Chapter 17:
"Who does he think he is! He can't just boss me around!"
Raxiel knew she was lying to herself…
When she had finally snapped out of her shock, she soon became livid, punching her pillow and cursing to herself for not chasing after him. After a few minutes of doing this, she had finally decided to try to calm herself down by making diner…
Obviously, it wasn't working…
"Well," she told herself, "he said to stay, but her never said I had to stay in here…"
Lies…
Cracking an egg into a bowl, she heard the wind begin to blow harder and harder.
"Maybe I can get Iruka to help me train a little…"
As she began to whisk the egg violently, she heard thunder begin to roar. Raxiel quickly looked outside to see the dark, turbid clouds covering the sky, making it look pitch black.
But something else caught her attention…
Red…
Red eyes staring at her from in a tree…
"Those look familiar…" she thought to herself, trying to remember where she had seen them while she closed her broken window with the curtains, not wanting any rain to come in.
As she made her way back to the table with her whisked egg, she soon remembered whose eyes she'd just seen…
Itachi…
Quickly, she ran over to the window and snapped open the curtains to see if he was still there.
Nothing…
"What's he doing here?" she thought, this time wanting to see what was going on outside for real.
But when she saw lightning strike, she closed the curtains and let that thought fade.
"At least until the lightning dies down…" she thought.
XxXxXxXxXxXx
"It's too bad I didn't bring an umbrella…" Raxiel thought as she made her way outside of the hotel and slowly into the darkened forest. Her boots that were already heavy by themselves were soon covered with thick, heavy mud, making her unstable every time she took a step.
"I wonder what time it really is…"
Finally making it to the end of the forest without any trace of "Red Eyes," she closely examined the open plain that was right in front of her.
"There's no way he'd be here…"
Soon she heard something…
Something clanging together…
A noise in the mountains…
"Of course! Why didn't I think of that sooner?" Raxiel said, now walking as fast as she could to the road…
The road that lead to the mountains…
The closer she got to the mountains, the louder the noises she heard became. Soon, she could recognize what the noises were.
Blades…
Weapons…
Someone was fighting, and she was sure who one of them was.
A shouting voice was heard. "What do you want here? We won once, and now we're going to do it again!" an angry voice said.
"When the time comes, you will know. Right now, I have no want to tell you," a familiar voice said.
"Is that right? Well then, I guess I can't let you pass. Someone's gonna die here, right now, and it's not going to be me."
Raxiel peaked over the rock she was hiding behind. Sure enough, it was Itachi. He was there with some other ninja from Konoha.
They both seemed displeased with one another…
The ninja took out a kunai and was ready to attack again; while Itachi, on the other hand, only stared at him with a calm and unemotional face.
Raxiel was certain that someone was going to die…
And it wasn't Itachi…
In the blink of an eye, the other ninja dropped his just-drawn kunai and fell to his knees. His eyes were white, and his face was pale.
Dead…
Raxiel slid back down to be completely covered behind the rock. The shock of seeing something so horrifying had made her too scared to want to come out and talk to him.
Raxiel closed her eyes and breathed hard yet silently, waiting for him to walk away. She waited for what seemed like hours for him to leave.
But he didn't…
"…Come out, kunoichi," a voice said unemotionally.
Raxiel eyes opened in shock and confusion.
That wasn't fair…
Silence…
"Kunoichi, if you don't come over here, you'll be struck by lightning."
"Like you'd know!" Raxiel accidentally shouted at him sarcastically.
"If you don't, then you coming up to see me would all be in vain," once again, he spoke callously.
Raxiel knew he had stolen those words form her. Now having nothing better to do, Raxiel stood up slowly, regaining feeling in her legs and turned to face Red Eyes.
"If we're going to be talking about someone being "in vain," then I suggest we should start with you," Raxiel stated.
"Really? And why so?"
"You were the one staring through my broken window, weren't you? Why? Was there any point to do that?"
"It was personal gain," he said coldly, "and curiosity as to if you'd see me or not, and, if you did, if you'd want to see me again."
"Personal gain, huh? You know that most of the personal gain people get is really pointless?" she asked sharply, not liking his attitude.
"It's the way of a renegade. You live for personal gain. Now, move away from there, or you might not have any more personal gain to give."
Raxiel did as she was told.
Not because he had ordered her to…
Not because she was scared…
But because if she didn't move, her boots would get stuck in the mud beneath her…
As she inched her way towards him, she caught his red eyes watching her. "Is that really the reason why you came to the hotel? Just for personal pleasure? If so, you're not the person whom I thought you were. More of a real dunce, the way I see it."
Suddenly, lightning struck the exact spot where Raxiel was sitting beforehand. Raxiel's eyes widened.
Silence…
Itachi took a few steps towards her and shifted his weight onto his other leg. "Tell me, kunoichi, what kind of a person did you think I was?"
"Even if I was to tell you, what would happen?" she asked quietly, looking down at the ground
Becoming tired of her attitude, Itachi raised his voice louder just to get her full attention. "Answer the question."
Raxiel finally glanced up at his eyes, giving them a staring contest.
"Alright. I'll tell you what I thought about you. I thought you were a powerful, smart renegade who was the kind that you didn't want to get around. The kind who thinks they control the whole world and own everything. Well, I've seen you. I've seen you "fight," and I've heard you talk, but I'm not impressed. Any dunce could take a person out mentally, but physically, that's where I think you're scared. Never once have I seen you actually fight. You've got big words, that's for sure, but it would seem that all you do is just lie. Therefore, you're a weakling, physically and mentally. You lie with words, and run away from fights. Make sense?"
Oblivious…
The rain grew thicker, making it impossible for Raxiel to see Red Eyes.
But she could hear his footsteps…
And she could feel his hand grasp her arm tightly.
"Not a word, Raxiel," he hissed.
Her eyes widened.
Raxiel…
She looked down and laughed lightly. "Then I guess what I just said was in vain."
"Precisely."
Ignorance…
