Starlit Night
"Black. Vengeance. Darkness. Grief. The colour of night prowlers, of vampires and werewolves. A rebellious teen, yet conservative and loyal."
- Rain God's Veils, the novel.
The blade of a katana whizzed through the air, dispersing drops of water. The rain continued to pummel down ceaselessly, yet none landed on the sword-wielder.
With one final, quick, thrust, the blade, accompanied by the soft whisper of metal, swept in one smooth arc at a nearby bush.
The figure stayed in its position, finally letting the rain land on him as a few leaves from the bush came loose, fluttering into the black night.
Shaking his head, the figure sheathed the katana and went inside the house.
Stepping through the back door, Sasuke carefully placed the katana on a rack near the door and joined his cousins at the dinner table.
"Where is Sakura?" he asked as he poured himself a cup of water.
"In her room," Kagerou said with a shrug, snatching the cup out of Sasuke's hands and draining the contents.
"She is not feeling well," Hotaru added, frowning over her history textbook as she ate.
Sasuke nodded as he filled another cup, ignoring what Kagerou just did.
All three of them knew that Sakura had not been feeling well ever since word had gotten around the school that she has been hired by them.
"I still wonder who told everyone," Kagerou murmured after managing to swallow a spoonful of fried rice. "Those weeks before summer break must have been hell for her."
Hotaru slammed her book closed. "Which is why I am strongly against helping this…Hyuuga," she said, not bothering to use Hinata's first name.
She leaned back in her chair as she watched them eat. "It is safe to say that the same things will happen to her, especially since she seems so much more vulnerable than Sakura. We don't want to end up making things worse."
She looked at Sasuke triumphantly, assured that she has won the argument.
Sasuke, however, kept on eating as if nothing is going on. "Don't look at me," Sasuke said flatly, picking at the rice. "I mainly agreed to help in order to make Naruto close the door. My clothes were getting wet, and it is not a pleasant feeling."
Hotaru banged her head on the table. "You mean you just…said that to shut him up?" she moaned. "Now what are we going to do?"
Sympathetically, Kagerou patted his sister's back, but winked at Sasuke at the same time.
Unfortunately, Hotaru already knows what he did.
They are twins, after all.
"Are you on my side or his?" she jabbed a finger into Kagerou's face.
A smile tugged at the corner of Sasuke's mouth as he observed the antics of his cousins, a year younger. They make life so much more interesting.
The three of them shared a mansion outside of the city of Konoha after other, older clan members moved to Tokyo in pursuit of economic investment. Situated in the middle of a small meadow, it is bordered in the north by forested mountains, in the east by rolling hills, in the west by the suburbs of Konoha, and in the south by a sheer cliff that drops to the beach.
After Kagerou nearly flattened the house with a lawn mower and after Hotaru actually burned down the kitchen, Sasuke decided to hire Ino and Sakura, the former to tend the gardens and the latter moving in to feed them.
"So how do we live up to the promise you have made?" Hotaru's accusing voice snapped Sasuke out of his thoughts.
"Actually, I have been giving some thoughts to this, while outside," Sasuke said evenly, slicing a ham.
Kagerou nodded, dragging Hotaru back into her seat. He motioned for Sasuke to continue.
"We could try to switch into her classes," Sasuke continued. "People tend to behave themselves while around us."
"Good idea," Hotaru replied sarcastically. "It will be torture on our part. And I think that you have forgotten that we are a year younger."
Sasuke shrugged. "Just skip the grade," he suggested, yawning. "The elders have already stuffed the entire highschool curriculum into our heads. The reason they make us stay in school is to keep a leash on us while they decide what to do with us. Besides, you two have always wanted to graduate early to escape from...the fandom."
Kagerou glanced at Sasuke. "From what I have heard, you are going to take over the corporation as soon you graduate." He closed his eyes. "It is nice to have parents."
"Let's just…leave that topic for now," Sasuke said, shaking his head. He did not enjoy the prospect of running a large company, yet he did not want to show that in front of his cousins, who are clearly less favoured than he is.
"We have more pressing problems at hand," he quickly refocused the topic. "Switching into the Hyuuga's classes will work to some extent, yet how do we persuade the secretaries into showing us her schedule?"
Kagerou suddenly smiled, flashing his teeth. "Leave that to me," he said, keeping his voice low and seductive as he winked flirtatiously at his sister.
"You don't want to dazzle them," Hotaru warned, pushing back her chair as she stood up. "The principal will skin us alive, Uchiha or not."
Sasuke nodded, pleased that the conversation worked out in his favour, keeping a lid on Naruto without making his cousins flip.
"Oh, and Sasuke," Hotaru looked at him in the eyes. "You own us for going along with this."
Sasuke closed his eyes. "Of course," he smirked.
His father would have praised him for being able to compromise and please both sides.
Now he just has to persuade his parents not to begin teaching them university courses.
They have enough on their minds.
Sakura had her head down on her light-green desk as she stared blankly out the window at the silhouettes of three cherry trees.
"It was Hinata," Karin's voice echoed in her head, over and over.
"Hinata."
Who would have guessed that such a multi-faced monster hides itself beneath the innocent exterior?
Not everyone is what they say they are, that is for sure.
Sakura, she could never trust anyone, ever again.
"Hinataaa!!"
Hinata held the phone slightly away from her ears, wincing. "What is it, Karin?" she said as impassively as she could, sighing as she pushed away her half-finished essay.
"Sasuke-kun talked to me!!"
"That is nice, Karin," Hinata sighed again. She took out a stick and a paper knife. Carefully, she made a notch in the bark.
"How many times is that?" Karin asked impatiently.
"Twice this school year," Hinata replied quietly, running a finger over the two notches.
"Oh," a disappointed voice said.
"What did he say to you?" Hinata pressed gently, trying to uplift the mood.
Karin immediately brightened. "He asked me where the closest emergency exit is."
Hinata fought back a giggle. "Is he trying to escape from fangirls, again?"
"Of course," Karin said, perplexity evident in her voice. "Sakura among them, as usual. And I still don't get why Sasuke hired her, of all people. Hmph, probaly because she is friends with Hotaru. No wonder. Both of them are bit-- I mean—I could do a better job without clinging to him all the time."
"Right, Karin, right," Hinata teased. "Sure you can."
"I can!!" the voice protested.
Standing up, Hinata went to sit by her window. "Say, Karin?"
"Yes?"
"Isn't the Mid-Autumn Festival coming up?" Hinata asked.
"Yeah," Karin's voice cracked over the phone. "It is a boy's choice, so I can't ask Sasuke," she said forlornly.
Hinata smiled. She thought about the kind of situation Sasuke would be in if nearly every girl in the school lined up to ask him the same question.
"Let me guess," Karin interrupted Hinata's musings. "You won't be coming?"
Hinata smiled at how well Karin knows her. "What is the theme this time?"
"Japan," Karin answered. "It is too bad," her voice sounded sincere. "You would look really cute in a kimono, Hinata."
"Thanks," Hinata said, grateful for the compliment.
"I'll see you tomorrow then," Karin said, realizing Hinata's lack of interest.
"Bye."
Hinata hanged up, returning her gaze to the stack of paper on her desk.
Tomorrow, she thought. I wonder if anything will be different tomorrow.
"The Uchiha are becoming too prominent," a figure, bathed in the dying light of a flickering light bulb, said to his audience.
"Indeed," the other three people nodded.
The figure shifted in his chair, tapping his cane. "We have to get rid of them."
One of his audiences stiffened at the prospect. "Getting rid of as in….?"
The figure took out a knife and made the motion of slitting his throat.
"Preposterous," his audience, shocked, rebuked the proposal. "We cannot harm our own citizens, whom we had sworn to protect."
"Japan will be thrown back into a monarchy if such drastic measures are not taken," the figure said sharply. "We have to protect its democracy by eliminating the people who grasps its entire economy, who will eventually grasp its politics. Anyways, the investments established by our own ancestors are threatened by the Uchiha's existence as well."
Knowing that what he said is true, his audience fell silent.
The figure glanced around, triumphantly. "With the fall of Uchiha, the Hyuuga will come under suspicion," he ran his hands over his cane. "With one stone, we kill both birds."
"How do you suppose we kill all Uchiha at the same time?" An elderly man pointed out. "As far as I know, they are spread all over Tokyo, with a few near Konoha. If we kill one household before another, word will get around and the others will hire bodyguards. Besides, where are we going to find so many assassins? It is also safe to assume that, as descendants of samurai, they must all know some form of martial arts."
"Your concerns are of no accord," the figure smiled sinisterly. He held up a package and opened it slowly, exhibiting the contents.
Carefully wrapped in black silk is a fine white powder, glimmering unnaturally.
"Poison?" his audience inquired.
The figure nodded. "No smell, no taste. Just a pinch disables a person long enough for them to be finished off. Even if they are not killed, the poison puts them into a vegetative state, unlikely to be awakened."
"Which means that we hire only one assassin to both spread the poison and to—" he slammed his hands onto his cane.
"There is one problem, however," the elderly man, who is the most even-headed of the four, pointed out. "The Uchiha meet at least once a year, during the winter solstice. That will be a perfect time. But," he held up an index finger. "The grounds are heavily guarded, and only Uchiha members are allowed in and only by having their blood tested."
"Oh, so we just have to a hire an Uchiha with exceptional sword skills to kill his entire family, simple," another man said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "It is out of question. In other words, it is impossible. The Uchiha are remarkably loyal. The plan will not work."
"Actually, it will," an elderly female, the only member that has not yet spoken, interrupted.
"Oh?" challenged the two men.
The female member nodded. "The Uchiha I have in mind has been plagued by the Sharingan Syndrome for a long time, and will be easy to manipulate."
"And his name?"
The four of them stood up, ready to leave.
"Uchiha Itachi."
A/N: I guess this chapter is kind of Uchiha-centric…If you don't like OCs, please bear with me. I have the same plans for all my OCs in all my stories…hehehe…
Please review.
Original Character Names….lalala
Hotaru and Kagerou are twins, so naturally I chose names that match each other. Their names mean "firefly," and "dragonfly," respectively. Interestingly, when you take the "ho" from "Hotaru" and the "kage" from "Kagerou," you get "Hokage." O.o Eerie, isn't it? I didn't do that on purpose…O.o