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Chapter 9- Itachi's Feelings
Kana stood at the gates of the village. She was in a much better mood now than the one she arrived in, thanks to getting rather a lot off her chest. About the deciding within a matter of seconds to switch her allegiance, and discussing a few important topics with Kakashi. Now that they had touched some nerves, hit a few sore spots, the air around them while they talked seemed clearer. She felt like, this time, she had changed a little. She had started considering the reasons for her life and work, and it was making her head spin.
Oh well, there was no use worrying about it. That just wasn't her style.
"Remember, if you learn anything about Akatsuki's plans, report it to us right away," Kakashi reminded her for the twentieth time.
"Yeah yeah, I promise, alright?" she grinned. "I'm so good at acting, they'll never guess!"
"I highly doubt that, but seriously, do your best. You don't want to be a part of them anymore, right? Then this is you golden opportunity."
"I will. I'll definitely find out the truth about Itachi while I'm at it, too."
"How did you manage, being raised by a…"
"A murderer?" she asked lightly, and then smiled to herself. "I don't know… It wasn't all that bad… If he's a bad person at heart, you can have my head."
She nodded with conviction, swivelled round, and took some steps. She had no pack, and no tools, insisting that she would find food somehow; she could fight well enough with a rock in her palm, and she didn't need kunai or shuriken. Her black cloak, embossed with the red clouds, fluttered in the strengthening wind, and her hair whipped across her face. Well, she thought, if I don't need kunai or shuriken… If I'm good enough for that, maybe I am pretty powerful. I kinda wish I wasn't. Maybe then people would stop using me to do bad things.
"I'll be back soon. See ya, Kakashi!" she yelled, and shot off into the distance.
OOO
"Geez, that Danzo bastard… He's such a shady character… I think I don't even care if I'm being used or not. I'll do what I want."
Travelling alone was nowhere near as fun. Okay, travelling with Itachi wasn't exactly a picnic, what with the constant training, the missions, and the sleeping on cold, hard ground, but having a companion on her travels definitely helped. She mused about her first few weeks of travelling. She was too small to keep going for long, and needed a lot of sleep. She had cried about sleeping in dirt, and her muscles had ached like crazy.
It had been a few days since she had left the Lead, and she was covering a lot of ground. She was out of the Fire country, heading west to the village hidden in the Rain. She could sense Itachi's chakra even from this distance- he wasn't far from the Rain village, so that was the direction in which she would head.
After another day of hiking, Kana saw with a leap in her stomach the tall, dark figure of Itachi approaching her. She felt like crying out loud from joy, but instead chose to run immediately to his side.
"Itachi! I'm so glad I'm back with you again…" she said, breathing a sigh of relief. He didn't respond. "Are you alright? You don't seem too well."
"I am perfectly alright. Kana. Did they interrogate you?"
"Yep, but I didn't say a word!"
"You seem different."
"I could say the same to you!"
"No, you seem… satisfied with something. Like you've obtained confidence from somewhere. Did the Hidden Leaf change you that much? Did you enjoy yourself there too much?"
"Yeah, I guess you could say it was an eventful visit. Did you know they kept chakra drainers in their prison cells? Oh yeah, and that Kakashi's really not a bad a guy. He took those handcuffs off me. They all work together in a team, and cooperate well. It isn't something I've seen before."
"Yeah," Itachi agreed. "I suppose you could say… It's an easy place to love. Despite its many flaws, that is."
"Do you love it there, Itachi?"
Itachi didn't reply straightaway. He didn't reply on topic, either. "… Kana, we must hurry now. We've spent a lot of time dawdling here, talking. We have to move."
His mouth was pressed into a line and Kana felt that once again, she had trodden into forbidden territory with him.
A little irritated, she said, "Fine. Why is that?"
"Because… There is something urgent that needs to be addressed."
"Er, right… what?"
"Just walk, Kana. Enough with the questions."
"Stop being so damn cryptic!"
OOO
Later on, the sun had set and once again, Kana found herself and Itachi looking for the best place to lie on the ground and sleep. She had been doing this for years, but not until now did she ever wonder what it was like to sleep in a bed. She had been so used to the ground that the thought of sleeping in a bed seemed completely alien. She liked sleeping out in nature, anyway. The risk of being attacked by enemy ninja was just a small part of it; anyway, with their power, she doubted very much that anyone would show up and present much of a challenge.
"Itachi?"
"What is it, Kana?"
"You seem down. What's wrong? You've been acting so weird since I got out of the Leaf." You're acting like you were when I first met you. You're different.
A shadow passed over his face. "Nothing's the matter."
"That thing you have to attend to, to hurry to… what is it?"
"It's an invitation."
"To what?"
"It's nothing…"
"But you seem really worried! Seriously Itachi, you're scaring me. What is wrong with you?"
His jaw hardened and he looked away. Kana frowned. He had become increasingly quiet and broody, the further away they got from the village, the closer they got to whatever invitation he was attending to. Think, she told herself, think. What was wrong? It wasn't like Itachi to allow his mood to affect others. It was something important, something that worried him. An invitation… The only person outside Akatsuki who knew Itachi well was… Sasuke.
"Itachi, what really happened the night of your clan's murder?"
He did a sharp intake of breath. "How did you find out about that?"
"Kakashi told me. I… were you manipulated into doing it? I said this all along… I've never believed you were a bad person, and I'll stand by that statement. Was it… was it Danzo of the Leaf? Did he tell you to? I don't understand why, but I had this theory and you see…"
A wry smile curled around the edges of his lips and he closed his eyes. He faced the sky and opened them again, this time, with his Mangekyou sharingan activated. Kana felt her heart tighten, until she saw his saddened expression.
"Kana, did you know that I can barely see out of these eyes now?"
"No! You never told me…"
"You see, I thought I would be able to see my own path clearly forever, see my brother's path forever… I thought I was in control. Now you see my eyesight is almost completely deteriorated. Your eyes are better than mine, Kana, in more ways than that obvious that I saw once. You guessed what no-one else could guess. I'll tell you nothing in detail about that night, but it is imperative that you tell not a soul of what you have guessed."
"Itachi, what are you saying?" she replied with a nervous giggle, but unsmiling. "You're acting so odd… Wait, was I right?"
"Kana, I'm dying. You know that. So, as a last wish, please retain the Uchiha's honour for me."
"You will not die if I have anything to do with it! I'd swim to the ends of the planet to find a better medicine to stop you from dying of that disease."
"Kana… we're humans, not fish. Merely humans."
OOO
As Kana curled up for the night, Itachi stayed sat up, still staring up at the night sky, thinking about something even she couldn't discern. Maybe she'd never know the reason for his odd behaviour. He seemed deeply saddened by something, he wanted to tell her something, but stopped himself, or he couldn't quite find the right words.
Kana pretended to fall asleep. The gentle cacophony of the nocturnal creatures was highly distracting tonight.
Soon, Kana felt a strange suction of air coming from nearby. It was as if, someone was tightening the air in a certain area. After only a few seconds, the air loosened again, and she felt the magnitude of a presence that sent chills of dread cascading down her spine. She discreetly wrapped her cloak up by her head to stop him from entering her line of sight.
"Hello, Madara. Or Tobi." Itachi's monotonous voice sounded.
"Itachi, it's nearly time for the end, isn't it? After all your effort, you are finally going to get your wish. You are too gentle to be a shinobi, Uchiha."
"Just get to the point. Why are you here?" His voice rang with tension.
"By now, you have probably guessed who, or what, Kana is. You have probably known for a long time."
"I saw it the day she made her first kill. It seems to only be activated when she is in severe distress. I've never seen anything like it."
"As such, it's time for me to take her off your hands, then. You did a fair job, Itachi, of it all… but it might have been too good a job. We'll never be able to hold her down long enough… No matter. You fulfilled your mission very well."
"It wasn't merely a mission. It seems that, this time, it was both me and Kana that were being used… because of our uncommon eye natures, and our uncommon hearts."
"Itachi… Enough idle chat, now. It's time for you to go. You have sustained your life with medicine for long enough, and it's time to transfer your focus to your brother now. He's been waiting for seven years."
"I meant for it to be this way; it was my goal from the very beginning."
"My goal can now go into place. I've kept my word for long enough. The Leaf is now no longer under your protection, Itachi. If you die tonight, you know it means, don't you?"
Itachi gritted his teeth. "Don't lay a finger on my village."
"Well, you've let me see your true side, now? I know everything about you now."
"Damn you, Madara…"
"Enough idle chatter. Time for you to go. Goodbye, Itachi."
Kana squinted open an eye, to see the masked man form a spiral in the air, twist it, and suck himself into the gap between the dimensions, disappearing after a few seconds.
Itachi sighed. "It's time."
Kana snapped open her eyes, gritted her teeth and rose very quickly. It didn't matter what Madara had been saying about her. Maybe it would have intrigued her if she hadn't just heard Itachi agree to leave her, just like that! What in hell was so important that he had to leave to do it?
"What the hell, Itachi?!" she growled, fists clenched.
"Kana, what are you doing awake?"
He sounded weary. He approached slowly, looking different again to what he did before she was captured by the Leaf.
"Itachi, what are you talking about? Does this have something to do with Sasuke? You can't just up and leave like this. 'If you die tonight'… What? Are you going to fight your brother?"
"Don't get yourself involved with these problems, Kana. It won't end well." He didn't raise his voice at all, but still, Kana felt an odd flicker of fear coming from the man in front of her.
"I don't understand…" she mumbled.
"Everything will be clear one day. Don't let it worry you."
"Don't go, Itachi." It's a selfish wish, I know, but…
"We'll make a deal then. Well, think of it as a promise from me…" He closed his eyes. "Our paths will cross again, in the future. They will. "
Kana swallowed and nodded wordlessly.
"Go back to sleep, Kana, so your face is peaceful again."
She couldn't argue with a tone that sounded so sad. She turned over, curled up and drifted into an uneasy sleep.
OOO
ITACHI'S VIEW
"Kana…" he said absentmindedly.
He reached over into his pack and felt around inside until he extracted a scroll and a pen.
"I have to leave this, at the very least."
He held the pen hovering over the blank page for a moment and pressed his lips together in thought, before putting pen to paper and writing his farewells.
OOO
The hideout was as enormous and rustic as he remembered. The Uchiha crest stood proudly on the outside of the building, and inside was a tangle of ivy, weeds and dampness, with a single, once grand throne at the far end, furthest away from any light.
The sun began to rise, sending Itachi's features into brightness, before he descended further back into the building. He set eyes on the cracked stone throne, and smiled wryly to himself. He put his hands in the pockets of his cloak and slumped himself in the seat of the king, leaning on one elbow on the arm of the throne.
As he heard the measured footsteps, caught vague sight of the younger brother's figure moving slowly towards him, he shut his eyes.
"What do you see, when you look at me with those sharingan of yours, little brother?" he muttered.
"What do I see? I see your death, brother."
"You see my death? Well, try to make that a reality… Forgive me, Sasuke."