Chapter 33
"How did all the seals just up and disappear," came Nobu's voice as he used the bamboo needle, dipped in ink, and continued to crest the last of Anomie's twelve seals up and down her arms. His fingers always touched her shoulder a tad too long and a moment too gentle, but she didn't have many complaints to his loose caresses of her body.
Anomie didn't answer his question, watching him lean back after finishing the last seal. The pain of all the tattoos coursed through her skin, and she could only imagine how they would all feel when she pulsed her Chakra to activate them. She didn't have the time to wait. It had to be now.
She glanced down at her shoulder, seeing the once unchanged anbu mark was nowhere to be seen. She'd never get it back. The mark was just ink and pain, but it represented the only time in her life when she felt her life had purpose. It represented the only time when she didn't question her every action as write or wrong.
How odd that in a blink of an eye, that safety net would be taken away, never to return.
She thought about asking for it again, so she could remember who she had once been. She had the same thoughts about the mark of the Oiran that once resided in the back of her neck.
But it was for the best that they were gone. There was no future if she constantly looked towards the past. For now, she just had to forget all of that so she could live. After all, flowers don't second guess themselves before they bloom. Her petals were withered, but she had to believe that eventually, she could stand up tall.
"You have that look in your eyes," Nobu's voice cast her out of her stupor. She turned towards him, finding his face rather close.
"What look?" Anomie asked in a monotone, watching his eyes linger on her lips.
"Like you're walking to your death," he commented with a growing frown.
"What do you care?" Anomie asked, shaking her head.
"If you want honesty, it's mostly cause you're incredibly beautiful," Nobu said and her lips curled downward. "But you probably get that a lot."
"It happens to be my one good quality," she said, leaning over and brushing her fingers against his cheek. "Do you want me?"
"I'm married..."
"That wasn't my question," most of the men she slept with had been married. "Do you want me?" She didn't even really need his verbal answer to know his mind, but she'd also never touch someone without their consent. He nodded his head and she leaned forward, embracing his body and getting a feel of his lips.
He was more skilled with his hands than Kakashi had been, but her heart didn't skip or pound or so much a quiver. She might as well have been kissing her own reflection, as both were cold and meaningless.
She broke away, annoyed that all she saw was Kakashi's face. Their bond was days away from snapping completely.
Nobu's hands gripped the sides of her cheeks, pressing her back against the tattoo bed.
She let him do what he wanted, and he filled a tiny void in her heart with his own earnest desire.
"I love your body," he would whisper, careful to stay away from the bandages around her arms.
Anomie was just a body. Flesh and bones. She lost the will to become human so long ago. Flesh and bone don't feel guilt or love or happiness.
She had to think like this for the days to come.
After all, the old sakura petals must fall for new ones to grow.
»»⎯⎯⎯¤⎯⎯⎯««
Itachi held his head, brushing his fingers across his closed eyelids as he stared down at the river that washed away the body of his closest friend. Tsukasa stood rigid next to him, holding onto his free hand tightly until it became the only anchor keeping her standing tall.
"I really thought it would work," Itachi whispered, glancing over to her hand that was dripping with blood.
"We don't have enough time," she said, her tears were nowhere to be found and Itachi nodded as he sat down, watching her closely as she numbed out his the left side of his face. Her expression remained so serious and calm, that it was wonder she could ever choose a path other than Iryo Ninjutsu, but Tsukasa always broke those expectations.
"How much longer until you can bring her here?" Itachi asked, and Tsukasa shook her head, her hands glowing green as she finished numbing Kakashi's face. "It looks like you were right about the necessity of a backup plan...I really believed Shisui would succeed."
"I did too," Tsukasa moved her hands into a swift Jutsu, her skin growing pale as her fingers transformed into a scalpel made of concentrated Chakra.
"Have you ever transplanted an entire eye before?" Itachi asked, and the look she gave him in return answered his question with complete clarity. Itachi didn't ask if she was alright, as he could tell from her face that she wasn't and he didn't have the luxury of worrying about what she was going to do as she used that next sequence of minutes to carefully carve his eye out and replace it with Shisui's.
He couldn't even tell if she was nervous or not, but he could rarely see the difference in her mood. His hand squeezed her leg, finding his heart had sped up in fear.
"I'll set up a meeting with her..." Tsukasa said after she finished bandaging his eye. "It looks like we have no choice...the elders...your father..."
"I know," he whispered, and she glanced up at him.
"The fact that he is getting away with this...Danzo is more of a threat to Konoha than any of its enemies," she whispered, her fingers clutching into the dirt.
"Anger or revenge won't get us anywhere," Itachi rested his hand on her head. "You have to go..."
The newly activated Sharingan that resided in Itachi's eyes was covered in the tragedy of Shisui Uchiha. Tsukasa saw Shisui in the newly created spirals of Itachi's eye.
"It looks like we have a coup to put a stop to," Tsukasa said, standing up and lifting her summoning Jutsu from her bag.
And of course, you know the rest of this story as Tsukasa summoned Anomie to the world of her summon. Her hands were steady and her heart was calm, even if her Chakra was raging inside her.
Anomie of course agreed to the massacre, seemingly unbothered by the fact that so many on the Uchiha council were as old as 94 and as young as 10. Tsukasa could never let herself get that kind of apathy for the murder of others.
Luckily, Tsukasa had people to pull her out of that darkness. Anomie had nobody, but at least Koneko wasn't known for mindless torture as Orochimaru had enjoyed.
Tsukasa could get through the night to come if it was a quick and as painless as possible.
»»⎯⎯⎯¤⎯⎯⎯««
"Itachi," Anomie bowed to Itachi who had taken off his bandages around his eyes not too long before her arrival. "Tsukasa."
"Let's skip pleasantries. We both know this isn't a pleasant occasion," Tsukasa blinked her single eye as Anomie's lips spread into a cruel smirk.
"Well, then I suppose there is only one thing to do, and that's hitch a ride with you kid," Anomie held out her hand for the boy to take. "Just stand there and look pretty. I'll do the rest, Itachi."
As Itachi stared at her hand as if she were made of poison, Anomie was brought back to the memories of a time when they were comrades. So long ago, she would have given her life for him and now, three years later, she was going to kill for him instead.
As if he just entered a contract with the devil, he placed his hand on hers. Her skin was cold as her body erupted into smoke and entered through his nose. Her body engulfed his organs and he could feel her Chakra every time he moved.
"The meeting..." Tsukasa took a deep breath. "I can't go with you. Please, be careful."
"If it doesn't work," Itachi began, and Anomie decided to close her eyes and slumber within the inner workings of his Chakra coils.
By the time she opened her eyes to see what Itachi saw, she was looking into the deep stair case leading into ground. She felt Itachi's body tense, making her take control of his legs, forcing him to move forward.
"Hesitation is natural, but we don't have the luxury," Anomie's voice echoed in his mind as they walked to the entrance, descending to the council meeting. The giant room was filled and Anomie began to memorize their faces. She memorized the curves of their noses and the way their eyes glinted like men and women on a mission.
"Itachi, just who we were looking for," came the voice of who Anomie could only assume was Itachi's father. His mother stood next to him, smiling towards her son even though the smile was strained.
"Has it been decided?" Itachi asked, holding onto the last hope that his father would change his mind, holding onto the hope that maybe Shisui's death could mean something more than just giving Itachi more powerful eyes.
It seemed like Shisui's suicide had done nothing but cause friction, fear, and urgency. Itachi closed his eyes, barely aware of the smoke of Anomie's body leaving his flesh.
The rest happened so quickly that the council members and Itachi himself barely had time to comprehend the actions. However, Itachi had always been faster than his old mentor and captain. Even at the young age of eight he had risen above expectations and separated his name from that of his clan.
If his father had his way, much like Uchiha Madera had done in the past, the gap between the Uchiha and his village would only grow deeper. So he had to feel the guilt, and he had to feel it hard enough to nearly break him. He would feel their deaths, over and over but he could not regret his actions.
The smoke filled the room and Itachi watched these men and women, old and young alike, begin to choke. These people he had grown up with and his parents who nourished his career and his childhood.
He squeezed his eyes shut as the air began to catch fire. His body flickered away, taking the last of Shisui's legacy as the building set fire, the air itself burning like paper.
It was a Jutsu he had never seen Anomie attempt before, and the memory of it would haunt him forever. His knees buckled from underneath him and his eyes filled with tears. He didn't know how long he stared at the ground, his eyes replaying over and over again the betrayal of his parents faces as they watched him leave. But worse than that, there was forgiveness. He could see it the moment they saw the fumes rise and saw him raise his hands for the Jutsu to leave.
He didn't want to be forgiven.
"Get up," her voice was cold and he quickly attempted to hide the emotions in order to face her. "We have to make a scene...get up."
They both noticed the crowd of Uchiha swarming close as the building went up in smoke, the blackness of it filling the sky like a dark cloud. He couldn't look his clan in the eyes, but he found Anomie was rather good at being hated. She was good at being judged as the villain, and he could see her hands were purposely coated in the blood of his family.
It wasn't difficult for the Uchiha to look between the burning council hall and the girl coated in blood and come to an understanding who had done this and who they lost. Itachi wasn't certain who screamed, but he knew it didn't matter. It wasn't done.
"Why?" Itachi asked, watching as she lifted her hand, seeing it was coated in blood and it was still dripping wet. Her palm was fisted, and it took him a swift moment to realize what she was holding.
"Orochimaru's always wanted new eyes," she said, just loud enough for one of the women in the crowd to hear. Anomie opened her palms, revealing the eye. "Sadly, all their Sharingan were quite weak."
Anomie knew the men and women she killed. She studied them intimately in order to embed them in her memory. She knew their skills and she knew their family. Her eyes scanned over the crowd of Uchiha, looking upon her like she was a monster. Perhaps she was, but that was okay.
"Here, this belonged to your son," she tossed the eye towards a slightly older woman, watching the bloody mess roll on the ground until it landed in front of her. Anomie had never heard a person scream with so much agony until that moment. It was shrill, like glass scraping against steel. It was loud, like the piercing sound of thunder and it made Anomie's insides quake.
She barely caught herself in time to par her katana against Itachi's. His eyes were glistening, but determined.
"Do it," she whispered, barely moving her lips. She blocked his attack again, just barely as the force of his attacks got stronger.
"Leave," he whispered as he pushed her back again. She jumped back, moving her hands into a swift Jutsu, but Itachi was faster, breathing out fire from his lips.
Her body once more went up in smoke, spreading out through the air. He knew what she was doing the moment the air caught fire. She must have been counting down the minutes, as the next moment the ground was broken by the Anbu ninja, filling the area with a series of water Ninjutsu.
Itachi knew they were sent to bridge the peace between the Uchiha, he knew everything was going according to Tsukasa and the Third Hokage's plan, and while he knew that, a part of him didn't want Anomie's life to be forfeit because of it. That was the only explanation for the feeling of tension that coursed through his veins when he saw her on the ground, covered in water and unable to perform another act of smoke.
For a moment he thought she was going to let the anbu take her life. The Uchiha clan would never mourn her, they would curse her and Orochimaru's name until the very end. If only they knew what these "enemies" gave up for them to live.
Itachi took a step back, allowing the Anbu to create yet another Ninjutsu that would likely end Anomie's life.
"Can't have that," a voice interrupted, and in next moments, the ninjutsu hit nothing but the ground. Anomie was nowhere to be seen as if she never existed at all.
»»⎯⎯⎯¤⎯⎯⎯««
Anomie didn't want to die. It was the greatest flaw of her nature. She was a known survivor because she had ran from death more times than she could count.
Anomie didn't want to die, but she also had no idea how to live. She had no idea if living was even worth it or if she was meant to move on from this. Her hands were still covered in blood and bits of flesh was still embedded under her nails.
She had never ripped someone's eyes out before and the blood had coated her skin like paint. She still heard that mother'a sobs and it was fresh and wet in her mind.
So as she stared up at the anbu ninja ready to take life, she did nothing. There wasn't anywhere she could go. After sullying his name in unearned blood, Orochimaru would never take her back. After this, Kakashi would never hold her like he did before. After this, she didn't have anywhere to turn.
So she watched them ready the last Justu, hoping that it would be painful. If she was going to die, she wanted to feel it.
But it never came. Instead, arms embraced her small body, and it almost felt like she was suctioned into a small hole, forced through until she couldn't breathe.
She clutched onto the person with every ounce of her strength, holding onto his cloak and trying not to vomit all over it. He didn't touch her casually and his arms didn't embrace her like a lover or a friend. She had no idea who he was as his fingers dug into her shoulders and pushed her back.
She was met with the masked man with his spiral orange mask covering his face as he gave her childlike tilt of the head. Tobi stared right through her, at least that was what it felt like as she couldn't see his eye.
"Didn't I tell you there is a spot in the Akatsuki for you?" he said with a light chuckle. Her heart swelled in her chest.
"Who are you?" she asked after a long moment of hesitation. "Why were you there?"
"Oh? That's simple. I heard that the Uchiha clan was going to be annihilated and I didn't want to miss that," he said nonchalantly and she lowered her head, feeling her hands shake. "But also because you salvaged their eyes...did you not?"
She glanced up, her heart racing before she stared down at the seal near her wrist.
"Orochimaru likes his experiments," Anomie said carefully only to hear his dark and deep chuckle echo in his mask.
"He does, but he didn't ask you for this, did he, An-chan?" Tobi's voice made her heart sink.
"I'm afraid Orochimaru's greed can surprise the both of us," Anomie said, her voice coming out even. "Or are you implying I took that many eyes for myself?"
Tobi chuckled, "I don't think you are that sort of Shinobi, An-chan. So, if you have no value for them other than putting terror in the Uchiha clan and rekindling Konoha's hate for Orochimaru, then why not give them to me?"
"Why do you want them?" she asked instead, trying to see past the shadow of his mask and into the eye that resided inside. It was dark and cold, contrasting greatly to the kindness in his voice. "Who are you really?"
"I already told you, I'm just a guy trying to give this world peace," he told her, chuckling once more.
"There's no such thing as world peace," Anomie said in reply, her lips spreading into a rather gentle smile. "It's a pipe dream parents tell their children before dying violently in war. I stopped believing in fairy tails, Tobi-san."
"That fact that you are here right now, trying to prevent a war between a village that doesn't want you and a clan that hates you, proves that a part of you still cares about peace," Tobi said, and Anomie shook her head, finding herself unworthy of the praise.
"How do you know that?" she asked, her brows furrowed together.
"I've been watching you closely, Anomie."
"Why?"
"Because you're special. You're not very strong, and your skills in Ninjutsu aren't based on blunt power. But you are clever. I have never seen someone light the very oxygen on fire. You get the job done, no matter the cost," he lowered himself to the ground until his face was adjacent to hers. "To put things simply, the Akatsuki needs someone like you."
She wanted to cry. His words of praise weren't what she wanted to hear. She didn't want to kill anymore...not like that...not like that.
Tobi's eye was penetrating, and if she wasn't careful then he would see right through her.
"This world peace...this fantasy you speak of..." Anomie lifted her head. "How could it be possible?"
"Peace is only possible after intense amounts of bloodshed. We have to make people disgusted with the notion of war," Tobi said, "you know that better than anyone. After all, that was why you killed them, wasn't it?"
"A girl I once knew would have never agreed with our ideals," Anomie mused, noticing Tobi had slightly frozen.
"Kindness will only get people killed," Tobi said after a moment of silence.
"You took your mask off," Anomie whispered, glancing up at him and watching him tilt his masked face. "I like this 'you' more than the annoyance you pretend to be."
"You're not very nice," Tobi said, his voice brought her the oddest sense of deja vu.
"No...no I'm not," Anomie whispered.
Obito is dead. But Obito was the last person to tell me that.
»»⎯⎯⎯¤⎯⎯⎯««
Kakashi knew something was wrong when he saw the red sun lower in the sky. He had just rejected another Genin team when he heard a high pitched scream that cracked like thunder.
His feet moved for him as he made his way in the direction of the sound, his body growing heavier with every step as he noticed the smoke from the distance begin to blacken the sky. He wasn't certain how he felt when he saw the team of anbu ninja scanning the area for the enemy that had just escaped.
At the area of desolation, smoke continued to billow out of the rubble and a thick deposit of ash and dust had covered the road making it completely unrecognizable. The sky seemed as though it would release its contents on the gloomy scene. Impenetrable, dense smog polluted the atmosphere like a black cat creeping around the streets.
His eyes glanced over the crowd of thirty Uchiha, more gathering by the minute. Many were on the ground, crying with their eyes red and bloodshot. Itachi was standing still as the grave, watching the building collapse on itself as the fire raged on before the anbu ninja focused on putting it out.
Kakashi always had keen hearing, and of course he always felt attune to certain names.
"It was Orochimaru's doing," said one voice of the Uchiha.
Kakashi walked near to one of the anbu he recognized as Tenzo whose masked face immediately raised to meet Kakashi's eye. "Senpai."
Tenzo bowed his head, but Kakashi's gaze was set on the body that one of the anbu ninja carried out of the building. The man's skin was charred red and black, the burns spreading over his face until he was unrecognizable. Kakashi's eye scanned over the empty sockets, stricken black with dried blood.
"Orochimaru did this?" Kakashi asked, and Tenzo's head shook.
"This? No, this was Koneko's doing."
Author's Note
百日草 (Hyakunichisou) Zinnia. It means loyalty.
Figure it out Anomie~! Guys I had to actually go back to chapter three to figure out what one of the first negative things Obito said about Anomie.
Omg. I hate Anomie. What am I even supposed to do with her at this point? Like this is so annoying because she's redeemable on a human level cause she's really not a bad person, but on every other social level of how people will now perceive her, she is entirely unredeemable.
Kakashi is going to be so done with her shit in the coming chapters, let me tell you.
But I really dislike Obito. I hope my own personal bias doesn't come out when I am writing, cause I seriously hate his character. Which is odd, cause I seriously love Madara. Is it cause of his booty? The deep voice? Boi. Idk, but dat ass tho.
Ahem. I apologize for the gory details of Anomie taking their eyes. She had to make it believable that Orochimaru did this, and the man was never big on death outside of science.
Did Itachi no she was going to do it? Yes. Did Itachi no she was going to toss one towards the crowd and traumatized that poor old lady? ...no.
Anomie does have a thrill for the dramatics. She improvised the shit out of that.
That's my girl, shame on you!
Ul'Yana out. See you next week (maybe)