Alright. Here is, a new chappy. Enjoy, if at all possible. Augh. This fic sucks. And you all may find out why too soon.
Maori
Sleep had not come easily to Kira, but eventually it arrived. Now, as she opened her eyes, she wondered where it had gone. In its place, the crush of guilt descended. Sasuke hadn't been seen the rest of the night. No one had commented on it, save for Karin. Of course she would... Kira had muttered bitterly to herself. Apparently the group was used to this. Kira was not.
I shouldn't have ordered him off... The thought had driven her to toss in her sleeping bag time and time again. It wasn't my place... And it wasn't nice, especially after all he's done for me...I think. Then her wild mind had begun wondering about the string of events since Hebi had picked her up. Sleep finally took her as she tried to decide if she was thankful or scornful for her traveling partners.
As she sat up, the cold air hit her bare forearms and raised retaliatory gooseflesh. Sasuke... Did he ever come back last night? Kira rubbed her eyes nervously and then glanced around.
The scuff of twigs reached her as she dropped her gaze back on the dormant campfire. Sasuke was sitting, cross-legged, and busy resurrecting it. She glared at him. I should have known better than to worry about him. In spite of herself, Kira felt soothed by seeing him.
The Uchiha paid her no mind as she cleaned up the sleeping bag. The task was faster than she would have liked, and the rest of Hebi slept on, useless except for their close proximity in case the need of a quick awakening arose. Hesitantly, she took a seat across from him, knees pulled to her chest, as she watched him poke deftly at the twigs.
Only now did she realize there was no fire. Not even embers glowed in the nest. He's an idiot! "You're wasting your time with that..." Kira commented in disgust. "Fires don't light up on their own, and it takes more than some arbitrary jabbing to do the trick."
Whether it was because he was satisfied with the results of his work, or because of Kira's disdain, he tossed the stick he'd been holding on top of the rest. Sasuke stood then, looking down at her carefully for a moment. Kira squirmed under his gaze, but didn't break it. In a completely blasé manner, he stepped back.
"Kira," she jumped when she heard her name. "Move for a moment."
Too shocked by the request to protest right away, she got up and stepped away from the pile of twigs. Before she could verbally assault him again, Sasuke began stringing together a series of hand signs. Taking a deep breath, he released it as a small fireball over the twigs. When he straightened up, the fire was crackling in a content manner.
The air in Juugo's shadow was noticeably cooler. Kira stayed there, rather uncomfortable as she watched sweat bead on his neck. As they had re-embarked on their journey, Sasuke had made it clear he wanted her just where she was to prevent her from becoming sick and slowing them down.
Karin smirked back at Kira once more as she strutted behind an ignorant Sasuke. The silent argument had been gradually escalating, with Hebi still miraculously unaware. Finally, she could take it no longer. Clenching her fists, Kira leaned forward and stuck her tongue out as soon as she was sure Karin was looking.
Her pass at the redhead went unnoticed, but as Karin moved to flip her off, Sasuke turned suddenly. "That's enough, Karin." He didn't need to be loud to procure a look of shock from her; his delivery carried plenty to make skin crawl.
The group came to a full halt as Karin stamped toward Kira, shaking her finger and pleading with the Uchiha. "She stuck her tongue out at me!" The little bitch!
Suigetsu and Juugo laughed. The taller commented, "That's absurd."
"She's far to scared of your troll-like features to do that," Suigetsu told Karin, not about to miss a chance to poke fun at her.
Sasuke shook his head. "That's enough. I didn't see her do that." He pinned Karin with a icy stare. "Don't make things up just because you're upset. I didn't take you with me because I like hearing a child squabble."
With that curt admonishment, the humor left them collectively and Hebi resumed travel.
Kira trudged on, no longer seeing the scenery. He... He didn't see me? Unbelievable... Nobody caught me doing that... I... I don't get it. Her chest clenched. She still didn't know who she was, and that fact came into sharp relief now. Pieces of Itachi's face drifted behind her eyelids as she blinked. I could be anyone... I could be- Pain shot through her spine and she stumbled. Before her legs gave, her small hands gripped Juugo's arm. Kira's vision went black.
When it returned, Sasuke was holding her wrist gingerly and Hebi was staring. She felt around the dusty ground with her free hand. Dirt... rock, gravel... Did I actually fall? Her fingers brushed his ankle and she realized he was crouched beside her.
"Can you stand?" The question was firm, emotionless with a calculated precision.
"Yes- of course." In reality, she didn't know that. But right now, she only wanted him to release her.
It worked. For a moment. "Get up." Sasuke crossed his arms, waiting impatiently.
Kira did as he told her to, somewhat unsteadily and slowly. The world swam and a dull ache in the core of her back became apparent. It made her weak at the knees again and she felt sick. Before she could fall, the Uchiha had taken hold her arm and shoulder, keeping her upright.
"Get on my back." He was pulling her arms over his shoulders so that he could lift her before she realized was happening.
"I-I can … I can w-walk," The sound of her voice scared her.
Sasuke let her go to stare into her eyes in the unnerving manner he'd made a habit of. "Shut up." And suddenly it was clear he didn't want to do this either. The situation was somehow a necessity.
This time Kira nodded obediently and let him hoist her onto his back. Knowing things were mutually uncomfortable, she relaxed. As they moved and she began to see doubles, she didn't hesitate to curl her fingers into his shirt in an effort to hold onto reality.
The sun was almost gone from the sky. Kira's weight pressed steadily against Sasuke's back, and he sighed. She was asleep, her face resting against the back of his neck. The warmth of her breath raised his goosebumps. The ache is his chest returned, only recently having become familiar to him. He tensed under Kira, as if ready for an attack.
The first few farms and houses had appeared after his burden had drifted into her private abyss. Now they gave way to what was apparently a shopping district. Hebi was conspicuous with their traveling clothes. Sasuke's first order of business was to get them off the streets.
He openly scanned the area, returning the stares of wary shopkeepers apathetically. One building stood out to him. Lanterns hung from the lips of merchant roofs were slowly coming to life, and lined up as if leading the way to it. The building was tall, the only one large enough to possibly be an inn. Wordlessly he advanced upon it, Hebi following in an unusual silence.
The street itself was noisy. Drunk men could be heard shouting and laughing uproariously in the taverns. And the street held many taverns. As their voices quieted momentarily, women's excited gossip could be caught through the din. Both sounds came an went in waves, each set having their own rhythm in the different establishments. Suigetsu's whistle broke the oppressive quiet that hung over Hebi. A woman with long hair and a short skirt winked and grinned, beckoning him.
The swordsman made to go to her, but Karin grabbed him forcefully. "What the hell are you doing?"
Suigetsu leered back at her, showing all pointed teeth. "Enjoying the finer things in life." Pulling from her grasp, "I don't suppose you would know much about that though..." He laughed openly at his implied meaning.
His laughter ceased with Karin's sharp strike. "We're not staying here!" She stared about uneasily.
"This is a red light district," Juugo voiced her thoughts dryly.
"Exactly!" Suigetsu made to depart again and was once more rewarded with a quick smack. "Ouch- ugly bitch!"
Karin wheeled back around to vie for Sasuke's attention. "We aren't staying here... Right, Sasuke-kun?"
The Uchiha didn't turn around, but merely kept towards his destination, Hebi still following like lost dogs. "We are staying just for the night."
A loud whoop came from Suigetsu in the back.
"W-what?" Karin stopped in her tracks, and even Juugo seemed surprised. "But-"
"We don't have time to travel any farther." Sasuke took control without qualms. "All of us will stay together in the inn." Suigetsu replied to decree with a groan.
Three scarcely clad women waited by the door, smiling and commenting on the group in a feigned suductivity. Karin turned her eyes to the front desk, disgust radiating from her. Another woman waited behind it. She was more covered than the others, but still showing more skin than most shops would have ever allowed. Upon their entrance, she had leaned forward slowly, exposing her cleavage.
Their only pause was as Karin once more pulled Suigetsu from the leering prostitutes. Sasuke and Juugo seemed neither perturbed nor interested, their gait suggesting that the building was indeed nothing more than an inn. As they stopped in front of the receptionist, the woman froze. Shock colored her, and then she glared.
"Thank you for returning that." Her dark eyes flashed something malicious as she came around to the front of the desk with them. "This will more than cover your stay, and any... services... you require." Her hands showed themselves as skeletal and yellow as she reached for Kira.
Sasuke stepped back suddenly, his stance become predatory and protective. "What do you mean?"
All pretense left her now, and the receptionist looked washed out and ominous, rather than attractive. "Maori has been worth much to this establishment, you have our gratitude for returning her."
Sasuke appeared ready to down the woman as she reached for Kira. And then he inexplicably relaxed. And then to Hebi's shock, he let her slide off of his back and he handed her over.
"What are you doing?" Juugo didn't raise his voice, but his urgency was clear.
Suigetsu merely shrugged as another brothel girl carted Kira off and the receptionist returned to her post behind the desk. Karin crossed her arms. Of course... She would be a prostitute.
"I will expect her in my room before I arrive to it." Sasuke's face was expressionless. "Each one of us will take a separate room."
The sensual way she held herself returned, and with it came a bee-honey sweet tone. "Of course," she drawled. "I am Tsunako; feel free to call on me should you need anything through the night. Your stay is free," Tsunako winked. "Just this time only, though. You've brought us back our best." And with that she sauntered off to grab keys for their rooms.
Juugo and Karin followed the woman in a daze, shocked. Only Suigetsu laughed, loudly announcing to Sasuke that he'd seen this coming.
True to her duties, Tsunako had managed to have Kira transported to Sasuke's room before she arrived with him at the door. The rest of Hebi had already been deposited at their rooms, much to Karin's horror. Tsunako made a few more playful advances and pretended to fumble with the keys. Sasuke was oblivious to her well-practiced act, his mind still reeling from the scene that had taken place downstairs.
The door opened, and Kira lay on the bed, still unconscious. Tsunako left quickly, realizing she was unwanted. Shutting the door quickly, he crossed the room in a few strides, and stood staring furiously down on her.
"Wake up," he growled. As if sensing his rage, she turned and then came to. "Who are you? Answer me." His voice was quiet as death.
Kira froze, unsure if she was awake or caught in a nightmare. It was the culmination of every fear she'd had. The bed was soft under her and Sasuke's gaze was one of pure hatred. "W-what?"
"Who are you?" He was louder now, his agitation getting the better of him.
Her blank stare was the only answer he got at first. Slowly, she found her voice and courage. I will not be bullied by him! "Where are we?" Kira looked around the bed, holding red faux satin sheets in her hand, her face growing to match it.
Although she hadn't thought it possible, his gaze grew in intensity. "In a whore house." The words dropped from his thin, pale lips like boulders into a bottomless canyon. "Your whore house." And now she felt as if he'd chained her to the bedpost.
"W-what?" She faltered. "M-my... MY whore house?"
Sasuke's face contorted in revulsion, as if he couldn't stand the sight of her. "Don't play dumb. You were recognized by the receptionist." His knuckles were white on his clenched fists.
She jumped to her feet, returning his disgust with her own. "That's stupid!" Kira advanced on him, and to her shock, he backed away, seemingly too repulsed by her to come any closer. "I know for sure, I'd never... I'm not that type of..." The look in his eyes said he disagreed. "No!"
"You're a liar... Maori." The name sat in the air between like an illegitimate child.
Kira shook the sound of it from her ears, trying to dispel it from her mind. She disarmed him, suddenly by sinking to her knees, her hands wildly gripping her silky hair and pulling it lithely from her ponytail. "I'm not... I don't think I'm..." Her voice cracked, and Sasuke froze.
The tears spilled over her wrists suddenly, and she was silent and her body shook with sobs. The ache returned in Sasuke's chest.
"I..." His throat was dry and the words strangled. His instincts screamed. The image of Kira's heaving and crumpled figure stayed with him, still horribly before his eyes. He fought tight, twisting grip of dread upon his stomach. "I'm sorry..." One last wild dissent of intuition fought to hold him from the edge, but the admission spilled from his mouth anyway. "It must have been a mistake. I'm sorry." The air felt heavier, and he was sure something had ended, although he could not name it.
Her tears stopped and stared at him in awe.
"I'm sorry, Kira."
Pushing her hair back from her face, she unwittingly gave him a full view of her tear-stained cheeks. The agony he'd glimpsed was gone and replaced with sheer surprise. "You... you apologized to... to me..."
The Uchiha became tense, as if he'd been caught in a compromising condition. "Yes." His calculated indifference was abruptly back. "I made a mistake." Despite her expectations, his acceptance of the idea made her feel as though he'd rubbed salt in her wound. "It won't happen again." He sat on the edge of the bed and his previously open demeanor closed itself to her once more.
Kira kept her eyes closed tight. Her back ached, but the fabric under her body was smooth, although not soft, and most definitely not a forest floor. Pieces of the argument with Sasuke came flooding back. Shuddering, Kira sat up. A quick survey of the room revealed Sasuke seated on the floor in a corner behind the door. His eyes looked lively and penetrating as ever. Did he sleep at all? His clothes and manner were pristine, as though he existed on a level of his own, untouchable by the exhausting and tussling forces that pervaded over normal beings.
His black gaze was fixed on her.
Kira got out of the bed slowly, not sure if she would simply sit back upon the mattress or approach him. She wanted to ask him all the silly questions that floated through her mind regularly. How did he stay so clean? Did he even have sweat glands? Did his father have hair that grew just like Sasuke's did, and never moved or became mussed? Did he ever eat, or was the fire in his eyes the only nourishment he needed? And then the moment with Karin in the forest came back to her. Suddenly, Kira knew what she wanted to ask.
"Sasuke..." He did not turn to her address, for he had been watching her carefully. The morning light was coming through the poorly shuttered window and illuminating her from behind. It added to the slim grace she didn't seem to know she possessed. Her voice broke his reveries. "Did you really not see me?"
He drew his stare to her face, seeing disconcertment there. "What are you talking about?"
Her mouth drew itself and she sat back down. "You... You didn't see me stick my tongue out at Karin?"
"Hn." Now he stood, his frown was one of irritation. "No." Then, as his indifference returned, he added, "Even so, I wouldn't have said anything against it."
Kira smirked, catching his version of a joke. And then her previous perturbment returned. "You really didn't see anything?"
"No." Sasuke was quiet, his expression over her contemplative. "I didn't see you move."
Her anxiety over this played clearly over her features, and while Sasuke felt a similar unsettlement at her new-found powers, he did not show it.
She's more dangerous than she looks... I've been right to keep a close eye on her. Tsunako's decrepit hand reaching for Kira flashed through his mind. He pushed the vision away. The woman might have been right... Kira could be- Sasuke stopped himself, wanting to go no farther with the thought.
Here it is. This is the first update in like 2 years. I hope it's not too awful. I was only recently ressurected, and worked on Redemption In Your Eyes first.
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