Dreams Unbroken
Chapter Thirteen
After making sure that her children and her husband knew their parts in her 'master plan', she focused on inwardly healing herself. It was a technique that she had learned from her old master in China and, thankfully, it came in handy in times like this. She wouldn't be able to completely heal herself, but she would be able to fight without the poison hindering her abilities. Though she was almost positive that Itachi would be watching her the entire time.
"Hey, Mom, why can't anyone else hold this sword again? I forgot." Eneko smiled and opened one eye. Sachi was standing up, holding the bandaged sword. Eneko had warned him to keep it bandaged unless he really needed its help because it would suck up the chakra of anyone near him.
"Because it will stab into the hand of anyone else that tries to hold it. And if you really want to know what that feels like, you should ask Gai-sensei. He tried to hold it once when Kisame was still alive and samehada would have none of it. And don't give it to someone for a prank, young man, or you'll have to deal with me. Or your father, depending on how this battle turns out." Sachi grinned.
"Don't worry, Mom! Those bully Akatsuki members won't be able to get past us! We'll kick their tails into the otherworld!" He called, punching the air with the hand not holding samehada. Eneko grinned but stifled her laughter. She then closed her eyes to resume what she was doing and sighed softly. Sachi left without another word, going almost as silently as he had come.
After another hour of self-treatment, she could stand and fight while the adverse effects of the poison were subdued. Itachi walked over to her as she came outside to see how her family was doing. Sachi and Niji, who were obviously fighting with Itachi, now turned to practice on each other. Sachi seemed skilled already with samehada and Eneko wondered if Kisame was guiding her son even now.
"How are you feeling, Eneko?" He asked softly. She smiled and nodded at him, doing an intricate kick in the air and landing beside him.
"I'm feeling well enough to put my plan into action, Itachi. Oh, and don't worry because Sachi says that he'll handle everything." She laughed. Itachi rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"I swear, Eneko, I thought that Niji was so much like you, but now that I've met Sachi I think that he's the most like you, hands down." Eneko let out a small laugh and nodded. "And Naruto came to tell you that he'll sound the alarm soon. But that was nearly an hour ago, so I'm not sure if 'soon' includes the time from now to next week." Eneko looked up to the sky and grinned back at her husband, a nervous feeling making her stomach tighten.
"The alarm will sound within the next hour, Itachi. Would you stay with me for a moment? I want to test something out that I was working on throughout my stays with Taki and Neko." Itachi nodded, his eyebrows raised in confusion, though he knew better than to question her. Eneko stepped back and closed her eyes. When she opened them, her curse mark moved out in a quick spiral pattern and overtook half of her body in feather-like markings. Itachi's eyes widened.
"You can go to curse mark stage one?" He asked. "Isn't that dangerous? Shouldn't you be careful?" Eneko nodded and smiled.
"Yes, yes, I guess that I should, but we need all the help we can get on this mission to rid our village of evil and I thought that this might help with that god-awful poison running through my veins." Itachi still looked reluctant, but he wouldn't argue with her when her life was on the line. Her plan put her in extreme danger, but he knew that it would work.
"All right, Eneko, I trust you, though I don't like your judgment on issues relating to your life." Eneko let out a light chuckle and closed her eyes again. As soon as she opened them, her skin was moonlight-white and her hair was a very light blue. Her green eyes were intensified in color and her lips were the same color as her hair. White angel-like wings extended out of her back and she sighed lightly.
"I did it!" She grinned and her voice was a slightly-higher pitch, though it was still definitely Eneko's. "I got to stage two and I didn't try to kill everyone." She looked down at her hand and her eyebrows shot up. "That's funny, usually when I try and go to this stage, my skin turns jet black. Oh well, I guess this would be much prettier. Right, Itachi?" Itachi's mouth was gaping and his eyes were huge.
"Eneko, you look like an angel." He finally managed to get out, though it was little more than a coherent breath. Eneko scoffed and her intense green eyes gave him a scathing look.
"Itachi, your imagination has obviously gotten the better of you. I'm no angel. I'm planning to kill two men and I don't feel guilty at all." Itachi rolled his eyes and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close. The moonlight skin around her face turned pink with a blush and he grinned at her.
"I said that you looked like an angel. I never said that you were an angel." Eneko's mouth opened in mock-anger and she let out a playful huff and turned her eyes away.
"Mommy, is that you?" Sachi's face looked like an exact copy of Itachi's; complete shock. Niji and Ijin weren't far off, though Ijin's mouth hung open. Niji's eyes were just wide, though she was more used to her mother's antics than most of the others. And she was the most familiar with curse mark stages and jutsu.
"Is that your stage two curse mark, Mother?" Niji asked curiously, her head tilted slightly to the left as she sought an answer. Eneko nodded and pushed herself out of Itachi's arms.
"Yes, and I think that this will subdue the poison far better than what I've been doing. Now all we have to do is wait for Naruto's signal." As if on cue, a bird that was not native to the lands of, or around, Konoha flew overhead, calling it's strange, screech-like cry. Eneko grinned.
"And there's the signal!" She grinned. "Don't forget your parts in your plans and don't forget that you're not supposed to do anything that can or might help me because we're sticking to the plan no matter what!" Itachi rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. He looked at his angel-like wife with raised eyebrows.
"And what if, like always, the plan completely and totally falls apart?" He asked, preparing for the worst as always. Eneko grinned and walked over to her ornery husband, kissing him soundly on the lips. Groans and disgusted moans came from the gathered children and the grin on Eneko's face widened.
"Then we'll wing it, Tachi-kun! But we'll cross that rickety bridge when we come to it. I'll light my flare when I find them. Shield your eyes when you figure out that it's mine. I love you all!" She called to her children, and then, there was a rush of wind and she was gone.
"Mom's amazing, isn't she?" Ijin asked softly, her eyes where Eneko had been standing. Sachi and Niji murmured their own stunned agreements and Itachi chuckled, gently herding them away.
"Come on, you three, we need to get into position or your mother will have our heads." The eyes of the three children widened at his words and all started running off, fearing the outcome of their mother's anger if they failed to follow through with the fool-proof plan.
"How long do you think that it'll take Mom to find them, Dad?" Sachi asked, running beside his father. Itachi shrugged his shoulders, trying not to dislodge Ijin who was riding on his back because she couldn't keep up with the quick shinobi.
"Not particularly sure about time frames anymore, son. With her in stage two, it could probably take anywhere from five to ten minutes. But possibly less, I guess. It could probably depend on what disguises they use. Let's just keep going and wait for her flare." Exactly 37.01 seconds later, a bright white orb of light flew into the sky and burst like a firework. The streams of white light were blinding and, just in time, Itachi remembered to push the children into the shadows to shield them from the glare. He turned back and gave a low, impressed whistle. The children stared open mouthed at where the last remnants of the bright flare were fading into the sky.
"Well, I guess that we'd really better hurry now. C'mon, you three, we've got to get Ijin into position before we get there ourselves and Eneko's already initiated her plan." The three began running with renewed vigor.
Eneko stood on one side of the same forest clearing on the outskirts of the village that she had been at exactly ten years ago. She found it appropriate that she had found them here. The only difference this time was that there was no two-year-old child in need of protecting or husband in need of a good smack on the head. And that she was facing two sadistic Akatsuki members instead of just one. But they were in for a surprise because, this time, she was prepared.
"I see that you have a few more tricks up your sleeve, Uchiha Eneko. But do you really think that you will be able to defeat me this time? Even with the help of the curse mark that END gave you?" Payne asked her, a smug look on his face. "You couldn't even tell Sasori and I apart from the two sanin. And I thought that they were your friends."
"You took advantage of the unknown factors of my time losses here, Payne." She glared. "But I do thank you for administering that poison into my system. I got to speak with a friend that was murdered by your predecessor. Sasori, you remember Kisame, do you not?" Sasori stiffened but continued to glare. Payne now had an amused, sadistic smile on his face.
"Taking pride in a hallucination, are we, Eneko? I guess that's all right, considering that you have nothing else to take pride in. That family of yours is weak. Your daughter does not listen to reason, your son was born away from Konoha and knows nothing about the traditions of the shinobi, and that little daughter of those Japanese that I've slain," he chuckled. "Well, I really don't have to say anything about her competence now do I?" He stopped suddenly, seeing the evil, dangerous aura rising around Eneko's angel-like form.
"You are not allowed to say anything about my children." She said in a voice that would make even the Kyuubi flinch. Both Akatsuki members took a few nervous, quick steps back. Eneko smiled dangerously, rising a few feet off the ground. The gentle beat of the pure white wings was somehow eerie and ominous.
"What's the matter, Akatsuki? Has the cloud lost its bite? Or is Payne too scared to send his little attack dog in to fight the woman that took out your stupid little END gang?" She giggled and the sound of it sent nervous shivers down the spines of the Akatsuki members standing across the clearing from her. Payne jerked his head at Sasori, who came forward. Eneko landed on the ground again, her wings folding around her, casting her into shadow. Her green eyes glinted maliciously.
"I think that it was a bad idea to insult her children, leader-sama." Sasori told Payne in a monotone voice with hints of fears on the edges. Payne scoffed and waved him forward, standing back with a kunai knife in his hand. He sat on the ground, laid the kunai knife beside him and used a hand seal that was eerily familiar to Eneko. She took a hesitant step back before leaping at Sasori.
He used almost-invisible, chakra puppet strings to wield his puppets. Eneko was dodging attacks left and right, trying her hardest not to make the poison reduction any harder for her body. And she was trying not to end up in the hospital after this fight; she had seen far too much of that white-walled place. And she figured that her rose-headed sister-in-law had seen far too much of her for her own good.
Suddenly, her head throbbed in pain and she faltered. Sasori got a good stab in, but she spun away so that it only left a graze. A sharp pain came from the wound and she looked down to see the spots of blood turning purple. She grimaced and continued fighting with renewed vigor, knowing that if she got very many more of those kinds of wounds, she would be on the floor before you could say 'Akatsuki'.
Eneko, you never answered my question. A voice echoed in her head. She froze in place, her eyes wide. Did you miss me? A cry of 'no' came to her lips and she put up a barrier just in time to see Sasori's puppet coming in for an attack. Any other natural noise was blocked out by the sadistic laugh echoing through her head.
"Leave me alone! Get out of my head! I don't belong to you!" She yelled, fighting against the possession that threatened to overtake her. The veil seemed to cover her eyes and she fought harder against it. She kept her family's faces in her mind's eye and it became easier.
Fight for them, Eneko. Fight for them. You can't turn to the side of Akatsuki, you have to follow through with the plan. They're depending on you. Come on, you can do it. You can fight. You can win. Eneko murmured to herself in her head, fighting against the voice that sent her head throbbing in pain.
You can't win against us, Eneko, give up. Akatsuki shall take over the village of Konoha and then, with this village at our disposal, the others shall fall. Akatsuki shall win this battle, Eneko. You should just give up now. Eneko shook her head tears threatening to overflow the brim of her eyes. She wasn't fighting her best and Sasori kept getting in easy glances against her. Her defenses weren't as good as they could be and she realized that she was loosing this fight. She saw Payne sitting where he had been, concentrating on his seal and got an idea.
Her wings sent a large blast of wind over towards Payne's form and knocked him almost thirty feet back. Her head was clear and she grinned over at Sasori. Sasori took a step back and glared. A burst of flame came from the forests surrounding the fighting pair and both took steps away from the sudden tongue of heat. Eneko turned to see Payne making his way out of the fire he created. She glared fiercely, her hands clenched in a pure rage.
"Are you insane? The whole village could go up in flames if this spreads! You'll kill…" She broke off, realizing exactly who she was talking to and seeing the amused, malicious smile on his face. She took a deep breath and leaped into the air, her wings beating rhythmically as she rose higher and higher into the sky. Eneko used a collection of hand seals and a large wave of water flew over from a lake, nearly a mile away, and doused the early fire before it could do much damage.
"Hopefully that will work. Now, where was I?" She turned back to see Payne kneeling to use his possession jutsu and glared. She then saw her family and friends getting into position and realized that she'd better hurry and get Sasori or Payne out for her plan to work, though she should just throw it in the trash now and try and stay alive. She tucked her wings in and sped back to the earth at top speed, her feet landing on Sasori's shoulder blades.
She heard the sickening crunch that she was expecting, but it sounded more like she had just splintered wood than broken bone. Another Sasori charged at her and she realized that he had used one of his puppets as a decoy and had tricked her into thinking it was him.
But where's the real one? She asked herself. Suddenly kunai knives came at her from everywhere and she suddenly got an idea. Puppets were made of wood and wood's weakness was fire. She put a shield up around the three of them so that everything shimmered out of anyone's peripheral vision. Then, she used a jutsu and the flames exploded within the shield. Before his puppets were completely destroyed, Sasori charged one final time and snapped her wrist before she could see where he was coming from. The sickening pain was enough, but the poison spread quickly through her system.
The fire doused immediately after Eneko got hurt and Sasori's puppets fell to the ground. She noticed one was still moving; one that looked exactly like the true Sasori. She stabbed through a heart section on it's chest and it became still. Burned and weary, she turned to Payne, who was recovering from his own burns.
"I realize something now, Payne. You have to enjoy life today…" she coughed up blood, staining her pure white skin. "Because yesterday is gone, and tomorrow may never come. I leave you in the hands of those that you took me away from. I let them finish you off, because I don't think I will be able to again." She fell to the ground, and everything slowly turned black. The last thing she heard was a combined voice of her family, yelling her name.
Enjoy life today, because yesterday is long gone, and tomorrow may never come again.