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Chapter 8: First Death
Autumn was tired as heck! She had practically rearranged her whole entire house within the last... 4-6 hours. She had moved to the top floor, and that was a chore within itself! The mansion had seven different floors, and each one had its own different purpose. The top was where most of the actual rooms were, the second floor was where most of the guest rooms were, the basement was for training, the first floor was for meetings, the sixth floor was full of private rooms, which were mostly different studies, a library, and a science lab, the fifth floor... Well Autumn didn't really know what it was for, but it had one heck of a view! The fifth floor had a balcony, as well as a pool, which was good for Autumn. The third floor had another library, but bigger, and the fourth floor was another science lab. The only problem with all of this was that Orochimaru apparently never heard of an elevator, because there were two main staircases, and three more smaller ones scattered around the house. Autumn had claimed the whole entire seventh floor as her bedroom, because she was planning on receiving even harder training from Itachi in the days to come. She needed a place to store her weapons where they'd be safe, and away from Tobi.
"Meh," Autumn glared at the evil stairway which led all the way back down. She was so not going back down there, until they found her. Autumn walked back to the huge window in her new room. This was going to take awhile. Autumn pulled out her laptop, and walked to the sixth floor. She walked toward one of the offices on the east side. The west side still scared the heck out of her, but she had to go over there to get all of her stuff (and anything that looked interesting) up to her room. She was planning on installing a few TVs in some of the rooms, and using the third floor to recreate her library. Autumn looked over the empty office, and continued on her way. She walked down another flight of stairs and surveyed the fifth floor. It was a wide open space, tile floor, huge window (just like every other room in the house), and a high ceiling. There was a pool to the left, and this place resembled a small gym. She thought it over a bit, then it hit her. She could use this as a... VACATION ROOM!!
Autumn walked down to the fourth floor. This floor was split into only two rooms. Autumn wandered around what she was pretty sure was Kabuto's science lab, into what she was sure was the infirmary. She could use those later, so she just kept walking. Autumn went to the giant library that occupied the third floor. It was HUGE!! Autumn skimmed the shelves. She found some medical books, and other stuff, but not what she wanted to find. She walked to the back, on the west side of the room, there was a door. Autumn opened it, and found what she was looking for. Scrolls. Autumn hurried to a shelf and used her computer to translate what one of them said. It was a forbidden scroll, she looked inside it, and found one of the most interesting things she could find in this creepy house. Kage Bunshin No Jutsu. Autumn smirked and took it with her as she walked to the second floor. There was nothing much after she moved out, but she was planning on raiding Naruto and Sakura's rooms later, just in case. She wasn't going to touch Yamato, Sai, or Kakashi's rooms until she was sure that they were gone. Autumn continued to the first floor. There was just the meeting room, a Dining room, and the kitchen. She'd been here enough times to know that there was nothing important. Autumn glared at the stairs before she started the long journey back up.
Autumn collapsed on her bed. She had almost passed out on the sixth floor, but she willed herself to at least make it to her room. She had moved the bed, and used her old sheets just to remind her of her home. Because her room took up the whole floor, she had enough space to fit all of the random stuff her friends had helped her collect from her old house. Autumn walked into the bathroom on that floor and took a shower. She had been working for hours, and she had been out all night (Issues). Autumn had put it a little TV, and found out that Orochimaru actually had cable! She stayed in her room and watched Saturday morning cartoons, she deserved a little rest.
Hours later, and Autumn was at it again. This time she had found Sakura's Halloween candy sitting in the kitchen, and eaten some of it, and now she was searching Sakura's room on a sugar high. So far she had found Sakura's kunai holster, and some medical scrolls. A pair of extra gloves, and a random picture of Sasuke. Most of it wasn't really important, but it was helpful. Autumn did Naruto's room next. It was a huge mess already, but she found, his kunai holster, a random pack of ramen, and his halloween candy. Absolutely nothing improtant, but he had shuriken and kunai in his holster, so that was good. Autumn was crazy enought to go into Sai's room, which was a big mistake. Sai had placed a trap in the room, so that anyone that walked into the room was attacked by random animals. Autumn used one of the kunai she found and slashed them, they died. Autumn kept going, and found even less than she did in Naruto's room! There was art supplies and stuff, but she wasn't going to use that during a battle, and his battle gear, and stuff had been taken with him, so there was nothing besides art supplies. Autumn took her findings back up to her room, and slid down the stair railing to the first floor, where she decided to eat, and wait. The Akatsuki would come eventually, all she had to do was sit and wait. Besides the only thing the barrier really did, was hide her chakra from them.
Sure enough after about six more hours someone kicked the door in,
"What took ya so long?" Hidan, and the rest of the akatsuki walked into the house, and Hidan glared at Autumn who was reading a book on the couch.
"Where have you been?" Pein asked, pushing Hidan out of the way before he killed her.
"Right here, obviously. Oh, and could you fix that door?" Itachi fixed the door, and then joined the conversation.
"We thought you'd still be at your house."
"This is my house, I got it off of some pedophile snake dude, who was happy enough to give me this," Autumn exposed the cursed seal. "And let me tell you, it hurt like heck!" Itachi sharingan-glared at her.
"When were you planning on sharing this with us?"
"About six to twelve hours ago, if you ever got here. I thought you would see it after you kidnapped me." She said, Autumn started walking up the stairs.
"Where do you think you're going?" Pein asked. He wasn't too happy that he was being ignored.
"To watch cartoons, why?"
"You have some training to catch up on." He said sternly.
"Here," Autumn made a shadow clone, and kept walking, "Sasori can try and kill her for an hour." Itachi threw a kunai and the clone, but she just caught it, and threw it back. This time, Itachi actually jumped in front of Autumn and glared at her.
"Your mark..."
"It's sealed already, please don't ask, I'm going to go watch Naruto now." Autumn pushed past him and went to her room, leaving the akatsuki to wander around like headless chickens.
It was around midnight, the akatsuki had found that there were different barriers that prevented them from going to far. Autumn was still in her room, and everyone else was expressing their boredom. Tobi was whining to Deidara, who was fighting with Sasori about art, Itachi was looking around and testing the barriers, mentally praising Autumn for her good work, Kisame was staring at a bag of Swedish fish that he found, Kakuzu was mentally finding the worth of the house, and everything inside of it. Hidan was ranting about his religion to Zetsu who was just sitting quietly. Konan was mapping out the house so far, and Pein was sitting in a corner watching the stupidity in progress. Autumn, who had stopped watching TV after Trinity blood went off, was actually at the top of the stairs, witnessing the madness taking place, from the safety of the second floor. Autumn smirked and started to think of another fish joke for Kisame, but Itachi came up the stairs to check the barriers when he saw her.
"You're not asleep." He stated, looking at her. Autumn looked up at him, the barriers she set up allowed access to some rooms on the second floor, but not the third floor, the basement, or the kitchen.
"Of course not, I'm an insomniac, remember?" She said, smiling up at him, she had always liked Itachi, even though all that he did, she still liked him the most.
"I remember you falling asleep..." He said, recalling the events in the end of chapter 11, and the beginning of chapter 12. Autumn blushed at the memory. That was one of the reasons that she hated having the akatsuki in her life. Itachi visably smirked at Autumn's blush, causing her to gasp. The Itachi Uchiha, almost smiled at her!
(Zathura: Okay I can't do this! Real Autumn: Please? -long epic battle resulting in me losing- Zathura: Fine!)
Itachi walked past Autumn and checked for more barriers, most of the floor was clear, so he went back down stairs, only on his way down, he took Autumn with him. Itachi went and stood in front of Pein and held Autumn out.
"Uh... Hi?" Pein glared at her, and signaled Sasori to stop his ridiculous fight, and start Autumn's training session. Pein walked in the direction of the front door, but Autumn, who had escaped Itachi's grasp, made her way over the door leading to the basement.
"Where are you all going?" She asked mainly, Pein as she stood there with the basement door open.
"Outside, you have training to catch up on."
"Where's my clone?"
"MMMMPHF!" Autumn looked to the side, her clone was tied up, and sitting next to Tobi. Hidan, who had stopped talking smirked at her, if her clone died, then she was going to have one major headache as soon as their memories merged. Hidan drew a kunai.
"Don't..."Autumn warned, he didn't listen. Hidan threw the kunai, and went straight for her clone. Luckily for her, Autumn's clone was smart. She doged to the side a bit, so that the kunai cut the ropes, and she was left alive.
"Haha!" She said, doing a little peace sign. Pein was getting pissed off, and he just hit the clone over the head, and it died.
"NUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!" Autumn doubled over in pain. She had a severe headache now. Hidan was laughing his head off. Pein and Sasori walked over to the basement and decended into the darkness. Itachi followed, but he picked up Autumn on the way down.
Sasori surprisingly hadn't been beating the crap out of Autumn for the last hour, Kisame had. Itachi was working on perfecting her technique, and Kisame was testing her.
"I have a better idea," Autumn made about twenty shadow clones, and let them attack Kisame all at once, forcing him to drop Samhada. Once that was out of the way, Autumn proceeded to get her revenge. Itachi just raised as eyebrow at her strategy. Sasori, and Pein seemed to approve though.
It was a bright Sunday in November, by the time they finally let Autumn out of the basement, she had gotten the chance to beat the crap out of Kisame four times. Now Autumn was busy arranging and rearranging her room, she had taken down most of the barriers after she had cleared out Yamato, Sakura, Kakashi, Naruto, and Sai's rooms secretly, and now she was in her room watching TV. Itachi walked into her room, and made sure that he closed the door behind him.
"Autumn." Said girl looked up at him.
"Yes Sempai?" She didn't want to hear Pein, or Sasori lecture her, so she had gone back to the honorfics.
"I thought you weren't going to call me that anymore..." Autumn smiled, freedom was nice, but being in her little prison had it's perks.
"Aniki..." She liked saying that word.
"I'm here for a reason..." Itachi's started, "Do you remember when I told you that I could help you?" Autumn just cocked her head to the side, she had no idea what he was talking about.
"The day you called me Aniki, we were talking because Sasori wanted to turn you into a puppet." Remembering this Autumn was at full attention.
"I found an old scroll, that just may help prove your worth to the akatsuki... There is a scroll that belonged to the Uchiha clan, it allowed the sharingan to be given to an outsider. But the procedure does cause intense pain, and it requires the chakra system of the victim to change so that more chakra flows into the eyes. The chakra system in very delecate, and most die during the procedure, that's why it was forbidden." Autumn gasped, she was going to live! (You weren't paying attention were you?) Itachi continued,
"In order to perform the jutsu, I need you permission, are you willing to possibly give up your life?" Autumn didn't reply, instead she just sat there, if she died, what would her friends do? If she didn't go through with it, it was only a matter of time before they killed her anyway...
"I'll give you until the new moon to answer." Itachi walked away leaving Autumn to temporarily revert back to her old self, and wonder what would happen, if she died.
Monday
Autumn sat on her bed thinking for hours, but then her alarm rang,
Ai yai yai yai
Ai yai yai yai
Ai yai yai yai
She had changed the song this time,
Where's my samurai?
Not waiting for the song to continue, Autumn turned off the alarm, and got dressed for school. Autumn was in no mood to walk all the way down the stairs, so she slid down the railing. It was faster and more fun, the hard part was going back up again later.
"Where are you going?" Itachi asked. He was just sitting on the couch reading the newspaper.
"Don't you ever go to sleep?" Autumn asked grabbing a bagel from the refrigerator.
"... Sometimes." he answered, not really caring.
"Right, I'm going to school." Itachi's just nodded as she left. Autumn walked out of the house and toward the woods. The sun was just now starting to rise, and the trees were losing leaves even faster than before. She smiled to herself, she had to give Orochimaru some credit. This place was beautiful. Autumn walked down into the tunnels, because the sun was just now coming up, they were a bit cold, but Autumn didn't mind. Taking out a flashlight, Autumn continued on her way. She knew that she wasn't the only one going to school by the tunnels that morning, as she approached the crossroads she saw her friends waiting for her.
"Hey Fall! I was almost worried about you, you just disappeared last Friday." David said, offering her some gum, which she took gratefully.
"Well as you can see I'm okay! How 'bout you all?"
"You know I am!" May answered first.
"Tch, physically, not mentally." Autumn said, smiling at her joke. Everyone else laughed too, including May.
"I'm good, parents are creeping me out though." Lyn said.
"My parent's are annoying as usual." Mandy replied, her family was very protective, none of her sisters were allowed to go outside unless there was a parent out there watching them.
"Where's Janet?" Autumn asked looking around.
"She's sick as usual," Janet had this very annoying habit of getting sick every other week. Autumn just sighed, but kept walking.
"Well I have Jazz on Wednesday, and Drama is coming up next week." She said, mentally listing all of the different things that she really had to do this week.
"Sucks to be you," May said, walking toward the exit.
"What do you mean 'Sucks to be me'? You have the same thing!" Autumn said, running ahead to catch up with her.
"No, I have symphonic, and Drama. You know how Mr. B is about Jazz! You miss practice once, and he goes off like a bomb!" Autumn rolled her eyes and climbed out of the tunnels, the others followed in suite.
"I guess this is where we part ways," Autumn said, smirking at Dave, who was shivering. It was warmer underground than it was above.
"Very funny..."
"Yes it is."
"... Can I have your coat?"
"No!" Autumn took off running, and David followed after her, both were laughing all the way.
Autumn was sitting in second period watching the clouds go by,
"Autumn?" 'Crap'
"Yes?" She asked, knowing what was coming next.
"Can you please tell us the capital of... Argentina?" Autumn decided to cheat, she pulled out her map in the back of her agenda.
"Buenos Aires... Why do I need to know this in English.?"
"You don't, I'm just making sure that you're paying attention. Now can you tell me what we were just talking about?" Autumn cheated again, and looked at the back board.
"Polar Bears?"
"Correct! Why?"
"Because you have this little article, and you wrote your own version of it that is very undetailed, and poorly written, just to show us why we even have this class?" She said, looking at the paper on her desk. Her teacher just pretended to cry.
"I worked very hard on that paper, now I'm going to cry at lunch now."
"..." Autumn's attention drifted back to the window.
"Autumn? Autumn?" It was lunch, and Autumn was sitting with her friends at their usual table. During school she hung out with her friends Becky, Allie, Serenity, and Nala.
"What?"
"Well tell us what happened!"
"If you bothered coming, then you would know, and you wouldn't be asking!" They were discussing the dance on Friday, and for Autumn that was a bit of a sore topic.
"Well excuse me for wanting to get some candy!" Becky said, pretending to be insulted.
"You're excused." Becky huffed, and walked to another table. She'd come back later.
"So what did happen?" Nala asked.
"I was forced to perform against my will, and Dave did his best to scare the crap out of me."
"Nice."
"You get any candy?"
"Not much, some guy gave me a tooth brush!" Autumn smirked at her friend and laughed. Lunch was over for her team, she was going outside.
Autumn walked away from everyone for a moment, and made a clone. The clone went back to her friends, while the real Autumn went up on the roof. The new moon was coming up next week, and she still had to make a decision. Was she really going to go through with it? Either way there was a huge possibility that she was going to die, so if there was at least one way that she could live, she should take that option, right? She just thought about it for a while.
"What do you want?" Autumn asked. Tobi jumped from a tree, onto the roof.
"Are you going to go through with it?"
"So you heard."
"Tobi was going to come in, but Deidara-Sempai made Tobi leave."
"I'm thinking about it." She said.
"Tobi doesn't want Autumn to get hurt, but Tobi wants Autumn to live longer, so she can play with Tobi." Autumn blinked and got up. She had a whole week to think about this, there was no point in moping about it for that whole time.
Autumn jumped into a tree, leaving Tobi behind. She needed time to clear her head, her clone could handle school.
Autumn was in her room thinking. According to her calender, the new moon was tomorrow. Even though she was still so unsure, she had pretty much no choice but to agree to it. Either way, there was a high chance of her dying. If she didn't do it Sasori had Pein's permission to kill her, and turn her dead body into a puppet for the chakra. If she did do it, as Itachi said, her chakra had to be re-routed, so that more of it flowed into her eyes. If she made a single move during this process, then she'd die. No point in saying "no" if she was going to die anyway. Tomorrow.
Autumn looked out of the window. You could still see a thin silver whisp in the night... There was a knock at the door. Itachi. She knew that it was him because he was the only one who ever bothered to actually make the trip up to her room.
"Come in!" Autumn called. He was just going to open the door anyway, why not be polite?
"Autumn." He called out to her. She was reverting back to her old self again. She was turning back into the angsty emo girl that she had been for the past two years. Itachi came over to her.
"Have you decided?" Autumn nodded,
"I'll go through with it."
"Do you know what you might be giving up?"
"I'll give up even more if I don't. There's at least a two percent chance that I'll survive right?" Itachi shook his head,
"For most it would be two percent, but you seem to have a very complex chakra system because your body deals with stronger chakra."
"So?"
"Point zero six percent." Autumn twitched. So there was still a very small chance of her living, joy.
"There is also a chance of you going blind, in which case Leader will have you killed immediately." Itachi took a step toward Autumn at the window.
"That limits your chances to point zero three percent." Autumn sniffed as a single tear fell from her eye, and started to roll down her cheek.
"Onii-sama, I appreciate your honesty, but some things are better left unsaid." Autumn said, trying to be polite, but what she really was saying was for him to shut up. Itachi took another step forward.
"In the rare event that you do live, Leader-sama requested that you join the akatsuki." And that was where Autumn cracked. Quickly six clones appeared, each one of them was holding two kunai. They tried to attack Itachi, but they ran into walls, or got hit, and died. Autumn cringed, that was the really bad thing about shadow clones. She had their memories, and she really didn't like the feeling of dying, repeatedly.
"You'll get used to it," Itachi said reading her mind.
"Why?"
"Hn?"
"I was normal at birth!" Autumn turned to face Itachi, "I was normal from grades k-5! Until the accident I was normal, now all of this is happening..." Itachi put his hand on Autumn's shoulder.
"According to what we've observed, you were never normal, you were born with this."
"What do you mean?"
"Your bloodline limit includes both chakra control, and your body's ability to produce, and reproduce chakra rapidly. You were born with this ability, it is your bloodline trait, it's your kekkei genkai." After Itachi's little explanation, Autumn just stood in front of him shocked. How did he know more about her than she did?
"How do you know?"
"I've been watching you for a reason." Autumn glared at him.
"What is wrong with you people!" She tried her best to punch him, but he blocked her attack, and restrained her just like Kakashi did to Naruto. (Episode 4)
"You shouldn't be angry with me. Do you know why this has happened to you?" Itachi let her go, and dropped her on her bed. Autumn sat up,
"Two years ago my parents were supposed to have been in an accident. They're bodies were supposedly never found." Autumn stood back up. "Two weeks ago I was invited to this house by Orochimaru. He said that he was there that day. He said that he knew what really happened to my parents, he said that whey weren't dead!" Autumn started to cry hysterically.
Itachi looked at her, but listened intently.
"Orochimaru, never told me what really happened, or where they were. He wouldn't even give me a real answer to my questions,"
The next day...
Autumn had just come back from school, today was the day. She had made her choice, and now it was time to reap what she had sewn. As she walked into the house, she was promptly attacked and dragged into the basement by one of the members. The basement was dark, only lit by a few candles. In the light, Autumn saw that it was Hidan who had carried her down. Itachi was standing next to Pein and Sasori with a scroll in his hand.
"Are you sure that you want to do this?" Zetsu asked from behind her. Autumn didn't turn around, but she still nodded.
"Your funeral,"
"Glad to see that you would give me a funeral, when I'm supposed to be turned into a puppet." She said sarcastically. Pein signaled for Autumn to come forward.
"If you have truly chosen, then let us begin." He said, Itachi stepped forward. The other members scattered themselves around the room, no one made a sound. Autumn watched as Itachi started to make rapid hand signs. When she was sure that he was half way done, that was when the pain came. Autumn fell to her knees, and tried to breathe. It felt as if her eyes were going to explode. She grasped her head in pain, and tried to focus her eyes on Itachi, but pretty soon she saw nothing but darkness. After that, all went black once again.
When Autumn woke up the next morning, all was dark. She felt something cool being layed across her eyes. She felt so tired, her eyes were sore too.
"Aniki?" She called out. She felt the person next to her shift.
"You're awake." He stated, Itachi didn't know the outcome of the jutsu, and he needed to know whether or not it had been a success. She was alive at least, but if she had gone blind, then she wouldn't be for long.
"What happened?"
"You fainted, apparently that caused your body to go limp long enough to allow your chakra system to completely renew itself without interference. You're alive." Autumn sighed,
"Where is everyone else?"
"When you fell asleep, some supplies came through into this world, they went to collect it, and sort through it all." He responded. Itachi pulled the washcloth off of her face,
"Open your eyes." Autumn did as she was told.
"Can you see?" Autumn opened her mouth to respond, but as she did, she was hit with a sharp pain in her eyes. Autumn grabbed her head, and shut her eyes.
"Autumn." Itachi warned, she opened her eyes one more time.
"No." That was it. He had to tell Pein, and he would have her killed.
"Nii-san, it hurts." He turned back to her. Autumn opened her eyes again, and seemed to look at him. He observed her eyes, she did receive the sharingan, but it was useless if she couldn't see. He left the room, and went to tell Pein. Autumn sat there, she closed her eyes, and started to cry. She knew that she was going to die if, and when Pein found out. Autumn laid back, and tried to go to sleep. Maybe, just maybe if she went to sleep, then she wouldn't feel any pain...
Monday...
May was crying on the sidewalk. David, Jill, Lyn, and the rest were sad too, but not as sad as she was. It was her best friend that had just died, no one else was never that close... She couldn't help but call everyone she could find after she saw her body just laying there. Sure she was mean to her sometimes, but she was still her best friend, and nothing could ever change that.
"It's not fair..." May said, looking at David.
"We know May, I guess that's just the way it goes," A few days later, they held a small fureral. The Obsessionists came and tried to cheer May up, but nothing could help in a time like this.
"David..." She started,
"What?"
"She did like you... But you knew that already," He nodded.
"I liked her too, that's why I spent so much time with her." David took May home, but as they were leaving the cemetary, May took one last look at her friend's grave, and wished her luck in the next life.
"Why?" May asked David,
"Why did she have to die? She was so young!"
"She wasn't that young,"
"SHE WAS YOUNGER THAN ME!"
"It's okay May she's in a better place now..." soon enough even David had to leave her, causing May for the first time in years to truly be alone. May looked out her window,
"Autumn... I wish you were here, no matter what you did, you could always make me smile." May looked out over the horizon, no one could help her now. She was slowly being dragged into a fit of depression. The angst was leaking into her body slowly turning her emo.
The akatsuki were in their lair, they had left Autumn's home days before. Itachi seemed to be emotionless, but he was the one trying to get back. They could only enter that dimention willingly on the full moon, or they could be forcefully pulled back when a person with a dangerously high chakra amount would will it, and that was extremely rare.
David thought back on the events of late. He remembered the day he was kidnapped, and played DDR with some weirdos at Autumn's house. It was fun. He remembered the dance, and how much he worried after she disappeared.
"David," He turned around, it was Mandy.
"You're not still sad are you? You hardly ever saw her."
"But still..."
"You barely even knew her David, there is no point in being sad."
May buried her head in her lap. She wasn't doing to well. The only person that could help her now was Autumn...
The next day at school felt so weird. Autumn's goal was to have perfect attendance this year. And in all she almost never missed a day of school. Autumn wasn't really a straight "A" student, but she was on honor role. Even Janet attended school that day. It felt strange not to have Autumn there, without her everyone knew that the Obsessionists would soon fall into chaos, and the Dolls would rule.
Itachi looked through multiple scrolls. He had to go back, who knew what would happen if he didn't!
"Itachi-san!" Tobi came running into his room carrying a scroll,
"Tobi found it!" This was the scroll that could change everything.
May walked to the grave and placed an empty cage on the top of it. Taking one final glance at the tombstone: R.I.P. Madam Luthien Loyal Pet Hamster, and Best friend. Maybe she'd go visit Autumn, and see how she was doing, she really needed to be cheered up right now. May said a silent prayer, and walked toward the entrance to the tunnels. Seeing Autumn would be nice right now, plus she had candy. May ate all of her candy already.
Itachi finished packing some scrolls he was going to take with him next time. All he had to do was wait another week, and he would be able to go back, and he would finish his job.