Remembering what was Forgotten
Chapter 29
It was already late at night when Sasuke arrived back at the compound. He made a mad dash towards the home, the full moon lighting his every move. He was so late. His mother was going to furious when he promised to be back before dark. It was already dark with the moon high in the sky. He glanced up to see how high the moon was when he saw something strange.
On top of an electrical pole, there was someone crouching there. Red eyes pierced through the dark, though nothing else was visible. He blinked for a second, but that seemed to be for too long, as the eyes vanished.
What...was that? Sasuke frowned. Did he just imagine someone there? No. He could've sworn someone was there. Maybe it was his mind playing tricks on him. He was rather tired from practice. If so, then why...Why do I fell like something happened? Something...bad? He shook off the feeling. It was probably nothing.
The boy pushed the feeling to the back of his mind and turned the corner of the street. He froze upon doing so, his feet planting firmly to the ground at the horrible sight before him. Bodies were lying all over the street, some in awkward positions like they fell where they stood. Blood pooled around the bodies, even splattered across the walls and ground. Horror and shock filled his body as something donned on him. They were his family.
"Wh-What's going on? What happened?" Sasuke couldn't believe his eyes. They couldn't be dead, could they? How...How did this happen? His whole family...gone? It was true no matter how many times he told himself it wasn't. They were dead. If the people on this street were dead, what about the ones still in their homes? How many of them were still alive? Who else could be alive? A foreboding feeling made itself known as he thought of three other people. "Oh, no! Father, mother, and Nii-san!"
After thinking of those three, he raced home as fast as his short legs could take him. Silently, he was prying to the gods that they weren't dead like their relatives killed on these streets. He knew that his own family could hold their own in a fight. His father was the captain of the Konoha police force, his mother a former jonin, and his brother an ANBU captain. There was no way they could die so easily. He just hoped they didn't.
It felt like hours before Sasuke reached his home. He hurried into the house, taking his shoes off at the front and leaving his bag and then ran into the halls. The kitchen was his first stop to check if his mother was there. She wasn't. The kitchen was dark and empty.
"Wh-Where is everyone?" he wondered aloud. He went to go search another room when a loud thump sounded somewhere in the house. The noise startled him for a split second. He ran off towards the source of it. Somewhere deep down in his mind he knew it was a bad idea to go to the source of the noise. What if the killer was there? But he had to see. His mother and father could get hurt or worse killed! So he ran to the noise until he found himself standing outside the doors that lead to the dojo room.
Sasuke felt his heart pound against his chest like it wanted to break out. He took a long, deep breath. His voice rattled as it did so. He knew that behind the door might make him face things he wouldn't want to see. A horrible feeling filled him just by looking at the wooden double doors. All he had to do was open it to find out. He lifted his hands up to the door handles with great effort, his whole body shaking. He couldn't stop! Once his fingers grasped the metal, he slowly pushed open the doors. The doors were only partially open when a horrifying sight met his wide, terrified eyes. One that would forever haunt him.
"Sasuke, wake up!"
Sasuke groaned at the loud voice calling from nearby. It was enough to break him out of dreamland. The effect of sleep still held him in its grasp as he tried to figure out why he woke up. The only way he did know he was awake were the ache in his bones and the taste of dirt in his mouth. He opened his eyes and sat up whilst spitting the unusual taste out. Out of the corners of his eyes, Haku was snickering. He shot a glare at the boy, wiping his mouth. It was futile to try and get rid of the dirt; it wouldn't go away anytime soon. He also tried to remember what he was last doing.
He and Haku were in one of the training fields spread throughout Konoha to practice their techniques. Haku was trying out a new water jutsu he learned about from a scroll. Sasuke was trying to improve his chakra reserves by using his Chidori. After failing to protect himself by forcing out a Chidori during the fight with Gaara, he felt like he needed to improve that. How could he protect anyone-much less himself- with a two shot chance using the Chidori? That wasn't enough. He needed more power in order to protect his friends-more specifically, Katy. He wasn't even around when Katy was kidnapped. That resulted in her getting hurt, which he couldn't stand for. The Uchiha promised himself that he would protect Katy, yet he failed. There was only one way he could make up for that. Killing Orochimaru, who caused her pain in the first place.
Sasuke glanced around the area. To put it short, it looked like an earthquake and a tsunami just hit. Where there had been rock faces were nothing but piles of rocks and the ground had holes where he accidentally hit the ground with the jutsu. Not only that, most of the area was covered with water where Haku used the element needed for his jutsu from a nearby pond. Only then did he notice that he sat in one of the holes in the ground. Haku stood at the edge of the hole, brushing long haira over his shoulder much like a girl would. He guessed he must have passed out from using Chidori too much.
"What, Haku?" Sasuke all but growled. Even if Haku just saved him from what could turn to be a nightmare, he wanted to see what shocked him so much in the dream.
"I just remembered I need to go back home to get something," He replied, brushing his hair back again. It was down that day so it kept getting in his face. Maybe he should have tied it back.
"What do you need to get?"
"I borrowed something from Kakashi. I forgot I told him I would return it to him today. He also told me I could just drop it off at his apartment."
"Why can't you go by yourself?" The Uchiha was beginning to feel agitated. He hated being woke up for something as stupid as this. All he wanted was sleep, damn it!
"I don't know where Kakashi lives," he replied, smiling innocently. "Can you show me where he lives, please?"
Sasuke grumbled in frustration. Why should he go show him where Kakashi lived? The only reason he knew where their teacher lived was because they-as in he and Kakashi-had to go to that place in order to get supplies for their training month. They ran out of things and had to go to Kakashi's apartment for things like food. But if he wanted to get Haku off his back he would have to reluctantly show him where their teacher lived.
He stood to his feet, scowling. "Whatever you're getting better be important."
"It is. I need to return a genjutsu scroll he lent to me. I simply forgot it at home when we left the house this morning."
Sasuke grunted. He hardly cared what it was. As long as he gave it back it was fine.
The two boys exited the devastated training field and entered the town. They weaved through the semi-crowded streets where construction workers were busy rebuilding damaged buildings. There were quite a few of them, Sasuke noticed. They walked in a comfortable silence the entire way back to the Uchiha compound. Everyone knew that the Uchiha could be a tad touchy when awakened from his peaceful slumber. Actually, he debated with himself on whether to awaken him earlier after seeing him fall asleep. He was lucky not to have been punched in the face or cursed at as he usually does in the mornings. Guess it was easier to wake him up from naps than a full eight hour sleep.
It took half an hour to get into the Uchiha compound-surprisingly in one piece after the attack-and back to their home. Haku immediately went straight for his room while Sasuke went into the kitchen for a snack. All that training made him hungry again. He went straight for the fridge to get some fruit. Something hanging on the door of the refrigerator caught his eye. Stopping his previous action, he eyed the brightly coloured paper being held by a chibi fox magnet. He instantly recognized the neat handwriting as Katy's in English.
Sasuke,
Went with Jiraiya and Naruto out of town on journey to get Tsunade as Hokage. Going to protect Naruto as best as I can from evil/good Itachi. Get to outpost town where Inn is before he comes.
Love, Katy
P.S. RUN FOR YOUR LIFE TO GET HERE WHEN GETTING THIS NOTE!
Sasuke stared at the note and read the note again and again. At first he wasn't sure what to make of it. Was Katy kidding? Even she wasn't as idiotic as to do something as this. Itachi Uchiha was dangerous in his own right. He was on a level far out of reach for most normal ninjas. Katy couldn't protect Naruto as best as she could since she barely had ninja skills.
That's when it all clicked.
Dark grey eyes widened for a fraction. He swerved around and bolted out of the kitchen to go back to the front door. Haku might have heard his quick stomps on the ground. He didn't know and didn't care. All that mattered was getting his shoes on and rushing out of the village gates.
That idiot! What the fuck is she thinking! Sasuke raged in his thoughts. Was Katy that stupid? No, wait. He shouldn't ask that when he knew the truth. She was completely insane to think she of all people could help protect Naruto from his older brother. Did she not comprehend the fact she wasn't even a ninja in the first place? She didn't even know how to use chakra! Well, he wouldn't know what with the whole 'experiment by Orochimaru.' But this was completely out of her league! I'm going to kill her when I find her!
This, he would do after he saved her and Naruto from the current situation. By what the note said, they would stop in that outpost town not too far from the village. With his speed he could get there in half the time they did. Hopefully, he would get there before Itachi.
Hang on, Naruto and Katy. Let's just hope I'm not too late, Sasuke prayed. He zoomed past the village gates with sights set on the outpost town.
xxxxxxx
"What a weird town," Naruto commented. He, Katy, and Jiraiya arrived at the outpost town Jiraiya told them about. They were going to rest here for the night. It was quite a strange town for there were people dressed in weird costumes and street performers. Right now, they stood in front of an inn where Jiraiya was checking them in. Both he and Katy stood at the entrance of the inn, which resembled a Japanese courtyard with a creek, a bridge over that, and lanterns hanging everywhere.
"I know," Katy agreed. She was staring around the entrance. The whole lobby was very homey to her. Kinda like the time her mother decided to try and add feung shui to their living room.
"Hey, you two. We're staying here for the night," said Jiraiya. He walked up to the two pre-teens, ready to give them their keys, when he noticed someone standing in front of them. His jaw dropped in shock. This made the kids curious and they followed his gaze. The sight made Naruto's mouth hang open while Katy wrinkled her nose in envy and disgust.
The someone that caught Jiraiya's attention happened to be a young woman. She was beautiful in every right what with her ebony black hair, glossy lips, unbelievable curves shown by her strapless purple dress and everything. The young woman seemed to notice them staring and flirtatiously brushed her hair over her shoulder. That made Jiraiya and Naruto drool while Katy seethed.
Damn it! It's not fair! Why do girls like that always gets guys! Katy growled. It wasn't fair. Why do all the girls that are born beautiful always get the guys? She wanted to be as pretty as that, damn it! Truth be told, she wanted a boyfriend. She was approaching the stage in her life where she wanted guys to notice her as a girl, not as one of them. Guys would never notice her, through. She was too plain and ordinary. The complete opposite of the woman in front of them. She could never be that beautiful even if she was older. I wish, though. I want a guy to like me and notice me. I don't want to grow old and alone. I want a guy to like me like I'm a girl, not a guy.
"Naruto, Katy, you two go up to the room," Jiraiya suddenly said. He shoved the room keys into Katy's hand. "Naruto, go work on your chakra for your training today. Katy, you watch him."
"What?" the two exclaimed.
"Is this 'adult stuff?'" Katy scoffed, putting air quotes around the last part.
"You're just trying to get rid of us!" Naruto accused angrily.
"Both of you go now!" He made a shooing gesture before approaching the woman with what Katy thought was a charming smile.
The two shot a dark glare at the old man then headed up the stairs, muttering obscenities. It wasn't fair they were being pushed aside while he went to go 'play.' He was supposed to be looking for Tsunade, not playing with other women! The two were still seething by the time they reached their hotel room. The entered the room to find two beds and a bathroom. Katy figured she and Naruto would be sharing a bed while Jiraiya got the other. That was fine by her.
Naruto put down his things, took of his shoes, and sat on the bed crosslegged. He made a sign with his hands and started to concentrate his chakra. While he was doing that, Katy found a full length mirror and started to examine her reflection. She frowned at it. Instead of her usual outfit, she was wearing mismatched clothes she just found lying around the house. She had on a dark short sleeve shirt with a high collar and trademark Uchiha fan on the back as well as a pair of dark pants. The pants were too big on her so she had to wear a belt. What bothered her greatly was how skinny she was. Like any kid in America, she was a bit on the chubby on the stomach and waist because of the lack of exercise and all. But ever since she came here, she actually started eating healthier (to her surprise) and walking everywhere made her get the exercise she needed. It wasn't until she found herself starving for a month under the watch of Orochimaru did she realize how her body turned out. Now she was just skinny with her ribs almost showing. The shirt she had on was hanging off of her and slid down one shoulder. She would need a new outfit to get used to having a smaller size.
Katy sighed, turning away from the mirror. She shouldn't think about how skinny she was now. Who cared about how her body was now? It was completely superficial of her to think of her like that. Not to mention the scars on her body! She could think about this later. She plopped down on the other bed opposite Naruto where her things were. She sat crosslegged as well and grabbed her bag. She rummaged through it to pull out a drawing pad she thought to bring along and a pencil. Then she opened it to a blank page and glanced up at Naruto. He created a bunch of shadow clones and some of them were asleep. Katy thought a sleeping Naruto was cute and she started to sketch the sleeping clone.
Twenty minutes later, Katy put down her pencil and looked at her sketches with a smile. She has not only drawn a sleeping Naruto, but has also drawn a baby Naruto being held by his father, Minato Namikaze, as he sat in the Hokage office the night of the Kyuubi attack. She even drew a raging Kyuubi in the distance. Katy had no idea why she drew this. It just came to her. Another sketch was of Itachi and Sasuke in their younger days. The two brothers were sitting back-to-back. Itachi held a scroll in his hands, looking over his shoulder to a sleeping Sasuke, who held a stuffed weasel close to him. Itachi was smiling in the picture. Katy drew this one because of how Itachi was back. The sketch was cute and it reminded her of Itachi and Sasuke's baby pictures. She closed the drawing pad when a loud knock sounded on the door.
Katy and Naruto jumped at the sudden knock among their calm silence. Naruto quickly recovered and got up from his position. Katy stopped him.
"Naruto, I think we need to get out of here," she said.
He raised a questioning look. "Why?"
"Do you want to die a horrible death?"
"No."
"Then don't open the door."
The door itself was being pounded on relentlessly. Naruto stared at the door, then back at Katy. She stood from her spot on the bed and grabbed her things to stuff in her bag.
"What does opening the door have to do with a horrible death?" Naruto asked.
Katy cautiously tiptoed near the door to grab her shoes. By then, the knocks turned into pounds. She slowly reached over to her shoes and grabbed Naruto's while she was at it. She backed away slowly, eyes never leaving the door. At a safe distance she threw Naruto his shoes and grabbed Naruto's bag. He was right behind her as she did. He repeated his question.
"Naruto, there's a danger behind that door," she snapped. She pushed his bag into his hands roughly. "If we don't get out of here, we're dead."
He opened his mouth to ask another question, but one look at Katy and he snapped it. She was glaring at the door, eyes narrowed like it would break down at any minute. Who knows? The way she was looking at it made him think it would. So instead he asked a different question.
"Okay, if there's danger behind there, how do we leave? The door's the only way out of here."
"Is it?" Katy smiled, but in Naruto's mind it looked like she was smiling almost like Sasuke would. She moved over to the window and slid it open. Climbing out onto the small balcony outside the window, she looked back at him with expectancy. "Well? Are you just going to stand there? I need you to drop down first."
"Why?"
"Because unlike you, I don't have ninja skills. I'll die if I jump from this height and quit asking questions!"
Naruto knew then to keep his mouth shut. He knew by experience that girls were never good when they were mad. So he slipped his bag on and jumped out the window down to the ground. He looked up at Katy to see her eye the ground uncertainly.
"Come on, Katy-chan! You're not afraid of heights, are you?" he asked in a teasing tone.
She blushed pink. "No! For your information, I happen to like heights! I'm just scared you won't catch me."
"Have a little faith in me." He grinned reassuringly. "I'll make sure to catch you."
Katy nibbled on her lip. She was serious when she said she liked heights and all, but jumping down was still scary. The one thing she didn't want was a repeat of when she dropped down from that tree a few months ago. That was really scary. But one look at Naruto's face made her fear ebb away. She could trust him to catch her. He was her friend. She took a deep breath and almost stepped off the platform until a loud crash behind her stopped her. Whirling her head around, she could see the door was knocked off its hinges. Behind the door was a man wearing a black coat with red clouds; the same as the men she met in the restaurant earlier. Only the man had his hat off to reveal his long dark hair and red hypnotic eyes. Those eyes stared straight at her as their owner had a mask of no emotions. Katy froze under those eyes. Well, that was unexpected. She never pegged the guy as a violent man.
"Katy-chan! What was that?" Naruto yelled up. He, too, heard the crash.
"Um..." She closed her eyes to avoid eye contact with the man who resembled Sasuke far too much. Holding a breath, she stepped off and dropped down to Naruto below. The drop only took a second and she found arms wrapped around her. Cracking open her eyes, she saw Naruto's surprised face. Katy could see that his eyes were really blue up close, but turned away to look up at the window. She held her breath as that man poked his head out. "Start running, Naruto!"
"Huh?" He glanced up as well to see what spooked her so much and froze as well. It was surprising to see that the man in their hotel room looked so much like Sasuke. Hell, he even thought it was Sasuke! But those Sharingan eyes...So cold and merciless...Those weren't Sasuke's. Sasuke's Sharingan showed compassion and pride. This man's didn't reflect that. It was kind of scary. Then he saw the man jump out the window. Naruto finally knew what the danger Katy was talking about. So he ran with Katy still in his arms.
Naruto blindly ran through the town. Even with Katy's added weight, he ran as fast as he could, taking many twists and turns until he thought he was lost. It didn't matter. As long as they were away from that older Sasuke, he was fine they were lost. Katy also didn't care. Sure, it meant she couldn't meet her fangirl crush of all time, but if running meant her friend would be all right she was fine with it. However, she felt scared. They couldn't run forever. This town may have been strange and all. That didn't mean that man could find them in the blink of an eye. Hell, he could do it with the snap of his fingers! He was a freaking skilled shinobi, damnit! Naruto was still a genin! Okay, a powerful genin, but that didn't mean he could outrun someone who killed his entire ninja family! She groaned, closing her eyes with her hands together in a prayer.
Dear God, Jesus and Holy Spirit, please let someone come and save us from this scary/attractive man! Like Jiraiya or someone!
Katy would've thought God wouldn't have answered her prayers seeing as how he didn't seem to like her. For once in her life, he actually answered them in an odd way.
Naruto turned the corner of yet another unknown street. He only did so to bump into something hard and fall back on the ground. Katy, still in his arms, dropped out of his arms. She squeaked at the impact and expected to fall to the ground like Naruto had if not for someone else catching her. That was when Katy saw familiar dark eyes.
"Sasuke...?" Katy backed her head away to fully see Sasuke's face. She almost laughed at the astonishment he portrayed. Instead, she hugged him. "Thank God! I was afraid you weren't going to come. You saw my note, didn't you?"
Sasuke, once getting over the fact he accidentally caught Katy, scowled and let go of her. She fell to the ground hard. Katy rubbed her bottom and glanced up to tell him off for dropping her, only it died on her lips at his fury-filled face.
"Kaitlyn Marie Rivera! What the hell! Why in the world would you put yourself in danger again just to protect the dobe? You fucking idiot!" He smacked her upside the head for even thinking of such a plan. She winced at contact.
"Ow! Jeez, I was just trying to help out. Besides," she stood to her feet while folding her arms, trying to look stern, "I didn't see you have some sort of plan. I had to do something to help!"
"You..." Sasuke nearly growled. He wanted to do nothing more than hit Katy up the head. He held back, though, because a small part of him understood her need to protect her friends. After all, she didn't have many friends back home. This was the first time she truly had them. Of course she would want to protect them. He huffed and turned away from her. "We'll deal with this matter later. What were you guys running from?"
"Some guy at our hotel busted down our door. Katy-chan thought he was dangerous," Naruto replied. He stood up after recovering from being knocked down. He frowned, remembering the man and seeing Sasuke. "She was right, though. He is dangerous. What's scary and confusing is this guy had the Sharingan. He even looked a bit like you, too, Teme. Do you know someone like that?"
"He should."
The three kids froze at the sudden baritone voice. Automatically, they all turned towards the voice. It was the man again. This time, he brought a friend with blue skin, dark hair, and a large bandage-wrapped sword on his back. The man was studying the three as if they would try something again. Not that they would; how could they escape from them this time? Upon seeing the man, Sasuke grabbed Katy and had her hide behind him. Naruto followed his example by standing next to him. They both brought out kunai to somehow protect themselves and intimidate their enemies. It had the opposite effect. It only served to amuse them.
The other man, the one who suspiciuosly resembled a fish or a shark, grinned and said to his partner, "Heh. They think they could protect themselves against us? How cute."
The first man said nothing, only studying the three.
Sasuke's thoughts went on overdrive. Now they were stuck in a bad situation. There were two of the Akatsuki and three of them. This would usually be good for their odds, but then again the fact they were S-ranked criminals was a doozy of a difference. They were nothing but genin! He and Naruto certainly couldn't take on those two and there was Katy to consider. She wasn't a shinobi at all. Should the two parties engage in a fight, the Akatsuki could use her as a hostage. There was only one man who could take on these men and he was somewhere in this town.
"Just who the hell are you two?" Naruto demanded. He didn't understand why they would come after him and Katy. How did they even know they were staying in that exact room in that inn?
"That is something you don't need to know. Come with us, Naruto," the first man ordered in the same cool tone Sasuke would use at times. All three nearly winced at how similar it sounded to the other Uchiha's.
"No! I don't know who you are or why you know my name, but I'm not going with someone who screams 'danger'!"
Wow, for once Naruto makes sense. Sasuke squashed that random thought before it could spread. Not the best time to be thinking that. They were in a life or death situation here. Need to focus.
"So the Kyuubi brat has a bark, huh? Think you can back that up with a bite?" the blue man said, grinning mockingly at the two less experienced ninja and one civilian. "What about you, little Sharingan user? Is your Sharingan as great as Itachi's?"
Sasuke narrowed his increasingly red eyes. He would say that yes, it was as great as his older brother's-maybe even more. Instead, he thought it best not to have Naruto, or anyone else for that matter, know that Itachi was his brother. It's not like he could fight against him, anyway. The older Uchiha was way out of his league. They needed Jiraiya to fight them. Neither he nor Naruto could handle these two on their own.
Katy bit her lip, glancing between Sasuke to Itachi to Naruto to the other man, Kisame. Oh, man. This was really bad. Even worse than during the Chunin Exams. Everything was out of her hands now. They didn't have the fight in the hallway like they were supposed to. She made Naruto run from their obvious location which is the first place Jiraiya would think of to find them once he knew what was going on. They were who knew where in this strange little town with no idea how to escape from two rogue ninja that could kill them. It was times like these that Katy wished she actually trained to be a ninja. At least she could help Naruto and Sasuke fight these guys. But no. She was ordinary, little Katy with no special powers or special training. All she had was her obsession with manga/anime series like Naruto, and D., and even an old series like Magic Kaito!
Then it hit her.
She was suddenly struck with an idea that made her grin. Magic Kaito was one of her favourite series. It took place in modern Japan where everything was normal except for a certain thief named Kaito Kid going around and stealing priceless gems under the noses of the police. He humiliated the police on a daily basis with his fun tricks. How was he able to accomplish such a feat? There were his special skills as a magician to take into account. He would use smoke and mirrors to create illusions normally used to entertain crowds. That was how she knew what they could do.
"Hey, Sasuke," Katy said, catching the attention of everyone there. She was grinning wildly. "Remember how at that one time other than my usual anime crush, I was obsessed with another character named Kaito Kid?"
Sasuke stared at her over his shoulder strangely. "Yeah. That weird magician thief guy who wore white, a top hat and a monocle?"
"Uh-huh. That guy. Do you remember what his dad, the first Kaito Kid, said to him when he was really young?"
"He always said..." He wracked his brain for this really random question. God, he remembered that time. Katy was obsessed with this Kaito Kid guy before she fell for Itachi. He remembered her gushing about how supercool it would be to be a magician/thief and being swept away by him. There was one thing he always said that made Katy squeal. Something about a hand and a mask. "Something about a poker face."
"Yup! Kaito's dad always told him that should a trick ever fail, one must never let the audience know. No matter where you are, always keep a good poker face." Her words were confusing, but he and Naruto were astonished when Katy stepped out from behind Sasuke. She smiled at the two strange men, and spoke to her friends. "When I was younger I thought it would be awesome to become a magician. To do something completely impossible and astounding, and yet never letting the audience know how I did it. Now's my turn to actually do something." She turned to the Akatsuki now. "Hey! Want to see a magic trick?"
The two stared at her strangely. Itachi gave no hint of thinking she was weird. Kisame, on the other, looked like he would humor her. After all, they were about to be in the middle of something.
"Sure, kid. What's this 'magic trick' of yours?" he asked as if talking down to her.
Katy giggled almost innocently to everyone but Sasuke. His ears could pick up what type of giggle that was. Katy had two types: one where she was completely embarrassed about something and one where it said 'you can't see I'm going to do something bad but you won't know it till it's too late'. This giggle was the second type. She put her hands behind her back in a girlish way.
"It's a simple trick, really. Now you see us," she let grabbed something, a bump Sasuke realized now, out of her back pocket. Sasuke and Naruto noticed a familiar grey ball was now in her hand, "and now you don't!"
Katy smashed down the now-known smoke bomb on the ground. Their half of the street was enveloped in a cloud of smoke. It obscured them from the Akatsuki's vision. Naruto and Sasuke didn't know what was going on until they felt hands on one of their wrists and it started to drag them away back to where Sasuke ran from. They recovered, realizing what Katy did. Then, instead of letting Katy drag them, they ran as fast as they could while Sasuke dragged Katy away.
Sasuke dragged Katy around the corner he just came from with Naruto close behind. The moment they turned, they found themselves facing a crowded street full of street performers and bystanders. Sasuke led them into the street, swerving his head everywhere to see where they could hide. Katy looked behind her and Naruto and gasped. Kisame and Itachi were behind them and gaining speed.
"Sasuke! They're behind us!"
He looked over his shoulder and cursed. Shit! He should've known. Katy's little trick helped, if only a little, but it didn't help enough. He knew he had to keep cool. So he said the only logical thing that came to mind.
"Naruto! Shadow clone!"
Naruto stared at him as if asking 'What the hell?' It took a second to register what he meant. He made the Kage bunshin handseal as they dodged the multiple people. Instantaneously, clones of Naruto, Sasuke, and Katy appeared beside them. They were running as well.
"Scatter!" Sasuke ordered. He pushed Katy in a random direction and shot forward into the crowd.
The group of clones and the originals melted into the crowd. They all ran off in random directions, dodging the entertainers and viewers off guard. The clones each swerved into each other, making it difficult to see where the originals were. Kisame followed them into the crowd, grabbing whichever clone he could catch in hopes of it being the original. Itachi, on the other hand, had a different idea.
Sasuke dodged as many people as he could while running from the S-ranked ninja. He never looked back for Naruto or Katy. Naruto would be fine on his own; his shadow clones could help with that. Katy, he wasn't too sure about. She could have hid in a safe location or maybe just kept running. He had to go look for her. Gaining speed, he went ahead to go find her.
Naruto was thinking along the same lines. But he felt like something bad was going to happen to Katy. She wasn't a ninja. This was a simple enough reason. Of course he would worry about a civilian. Why was she helping him out, anyway? She should be worried about herself instead of him. Going through the crowd, he as well searched for her among the clones and crowd while avoiding the people who wanted him for whatever strange reason.
Katy, on the other hand, was the only one out of the three not to worry about getting caught. She had utmost faith in Naruto's cloning skills. There were too many copies of all three of them to be caught so easily. Even Itachi and Kisame wouldn't have the decency to chase after clones. Kisame probably couldn't even tell which was the real one. She was pretty sure he would be chasing through the crowd and knocking everything down in order to find them, causing enough mayhem for them to escape quietly.
Too bad she forgot about Itachi.
Katy turned a street corner and pressed herself against a building wall, doubled over with her hands on her knees. Her body ached all over. Running so much tired her out. She hasn't done that much running since she had to do that mile around the school in under ten minutes. Okay, so this wasn't so bad compared to running from two deadly ninjas. Who cares? She was tired. Not to mention all those people she bumped into. During her escape, she knocked over a number of people just to get away. Her shoulders hurt from bumping into numerous bodies all in one time. But a giddy feeling stayed in her chest, making her giggle like a madwoman. She had to admit. Running like that was kind of fun and exhilarating. It's been awhile since she ran like that. It was, in a crazy sort of way, fun. Though, she would never recommend doing it again. Running from shinobi was only fun at first. It was only until she got caught did it start to suck.
But I should probably find Sasuke and Naruto now, she thought. At the thought of them, she straightened up. She looked up and down the scarce street she entered. No one but her was in sight. A sigh left her at this. Great. In the moment I ended up losing them. I've gotta pay attention more, or get some kind of homing device to put on Sasuke now. We always get separated.
Oh well. No use standing there and complaining. She might as well as look for them while it was still light outside. The sun was going to set pretty soon. She turned to go back to the crowded street when suddenly she met a firm chest clothed by something black. Turning too fast, she ended up on the ground.
"Itai! Watch where you're going, you ah..." Katy tilted her head up to glare at whatever idiot decided to stand there behind her. She was frozen stiff meeting swirling red and black eyes. A squeak left her lips as Itachi stared down at her with a calculating look. "D-Damn," she squeaked.
As soon as she squeaked, Itachi quickly reached down and clamped a hand on her arm. Katy winced at the iron grip he had. Jeez, he was cutting off her blood circulation. He lifted her up into the air by her arm. Her feet barely touched the ground. She suddenly found herself at eye level with Itachi's hypnotizing ones.
"So...You're just an ordinary child," Itachi's chilling voice said. It sent shivers down her back. Whether it was pure fear or just the thought of her fanboy crush making contact with her, she wasn't so sure. "Foolish girl, do not concern yourself with things you do not comprehend."
"Um..." Wow, nice, Katy. The first time she speaks to Itachi face-to-face and that's the best she could come up with. Nice. Well, at least it was better than squealing or fainting. Then again, she was in a terrible position. She swallowed. She could only hope her last words wouldn't be 'um.'
"Tell me, little girl, what are you to my foolish little brother? The way he is protective of you, it as if you are almost... loving to each other."
It took a while for her to manage what he was saying. Her eyes went wide when they did.
"Whoa, whoa, wait! Sasuke and I are not dating!" Great. Another person thinking she and Sasuke were dating. "I'm not dating that crazy boy! I do love him and all, but only like a brother-Oop!"
Katy clamped her mouth shut, staring up at Itachi. She shouldn't say that. In front of her was Sasuke's real brother. She knew he still loved Sasuke and all and would never hurt her, but he had to in order to fake it. Itachi would do anything to keep his cover like in the series. He hurt Sasuke intentionally in order to not blow his cover, even if it literally killed him on the inside. It was kind of sad now that she thought about it. She could only hope Itachi wouldn't do the same to hurt in order to hurt Sasuke.
Itachi narrowed his eyes, his hand completely cutting off the blood circulation in her arm. She let out an 'Ow!'
"A brother, you say? Perhaps Sasuke will know to gather his hate if I were to hurt his sister," he coolly responded. Through his words, Katy could've sworn he was held back in anger and annoyance.
Wait! I thought he was a pacifist!
She truly thought this. Apparently not, seeing as how he closed his eyes and slowly reopened them. Katy was too late to close her eyes, but something else save her in time.
"Dynamic entry!"
XXXXX
I'm sorry. I know this is a lame ending. I used some of your ideas and all to finish this chapter but I got braindead towards the end. Not to mention I wanted to finish this week. I just started school again and tried to get back into the hang of things. Not to mention I'm incredibly sore from having a dance class for the first time and my arms and back hurt like hell! I'm really, really sorry if this ending sucks. Forgive me!
Please review!
-Twilit Angel
