A/N: I think I'm a failure as well. After so many months of not updating, I come up with a crappy chapter.
Though I do promise to update at least twice a week from now on, since I hate unfinished business.
Please R&R. Thanks.
Chapter 2: Loser
Two words: I fail.
How many times has my temper gotten the better of me?
Oh dear god, I really don't think I want to know the answer to that question.
The thing is, after a few months of quiet time, I've gotten in trouble yet again.
Thanks, baby brother, you're just so incredibly helpful in letting me work out on my life.
Why do I always get into trouble because of you?
Damn it.
Okay, let's make the explanation short and sweet. I went to school, encountered some other guy picking on Yuki yet again, got pissed, and beat the crap out of him.
Fine. So the story isn't really that simple.
What I hadn't been expecting was for the guy to be a tae kwon do black belt, which nearly resulted in him beating the crap out of me instead.
Oh well, the ending is the same anyhow. The kid's dad is an important official in the government. Plus, his family is one of the chief donors to the school. Since I beat up that asshole, well, I'm screwed.
Mom and Dad are at school right now, trying to "smooth things over." I seriously doubt that it's going to work.
This is just great. I've never envisioned myself before as a middle-school dropout before. I mean, high school? That actually would be pretty cool. But middle school, for crying out loud? Where had my sense of pride gone?
Damn that Yuki. Why can't he be just grateful and shut up? If it were not for him, I wouldn't be even in this situation. But no, he is going all "it was none of your business in the first place. I can take care of myself. Goddamn nee-san, why can't you just leave me alone for once?"
I can't be getting angry with him right now. I have myself to worry about.
That's it. I can't stay in this house anymore. I'm going for a visit to the shrine.
As far back as I can remember; there had always been a little Inari shrine near our house. We live in the suburban areas of Kyoto, so it's a quiet place. Not many come here to pray or ask for anything. In fact, other than the old shrine keeper and the occasional foreign tourist with their digital cameras, I think I'm the only one who bothers coming here.
I stepped inside. The place was dark and cool. Closing my eyes, I breathed in the sweet, pungent scent of incense. It was a familiar smell, always able to calm me down when I needed it.
Inari, what am I going to do? Mom and Dad can't possibly convince those people not to expel me. Am I just doomed to be a little juvenile delinquent working in the dumpster and not even finish middle school? Of all the futures I've imagined for myself, that certainly isn't one of them.
I wish that I could just get away. This really wasn't the first time that I felt that I don't belong here. For one thing, I look like a complete freak next to all the black-haired, pale olive skinned Japanese people at school. And for another, none of them would accept me anyways, because of my retarded appearance.
Who am I kidding when I said that this place was my home? I sighed again, running a hand through my bangs.
Wait a second, why do I feel rain on myself? Is the roof leaking?
My eyes snapped open, and I almost fainted with shock.
What the hell?
Or more like, where the hell am I?
I looked around, struggling to keep my eyes open in spite of the pouring rain while lightning and thunder crashed overhead. Wherever I was, it was 1.) Definitely not in the Inari shrine and 2.) Somewhere that's not Kyoto at all.
Suddenly with a deafening boom, a lightning bolt nearly struck me where I stood, now shivering with cold. A school uniform certainly wasn't very well at protection from a thunderstorm. I remembered my lessons in school about lightning and trees, and squinted around, trying to find shelter before I got fried like a marshmallow right on the spot.
To my right, I could just barely make out a tiny house. Tripping and stumbling, I jogged over as fast as I could in loafers and a skirt. Thank god. The place look just about abandoned though. No matter, I could just wait out the storm and then continue on my way, hopefully to find civilization where I could ask about how I got here and how I could get home.
"Hello?" I yelled as loudly as I could over the din of the storm while banging on the door with all my strength. No one answered for the longest time.
"Screw this." I mumbled under my breath and tried the doorknob. To my surprise, it opened on the first push, and I nearly tripped on the way inside. Oh my god, thank all the kami there are that I'm finally out of that storm. I don't think I'd like to be electrocuted either.
However, as I looked around my surroundings, wringing out my clothes at the same time, it appears not to be abandoned after all. There was no dust on the ground, no spider webs in the corners. In fact, I was standing at the beginning of a long hall, the walls covered by threadbare curtains. The house looked neat and tidy, if a little old fashioned.
"Hello?" I called out again. "Is anybody here?"
There were no answers. Instead, only the howl of the wind outside responded.
"Hello?" I called out yet a third time, dragging out the syllables, hoping someone would come out and say something. Maybe I was just paranoid, but as I moved around, I keep on feeling as if someone was right behind me, watching me all the while.
I came up next to a tall, black door in the hallway, and knocked gently. There was no answer. Huh, guess I was wrong after all. There really is nobody here. Looking down at myself, I grimaced at the state of my bedraggled clothes. I probably look like a freak right now. It's time that I go and find myself a bathroom and hopefully some dry clothes to change into.
Growing bolder, I grasped the doorknob of the tall black door that I was next to, and pushed again. It opened a crack, but just barely.
"Damn it," I cursed under my breath. "What's wrong with this door? It's like, jammed or something."
Just then a gravelly voice came behind me that made my blood run cold.
"Just what do you think you're doing?"
I was afraid to turn around. But I don't think I'd have any other choice.
I turned as slowly as I could, and found myself facing the most horrific man I've ever seen before. It took all my will to contain the impulse to scream. And even then, I had to stuff my fist into my mouth.
He looked like a humanized shark; he was completely blue.
I mean, he even had those slits along his cheeks that looked slightly like fish gills. His hair was blue; his skin was a grayish blue. The only part of him that weren't blue was his watery eyes, which were gray. They were completely emotionless, staring at me with a combination of annoyance and surprise.
"What the hell are you doing here, kid?" He said; he sounded rather irritated. "Nobody was supposed to be able to find this place. Itachi-san told me himself that he had activated a chakra shield around this area for about a kilometer around." He seemed more musing to himself than to me.
However, at that second, I was completely frozen with fear. Somehow, I wasn't able to move a limb. There seem to be an enormous murderous intent coming from him, and that feeling practically paralyzed me.
Move! Move! My mind was screaming at me, yet I couldn't budge an inch. Move or you're dead, idiot!
It didn't do me any good; I was still standing on the spot, eyes wide open, as the creepy guy went on, "Oh well, it doesn't matter anyway. I'll just kill you."
He turned to me, a savage smile on his face. "Stand still now," his voice was falsely sweet, "this shouldn't hurt much, not if you stand still. On the other hand, it'll be more fun to shred you piece to piece, don't you think?"
Oh my god. Move! Damn it! I was screaming. Yet something about that guy seems to have stopped my ability to move for good. I couldn't even lift a finger to defend myself, let alone run.
The Shark-face seemed to have noticed my inability to move. A disappointed expression came upon his face, and he sighed dramatically. "Damn it all, and I was actually hoping to have some fun today. Why did I have to get an idiot who couldn't even lift a finger when in a situation like this?"
Who could? I thought to myself, all the while trying to get away from his murderous aura.
He was still talking. "Well, then, I guess this also would work." Before I could blink, he had already drawn out eight shuriken looking things between his fingers, and was twirling them around and around his blue fingers. He grinned wolfishly. "It's been a long time since I had the chance of impaling someone like a hedgehog."
He was still twirling a shuriken around and around a ringed finger.
He's going to throw the accursed thing any moment now.
And I'll be damned if I'll just stand here still and die like this! For one thing, I still haven't managed to give Yuki a piece of my mind yet!
The shuriken left the finger and was speeding towards me…
This is so very strange. I know for a fact that the shuriken hasn't gotten here to me yet, but it seems to me as if I could tell where exactly it's going to land. And from what I could tell, it's going to hit me at the soft flesh between the right shoulder and the arm.
How on earth could I have known that?
I don't have enough time to dodge, so I guess my only choice is…!
All of a sudden, his terrifying spell seems to have broken. I could move again. Before I could do much thinking though, I had raised my left hand and caught the shuriken between my fingers.
It was only when I registered a sharp pain between my fingers that I realized that I was bleeding where the edge of the shuriken had cut into me. Hastily, I dropped the shuriken on the wooden floor. Meanwhile, the Shark-face was staring at me and blinking rapidly in surprise.
"Huh." He said quietly. "I guess there was more to you than what shows. Huh."
I didn't wait to listen to what else he might be saying and ran for my life. That didn't work out though, as I heard an impatient snort, and a second later, he was already standing in front of me again, this time frowning.
"I wonder." He was saying to me. "Now that I think about it, you look awfully like Itachi-san's little brat brother. But you can't be." He laughed to himself. "You're a girl, for crying out loud."
"And that look in your eyes. If I wasn't mistaken, your eyes turned red right before the shuriken hit you. You can't be…? Can you?"
I suddenly seem to have found my tongue. "Be what, asshole?"
Damn it, curse my rude mouth, why is it that I can never keep my mouth shut when I need to?
A leer appeared on his face. "Well, an Uchiha, of course."
For a long while, all that can be heard was a long silence. Then I started to laugh, "What the hell are you talking about?" I choked out between giggles. "Are you crazy or what?"
Shark-face looked slightly annoyed. My laughter died promptly as a kunai sliced through a lock of my hair. "Shut up, goddamn it." He grumbled. "What's so funny about it? For god's sake, you look enough like one."
I shook my head in disbelief. "Me? An Uchiha?" I swallowed another laugh. "Come on, man, has cosplaying gotten in your head or what? This isn't some Naruto world, okay? God."
Somehow a smirk was twisting its way on his mouth. "Oh really? Huh. Then I'm guessing you're not from around here at all." He suddenly frowned. "But then, how the hell did you get here?"
Now it was my turn to be annoyed. "What on earth are you talking about?"
He looked at me again, his eyes narrowed with suspicion. "Fuck. What are you?"
A human? My oh-so-witty mind offered. However, it seems like my power of speech died again, I couldn't move, or even say anything to defend myself.
"Goddamn it, why are you here?" He was staring at me with a combination of horror and hatred. "No one should be able to cross another dimension." He shook his head slowly, and from his back, drew a zanbatou look-alike sword. "You're too dangerous to live."
The sword swung downward, and the strange vision thing came again. However, try as I might, I couldn't budge a muscle. All that I could do was stand in horrified fascination as the sword came closer and closer to my head.
Move! I yelled at myself. It was already too late. The sword bit into my left arm as I opened my mouth to scream. Damn it! I seem to have lost my voice as well. Though that didn't stop my sudden collapse on the ground, gasping with pain.
"Next one gets your head, kid." Shark-face remarked calmly on top of me; I could barely see him through a blaze of pain. "How did you just dodge that in the first place?" He shouldered his sword again. "Ah well, I won't miss this time."
I'm so sorry for all the trouble that I've given to you guys all these years, Mom and Dad. Yuki, you'll have to take care of yourself from now on. For god's sakes, I don't even know where the hell I am. But I can't die; I can't die just yet!
The sword swung, yet I still couldn't move.
I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the blow, hating myself for sitting still and not able to move all the while. Somehow, my right arm found its way over and pressed down on the deep wound on my arm. I could barely keep conscious with the sharp, stinging pain.
The sword never came down.
Instead, I heard a loud ping as the sword made contact with metal. Slowly, my eyes opened, and there was a dark-haired man standing in front of me. Both of his arms were held up in a defensive position with his armguards barely stopping the sword.
Shark-face was staring at the man in shock. "Itachi-san!" He said, "What on earth are you doing?"
Itachi – I think that's the guy's name, looked up at Shark-face. "That's exactly what I was about to ask you." He said in a quiet voice.
Just then, I slipped into the welcoming numbness of unconsciousness.
Kisame"Itachi-san, I didn't expect you to be back so quickly." I said. I didn't lower Samehada though. The girl had fainted, probably from loss of blood. But she still needs to die, as soon as possible.
"What are you doing with the girl, Kisame? Remember, our orders were to attract as little attention as possible. Killing a young girl will get us more attention than we should want." He's cold, as always.
I looked at him suspiciously; it's hard to tell what he's thinking, as always. "I thought your entire clan was dead, Itachi-san."
"That's true"
"Well, then, why does this girl have the Sharingan then? And another thing: I don't thinks she's from our world at all. She seems to be – " I searched for an adequate word, "from another dimension, or another world, since she doesn't think that our world exists at all."
He looked at me coldly. "Does that matter? We're not supposed to carelessly take civilian lives, or have you forgotten his orders?" He picked the girl up gently.
I stared at him, a little shocked. "Even an Uchiha with the second-level Sharingan can be called an ordinary civilian?" I asked him in disbelief.
When I next looked at him, his eyes had already turned in the blood red of the Mangekyou Sharingan. I backed away; it's never a good idea to upset Itachi, of all people. I mean, who'd like to be tortured by their worst fears over and over again?
"I wish to keep her alive, and with me, for a little while." His voice was a dangerous whisper. Then he whipped around, his Akatsuki robe flapping, and, kicking his door open, went inside with the girl.
I sighed in exasperation. Yet another troublesome whim of his, what's with that?
ItachiShe has the Sharingan.
I can't believe that I never expected this coming.
To tell the truth, even after looking for her for such a long time, my hopes had dwindled down to almost nothing. I didn't actually think that she was still alive. To keep looking for her, well, it was only an unfulfilled purpose and goal that was still keeping me alive.
If only things have turned out differently, if only I could've have disobeyed, if only…
There were too many possible if only's.
Maybe that's why as I look at her now, I'm reminded yet again of Sasuke, who lived as a living embodiment of the guilt that I carry for murdering everyone.
It's been so long ever since I've been able to protect the ones whom I care about.
I hope to the gods that I will never have to hurt her.
But maybe that won't be a choice that I can have.
Blackness surrounded me. I am no more than a speck of dust in this dark void.
I am nothing.
Is this death?
Am I dead already?
No. I can see light coming into my field of vision. Very blurry light…
A dark room came into focus, as I crossed the fine line between the unknowing and the conscious. The room was sparsely furnished, with the bare necessities of a bedroom, not much more.
My arm was in agony. It feels like it was used for a dissecting experiment, then roughly sewn back together again…
At least now it's bandaged, and it doesn't look like it's bleeding anymore.
I was trying to recall the events that lead me to this situation.
A shark-faced man…telling me that I must die…
A zanbatou-looking sword ripping through my arm…
My vision allowing me to predict movements…
The zanbatou raised…prepared for the final deathblow…
A dark haired form standing in front of me, arm guards raised to block the blow…
Then blackness…
My blood suddenly turned cold.
A man was sitting on a chair near the window.
Watching me.
I must have extraordinary luck.
It looks like I'm not going to die anytime soon.
Itachi-san had just stopped out of the room. To let me get some rest, or so he says.
He doesn't seem that bad. In fact, judging from his voice, he's probably the one who saved my life from Shark-face.
Or else those two must have the exact same voice.
When he saw that I noticed his presence, he stood up, came over by my bed, and sat down next to me, giving every appearance of visiting a sick patient.
"You're awake, miss? I'm sorry for the poor accommodations. This is the best we can find around this area."
Gods, he talked like a samurai from the old Meiji era…who is this guy, anyway?
I'm still feeling a bit woozy.
Am I back in Kyoto?
Then I remembered. Apparently I'm in some sort of weird Naruto world right now. Somehow I'm still not entirely convinced that I've managed to magically teleport myself into a brand new world. Not to mention, this particular one.
That means…that I'll never see any of my family again…not unless I know of a way to get back.
Which, unfortunately, I don't.
He misunderstood my bleak look. For he quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, miss. I'll leave you to rest for now. But before I take my leave, would you mind telling me your name?"
There's really no harm in answering this question, is there?
Besides, despite his polite manner, I have a weird feeling that this one is even more dangerous than old Shark-face…quite a bit more powerful too…
I sat up painfully, and tried to talk, but my voice came out only as a hoarse croak.
"Oh, I'm really sorry about not noticing your condition." He walked over to the table, poured out a cup of water, and supporting my head with one hand while holding the cup with the other, helped me gulp the water down.
I drank greedily. My throat felt as parched as a desert. How long have I been asleep, anyway?
Oh dear. This guy, whoever he is, is wearing the same weird black robes with the red clouds as Shark-face. And he…he paints his fingernails purple…with a ring on his right index finger.
I looked up, straight into his face. Really he doesn't look too bad. Not very old, either…
He looks about twenty years old or so, with dark gray hair that drifts into his eyes, tied back into a ponytail. But his eyes were a little scary. They were a dark red color with three comma-looking symbols revolving around the pupil.
Besides, even though he looks young, line, prematurely visible lines, have already marked his face around his mouth and nose, giving him a hard, weathered look. His eyes look weary and serious at the same time, like he had seen too many harsh events during his young life that no one would wish to see again.
I don't know why, but from that moment onward, I knew that I trusted him.
I don't even know why this guy is helping me, and I already respect him beyond measure…
Because I trust him, and he won't let me get hurt…
Wait a second, how on earth could I assume things like that? I must be crazy.
I suddenly found my voice again.
"I…my name is Shimoto Akira. Thank you…for helping me. How long have I been…"I fumbled for a word, "…unconscious?" My voice was raspy. Sounds as if I haven't used it for days. But at least I could speak.
"Close to three days now," he strode back to the table and put the cup down, then went toward the door. "Rest for now, Akira-san, is it? If there's anything that you need, don't hesitate to call for me." He put his hand on the handle.
"Wait a second, please." I spoke again. My voice sounds better now…
But despite my polite intentions, a rude question still popped out of my mouth.
"Who are you?"
He turned slightly and answered me.
He didn't respond in a mean or cruel way.
His answer scared the crap out of me just the same.
"Itachi."
I was trying my best not to laugh at that. Doesn't "Itachi" mean weasel?
But it was his next words that made my blood turn to ice.
"My name is Uchiha Itachi."
He shut the door quietly behind him, while I sat there on the bed, frozen.
I didn't watch anime that much after elementary school. In fact, I barely know anything about anime at this time.
However, what little I know is already enough.
Wasn't Uchiha Itachi a character in the anime series Naruto?
Huh, guess Shark-face wasn't lying or cosplaying after all. Though by his appearance, I'd guess that he's Itachi's partner, Kisame.
Of all the worlds that I could have disappeared into, this…is the world that I got myself in?
I don't know a lot about Naruto, but I do know that in the world of Naruto, ninjas are basically the ruling power.
I guess Kisame and Itachi are both ninjas then…
I also just happen to know that there are a lot of monsters and demons in this world…not purely human ones either…
Great. Just great.
I must be the luckiest girl in the world.
Kisame's POV
I don't get it.
Why is Itachi keeping this girl alive?
He has absolutely no reason to.
From all the time that I've known him, he's always wanted to kill off his entire clan, eliminating any who possess the Sharingan, besides his dumb little brother.
And now he's keeping some lame half-dead girl alive?
When she has the Sharingan?
Well, it was only the first level when I saw it, if I'm not mistaken, with one extra pupil in the left eye and two in the right eye. But given time and some good training, I won't be surprised if she develops it into second and third levels.
After all, all who're from that noble clan are known to be geniuses.
This kid's a threat to the Akatsuki. She doesn't even know that she has this bloodline limit. If Konoha, Orochimaru, or any other hidden ninja villages get their hands on her, it'll be one hell of a mess with the Akatsuki.
"She's useful," is all that he says.
Useful?
For what?
What a bunch of BS.
Itachi's POV
I'm positive now.
She really is…
I'm lucky. Seven years of fruitless searching, and she just walks straight into our hands.
Now that I've seen exactly how she looked like, there can be no doubt…
The exactly alike looks, the same powerful, though undeveloped Sharingan…
What more proof do I need?