Author's Note: I once said that I would finish this story. I didn't expect there to be such a hideously long hiatus in it, and I'm positive just about everyone considered it abandoned. I nearly did abandon it. I just couldn't figure out how to go from Itachi and Kaiyou getting together. Something was wrong-the rest of the plot wasn't working for me (and it was all blocked out too!). So, here I am, years later. I still want to finish this story. But...I had to change the last two chapters around (this and the next). They are very similar in some ways, as I just rewrote sections of them, but...very different. Please read on, and I'll keep writing. If you're a reader of this story from years ago: welcome back, and I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting. And..if you loved the old version of this chapter and the next-I posted it as a separate story, just those two chapters. They are under a story titled "Sarutobi no Jinchuuriki Removed Chapters."
And...if you've made it this far into the fanfic without realizing, this is a FANFIC...thus a fiction story written by a fan...and not an original work or receiving any kind of money...Thanks! I must be good. :P...because I am a fan, not a professional, I make no money, and I seriously don't think this is that good...but I want to finish anyways. Thanks for reading.
XxOOxX
Gaara nodded his head at Kiayou, who managed to look serious for a moment, before launching herself at him. The junchuuriki of the Ichibi looked surprised, and then wrapped his arms around his friend in a hug. He patted her back awkwardly for a moment, until she pulled back with a weepy grin.
The Kazekage was not quite sure why his friend was so upset, but he'd heard that women tended to be emotional, so he didn't think too much of it. Temari certainly had been weepy upon his return. Of course, her weepy also included trying to whack him with her fan. Kaiyou grinned up at him with an odd look still in her eyes, "Don't go getting kidnapped again," she said with a teasing voice.
Gaara blinked his black-ringed eyes. "I do not think I would like to repeat that experience," he said solemnly. She gave him an expectant look with her eyebrows raised; "Nor will I die again." Kaiyou gave a satisfied nod.
Later, with goodbyes concluded, Kaiyou turned her back on her friend and bounced out of Suna's gates, a short girl with red highlights in her blonde hair between the dark Sasuke, and the white-garbed Shino. Raising his hand the Kazekage waved at his friend: so, too, did the sand of the desert raise and twirl in a friendly manner behind his back, forming a vague outline of a hand. Gaara felt a trill of excitement as he discovered that, even without Shukaku, the sand still responded to his well.
Gaara wandered away from the gate before his friends were fully out of sight, musing on whether he would be able to use chakra in the sand to mimic his old Shukaku-given defenses. Gaara was no longer a jinchuuki.
XxOOxX
Kaiyou's attention was focused on two things on the journey home. The first was an awareness of her surroundings, surveying the area for attacks. Throughout her journeys with Jiraiya she had grown in skill and she had grown in maturity. No longer would she be taken by surprise easily or give away their location with her boisterous laughter. The second focus of her attention was equaly automatic: Kakashi was getting on her nerves!
Kakashi had managed to encourage Gai and his team to race ahead—all while maintain his 'hip' attitude. Gai had, of course, had an eager participant in Lee. Neji and TenTen had been far less enthusiastic. Kaiyou hadn't minded losing the companionship of TenTen or Lee very much—they weren't among her close friends and while she enjoyed spending time with Lee—Lee and Gai at once was far too much for any sane individual to tolerate.
She was now regretting not having an ally in Lee, however. Sasuke and Shino would occasionally pitch in with assisting Kakashi in interrogating her about her time away. Most particularly, Sasuke was an active participant, along with Kakashi, in trying to learn about her relationship with Gaara!
Kaiyou was highly annoyed with them. Honestly, what were they so upset about? Gaara was one of her best friends!
"…My imotou-chan have a crush?"
"Really, Namikaze, the Kazekage? I guess you found somebody better to set your sights on than Shikamaru." Sasuke had years worth of revenge to get for her nickname of him becoming public…laughter over it still popped up now and again, despite more than 3 years since it was first heard. He was half-afraid it would show up in the BINGO book someday.
"Sensei, your…literature…seems to have corrupted Kaiyou. I would suggest that she doesn't even realize such behaviors are imappropriate for a woman of her stature." A smirk was hidden on Shino's face by his collar.
Kaiyou's face started to turn red under the frustration of three males tormenting her. "Shino! Were you implying that I'm short," Kaiyou growled out from between gritted teeth.
"You are short dobe. I hope the Kazekage doesn't dump you over your stature," Sasuke mocked.
"Ah, poor Kazekage-sama. A taller woman is so nice…you can just bend your head down to her breas—"
"Nii-san! Finish that statement and I'll kill you," Kaiyou howled out.
Sakura too, who had largely been quiet on the journey back to Konoha, turned glaring eyes upon the scarecrow. Kakashi turned his head away innocently, flipped open his orange book of porn, and pretended like he hadn't been involved in the conversation at all. Sakura then turned to Kaiyou, "When did you start going out with the Kazekage? You're supposed to share all of these details…"
Shino and Sasuke shared a look (one only they of limited facial expressions could read). Girls. Why do they want to share the details? Sasuke did, however, feel a bit of relief that someobody other than himself was being harassed by Sakura. Tsunade had punched most of the fangirl tendencies right out of Sakura, but Sasuke still had a grudge born from years of being chased by Sakura-the-rabid-fangirl. That it was Kaiyou, she who gave horribly demeaning nicknames, being harassed was just the cherry on top. Sasuke smirked, "Didn't Nii-san say you were going to visit Gaara about six months ago?"
Sakura quickly latched onto the new information. "Six months, huh?" Wow, some anniversary, saving your boyfriend's life. It's so romantic! And what's this about Itachi-san? He's so handsome!"
Shino's eyes glinted evilly, hidden behind his sunglasses. "He was visiting her every two months. Perhaps he had some reason to visit?"
Sakura seemed to brighten up even more. Kakashi, too, looked up from his pornography for a moment, his sole eye glinting with curiosity. He'd have to watch…Sasuke, on the other hand, froze for a moment, as a thoughtful scowl slid onto his face.
Kaiyou, absolutely sick of hearing speculations on her love life—which were all WRONG!—finally broke in before Sakura could get her head out of her old fangirl fantasies (no doubt about Kaiyou having a harem of handsome males in love with her). "That's it! I'm not dating anybody! Itachi-san doesn't even talk to me lately! So you, Pinkie, get your head out of the clouds! Shino, stop encouraging her! And Uke! You…quit being such a teme!"
The others just stared at her. But Kaiyou wasn't done yet. "Quit fussing over me! Why don't we focus on Sasuke's hickey! Or the fact that he's wearing clothes just designed to make his fangirls jump him!"
Kakashi could only snicker in response to her angered statements. Was it him or Jiraiya who had managed to bring their dear Kaiyou to the dark side?
Sasuke's face paled at the implications on his sexuality. He quickly grabbed Kaiyou by the collar and dragged her off a ways, where Sakura couldn't hear him. Embarrassedly, he muttered. "Hn. Makes the fangirls pass out. As for the…Kakashi-sensei sent a message to your dad."
Kaiyou brightened, glad to be having a conversation that didn't revolve around her. "Oh! Daddy's going to seal it? Good Then you won't have to worry about it breaking," she said, rubbing her belly.
Sasuke found his eyes following her hand, then looked abruptly as her rubbing pulled her green jacket up an inch.
"But really…There has to be a better way to get rid of fangirls than dressing like an uke!"
Sasuke slugged her in the head.
XxOOxX
The rest of the trip had been fairly smooth, for the most part. At dinner one night they'd discovered that Kaiyou had damaged her right arm. She had reached out and grabbed a pot of hot water—for her ramen—off of the fire and blistered a finger that had brushed against the pot instead of the handle. She hadn't registered the heat, or the pain, until Shino had commented on the large blister. (Though it did heal rapidly.)
Sasuke hadn't been allowed to train, since he was given the cursed seal, in anything requiring chakra.
Yet, despite these facts, there had been relatively little fighting among Team 7 and Sakura. Everbydoy had been in a good mood: Sakura hadn't tried to ask Sasuke out. Thus, despite his inactivity, Sasuke was relaxed, and Shino was there to chat with him quietly. Kaiyou, cheery as always, just said that Tsunade would be able to fix her arm up in a jiffy.
With an easy atmosphere, but traveling at a swift speed (though nothing on their mad dash), they made it back to Konoha. Reporting to the Hokage's office, Minato grinned happilya thaving his daughter and her team back, before settling down to business. "Team 7, Haruno Sakura, I have already received preliminary reports. Report back tomorrow with the details. In the meantime, Kaiyou, honey, please go visit the hospital. Kakashi, Sasuke, would you please accompany me? I've prepared the sealing ritual for you."
The Fourth Hokage waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. Shino and Sakura filed out first, Kaiyou waving at her dad and informing him that she wanted to go to Ichiarku's for dinner. She then hurried out of the room, eager to see the old hag. Kaiyou hadn't seen Tsunade since the night she'd tricked the old hag into taking on her friends as a stu—
Oh shoot! What if she's angry..eh…oh well. It's been 3 years! She can't hold a grudge forever. And it's not as if she'll refuse to heal me….right? Oh hehehehe! I'll just tell her it's only fiar, since I kept the pervert from running rampant! Well, for the most part. His spy missions, or when Itachi-san was with me, I didn't…but no Icha Ichia for 3 whole years!
Uhh…right, keep that a girls-only thing. Death by perverts if they find out I prevented any further editions of their book. You'd think it was a religion or something…
As she predicted, her activities kept Tsunade from being too angry at her. Plus she seemed to be pleased with Hiinata and Sakura as students. Hinata had great potential in surgeries, with her Byakugan, and her healing creams were very useful. Sakura, overall, had more potential as a first-class field medic, however, as she was also very skilled with utilizing poisons and her taijutsu training had also benefitted from Tsunade's training.
Despite her great skill, Tsunade could not fix Kaiyou's arm up any more quickly than her body was already doing. Kaiyou's body, with the chakra from the Kyuubi, naturaly healed itself from major injuries. Tsunade, looking at the injury, seemed almost shocked at the amount of damage Kaiyou's Rasenshuriken had done to herself. Every bone in her arm had broken, the nerves, arteries and veins had all been damaged. The bones had been healed, and the arteries and veins healed very quickly. On anybody else, the damage would have been so extreme that her arm would have had to have been amputated if a medic hadn't been there to immediately treat the arm. For Kaiyou, though, it would just take a few more days for the nerves to heal.
Kaiyou went home that night, cheered for her ramen, but otherwise relatively quiet. The most powerful jutsu she had ever created, was also something only she would ever be able to do—an that, only in extreme situations. After all the damage to her arm could debilitate her for the rest of the battle. Perhaps there was some way to protect herself…
XxOOxX
The sealing process, much to Sasuke's disappointment, was incredibly painful. He'd been the tough Uchiha male, doing honor to his many dead ancestors and few living relatives, and refused painkillers or something to bite into. For a moment, his vision had gone black with bright lights shining into his eyes painfully. Slowly his world had regained their normal colors—the Hokage's hair, Sensei's book, and the more common background colors. Kakashi helped him to his feet.
With a mildly curious look on his face, Minato had looked at the Uchiha boy. "Weak legs, boy?" For some reason, Sasuke felt like he wasn't measuring up. He was a jounin, not some little boy! He forced his legs to hold his weight. A chuckle met his ears. "Ah well, most would have passed out. Sakura is probably waiting to take you home. Oh, and don't use chakra until at least tomorrow," Minato added.
Great, Sakura…and no escape. Damn. If Sasuke's cringe was visible at the thought of Sakura helping him home (regardless of the act that she had previously been left in charge of his unconscious body without him being jumped) neither Minato or Kakashi acknowledged it.
Making his way outside of the room that he had been led to as the two older men began to converse about sealing techniques, he lost himself in thought. He'd been told that his seal was stronger than what Kakashi would have performed-which was why he had waited for Hokage-sama to perform the seal. There was no chance of this seal breaking. For some reason, Sasuke almost felt a little bit of loss at that fact: there had been such a thrill of power, a rush, an exhilaration when he had first woken from being cursed.
Sasuke had just determined that he would attain that power on his own—no snake pervert would help him—when he saw his brother standing at the reception desk on the basement floor of the tower. His brother's face wavered before his eyes as he descended down the stairs to meet his brother
Itachi looked up: "Otouto. Mission okay?"
His foot reaching the ground floor, the world spun around Sasuke, and he stumbled. "Ugh. Un, yeah. Later. Questions for you too," he muttered out. His hand went up to his newly sealed curse mark.
Itachi's keen eyes discerned his brother's swaying movements and where his hand had gone. Gently, he caught his brother's elbow, helping to support him, and at the same time manging to pull Sasuke's hand from his neck. His eyes widened as they perceived the mark.
"I'll deal with Mom. We'll talk after you've slept, little brother," Itachi said, taking control of the situation.
Despite his stoicism in front of the Fourth Hokage, Sasuke didn't even register how he made it home.
XxOOxX
Mornings in the Uchiha household were typically very quiet. Though they were ninjas, neither Sasuke nor Itachi were in the best mood in the morning, so they became even more quiet. The matriarch of their little family normally chatted away and only occasionally demanded an answer from her less-than-loquacious boys.
This morning, however, did not fit the norm. Sasuke, wanting information from his brother and having slept early the night before, got up earlier than he needed to in order to see the Hokage. Oddly enough, no time had actually been set, but if he knew Kakashi, he should just meet at the standard place two hours later than the meeting time was always articulated as. That meant, if he wanted to speak with Itachi, and evade his mother's questions by grabbing breakfast on the run (still going to take ten minutes, because she wouldn't accept his ruse so easily) he still needed to get up early.
The ditching of his mothers' questions was a standard part of his morning routine after a mission. Sasuke loved his mother and all, but he didn't enjoy having to explain every detail. And his mother had an eye for noticing his mistakes-even when he recounted the battles later! He was a jounin—but he was still under his mother's thumb. For Sasuke, ditching his mother was absolutely essential.
Knowing this about his little brother, (he too, tended to avoid their mother after missions) Itachi wasn't surprised when the presence of his little brother's chakra signature, and footsteps on the floorboards, roused him from bed. By the time Sasuke knocked at the door, Itachi already had clean pants on, and was in the process of sliding one of his black shirts, with protective chain links in the torso, over his head.
Neither was he surpised when Sasuke did not wait for his answer call, but stepped into the room and shut the door, even as Itachi's shirt slid over his pale well-defined chest. Sasuke simply walked over to the sole chair in the room and took a seat.
After a moment, as he grabbed an elastic to tie his hair up in in, Itachi turned and looked over at his brother. "How was the mission?" Itachi deftly raised his hands up, finger-combed his black hair down into a smooth handful, and wound the elastic around, holding his hair into a low ponytail.
Sasuke grimaced. "A success in the end. Sakura proved useful. The Kazekage's younger brother ha been poisoned. She created an antidote, one for him and some for the battle. We were delayed from reaching our destination by a clone of Orochimaru."
Itachi raised his eyebrows. Much of Konoha tried to forget the fact that one of the Sannin had betrayed Konoha, by performing illegal experiments on children. Namikaze-sama had not taken well to that, but Orochimaru had somehow been tipped off and escaped. "I presume he…" Itachi indicated to the seal on Sasuke's neck.
Sasuke nodded. "We igured out it was a fake, and allowed ourselves not to take the threat seriously. Unfortunately, the fake still had Orochimaru's skills, just not his chakra levels. Next thing I was aware, Sakura was fighting Sasori of the Red Sands. I helped finish that battle: Shino had already been injured."
Sasuke continued on to report of Gaara's resurrection, and Kaiyou defeting Deidara of the Rock, in a factual manner. He didn't give any extra details. In fact, he barely mentioned Kaiyou at all, watching his brother for a reaction.
Itachi, being an Uchiha, barely gave any reactions at all on his face. But the eyes were telling, and Sasuke could see a vague impatience flash through Itachi's eyes when he mentioned Kaiyou's victory.
So Nii-san is curious… Maybe Shino was right. "While she was traveling did Kaiyou meet up with Gaara, do you know?"
Itachi shook his head. "Avoided the hidden villages. Though there was talk of a visit to Sand." Sasuke shrugged and casually baited his brother, "Huh, she seemed pretty close with Gaara. Cried over him, and gave him a hug."
For a moment, Itachi's shoulders stiffened and Sasuke could feel a tiny amount of anger seeping from his brother. A smirk slid over his face, and as it did so, Itachi drew his reactions under control. Small though they were, his actions read like a book to another Uchiha.
Sasuke gave his brother a serious look, having the information he needed. "She seemed to think you were avoiding her. You have to tell her, Nii-san."
Itachi did not respond to his brother's comment and let his brother leave the room unscathed, his mind filled with unsettled thoughts. After a moment, he grabbed his weapons pouch, his wallet, and his ANBU cloak and mask. As he arrived downstairs his little brother was complaining that he needed to go. Itachi used Sasuke as a distraction to slip out of the house before Mikoto could force him to eat breakfast.
XxOOxX
All of her teammates were cleared for training, which was where they were headed after Team 7 met with her dad. But no, her father and Kakashi had strictly ordered her NOT to do any chakra manipulation involving her hands, and no taijutsu. That left sneaking around and chakra control exercises with other parts of her body.
It was on her way home that she sensed a familiar presence hiding in the shadows. For a bit, she tried to ignore him: he was probably just on duty, and it was never a good idea to bother an ANBU on duty. (She had attempted some pranks on them, when she was younger, but her father had explained it was very bad and denied her desert after their ramen dinner.) There probably weren't a lot of gen-chuunin, who could tell when there was an ANBU about, but Kaiyou had grown up around them and her father and ero-sennin. She had learned to feel when one of them were about. It didn't work all the time, of course, but she was fairly good Inside of Konoha, there was almost always one near enough to her that she could sense him or her. It took somebody with a great deal of skill at chakra suppression to avoid her notice.
After a few minutes of her walking toward her home, she realized that the ANBU was following her. Gah! Dad! I'm not going to break the rules about training…you just had to assign me a tail! She fumed and scowled, as the ANBU continued to trail her.
It was as she was walking past a thin passage between two stores, that the ANBU caught up to her, and pulled her into the narrow alley. Within a moment the two were far enough into the shadows to be hidden from sight. Kaiyou abandoned any thoughts of her ordering her to be followed. This man wasn't, at this moment, trying to protect her.
The shadows obscured the details on the mask, but at this rage, Kaiyou didn't need those to know who was addressing her. After all, she knew him well. The ANBU addressed her, "Gaara. Tell me about him."
Kaiyou scowled, and leaned against the building behind her. "Why do you care? The past six months you've barely talked to me! You give a briefing and—"
"Are you seeing him," he interrupted. He put his arm out, blocking her exit, demanding an answer.
Kaiyou's temper flared even further. "And so what if I am, Itachi? Huh? It's my business!" Said man reached his left arm up and removed his mask, considering it was pointless to hide his identity. His face was serious, even for him, but it was hard to tell in the shadows. "Are you," he asked again, more softly.
Kaiyou didn't even seem to notice his question. "Kami! Why is everybody asking me that lately! What, I bet you got it from the Uke, eh?" The girl was glaring into his eyes now, irate. "We're just friends! Can't people accept—"
Itachi felt relief blossom in his heart for a moment, and his body acted before his mind did (a common ailment for shinobi). His arm moved from blocking Kaiyou's exit from the alley to wrapping around her waist. Tilting his head down he caught her lips, situation in that angry face that was glaring up to his half a foot about hers, and kissed her.
For Itachi, time froze and his heart beat loudy in his chest.
Flashback to six months before
Kaiyou was excited to be returning to Konoha soon. He could see it in his young friend's face, and hear it in her voice as she talked about getting to see all of her friends. Itachi felt happy for her too. Being on the road along with a perverted man for so long, couldn't be all that much fun.
Jiraiya had left Kiayou to his care for the night, claiming he had a contact in town. As soon as he'd left, Kaiyou had started giggling. Itachi had looked at her, waiting for an explanation. "He met with his contact last week! No, I do recall seeing a bar with a woman working the counter, with particularly large breasts." Kaiyou grinned as Itachi got the message.
Jiraiys had abandoned them to chase after a woman. Itachi wasn't quite sure that he approved. Kaiyou was still a young girl, one who was wanted by an evil organization. Should her guardian really love her alone? Nevertheless, Jiraiy had, and Itachi knew that the risk of ataack was very low. As was his routine, he camped out with Kaiyou that night. It was easier to return to Konoha in the morning, and it gave the girl some time to write letters.
There was one major difference in his trip this time. His dreams. When he fell asleep he dreamed of Kaiyou.
A hand shook his shoulder, and he woke up, blinking bleary eyes. A face formed before his eyes—six whisker marks on rosy cheeks, tan skin, and big blue eyes, framed by shoulder length blonde and red hair. His eyes moved away from her face to look at the rest of her: barefoot, wearing black shorts and a white thin-strapped tank top, clinging to her body. Itachi drew his eyes back to her face. She was biting her soft pink lips.
He reached his hand up from where he sat, and slid his hand along her scalp, her hair like silk against his hand. The girl closed her eyes, and lowered herself to her knees next to him. A moment later, her warm lips were captured by his mouth, and Kaiyou was moving closer to him.
Not questioning it, as is the way of dreams, Itachi was suddenly hovering over her as she lay where he had moments previously. A burning sensation filled his body, liquid excitement in his veins, as her sweet mouth touched his over and over and over again. Her skin was soft under his hands, and she had never looked more beautiful than now as she looked up at him.
Bending down to kiss her again, she smiled as he whispered, "My love," to her—
Itachi had woke up then, his face flushed and pulses pounding throughout his body. Four feet from him, Kaiyou lay under her blanket, a strand of hair framing her face. The red highlights in her hair glingint in the dying embers of the fire. Looking at her, at the girl who had invaded his dream, he felt his body betray him further.
Assured she was asleep, Itachi got up, holding his blanket around him, and left for the river he had seen during the evening. Finding it, he quickly dropped the blanket and then jumped into the river, cothes and all. Standing there, letting the water cool his body, and his fevered mind, he slowly came to a conclusion.
Despite his…attraction, Kaiyou was off-limits. He was an ANBU, an assassin, and this girl was 5 years his junior and too innocent for one such as he. He didn't deserve her, and her father, his boss, would disapprove. He would not act on his attraction, not when he didn't deserve her and was destined to break her heart if she cared for him in return.
Itachi left before Kaiyou awoke.
End Flashback
Itachi yanked his lips away from the girl as if poisoned, releasing her form his arms. He had betrayed his vow to keep away from her. The ANBU had to forcefully push his mind away from contemplating how soft and warm she had been in his arms.
Itachi stepped back from her, mumbling, "Sorry…I shouldn't have…a killer…can never be." He fled.
Her eyes wide, Kaiyou fell to her knees. Inside of her heart a war was going on, and she could not call out for him to wait. She had grown up a lot in the last three years and had her first real crush. Shikamaru…he had not been a crush, Kaiyou had not been mature enough then, just admiring his intelligence and deviousness. Itachi…she had harbored a silent crush on him for a year. As his lips had touched hers she had felt hope for his affection for the first time. She had always thought he saw her as a younger sister. She knew Sasuke saw her as an annoying sibling.
She was left kneeling in the alley for several minutes, face frozen and fighting off tears. Itachi could not love her, because she had killed. Perhaps nobody would ever love her. To a girl, even a strong kunoichi, that thought was like a kunai to the heart. Shoving her tears away, Kaiyou quickly ran home and drowned her sorrows in ramen.