Phoenix: lol, more chapters! Yay!
Disclaimer: Sniff I lost millions on that lawsuit last year…
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Okay, it's seriously saddening that my longest chapter EVER doesn't get ANY reviews.
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Itachi's eyes adopted a look of satisfaction as his sister blinked rapidly at him.
"Why so surprised?" He asked, stepping closer. As he did so, Kakashi stepped in front of Shirikima.
"Itachi, what do you want?" The Copy Ninja asked, and Itachi mentally rolled his eyes. Instinctively he reached his hand out, blocking his little brothers rather weak attempt at a kick and throwing the youngest sibling away.
"Family reunion." Itachi replied, using his arm to block his brothers repeated attempt, drowning out the stupid teen's yelled threats and angered attacks.
"Sasuke!" Shirikima called, and as the boy backed up to attempt another attack, she grabbed his shirt, hauling him back to where Naruto was standing.
"Sasuke, you're not powerful enough yet. You know that! Don't waste everything by killing yourself here, now." She murmured, before returning to Kakashi's side. Itachi shot forward, and soon Kakashi and he were in a pretty serious battle. Shirikima looked to Itachi's eyes, then asked herself why. What did she not remember? Then, Kakashi's call alerted her to the danger.
"Don't look into his eyes, any of you!" He commanded, before taking a nice knick in the side of his ribcage. Shirikima winced, and darted forward, hoping to get in a good punch or something. But her younger brother reached out, and seized her injured arm, making her cry out. How did he know?
She was thrown away from him, and gasped as her shoulder connected with the harsh ground, stopping only when Sasuke kneeled down and barricaded her momentum.
"Shiri?" He questioned, angry black eyes looking down at her.
"Fine, fine." She nodded, struggling to get up so as to reassure her brother.
"Hey! What's going on?" A voice yelled, and Genma and Gai were approaching quickly from that direction. Shirikima looked to Sasuke, and said, "Who the hell are they?"
"Friends of ours, I guess." He replied, still glaring at his brother and fighting with his will to attack.
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Itachi sighed, though it was disguised as merely a deep breath as he took in the reinforcements.
'Crap, I can't fight all of them at once without making my presence overly obvious…' He told himself, and with one final glare to Shirikima and Sasuke, he disappeared.
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Kakashi's punch hit air where Itachi's cheek had been moments before, and he stood up straight, watching Genma and Gai check up on everyone else before coming to question him.
"Why was he here?" They both asked in unison, and Kakashi shrugged, looking back to where the oldest brother Uchiha had disappeared.
"I don't know." He said, looking to Shirikima. The young woman was rubbing her shoulder and looking to Sasuke, who was glaring at Itachi's get-away spot.
"Friends of ours? That guy looks like overkill!" She muttered to her brother, before getting up. She walked straight to Kakashi, her black eyes hardened into a glare. For a moment, he thought that she was mad at him for some reason, but she lifted a single finger to his face, and ran it along the side of his eye, shooting pain through the nerves there. She pulled her finger away, and showed it to him.
The blood was barely enough to talk about, but she still grimaced at it, wiping it off on her pant leg.
"He cut you." She stated simply, before promptly turning on her heel and brushing past Gai and Genma, silently making her leave. Shamrock waddled after her, tail held high as he struggled to keep up.
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Shiri led Shamrock through a mass of people buying, trading, and talking, until she reached a silent pathway, where she stopped.
"Brother, you've grown too talented for your own good." She muttered, looking at the dried blood on her pant leg. Shamrock stopped beside her, meowing worriedly.
A change in the wind caused her to look up, and she gasped. A boy was standing there, his red, spiked hair and blue eyes creating a unique combination. He had love tattooed on his forehead, and a sand gourd rested on his back.
"Hello…" She began awkwardly. He didn't look like he was from around here, and she rose an eyebrow. He said nothing, only dropping from his perch to the ground.
She was getting ready to walk away, when his monotone voice reached her.
"You look like Uchiha Sasuke." She blinked, and turned back around.
Yup, he was staring at her. She sweat dropped, and said, "Well, I should hope I do, I'm his sister." The boy didn't show any actual surprise, but he was interested.
"That's impossible." A new voice and face appeared, that of a young, blond haired girl carrying a huge fan. "He's the only survivor of his clan."
"That's where you're wrong." Shirikima shrugged.
"Prove it then. The Uchiha clan is known for it's Sharingan." The girl countered, a smug look on her face.
"I don't need to prove the blood that I know flows through my veins." Shirikima growled.
"Temari, let's go."
"Gaara?"
The boy didn't reply, merely began to walk away. Shirikima crossed her arms, a thoughtful look on her face. The Sharingan…
(Flashback)
"She can't even use her sharingan!" Father sounded angry, and young Shirikima Uchiha was not in any state to interrupt. Her parents did not know she was listening, merely continued their conversation without the knowledge. It's not like they needed to know…
"I'm not sure… Maybe it's merely that she can't control it? There have been similar cases, Uchiha's with Sharingans too powerful to control." Her mother replied, still cleaning.
"But Itachi is younger than her, his Sharingan is powerful. He has perfect control over it!" Father seemed unwilling to give up.
"Give it time, dear." Her mother, always resolute, continued her task, and her father turned to seething quietly.
(End Flashback)
"Father was right. I just can't use it!" She growled, frustrated.
"Use what?"
Shirikima turned around, and met the eye of her least favorite Room mate.
"You know… Even Sasuke can use it by now, I expect." She replied, breaking eye contact.
"The Sharingan?"
"No, the toilet." She replied, scoffing at his less than intelligent reply. Deciding to change the subject…
"Who was that kid?" She asked craftily, picking Shamrock up.
"He was a Sand Genin," Shirikima thank god, remembered his explanations of this ninja life that she had been thrown back into, and nodded.
"Have you ever tried to use it?" Kakashi was too damned stubborn!
"Yes." She glared at him. "Look, Kakashi, I really, REALLY don't want to talk about it, okay?"
"Sure." He nodded. "Is your shoulder alright?" Shirikima raised an eyebrow, and then looked to her shoulder. She gulped. Blood was seeping through her clothing.
"Dammit." She cursed. "He must have opened it back up!"
Kakashi stepped forward, and placed his hand on her shoulder. He concentrated, and chakra surrounded his hand. Shirikima felt a bit better now, and she could tell the bleeding was stopped.
"Since when are you a medic nin?" She teased, though she shot him a thankful glance.
"Just something I picked up on the odd mission." He replied. Shirikima nodded, then after a minute…
"You can let go now." His hand obligingly left her shoulder.
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Shirikima sighed, stepping into the hot water with relief. Her bandages covered her shoulder and part of her neck still, the neck only to help support the ties. She knew that after this she would have to ask someone to re-bandage it, and that made her sigh. The only one that she knew would still be up by the time she got home was Kakashi…
'Eiii! I can't possibly ask him!' She thought, shaking her head. The public hot springs, divided into different gender halves by a wall, were extremely calming, and she allowed her mind to drift. This was much different than a cold –
"Shirkima-san?" A young voice alerted her, and she blinked.
"Ya?" She looked to the figure, and recognized the pink hair belonged to Sakura. The girl moved towards her, and sat beside her. "Hey, Sakura." She nodded, smiling softly.
"I didn't expect to see you here," The girl admitted, returning the smile.
"Well, Kakashi mentioned something about Hot Springs, and so I decided I'd just find it and relax a bit… But after this morning, I'm finding it kinda hard." Shirikima replied, chuckling at herself.
"So, you just want to think happy thoughts!" Sakura had a determined look, and Shirikima sighed. 'Oh god…'
"I don't have many good thoughts." Shirikima replied, stubbornly crossing her arms in front of her.
Sakura giggled. "Well, I get happy when I think about a person who is special to me. Who is special to you, Shirikima-san?"
"Eh… Special to me? In which way?"
"You know." Sakura elbowed her playfully, and Shirikima blushed.
"Oh, so there is someone you have in mind!"
"No! I'm only blushing because I just realized what you meant!" Shirikima tried to defend herself, but Sakura was smirking fiendishly.
"Well, when I say special, who comes to mind?"
"Say what?"
"Special." Hmmm, Kakashi. 'AGGHHH! Not him! He's just a perverted ninja!' She was blushing profusely now.
"N-no one. You?" Shirikima said shakily.
Sakura looked doubtful, but she replied without hesitation, "Why, Sasuke, of course. Duh." Shirikima sweat dropped. "My little brother?"
"The very one!" Sakura was all giggly now.
"But there must be someone for you, Shirikima san! What about Gai-sensei? Every girl says he's the perfect stud." Shirikima raised an eyebrow.
"What, Stud? That black haired, bushy-eye browed freak? Yuck."
"Alright, what about Genma-sensei? He's pretty nice."
"Long haired guy? I guess he's okay to look at, but I don't know him." Shirikima was bored now. Sakura grinned, and Shirikima raised her eyebrow questioningly.
"There's only one other guy that you know…" Sakura began, and Shirikima fought the urge to stutter. She couldn't give herself away!
"Hokage-sama?" Shirikima's chin, meet Water. Water? Meet Shirikima's chin.
"OLD GEEZER! HELL NO!"
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Jiraiya sighed in defeat at hearing that.
'Oh well…'
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Sakura's pink hair blew back, and she hid behind a small rock.
"Just joking, Shirikima san." She said, eyes drooping in a rather comical display.
"Who I really meant was Kakashi-sensei!"
Shirikima gurgled as she fell back into the water, blinking and bringing herself back into the oxygenated air. She was blushing incredibly, and the image of the Ninja flooded her mind. Then, she saw him reading that damned book.
"NO! HE'S A PERVERT! I FEEL NOTHING TOWARDS HIM!"
Sakura blinked, and giggled.
"You do like Kakashi-sensei! It took to much convincing yourself to mean otherwise." She was nodding her head sagely, and then she stopped. Shirikima was close to feeling relief, until Sakura grinned.
"Perfect, you live with him!"
"Ahhh!" Shirikima was close to fainting now.
"It's settled. Meet me at the store tomorrow, Shirikima san, we're going to go shopping." Sakura grinned, over-enthused, and ran from the hot Springs, going to the dressing room. Shirikima sighed, leaning against the edge of the springs, and looked at her hair.
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Shirikima woke up a moment before Kakashi did, looking into the living room just in time to see his silver hair appear. He had insisted that she should sleep on the bed, that he would take the couch. She had argued, but he had proved quite stubborn.
"Morning." He greeted, meeting her gaze and waving.
"Morning." She waved back, remembering what Sakura said and trying not to blush as she got up. "I'm going shopping with Sakura this morning." She announced, and Kakashi nodded.
"Yes, she passed me on the way home last night and informed me that she was taking you shopping. I gave her leave off of today's training, she knows it all already." Kakashi nodded, getting up and rummaging in the fridge. Shirikima winced as she got up, and felt her stomach cramp.
'Crap…' "Sorry, Kakashi, I'm not hungry this morning, so I'll just go find Sakura now." She said, and before he could reply, she was out the door.
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"Sakura!" Shirikima called, nearing the girls house. They had passed it the other day, before the hot springs, and Sakura had told her that she lived their with her parents. The pink haired kunoichi was waiting outside, and she waved as Shirikima approached.
"Ready for today, Shirikima san?"
"Hai, except I have a stomach ache, so what do you say we walk slowly?"
"Sure." Shirikima smiled softly, and checked her pocket once more. The people at the lab had given her a lot of money, saying that she may need it to help her mission succeed… Well, she would need it, but not for anything mission related!
Sakura led the way through the village, and stopped at a large market type building. "Follow me!" She called, and walked into it, instantly going down the first aisle. It was like an indoor village square, little shops set up everywhere. Sakura looked at Shirikima, then smirked.
"Here, try this on." She handed her a black shirt, with no sleeves, that looked rather long bodied. It had a bunchy, thin turtle neck, and she added in an off white vest, that also looked very form hugging. Shirikima sighed, and looking around, found a changing stall. She went inside, and came back out. Sakura clapped her hands together, squealing. "You look amazing, Shirikima san!" Shirikima grinned, rubbing behind her ear slightly. "Thanks, Sakura." The girl nodded, and Shirikima paid the store clerk, grabbing her old clothes and taking them with her, not changing out of the new outfit.
Another clothes stand, and Sakura was handing her more clothes.
"This is seemingly the latest fashion for us kunoichis, it's a skirt, but it's split down the sides so that you will have the same amount of movement as you do wearing those… Usually you accompany it with bandages or shorts to conceal everything." It was black, Sakura had a color scheme going on, and Shirikima nodded. She chose bandages, and grabbing those, went to change. "Shirikima san! Take these too." Shirikima turned in time to catch a pair of gloves, and saw Sakura standing in front of a stand with some ninja accessories. The gloves had metal plates over the hands, and Shirikima could remember Kakashi wearing a similar pair. She nodded, and headed into the stall once more, coming back out moments later, fully clothed. Her sandals, thank god, were black already. Shirikima bought the items, ignoring Sakura's words on how she looked good in everything.
"… You are a Uchiha, after all, Sasuke always seems to look good as well." Yup, the girl was blabbering.
"Oh." Shirikima gasped and was immediately attached to a sword stand.
"What, Shirikima san? That thing? It's so small." Shirikima was running two practiced fingers along the edge of the blade, pulling them away with satisfaction when blood dripped down. "They're so sharp," Shirikima admired vocally, and taking a small metal testing dummy from the counter, she threw it into the air and cut it in half with the Wakizashi.
'My own wakizashi is not as skillfully crafted…' She thought, examining her old blade.
"Oi, I'm buying this." She alerted the stand manager, who nodded, accepting her money eagerly. Shirikima smirked, and sheathed the sword in her former blade, leaving her old one behind. When the store manager tried to give it back, she shook her head. "No, keep it. It only holds bad memories for me."
Sakura was looking at her, but when Shirikima met the girls gaze, she only smiled in return.
"One last thing… Sakura, where do you get hair cuts around here?"
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Shirikima screeched, the sword in her hand glowing purple with her chakra as she attacked criminal after criminal. She was 15, only fifteen years old! She screamed, a deafening sound, the tears running down her cheeks nothing compared to the pain that ran through her body. They had injected her with adrenaline, making her body ache, the only respite from the pain was violent movements. She twitched, killing count up to 10 now… Blood covered her face, her pained, saddened screams filling the metallic room.
Eleven…
Twelve…
She had herded them together, now that they were lined up, she stabbed her wakizashi through all three, dropping them to the ground.
"She's like an animal!" A joyous voice rang from the speakers, which the idiots had left on. Screaming, sobbing, tearing at her hair, her arms, her legs with her hands, she flew at the speaker and monitor, the walls, attacking with both her sword and her hands, throwing her shoulders against the bars, blood seeping from her own wounds and those of the ones she had killed.
"Kill me! I kill them, why not kill me! I'M A CRIMINAL NOW TOO! KILL ME DAMMIT!" She cried, banging her head against the wall, leaving large dents in the inch thick metal. Her muscles were tensed, then relaxing, then tensed as pain raced through her body, slowly, after an hour of trying to kill herself but without the guts to do so, she lay crumpled in the corner. Sobs wracked through her limp body, and she gripped her sword as her last place in the world, her last source of sanity.
"Remember this, Shirikima. The only proof that you are alive is the death toll you create with your sword. To the rest of the world but these criminals and I, you are dead." The voice taunted her, and her cries continued, louder, more intense.
"Why must you taunt me so?" She whispered. "Why can't I die!" She launched herself once more at the wall, knocking herself out quite effectively.
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"She's gone limp!" Sakura gasped, holding a hand to her mouth as she watched Kakashi and Sasuke struggle with Shirikima, who had been screaming for the past hour, trying to attack, making slashing movements, everything.
Sakura remembered how they had found Shirikima… She had led the woman back home after Shirikima's stomach pain worsened, and had laid her down on Kakashi's bed before giving her pain killers and leaving. Later on, after meeting up with Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi, they had been heading past Kakashi's house when he had said he needed something. They had joined him, and before they had left they had heard the screaming begin, heard the thrashing. When Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto opened Kakashi's bedroom door, they had found him trying to hold Shirikima back as she screamed, quite insane words too, and thrown her fists and arms about.
"Kakashi-sensei, what's wrong with her? Why was she asking why she couldn't die?" Naruto asked, looking at the one who had been sent to take his life worriedly. Kakashi bore bruises all over him, it was apparent that Shirikima had quite a bit of physical prowess.
"I don't know." He replied, laying the girl back down and grabbing a washcloth that Sakura had provided, running it over her forehead. He checked her pulse, and sighed.
"She's physically fine, but she must be mentally unstable." Sasuke hadn't spoken a word, but Sakura was surprised to see the Uchiha's hand shaking at his side.
"I'm going for a walk." He announced, his voice frustrated, and Kakashi nodded.
Sasuke left, and Kakashi looked to Sakura, raising his eyebrow.
"What?"
"You aren't going to follow him?" He questioned, and she blinked. "I, guess I should…" She muttered, not loud enough for Kakashi to hear, and left. She ignored Naruto's voice behind her, asking if he could go too, and her inner-Sakura punched the air when she heard Kakashi tell Naruto that he should stay, convincing the blonde by saying that he'd need a strong helper if Shirikima had another fit.
Sakura followed Sasuke for a while, immersed in her own thoughts. But when she collided with his back, she gasped.
"I hope you weren't trying to hide yourself, because you weren't doing that well." He said. And she was too surprised to move.
"N-no, Sasuke, I wasn't… I was just thinking, that's all."
"Couldn't you have thought back at Kakashi's?"
Okay. Sasuke was talking to her. How many words had he just said? Like, seven? Holy cow. Breathe, Sakura, breathe.
"I guess, but I…" She heard Sasuke grunt, and finally she stepped away, looking around them. She realized she could hear running water, and looked to the stream on her right. It was dark out, and she could clearly see fireflies flitting around. They were surrounded by trees, the only sign that humans lived in the area being the small path that they were standing on.
"So this is where you always go." She saw him nod, and she sighed.
"Sasuke, about your sister… You're worried, I can tell." She caught his glare, and she looked away, not expecting an answer.
"Of course I am…" He said, his indignant tone not enough to mask his inner turmoil.
Okay, he actually replied. Weird… Scary… Was she going crazy?
She heard a rustle, and looked to see him sit down alongside the stream, his bangs shielding his eyes.
"Sasuke…" She whispered, and sat down beside him, looking at his face worriedly.
"It's like she's insane… When she's awake, she looks fine… But she was trying to kill herself, trying to kill us…" He murmured, only acknowledging her presence by the fact that he was sharing thoughts aloud.
Sakura nodded, and was surprised when she heard Sasuke growl. "What did they do to her? Her voice was so confused, tired…" Okay, the ice prince was now spilling his thoughts. Seriously, did he have a fever?
Sasuke stopped talking and thinking when he felt a warm, slender hand rest on his forehead. Before he could stop himself, he leaned into the pressure, sighing. He tried to catch his body before it responded, but instead he found the pressure on his forehead reassuring.
"Sasuke?" Sakura asked tentatively, her thumb running across his hairline worriedly. Nope, no temperature, but was it just her or was he leaning into her touch?
"Just stop talking." He responded, and he propped his elbows on his raised knees, his palms rising to hold Sakura's hand against his forehead. Sakura blinked, confused, but decided not to worry. Sure, he was acting TOTALLY out of character, but it's not like two days gave him a lot of time to adjust to this. Hesitantly she sat closer to him, adjusting her arm so that it was more comfortable, seeing as it was being held, and rested her head on his shoulder. She could feel him tense, shudder, then relax, and sighed.
"She'll be fine, Sasuke. She just needs your help, I think." Sakura muttered, loud enough for him to hear, and reveled in his warmth.
She was leaning on him, THE Uchiha Sasuke!
Inner Sakura: HA, INO PIG! All's fair in love and war, boo ya!
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Shirikima woke up, to feel a slight pressure on her stomach. She remembered her nightmare, and shuddered, not wanting to open her eyes. But finally, curiosity won her over, and she opened them slowly, the ceiling wavering for a moment.
"Attack of the ceiling fans!" She muttered, waiting for the room to stabilize itself. Looking to her stomach, she smiled softly. Shammy was laying there, his large body rising and falling with each breath he took.
"Shammy, hard to breathe." She muttered, though she made no attempt to move him. Looking to her left, she noticed feet propped up on the edge of the bed, and followed them up, thighs, waist, vest, silver hair… GAH! Silver Hair?
Yup, that was Kakashi… Sleeping in a chair…?
"Kakashi, if you don't mind me asking, why the hell are you sleeping in a chair?" Shirikima asked, knowing that he usually woke up very easily.
No response. Shirikima rose an eyebrow.
Hmmm… Mask…. Curiosity killed the cat… Shirikima looked to Shamrock. Nope, he wasn't dead. She shoved him off, the damn thing didn't even wake up either. Leaning towards the sleeping jounin, she poked his check experimentally, and fought the urge to giggle shamelessly when his jaw twitched. Nope, he wasn't waking. First things first… Lower half.
She pulled it down, and sweat dropped when she was met with another mask. This second seemed to be connected in such a way that you had to pull the forehead protector away first, and the corners of her mouth twitched slightly at Kakashi's cunning.
Hooking her finger under the metal, she began to pull, and shrieked.
"Yes?" He was staring at her.
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Pheonix: Teeheee! No reviews yet, but I needed to update this. Call it an urge, call it what you will, it happens sometimes.
To all of you lazy arses:
REVIEW! RAWR!