Authors note: hey guys! here's the next chapter. Soo this one's pretty angsty.. and stuff.. I'll try and make the next chapter less serious and a little more comical..
enjooooooy (and you guys should totally leave comments xD)
But now it's over
We're out of time and I can't breathe
I told you not to believe in me
Cause all I do is push you far away from me
All I do is push you far away from me
I gotta make this work
I'm gonna take everything wrong with me
I'm gonna prove you wrong
Will I meet you in another life ever again
And I'm coming back around again
Coming back over again
Coming back around again
But now it's over
We're out of time and I can't breathe
I told you not to believe in me
Cause all I do is push you far away from me
All I do is push you far away from me
I never had the gift of holding onto you
Awkward last words – Armor for Sleep
"They're getting closer." Juugo's voice rumbled through the silence that the group had become accustomed to.
"And they're going to keep getting closer and bolder because Sasuke won't allow us to do anything about it." Suigetsu added matter-of-factly.
"Three more joined them..." Juugo announced in a gravelly voice.
"Well of course we all felt that!" Karin said shrilly. "You two need to calm down! Sasuke-kun knows what he's doing!" she stepped closer to the Uchiha grinning slyly, "Isn't that right Sasuke-kun?" she said seductively.
Sasuke stepped away from the girl with a trace of a grimace on his face, "Our priority is to find Itachi... when we kill him, we can take care of the Konoha nin."
"Your brother's following us..." Kisame noted in an almost amused tone of voice.
"As expected." Itachi acknowledged, "And it seems like my foolish little brother's little band of miscreants has a group of shinobi tailing them..."
"Of course." Kisame said adding a long-suffering sigh. "But at least one of those shinobi is the nine tails."
"Every cloud has a silver lining..." Itachi muttered tilting his head upwards to look up at the cloudless blue sky.
"The targets are coming closer together..." Kiba muttered over the radio system.
"Yeah." Naruto acknowledged a dark look on his face. Why hadn't Itachi or Sasuke done anything? Surely they had at least sensed someone tailing them. Especially after Team Reiko had joined the Konoha group earlier that day.
"Itachi's purposely slowing down...while Sasuke's group seems to be speeding up. They should be right on top of each other in a matter of hours." Sai noted.
"When they meet we'll have to step in." Shino contributed.
"Be cautious about it." Kakashi warned, "We know how to deal with Itachi and Kisame for the most part... but we don't know anything about Sasuke's companions, or even what Sasuke himself has learned."
"Hai." Came the mutual response from the radios before silence lapsed over the group.
As Sai predicted, not three hours later, Itachi and Sasuke were about to clash when the group of ten shinobi from the hidden leaf village stepped in. Quickly overtaken in their own battles; Sai and Kenta against Sasuke, Kakashi holding back Itachi, Kisame against Hinata and Natsu, Naruto pulled into the battle between Kiba and Juugo, Sakura against Karin, and Shino and Kaiya against Suigetsu, the shinobi had little time to focus on the mission, and were more consumed with fighting for their lives.
A heel kick. Hand seals. The wall crumbling. Back flip. Kunai meeting midair. Clangs of metal against metal. A wave of water. Pushed back into the tree. Bugs covering the sea-creature like opponent. Bugs melting off only to swarm in a puddle of water. Sinking into the ground. Pulling the opponent under. A cut from a sword. Hair coming loose. Pushing back up out of the ground. Water bursting through like a geyser. All of these things registered in the mind of Kaiya as she battled against Suigetsu. Gripping her katana in her right hand, and forming the fire release hand seal, she charged against a torrent of water coming towards her and Shino. Effectively evaporating a hole in the middle, she leapt through, a stream of fire still coming from her mouth. The intensity of the heat pushing him backwards, Suigetsu didn't have the right footing to dodge the sword attack and instead felt the cold metal penetrate his skin, just below his heart.
Looking up from her battle, Kaiya noticed Itachi catch Kakashi in a genjutsu, and survey the battles going on for the few precious seconds it took for his jutsu to take effect. As Kakashi regained consciousness, Itachi looked down before jumping into a tree and turning around to flee. Turning her head to the side, Kaiya saw that Sasuke noticed this too and quickly disarmed Sai and Kenta before following his target.
"Bitch!" The growl from Suigetsu quickly turned Kaiya's attention back to the battle she herself was involved with. Pulling the sword out before disappearing into the ground only to reappear next to Shino, Kaiya gave her teammate a nod and took off after Sasuke and Itachi.
Arriving moments later in a clearing to be greeted with the sounds of metal clashing and grunts from battle, she quickly hopped to the edge of the open area in time to see Sasuke toss the body of his brother against a tree trunk. Before she could gasp, Sasuke was suddenly in front of her, sharingan activated, kunai to her throat, and breathing heavily.
"Sasuke!" The screech rang out through the trees, causing birds to startle and leave their perches. What was he doing? She didn't think he recognized her, but then again, she could be wrong.
Onyx eyes blinking vaguely he looked down at the kunoichi in front of him. Dirt marring her features and blood covering her arms and splattering her loose-hanging hair, she looked like she had lived in the wilderness for days; or else had just gotten out of a hard battle. Judging by the kunai gripped in her two shaking hands and the Konoha forehead protector hanging precariously from her belt loop, he guessed it was the latter. Continuing to survey the chuunin - he had gathered this information by the flak jacket she was wearing - silver eyes caught his attention as he peered more scrutinizingly at her.
"You killed Itachi then?" she asked, nodding in the direction of the body of his brother which was sprawled out on the forest floor. "Do you feel any better about it?"
A twinge of annoyance ran through the last Uchiha has he wondered who this girl was to speak to him in such a manner. Her chakra energy had a familiar texture about it, but it was stronger than any he remembered from his past life in Konoha. Still, he couldn't shake the silver eyes staring accusingly at him. Silver eyes... vaguely some memory prodded at the back of his mind, like a lost song. Kaiya. The name popped into his head. Of course she would try to interfere..."He's not dead yet. Get out of my way so I can finish the job." He growled, attempting to push the unknown opponent out of the way.
Surprisingly sturdy for one as delicate looking as she was, the kunoichi stood her ground. "You think I'm just going to let you get by so you can murder someone? So he killed your clan? Don't you ever remember your 'kaa-san telling you about how you're supposed to forgive?"
"I'm avenging her by killing him. She didn't deserve to die! But Itachi does. Even she should be able to see that as she watches from heaven." Sasuke said with a shrug.
"Have you forgotten your 'kaa-san so much as to remember her this way?!"
Annoyance growing, Sasuke managed to growl a response, "I'll say what I said last time Aogiri. Go back to the village."
Itachi's body gave a shudder as he pushed his arms under him to stand up. "Very good little brother..." he said smirking as he brushed the dirt off of him. "I see you've improved.. But the gap between power remains." His red gaze flickered to the girl standing between him and Sasuke.. "Ah.. Kaiya-chan."
Attention diverted from the familiar kunoichi, Sasuke turned to his brother. "Tch. Itachi. I'll finish you off now." Sasuke drew his kusanagi, gripping it tightly in one hand while Itachi waited calmly.
"Kill me then Sasuke." the older Uchiha said evenly as Sasuke growled and took off at a run towards his older brother, looking him straight in the eyes, and releasing the chidori nagashi. In as much time as it took to blink, Kaiya stood in front of Itachi and Sasuke cursed mentally. Shit. She isn't the one I want to kill... Unable to stop, and with little time to change the course of his sword, he managed to shift it just enough to avoid hitting a vital spot. She should've stayed out of it... he thought passively as the sword came in contact with her.
Driven backwards by the force of impact, she landed against a firm body - Itachi's she guessed - as she felt the sword ripping through her side and numbing the rest of her body. She forced herself to look down and was greeted with the sight of the sword impaling her side and noted that it barely missed a vital spot. Her gaze followed along the sword, eventually coming to where her blood spattered hands clutched at the hilt and Sasuke's own hand. She felt two other pairs of eyes travel to the same location and felt Itachi move as Sasuke's own eyes stayed riveted to the hands clutching his, vaguely noticing Itachi move behind him and press a kunai to his throat. Closing his eyes, his cloudy mind registered that his sharingan had been active during that moment which would be preserved in his mind for that reason. She should have moved... She shouldn't have interfered...
"Pull it out Sasuke. Pull the sword out." Itachi's voice ordered. With a quick jerk backwards, Sasuke pulled the sword free, turning away as Kaiya's numbed body hit the ground with a thump. When Sasuke blinked, Itachi had already moved to the top of a tree. "Come and catch me little brother." he taunted.
Struggling to keep her eyes open, Kaiya pushed her hand to her side to try and stem the flow of blood. "...Sasuke..." she murmured before darkness took a hold of her vision.
"Kaiya! Kaiya!!" Sakura nudged the body of her wounded friend before noticing the blood leaking from between the kunoichi's fingers. Quickly turning her friend onto her side, Sakura removed the girl's hand and was greeted with the gruesome slit running through the Kaiya's body. Shit. I need to get her to a hospital! Tapping into the radio system, she found that Sai was in range and unwounded and would be able to take Kaiya back to Konoha and get her to a hospital.
Not twenty minutes later, the duo was on their way to the village, with Kaiya limp in her teammate's arms, a fever causing her to sweat and writhe, while Sai could only imagine what was going on in the unconscious kunoichi's mind.
"Kaiya-imouto-chan!" Itachi greeted cheerfully. Kaiya opened her eyes to find herself in what appeared to be the past, although her mind couldn't remember a moment like this as Itachi grinned, ruffling the smaller girl's hair causing her to pout indignantly up at him while she rearranged her hair into its usual ponytail. "Sasuke's in the kitchen with 'kaa-san." he directed, pulling his little sister figure by the elbow. Blinking in confusion, Kaiya complied with his pulling and was led into the kitchen.
"Nii-san, Kaiya-chan! 'Kaa-san just finished making a batch of dango!!!" Sasuke cheered joyfully handing out a plate. As Kaiya glanced at the plate she now held in her hands, the image swiftly transitioned in a swirl of color to watching with Sasuke as Itachi and Fugaku had passed each other without a word, and a tension crackling like electricity in the air. Again, the image switched to Sasuke pouting up at Itachi because he had once again claimed to be too busy to work with him on his and Kaiya's shuriken techniques. Next, Kaiya stood off to the side as a vision of Itachi and Sasuke standing back to back appeared. Itachi wearing his Akatsuki robe, Sasuke in his sound village clothing, and off to the side she could clearly see Itachi staring down at her, an impassive - almost disdainful - look on his face as his sharingan and slashed headband caught her attention. Opposite that picture, Sasuke stood in form she had never witnessed - only heard described by Naruto after the two had clashed in the Valley of the end - gray toned skin, wings like hands, long blue hair, his sharingan also activated, and a crackling black chidori poised in his hand.
As she started to back away helplessly, their words echoing in her ears; Itachi - The Uchiha are feared by all... Don't forget it. ...to test my vessel... - and Sasuke - Itachi is not my brother...But my target! Go back to the village! I'm an avenger! - the haunting images abruptly disappeared and were replaced with Sasuke moving at a speed too fast to change course once started towards Itachi, and without time to think, she had suddenly placed herself between him and Itachi, screaming in pain as Sasuke's sword drove into her side. A flash of blood clouded her vision as the memory faded to darkness, an eerie voice echoing through the silence; Choose.
Breathing heavily and sweating, she sat up in bed, and looked around frantically to discern where she was. White walls, white floors, white sheets. A hospital. Slumping back against her pillow she couldn't help but sigh to herself, Kami...I'm going crazy.
mahhh... sorrry again guys.. I tried making this one longer... but I guess it didn't work out too well -cringe- so... i'll try again with the next chapter... whiiiiich should be up either this weekend or next week...
thanks again to all you AMAZING reviewers. You make my world go round : )