Ok guys so this is chapter three. I have been meaning to add more to each of my beginning chapters but did not get to my estimated number. Thank you again to all that have read it. Please review. I want to know what you guys think so far. It is taking a while to get this ship under way. I am basically writing all of Izumi's character from scratch because we get so little of her in Itachi's arc so please bear with me. If you have ideas please let me know and I will try to incorporate them into the story.
I do not own Naruto or any of Masashi Kishimoto's work.
Hiding in the Rain
"Itachi, I think we should try to head to Amekugature." Shisui commented shifting his gaze to his friend still sitting beside Izumi. Shisui worried about his friends mental state after seeing his father of all people torture someone he obviously cared deeply about.
"I agree, I think we should be able to disappear relatively easily there." he replied lifting his eyes to meet his cousins. The two men began to task of preparing their bags for the jump back to their reality. Itachi picked Izumi up in his arms holding her close to his chest before looking to Shisui giving him a nod. With one word the trio squirlled into nothing.
As if nothing had ever happened the three ninja rematerialized into existence. "Where are we?" Itachi whispered gazing around the forest.
"We should be on the edge of Fire Country territory. If we keep heading west through these trees we should cross into territory controlled by the Village Hidden in the Rain." the younger Uchiha responded. With they began their journey to find a place of sanctuary. Hours seem to pass as Itachi was once again alone with his thoughts. Gazing down to Izumi he thought, 'Please, please wake up. I am so sorry.' He continued to think about all the time she would spend with him just hanging out. She always attempted to cheer him on, and be there for him. Itachi had never really bothered with girls when he was younger. They were confusing, and really troublesome. He knew his Father would not approve while he still needed to improve his skills, but now that he was a young man away from his now distant feeling life something felt different. He realized how much he cared for the girl in his arms.
Shisui's voice brought him back to reality. "Hey, Itachi we need to ditch our Leaf gear before we cross into Rain territory."
"Yeah, I agree," he responded as they came to a halt. Removing all identifying leaf village garb they buried it deep under a tree. Not stopping any longer than necessary they got back on the road to their destination.
Soon the skies darkened and a steady rain began to fall. The rain had a chilling effect as they moved across the plains of Rain country. As they passed close to a farming hamlet, the small woman that Itachi had carried for miles and across a dimension began to stir. Slowly her eyes began to open. "Itachi…."she said almost whispering.
"It's going to be ok Izumi. You are safe now." Itachi said looking into her big onyx eyes a smile crossing his face. He needed to stay strong to protect the ones who he cared for. He promised himself that they would return to Konoha and when they did, he would kill Danzo. He looked back to Izumi and in a very soft caring tone told her, "Please rest we will be there soon."
The rest of the journey was relatively quiet with each ninja thinking deeply about their situation and what they needed to do in order to survive. Suddenly Shisui came to a halt. "We've got company." he shouted. Out of nowhere three figures appeared on the road in front of them.
"What is your business here in Rain Country?" a man with spiky orange hair demanded. The first thing Itachi noticed about these three individuals was their matching cloaks. Black with a red cloud, odd he thought to himself.
"We seek shelter from a group that has taken our home from us." Shisui said firmly.
"Very well follow us," the orange haired man said gesturing us to follow. Without another option Shisui and Itachi followed the unnamed man. He led them to the largest tower in a city made of iron.
"Welcome to our home." Before them sat a sitting area that could fit upward of forty people comfortably. "My name is Yahiko, this is Nagato," the young man he pointed to looked at us nervously. Itachi noticed immediately a pair of Rinnegan staring back at him. The massive structure they were currently inside of was actually quite homely. Before Yahiko could finish the young woman with them spoke.
"I am Konan, it is very nice to meet you all. I am very interested in hearing your story." Yahiko motioned to a sitting area, situated in the center of what could only be described as a living room.
"Before we tell you our story, is there somewhere I can allow her to continue her rest?" Itachi could feel how cold Izumi had gotten during their trek through the rainstorm.
Konan was the first to reply, "Yes, if you go up the stairs you will find a door immediately to your left. That will be a spare bedding area." Itachi nodded and thanked her for the help and started over still carrying Izumi.
Carefully making his way up the stairs he opened the door, before him lay a large bed with matching wooden dressers and a nightstand. He chuckled to himself at the sight of such a nice bedroom in a metallic place like this. Throwing back the sheets he managed to get Izumi out of her wet clothing doing his utmost to hold back the blush he could feel coming. He thanked Kami that she was not awake. 'I will gladly face her full wrath when she is better than have her suffer sickness and other ailments.' Covering her with the mass of sheets, he looked at the bundle that was Izumi and could feel a warmness fill him.
He turned to head for the door when a cold hand grabbed his arm. Izumi was waking, "Please….don't leave. I...I don't want to be alone." she whimpered in between her non stop shaking.
Grabbing hold firmly of her hand and looking deep into her eyes he told her, "It's ok Izumi. I will be right down stairs. I need to talk to Shisui and our hosts."
"Your father…..he will find….me." she said fear evident in her voice.
"Izumi, Izumi it's going to be alright," he said. "My father can't hurt you anymore. He is dead." Her eyes grew wide for just a moment before she seemed to calm. Without thinking he crawled up onto the bed next to her. She instinctively curled up next to him laying her head on his chest.
"I'm sorry I dragged you into this," Itachi said his demeanor shifting to one full of sorrow. She said nothing in reply only squeezing him tightly. This simple action brightened his whole outlook. He new that she would be alright eventually. Soon he heard her breathing even out and get deeper as she began to drift off to sleep. He didn't want to leave her but he knew that he wanted to talk with Shisui and his hosts.
After waiting fifteen extra minutes he lifted her limp arm off of him and slid out from under her being extra careful not to wake her. He opened and closed the door with care and made his way down stairs. Itachi found everyone still gathered around eating and conversing. Shisui saw him approach and called out to him. "Itachi! What took you so long?"
"Sorry, I stay with her until she was comfortable and asleep. My father really did a number on her." he replied taking an open seat next to the man he recognized as Nagato. Yahiko brought over a bowl of hot soup before asking.
"So Itachi, Shisui please tell us what has brought you to our humble city, and nation?"
"Well, it's a long story." Shisui said looking up from his bowl.
Shrugging his shoulders Yahiko smiled and said, "We have all the time in the world. We want to hear everything." So Itachi and Shisui began their harrowing tale. Telling them of the political upheaval in the clan and how it spiraled out of control with both of them spying on their own clan. How Itachi's father, Fugaku, found out and their subsequent fight in the street. Finishing with them watching Danzo and his Root agents kill Fugaku and pin the Third Hokage's assassination on the Uchiha as a means to eliminate everyone he deemed an enemy of the leaf.
Both Shisui, and Itachi both noticed a crowd of other ninja and civilians alike who must live somewhere in the tower gather to listen to their tale. With eyes wide, listening intently Nagato was the first to speak once they had finished. "That is awful!"
"It is and what is worse is we are unsure how the rest of the village is taking this. We hid for roughly a day before we ventured out to Amegakure." Itachi told them exhaustion very prevalent on his face. He realized quickly that he had not gotten a good night's rest since before the attack.
Shisui turned to face Itachi, "They are apart of a group called the Akatsuchi, basically they fight to bring about change and peace to the ninja world. They said we could stay here for however long as we need to. As long as we help out every so often with missions and such."
Itachi nodded, "Ok, that sounds easy enough." Turning to Yahiko he thanked him profusely.
Yahiko stood and proposed a toast and with a big smile he yelled, "To new friends and bringing peace to the world!" After some toasts and meeting new people Itachi decided it was time to turn in for the night. He and Shisui were shown to bedding areas upstairs in the tower. Itachi politely declined and began to make his way back to the room he had left Izumi in.
"Where do you think you are going?" Shisui asked with a knowing grin.
"I am going to stay with Izumi. She will want to see a familiar face when when she wakes up." he told him chuckling at his friends insinuation.
A caring look crossed Shisui's face as he asked, "You really like her don't you?"
Stopping at her door he closed his eyes and responded, "All of this is new to me. Father made both Sasuke and I focus on training for the eventual coup that I never was able to grasp my feelings and truly understand what they mean."
Smiling Shisui added one more piece of advice before closing the door to his own room. He said, "She really likes you, take care of each other you will need one another and we need to work as a team in order to survive. Goodnight Itachi."
Itachi entered the bedroom and noticed that nothing had changed. Izumi was still asleep under a mass of sheets and sleeping soundly. Walking over to the empty side of the bed he stripped down until he was dressed in only his pants and crawled under the sheets. It felt amazing to finally stretch out and relax. He had been worried that with everything going through his head he wouldn't be able to get to sleep quickly, but not five minutes after his head hit the pillow he was fast asleep.
Itachi was awoken to early the next morning by a yelp next to him. His eyes shot open and he jumped out of bed scanning the room for an intruder. Not seeing any the young ninja turned and saw Izumi wide awake, her face bright red. "I...Itachi you surprised me." she said looking anywhere but at him.
"Giving her an understanding grin he replied, "Sorry Izumi, I didn't mean to surprise you. I wanted to make sure you saw a familiar face when you actually woke up. You've been out of it for roughly two days now."
Her onyx eyes widened as she said, "No way...two whole days?!" All he could do was nod as he crawled back up on the bed.
"Do you want to talk about what happened to you?" he asked trying to help. Her expression grew sad as she spoke.
"Um….yeah if you wouldn't mind. I just….my mind is having a tough time. Why did your dad torture me?" Itachi could hear the sadness in her voice and looked to see tears falling from her beautiful eyes.
"Izumi, I know I have apologized profusely before but I want to say again how sorry I am that you got hurt because of me and Shisui." he said in reply lowering his eyes into his lap. "He did what he did to you to hurt me."
"Itachi, where are we and why are we here?" her voice still trembling.
"We are in the Amegakure. We are the guests of the Akatsuchi. We are here because Danzo has overthrown the leadership of the Hidden Leaf and blamed it on the Uchiha. His goal was to kill off the Uchiha as a clan." his voice losing all emotion.
This sent her over the edge. She began to sob uncontrollably, here head in her hands. Itachi moved quickly to her wrapping himself around her. He held her to his chest, not knowing what to say. Thinking of both of their families he understood her sadness and anger. An hour past before she stopped crying. She was tired, now all she wanted to do was close her eyes and forget.
They laid down, she closed her eyes and laid down her head across his chest. All she could think in that moment was how warm Itachi's embrace had been, and how she never wanted to leave it. They laid there for almost two hours before they both stirred again.
Not saying a word they both got dressed, standing before the door they looked at one another. Itachi gave Izumi a warm smile, trying to lift her spirits before they faced the world. Before Itachi had a chance to turn to open the door Izumi shot up on her toes planting a kiss on Itachi's lips. Shock was the first reaction, followed by wanting nothing more than to continue in this moment forever. Pulling away he smiled, squeezing her hand and pulled her out into the main structure of the tower.
Well that will conclude Chapter 3. Stuff is moving along nicely but things are going to get tough. Like I said I'm having to create Izumi as a character so forgive me if this isn't how you saw her. All ideas you have help so favorite and follow and please leave comments. I am about to start teaching so I will try to stay current and have chapter four out either this coming week or the following weekend.
