Disclaimer: Naruto is not my property…otherwise I'd have way more stuff and way less student loans to pay off.
Chapter 11: Learning New Things
Gaara sighed as he took another sheet of paper from the pile in front of him. The longer he was Kazekage, the taller the stack of paperwork needing his attention grew. And the worse the handwriting written on said paperwork got.
"You know I'd help you with all of that if I wasn't so distracted," a husky voice sighed.
"You know I'd make you do all of this if you weren't so distracted," a baritone voice replied.
He didn't have to look up at the woman comfortably situated in the only corner of his office that contained a sofa to see the soft smile on her beautiful face. The redhead smirked affectionately for his wife. Although she had some trouble in the beginning of her pregnancy, as soon as she reached her third trimester, Kina's personality became as placid and unassuming as Shikamaru's.
Today she lay down on the sofa with her swollen feet up and a tattered old panda bear in her hands.
"I might have something that will interest you for more than ten seconds," he mentioned.
"You're not counting the last few seconds that we've been talking, are you?" she asked, turning her head to stare at her husband.
"No," he chuckled. He waved a scrap of paper in the air. Kina's purple eyes widened at the signature on it.
"What's he done now?" she asked eagerly.
"'From the desk of Team 8 ANBU Captain Mukade,'" Gaara read from the letter in his hands. (1)
"'Kazekage-sama, I must insist on being compensated for the loss of my undergarments. As mentioned in the mission report from last week, our medic ran out of bandages and requisitioned the undergarments of both my second-in-command and myself. Normally I wouldn't bring a complaint of this nature to your attention, but these were my lucky undergarments; the last issued in Suna since before your marriage. Please consider my request for monetary compensation for the emotional trauma dealt to me by the loss of my lucky undergarments.'"
Kina laughed and snorted during Gaara's reading. He even went through the trouble of imitating the deep, slightly whiny, and pompous voice of the ANBU Captain. His next sentence was uttered in his usual baritone, but made her shoulders shake harder with laughter.
"If he took better care of his team, then the medic wouldn't have to go to such extremes to bandage their injuries," he said. He smoothed out the wrinkled paper and barely kept himself from mentioning the fact that telltale tracks of tearstains marred the parchment. That bit of information would likely cause his wife's water to break from the force of her laughter.
The woman in question still had her hand on her belly as she sighed out the last of her chuckles.
"That man never ceases to amaze me," she sighed. "That has got to be the most neurotic ANBU in the world."
"When it comes to his boxers at least, Kina-chan," Gaara agreed. "ANBU are neurotic by nature—and hunters are even more so."
"Is that a jab at my work habits, Panda-kun?"
"Maybe."
A comfortable silence settled between the couple and they simply enjoyed each other's company. After fifteen minutes, the only sounds in the room were from Gaara's pen scratching across parchment and Kina's soft breathing as she fell asleep.
He looked up when someone knocked on the door of his office. "Come in."
The door opened to reveal his brother Kankuro, as well as his sister Temari and her husband Shikamaru.
"Temari," he smiled as he stood up to hug her. He hadn't seen her since the now legendary argument between his wife and her foster sister, Temeki. The blonde kunoichi was slightly surprised at her brother's warm welcome, but quickly smiled and hugged him back.
"Gaara," she whispered. "How are you?"
"I'm good," he answered. "We're good. Where's Temeki?"
The question caused the smiles on the faces of the three shinobi to disappear entirely.
"That's the same question that we've been asking ourselves," Temari replied.
Gaara's face became a blank mask as he walked back to his desk and sat down. He looked at his family and frowned.
"What exactly do you mean by that?" he asked coldly.
Shikamaru, perfectly aware of the fact that familial welcomes were now over, stepped forward and placed a sealed scroll on the Kazekage's cluttered desk.
"That's a report from the Hokage, herself," the brunette said. He stood in front of his brother-in-law and looked him straight in the eyes. "She's told me that if I see Yawa Temeki again, I have the authority to kill her."
The announcement caused the Suna siblings to jerk in surprise. The woman did nothing to incur the wrath of Konoha—to their knowledge.
"And does the order stand for all Konoha shinobi, or just yourself?" Gaara asked.
"The order is for me alone," he admitted. "But it is only activated the moment you declare her a missing nin."
Gaara leaned back in his chair and pinned the man with a steely green glare. "She has done nothing to mark her as a missing nin," he informed the Nara.
"She is suspected of committing several crimes in Konoha," Shikamaru stated.
"Suspected. Not guilty," Gaara shot back.
"She's been missing for more than a month," Temari said. "Nara-kaasan told us that she left while we were setting up our house. She was shouting obscenities about Suna." (2)
"That might have been when I sent her to the Country of Wave on an infiltration and assassination mission," Gaara said.
"You sent her on a mission?" Temari asked, shocked.
"She's still a Suna shinobi," Kankuro said, speaking for the first time.
"You're the one in charge of the missions desk these days, aren't you Kankuro?" Temari accused.
"She's damn good at her job," the puppet master defended his decision. "No matter her differences with Kina, Temeki will do her job and finish her mission. No matter the cost, she finishes her missions. She doesn't do things halfway—not anymore. You know this, Temari."
Gaara's pale eyes looked from one sibling to the other as Temari was forced to nod her head at Kankuro's description of Temeki's nindo philosophy. (3)
"But she's never taken this long to finish a mission before," the blonde muttered.
"That's because she's always had me with her as back up," a husky voice interrupted from the corner sofa.
"Kina-chan!" Temari said, finally noticing the presence of Temeki's foster sister.
The dark-haired woman pushed herself up into a sitting position and slowly stood up. The huge bump that was the temporary home of her twins stretched the fabric of her kimono and changed her center of gravity. Temari and Shikamaru's eyes widened as she walked over to stand by her husband with a distinct wiggle to her steps.
(At least, Kina kept insisting that it was a wiggle. Her first child, Lilith, said that her Mama waddled. Kankuro once remarked that it was more like the lumbering gait of a large bear and quickly got two black eyes for the statement. Gaara—being the smart man that he is—kept his mouth shut on the matter.)
"You're looking…um, radiant," Temari lied. Even though Kina didn't look too horrible, the sheer size of her abdomen caused her to look like some sort of insect and the way she walked was…well, the truth was, the blonde couldn't think of any way to describe it.
"Shut up," Kina snapped, suddenly angry with the skinny blonde.
Look at her, Tsubakiri, her demon, snorted in Kina's mind. Standing there in all of her skinny glory. She can even see her feet, the bitch. I bet that she doesn't salivate at the smell of cinnamon.
Probably not, Kina answered the eagle demoness. In fact, she's almost glowing with health. I just can't wait until she—
Kina cancelled the stray thought as she narrowed her eyes and focused on her sister-in-law. Her frown changed into a frighteningly sweet smile that caused both Temari and Shikamaru to step back in fear. It was never good when the purple-eyed woman's eyes lit with unholy glee. Much like how they were lighting up now, actually.
"Say, Temari-chan," she crooned. "Have you been feeling tired lately?"
"How did you know that?" Shikamaru questioned. "We actually got here two hours ago, but we couldn't see you right away because Temari went to sleep the moment we reached Kankuro's house."
The smile took on an edge that scared the shit out of the Konoha jounin.
"You might want to pay extra attention to what I do in the next month, Shika-kun," she softly whispered.
It took the Konoha genius exactly 0.23 seconds to realize what the other woman was hinting at.
"A-al-already?" he asked, shaken to the core. Temari and Kankuro simply looked on in confusion. Gaara smirked and held onto his wife's hand.
"Would you like to watch when the time comes?" Kina asked maliciously.
Temari's eyes widened as she finally caught on while Shikamaru fainted. Kankuro laughed and Gaara got up and offered his wife his chair. She sat down and placed her folded hands on top of her protruding stomach, a triumphant smile on her lips.
The smile vanished as she gave her husband a hard stare.
"Now what's this nonsense about making my sister a missing nin?" she asked.
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Light flashed against Temeki's closed eyes and caused her to groan. She stubbornly ignored the soft humming and pulled the blankets tighter against her shoulder.
"Ah, c'mon, Temeki-chan," Itachi cooed. "Time to wake up."
"I just went to sleep," she grumpily informed the deranged man. "Come back in three hours."
The dark-haired man chuckled evilly and stood at the foot of the woman's bed. "You did not just go to sleep. It's 5:30 in the morning, so rise and shine!"
Her response to that statement was to bury herself under her nice, warm blankets and curl up into herself.
"Wake up or I'll get Kisame in here."
Itachi frowned when that threat didn't goad more than a grunt from the sleepy kunoichi. Usually, she did everything in her power to keep the other man out of her room. His smile returned to his face when another idea came to him.
"I guess I'll just borrow your hairdryer from your bathroom," he chuckled.
"Go 'head," Temeki's voice called from her cocoon, muffled by the blankets. "I have the electronics store on speed dial ever since you fucked up the music system."
His eyes narrowed at the reminder of the evil machine that thought that it would be fun to spit out every disk placed in it like shuriken—all aimed at the elder Uchiha.
"Fine," he huffed, grabbing the end of the blankets. "You asked for it!"
With that statement, he pulled on the blankets with all of his strength. Unfortunately, he also accidentally grabbed the futon underneath the blankets. So, when he pulled, the mattress came with them and knocked him over.
Temeki finally sat up when she felt a huge jolt and looked around.
"Why is my bed on the floor?" she asked, confused. She was not a morning person…at least, not until she had a hot shower.
Muffled screams and the fact that a large lump under her legs kept kicking persuaded Temeki to stand up and lift the futon off of the floor. She placed it back onto the box spring of her bed and turned to look at Itachi.
"Serves you right for trying to wake a girl up when she's not ready," Temeki smirked.
The elder Uchiha lay sprawled on the ground. His hair was a mess, his glasses hung crooked on his face, and he had the imprint of the futon manufacturer on his cheek.
"Today's special," he pouted playfully. "I'm gonna show you what the Mangekyou Sharingan can do."
Temeki's body stiffened painfully as her brain finally registered the meaning of his sentence. She was vaguely aware of the sly smile on his face as he noticed her stillness.
Let him believe that it's excitement, Sasuke's voice rang through her mind. Don't let him see your fear and anger.
"Get out," she said, her voice shaking slightly. "I need to bathe."
Itachi lazily stood up and walked over to the doorway. Temeki's voice stopped him.
"Who will you use as the…example in today's presentation?"
He chuckled and answered, "You know who."
When the door shut behind him, Temeki turned and punched her futon. She ignored the sound of the box springs breaking and walked over to her shower. Stripping quickly and making sure that no spying jutsus were in place—stupid Kisame—she stepped into the hot spray.
She'd been with the two Akatsuki members for more than a month and in that time she felt her chakra doubling in power and stamina. She was extremely tempted to turn deception into reality. She could forget everything and remain with the two men.
If she was this strong and learned so much in a month, what else could she learn in a year, two years?
The only thing that stopped her were the memories of her foster sister and the young woman she met on her second day as Itachi and Kisame's guest.
FLASHBACKTemeki silently followed Kisame down a series of tunnels. She realized that the duo's home lay deep within the earth and that they used transportation jutsus to enter and exit the place. After a few more meters, they entered a large cavern. It was lit by phosphorescent lichen and was about as large as the dojo in the Kazekage's Mansion back in Suna—which meant that the cavern was large.
A waterfall poured from the furthest wall and fed a clear pool. Stones and rocks were placed here and there, providing cover or seating, depending on the situation. Traditional weapons lined the wall near the entrance and first aid equipment lined the other.
"Itachi-sama wants us to warm up while he gets the…ah…equipment needed for your Sharingan training," the shark-like man informed her.
Temeki nodded and immediately began to stretch out. Once she was limber enough, she ran at Kisame. He intercepted her attack with his uninjured hand and the two began sparring.
She finally managed to pin down the slippery bastard when she heard the sound of slow clapping echoing throughout the chamber. When she looked up, she found Itachi standing there with another woman by his side.
Temeki stood and narrowed her eyes at the newcomer.
The woman looked like she was around twenty years old. She was about as tall as Temeki, if not a bit taller. Full dark lips pouted below a small nose and a dark eye gleamed with an unidentifiable emotion from beneath messy bangs. She was tanned and fit, but her most striking feature was her long hair. The other woman's bangs weren't black like the rest of her hair. Instead, they were pure white. The woman slowly tucked the strands behind her ears and Temeki kept herself from reacting.
Despite the black bandage that covered her right eye, the Suna kunoichi could see the white line of a scar that started above her eyebrow, slanted down over her eye, touched the corner of the woman's lips, ran down her chin and ended at her collarbone.
"Don't look so surprised," Itachi said. He walked forward, pushing the woman in the back to get her to walk with him. "We need someone for you to practice the techniques on. Kisame won't do it and I sure as hell won't."
"Who is she?" Temeki asked.
Kisame waved his hand and snorted. "Who knows?" he answered. "We found her in the desert years ago. She suited our plans so we took her after we bound her de—"
"Enough, Kisame," Itachi sternly ordered. He locked gazes with his partner and Temeki noticed that his Sharingan was activated. The two seemed to speak silently to each other before the taller man looked down.
"Yes, Itachi-sama."
"You didn't ask her name?" Temeki wondered.
"She doesn't speak our language," Itachi admitted.
Temeki looked at the woman and found that she was already being watched and measured. When the dark eye met her own ice blue ones, Temeki realized that the emotion in it was the strange mix of rage, vulnerability, fear, and determination of a prisoner.
"What do you call her then?"
Kisame grinned, his good humor restored. "Shark-bait," he answered.
"You wish," Itachi remarked. "We just call her Ana. It used to be Anata, but it got too troublesome to say it in the middle of a spar." (4)
"All of the Akatsuki members have access to use Ana whenever we need to train," Kisame explained. "Too bad the Leader forbids us to use her whenever we have other needs."
Temeki's face registered her disgust and Itachi just shook his head.
"Akatsuki is above rape," Itachi reminded the man. "That's for the lower masses."
"What happened to her eye?" Temeki asked suddenly, eager to leave the topic. She gestured to the black bandage and the scar.
"Sasori did that when we first captured her," Kisame provided. "He kept screaming nonsense about noise and not being able to breathe. So he slashed her with his puppet."
"Sasori?" she asked, confused.
"Another member," Itachi said, bored with the conversation. "Do you want to learn how to control your Sharingan or what?"
Temeki slid into a battle stance and activated her bloodline limit. She didn't miss it when Ana's eye widened in shock, recognition, and a bit of relief. The Suna nin understood the first two emotions, but was thrown by the third.
What does she have to be relieved about? Temeki wondered. That was the last conscious thought she had for a while that didn't have to do with training.
Itachi took her through exercises to train her Sharingan before he started to perform jutsus. He told her to watch carefully and then perform the jutsus she copied from him. She didn't realize that her target was Ana until Kisame turned the blue-eyed kunoichi from her position in front of Itachi to face the other woman.
At first, she was hesitant—the jutsus Itachi ordered her to copy were powerful ones that were created to kill—but Kisame just leaned down to whisper in her ear.
"Don't worry. It takes a lot to hurt the bitch. Go ahead," he whispered, lightly licking Temeki's earlobe.
It was the action more than the words that had Temeki performing the water dragon jutsu on Ana.
When the water receded, Ana still stood there, her arms crossed in front of her and her clothes torn from the water pressure, but she was relatively fine.
The rest of the day continued along the same vein until Itachi called a halt.
"Kisame will take you back to the house," he said, picking up a semi-conscious Ana. "I will join you after I take this one back to her cell."
Temeki felt a surge of uneasiness as the elder Uchiha walked away. Something about the woman reminded her of Kina. The reason hit her like one of Sakura's punches.
Her eye was purple, Sasuke whispered in her mind. Ana's visible eye was purple.
The shade matched Kina's eyes perfectly.
Who are you, Ana-san? Temeki wondered.
END FLASHBACKTemeki felt cold water on her back and turned the shower off. She dressed quickly and went into the kitchen. Kisame was there, but instead of the usual breakfast, he handed her a piece of toast.
"A big breakfast will only end up on the floor when you see the Mangekyou," was his answer to the silent question in her eyes.
Temeki nodded and slowly ate the toast as they walked down to the training area.
Itachi was already there with a quiet and already beaten Ana. When Temeki noticed the other woman's state, she intervened.
"Shouldn't I heal her injuries first, Itachi-niisan?" she asked, using the title the elder Uchiha told her to use.
Itachi nodded and motioned for her to heal Ana.
She walked over to the girl and sat her on a rock. She knelt and began healing her many bruises. Temeki kept her eyes focused on the woman's lap where her hands lay. She was surprised when the tanned hands began a series of signs. They weren't seals, but they were familiar to the Suna kunoichi nonetheless.
They were the hand signs Kina taught her and the same ones they used when they communicated with each other when on missions.
'I don't know why I feel this way, but I think you can understand me,' Ana signed.
Temeki kept on healing her, but let out a small sound that could be an affirmative.
'Good,' Ana said.
Temeki glanced behind Ana and saw that the two Akatsuki members were discussing something. They both had their backs to the women, so it must be important if they went through the trouble of making sure she couldn't read their lips.
Taking the chance, Temeki quickly signed back.
'How do you know this sign language?' she asked.
'The question is how do you know it?' Ana questioned. 'It's from my homeland and you are definitely not from my homeland, Uchiha Sasuke.' (5)
'I learned it from my foster sister,' Temeki answered. 'How do you know who I am?'
'My eyes do not lie to me,' she replied. 'Who is your sister?'
'Yawa Kinabuhi,' Temeki fingerspelled the name.
'Kinabuhi,' Ana repeated. 'Is that her true name?'
'No.'
'What is it?'
Temeki noticed that the men were done talking and quickly finger spelled Kina's real name.
'You knew her from before, didn't you? Before you came to our lands,' Temeki signed.
'Yes.'
'They're coming soon; Kina will be here soon. Just bear the pain for a few more weeks.'
'If it means seeing the sun again, I will bear anything,' Ana answered.
Temeki nodded, then stood and roughly brought Ana with her.
"I finished patching her up, nii-san," she said. "Are you going to show me these techniques of yours or what?"
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"You did well," Itachi said. He and Temeki were carrying an unconscious Ana back to her cell. Kisame went ahead to make lunch.
"I don't understand why I'm helping you," she mumbled. She desperately wanted to go to her room and cry. Ana had only screamed for a few seconds, but the sound held several days' worth of pain in it.
"I know I usually lock her up myself," he explained. "But the woman needs another bath and since you're here and a female, we decided that you'll do it."
"We?"
"Akatsuki."
"Oh."
They stopped at a wall and Itachi placed his hand on it. The wall opened and they brought the girl into the room. If Temeki expected a bare room, then she was disappointed. In fact, Ana's room was better than hers.
"She's been with us for six years," Itachi said, placing the woman on her bed. "Things are easier if she's comfortable. Just place your hand on the wall and it will let you out. It will only recognize you or me." Temeki nodded and barely moved when the Uchiha walked out the door.
A sound from the bed caused Temeki to turn around. Her eyes widened as Ana sat up and began taking off her clothes.
'How are you able to do that?' she signed. 'You were in Itachi's Tsukuyomi. He tortured you for seventy-two hours!' (6)
Turning, Ana smiled at the younger woman and gestured for her to follow. Temeki followed and saw a deep pool of water.
'Tsubakikan allows me to recover from it quickly,' Ana explained. 'Among other things.' (7)
'Who?' Temeki asked as she took off her own clothes and stepped into the bathing pool. Fast recovery or not, the other woman would still need help bathing herself.
'My demon,' Ana signed. 'She's Tsubakiri's sister.'
Temeki let the information sink into her consciousness as she started washing the other woman's hair. When she was finished, Ana slid to the other side of the pool and stared at her.
'So tell me what my cousin has been up to these past six years?' she asked. 'Besides changing her name to Kinabuhi.'
A/N:
I totally didn't know what was going to happen after the end of the last chapter, but I got an idea from something my brother said to me. Then this chapter practically wrote itself!
So I have a new OC to write about and control. Yay! (Just hope I don't end up regretting it.)
I wrote a little sidefic to help me with my little writer's block. It's called "Only For You" and if you wanna read it, go ahead.
Okay, so review and stuff…later!
(1) Mukade means 'centipede.' Don't know why I named him this…but for those who've read my first story might remember the Captain of ANBU Team 8 as the one with all of those sandcastle boxer shorts.
(2) Temari calls Shikamaru's mom 'Nara-kaasan.' Okaasan is the formal way of saying "mother."
(3) Nindo means "way of the ninja."
(4) Anata means "you" in Japanese.
(5) They're speaking in American Sign Language.
(6) Tsukuyomi is the genjutsu Itachi uses when he tortures people for three days straight in the space of three seconds. It takes the Mangekyou Sharingan to do this.
(7) Tsubakikan is a name I made up from two words: tsubasa means "wings" and kikan means "mirror." So it means "mirror wings" or "wings of mirror."