"Really? Well," Itachi cleared his throat, trying to hide his uneasy shiver from hearing the cold, empty voice.
"Itachi, uh, did it just say 'big brother'?" Kisame stammered.
"Shut up and help this…uh-" Itachi began.
"Don't call me this-anything! You know my name, you idiot!" the icy voice snapped even more coldly than before.
The eye Itachi had persistently watched to this moment disappeared and in only a second's time the stretched leather strap pulled beside him loosened and from the edge of the walkway something black darted out a couple yards and stopped in a pose facing the guys.
It had long, black nails and muscular legs. It had a lean body and if not for the huge, strong black wings folded tightly against its back, it would have looked like it had been underfed. The neck was vein-y and supported a furry head with ears that had been bitten and cut many times. The whole body was covered with thick, black fur and a limp tail hung dully from the back.
The eerie, yellow eyes looked over them observantly. The shiny, black nose twitched a couple of times before the corners of the mouth curled up into a prideful, devilish grin. The smile was so horrible and unreal that no animal on earth could have possessed such a smile. Large canines and a couple of other teeth poked out through the scarred top lip. The whiskers moved in sync with the lips as they curved.
The long, black tail rose up and wagged rhythmically like a dog's. It was a wolf with wings, a frightful-looking creature. It was big, very big. It would be about the same size as Kisame if he got on his hands and knees (and that's pretty big for a wolf).
"I believe you should probably help your dumbstruck friends, Itachi. They look-" the creature paused for a moment to find the right word, "terrified."
Itachi looked over his shoulder at the two still standing in Deidara's room a few feet from the open door. Sure enough, they both had fear in their eyes. They had become paralyzed with fear. A fear of this creature, a fear of the strange actions of Itachi, and a fear for their own lives being around an evil beast and a spaced out murderer.
"Kisame. Deidara. Do not fear us. Come here." Itachi toned calmly, finally using the normal Itachi voice.
They came obediently, just barely able to swallow all the fear. They stopped on either side of Itachi. "This is my sister, well, my baby sister to be exact. Sister, this is Kisame," he gestured to his left, then to his right, "and this is Deidara."
Deidara mustered up some courage and asked, "Okay. Now what are we supposed to call you? You haven't exactly told us your name, yeah."
"The only name I go by is Aiko. I do not know my old birth-name," the creature spoke a little less harshly, "I can see you're still tense, I suppose I'll transform into my true self so you'll calm down."
A loud, smacking noise and a puff of smoke devoured the creature and when the smoke cleared from the courtyard, there stood a girl a little younger than Itachi. The two saw the girl's hair and stuttered inaudibly. Her hair was black with a bluish tint to it, and they recognized her as a definite Uchiha there, but her eyes were a mystery. Her eyes were not the normal blackness of the Uchiha's before the Sharingan was activated. They were a strikingly deep purple. Two long, parallel scars on her either side of her face made their way from her eyebrows to the top of her cheekbones, running through the center of her eyes. The rest of her face resembled an Uchiha but the purple eyes were completely out of place. The only thing she wore was a black cloak that trailed all the way down to her dirty bare feet.
She smiled a simple smile and ran to throw her arms around her brother, even though just a minute ago he was telling her how he didn't like her. Itachi looked surprised at first, but then he said in his low, cool voice, "I didn't mean what I said about not liking you. I love you, baby sister. I was just so freaked out because I thought with what happened after the last time we met, you would have died."
"But I didn't. And I'm really sorry about being so mean before. I wish things would go back to the way they used to be. Don't you, big brother?" she toned in a sweet girl voice, still squeezing Itachi, "Promise me you'll never run away like that again, okay? I was scared without you there."
"I promise." Itachi gently squeezed her back and set her back a couple of feet, "You've grown. In just two and a half years, you've grown so much."
"Yeah, I know."
Deidara and Kisame stared. They hadn't ever seen this side of Itachi either, but something told them this wasn't abnormal. This was how Itachi really was when he had his family around, but they had never known he had a sister, only that he had Sasuke. But what really interested them both was what they had said about the last time they met. Plus, this girl only looked about 15 or 16 and she was acting like a little child, probably just because she was happy to see her brother again. The instamatic change in their attitudes, though, was somewhat strange. Probably just an Uchiha thing.
Itachi told Aiko his room number and told her to go wait there while he took care of some things. He was so passionate and parent-like about it. She went off and Itachi turned to the other guys when she had disappeared into the hall.
"Deidara. You will pile some sheets in a corner and Aiko will sleep in your room tonight. But don't bother her, she is a very light sleeper and a very cranky morning person, so just let her be and stay out of her way. It won't bother her much if she has to kill you. Ever since she was extremely young, she's been trained to kill. It's quite sad what she's been through. I can't tell her what her name is because she'll just feel hurt if I do. Her name is Kurohana, which means "black flower". She is just so lost and unsure of everything and wants something about her to be good, but she would feel hopeless if she heard her name. Please don't speak it to her. And don't ask her any questions about the past, what she does, how she survives—as a matter of a fact, don't speak to her at all. Understand?" Itachi spoke softly as if Aiko was listening from the hallway.
Kisame's uneasy look was enough to make Deidara flip out. "Itachi! This is crazy-- no, you know what?! You're crazy! You can't let her stay here, let alone expect me to let her sleep in my room! She's a total freak, with her wolf thingy and the whole attitude...I just couldn't deal with it, and you can be as sure as heck that I won't!"
Itachi's eyes were cold and hard and his countenance harsh. His voice was like a heavy, cold stone dropping onto Deidara, "Then I guess you'll have to tell her why there's no place here for her to stay. I dare you."
Suddenly, a smallish owl swooped in the room. It screeched impatiently, but with calm. Aiko appeared at the door, her eyes were burning like little purple flames. Her breath came in short huffs and she whispered a curse under her breath. The little owl flitted over and roosted lightly upon her right shoulder. She gently unbuttoned the tiny pouch on the owl's back and withdrew the tiny scroll inside. The owl, having acknowledged the removal of weight, knew its job was done and swooped out the door as suddenly as it had come. They all heard a much louder screech as the owl expanded to the size of an ostrich or bigger and ascended to the sky, once again taking off above the nearby trees.
The men all stood still, astonished. Aiko's voice was angry, if not furious, "I'm sorry, boys. Please disregard this small interruption. I'll be back by night, I promise. I have a moron to deal with."
From within her long cloak, she pulled out a black pair of shades and slipped them on moodily. Her bare feet stomped over the floor to walkway just outside. She reached underneath of it to reveal a pair of heavy, black combat boots that she had hidden without their knowledge and yanked them on roughly. With her back still to them, she said sternly, "By the way, Deidara. I would very much appreciate flannel sheets, no cotton. I know you'll do that for me, won't you? Of course, if not, I'll rid this room and your sheets of you so that it won't be so hard to follow my orders. That's up to you, though." And in an instant, she was gone.