Haruna Takaya: New chapter, this should be fun.
Itachi: I doubt it, this is making me tired. Yuko, let's go home and sleep together.
Yuko: You go then, i'll stay and read this.
Itachi grabs Yuko and throws her on his shoulder: I'll take you with me, no butt's and why's
Yuko screaming: Tachi-kun, NO!!
Haruna Takaya bows: While i get Yuko back from a very horney Itachi, please enjoy chapter four.
Chapter Four
The gates of Konoha were wide open, the day was pure and gentle filled with a loving breeze.
Yuko and Itachi were heading inside, both with their guards up and ready for anything.
Yuko was feeling very worried and scared. She has never seen so many people at once walking around and looking so cheerful. Her life has always been about fighting and never letting anyone near her. She felt Itachi's hand over her shoulder and it made her feel safe. "If Tachi-kun is okay with this place, then I guess me too." She thought. It has been three years since Itachi and her have been together and to her that feeling is like yesterday.
Yuko was sitting by the shore of the river, at that time, the sound temple was much farther and no one knew about the lake. Her hair was short and the front covered half her face, her eyes were filled with darkness and no light what so ever. This Yuko was in fact Orochimaru's daughter by sight but still the kind and gentle Yuko on the inside. Yuko watched the calm water move from side to side as the moon's shine reflected of it. "Why does the moon have light and freedom, it's stuck orbiting the earth but still has so much to give."
"For someone who spends her time looking at this lake, you sure do talk outloud." A girl about the same hight and age as Yuko at the time, 16, walked towards her. She had brown hair with the sound head band around her neck.
"Hikari, how have you been?" Yuko stood up and hugged her long time friend. "You've been gone for so long."
"Blame Kabuto, he's been sending me all over the place to get him all sorts of medicines and other useless things. I see you havent changed." Hikari smiled happily. "Why doesnt it surprise me that you're away from the sound? Got sad again?"
She shook her head as a no. "I wanted to see the moon is all, I didnt know I had to have a logical reason to just come here." Yuko and Hikari had been friends since birth, Hikari was born in the sound, her parents were killed shortly after so she was left to be raised by Orochimaru.
"Yuko, didn't Yinjo return from his mission?" Asked Hikari. "I heard he was stealing some kind of jewel from the waterfall village." Hikari was a laid back person, she spent her time learning new jutsu's and avoiding Orochimaru. She has seen the way he's hurt Yuko and beaten her until she was unable to move. She wanted to leave the sound just as much but she knew it would be impossible with Yinjo and Kabuto around. "Yuko, leave with me." She proposed. "Let's run from here and live free. We wont have to suffer as much as we do now."
"Hikari, you go and leave. I'll cover for you, I want you to be free, I'll take the punishment from my father if i have to. I want you to go and live free." Yuko pulled off Hikari's headband and threw it in the lake. "No more worries from you Hikari. Go and live, have a family and live the way you want. You don't have to worry about me Hikari, I'll be okay on my own. I have to live with the life my father gave me, there is no other way for me to live if not by his worthless side." She pushed Hikari slowly. "Go now Hikari, it's now or never."
The girl cried as she walked. "Yuko, I wont forget you, we'll meet again."
"I'll look forward to that day, Hikari." She smiled happily with tears. "Now go."
Hikari began to run and soon disappeared in the shadows of the forest.
Yuko cleaned her tears. "I'm alone now, I'll be okay." She suddenly fell to her knees as she hugged her stomach, she looked at her hands and saw blood. "Worthless brother, hurting me without a single regret. How is it possible for him to be related to me?" She tried to stand up. "Darn, I'm losing sight."
"How will you protect yourself from the enemy." Said a voice.
She looked back and saw a man standing on the lakes water. She winced in pain before standing straight. "Who are you? what are you doing here?"
The man looked at her. He was in fact Itachi Uchiha, a young one to be exact. He looked at Yuko calmly without a care in the world. "My name is Itachi Uchiha."
She began to walk around the small lake. "I could really care less that you're Sasuke's older brother, the man that killed all the Uchiha's except him and yourself." She continued to limp. The drip of blood could be heard from the silence of the two. Yuko and Itachi both came from different worlds, she was sound and he was a run away leaf. She was his enemy and vice-versa, what reason was there for them to talk? Yuko never wore the sound headband, she never had a reason too. She was there to just be there, no answer or reason was ever given to her existence.
"A wounded ninja should know better than to be alone when an enemy is near." Said Itachi trying to scare her a bit. To this it seemed to work. He saw her stop and look back at him with sad and depress eyes. His heart suddenly began to raise as he saw her. The face that she made, the face that showed that she no longer cared if death itself came to kill her. " . . . What is your name?" The Uchiha in fact saw a face of someone who wasnt scared of him but of someone else and it was obvious on her. He approached her calmly, he knew she wouldnt fight back if he didnt pull out a weapon.
She looked at him come closer, she backed up a few steps, her eyes grew wide as she pictured Orochimaru approach her with a grin. She covered her ears and fell to her knees as she cried. "No . . . stop . . ." Many tears roamed down her pale face. Her wounds could be seen, from her neck down to her feet, someone had beatened her badly. "Dont come any closer."
Itachi looked at her with a worried face. "She's looking at me but she isnt seeing me, who is she really seeing?" He walked on the shore and kneeled down to her.
"Yuko!" Called a voice of a man. "Where did you go Yuko?"
Yuko snapped out of the daze she was in. She looked at Itachi. "Please go, you'll be killed if you stay." She tried to stand, the sharp pain in her side made it hard to walk. "Please leave Itachi."
Itachi stood there for a moment and then disappeared with the wind.
XxX
For some reason, Itachi couldnt keep Yuko off his mind. He wanted to know who she was so scared of, was it someone he knew or was it her master. Might she be a slave or a homeless person? Every night, he would go to the lake and see Yuko by the shore where he first saw her. Each day he would try to make more contact with her, trying to win her trust over.
Yuko was currled up at the shore of the lake one night, her arms and legs were filled with small cuts caused by hitting and training. She was sitting there only crying her eyes out, her eyes swollen from so much of it. "Go away!"
Itachi came out of the shadows and walked behind her. "Who did this to you?"
"Mind your own life, Itachi." She made no eye contact, just like always, she never dared look a man in the eye. Her father taught her that the hard way. She wouldnt look or even wonder of such things, at that time, her sadness was like the one Naruto had as a child, he had depressed eyes filled with lonelyness and harmful memories. "Just go."
He sat next to her and looked at her. "You are in fact an intesting one, you dont show fear to me but the night we met, there was the only sight of fear in your eyes that someone else brought."
She didnt respond, she knew he would never understand. Who could understand that Orochimaru's daughter, his only daughter, was scared of him, hated him, and wanted nothing to do with him? She was feared by everyone but her brother, father, and Sasuke. She was given the best, but it wasnt what she wanted. She wanted something no one gave her, she wanted love.
Itachi watched her stood up. He stood beside her and noticed she was about three inches shorter than him. He had also noticed that someone was cutting her hair with a knife. "Who hurts you so much, Yuko?" He was worried, he indeed felt something for this unknown girl. He didnt feel hate or anger around her. What he felt was calm, a calmness and happiness he never knew he could feel. He suddenly grabbed her by the shoulder and made the first eye contact in days. His eyes met hers, they looked at one another for what seemed like forever. "Orochimaru."
A gasp left her lips, he had in fact guessed right. She didnt know how he did such a thing, such a talented thing. "How did you know?"
"I have a talent for these sort of things." He moved his hand towards her cheek and rubbed it gently with care. "You are like glass Yuko. If you are hurt, it will surely show, a clear mark on you can tell me all i need to know."
For the first time, Yuko was feeling trustworthy towards someone. She felt as if she could trust him and tell him whatever he asked. She looked at his eyes, his sharingan eyes, she blushed before giving him a giggle.
He seemed confused to her expression. "You're laughing?"
She gave a quick nod as she continued to giggle. "You campared me to glass . . . I have yet to meet someone who's done that. You are the first." Her giggle turned into a laugh, a cheerful and happy laugh filled with light.
The Uchiha stared with amazment. He had brought on that smile, he saw the gentle and fragil smile into a laugh of happiness and love. "Such beautiness."
She stopped laughing slowly before blushing at him. She felt that this person had something special, something that she liked very much. "Itachi . . . i'm sorry about the way I acted to you these past days. I know that I must have seemed cruel to you, but if you'd let me, I can be more open with you."
"Open?"
She covered his lips with her finger. "It will take time, but if you meet me here, every night, I know I can do it. If you give me the chance, I know I can be better in your eyes."
He grabbed her hand gently and brought it down. Her moved her closer to him so that her chest was touching his. He could see her blush deepen with this contact. "I will try the same Yuko."
And so they did. Every night they would meet and Yuko would tell Itachi stories of the places she had been during her life and how she found the lake when she was lost. She explained to Itachi about her brother and father, and about how she didnt want to be with the sound. Itachi would share about Naruto and the people he's seen and met. He told her about the family he killed but never told her the reason per say. She seems more interested in him the more she got to know him. She was finally falling in love with him and so was he.
One winter morning, Yuko was on the shore, this time, she was worse in condition, she was beatened and had blood stains on her dress. She didnt care about pain, she thought nothing of it as long as Itachi was there to make her smile. Yuko was going to tell the Uchiha how she felt, she wanted to get it out of her chest before anything else could happen.
Itachi walked to her. "Yuko?"
She stood up and looked at him. "Tachi-kun." She had resently called him that, she thought it would be something new in their lives, so she kept with it. She smiled happily as she gave a giggle. "You're early, this is new. Is something the matter? Are you perhaps leaving on a mission?"
He walked up to her. He held her cheeks in his hands, feeling them and making sure she was alright. He couldnt stand seeing Yuko force a smile while she was in total pain. "Cry Yuko, scream say something."
His words seemed to confuse her. "What do you mean Tachi-kun?" She gave an innocent smile at him.
"You are in pain, you must be in total pain and yet you dont cry. You cried when your friend left but you didnt for the scars and wounds Orochimaru placed on you. Why dont you cry?"
She slightly looked away. "Because then I will always be crying, I will always be looking for someone to hold me while I feel this pain."
He slowly began to move her into his arms. "Then cry on me Yuko."
Her eyes grew wide as she found herself in a hug with Itachi. Her eyes began to water as she put her arms around him. She slowly began to let her tears take over her. "Itachi . . . I'm sorry I'm so weak to you. I wish I was stronger, better, and much prettier, but i'm not."
He looked down at her, he knew that what she said wasnt true. He loved her, he liked everything about her, so why would he care if she wasnt a match to him? "Yuko, I dont need that from you. Why would i want someone like that? You are already beautiful, smart and strong."
She looked up at him. "Tachi-kun."
He leaned down to her and kissed her. He watched her blush as he gave a smile. "Promise me when things change, we will perhaps stay together, Yuko. I care deeply about you, do you?"
She nodded. "I promise to remain with you together when things change." She dug her face against his shirt. "And I love you Tachi-kun, only you."
He moved the hair from her face and gave her a sweet smile. "This looks much better."
XxX
Yuko now looked at Itachi happily. "We'll be happy like we promised."
"We have to speak with Tsunade first. Once we have her approval to stay here, then we will be happy." He replied calmly.
She nodded.
"Yuko, doesnt that cat belong to you?" Pointed Itachi out to the street.
She looked forward and saw a white cat with dark blue eyes sitting in the street. "Ako?"
The cat stood up from the ground and ran towards her. He jumped in her arms and looked at her happily as his tailed moved from side to side. "Meow."
She looked at him with a confused look before finally smiling. "You silly Ako." (A/N: Ako is a mix between cat and panther but he remains small with Yuko's jutsu.) Yuko hugged the happy cat. "What are you doing here?"
"Now isnt the best tiime to ask questions to a animal. We came to do something." Said Itachi in his usual cold and heartless tone.
"Right." She sat Ako back down and looked at him. "Ako, i need you to go find a scroll in the Uchiha house. It should be under a mat in Itachi's room."
Ako walked over to Itachi and smelled him. He looked back at Yuko and nodded before running away.
Itachi and Yuko continued to walk towards the Hokage's tower where Tsunade's office was located.
Yuko suddenly bumped into someone. "I'm sorry."
"Yuko?"
She looked at the man she had bumped into. Her face went from surprised to happy. "Sasuke!"
TBC
Haruna Takaya: That went well, but the suspence is there.
Hikari: I show up once! What is with that?
Yuko comes in the room: Hikari? Is that you?!
Hikari looks at her and huggs her: Yuko!! You're alive!
Itachi pulls Hikari off Yuko: Away from the pregnant Uchiha
Haruna Takaya: Well, please review and tell me what you think. Next time, Naruto and Yuko meet face to face, this one wasnt the chapter for it. But Sasuke and Yuko did meet again. - Bye