my father that she was innocent, even ignorant of her mother's past. Which brings us to the unofficial reason he got rid of her."
Itachi could already guess what it was and yet he remained quiet. What he was about to hear was a dirty little secret from a person whom he thought had given up so much that he had nothing left to lose.
Eiji once again locked eyes with him. "Me. Even after I broke up with her and took in Yuki was my betrothed, he knew I wouldn't proceed with the wedding with Shiori nearby. So he did something about it. I make my father sound like a sadistic bastard, I know. But I get where he was coming from. What she and I had was a political nightmare. A Matsushiro ending up with a Rinha would have been the scandal of the century. It would've dragged the entire clan down. That time, we've been together long enough for people to start catching wind of it. When you're the head of one of the village's largest clans you do what you can to keep your brethrens afloat. You were clan heir once. You would know."
The two young men were silent for a long time. They watched as one of the carps broke through the icy pond's surface and jumped in the air.
"I wouldn't have been able to keep her safe," Eiji said, breaking the spell. "To be honest, I thought she was done for when you came to get her. But in the end, you managed to succeed where I failed. You'll always have my gratitude for that."
He should have felt good about it. He ought to have felt flattered. Instead all he felt was an all-consuming emptiness inside him where it once had felt so full. Hearing Eiji's confession made him feel like he was a third wheel in a story which he knew nothing about.
GLOSSARY:
Kumogakure - The Hidden Cloud Village, the hidden village of the Land of Lightning
Bloodline Limit - Abilities passed down within a certain clan
Author's Notes: Hi guys. First of all, thanks for the welcome. I was a bit nervous about how this story was going to taken after being dormant for so long. Your reviews, follows and favorites were a huge relief. Now about this chapter...tbh I find this is too wordy. Too much talking and not enough action in it (kind of like those filler arcs in Naruto) but I did think this was necessary just to give you guys an idea of the real score between Shiori and Eiji. Even then despite the pain he caused Shiori, I always thought Eiji wasn't just dicking around when he decided to break up with her. And I wanted to get it out there that he had a very real reason to do so. As for Itachi, I think the guy has enough grace to maintain a conversation (he just decide not to in many occasions). Hopefully this chapter made him a bit human-feeling without going overboard with the OOC-ness. I promise more Itachi/Shiori interaction later on. Just had to get this over with. Thanks again for reading guys. Hope to hear from you.