21
The autumn leaves were beginning to decorate the fall foliage. Tints of orange, gold and red colored Konoha in what is arguably the most beautiful time of the year.
The Uchiha-Noa wedding was approaching and the date was only a month away. One of the to be married individuals was getting cold feet, as the weather became chillier.
Fugaku's words haunted her 'You will never fit in…'
She swore she could see him and see his tormenting expression every night right before going to bed.
It also didn't help that Shisui had not been very supportive when she expressed her desired to join the Uchiha police force.
'You have no business meddling there.' He had said upset.
It had taken her a while, but she began to notice the wary details of her relationship with his family. She didn't look like an Uchiha. Shisui's parents really appeared to have no interest in getting to know her or even having her over for dinner. Some clan members would glare at her whenever she walked hand in hand with her fiancé. They would whisper painful lies and shoot nasty death glares in her direction. Unknowing to them she could hear everything that they said, it wasn't a good feeling. And here she thought she was becoming a well respected member of their community.
The only ones that seemed to be kind towards her were Sasuke and Itachi and she was partly sure that the only reason they did was because Shisui was like their older brother.
Her eyebrows furrowed as she walked past the compound and to the park where Shisui had asked her to meet him. He specified to meet him by the single tree closest to the lake. She really wasn't in the mood for a picnic or whatever it was that he had planned.
She was so sucked up in her own thoughts that she barely heard the male voice that called after her. "Oi! Ryou!" caught off guard, she suddenly turned to be embraced in a massive bear hug by Gai.
"Ryou! I feel like I haven't seen you in forever!" He cried hugging her so tightly she felt as if she couldn't breath. "Watch the arm." She said gasping for air.
"Oh, right- right!" He jumped off her.
"Just got my cast taken off a few weeks ago." She admitted sheepishly.
"Yeah, just in time for the wedding right?" He said wriggling his thick eyebrows eagerly.
Ryou rolled her eyes and shook her head, "Yes. It's been a pain having to reserve everything, and getting the Kimono- Shisui's Haori. The catering." She said rubbing her stressed out temples.
Gai only flashed her one of his famous wide grins "Well I'll totally be there!" He said giving her a thumbs up.
Ryou hadn't even noticed that Kakashi had been with Gai.
"You'll come too, right Kakashi?" He said elbowing his friend completely oblivious of the tension that was growing between his two friends.
Both of them had been invited to the wedding and Ryou had made sure that they had received their own personal invitations. When Kakashi received his the first thing he did was burn it into ashes.
It was weird to invite him, but it was even weirder not to invite him. She figured he wouldn't attend. It was just a polite attention.
He suddenly found it hard to breath. He had continued collecting the photographs that appeared on the newspaper. The latest one had been a picture from her engagement party. He hadn't bothered removing Shisui from it. He wanted to be reminded that she was his and he was hers.
It was too late for him. There was nothing he could do. Then again, it had been wholly her choice.
Ryou could see the pain in his dark eye. It made matters even worse. However, she had given him plenty of time. He couldn't live in a permanent sulking state. It really seemed like Gai's company had gotten him out of his shell in recent years.
"I think I'm going to be sick that day." He muttered.
"Wait- how do you know?" asked Gai cluelessly.
She avoided his gaze and shook her head not even bothering having a response for his lame comment.
'I'm doing the right choice,' she reminded herself. 'Shisui is right. He respects me. He loves me. He would never hurt me.' She repeated over and over in her head. It was almost like a mantra.
They both left.
Gai turned back and shouted a goodbye to Ryou.
With a lopsided frown she shook her head and continued to look for Shisui. She found him where he said he would be. A weak smile began growing on her face.
"Hey!" She reached for his arm. He turned to look a her with a grave expression on his face. She had never seen that look on his face. Immediately the red flags went off in her head. Something was definitely wrong. The smile instantly wiped off her face.
"Shisui" She greeted her soon to be husband seriously with a kiss to the cheek.
"Hello Ryou." He uttered his lips pulled to a humorless, thin line.
His behavior was scaring her. Had somebody died?
"Is everything alright?" She asked with concerned eyes stroking his arm. He looked down at her hand upset and shrugged her touch off.
"I know you don't like wasting your time. So I'll be brief." He said coldly, a light breeze had began to pick up.
"Ryou, I think we need to postpone the wedding." He said flatly both of his eyebrows furrowed together.
She blinked twice, slightly caught off-guard. Disbelief was written all over her face. For a moment she remained silent. The only noise between them was the one of the wind picking up and howling.
"We can do that." She said after a moment of composing herself. "I'll just have to call the caterer, the florist, resend invitations-" she began rambling franticall For some reason she felt as if the worst was yet to come.
"No-" This time he interrupted her.
"I mean permanently." He said not daring to meet her shocked expression.
Her mouth dropped ajar. Eyes peeling wide from the tremendous shock.
"Do you… Do you not want to marry me?" She dared ask in disbelief. She felt as if her chest was being compressed.
It took him a moment to answer. He took in a deep breath and exhaled finally looking at her.
"No." He said in that same apathetic tone. "I don't."
Her expression was fixed in alarmed consternation. Her tongue felt loose. She wasn't able to coherently form a statement of protest. She felt almost as if she could see that teenage boy that had approached her that one day and had stuck around almost a decade later.
"Shisui…" she mustered the courage to speak. "We've been together for what seems like forever…" She spoke slowly and carefully. They had belonged to each other for what seemed to be a large chunk of their young lives.
"Seven years actually." He stated looking back into her emerald eyes with his dark ones.
"What is it then? What's the matter?" She said approaching him, attempting to reach for his hands. Once again he flinched and pulled his hand away rejecting her touch.
'"It's not you, it's me."
Oh no.
From everything he had said, this had been by far the worst thing he could've said to her.
Yes. He had actually gone there. She suppressed the anger that was beginning to become ignited in her.
"Is it because of the damned job?" She tried. Both of her eyebrows scrunched as her anger began to slip. "Because I will quit- I will quit my dream for you!"
"It's not the job-" Shisui simply shook his head.
"Then what is it?!" She exclaimed growing exasperated. "Is it my so called obsessed with my family? Is it because of the Kakashi?"
Shisui paused for a moment. Sure he had had it with her terrible obsession with murder and the fascination with her own family's mystery.
This was something he was not aware of. "What… does he have to do witusis?" His eyes bored into her twisted expression.
"We-.. I-uh…" She took in a deep breath. She had been choking on this secret for so long. The guilt had consumed her for months after their brief encounter. It was time he knew.
"We kissed once. It was years ago. It didn't mean anything-"
"Enough." He almost growled out through gritted teeth. His eyes became wide and turned into menacing slits. "Enough." He repeated before shutting his eyes for a moment.
"Why Shisui? I thought you were happy" she said reaching for his hands once again.
"I'm not." He stepped away from her and crossed his arms over his chest. "And much less after I know you've been going behind my back! You've been betraying my wishes, insulting me, my uncle and my clan!"
She stood paralyzed.
"You think I wouldn't find out about the way you spoke to Uncle Fugaku? Do you remember? We discussed our future. We agreed that I would work in the police department and that you would stay home."
"No." She growled out She could almost feel her heartbeat drumming in her ears. Her nails were beginning to dig into her clenched palms. She felt as if something tore inside of her. "You decided I would stay home. The only reason I agreed with you was because it made you happy. And still- I would do it. I would give up my dream for yours." She was beginning to feel it, that awful tickling in your nose right before you're about to cry.
"I don't want that anymore. I don't want you anymore." He shook his head.
"And him." Shisui glared. "It's always been him, hasn't it?" He sucked in his lips nodding his head.
"No," she shook her head. "It wasn't like that Shisui. It really-"
"That's why you can't look at him in the eye- that's why you avoid him and take every twist and turn in order to avoid him. You still have feelings for him-" She interrupted him.
"O.K.," she barked. "That is not fair!" she raised up her index finger. You cannot tell me what I feel and don't feel- you can't read my mind-" She threw her hands over her head.
"It doesn't matter." He suddenly said sounding deflated. "Ryou. It's over. "He said painfully.
It had to be a lie. He had to lying. There was no way this was happening. This was a dream. An illusion. A Genjutsu, one that she couldn't break free from.
She began focusing chakra in the bottom of her heels just like Itachi had taught her.
"Really?" she retorted her eyes welling up with tears.
He didn't dare look her way.
"Really?" She repeated aghast, the anger spitting out with every word she said.
"I know you better than that." Ryou growled and pushed Shisui away "You're lying to me." She accused.
He still didn't look at her, "Liar!" Another push.
"Look at me in the eyes!" She was going to push him once again but his time he held her by the wrist. And finally looked at her in the eyes this time with his menacing Sharingan activated.
"Enough." He barked in a tone he had never spoken to Ryou with.
"Why?" She whined demanding an answer the tears were beginning to well in her eyes.
"Ryou it's over, go home." He finally dropped her arms, leaving the girl with pools of tears in her lime-green eyes.
"Why?" She pressed determined, in an even more demanding tone.
Shisui ignored her questions. "Why?!" She got right on his face demanding to know. "Shisui this isn't-" She staggered back perplexed at his action. He tenaciously grabbed her head in place and smashed his lips against hers one last time.
"Ugh!" She shoved him away bewildered. "What are you doing?!" She exclaimed confused. It was then that the tears began spilling down her face. He took in a deep breath and composed himself. He stared at her intensely.
"I've wasted too much time already," he said ominously. With that he turned around and walked away from her. Ryou noticed that Itachi was waiting for Shisui at the end of the park.
"Shisui!" Ryou roared in rage, he still didn't stop in his way, "Here! I don't want your ring then!"
She shouted in defeat tears unwillingly finally cascading down her face.
"Keep it." He said almost automatically. "I have no use for such trivial things," he wasn't even done speaking when he felt it hit him in the back of his head.
He bent down to pick up his ring. He cocked his head slightly and saw the distressed look on his girl's face. It broke him. It really did.
He briefly stood dead in his tracks, she couldn't read his expression but his eyes were wide and his blank composure had broken into a twisted frown. He bit his lip in order to prevent the tears from spilling from his eyes. At the end of the small park street Itachi pretended not to notice the awful scene. Shisui was thankful for his discretion.
"Let's go finish this. We don't have a lot of time…" he said. Itachi followed, just before sparing the sobbing girl one last glare.
Heartbroken Ryou collapsed to her knees under the tree breathlessly. She took in a deep breath to calm herself. The tears had halted. Her head was spinning. This wasn't happening this wasn't happening. Shisui was being irrational. He really was. She would just have to win him over. She headed to the teashop where she picked up some dango and tea.
"This is our place!" She remembered him saying in better days. She shook her head and sipped some tea to calm her jumping nerves.
'Everything will be O.K.' she sighed. Repeating the mantra in her head.
The two of them had been together for so long that it was an odd sensation feeling that he wouldn't be there tomorrow.
She didn't waste anymore time and directly headed to the Uchiha compound to look for Shisui. She waited and waited and waited outside of the compound until nightfall came, and he still had not entered the premises. The tea had gone cold the dango had stuck together. With no other choice she left the bench she had been sitting on and in the darkness advanced towards his home. His parents simply stated that Shisui had bid them goodbye. He claimed he had an important mission to fulfill. 'But he wasn't on a mission…' she thought adding up the clues. This was so odd, so misconstrued. His behaviour made no sense. Was that what he had meant when he had said he had "important things to do"?
"Go home," Shisui's mother glared at her from the bottom of the stair unwelcomely. She sat up in the sofa and struggled to keep her eyes open.
She reluctantly returned home.
Walking into her empty home she made way to her room. As soon as she opened the door she was hit by a familiar scent. Her eyes went wide in alert. Her knees began trembling and her mouth went dry. She half expected to find a corpse in her room.
Instead, on her writing desk her eye caught a red item glimmering with the moonlight's reflection. She rushed towards it and picked up her former engagement ring. The red stone shone bright. Once again she began to feel the tears well in her eye.
What did this mean?
She paced around her room anxiously surveying every single possible scenario or logical explanation as to why this had happened. Why had he broken up with her like that? Why had he decided to return his ring to her?
She could feel a coming headache pounding in her temples.
Something wasn't right. She had to find him.
She ran as fast as she could. Her fist pounded on the door of the household.
There was no response. Her knocking only became louder and more agitated.
"Hello? Please open up!" She cried out.
It was then that she heard a nasty snarling. She gasped turning on her heel only two face two wolves that were almost the size of a bull. She pressed her back against the door only to fall through when it opened.
"Do you know what time it is? My children are asleep!" An angry woman spat at her. The red fangs that marked her cheeks made her association with the Inuzuka clan obvious.
"Tsume Inuzuka?" Ryou tried with a shaky voice. "It's an emergency. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't-" She began.
"Who sent you?" The terrifying woman immediately questioned her. She had spiky hair that was gravely unkept and dark animal like eyes. "No one. You see there-"
She slammed the door on her face without much care.
"Please!" Ryou begged as she once again pounded the door. The dogs behind her began barking at her. She eyed them warily. Their gleaming, sharp teeth appeared to be out of a nightmare.
"I need a hound. My sense aren't powerful enough. I need to find someone!" Tsume opened the door once again. Our protagonist stood her ground. "Please. I fear something grave has happened."
Getting into the Uchiha compound had been a mess. Just for everybody's luck Fugaku Uchiha was on call with some of his subordinates.
"Listen to me!" She cried out. "Something terribly has happened to Shisui. I know it."She could feel it. She felt that aching in her chest whenever she said his name. She kept the ring wrapped tightly inside of her hand not daring to let go.
With some persuasion from Tsume and her wolf like hound Fugaku eventually accepted. "You best be right Ryou Noa, if not there's going to be trouble for you." The Inuzuka growled out at her. It was three in the morning for Kami's sake.
"You know…" She approached her holding one of Shisui's shirts in her hands. "I hope I'm wrong," she said handing it to her.
Immediately the one eyed hound took off. Its black fur shined under the nightlight. It's one yellow eye followed the scent trail. Ryou could smell him everywhere in the compound. It was useless for her to attempt and find the needle in the haystack.
"We're on the trail!" Tsume announced as she took off after her loyal hound. Ryou followed with Fugaku and three of his police officers. Kuromaru, Tsume's partner hound, ran through the compound and advanced into the forest. They all followed.
"He's going towards-" One of the officers exclaimed. Somehow, they reached the ends of the forest. They all stood before a massive cliff.
"Does the trail end here?" Fugaku asked as the group came to a sudden halt. Tsume looked uneasy. Her hound whined as he paced near the edge of the cliff.
She didn't answer. Her eyes simply peered over the edge and became wide and the horrific sight that lay below.
Fugaku rushed to the edge. Then- She felt her heart drop. Her stomach collapse a death gasp sob escaped her lips. The cruel reality hit her like a ton of bricks. It was then that she knew.