Scarlet Kunai

By Ginta and Hakakku Fangirl

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of the characters

A/N: Original Character's name is Kyoko, female, only a few months older than Uchiha Sasuke, no Kekki Genkai, ANBU-ranked kinoichi, more info in story.

Rated M for violence, language, and lime.

*I may have to "rearrange" some events, in order for this fic to make sense.

A/N: Don't forget to vote in the poll on my profile! It's for my newest fic, Crimson Shuriken!

…This fic is slowly, slowly coming to a close. And now, within the next few chapters…I really don't want to, but I have to…

Haha, all you guys who think you know why Kyo-chan's stomach is hurting…just slow down! Geesh! There are so many possibilities! Medial, psychological, poison, unnoticed injuries… My point is, don't be so quick to jump to conclusions!

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Previously:

She was so confused.

Konoha was home to her, where Sai and Kakashi were, always waiting for her. But Akatsuki felt right, too. If it weren't for her loyalty to the Leaf Village…Iie. The Leaf Village had to come first. If it weren't for this mission, she would never have gone after Itachi. At least…not while she was on a mission…Right? It was all just so confusing…

And to make matters worse, Kyoko's stomach had begun to feel strange. Her headaches were returning. She hoped it wasn't the poisons coming back…

Itachi sighed, arching his neck. Just thirty-two hours to go.

Zetsu's image flickered. He was out looking around.

"Kyoko is on her way," he said. "Looks like she's upset about something. I'd be careful if I were you, Kisame."

"Me?" Kisame turned towards Zetsu's image. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You don't like Kyo-chan, yeah," Deidara said. "But she was able to destroy over half of one of Orochimaru's lairs. With a single bomb, un!"

"What about it?"

"Kyoko knows that you don't like her," Zetsu said. "She knows it was you in Deidara's room that time."

"What were you doing in Deidara's room with Kyoko?" Itachi said sharply.

"I was only testing her abilities," Kisame said with a shrug.

"Tobi is tired, are we almost done?" Tobi asked suddenly, trying to ease the ache in his shoulders.

"Thirty-one more hours, un!" Deidara snapped. He turned to Zetsu.

"When will Kyo-chan be here?" he asked.

"Two days," Zetsu answered. "It looks like she just left the Leaf Village this morning."

"What time is it now, hmm?"

"Dusk."

"Hmm…" Deidara nodded. "We'll be done by then, un…" He glanced at Tobi. "I think we can get back by then, yeah."

Pein was silent; Konan glanced at him.
"Let's just get this done," Kisame said.

Pein nodded.

"This man was half-dead already when we brought him in," Kisame said. "It shouldn't take too much longer. The Bijuu isn't as reluctant to be ripped away."

"Maybe it's just a stupid Bijuu," Tobi said cheerfully.

"Shut up, Tobi, yeah!" Deidara snapped.

"I'm just--"

"Shut up!"

"Calm down, Deidara," Pein said.

Itachi glanced over at him. So few now. Deidara. Pein. Konan. Kisame. Madara. Hidan. And himself.

Sasori was dead. Orochimaru had left after Itachi had refused to become his body. Kakazu was dead. Hidan should be dead, but was saved by Kyoko. Konoha was becoming stronger.

Who would be next? Himself? Deidara? He didn't want to know what would happen to Kyoko if neither he nor Deidara were there to keep her safe.

But what if it were someone from Konoha? From Suna? Kakashi…Sai…the Kazekage and his siblings…

She wasn't delicate. No, she wasn't delicate at all. Kyoko was a kunoichi, an ANBU. She knew the ways of the world of ninja, she knew that ANBU were trained to fight and to be prepared to die.

But he didn't want that. He never wanted that to happen to her. If he had known then that he would feel this way now…it wouldn't have made any difference, but he still would have pleaded to the Third not to let Kyoko into ANBU.

But it was what had to happen. And it wouldn't have mattered. It had also been what Kyoko had wanted. That he knew. And what Kyoko wanted…Itachi just couldn't say no to her.

XXX

Kyoko bit her lip. She was just a day away now. Another twelve hours of travel, then sleep. Tomorrow morning, it would be just a few more hours and she would be back. This time she would report directly to Pein. Then she would go to Konan… Konan had the more delicate chakra control. If she didn't know medical ninjutsu, she could still help. But for now…

Abruptly, Kyoko stopped again. Panting, she leaned against a tree, sinking down to her knees, her head in her hands. The sensation grew to be too much. The pain increased. Kyoko pulled her hair away from her face just as she gave in a vomited into the bushes.

Wiping her mouth, Kyoko sighed, standing. She pulled her hair over her shoulder, running her hands through it as she walked, braiding it over her shoulder. Gulping water from her bottle, she took a deep breath before beginning to run again, performing handsigns. The light green chakra began to glow at her hands, and she pressed them against her stomach to make the aching stop. She had hoped that the vomiting would have stopped by now. For five days it had been the way she woke, running from the bed to the bathroom while Sai sat up rubbing his eyes and asking if she was okay. She hadn't been ill now for the past two days. Why had it started again? She was almost afraid to go to Tsunade or even Sakura or Shizune. She wouldn't even have considered going to Konan if she weren't in so much pain…well, not pain. Discomfort.

XXX

Sai glanced at the two Ninja Hounds Kakashi had sent with him. So far no sign of Uchiha. Either of them, Itachi or Sasuke.

He could tell now when he was nervous, but he had never been this…anxious. He had seen Sasuke before. He wasn't too worried about that. But Uchiha Itachi…

He knew that Kyoko had told Itachi about him Sai also knew that Itachi knew that he and Kyoko were currently living together…and that they were currently "dating." But did he know that they had once slept together? Did he know that they slept in the same bed? That Sai couldn't sleep without her? That he felt the most emotion when he was around her? Could Uchiha Itachi ever understand that Sai needed Kyoko, to help him understand?

At least…would Itachi understand that before he killed him?

XXX

Kyoko sighed.

"Kai!"

Stepping off the water and into the darkness of the front cavern of the Akatsuki hideout, Kyoko sighed, bringing chakra to her eyes to let them adjust quicker to the dramatic change in the light.

"Kyo-Kyo!" came a sudden squeal and Kyoko flinched.

"Don't call her that, you little bastard!" Deidara yelled, hitting Tobi. "She doesn't like it!"

He jumped down from the tip of the statue that was already fading back into the ground.

"I see you've just finished sealing another demon," Kyoko said, annoyed.

Deidara put up his hands.

"Hey, it's our job, yeah," he said, laughing nervously, then flinched as Kyoko reached into the weapons pouch strapped to her thigh beneath her skirt.

But instead of drawing out a bomb, Kyoko instead drew out the same scroll in which she had seal Hidan's body. Performing hand signs at a speed that only Itachi caught, she placed her hands on the parchment. With a light puff of smoke, a book appeared between her hands.

"A fucking bingo book?" Hidan asked, coming up behind Deidara.

"Hai…" Kyoko flipped between the pages as she walked towards the corpse that had held the Bijuu. "I thought so," she muttered.

"Nani?" Pein's hologram flickered as he turned towards her.

"This man is in my bingo book," Kyoko said softly. "His village's Kage wants him for murder and rape."

She knelt beside the cadaver, pulling another scroll from her pouch.

"What's that one, un?"

"This scroll," Kyoko answered, "is blank. I'm going to seal the body inside before I take it back to Tsunade-hime."

She looked up at Pein.

"I'll bring the money from his Kage to you," she said.

"Good." Pein turned away.

"Just don't expect me to be your new Kakazu," Kyoko said, then, "Leader-sama?"

"Nani?" He didn't turn to look at her.

"Anno…I need to speak with Konan-sama…" Kyoko glanced at said woman. "In person."

Pein and Konan shared a surprised look.

Finally, Pein nodded.

"I'll be at the hideout in three days," Konan said before her hologram flickered and disappeared.

"Kyoko, how long will you be with us this time?" Pein asked.

"I'm not sure," Kyoko admitted. "Maybe two weeks. More likely only one. My comrades are near. And Leader?"

"Hai?"

"I don't know if Zetsu-san has discovered this yet," Kyoko said. "But Orochimaru-sama has been killed."

"Killed?" Pein was surprised. He looked at Zetsu's image.

"I had no idea," he said.

"By who?" Pein asked Kyoko.

"Uchiha…Sasuke," Kyoko whispered, watching Itachi nervously. He made no motion whatsoever.

"Damn…" Deidara scowled. "I wanted to kill him."

Pein ignored this and instead said, "Kyoko, this time you'll stay with Kisame."

"Nani?" Kisame and Kyoko yelped.

"Pein-sama, there's no way I'm going to share my room with a slutty little bitch like her!" Kisame roared.

"Leader-sama, please!" Kyoko said softly. "Shouldn't I stay with Dei-kun or Itachi-sama?"

"Iie. I already know that you get along and work well with them. Now I want to see how well you do with Kisame."

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Kisame yelled, but Kyoko sighed.

"Hai, Leader-sama," she said.

"And this time," Pein said, "don't leave Kisame's room to go to Deidara's, as you did when with Hidan and Itachi."

Kyoko swallowed, vowing to use Zetsu to practice her newfound taijutsu skills on.

XXX

Later, as Kyoko paced across the floor of Kisame's room, the shark-like man leered at her.

"Are you ever going to calm down and sleep?" he snapped.

Kyoko ignored him.

"Damn it, bitch," Kisame said, "lie down and go to sleep already!"

"Kisame-san," Kyoko murmured sweetly.

"What?"

"Sharingan," Kyoko said, turning. Her eyes were blazing the same exact colors as Itachi's.

Kisame's blue color turned to a strange grey.

"That's better," Kyoko said. "Now, let's just get one straight, fish-man. If you so much as look at me in a way I don't like during my stay her this time, if you don't shut the fuck up and leave me alone…I'm going to use this on you. I'm far, far below Itachi's level. But I don't need to be to hurt someone so lowdown as you."

"I-I-"

"And don't even think about following me," Kyoko hissed, opening the door. "Or I'll use my bombs as well as the Sharingan."

She was about to leave, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

"I can see now," Kisame said slowly, "why Deidara likes you so much." He laughed. "I can even see why Itachi is always watching you when you're around!"

Kisame grinned at Kyoko's raised eyebrow.

"Go on," he said. "I don't care what you do. Heh heh…You're something else, you know that?"

Kyoko shook her head.

"That's what Sasori no Dana always said," she muttered.

"Wow…" Kisame scratched his head. "You managed to get that guy's respect?"

"I don't know that it was so much respect as acceptance," Kyoko shrugged. "But I did like his puppets…Kisame-san?"

"What?"

"Tomorrow…I want you to teach me your jutsu…the one that allows you to create a body of water."

"I dunno…" Kisame said. "That takes quite a bit of chakra, I don't think you have enough."

"I don't need that much water," Kyoko said. "I just need enough for my new jutsu."

"What's that?"

"One of my own," Kyoko said. She turned to Kisame, the Sharingan receding.

"I'm going to Itachi-sama," she said. "I need to speak with him."

"Yeah, yeah." Kisame yawned. "You do that."

"Hn…" Kyoko shook her head. "I'll be back. I hope you're a deep sleeper."

Kisame didn't answer. He was already asleep.

XXX

Itachi rolled over as there was a light knock on his door; he could sense Kyoko's chakra and made a few hand signs, sitting up when he heard the lock click.

"Itachi?"

"Hn." Itachi stood and opened his arms, letting Kyoko fall into them with a Sai.

"Kyoko, you know that Pein said to stay in Kisame's room."

"I don't care." Kyoko rested her head on Itachi's bare chest. She laughed softly. "You knew I was coming."

"Hn?"

"You never sleep in just your boxers," Kyoko laughed. "At least not while it's so cold," she added, breath visible in the frigid air.

"Hn…" Itachi just lowered his face to hers, pressing his lips against her own.

"Itachi?" Kyoko asked breathlessly when he had finally released her.

"Mm?"

"This Sharingan…will you teach me to use it?"

Itachi pulled away.

"Itachi?"

"I don't know, Kyoko," he sighed.

"Please?"

"Maybe…" Itachi put an arm around her and lead her to the bed. Pulling her down with him, he pulled the blankets up over their shoulders, wrapping his arms around Kyoko so that she was nestled snuggly against him.

"Itachi?"

"Hmm?"

"I have to go back to Kisame's room before morning," she yawned.

"I'll take you back," Itachi promised. "But for now just sleep. You've been on the road for three days."

Kyoko nodded, drifting off. Itachi sighed. This was a major risk, having Kyoko with him. More so even than she realized. Though Zetsu was growing quite fond of her, he was still loyal to the Akatsuki… If Konoha realized that he and Kyoko were together again… And that wasn't the worst that could happen.

XXX

Kisame bolted upright as he heard the sound of retching in the room. Kyoko was in the bathroom, vomiting, shoulders heaving.

"Hey…you okay?" Kisame asked. Kyoko just moaned.

"Hey!" Kisame said, moving to put a hand on her shoulder. His hand brushed her neck and his eyes widened. "Shit!"

xxx

Itachi sat up as there was a loud hammering on his bedroom door. Getting up, he opened it to see his partner.

"What?" he snapped, then looked down to see Kyoko in Kisame's arms.

"She's running a fever," Kisame said. "I don't think she's doing to well."

Itachi nodded, placing a hand on Kyoko's brow as Kisame lay her on Itachi's bed.

"Go get Deidara," he said.

Kisame nodded before leaving.

Itachi sighed, sitting on the bed and stripping the clothes from Kyoko's body before pulling the blankets up over her.

Kyoko had only had a fever like this once before. It wasn't the poison. This was something else.

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Short, sorry, next chapter coming as soon as I can get it up!

Love,
Fangirl