BEFORE IT STARTS I WANT TO POINT OUT THAT THIS IS SIMPLY A TANSITIONAL CHAPTER.
besides that, sometimes i feel like the AU goes too far and then stuff happens and the characters change and develop to fit the mold of the new world, rather than the old one in which they previously lived.
besides THAT i love blue exorcist so much. like, so so much! YukioxRin forever! ^^
It was early morning but Konan was still awake, thinking, wondering if there were consequences for any actions she took beyond this point.
Konaha had one of the highest death rates of all of the villages due to murder or accidents, so there should be an abundance of… spare parts and organs unharmed by alcohol and drugs. It occurred to her momentarily that she could significantly increase Itachi's life span if she told the doctors why he was sick. But she knew she couldn't do that.
So instead, Konan sat on the roof of her trailer and dwelled on what-if's.
Deidara was going to die tomorrow.
It was weird to think that a future she had predicted so long ago was coming true in the next 48 hours.
But it wasn't right to think about that right now. The more she thought about it, the more ideas would form about trying to stop it. And that wasn't an option.
Konan decided to pay less attention to her thoughts, and watched as Kisame left his own trailer, having been unable to sleep with thoughts plaguing his mind of the fate awaiting Itachi. It was hard for her to concentrate on sleep as well, with all of the heavy thoughts filling the minds of all of the people around her. Everybody was worried, wondering what would happen and trying to prepare themselves for the worst.
She watched Kisame drag Sakura out of the infirmary, where she had slept, and drag the poor pajama clad pinkette into town to see if there was anything they could do that the doctors hadn't already tried. This was right on schedule and so she wasn't surprised in the slightest. She could only watch it all play out as it was supposed to. Knowing should've been comforting and familiar to her, but it was only cold and frightening.
She'd often thought of situations, where it would be better not to know; like, if you were walking down the street and you only had four minutes left to live. Would you rather know and have to struggle to come to terms with it, or be struck down in four minutes, oblivious up until that final moment?
Every time Konan thought about it, she came to the same conclusion; it was better to be ignorant, than to know every little thing. Which was why she would never tell, when she was sure nothing would change.
As she watched, she didn't have to imagine what Kisame was feeling at that moment, because his thoughts were so thick they carried the bulk of his emotion with them.
Fear of the known, of the inevitable truth, of a future that could've been avoided had he made a different decision all those years ago. If there was a way to turn back time, he thought for certain that he would do so, and ignore the three boys he saw struggling down a path in Konaha.
Nobody knew what made the heart do the things it did or want the things it wanted, but he was almost certain that if he could rewind time, he could stop his heart from forcing him to help a group of complete strangers, one of whom would eventually become his undoing.
He knew that idiotic phrase very well; "it's better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all," and he knew that was just one of those idiotic things that idiots say. Idiots who didn't know what it felt like to truly lose someone they cared about, or to spend every waking moment wondering if there was something they could do or could've done before to change the facts. That phrase was made up and constantly said by idiots who had never loved and never lost.
He ignored Sakura and any attempts she made at talking to him and kept going, through the rural area surrounding the circus, across the large bridge and into the village. It was still pretty lively for being so early in the morning.
He dragged Sakura over to the hospital, hoping she was awake enough to be of any use. They were recognized instantly – or rather, his cloak was recognized – and they were led by a nurse away from the waiting room, where the normal patients stared and seemed to be a little – if not a lot – unnerved by the two unusual strangers, and into a private part of the hospital.
Itachi was still an Uchiha, whether or not he had signed a contract just minutes before he collapsed, stating otherwise, and so he had only the best doctors in the village trying to figure out what was wrong with him. Of course, without his records for the past few years, they didn't get very far.
"okay, let's do this," Sakura said through a yawn, stretching with her eyes half closed, she was ushered away quickly by a group of five doctors, all of them with more experience than she had but equal, if not less skill. Kisame was left in the room with a barely conscious Itachi.
He couldn't help noticing the way this room was so big and nice, not like the curtained off rooms back at the circus, with only a hard, worn out hospital bed and room enough for an EKG machine. No this room was different; it was fully furnished, almost like a hotel room only slightly less fancy. He knew without asking, that this was a hospice room, they were expecting Itachi to die in this room.
In many ways, it looked like Itachi had already died, in fact if not for the harsh rise and fall of his chest and the weak, out of beat succession of beeps emitting from the EKG machine beside him, it would really seem that way. Even though his eyes were open, they were blank and it was as though he saw nothing at all through them.
Kisame felt that sick feeling in his stomach; that feeling that told him to leave and wait outside and pretend nothing was wrong, but he remembered what Sasori told him before they left Ame, and steeled himself for what was happening. No matter what, he would make sure Itachi didn't die thinking that he was alone.
"Hey," was all Kisame said to announce his presence, taking a seat beside the bed.
"Didn't think you were coming," Itachi rasped in return, turning over so he could look at the other before his sight completely deteriorated. He knew he must looked terrible, but with the way it hurt he was far beyond the point of caring.
Kisame tried his best to laugh at that; to make light of the situation and of the words that had just been spoken, but he found it came out more heavy and sarcastic than he'd intended.
"You thought I'd miss this?" he asked quietly, "this is my favorite part; the part where you miraculously get better and we go home and pretend this never happened."
"That sounds like a lovely idea," Itachi paused briefly to cough, drops of blood hitting his hand as he moved to cover his mouth. "But I'm afraid I might have other plans."
"I brought Sakura with me," Kisame said, "I thought maybe she could help them out. If anyone has a chance of making you better, it's her."
Itachi sighed, ignoring the dry, burning feeling in his throat, as he had throughout this entire conversation.
"Kisame, I think maybe this time, I won't be getting better."
Kisame took it in stride and replied, "Then maybe you shouldn't think."
"I'm serious –"
"So am I," Kisame leaned forward, resting his head on the bed in front of him, draping an arm lazily over the frail, blanket covered body and taking Itachi's hand in his own, he said, "if you only have a few days left, I'd really rather not know. I don't want to think about it anymore."
He watched Itachi slowly smile, weakly but it was still a smile. He said, "it may be my last, but I think today will be a good day."
Sasori had spent the last two days agonizing over what Konan could possibly mean would happen on Friday. Today was Thursday, which didn't leave him much time to figure it out. He wondered if it had anything to do with his first night here, and what he'd been told. He could still remember it like it had just happened, and he remembered worrying every moment that followed, about Deidara and whether or not Konan had told the truth.
He wondered if the things had any connection at all, or if Konan's slip up a few days ago had been about Itachi.
Things were looking pretty bad right now, and all of the children were acting like zombies because of it. He didn't think they were all that close to Itachi, but children had a way of sensing the mood and adapting to it, sometimes going as far as to absorb it.
Sasuke was taking it out on everyone. There hadn't been a five minute stretch the entire morning where he couldn't be heard cursing someone out for something completely arbitrary. Sasori guessed it was his way of coming to terms with reality.
Poor kid. He was only thirteen and had lived a – relatively – normal life up until now. Normal kids shouldn't have to deal with this type of thing while they were still growing up.
Of course, the only person, kid or otherwise, who was able to get through to him, was Naruto, who simply wouldn't put up with Sasuke's attitude, no matter what the circumstances. Sasori watched them argue quietly and away from the rest of the children, though Sasuke seemed less into it than he usually did, but he was looking better than he did when Sasori had gotten the children up that morning.
Konan was around too, not paying much attention and being a general waste of space. It seemed as though she hadn't slept all night, tough she probably hadn't. Sasori made no attempt to talk to her, lest they get into another argument. Besides, he didn't even need to open his mouth for her to know what he wanted to say.
There wasn't going to be a show that night; Konan and Pein were going into town in about an hour and wouldn't be back until either late that night or early the next morning. Most of the Konaha families were coming to the camp today as well, all having heard what happened and eager to see that their own children were alive and well. Sasori wondered what it would be like to have a nice, loving family and at the same time, he wondered what it would be like just to have a family, one who didn't care about you at all but at least existed.
Would I be better than this?
"Your thoughts are all over the place today," Konan said, having decided to break the silence between them. She sat on the table before Sasori, not facing him but staring out at all of the children in the room. "What's bothering you?"
"You can read my mind so you should already know that much," Sasori replied coldly.
"You're right. I know that much and a lot more than I should," she said cheerfully. Some times Sasori wondered if –
"I'm not bi-polar," Konan said before the thought could even be finished, "but listen, we're going to be gone for quite a while. I need you to do something for me, okay?" every fiber of her being told her to be quiet in that moment, but she simply couldn't bring herself to obey. There were some things that were bigger than rules.
"Sure, what do you need?" Sasori asked disinterestedly, "if you want me to take care of the kids while you're gone you should know that's pretty much a given."
Konan nodded, "I know," she said, "but you know the parents are coming in so you won't have to worry about the kids. I need you to keep a close eye on Deidara, I… I don't think he's taking things very well so I need you to watch him for me, okay? Don't let him out of your sight once the parents get here, and don't let him leave the camp."
"Sure, I can do that," Sasori said. He knew there was no point in asking why.
"Thanks," Konan gave him the most genuine smile she could muster up, "I don't think I'd be able to focus if I didn't know everything around here is being taken care of."
She made to get up, but Sasori had one final thing to ask, "will Itachi be alright?" and it was weird, because before, the children hadn't been listening, but the whole room seemed to suddenly freeze when he asked that.
Konan sensed it, and all of the questions swimming around in the children's minds. She simply told the truth, the only truth she knew because she honestly didn't know if anything could stop her from repeating the same mistake she had just made with Sasori. "I don't know," she said.
as i said, transitional chapter, which means not a lot happens.