Chapter 2

Akurei's eyes slowly opened, taking some time to adjust to the bright room. The ceiling was too white and the sterile lights blinded her. She closed her eyes and rubbed them, hearing the sounds of birds chirping from outside the window. Groaning softly she tried to sit up, but a stabbing pain in her abdomen kept her on her back.

"Good morning, Akurei." Her insides jumped when she her the voice, her eyes flying open. Kakashi's sensei was sitting on the edge of her hospital bed. He tried to smile at her but his chakra was filled with grief. It moved slowly around him, calm on the surface but underneath were strong currents of emotion. "I still can't decide if allowing you and Kakashi to fight was a good idea..." He mumbled under his breath, staring at nothing. "But what's done is done."

The blonde man sighed deeply and closed his eyes. Akurei watched him but said nothing, instead concentrating on finding Kakashi's chakra. She could always find him if he was in the village. His lightning attracted hers like a magnet; he couldn't hide from her unless he completely extinguished his chakra. Akurei squinted in frustration. He was either hiding, or gone. Why would he be avoiding her unless he knew she was right? She felt all her anger rising up again as she replayed their fight over and over in her mind.

"I came here to inform you of Kakashi's request." Minato said. Akurei didn't react. Why should she care about any request of his? He was avoiding her and sent his teacher to speak for him. Pathetic. She was angry at herself for ever thinking of her brother as a prodigy like everyone said. He probably only passed the Academy early because they needed warm bodies for the war effort. Some genius he turned out to be. Minato ignored the sour look on her face and continued to speak. "Someone has taken an interest in your abilities. Kakashi wishes for you to begin training as an ANBU." He watched her as he spoke. She only scoffed.

"I haven't graduated yet. That seems unlikely."

"Your regular studies will be postponed. If your potential has been misjudged, you will go back to the academy." Akurei finally looked Minato in the eyes. She didn't try to hide her skepticism.

"Where is Kakashi?" She asked flatly.

"He... needs some time. He has arranged for you to stay with the ANBU member who will be giving you your primary training-"

"No." Akurei stared into Minato's concerned face. A sudden, morbid thought filled her mind. Kakashi did not want her around anymore. Their father had also isolated himself before he ended it.

"I know your fear. I promise it's not like that. Your brother needs time to mourn his teammates. He needs time to figure some things out. He plans on becoming ANBU himself, but he will take his training far away. And you... he wants you to be with equals. He has come to resent the way you think about those around you. He thinks you will change your mind about people if he can surround you with good ones."

"Let me talk to Kakashi." Akurei tried to sit up again and flinched, leaning back. Minato looked at her sympathetically and she could feel the guilt resonating beneath his calm exterior.

"He isn't here." Minato sounded genuinely sad as he spoke. "Just think about what he said. He's helped to give you an opportunity, and you should take it. He will come back," Minato added. "But for now, he wishes for you to focus on your training."

Akurei felt her anger melting into to panic. He was serious. She wouldn't be living with Kakashi anymore. She wouldn't have the comfort of his familiar chakra around her when she slept. She could deal with him being away on missions, but she didn't like it. The realization of how much she depended on him for a sense of security sent a sudden twinge of annoyance and disappointment through her.

"I'm sorry, Akurei. But trust me when I say that Kakashi will be fine. I'm sure that when he pulls himself together, he will come visit you during your training months. But this is how he wants it to be. He wants to give you a chance to care about other people like he knows you care about him."

"No, he's not leaving. I can train and still live with him." Akurei's voice was deep and serious, quieter than normal. A small part of her had realized that this was a pointless argument. The rest of her just felt ashamed for wanting him to return so desperately.

"Akurei, he has already left. If you two were to live in the same house right now, I fear it would be unhealthy for both of you. You are angry, and Kakashi is… he is angry, too, but for different reasons. If you trust your brother, give him time. Do what he asks. He is only thinking of you-"

"No he isn't. He doesn't want to hear what I have to say."

"No, he doesn't. Because he knows what you will say. Just give him a few weeks to calm down. He will come back, and then you can talk. He told me to tell you that is a promise. Will you do it?" Minato asked. His words seemed sincere. Even if they didn't agree, she decided to respect his wishes. She would have to be the strong one.

"Ok. If he keeps his promise." Akurei sighed, staring down at her hands. She had lost. But what else could she do? If he came back in a few weeks that wouldn't be so bad. If he needed time, then she would have to trust him. They had never been good at talking to each other, and she knew deep down that if he were to suddenly come back right now, she would be too angry to stay calm. If they tried to talk again so soon, she would attack him, or he would attack her, and nothing would change. Maybe it was better this way. Maybe she needed to do some cooling off anyway. The idea of escaping the academy was enticing, as well.

Minato smiled at her, relieved. Kakashi had assured him that she would see the sense in his request, and it seemed like he knew his sister after all. She was taking it surprisingly well.

"But... I can stay in our house, even if Kakashi won't be there. Who will be training me?" Akurei asked, hoping her counter-request would be considered. The thought of living with anyone else, of having unfamiliar chakra near while she slept, frightened her.

"Part of Kakashi's request is that you are not to be left alone. You will be staying in the Uchiha section of town, and your two primary sensei will be Uchiha Itachi and Morino Ibiki. Itachi is an ANBU captain-"

"I know who he is. Why do I need two?" She snapped at him, upset that her request was shot down. Kakashi was deciding every small detail of her life without even having told her himself. One of his teammates was an Uchiha, she remembered. Is that why he was giving her to them? Because of Obito? A sudden flare of annoyance rose in her.

"Morino Ibiki leads the Torture and Interrogation Force," Minato stated. Akurei momentarily forgot about her building anger and listened, intrigued. "He has taken an interest in you. Your ability to read chakra patterns is useful. He thinks he can train you to become a human lie detector. That would be quite useful with interrogations, don't you think?" Minato smiled at her, something that irked Akurei for reasons she couldn't identify. Why was he smiling now when he was so sad? Minato waited for a response and continued when he realized one was not coming. "You can take the day to recover and think. I'll send Itachi to retrieve you later on." Minto said as he stood. He paused, still waiting for some kind of response. When he was met with more silence he slowly turned and left, closing the door behind him.

Akurei stayed on the hospital bed and stared up at the ceiling. She was trying hard to parse all of the conflicting feelings running through her mind. It was confusing how excited she felt, and frustrating whenever she thought about Kakashi. He had become weak, but at least he wanted to make her strong. She hoped this problem was limited to the male side of the Hatake family.

She sat alone for hours, thinking. She could get over unfamiliar chakra when she slept. She would have to. Unless she was adaptable, she was weak. It was a good exchange for escaping the academy and all of the weak, stupid kids who made fun of her because she was better than them. She was mad at Kakashi, but his idea was good, and it suited her well. But she hated how deep the pain went. He had left her without saying a word. He promised to come back soon, but it still hurt. And that made her angry. Shinobi were not supposed to feel hurt, it was disgraceful. At least that's what he had always believed. But not anymore. Now suddenly emotional pain was a good thing to Kakashi, even admirable. The thought made her grimace.

She slowly got up, pushing herself onto her side before rolling off the bed. Her abdomen felt like she had been punched hard; her muscles screamed at her to lie back down. She ignored it and groaned as she headed towards the window.

Akurei was tired of thinking. She needed to get outside and clear her head, to go home and sleep all of this off. She shoved the window open and swung her legs over the edge. It was a small window, but she could fit her whole body through it with no problem. Looking down she saw she was on the second floor. A minor inconvenience considering how much her stomach hurt, but she jumped down anyway. She landed on the hard ground of the alley, the fall making her dizzy. She stumbled a bit and regained her posture. It had been a very long time since she ate anything, she suddenly realized, and emerged into the busy street.

It hit her that she hadn't grabbed any money when she fled her house the previous night. The streets were filled with strangers or enemies, no one who would buy her any food no matter how loudly her stomach growled. Home was calling to her even louder now. She pressed on, trying in vain to drown out the noises of the city with her thoughts.

The hospital was in the center of Konoha and Akurei was getting annoyed at having to navigate through all of the bodies around her. She liked how secluded her house was; she never had to deal with this much noise surrounding her at home. Along with the sounds of voices, laughter, shouting, and footsteps was a whirlwind of vibrations. There was no other way to describe how it felt to be surrounded by so many people and such varying chakras. Some were fast and flickering with excitement, some slowly rolling above like clouds, some small and dense with anger or anxiety. The constantly changing smells of restaurants and trash cans only added to the overwhelming sensations that flooded her entire being.

"You skipped school again today," A voice cut through the chaos of the streets. She thought she recognized it, but she didn't care enough to address anyone right now. "Unless they finally put you in a class with people more your... size." Akurei growled under her breath. The voice was so smug she couldn't ignore it anymore. She turned angrily to face two blondes. She recognized them; they were both in her class, and both absolutely gorgeous; Akurei couldn't pretend otherwise. But their personalities pissed her off.

One of the platinum blondes grumbled and rolled her beautiful blue eyes. Akurei didn't make a habit of remembering her classmates names, but this one was so loud she couldn't not know who she was. Yamanaka Ino was usually the agitator of arguments, but she hadn't been the one speaking. She looked rather annoyed by the family member with her.

The other Yamanaka stared directly at her with pale, lavender eyes. Ino's brother, or sister, or cousin or something. Akurei didn't really care who he was. They were both unfathomably irritating.

"Shutup, Chiho." Ino groaned and shoved his shoulder. "Making fun of disabled people is beneath you," Ino glanced at Akurei from the corner of her eye, a devious grin forming on her face. The two burst out laughing.

Akurei didn't have enough time to be disappointed in herself for taking their bait. She didn't have the patience nor the willpower to brush them off this time; her emotions were too wound up. Before she even realized what she was doing she felt the chakra shoot down her arm into her hand. A small chidori sparked at her fingertips. It wasn't strong enough to do any real damage, but the idea of scaring them while blowing off some steam was too tempting to ignore. In a second she had forgotten about the pain in her stomach and cleared the space between them, not even sure which one of them she was attacking.

She felt her attack hit one of the targets, discharging lightning in all directions, followed by a scream. Whichever of them had an affinity for water chakra now had zero chakra, Akurei thought smugly. Her own chakra wasn't strong, but it was efficient at messing with the chakra systems of others, especially someone so unguarded and unprepared. She felt her own lightning mixing with her victim's as she displaced it, sending the majority out of control of its owner.

Something knocked her back and appeared between them. Suddenly there was a searing pain in her wrist and the chidori was snuffed out. Something had grabbed her arm and yanked her backwards so hard that her feet weren't under her anymore. Instead of falling she was suspended up by the wrist as her feet found their balance again beneath her body. She was way too close to a tall man with long golden hair, his furious blue eyes glaring at her.

Akurei yelped in pain, her eyes pulled away from his terrifying face to see what was causing the pain in her hand. Her arm from her elbow to her fingertips was encased in a thin layer of ice, his large hand squeezing her forearm with force. It felt like fire melting her skin. There were no flames, but still her mind could only process burning, searing pain.

"Do that again and I'll be taking this hand with me," He said quietly, his face returning to a neutral expression as he let go. Akurei stumbled backwards and landed on her side, cradling her frozen arm against her chest. She heard someone crying but didn't look up as all three of the Yamanaka disappeared.

Akurei was left alone on the street, curled in the fetal position, her ego hurting almost as much as her hand. She squeezed her fingers as hard as she could but they wouldn't bend; they only slightly cracked the ice and the movement was excruciating. Her anger rising, Akurei pushed down the urge to cry and stood on shaky legs. She shoved her frozen arm inside her jacket so it was hidden and started walking again, but much slower now. She could feel that man's chakra all around her arm, disrupting her own. The ice wasn't normal. She didn't know how or why it was staying solid while he was gone. The thought unsettled her.

As she trudged home feeling defeated, the energy of the street felt completely different. Her own chakra felt wrong and she could barely sense the people around her. A few had stopped to stare, but most continued on, watching her with strange expressions until they disappeared out of sight. Akurei ignored them all, furious at herself.

"Attacking the Yamanaka in front of their home was pretty stupid." A deep voice from behind her made Akurei jump. He was way to close. How had she not sensed his chakra at all? She turned around to see a man with long black hair and red eyes watching her. Uchiha. Even though she didn't know his face, she knew the man was Itachi.

"I didn't know they lived there." She grumbled, trying to conceal how startled she was.

"You didn't know the Yamanaka kids lived in the giant Yamanaka mansion?" The man frowned.

"Why would I care where they live?" She snapped back, her momentary fear rapidly being replaced by anger.

"A good shinobi keeps track of both his friends and his enemies. You could have avoided an unpleasant situation by knowing how close you were to their home base." He said.

"Why do you think they're my enemies?" Akurei's voice was low but her frustration was obvious. To her surprise the man only chuckled.

"So that was just how you treat your friends, then? You're going to fit in well with Ibiki." The man smiled as he joked, but Akurei only glared and tried to walk around him. He stood in her way and held out his hand. "Give me your arm." For some reason Akurei grimaced and flinched away from him, stepping quickly to the side to evade his offer. She didn't know why, but she quickly darted around him and continued on her way home. She just wanted this day to end.

Akurei found that her energy was depleting at an alarming rate. Her entire body was starting to feel cold now that the adrenaline was wearing off. She knew the Uchiha was still watching her; she couldn't look weak now. She had already been exhausted before but now it was agony to keep walking. A hot bath would fix everything. She tried to focus on that.

"Don't put that in hot water," Came his voice from behind her. She growled and ignored his warning as his footsteps followed behind her own. "That was a pretty harsh reaction... I definitely wasn't expecting that from Inoichi. But the Yamanaka are an incredibly close family. And you hurt his kid, right on his doorstep." He chuckled as he rambled, something that made Akurei hate him for some reason Why was he talking so much? "Your attack looks a lot stronger than it is." Akurei was starting to feel lightheaded. She stopped walking and whirled around to face her pursuer.

"Why are you following me?" She tried to say forcefully, but her voice was softer than she intended. Her whole body was feeling horribly weak and staying on her feet was proving to be a difficult task. She felt a sharp pang of hunger in her stomach that distracted her momentarily from the pain in her hand.

"Because there is no way you're going to make it home." Itachi frowned at her. His amusement waned when he saw her pale face and exhausted eyes. "I already have accommodations ready in the Uchiha section of town. I'll take you there and we can fix that arm. How long has it been since you last ate?" Akurei didn't know the answer and she was getting tired of his questions. She just wanted him to go away and to be alone in her house. She tried to think if she even had any food waiting for her. "No matter. You'll be unable to walk soon anyway, and then I'll take you to your new residence." He chuckled. "You are unusually stubborn, Rei-chan."

She wanted to be angry at him for using that name, something no one but her brother had ever used. But she could no longer find the strength to argue with him. She didn't even remember falling over, nor did she remember Itachi catching her and carrying her in the opposite direction of home.