Second Year
-Yahizui-
In the end, nothing mattered. As she kneeled on the ground, her arm kept in a vice grip, Hi realized she cared for little. She didn't care for the pain assaulting her each time Danzo-sama's teeth sunk into the flesh of her arm, nor did she care for the dizzying sensation of having one's chakra sucked from their body. It was all transitory. The pain of training, the strain in her body was also passing; she could barely feel it now. Even the small twinges of sorrow as her platoon members died one by one during missions were but a transiting emotion. Only Dai remained, and the thought of him not surviving another day —
Hi gasped, her heart constricting. Danzo's teeth pulled out of her forearm. His visible eye narrowed.
"Enough for now. Go rest, you have a mission tomorrow."
"Yes, Danzo-sama."
She rushed through the corridors, her thoughts filled with amber eyes. Without a second thought she flashed to the barracks, stopping by the door with her senses on full alert. Dai looked up from packing his mission bag.
"What's the rush?"
Admitting that she had frightened herself by thinking of his death felt trivial, silly even.
"Mission is tomorrow, I must prepare." The lie fell smoothly from her lips.
They were to enter Mist, find out about the recent political instability there, and confirm rumors of the Mizukage's death. Ten people left the barracks, a mix of battle-hardened agents and fresh blood who were to likely serve as cannon fodder, if Dai was to be believed. After one year, Hi believed him.
Things had changed ever since that chase mission months ago. Her dreams were plagued with dreams of another life, flashes and fragments of what she hoped were her memories. And with those dreams, she changed. Or maybe that was Dai's influence, his rebellious streak infecting her. Hi liked it, liked him and his defiance.
When the fighting finally began, for inevitably, it would not begin, they were overwhelmed. Mist was in chaos, and there was no one to keep the brutality in check. Experienced and newbies alike fell under the swords of the Mist shinobi, swallowed up by the sheer bloodlust of those few men and women that bore the title: Swordsmen of the Mist. Their platoon leader called for a retreat when Hi watched horrified how a sword pierced Dai's heart.
She acted without thought or plan, desperation pushing something from her soul, the stoicism of the past year laid forgotten, burning in the path of the glowing chains bursting from her chest. His attacker did not have time to react and Hi flashed away with Dai's bleeding body, spurts of terror and adrenaline making her vision tunnel. She had never flashed so fast before, all thoughts of formation, duty or their platoon leader forgotten. He had to live, he could not die, not him. Her arms itched and for a moment Hi hesitated, Danzo's order to not give her chakra to anyone else burning the back of her throat. Blood seeped between her fingers and Hi's eyes widened at Dai's cooling body. She pushed her sleeves up, shoved her forearm in between his teeth and forced his jaw shut, awaiting the inevitable pain.
She gasped, a feeling she could not name filling her up to the brim, crawling up her spine and making her shiver. It felt like fresh spring air, like cool water over heated flesh, like the whisper of a gentle touch. Hi closed her eyes, fingers clamping over Dai's shoulder to steady herself, but that only amplified the sensation flooding her body and mind. It was too much; it was too unexpected, too... good. His jaw slackened, and she pulled back, dazed eyes watching him blink at her. Alive, whole, unharmed. A yearning overtook her senses, the fear of losing him clashing with the euphoria of having saved his life and she let impulse guide her hands, pull him toward her with all the strength in her wiry muscles and crash her mouth to his in a desperate kiss. Dai answered on par, his larger hands gripping at her, holding for dear life.
Another piece of the puzzle slid into place, worming itself inside her mind.
-O-
He punished her that day as they returned, and for the first time since she remembered anything, Hi felt the extent of Danzo's anger.
-Sasuke-
A loud knock pulled Sasuke away from his dark thoughts. He ignored it. Whoever it was could go away and leave him alone today. He wasn't in the mood, hadn't been for the past week and today most of all. The knocking morphed into pounding and Sasuke buried himself deeper under the covers. Today was the anniversary, the day in which, one year ago, he lost his entire clan and was plunged into a void of darkness and loneliness.
The knocking stopped and Sasuke breathed in relief, burying his face deeper in the pillow. Seconds later the blanket was ripped from his body and he came face to face with Naruto's determined blue eyes.
"Leave," says Sasuke, too tired to contort his face into a convincingly enough sneer. He hadn't slept, his dreams plagued by crimson eyes and bloody corpses.
"Not a chance," said Naruto, stubbornness dripping from every syllable. "You and I will do something today."
"No."
"Get up," continued Naruto, oblivious to the daggers Sasuke kept shooting at him.
Naruto moved like a tornado through Sasuke's small apartment. He opened the drapes, grabbed a pack and started stuffing things in it. By the time he declared everything done, the previously tidy one-room apartment looked like... well, like Naruto's messy one-room apartment.
"Come on, we are going on an adventure!"
"No," insisted Sasuke, intent on driving the blond and his cheerful attitude away. Why was he so happy and grinning, anyway? Wasn't today a day of mourning for him as well? Hadn't he lost someone too? Or had he already forgotten, left his grief behind and simply moved on? Well, Naruto could do whatever he wanted, but he would not forget Not so easily, never.
Naruto steadfastly ignored the gloom and threatening aura around Sasuke and grabbed him by the wrist, half dragging him out of bed. "Ged dressed; we have lots of things to do!"
Sasuke snatched his hand back. "What is wrong with you?" he exploded. "Is your stupid memory so short? How can you grin and laugh and talk about adventures when..." he couldn't say it, a knot forming in his throat, flashes of red invading his peripheral vision.
Naruto's buoyant mood deflated, the too wide smile dropping from his face. "It ain't as if I'm not sad, I am. But how does that help me? How does sulking in the dark, help you? I know that Hizui-nee would have wanted me to be happy, and I'll be damned if I disappoint her."
So it was all... fake. Just like the smiles he put on when people picked on him on the street, or when shopkeepers shoved him out of their stores. It was all a front. "Why bother? Why bother to smile and seem happy when you're obviously not? And why drag me into this? Leave me alone."
"Well... 'cause no one likes being sad. And I want to show nee-chan that I am happy. That I am doing well, that I don't stay stuck in the past."
That last line shot him like an arrow, making Sasuke's breath hitch and his eyes widen. What would his mother have to say about his state? He hadn't showered in maybe a week, couldn't even remember the last time he ate, or saw the sun, or went out of the house. His father would chide him for skipping school, and training, and disappointing his teachers. They wouldn't want to see him in this state. And maybe Naruto was right. How did the mopping and brooding help his cause, his goal? A tendril of determination wrapped around his heart, tugging him out of bed.
"Where are ya going?" asked Naruto, puzzled.
"I'm taking a shower, and then..." he thought of the likely mouldy food in his fridge and shuddered. "And then we go have breakfast."
"And the adventure?"
What was the harm in indulging him? Naruto was after all responsible for dragging him out of the black hole of his thoughts. "Yeah, we can go on your adventure. But we have to be back by evening, we have class tomorrow."
"Ah, man! You're no fun!" whined Naruto, then gave a tentative, genuine smile. "Yeah, we'll be back in time for class."
-Yahizui-
Border patrol was something every shinobi did. Root did their own patrols, as Danzo-sama trusted less in the regular forces and more in his own loyal reports. His people were the only trustworthy ones, or so he said. She believed him. When you have an army of conditioned soldiers, how could you not trust them? In the end, no one was spared the conditioning process. Even Dai had to go through it, once they realized that he simply refused to die. He had changed since then, a spark disappearing from his amber gaze.
She knew from that day on that she couldn't implicitly trust him anymore, not with her thoughts. And yet, the warmth of his body, the heat of his kisses and the way he pulled each sigh and moan out of her still seemed genuine. She would not call it love, not that she was sure what the concept entailed, but there was a simple, primal pleasure in succumbing to the intense feeling another's body could provide. It made her human, showed her she could do more than just hurt and kill others. Despite that, Hi knew that if Dai were to choose between Danzo-sama and herself, she would lose the draw. She sometimes wondered what her answer would be, if given the same question.
Border patrol, Hi decided, gave her too much time to reflect.
A presence moved at the edge of her net, putting Hi on edge. She focused on it, but their chakra was expertly suppressed. Her muscles tensed as she realized that whoever it was, they were headed straight for her. She pulled her short sword out, chakra gathering in her body, ready to be released at her command.
Seconds passed, and she felt the presence slow down, until a tall, twenty something man strolled through the trees. He looked familiar, yet she could not remember why, his dark hair, straight nose and sharp cheekbones reminding her of... the pieces of memories inside her mind were jumbled, flashes of dark hair and charcoal eyes appearing like breadcrumbs, yet still out of reach.
"What business do you have on Konoha's borders?" she said, drawing herself up. She might have still been young, her fourteen-year-old body nothing to tremble upon, but most people know not to underestimate a shinobi, teen or not.
"Oh, nothing," said the stranger in a low tone. He cocked his head to the side, strands of long black hair spilling over his shoulder. "I was just wandering about and saw something interesting."
What? She wanted to ask, but kept her mouth shut. There was something about this man that screamed danger, the suppressed chakra making her skin prickle.
"How old are you?" he suddenly asked. He was leaning against a tree, his dark eyes watching her.
"Sir," she began, secretly bristling at the question, "wanderer or not, I would suggest that you refrain from approaching and from posing questions. If you have no business in Konoha, then remove yourself from the border and by on your way."
"Touchy," he retorted, taking a step back. She wondered how he knew where the edge of the border was. "Is this acceptable?"
"You are still here."
"I am intrigued. There are few Uzumaki out there these days."
She froze at the name, a flash of memory flooding her brain. Uzumaki, Uzumaki... that was —
"Though I guess if one were to be, they would be in Konoha."
She forced her attention back to the man before her, taking in the glint of some unknown emotion in his eyes.
"Do my words surprise you?"
"No," she lied. "How did you know?"
"You might hide your face with a mask, but your hair is recognizable."
"Many people have red hair. Wind country has their fair share of them, I doubt they are all Uzumaki."
"Let's just say I am an expert."
"Who are you?" The thought plagued her the more she looked at this too familiar stranger.
"You tell me, and I will tell you."
A movement caught her attention and within moments Dai jumped through the trees and landed beside her.
"Who were you talking to?" he asked.
She looked at the border, but the stranger was nowhere to be seen. She hadn't even felt his chakra shift.
"No one."
-O-
The stranger came again during her next shift, and the one after that. He spoke little, opting to lean on one of the large trees and carve symbols into pieces of wood. Each time he looked her way, that feeling of familiarity increased.
"Why do you come here?" she asked, tired of being on edge.
"I'm not sure."
"Then please, leave."
"Maybe I should."
"Will you?"
"No."
Her eyes blazed behind the nondescript mask, but it was unlikely that he noticed.
She stopped coming after that, pushed the stranger away from her thoughts, did her best to wiggle herself out of border patrol. A restless feeling grew inside her and the dreams kept coming, adding more pieces to the puzzle.
Two months later she remembered her name was Yahizui, and smiled thinking that now she could have actually answered the stranger's question.
-Itachi-
When Orochimaru came to him, sure of his ability to frighten and overwhelm, Itachi remained unfazed. That was likely what angered the snake Sannin the most, but Itachi was no longer the fresh chuunin that trembled and froze before a power he could not comprehend. He now was the monster, the silent shadow which gave brave men nightmares.
The training with the man calling himself Madara helped as well, though he would never admit it to the masked man. Itachi was less and less certain that he was who he said he was. His personality was one thing that did not match the general view on Uchiha Madara, and as Itachi spent more time with the man, he noticed some inconsistencies in his stories. He liked to talk, and Itachi let him. Madara, for he did not know how else to call him, hadn't opened up about Akatsuki's actual goals, but Itachi suspected they were more than just: make Amegakure prosperous. That was a milestone they were hitting well. It was the start of his second year in Akatsuki, and he had completed countless missions so far. Elite shinobi that could be hired for cash was a simple concept that many countries and Daimyio understood, and business boomed.
Itachi was waiting to meet his newly assigned partner, another former Swordsmen of the Mist, when Orochimaru decided to finally make his move. He had been sniffing around him for months, and Itachi's aloofness about it all was irking the Sannin. There were few things which delighted him these days, if fact Itachi could count his happy moments on one hand, most of them surrounding Shisui and the kids. But even he had to admit that unleashing the Sharingan's power on Orochimaru and humiliating him had been satisfying. He had left the Sannin seething on the Headquarters' main stairs, and strolled down to meet the towering form of his new partner.
"I am Uchiha Itachi," he said politely. "We are to be partners from now on."
The man before him looked down, his massive shoulders shaking with barely concealed mirth. He was peculiar, his skin tinted blue, his eyes small and beady. When he spoke, rows of sharp teeth gleamed between his thin lips, his voice deep as the dark oceans.
"Hoshigaki Kisame." Kisame glanced up at Orochimaru's still gejutsu-frozen form, his mouth quirking up. "Was that little demonstration for my sake?"
Itachi could already see his muscles tensing, a monstrous killer instinct clawing to rise to the surface. This was a man who never backed down from a fight, likely relished in them. Itachi inclined his head to the side and relaxed his shoulders. "Not at all, Kisame-san. I was just repaying an old debt."
"So, Konoha ain't just full of daisies and roses, eh? I see you have bite as well. Good for you, kid!"
Itachi was unsure whether the man was being honest. He filed that away to the empty folder he now had with 'Hoshigaki Kisame'.
"I will show you to your room."
-Yahizui-
She wasn't on patrol this time, but she left camp anyway, her mind hazy. More memories were trickling in with each night, and Yahizui, for she now knew that was her name, found herself caught in a conundrum. She still did not know how she came to be in Danzo's care, how she lost any memory of who she was, but she knew she should keep quiet about her revelation. Missions went on. Only now, with her newly found sense of self, Yahizui recoiled when the life of a target spilled between her fingers. She hid the disgust, burying it deep, smothering the guilt she knew would not be approved.
She found comfort in Dai, but Yahizui knew she could not trust him, could not tell him. Dai's conditioning had been thorough, and in his fractured mind, Danzo stood first.
Was it not the same for her? Was she cajoling herself into thinking that she valued the lives she took, and wanted... What did she want? A way out? It was impossible, not with the strangling grip he had on her. And even if she found a way out, where would she go?
Her mind was split between the fervent loyalty toward her leader and... something else. Had she loved something else? Someone else? There were images of a blond child, the smell of herbs, a pair of charcoal eyes... but those were concepts, wisps of feelings. The confusion was splitting her head open.
She snuck out of the camp, heading for the woods just outside the border to clear her head. The thick, ancient trees of the Shodai forest still thrummed with chakra, a clear indicator that they were no ordinary trees. The energy calmed her, lulling her into a sense of safety and balance.
"You can leave the border after all," said a voice behind her.
Yahizui turned around, noticing the surprise on the stranger's face. She resisted the impulse to touch her face, suddenly missing the plain mask she had been assigned.
"I am not a dog on a leash," she snapped, turning back to the trees. Her senses were on high alert, hand hovering over her weapon pouch. "Have you truly nothing better to do than stalk teenage girls?"
"You have more bite than last time we met," he said instead.
Yahizui looked away. With her memories returning, she changed. Looking back, she could now understand how Dai and the others were put out by her in the beginning. She had been blank, devoid of any personality, just a tool for executing orders. Now she was a person, or at least half a person. She wanted things, hated things, had ideas and opinions, a sense of humor. She wanted to laugh and cry, to feel.
"Who are you?" she asked, ignoring his comment.
"You tell me, and I tell you," he replied, mirroring their talk a few months prior.
"Yahizui." It felt good to tell someone her name, even if it was a stranger.
"Tarou."
"Just that?"
Tarou inclined his head, the ghost of a smirk playing on his lips. "Just that, Yahizui Uzumaki."
Common sense and her instincts told her to leave. Return to camp, away from this mysterious man, and remain within the border's safety. Yet there was something about him. She couldn't quite place her finger on it, but there was something drawing her to him. "Tell me, Taro-san,"she began, emphasizing the suffix, "how is it you always know when I am close by?"
"Maybe I wasn't looking for you. I am a traveler; I just camp nearby."
"Then you should go to Konoha, I am certain you can find a more comfortable place to rest than here."
His onyx eyes hardened and for a moment Yahizui felt a prickle of terror.
"I would rather not."
She took a step back, taken aback by the sudden ice in his voice. "Then, enjoy your travels," she said and stepped further back until her foot passed the border.
Tarou smiled, an enigmatic, predatory sort of gesture that made her skin prickle, then gave her a slight bow. "Until next time."
And although Yahizui did not know when next time will be, she knew deep in her bones that she will see this man again.
A/N: Can I just say how much I LOVE writing Naruto and Sasuke as friends? Well, I adore it, and I am patting myself on the shoulder for deciding to accelerate the start of their friendship, because these boys are soooo good for eachother and I find them so wholesome when they're not punchimg each other into oblivion! I mean Kishi, really how is that the basis for any healthy human interaction?