Chapter Six

The Fury of a Maddened Soul

He had never been so happy as he was now.

It was actually more than just the completion he'd found in the arms of another woman who wasn't his Izumi, but it was exactly what he told her it was: I may have found my soul mate after all this time. Why did I not realize it before?

He awoke with her and saw the fireflies out the window, dancing like vivid yellow stars that didn't belong in the sky. Those times we sat out there, when the moon was at its highest point, and we would be unable to count the fireflies as they would get away. He smiled and drew her close to him, staying like that until they were both drifting off back into the sea of black nothing...

...but something shone on his face and made him flinch, waking up on alert. It appeared to be a lantern shining through the gauze curtains that shielded him and his sleeping wife from the world. Their private little universe was interrupted because someone was here...

"Who goes there?!" Itachi demanded, reaching for his sword that he kept near his head, drawing the gold-accented, ebony hilt forth with the pure moonlit steel. He raised it at the intruder which somewhat made itself known - but all he got was a pair of glowing yellow eyes filled with raging fire, and the rest was darkness as well as slivers of blue.

This person looks so familiar - damn it!

The figure was gone before he could finish his thoughts, but he was up in a flash, grabbing his white robe and pulling it around himself as fast as he could, then was off and out of the room in a flash, rushing in the direction the unknown intruder had gone.

He ran past two corridors, seeing nothing and was on the verge of losing his patience - and his body breaking out into sweat with the "exercise" - with his sword unsheathed, but came to an abrupt stop when he finally found himself face to face with the home invader...and felt as if the breath had been knocked out of his lungs.

Demonic yellow eyes beneath thickly slanted dark eyebrows glared viciously but calmly back at him, speaking in a voice that sounded familiar with a darker echo.

"The water shines in its purity...but darkness befalling is inevitable."

Water...what exactly does it mean?!

Growling, Itachi drew his katana back and slashed forward, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Hell take you, evil spirit!"

But when he landed back on both feet, the specter was gone. Damn it, where did it go?! And more importantly, WHO was it?!

Regardless, Itachi ran about and then back to Izumi's room, where she was getting up now and had pulled her yukata back over herself, at the same time there were more footsteps as well as shouting.

"What is it, Your Highness?!" Shisui exclaimed, katana also unsheathed and ready to cut down someone who didn't belong in this house.

"What's going on?" Sakura demanded, halting right behind him.

By the time everyone assembled and he barked orders to search the house for a spirit, Izumi slid closer to him with a hand over her heart, frightened and needing his protection. He would gladly do it. "A...spirit," she whispered. "Someone dead that we don't know?"

Itachi nodded. "Very likely, and I doubt it was Aunt Kazue." Because who attacked with a vengeance like that?

Either way, as long as he was here, he would ensure they had all the protection they could get, issue prayers to the Buddha to watch over them. And when he returned to the Imperial Palace, Izumi and her attendants were all going with him...if she was the target for this specter's malicious means.

~o~

Someone was here to try and kill me.

Never did she think the time would come, but how often did you hear an important person being endangered the way she had been? Even the presence of the priests who were setting up the rites as often as they would only did so much, and Sakura sat with her in the cart which was carried right behind Itachi's entourage as they made way for the capital.

Her husband was vehement on the fact that she be with him, under his and his grandfather's protection until this matter was resolved. She should be irritated, but she agreed with him. She didn't feel safe at her own home anymore now that her great-aunt was gone, but at least people were around her.

"I don't see why anyone would have ill will towards you, my lady," Sakura said, waving herself with the fan painted with bamboo and the blossoms of her name, against stark white watered with light blue. "You gave no one a reason to hate you..." She halted then, frowning and her brows forming a single line. "Or it could be someone who hates you because of your husband."

Ironically, the rain was pouring, but lightly and with minimal clouds in the sky while the sun was shining. She had the window cracked just to smell the aroma which lifted the spirits. But spring beauty was short-lived and did little to ease the inward rolling of her stomach. She would need Sakura's herbs when they settled in.

Someone who hates me because of Itachi...is this someone who is obsessed with him?!

To say the person's name would be wild without solid proof.

Emperor Madara was generous to allow her to live here until the matter of the "spirit" was resolved, and was also kind to allow the funeral arrangements to be made. "I'm offering my condolences for your loss. Kazue was a good woman - a rare sparkling matter in the earth." He chuckled before becoming somber. "But these words about a spirit coming to your home during the night troubles me immensely."

Itachi nodded and bowed his head. "Grandfather, I tried to cut down the intruder before I knew what it was."

"Indeed. Nevertheless, this calls for an investigation on my order." At least something was being done about this.

However, as she settled into her personal room - which was once the emperor's late wife's, then the late Crown Prince Fugaku's wife's before her death - Izumi found that even Sakura's personal herbs only worked temporarily, and she was wracked with her skin burning as well as the sporadic chills in her own body that she feared she was going to die from it all.

"My lady, I am going to ask for the palace physician," Sakura then declared with a harsh nod, closing the small jars with the herbs and liquids on her personal tray. "Hopefully he has the answer."

She lay back, taking a few shallow breaths and feeling her stomach ease a little, though it would always be short-lived. Izumi hated this very much, wished life could go back to the way it was, but the doctor's diagnosis came first.

Itachi knelt beside her, holding her hand, when they were given the result that shocked them both but didn't surprise at the same time: it wasn't a normal fever, but an illness of body and mind...the curse of a vengeful spirit.

So, it WAS true: someone was truly here, but not of the world. Someone they didn't know existed, which made everything all the more frightening. Izumi mustered the strength to turn her body halfway to her husband who brought his other hand to rest tenderly on her shoulder, shushing her softly before demanding if there was a way to find out who this ghost was...only to be disappointed with the answer: "It is said the evil spirit left the scent of incense in its wake. Unfortunately, it will be difficult and shall take time to trace whose it is, Your Highness."

Itachi's face was a mask of taut anger, lips twitching and fighting to not pull back. Sakura was no doubt seething inside as she was out. But Izumi had to try to keep faith it would be resolved, though there was nothing more anyone hated and had no choice but to live with was the fear of the unknown.

~o~

Her poor mistress was suffering for something Sakura was sure had NOT been her fault.

Izumi was unable to physically attend her great-aunt's services, but she did say her prayers in bed while fighting to recover from the sickness plaguing her. Meanwhile, Sakura took to helping the doctor in order to help the woman get well again, except she was sure the "sickness of the soul" meant more than standard medicines; she referred to the Buddhist priests and worshippers doing their jobs in banishing evil spirits at all times.

In the next several days, the princess received several gifts from the nobles, as well as condolences for the loss of her guardian. Though while Izumi managed a weak smile, it didn't appear she was all that interested in her state.

Not even at the lapis-lazuli pot from the Oosutsuki, atop a stand which is a wooden carving of a white dragon deity. An incense burner and herbs from the East were also among, the latter being courtesy of Emperor Madara.

She even received a dagger which was inlaid with pearl; the sight of it raptured something within Sakura and made her wish she could wield it herself, at least while her mistress was taken sick. There was no doubt it was gifted as means to fight off against any demon or wicked spirit to come her way again.

This beautiful weapon was from Prince Itachi - her husband.

Sakura decided she would let him off easy for this now, because she could see that he was now more in love with his wife than ever - all the more reason the rosette knew she couldn't resent him for what he almost did last time they were alone. What happened was in the past. He was a good man in the end, and this presentation of protection for his wife was proof of that.

How often did men do this for their wives?

Except, deep down...Sakura wondered if her heart was as closed off as she believed it was, and if Itachi intended to steer clear from her, too, given they would often be in each other's company now that Izumi, herself and the others would be here until they found out who intended to harm her mistress.

He has deep feelings that he made loud and clear that night. He meant every one of them. He listened to my wishes. He would have forced himself onto me...but it never happened.

Izumi's words were clear as spring water: "That's how things are in the world whether we want it or not; Itachi is a good man no matter what he does. I know him better than even YOU do."

Sakura closed her eyes as she set about working on the next dose of medicine for her lady. Safely away from the scrutinizing eyes of the handmaidens beneath her; as far as they were concerned, she was too young to be in favor, though she worked hard to get to this spot, and they also knew that.

It would take much longer than some days when, before summer began, Izumi finally began to return to good health much to everyone's - mostly her and Prince Itachi - relief.

When all was well, husband and wife set about to the northern mountains of Konoha to visit a temple and pray there. All of them knelt before a great fire which was hung above with sealing papers to keep out the evil souls who meant to do harm to the living. Even demons in these mountains.

When the services were over, it appeared to make the royal couple feel better. Sakura heard the priest tell them to remain for a while and to pray every day if they wanted things to improve. Even Shisui agreed on that.

However, there was a moment after they left the temple and made way to the quarters where they would all stay...and Itachi's dark eyes turned to finally lock with hers, his lips turning upwards slightly - exactly the same way as the day he thanked her following learning that Izumi had recovered.

"Thank you for helping my wife, as always. I am forever in your debt. She is the kindest woman I have known...and while you, too, are kind, you know things that few other women do. That is what makes you a savior."

He called her a savior when she didn't completely heal his wife, and he knew that, but he spoke the words anyway, all with that soft...

Why did his smile have to make her heart flutter like a butterfly against her will like that?

~o~

Summer was brutal, with three weeks of rain altogether. That meant lighter wear for all, if otherwise ever exquisite, plenty of water and the likes - but it also meant fireworks and gardens to behold.

When they returned to the capital, it was back to work.

And summer poetry contests were the highlight at every evening when the fireworks would be for the eyes. He looked forward to that as well as the visits to the temples to give thanks to the gods for a future harvest afterwards as well as all the fun they could have in the season while it lasted - despite the blazing sun beating over them.

But in the season would also be not only his birthday which came and went - and that was when he gave everyone a dance which was nothing they were not familiar with, but were impressed as always, with his arms outstretched and his cherished fan in play to make his wife smile - but there would be something which sometimes had him back to where he started in the next month to follow, when the temperatures were at their highest.

Today was Sasuke's birthday, and that was the best time for him to visit bi-annually his brother's resting place, which was before the tombs of their parents. He had the season's flowers gathered to be placed at their spots - irises, hydrangeas and sunflowers mainly - and that was when he saw her standing over there and alone, also with pink roses. For trust, happiness and confidence.

"It's great fortune to see we are here to pay our respects to him," Itachi breathed, standing beside her but a safe few feet away. "It comforts me to know I am not alone when I keep his memory alive this way."

Sakura looked at him from the corner of her eye. "I do just that, but I also know that I should never let myself mourn him forever. He wouldn't want that, and nor would others whose loved ones still pay tribute. They go on with their lives, as we all should," she stated, kneeling down and placing the bouquet before the epitaph.

"Itachi...I've made peace a long time ago. You should start doing the same, or else living in the past will spell more trouble."

He had to leave now before he said something he was sure to regret. But as he left her there, he could feel her eyes, broad as the grasslands surrounding them, burning holes into his shoulders. All the while, his heart and mind were connected but jumbled at the same time.

She's right; it's time to let go of the past. I couldn't protect my brother, because there WAS nothing I could do. He is in a better place than this, and I know I'll see him again.

I'm going to continue keeping my heart locked from her, for my sake, hers and Izumi's.

Itachi halted his thoughts then and there, grimacing and clutching onto a post attached to the bridge he was about to cross. Damn it all, it was impossible! He was standing there with her, and he thought it would be easy to just...

He couldn't even repeat that night by speaking the words held deep in his own heart!

In episode four of "Genji Monogatari Sennenki", Genji fell into a depression because of Yuugao's death, and he received gifts (such as the ones mentioned in here), but one from Fujitsubo made his heart aflutter...another step with disastrous consequences.

In the Japanese language of flowers (hanakotoba) are the following:

1: Hydrangea - "pride"

2: Iris - "good news; glad tidings; loyalty"

3: Sunflower - "passionate love; respect; radiance"

4: Pink rose - "trust; confidence; happiness"

It's difficult to have Itachi and Sakura have casual conversation without returning to that awkward night, because it IS clear they are still attracted to each other. Why is it so hard to be so near and far away?!

R and R!