Disclaimer: Naruto co. don't belong to me. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto.
AN: the fun is just beginning - that's why I couldn't wait to finish typing out this chapter (tho'- mind you I'm taking my pc out for maintenance soon so.. I don't know how long it'll take for the next chapter o.O;) enjoy!
Chapter: Of Associations And Blood
The Tower of the Hokage...
"Kakashi-niichan!"
"Yuki-chan!" Kakashi called back as he saw his sister and two other youths, Neji and Shikamaru, trail behind her. The three were dashing towards his direction as he was standing guard atop the tower. "The Kazekage is here." Yuki raised her hand to show him that she caught what he said and then stopped dead in her tracks.
"I want to head inside the tower," she told Shikamaru, who promptly stopped next to her, as with Neji.
"Go ahead. We'll disband right here. I'll be heading off to find anyone around here who's still patrolling the area," said Shikamaru. Neji said that he would do the same and left with Shikamaru. Yuki turned back towards the tower and left for it immediately.
She found most of the rooms to be crowded with injured people, civilians that hadn't yet been evacuated, and some random ninja trying to keep things in order. There didn't seem to be anyone of authority around- so she jumped up the stairs to the rooftop where she last saw Kakashi.
"Yuki-chan!" she heard a female voice cry out. Her head swiveled around to find the source of her voice, and found her in a huddle at a corner furthest away from her. She saw Kakashi beckoning her to come closer, so she jogged her way there. As she looked more closely she found that Gaara, Sasuke and Naruto were there too. Naruto, however, was lying down on a stretcher, Gaara looming over him with a weird looking hand-seal.
But what really caught her attention was Sasuke. She couldn't tell how he was feeling. After all the last they'd seen each other... they were in quite a disagreement. ...And he'd scared her quite a bit. But she didn't turn away when they locked eyes for a brief, fleeting moment- no, she moved on quite determinedly.
"Good to see that you're all safe!" she said as she reached her brother's side. "I thought you were supposed to bring Inuzuka Kiba back too?" she asked Kakashi. He only nodded in confirmation.
"Kiba has gone off to help," Sakura answered for him. "Everything else is in a mess, Yuki-chan!" Yuki nodded to signal for her to continue. "We accidently met them on our way back here. Itachi- the rest of Akatsuki too. We tried to retreat before anything big happened but we were too careless. They followed us back to the village."
"Don't worry yourself about it," Yuki said soothingly when she could see all the guilt that was building up inside the pink-haired kunoichi. "It was going to happen sooner or later."
"I- I just wish it wasn't sooner," she replied quietly. Yuki patted her on the back sympathetically.
"And how about your mission?" Kakashi asked.
"Interrupted," she said shortly. "We came back as fast as we could after we got the message."
"The rest of your team?"
"Disbanded. Shikamaru and Neji have gone off to help as well." Yuki frowned thoughtfully after saying that. "I don't like it."
"What?"
"The people are scattered... I don't like it," she repeated. She then knelt down to the floor to examine Naruto's condition.
Something happened alright. He was heating up. No- Naruto was practically burning up. His face was red and even from where she was, she could feel intense heat emanating from him -that is, if she could trust her temperature-senses. Furthermore it seemed as though he was barely conscious. She knew that he could see her, judging from the grin he was attempting, but he could barely move at all. The fever was weakening him.
"What's happened to him?" she asked Gaara. He looked cooly back at her.
"It seems that the encounter with Itachi caused him to become unstable," he said. "He probably did something to Naruto's seal."
"Can I help?"
"Yes. Some teams from my village will be arriving soon. They'll be coming from the east gates." Gaara took out a pouch filled with scrolls and tossed it to her. "I only ask that you give them their orders." He stopped at that and then turned his attention back to Naruto. Yuki hesitated and tried to approach him again.
"I meant-" If there was anything she could do for Naruto? ...If she'd not been away in the first place, he wouldn't have been in this mess. If... god, too many ifs.
"I understood perfectly what you mean," Gaara said. "But there is not need for you to be here at the moment. It will be better if you work to free up an opening in order for Tsunade-dono and Jiraiya-sama to get back." Yuki looked reluctantly down at Naruto and then looked away as she stood back up.
"It is my duty to take care of him," she said. "But I'll trust you with Naruto. I'll be leaving then-"
"I'll go with you." It surprised her to realise that it was Sasuke who said that. She turned around to look at him carefully, but found that there was no trace, no hint of emotion in his expression. Yuki felt fairly tempted to activating her byakugan right then and there to figure out this enigma.
"No." Now that she noticed it, it seemed that Sasuke was injured as well. His left arm was looking a little bloody, and his face was sporting some rather painful-looking bruises. Of course... there were other reasons why she didn't think that he should be going with her. "You're injured. I'm going alone."
"Yuki-"
"About before," she interrupted him. Catching his eye, she swallowed down the impulse to escape without continuing with what she was about to say. Apologies to him were certainly in order. ...But since there was an audience, it hardly seemed appropriate. Then again, what she did the last time they met... that she imposed on him without making certain that she could reciprocate his feelings... "I'm sorry." Sasuke stiffened visibly.
"For what?"
"For not saying so earlier," she said, blushing as she looked away. "Thank you, Sasuke." She moved smoothly to his side, reached up and gave a peck on his cheek. His eyes widened in surprise. That was a first. Yuki blushed once more when she stepped back.
"Well, I have to go," she said, looking flustered as she started moving to the stairs.
"Wait-" Kakashi said, stopping her. If only he didn't have his mask on, she would've seen the silly grin he was sporting because of her previous scene with Sasuke. But business, of course, always came first. "Our southern defense line is weakening."
"Where are the anbu?"
"No good. Even they are scattered."
"And where is Tsunade-sama right now?"
"To the south east. It will take her some more time to get here."
"We don't have time," she said, biting her lip in frustration. She took out her anbu mask again and wore it- she had had it tied around her neck the whole time when she'd just arrived in the village. Well, it's not like they couldn't recognise her through her hair color anyway. Who other than Hatakes had white hair? (Although her hair was colored white for an entirely different reason.) "Sakura-chan, will you call all available ninjas from the room below to up here? I want a word with them." Sakura nodded compliantly and left at once. Without another word, Yuki jumped off the roof and into the back forest with the intention of scouting the perimeter. While she came back empty-handed, all the available officers were already assembled.
"Is this all?" she asked Sakura, who nodded in confirmation as she took her place in the line. Yuki then turned her attention to the group. "Hatake Yuki," she said by way of introduction. Her name was all that was needed anyway, as she immediately gained the whole of their attention. "I want all of you to split into four teams. The first two teams form two defense lines. One at the mouth of the civilian's escape route, and the other inside it.
"A third team will take a defense line here, and at the same time assist with the evacuation of all the civilians as well as the injured. I want the evacuation to be complete!" she said sternly. "The fourth team will go search for my anbu subordinates and pass this message on to them: Go to emergency plan E. Forget about losing our territory, what we need now is firm footing. This is an order! Now what are you still doing here?" At her last shout, they all scrambled - all except Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi, whom she called back.
"Kakashi-niichan, I need you to watch my back. ...I need someone I can trust," she said seriously, and at the same time looking a little sullen. Kakashi placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her to get her attention. That was quite a sudden lapse of energy - but no matter, she felt alright presently.
"You never needed to ask," he said. "But you're not going to the south."
"Why not?" she asked, a little baffled.
"Itachi is there."
"All the more reason to then." Suddenly Sasuke moved to her side and grabbed her arm.
"I'm going too."
"No," she said firmly. "I need you and Sakura-chan to guard the Kazekage."
"Do you really think that I need a guard?" asked the amused voice of Gaara in the background.
"It would be more appropriate that I should leave you with support, at least," Yuki argued back. She saw Gaara lift his shoulders in a shrug without taking his attention off his current examination of Naruto's seal. "In any case," she began again as she turned back to Kakashi. "We have to head to the south-east first to help Tsunade-sama."
"Yuki-"
"Sasuke, no," she said in frustration. She leaned next to his ear and whispered, "I can't pull you away from here. I know you wouldn't want to leave your best friend like this..." Sasuke let go of her arm at that, and bowed his head slightly. Yuki awkwardly nudged his chin up with a bent forefinger. "I'll be back in a jiff. Please guard the Kazekage... in my stead. I trust you." She stepped away at that and stared at him for a moment. After she saw that he would comply she turned to Sakura and asked her to watch over all of them. Without any further ado, she and Kakashi left.
"Why don't you want Sasuke-kun to come?" Kakashi asked as they speeded their way into the village's southern territory. Yuki bit her lip and ignored him.
"This is where we separate," she said as she suddenly stopped in her tracks. Without any notice she tossed the scroll-filled bag that she received from Gaara to Kakashi and asked for him to pass those scrolls to the Hidden Sand's ninjas when they arrived. "I'll be heading to the south alone... Kakashi-niichan, I know I can trust you to bring Tsunade-sama back for us." The older man looked shocked.
"You're not-"
"I'll head back to the Tower when I'm done."
"Don't be foolish. You can't take Itachi by yourself!" he growled harshly.
"I don't intend to," she said with an easy grin. She turned her back to him and smiled even though he couldn't see it. "I'm only trying to buy you some time. Don't worry, Kakashi-niichan. I've grown a lot stronger than before." She dashed off before Kakashi could say anything else.
"Damn it, Yuki!"
Back at the Tower, Naruto was writhing in pain from the high temperatures. It was amazing enough to see that he was still alive... Sasuke knew that Yuki was right. Even with their open animosity towards each other, everybody knew that he and Naruto were the best of friends. The best partners ever. He couldn't just leave him to face that pain alone. Even if Sakura was there with him too. In a way, he was glad that he didn't have to make a choice - between staying with Naruto and help him through his present condition, or leaving him to god-knows-what while he could accompany Yuki. Even if he- ... Well, he was relieved that he didn't have to make the choice, and mentally thanked Yuki for that.
Yuki was yet another point... she'd kissed him on the cheek- a first. A very surprising first. And what a pleasant surprise it was. So, even though he wasn't with her right now, somehow he knew that everything was alright between them. Even though that really wasn't for sure... her actions still made him feel somewhat at peace. It was helping him concentrate with the present situation now that he knew that their own personal troubles could be put to rest. ...If only until he could get the definite words out of her mouth.
"Don't move too much, Sasuke. The wound on your arm could open again," Sakura warned, jolting him out of his thoughts. He brought his eyes back into focus and returned his attention to the situation while at the same time nodding to Sakura as by way of answer.
"I need a hand," Gaara said nonchalantly as he lifted his head up to them. The pair looked at him. Sakura moved first by kneeling down and then bending her head to also cross-examine Naruto's seal.
"How is he doing?" she asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" Gaara answered. Sakura looked at him with blatant exasperation. Gaara only smirked in response. "You people made some sly enemies."
"Hm? You mean the one that did this?" Sakura asked back. Gaara went silent. "What did he do exactly?"
"He manipulated his chakra producing system into producing heat."
"Then why is it affecting him so much? I thought that we only produce chakra when we're in battle."
"It is unfortunate that for Naruto, because of the influence of Kyuubi, his chakra system is also used to heal him. Which means... every time he moves, breathes, every time his body tries to cure itself, the energy produced for doing so builds extreme heat inside his body."
"So what's to be done?" Sasuke asked curtly as he cut the silence. Gaara looked up and stared at him. The atmosphere was rather tense. They used to be enemies after all. Gaara answered him just as curtly.
"Either cut down his entire energy source, which is to end his misery by killing him or lift the seal cast on him, then so letting him live. And it's obvious which choice I should make."
"Can you lift the seal then?" Sakura asked hurriedly.
"Of course," Gaara answered, with an arrogant smirk that was almost identical to Sasuke's. "But it will take some time. And I don't have the proper-"
"What do you need then?" Sasuke interrupted.
"You're helping me, Uchiha?"
"Don't be too full of yourself," he replied with a snort. "I'm only doing this for my best friend."
Yuki arrived at the southern defence point without much hassle, and to her astonishment, met with Shikamaru once again.
"Yuki-san? What are you doing here?"
"I'm ordering a retreat."
"We can hold this defence line," he replied stubbornly. Yuki squatted down next to him.
"Are you that confident? Kakashi-niichan told me that Itachi was here." That made him jump.
"Itachi is here? That's not right. There hasn't been any sign at all-" His voice trailed off and then he started swearing under his breath.
"Pull all of them back while I distract the enemies."
"We are very close to eliminating them at this point!" Shikamaru argued back.
"Then do it and leave," Yuki hissed back in frustration. The two glared at each other and then grudgingly turned away, knowing that both of their intentions were for the best.
"You're insane. You can't handle Itachi by yourself," Shikamaru said, accurately guessing her intentions. "What if the top members are here too, without us knowing?"
"I doubt it. Why else can't Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama return to the centre of command?"
"Sometimes I wish that you weren't so sharp."
"Then I wouldn't be here in the first place. Now, please do it quickly and then pull everyone back to the shelters."
"Uchiha Sasuke will have my head for letting you go off to face that man. Not to mention the Hyuugas..."
"I won't tell them if you don't," Yuki said with a light-hearted attempt to release them from the tension in the atmosphere. "I'll be off then. On your cue." The two nodded in understanding and the girl immediately dashed off to another hiding place.
Unfortunately, Uchiha Itachi found her way before Shikamaru could do anything. He appeared in front of her in the blink of an eye.
"The little girl from before..." he said, raising his head to her perch on the tree. Yuki shivered a little. There was an element of danger in his voice which she could not deny. ...It was like terror waiting to be provoked.
"Hello cousin," she said, trying her best to keep her voice calm. To show that she wasn't anxious of his presence at all (which she was anyway), she jumped down from the tree and squarely faced him.
"I missed you when I woke up," he said coolly, training his eyes on her every movement. Yuki did the same thing to him and then matched her own breathing to his. His sharingan wasn't activated, so she assumed that she was relatively safe right then. Of course, she was still very aware of the fact that Itachi was rather prone to sudden attacks, so she didn't let her guard down at all.
"Sorry to hear that, but I was outside the country then," she replied just as coolly. But his continuous calmness was making her extremely jittery. If anything, the only thing that could save her presently was to not show him that she was afraid. That every inch of her muscles were presently screaming for her to run. But she knew that she had to stay. She wanted to stay, if only for a little while longer - she did promise to buy her friends some time.
However, one thought was nagging at her in the back of her mind - how come Shikamaru didn't know that Itachi was there? Itachi's stealth skills were superb, and she could understand how Shikamaru couldn't have detected him earlier, but... Why hadn't Itachi made his presence known? Why wait until she came out? ... Wasn't the reason why Akatsuki came to attack Konoha because... well it certainly couldn't have been because of her! ... Or... was it only a diversion? Did he mean to confuse them?
She suddenly had a really bad feeling in her gut.
"I didn't see you when I came back," she said lightly. If she could somehow get an answer from him...
"Oh? I was waiting for you to approach me. I didn't think that it would take so long." He was waiting for her! "I give you the honor of my attention purely because you are, after all, Uncle Taka's daughter. Although... I must say I'd never imagined that that Uchiha-reject could have seeded such a powerful girl."
"Don't.you.dare.insult.my.father!" she growled as she bent her knees, as if ready to jump. Itachi made a sudden step forward and turned his body sideways. She could see from the movement of his muscles that he was ready to attack. Well... if that was the case, then she was too.
"Did you know that your father discovered his sharingan rather late?" Why was the bloody bastard talking about her father! The tone he had when he was talking about it made her feel like the comment he just made was rather insulting. The rational part of her mind was telling her that according to the traditional customs of the Uchiha, receiving the sharingan late, especially when coming from a rather prestigious branch, was pretty insulting. "And it was him who first brought up the secret of the mangekkyou to me."
"Lies," she thought harshly. "He's trying to break my focus." But at the back of her mind, she couldn't help but think, "What had her father any use for the mangekkyou in the first place?"
"Does that seem too hard to believe?" he asked maliciously when he did not receive any reply to his previous taunts.
"Can't you think of a better lie? My father would have had no use for it."
"Oh, but Yuki-chan, he had every use for it." She shivered visibly when he said her name. The way he said it, felt colder than even the will of the Seishin itself. "We all know his love story. What was your version of it?"
"Come off it," she spat.
"Only I know the truth." There was something that made her sick to her stomach in the way that he said that. Only he knew the truth. What truth was he talking about?
"What do you want from us?" she said, and then cursed herself for having revealed a tremble in her voice. Itachi smirked in satisfaction at that.
"Taka, my uncle, wanted to be with your mother no matter what. He was just about willing to sacrifice his best friend." That was it. She had enough. She didn't want to listen to him talking anymore about her father so she jumped from her place and lunged at him.
Itachi let out a cold laugh as he skillfully dodged her first attack. He successfully blocked the second one too as she twisted in the air and attempted to use her legs to kick him in mid-spin.
"You're decades behind me, Yuki-chan," he said with spiteful pleasure. Yuki was boiling with anger. She outstretched her arms to the ground to support her as she fell and then she extended her legs and spun herself around like a windmill. When none of her kicks connected she growled in frustrated and fell on her feet, squatting down for a quick breather. Itachi used the opening to ready for a kick, but Yuki was well out of the way when he was about to extend his leg. She flipped over him, trying to get her fingers on the clasps of his coat in an attempt to take it off, but she was unsuccessful. "He never could kill his best friend, you know. I found him out on the eve of the day he planned to-"
"Shut up!" Yuki shouted in obvious anger. Itachi saw the opening and swiftly delivered a kick to her middle, causing her to fly back and collide with a nearby tree trunk. The impact knocked all the breath out of her and forced her to spend some moments on the ground, trying to catch back her breath. "You're only saying all this to distract me," she choked as she forced her limbs to support her as she tried to standd back up.
"That might be it," he chuckled in self-satisfaction as he slowly made his way to her. "But have you never wondered how I found out about it?"
"Big deal. It's a family secret wasn't it? Well it's not much of a secret anymore, you can ask any intelligence officer anywhere," she said with difficulty as she was still gasping for breath. "But I can bet you were the one who first told Sasuke."
"Sasuke..." he growled. Yuki was about to pick herself up when he suddenly jerked her up by the neck, causing her to choke even more.
"At least that shut him up," she thought in the back of her mind just as her world about to darken once again.
