Chapter 2: Wit's Precarious End
Haruno Sakura
"What the hell are you doing?! Run, Sakura!"
"Sakura-chan…wake up…" A pleading, masculine voice whispered to me from somewhere to my right.
"Kakashi, why hasn't she woken up yet? You only took three days to recover from this, why is Sakura taking a whole week?" Sasuke demanded our ex-teacher; his deep and usually calm voice was stained with the slightest bit of impatience.
"People with Sharingan can resist the Mangekyou Sharingan a little bit…or something like that," Kakashi explained in an almost bored tone, I imagined his slight shrug.
I retained the appearance of sleep for a while longer. I hadn't the strength to face them right now; I could feel the legacy of my nightmare slipping coldly down my pale face. Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi had all seen me cry before but…I didn't want them to see me now.
"But, shouldn't Sakura-chan be able to resist it? Like that one time with Ino at the chuunin exam? Wouldn't her medic-nin skills help or something?" Naruto nagged Kakashi.
I sighed inwardly at Naruto's suggestion. The Mangekyou Sharingan was an illusionary technique and bloodline; medical abilities would be of no use against it. Honestly…it was something we learned in the academy!
Sasuke interrupted him rudely and scoffed, "Don't be an idiot. Ino's jutsu is nothing like the Mangekyou Sharingan. Sakura can only heal physical wounds, not mental ones."
"I know that! I was just wondering…" Naruto snapped at Sasuke defensively.
"Naruto has a point. Sakura…she's chosen the hardest and probably the most emotionally challenging job out of the three of us. Itachi has most likely used his mind torture jutsu to bring back old painful memories he knows will hurt Sakura the most," Kakashi explained solemnly.
His eyes seemed to glaze over slightly as he continued, "She's the one who's responsible for the lives of others; one mistake could kill a person. No matter how talented she is, there's always somebody she can't save. Itachi is at an obvious advantage over her with the Mangekyou Sharingan. There's more to torture her with."
"Sakura…Sakura-chan really suffers, doesn't she?" Naruto questioned Kakashi quietly and I heard a quiet sigh from Kakashi.
"Do you know when Sakura will wake up?" Sasuke changed the topic quickly.
"Well…I think that's something you should ask Sakura yourself," Kakashi replied bluntly.
My face flushed guiltily and I realized I was busted. I turned very gradually, my wounded side was still very painful, and felt the sting of the bright light through my thin eyelids. I counted to five before I found the courage to open my emerald orbs. The bright light that spilled into my tired eyes caused them to water at its intensity; it came as a big shock. They watered…watered with what? I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time; I was a medic-nin and I couldn't even tell the difference between tears and watery eyes. I closed my eyes again quickly at the pain the light brought and the soothing darkness wrapped around me again.
"Sakura, you're going to have to open your eyes sooner or later," Kakashi reasoned with me and I sighed in defeat, gradually opening my emerald eyes.
When my eyes had adjusted to the light, I think what struck me first was the whiteness of the room I was in. Everywhere I looked, everything was white and sterile, white and pure. The whiteness of the room made me want to close my eyes all over again but Kakashi was right; I had to keep them open and get used to the light again. My throat was sore from lack of use and my tongue felt thick, heavy and useless in my mouth. I looked at Kakashi and his stern reassuring face as his one eye bored into the both of mine.
I opened my mouth to speak and rasped out, "How…how long?"
"You've been out three days," Kakashi informed me quietly and I nodded in acknowledgment.
He handed me a glass of water which had been sitting atop a similarly white bedside table that I was never aware even existed. The room was deathly silent as I pushed myself into a sitting position and rested my back against the white cold steel headboard. My trembling hands took the water from Kakashi and I controlled myself from drinking the water down all in one go; opting for slow and careful sips.
I looked past serious looking Kakashi and concerned Naruto, only wanting to see Sasuke. His pale fatigued face stared stoically back at me but his mismatched eyes seemed to search my green ones for an answer to a near inevitable question I knew he was burning to ask.
Are you okay?
His dark, ebony hair contrasted with his milky white skin but framed it perfectly, as if a master artist had designed it himself. His crescent moon shaped eyebrows and dark lashes made his mismatched eyes (that always seemed to be angry at something) stand out even more so than they did already. He was perfect…beautiful…if all but for a single pinkish scar that ran over his right, bright cerulean eye.
At the sight of Sasuke's mismatched eye, I felt my eyes begin to well up with tears; remembering the incident that had changed it forever. Itachi's words rang in my head and although I knew I should have asked about what had happened to the mission; all I could think of was Sasuke's eye.
I closed my eyes as I felt the warm liquid boiling at the corners of my eyes. I did my best to suppress them and smiled half heartedly before opening my eyes again; thinking that I had composed myself. Instead, my tears slipped down my face quickly and I watched as his serious eyes followed their silvery descent down my face intently.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto called my name and dived forwards to comfort me. He fell short of me however when Kakashi grabbed him by the scruff of his bright orange and black jacket. He was the only ninja who would wear something so eye catching.
I didn't pay much attention to Kakashi's quiet, murmured lecture but I caught unwanted fragments of the conversation all the same, "Her ordeal…unpredictable how she'll react…suffered…"
"Sa…Sasuke…Naruto…" I whispered both of their names, pressing my hands to my eyes to stop the flow of unending tears. It didn't work however.
Naruto stopped struggling and I could feel everybody's piercing gaze upon me. Kakashi reluctantly let Naruto go and the two boys shuffled over to my bedside quietly. I refrained from looking at the both of them and grasped one of Naruto's large, calloused hands; knowing that Sasuke would have grabbed his own hand back as soon as I touched it.
"Sasuke…Naruto…" I repeated their names like a prayer, over and over again.
Their names spilled out of my mouth brokenly as I gripped Naruto's shirt with a balled fist. I rested my forehead against his strong stomach, trying to hide my face from the both of them. Naruto sat down on the bed beside me and hugged me whereas Sasuke hung about behind him, looking useless and uncomfortable.
When I finally gathered up the courage to look up at them, my eyes fell upon Sasuke first. For the briefest of moments, an image of his bloodied, distraught face appeared in my mind's eye.
And then the screaming…it started again…
"Sakura! Help Sasuke! You have to help him! You have to help him!"
I began to tremble uncontrollably, my unstable mind in a panicked frenzy. Just looking at Sasuke-kun made me want to cry, scream, hit something, just…anything!
I buried my head into Naruto's jacket and screamed a short, mangled scream since I couldn't do anything else. My body wouldn't listen to my crazed mind and I was barely aware of Kakashi stepping forwards to pull Sasuke and Naruto away from me. I hung on to Naruto with a death grip that made my knuckles turn white and eventually, Kakashi gave up on trying to get Naruto away from me.
I screamed again, louder this time, and Naruto held me tightly to him. I was barely aware of his warm embrace as my mind was somewhere else and had I been sane, I would have realized that he was crying too.
"I…it doesn't…stop…" I choked out, leaning burying my face into Naruto's broad shoulder.
"I just can't save everyone…"
"Sakura-chan…Sakura-chan…you'll be okay…"
"NO! Sakura…"
"Sakura, calm down," Sasuke snapped at me in vain.
"What do you mean you can't do anything?!"
"Sakura-chan…come on…"
"Give him mine then!"
I screamed again, a hoarse and anguished sound and I could feel Naruto trembling as he held me. My vision was blurry from tears and I couldn't see clearly; I could make out the dark and greyish haze of Kakashi and Sasuke's bodies.
"I can't…I can't do anything…stop…" I choked out, trying to get the memories out of my head.
"He's like you."
"Naruto, get back here," Kakashi ordered him calmly but Naruto refused; if anything he held onto me all the more tightly.
"What kind of sick excuse for a medic-nin are you?!"
"No! Don't leave…don't leave again…" I cried loudly and the room fell silent. Naruto began to stroke my dull pink hair reassuringly and although my long nails were digging into his flesh and drawing blood; he ignored the pain.
"I won't," Naruto whispered into my ear and I flung my slender muscled arms around his neck, crying into the juncture of where his shoulder and neck met.
I felt someone touch my head with a touch so feather-light that I nearly missed it.
A voice I knew wasn't Naruto's murmured to me quietly.
"I'm not going anywhere."
Nara Shikamaru
Women were certainly quite troublesome.
Sakura had all of us at wit's precarious end. It didn't help that I had a room near Ino's and the hospital ward. Whenever Sakura would start screaming, Ino would run crying into my room and I would have to go comfort her like a good team mate would do.
It was too much to hope for that maybe we were more than team mates or even friends; Ino had a different boyfriend for every day of the year. I was surprised that she didn't go crying to her Takahiro or her Shinta or whatever her new boyfriend was called. I supposed I did take some little satisfaction in being the one she would run to first.
I…I wasn't in love. It wasn't that serious. Just a…a mild infatuation that had been going on for about five years since I turned sixteen…
Urgh.
It was pretty serious.
I didn't even know why I liked her! She was too troublesome, too high maintenance, very conceited, hardly ever paid attention to mission orders, she was horribly reckless, charming, loud, flirty, caring and she had that quality that made you feel like you absolutely had to protect her-
Argh, I was doing it again! This really was quite troublesome.
Honestly! Who used a codename like Tinkerbell?
Hinata's Snow White I could understand; it wasn't self appointed. The only reason why she had accepted it was because Naruto had boisterously agreed and had slung a muscled arm around her petite shoulders. Of course, she had blushed bright red and Naruto had absolutely no idea what he did to her.
In a way, I supposed Hinata and I were similar. The object of our unreasonable affection was totally oblivious to it.
Ino stirred slightly and I removed my lean arms from around her tiny waist. I rested my calloused palms on the pale tatami mats behind me, leaning backwards to put most of my weight on my able hands and wrists. I sighed but a smile ghosted over my face as I looked down at Ino.
Sakura had started screaming a couple of hours ago again; only this time it wasn't all mangled screaming but what she had screamed proved much more troublesome. She had screamed out two names, Sasuke's and Naruto's, and Ino had quietly rolled the door open. I had been busy fixing up a long overdue mission report, (I was a bit of a procrastinator; work was far too troublesome) and I was more than grateful for the interruption.
After all, who could work with Sakura's screams?
Ino's crystalline blue eyes had been red rimmed and she hesitated for a few moments, simply staring at me. I found that a bit odd and out of character for her and had put down my pen to look at her.
I spread my arms into a wide arc, murmuring a quiet "How troublesome" that I didn't really mean. She had sprinted across the room and collapsed into my arms, crying and gripping at me. She tired herself out bawling and had fallen asleep…again.
"Shikamaru?" She asked me blearily.
Then her perfectly shaped blonde eyebrows narrowed at me, "Why the hell are you smiling?! I've just been crying my eyes out and you're laughing at me?"
I shrugged, but the small, thoughtful smile plastered on my features didn't fade from my face. I tuned out of her senseless babbling and suddenly the strangest idea presented itself.
Go on! Kiss her! Are you really going to get a better chance than this one? Take it! It'll shut her up as well!
And then, I found myself leaning forwards absent-mindedly and brushed her cheek in a brief kiss. Her chatter ceased for once and much to my amusement, as I drew away her face was flushed pink in embarrassment. For a couple of moments; a tense silence reigned.
"You've been acting really weird lately, Shikamaru," Ino eyed me suspiciously.
I ignored her words, rose to my feet and walked over to the rolling rice paper door. I opened it, pausing in the open doorway, and looked back at her.
I went back to being my usual self and drawled lazily, "Whatever, Ino. The meeting's about to start so hurry up."
Hatake Kakashi
"Kakashi, what's this meeting about anyways?" Naruto whined loudly as the both of us entered the small ANBU meeting room.
We were still a considerable way away from Konoha; this was one of the Hidden ANBU bases in the middle of the Forest of the Fire Country. It was probably the smallest and most remote base and I guessed that was why I always opted to come here rather than any other base. It was perhaps not the classiest but not the dirtiest either; I didn't need much anyways.
It looked like something out of a Robin Hood movie; what with absolutely nothing on the ground and everything was hidden in the leafy treetops. It was a place that breathed secrecy but exhaled power with only the strongest ninja inhabiting it. The fresh scent of pine masked the smell of blood and sweat; but nothing could muffle the sounds of Sakura's screams.
"Hm…well, it's probably about Itachi and Kisame…" I answered him lazily.
Meetings were boring, took a long time and you found you always had to use the bathroom at one point. But, of course, you couldn't go because that would be plain rude. Then, people would find you gay or just plain horny if tried to cross your legs, bounced up and down absentmindedly on your chair and tried to hold it in. Then, people would look at you funnily and then you'd poof off to the bathroom as soon as possible.
Meetings were stupid.
"Hey, Kakashi, Hinata brought some apple juice, do you-" Naruto began to offer me and my entire body froze at the mention of apple juice. I suddenly turned sharply and began to walk briskly back to my quarters, feeling my bladder scream to be emptied.
Did I mention that somebody always said the wrong thing at meetings?
When I had finished my…'business', I walked leisurely back to the meeting area. I could have 'poofed over there', as Sakura would put it, but I didn't feel the need to hurry. It was nice to stall for as long as possible and arrive late, just so you could see the infuriated looks on everyone's faces. I didn't really like being late in the beginning…I supposed it was only after Obito's death I had changed. I had tried so hard to take after his personality and become who he was, but I was still a long way from Obito's sarcastic, lively attitude.
I paused outside the meeting room door, listening to what Shikamaru was saying. I would enter when I felt like it and at the right time.
"Hokage-sama needs us back at Konoha, but she wants four of us to stay here and supervise the missing-nins and criminals Uchiha Itachi and Hoshikagi Kisame. It's troublesome but I have to stay here all the time so I only need three more people. Two will share a room with each of the two criminals and one will just…do something here in case things get out of hand. Sasuke and Naruto are banned from sharing a room with Uchiha Itachi for his own safety…so…do we have any volunteers?" Shikamaru informed everyone.
His lazy voice held the slightest hint of a somewhat commanding tone and everyone listened to him. He was a true leader as much as he hated to admit it and one of the best squad leaders out there. I had half expected him to turn down the offer as a squad captain but he had taken it, despite his lazy nature.
"For his own safety?! What about the safety of the people sharing a room with that ass-" Naruto shouted angrily at Shikamaru.
I decided it was time for me to graciously intervene and use one of my 'flashy appearance jutsus' Naruto had grown so fond of. I wasn't going to pass up the chance to appear fashionably late.
"Kakashi-kun, you're late," Shikamaru berated me, not for the sake of telling me off but just because he had to for the sake of his reputation as a squad captain.
He turned back to the rest of the room and I silently took my place beside Sasuke, slipping into one of the many flimsy white plastic chairs. He repeated his previous question, "Is anyone going to room with Kisame or Itachi?"
I could have laughed. Did he really think anyone in their right mind would willingly volunteer to room with those two?
"You know…if nobody volunteers, I'll have to force someone to do it. We'll all have to switch around every four months, so until Tsunade-sama gives us orders to bring these two into Konoha they have to stay here," Shikamaru pointed out and a nervous air filled the room.
Silence reigned and the idea to 'room' with Itachi began to appeal the slightest bit to me. I had only met him once a few years ago when we had been on the same ANBU squad. He had been a pleasant enough 13 year old, if not a little intimidating, and I wondered how that same boy could have completely massacred a whole family.
Just as I began to raise my hand to volunteer, the wooden door I had almost come through creaked loudly as it opened. Every head in the room turned to look at who it was and I let my hand drop lifelessly to my side.
A very fatigued and tired looking Sakura was leaned against the entrance of the wooden doorframe. Naruto's mouth opened to speak but when Sasuke stood up and walked purposefully over to her, he shut his mouth. I found it a bit funny that Sasuke, Sasuke of all people was the one to walk over to Sakura and give her support…
I turned around in my chair to face Shikamaru, careful not to let the chair squeak under my heavy weight. I wasn't too surprised at her appearance; Sakura wouldn't miss an ANBU meeting for the world. I was surprised however, that she hadn't come any earlier.
"I-I'll room with Itachi," She volunteered shakily.
Naruto shot up from his seat and Sasuke's mismatched eyes narrowed at her. Ino and Hinata exchanged worried looks while Shikamaru sighed and ran a hand through his dark locks.
"Sakura-chan, are you crazy?! He almost killed you! He'll kill you again if you room with him!" Naruto yelled heatedly and Sakura glared at him as best she could through heavy lidded eyes.
"Sakura, you've just been sick. Just go back to sleep, you have no idea what you're saying," Sasuke ordered her coolly and she directed her glare at him this time.
"Naruto...Sasuke…I know what I'm doing," Sakura replied quietly, her dull green eyes bored into the two of them.
I was shocked by the emptiness of her eyes; I hadn't realized it when I had seen her earlier. From the long silence, I supposed we all were…where had her rebellious streak gone?
"Shikamaru, he will kill Sakura the first chance he gets," Sasuke pressed Shikamaru further. Sakura glared even more so threateningly at him and pushed herself off the doorframe and walked shakily over to my side, sinking into the empty black folding chair that had once been Sasuke's.
"Sasuke, he'll kill all of us the first chance he gets," She reasoned with him.
Ino chose to spoke up at this point, "Sakura, come on, you can't do anything in the state you're in! You look awful!"
"I'll heal," She replied.
Sasuke looked sceptically at her, "When you have next to no chakra?"
Sakura pulled a small plastic container that held many small, circular black pills from her medic pouch and showed them to everyone, "I have soldier pills with me. I stand a better chance of restraining him if I'm a medic as well."
"Hinata is a medic as well," Ino pointed out angrily.
"Shut up!" Shikamaru raised his voice and just like that, everyone shut up.
Every head in the room turned to look at the usually calm and quiet man. Sakura and Naruto's face held the slightest traces of guilt and Ino looked shocked. Sasuke looked impassive as usual, as was to be expected. Even I for one was surprised at Shikamaru's outburst but I certainly didn't blame him for it.
My former team had to be one of the noisiest squads, what with hot headed Sakura, hyper Naruto and provocative Sasuke.
"Sakura-san, are you absolutely sure you want to do this? I can't just suddenly switch you with someone if it gets too troublesome…" Shikamaru asked her seriously and she nodded.
I jabbed Naruto in with side with a sharp elbow to prevent him from saying anything further and he sat down reluctantly; shooting Sakura a mix of dirty and concerned looks.
"Well…then Sakura-san will room with Itachi until the end of winter. Who volunteers to take after Kisame? Sasuke is the only one who can't room with Kisame, Naruto can," Shikamaru consented to Sakura's demands and moved on to the next topic before anyone could object to his decision.
"Why can Naruto room with him then?" Ino complained loudly and the lazy squad leader sighed at her question.
"Naruto, why would you kill Itachi?" Shikamaru questioned Naruto.
Naruto looked startled and then he answered with narrowed eyes, "I would kill him because of what he did to Sasuke teme and me."
"And, would you kill Kisame for simply knowing Itachi?" Shikamaru pressed him further.
Naruto hesitated before he shook his head slowly. Shikamaru shot Ino an 'I-told-you-so' sort of look and she harrumphed, sinking deeper into her white plastic chair.
"Do we have any volun-" Shikamaru began.
"I volunteer!" Naruto yelled and Shikamaru blinked once, twice before nodding at Naruto.
Shikamaru continued, "Then who else will-"
More than one person was surprised to see Sasuke's hand straight up in the air, but it came as no small surprise to me. The three of them still enjoyed sticking together, even though Team 7 was a distant memory.
"Alright then. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and I will stay here. Hinata and Ino, you can stay here for a month and no longer because Tsunade-sama's going to piss her pants otherwise," Shikamaru announced.
Chairs screeched on the dusty wooden floor as people stood up and Shikamaru added, "Sakura, Naruto. You'll need to move Uchiha-san and Hoshikagi-san to your rooms. If you need help, find someone to help you. Hoshikagi-san weighs a ton but Uchiha-san is really light."
I considered going off to help Sakura carry Itachi but, if he was as light as Shikamaru made him out to be Sakura wouldn't need help if she had that monstrous strength she had gained through Tsunade-sama's training.
Haruno Sakura
I ignored Naruto as I passed him by and didn't say a word to Kakashi or Sasuke either. The three of them were really beginning to get on my nerves and I still hadn't forgiven Kakashi for that incident in the forest now that my memory was coming back to me.
How could he say that Itachi could go ahead and do whatever he wanted with me?!
I sighed and hitched the drugged Itachi higher up my back as he began sliding down again. I wrinkled my nose as a few fine strands of his onyx black hair irritated my nose and eyes. With a great deal of effort, I managed to stifle my sneeze. He still had his black, red and white cloud patterned cloak on and I realized that it was much too long for him and it was about the heaviest thing he wore. Truth be told, I found the cloak all together way too silly for elite ninja like Itachi and the rest of the Akatsuki.
What happened if the cloak snagged on a tree branch as they ran away? Or, what happened if a door shut on his cloak and he couldn't get free?
It was a very impractical item but then again, they did need to find a way to recognize each other. I supposed it was better than having a team mate suddenly kill you out of nowhere.
"Geez, the girls back in Konoha would kill to be as light as you," I thought aloud and smiled as I remembered Naruto and Sasuke dragging a drugged Kisame off to Naruto's room.
Those two…
"You call yourself a medic?!"
I halted for a brief moment before continuing on, berating myself for letting that get to me. It was a hard thing to get over after all…every time I saw Sasuke's single blue eye.
I sighed in relief when the flimsy rice paper shojo screen double doors of my living quarters came into view. I lowered Itachi to the ground carefully and let his back rest against the wooden walls beside the thin opaque doors. It wasn't that he was heavy…he was just awkward to carry; like carrying a huge, empty cardboard box. He was taller than me.
I rolled the shojo screen open and sneezed as the dormant dust particles sleeping in the cracks in the wood sneaked up my nose. I paused to stare into the dusty, derelict room and felt I didn't deserve it…
I shook my head of pink locks quickly and grabbed Itachi by his slim, pale wrists; choosing to drag him across the floor now that we were just outside my room. As he slid across the floor with no further drag, I was relieved that he had that silly cloak on to help with moving him.
The rolling shojo screen had tracks in the floor on a piece of elevated wood. I winced as Itachi's head hit the wood with a loud bang and I knew he was definitely going to feel that in the morning. I froze as I heard the unmistakable sound of fabric tearing and cursed loudly. I stopped, dropped Itachi to the floor and went to investigate the cause of the sound. I was overcome with a sinking feeling when I realized that his black cloak had snagged on the wooden tracks and had torn.
A cold shiver raced down my spine as I was paralyzed to the spot. Would he kill me? Of course he would! If he didn't kill me for the egg sized lump on his head, or being dragged around like a piece of luggage he would kill me for ripping his cloak! I was so screwed! What was I going to-
Hey, wait, I was the one in control now wasn't I? He couldn't do a thing to me while he was drugged...right?
I pulled him over to a spaced out area of the room and laid him down, gently this time. Looking around my room, I realized it hadn't changed much from the last time I had come here. I always took this room when I came here and since I was the head medic for the time being, it was a big room.
I sneezed violently; the room really needed a good cleaning. It was dark and I cursed inwardly for not bringing some sort of battery powered lamp, there was no electricity to speak of here. I would have to make do with a candle, I supposed. The walls were made in the traditional Japanese style; they looked like solid, wooden shojo screens. There was a wooden ledge on the far left side of the room beneath the window. The window had a rolling rice paper screen in front of it which you could open or close whenever you wanted.
I walked over to the shojo screen like window and rolled it open; feeling calmer as the sunlight caressed my face with warmth. I was a long way away from smiling though, my ordeal had left me far too exhausted to do anything as demanding as that. The light lit up the room and turned around to look at what had become of the ANBU quarters.
The pale tatami mats were dusty but in perfect condition, as I had hoped, but humidity had stained some of the rice paper a yellowish colour. I walked over to the white built in closet and I swore when I realized that the door was jammed shut. The closet didn't have one of those nice handles that stuck out; it had a silly one that looked like a small rectangular indent in the door. I groaned when I remembered that the futons were inside the closet and I had nothing to sleep on until I found someone to help me with the door. A rosewood writing desk had been pushed into one of the corners. I knew that it would come in handy, since I would obviously have to write a long report now that Itachi was under my care.
There was a small, low dining table in the exact centre of the room. Four small white cushions for kneeling on had been pushed underneath the table. With a sinking feeling, I realized that I would be using it a lot more now that I was rooming with Itachi. I wouldn't be able to go eat with Hinata and occasionally Naruto like I usually did.
The room was very empty and I couldn't decide if it was meant to be in the traditional sort of empty style or if Tsunade-sama was just too stingy with money.
I sighed and turned around, only to be frightened out of my wits when I saw Kakashi standing right behind me. He raised a silvery eyebrow at me, "You didn't sense me at all, did you?"
I asked him tiredly, "How long have you been there?"
"Ever since you opened your window," He replied coolly and I was dismayed at the revelation.
I had only been out for a few days and I couldn't sense chakra at all? I really needed to start training again.
Kakashi held out a small silver necklace to me and the pendant caught the dying sunlight. I squinted and as my eyes focussed, I realized that it was a wire bent into shape to look like the Konoha leaf. He waited for me to take it from him, although I had no intention of doing so.
"I don't need jewellery and I'm not a patriot, Kakashi," I told him flatly and the corner of his mouth quirked upwards slightly in a half-hearted smirk underneath his navy mask.
"You don't know what this is, do you?" Kakashi asked me and I knew he was just asking me that to spite me.
"It's a restrictor. Itachi-san can't go further than a meter away from you, his chakra is blocked and his strength is depleted when he puts it on. He won't be able to take it off unless you take it off of him," He explained.
I felt offended that he had to explain it to me but I supposed he had to, since I really and truly didn't know. I was relieved that such an item existed but was a bit sceptical of it. Would a necklace really deplete his strength and block his chakra? Wouldn't something that powerful be…bigger?
I reluctantly took it from him, realizing that this would be my only option for now. I avoided his searching dark eye, I had begun to accept that what he said was right. I was useless…nobody really needed me…a failure like me.
He turned to leave and rolled the shojo screen open with an able hand. I turned my back away from him and didn't so much as say goodbye as his shoes thumped on the floor quietly with every step he took.
"Sakura, I didn't mean what I said in the forest," Kakashi said quietly before shutting the shojo screen behind him.
His voice was muffled by the thin rice paper but I could hear him well enough as he added, "My team mates don't die while I'm alive anymore."
Uzumaki Naruto
"How the hell do I use this piece of crap?" I demanded in a frustrated tone, glaring at the silver necklace.
It was mocking me as it spun…that cheeky little glint…that swirliness…
I resisted the urge to throw the annoying necklace out of the window but it was the only thing that could restrain that huge chunk of fishy looking ninja. Sasuke smirked at my obvious frustration and I threw the clay cup I had been drinking from at him, yelling something even I didn't understand as I did so. He dodged it the cup easily and it shattered against the wall.
"You really are an idiot. You just transfer some of your own chakra and some of his into the pendant," Sasuke explained, making it seem as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
I stared at him blankly and asked cluelessly, "…I do…what?"
Sasuke walked away, but not before shooting the drugged fish man a chilling glare. I realized and accepted that Sasuke would never change; he would continue hating Itachi and anyone who was in alliance with him. He reached the door and stopped.
"Ask Sakura, she's most likely done it already," Sasuke advised me coldly and he turned to leave.
The mention of Sakura's name brought memories of her hellish battle against the Mangekyou Sharingan and the torture she had been put through to mind. But then…I began to wonder…
The sound of the rolling rice paper door brought me to my senses and I called his name, "Sasuke?"
He stopped and made no further move to walk out the door. He said nothing but I knew that he was listening to me.
"Do you…hate Sakura-chan? For what happened last year?" I asked him quietly in a serious tone. Sasuke was quiet for a while, his body rigid and his mismatched eyes quiet.
And finally he answered, "…a little bit."
Uchiha Itachi
When I awoke, I was aware that I was not in my own quarters or even the wilderness where Kisame and I camped to prevent drawing attention to ourselves. Two voices, one boisterous and masculine, the other tired and female could be heard. Both voices were distinctly familiar but funnily enough everything about me felt…fuzzy.
I had already degraded myself for using such a childish word but I couldn't think of anything else to describe the sensation. My hearing was muted, like someone was holding their hands over my ears and thinking properly was way beyond my reach. My tongue was thick in my mouth and I knew that if I tried to speak, my speech would be slurred and impossible to understand.
Without a doubt, I knew I had been drugged. I didn't know who and why but I did know that I had to be on my guard, even if fighting in my current condition wouldn't be too good for my reputation.
"So…I did it right then, Sakura-chan?" A man asked in something akin to disbelief.
"Yes, Naruto. You'd better get back to your own room, Hoshikagi-san will wake up soon," The woman, Sakura, told the man.
"But Sakura-chan, if Hoshikagi-san wakes up then Itachi will too! You'll need someone here to restrain-" The man began to complain.
"Naruto, please," The woman's voice took on an almost pleading note.
The sound of a rolling door and a few reluctant footfalls told me that Naruto had left. I chose to stay as quiet as possible and recollect myself before I attempted to face my captor.
Sakura…? A woman of all people was keeping me here?
The name sounded familiar but I supposed it was a common name. I had met more than enough Sakura's on my way around, most of whom had ended up dying at my hands. The name Naruto sounded even more so familiar but…I really couldn't remember where. My memory had gone.
Things began to come back to me at a painfully slow pace, drip by drip and then I remembered exactly why I was here. And then I became furious.
I had been defeated by the Konoha ANBU, a disgrace. From what I heard of this 'Sakura's' conversation, Kisame had also been captured. The both of us would undoubtedly be the laughing stock of the Akatsuki if word of this ever got out.
A single drugged dart.
That was all it took for me to fall unconscious. I had been preoccupied fighting somebody altogether far too familiar, the blonde haired Kyuubi, and I hadn't heard the sound of the dart as it flew towards me. I was ashamed of myself, but I knew that Konoha would pay. I would kill each and every member of this ANBU squad as payment; especially the one who had thrown the dart at me.
A memory of a pink haired woman flashed in my mind's eye and I recalled that I had been fighting her. She had smiled at me and I had grown incredibly angry at that one action. She was going to die and she should have been terrified, she should have screamed! But she had smiled…
So instead of the painless death I was going to give her, I chose to put her through something that would scare her, something that would break her. She would live the rest of her days broken or insane, until she died or committed suicide. Most of my victims went for the latter.
I opened my eyes gradually and closed them again quickly on instinct as bright sunlight poured into my sore eyes. I tried again, a second time and although my eyes watered uncontrollably, I finally had my eyes well and truly open.
The first thing I realized was that my cloak and my weapons were gone. Then, my head began to throb and I didn't realize much else until later on.
I began to raise myself into a sitting position and when something ice cold touched my chest I looked down at my well muscled upper torso. I was disgusted to see a Konoha pendant strung on a silver chain around my neck and began to examine the pendant more closely. I was something akin to relieved when I saw my usual black chain necklace hanging where it usually hung.
I noticed that the pendant glowed two eerie different colours; a soothing green and a darker, sinister blue, and the two colours blended together in the middle to make a balanced, strong cyan colour. I pulled on the pendant, expecting it to break off with one tug but when the chain began to dig into my skin and draw blood, I let go, realizing it was pointless to pursue that method any further. I then tried to pull the necklace over my head but my calloused hands began to burn uncontrollably and I let go; it was obvious that it wouldn't come off that way either.
"You won't be able to remove that. I'm the only one who can," Sakura's voice rang out from somewhere on the other side of the room.
I stood up gradually, on my guard, ignoring my failing knees as they trembled precariously. I turned to face this 'Sakura' to get a better look at my captor.
She sat on a dusty wooden ledge in front of an open window. The ethereal light shone around her form, since it obviously couldn't go through her, and for a single moment, I thought that the light was coming from her. I realized the stupidity of that thought and banished it in an instant; my mind still hadn't completely come back to me yet.
She was dressed in form fitting black clothes, but what drew my attention was the thick, black, familiar cloak laid over her legs. My dark red eyes narrowed at the sight of her and my fatigue and weakness from before was forgotten just like that. I couldn't quite use my speed to my advantage at the moment but I was quick enough to look like a black blur. Sakura watched me through penetrating emerald green eyes and when my hand closed around her throat tightly to choke her, she didn't move at all.
My legs suddenly gave way and I fell to the floor in front of her, my hand loosening its grasp around her neck to grab her covered legs to support my fall. I released my hold on her legs as if she had burnt me; I was disgusted I had even touched someone like her.
I planned out what seemed to be a thousand deaths all in quick succession. She had humiliated me in one of the worst ways possible and it was a low blow to my pride. She had made me seem like a total fool before her…an inferior.
She and her pathetic smile…I wanted to rip her face off or torture her until she screamed and couldn't smile anymore. Konoha ANBU were…
Konoha.
I realized with a sinking feeling that I had most likely missed the deadline of three days that I had strived so hard to make. Because of this silly obstacle I had missed it and the wine coloured velvet pouch I had been carrying around with me was gone. I wondered who had it now and whether or not the person with the pouch had chosen to exploit me and destroy the reputation I had worked so hard to uphold. Then again, my reputation was probably already tarnished for life.
Deidara was probably killing himself laughing.
"You've been drugged, Uchiha-kun. You've been sleeping for the past week under the influence of a drug that Hokage-sama made. The necklace around your neck will sooner or later reveal its properties," She explained enigmatically.
The jelly like feeling in my legs began to subside slowly and I forced myself to my feet. I grabbed her neck again and she attempted to look calm and relaxed; an illusion that would have fooled most other people. Unfortunately for her, I was not most other people. I could see her anxiety in the way her shoulders tensed and the way she tried to chew the inside of her cheek discreetly. I could hear her nervousness in the way her breathing picked up and the quick gasp she made when my fingers tightened around her neck.
This kunoichi was going to pay dearly for what she had done to me. Nobody made a fool out of me twice and lived to do it again a third time. I could still defeat her in my drugged state; she was weak and I could tell she was exhausted.
She simply looked up at me through her glassy green eyes, a small, knowing smile on her face. Our eyes met, a nasty clash of red and green, and neither of us said anything. I was angry at the audacity of her stare and that annoying smile, wasn't it obvious that I was the one in power here?
I squeezed her neck as hard I could without breaking it and raised her so that she was dangling above the ground, I wanted her to suffer. I wanted to wipe that smile off her face; it annoyed me more than anyone could ever know. The feeling of triumph surged through me like a beam of light when her smile faltered and her expression became a pained one.
The black, red and white Akatsuki lay forgotten on the floor; it had dropped when I had lifted her off the ground.
Her smile returned when a pair of invisible hands grabbed me by the neck and seemed to strangle me as I was doing her. I struggled not to let my own suffering show and white spots began to dance before my eyes as a light headed feeling washed over me. My vision began to blur but the girl's smile was ever present in my mind and before me. I knew that she was the one doing it to me but I refused to let go. It was only when the pain in my chest grew intense and precariously near deadly, I released the petite girl from my grasp.
She collapsed to the ground with a muffled thump and gasped loudly as she coughed to try and get her breathing out of control. A curtain of silly pink locks fell over her face and I quietly tried to breathe in and out calmly. Unfortunately, I let my condition slip when a careless, noisy gasp escape from my masculine lips. The kunoichi laughed breezily at me and the urge to kill her grew stronger and stronger with each passing second.
"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth Uchiha-kun. The necklace is more dangerous than it looks," She taunted me.
"Remove it," I ordered her coolly.
She slowly got to her feet and I watched her through piercing red eyes. She brushed herself off and looked up at me and challenged me, "Why?"
For a moment I was taken aback. No one had ever dared question me before or challenge my authority; it wasn't something that happened very often. The only people ever to have done so hadn't lived to tell the tale.
It was a different feeling, to be defied, and it wasn't one I wanted to get used to.
"Do not question my authority. Take it off," I repeated warningly.
She laughed at me, a strong, alto laugh that made my blood boil. Her emerald eyes twinkled oddly and she stopped in front of me. She rested her petite hands on her bony waist and looked at me sceptically.
"Last time I checked Uchiha-kun, all your authority flew out the window the moment you were captured. I don't think you've realized that you're the prisoner here," The kunoichi informed me in a light tone.
Prisoner? Me? A prisoner? Ha, that was impossible. This was merely an obstacle I had yet to overcome.
She walked towards me briskly and with purpose and stopped a few centimetres away from me. The necklace had obviously given her confidence but the necklace obviously had one massive loophole.
If I could only feel what the other person was feeling, that didn't mean that I would actually undergo the same suffering. If I killed her, it would probably hurt like hell's wrath but I wouldn't actually die. However, if she had just failed to tell me that I actually did die if she died or if I did bleed when she bled, then I would be in a lot of trouble if I did kill her as I was itching to right now.
I stared at her stoically and all of a sudden, my arm lashed out to grab hers in a death grip. My long nails dug into her skin and she let out a small yelp of surprise. I could feel her trying to pull away from me but I wasn't about to let that happen; I had to test my theory first.
She stopped struggling and a sharp pain raced up my muscled arm. We both stared at each other; my blood red eyes were empty as usual while her jade ones were filled with defiance. It was only a few moments later I released her arm and I examined the skin on my right arm. I sighed inwardly when I saw five nail marks indented deep into my skin and the blood running down my arm and wiped it off quickly with my free, calloused hand.
Through the corner of my eye, I looked at the pink haired kunoichi and saw her putting pressure on her new wounds to stem the crimson blood flow. I ignored the blood running down my own arm; I never was too concerned with my own health, I knew I would heal eventually. She then touched each of her cuts with a fingertip and immediately green healing chakra flowed from her hand to her open wounds. They closed in a matter of seconds and I wasn't too impressed; even a reasonably good medic would have been able to heal that instantly.
She held out a petite hand to me and I simply looked at her outstretched hand blankly. She sighed impatiently and grabbed my arm all of a sudden in a firm grip. Immediately, I drew back and snatched my arm out of her grasp, my eyes narrowing at her.
She threw her hands up in the air and grumbled loudly, "Fine, if you don't want my help then go bleed yourself to death. It would do the world a favour if you ask me."
"I don't need anybody's help," I hissed at her and she rolled her eyes at me.
"Right, I'm sure," She retorted sarcastically.
She walked over to the white built in cabinet and slid the dirty white door open. She stood on tiptoe and tried to get something from one of the higher shelves; she jumped pathetically once, twice in an attempt to reach it but failed. I wondered how such a small woman like her could be a ninja, and a successful one at that.
"Damn it, where's Naruto when you need him?!" She complained and I saw her glance at me quickly before looking back up at the cabinet.
She was obviously hoping that I would help her get whatever it was she wanted to get but honestly, did she really think that I would help her? I walked to her side and looked at the cabinet. I could see what she was trying to get, two white folded futons on the highest shelf, and I hadn't the least intention of helping her. I simply stood there to spite her since I couldn't hurt her without hurting myself in the process.
She glared at me and tapped her foot impatiently before snapping at me, "Well? Aren't you going to help me get them?"
I returned her heated glare with a cool, impassive look and replied bluntly, "No."
"Fine then! You men are all so insufferable!" She grumbled and began to walk towards the rice paper door.
She took about ten steps and I realized that she was going to leave me in the room alone. I marvelled at the idiocy of this girl; who left an unguarded hostage alone?
When she opened the door, much to my dismay, I began to become drawn to her by some invisible magnet. I wasn't taking any steps and I could hear my shoes dragging on the floor as I tried to resist it but to no avail. I could see the smug smirk on the kunoichi's face and it was all I could do to control myself and not kill her.
"You know, we wouldn't have to go out if you would just get the futons," She told me in an exasperated tone.
I remained silent, I still had my pride no matter how bruised it was. I wasn't about to help my enemy; even if it was only with getting futons. It was her fault she was short anyways.
She took a step outside of the room and onto the shaky wooden bridge. I reluctantly followed her, simmering angrily inside at having been degraded to following her around like a pathetic dog, and began to walk rather than being dragged along. It would have looked rather silly if I was dragged the whole way wherever we were going.
She shut the door behind her as quietly she could and began to walk in another direction quickly. I followed her and noticed her movements were sluggish and half-hearted, as if it were too much for her to even walk. I congratulated myself inwardly, remembering that I had put her under the Mangekyou Sharingan and she was obviously feeling its after affects now.
We passed a dark haired man on the bridge and when I became the victim of his blatant hate filled glare, I realized who he was. It was my younger brother, Sasuke. For a moment, a strange feeling of peace overcame me as I stared at him. He had grown so big now; it seemed only yesterday he was up to my waist…
When Sasuke shot me a cold glare, I ignored him completely and pretended as though I hadn't seen him. This made him extremely angry.
Sakura wasn't aware of our 'brotherly' moment and kept on walking with her head bowed. A curtain of cherry pink locks covered her face and eyes from view and she kept walking forwards. I walked (not followed) towards the kunoichi, feeling my brother's blatant glare on the back of my neck.
I wasn't too surprised when he tried his best to tackle me to the ground from behind but I certainly wasn't strong enough to resist the hit. The drug had had many negative effects on me and sapping my strength was certainly one of them.
My chin hit the bridge with a loud bang and I could taste the blood in my mouth. I marvelled at my own stupidity, I had managed to bite my own tongue in the process. I jabbed Sasuke in the stomach with a sharp elbow and rolled away to the side, stopping when I was dangerously close to the edge. I got to my feet shakily and walked over to Sasuke, placed a foot on his chest and began to press down as hard as I could. Sasuke's eyes were squeezed shut in pain but they gradually opened. What I saw there truly shocked me, this time I wasn't afraid to admit it.
A single blue eye and a dark red sharingan eye stared back at me.
"Uchiha-kun, stop it!" Sakura yelled at me and she ran towards me, pulling me away and off of Sasuke. My temporary shock left me unguarded and open and she easily yanked me off of Sasuke.
Sasuke choked and spluttered as air rushed back into his lungs and the pink haired girl knelt down at his side. She began to move as if to touch him but hesitated and let her hands drop to her side.
She directed a chilling glare at me but I ignored it, after all I was much better at her when it came to glaring. She asked Sasuke softly, "Are you alright?"
He sat up slowly and tried to hide his obvious discomfort as he dismissed her coldly, "I'm fine, Sakura."
He stood up and brushed past me, I could see that he was horribly embarrassed. He had been shown up by me even though I was clearly only at half my strength and he still hadn't a chance against me. I wondered why the girl didn't just ask him to get the futons and be done with it, but judging from the awkwardness and guilt reflected in her eyes; something had happened between her and him in the past. I really was surprised by Sasuke's new eye and hardly anything ever surprised me now.
"Shikamaru-san!" the girl yelled loudly and I resisted the urge to cover my ears. She was far too loud for my liking.
My attention was directed towards a tall, lean man who was walking our way. There was something about him that screamed lazy, be it the way his feet dragged on the floor when he walked or the dark hooded eyes. He stopped and looked at the girl, directing a small half hearted smile at her.
"Sakura-san," He greeted her.
"Hi Shikamaru-san, sorry to ask but do you mind helping me get the futons from the cabinet in my room? I can't reach them…" She asked him politely.
Shikamaru sighed and ran a hand through his unruly hair. For a moment, I thought he was going to say no but he jammed his hands into his pockets and grumbled, "Women and their problems…"
"You have your problems too!" She snapped at him and Shikamaru shrugged, walking ahead of her and past me. His dark brown, calculating eyes flickered to me for the quickest of moments before he averted them.
"How are you, Sakura-san?" Shikamaru asked the pink haired kunoichi quietly and her angry expression became one filled with thought.
"I'm…fine now," She replied hesitantly.
I guessed the both of them were referring to her incident with the Mangekyou Sharingan and triumph surged through me. It was odd she was still so fiery after having suffered from that but it didn't matter too much to me.
Shikamaru slipped into her room and we walked after him him. I was stony silent as usual; not at all interested in conversing with this Shikamaru and I worked my mind into overdrive trying to find a way out of here. The only idea I could come up with at the moment was to bring the loudmouth with me all the way to Akatsuki and I would only use that as a last resort. I knew I had already shamed myself by allowing these fools to capture me; bringing a girl back to Akatsuki would further damage my reputation.
Shikamaru took the futons easily out of the white cabinet and dumped them on the floor beside him. He turned and walked away from us, waving a careless hand over his shoulder and the girl ignored him, grumbling about how he could have at least helped them set up the futons. She huffed as she picked up one of the bulky futons and laid it out near the window on the mats before picking up the other one and laying it beside the previously placed one.
She sighed and put her hands on her hips, staring at the futons in silence. She made it look as if they were about to rear up and bite her and I tired of looking at her. I brushed past her and picked up my forgotten black Akatsuki cloak before walking briskly over to the window. I rested my back against the sturdy wall and looked out of the glassless window at what seemed to be endless green foliage; covering my legs with my cloak.
I could feel her green eyed gaze burning a hole into my side and I grew annoyed with her staring so I stared chillingly back at her. As she averted her eyes, she guiltily blushed pink enough to match her ridiculous hair and walked over to the writing desk tucked away into a corner. I returned to looking out of the window that didn't offer much of a view and scoffed inwardly at the simplicity of women's minds.
A pale white hand sneaked out of my cloak to tug at the beaded necklace around my neck, once, twice, before falling to my side lifelessly.