Hey guys! Chapter 10 is here, so please enjoy and tell me what you thought! ^_^ If you thought the last chapter was sad... there is no let up. More angst/sadness coming up D:

PART II- KANA

Chapter 10- Phoenix Flower Tribute

Kana woke with a jolt. It felt like she had been falling fast, and just as she was about to hit the ground, something shot through her body and woke her up. Nothing like fear to start someone's day. The sun hadn't even risen yet; its edges were creeping slowly above the low cloud surrounding the forest.

She rubbed her sore eyes and rose from the ground.

"Itachi? Wait… Oh." No… He went, didn't he? "No… No!"

Realisation dawned upon her. Where the hell did he go? What the hell was he thinking? Why the hell was that masked freak here earlier? Her head was going to explode pretty soon. Right underneath her black mass of 'just woke up' hair. Not a pleasant scene. She thought that she should stop imagining these things playing out. It might drag her further away from humanity.

She groped around her pack for a hairbrush, becoming increasingly frustrated that it didn't make an appearance. Instead, she found something curious.
Her hand pulled out a scroll, hastily tied in a single knot with a piece of string, entitled: For Kana.

As her shaking hands undid the string, fear was in her belly like a coiling snake. The writing started full of crossings out. She gulped, and began to struggle through reading the note.

Kana-

When you read this, I will be

I am very sorry, but

No words can express how much I wish to write in

I've gone to fight Sasu

This letter was at first intended to contain everything I should have said to you in the past, and to inform you of current events, however that seems to have backfired on me and I find myself writing what I want to. Perhaps it is better that way.

The day the masked man brought you to me, I was younger than you are now and full of pain. I was determined to remain committed to my plan until the end. I was convinced that having you in my life would be a burden, until I saw your face. You have been like a younger sister to me, and for that, I am grateful.

You cannot know who you are yet- that is something I can't disclose this way. But know this: You were the only person who tried hard to know me, and I can never thank you enough for the efforts, but as you are reading this, it means that your indescribable presence has not changed my resolve. From the beginning, I wanted to die.

You guessed correctly, and it troubles me to put this down on paper so openly, as I am not a person who easily reveals his inner most secrets and thoughts, but I have a feeling that you will get yourself into obscene amounts of trouble just to find an answer to your question.

Danzou Shimura was indeed the one who orchestrated the clan's annihilation and my figurative demise at the time. The Uchiha clan were about to spark a civil war that would end many lives and throw the Leaf into turmoil, therefore if I refused to kill the clan, I may have ended up endangering the lives of many innocent people. If I did kill the clan, Danzou promised to protect my little brother Sasuke.
The choice was agonising and the decision I made was the same. Of course, I could never forget that night.

Always know that I never intended to go on living, and thank you for trying.

What I did was terrible, Kana, and if I am to die it should be at Sasuke's feet.

That is where I have gone.

Don't come after me.

Go to the Leaf. They can protect you from Madara, and you them. I love the village dearly, so please cooperate with them. You will do well there. The Akatsuki is no place for you. Life is for the alive, Kana. Remember the promise.

-Itachi Uchiha

Kana's hands tightened into fists and screwed the letter up into a ball.

"Dammit, Itachi…" she growled, "DAMMIT!"

Grief threatened to overwhelm her. She threw the letter at a tree and felt an unfamiliar sensation- tears fell thick and fast down her cheeks unchecked, and she let them fall. She raised her hand to touch them, and confirmed, yes, she really was crying for him. Her big brother.

"Why? You left me here? You weren't even going to tell me? Ever? You wrote me a letter?"

Crying was such an odd thing. She knew that it was a body's natural reaction to protect the eyes from harm, but why did people do it when they were upset or happy? The mechanics of it just didn't work out. She rubbed her eyes in anger, her mouth pressed into a line to try and stop the tears coming.

Still… There was no guarantee that he would die. He did say that he would fight Sasuke, but was he really so sure that that meant his imminent death? Hope ran through her like a lifeline.

Guiltily, she went to the tree, bent down and picked up the screwed up letter. She mumbled a hasty apology before stuffing it into the pocket inside her skort. After picking up her pack, she was left with an uncomfortable reality- she truly was alone, now.

The forest around her seemed to grow in density. Volume built with the noises of birds and other creatures, maybe ninja too, and it was deafening.

"Itachi, why? I wanted you to live…"

He must have cared about his brother so much. She still didn't understand quite why he felt the need to die in front of him, but hell, what went on in his head was a mystery to all. He had to have a good reason though, to go that far.

"No, I won't let it happen. I'll go there myself!"

She had to stop him from dying, or at the very least, find out why. Maybe she would see Sasuke too.
That was settled. She sniffed and dried her eyes on her sleeves, and went to pick up her cloak. After she slipped in her arms, she noticed that the sleeves were short- almost halfway up her forearms. It was her first and only cloak, so her growth was of no surprise, but… it was the first time Kana realised that she was outgrowing it. Shaking her head, she fastened it at her chest, picked up her pack and ran.

Having a keen sense for chakra was never more useful that it was now. If Itachi was near, she would know it. The path ahead was clear and straight, so Kana closed her eyes and felt her mind empty everything, and enter a state of near complete stillness, even as her feet skimmed across the terrain. She threw out her consciousness into the open, and felt, very distantly, a glow.

Itachi. Very, very far away. There was another chakra, too, probably Sasuke's. Itachi's chakra was draining rapidly, shrouded by a technique from his sharingan. No, his mangekyou. His chakra was screaming in pain, just to sustain the technique was agony and yet it was all that was protecting him. Kana needed to move faster, or she wouldn't make it in time.

On she ran, and the signal was getting clearer. She entered rocky terrain, and was forced to snap open her eyes. It was fine, though. She could feel him close.
But no… Something was wrong. The chakra surrounding Itachi was waning, dissolving. Sasuke's was almost at zero. She now had to stop running and concentrate, just to feel them out again.

"Itachi, please…"

And it was gone. Nothing left but a minute portion of Sasuke.

"Itachi, don't die!"

Kana swore and bolted forward, getting fast until her legs started burning from the strain. This couldn't be happening, this tiny ration of hope was just a fake?! She had to hurry, if only to see him one last time…

The sky darkened quickly, and in the distance, Kana saw something spectacular: a monstrosity of a building with an Uchiha crest emblazoned on the front, completely covered in flickering jet black flames. The surrounding woodland was just as ravaged, and even the boulders and rocks were burning under the fire.

"What the hell happened here?" she growled. As she stepped forward, she felt something underneath her foot. Shivers ran through her as she lifted her foot, setting free a slippery white snake. "Orochimaru…? He left, so how…?"

She shook herself and ran towards where she had last felt his chakra. A tall rock stood before her, with a pair of Uchiha crests, cracked in hundreds of places, and lying face-down at the bottom, hugging the ground, was Itachi.

Moving was nigh impossible. Her legs felt like blocks of lead. She fell to her knees and numbly turned over his body, to see the ghost of his final smile, still painted there. His eyes were closed, peaceful. He looked satisfied. Had he gotten what he wanted? Had he chosen his death with dignity?
Despite his face, in his blissful expression, she could see a terrible sadness. It reminded her of the pain in her own body. Itachi had ended, so what wouldn't it all stop? It would be better if she were dead too, then the pain would end… Instead, she switched off.
Her entire body was numb. She was now barely aware of herself as she cradled his lifeless body, barely aware of the passing of time, too dazed to even shed any more tears for him. Yes… this was the sadness that came with losing someone precious. It had been a long time since her body had to deal with such emotion. She had softened.

She laid her head on Itachi's chest and closed her eyes to be comforted by her surrogate brother's presence, touching him for the last and longest time. She didn't want to open her eyes.

She would numb the pain until there was nothing.

Such was this numbness that she didn't notice the warping of space in front of her. As Madara wormed out of the distortion, he watched her in fascination for some time.

"Kana," he said, out of the blue.

She ignored him.

"Kana."

"What?" she cried, still clutching Itachi, refusing to let go or even look at Madara. "What is it?"

"In this reality, many will die. Itachi was simply another unfortunate life lost to the world of the shinobi…" he muttered.

"No! He was more important than that. He was…"

"Soon, his memory will fade into nothing, exactly the way he intended it to. Do not mess this up for him, Kana. He wished to die a criminal. He wished to make Sasuke a hero of the Hidden Leaf village by making it look like he killed him."

"That can't happen. He deserves more. Just get lost, before I kill you!"

"You know you can't do that. I know you're angry with me and with him, and believe it or not, it will pass. My presence probably knocked you out of that numb kind of trance, at least, but try to see reason."

"Go to hell!" She felt her mind going blank as it had in the past, with blind rage, and the next few moments were a blur, like there was fire in her head that was preventing her from thinking clearly.

Before she knew it, Madara had her, holding both her arms behind her back in an iron grip, restraining her until she stopped resisting.

"Releasing that won't make any difference. If anything, it will get worse if you don't have someone to watch over you."

He released his grip on her and she fell to the ground, exhausted. Madara bent down, touched Itachi's chest and warped him into nothing.

"Get your filthy hand off him," she said breathlessly.

"It's a bit late for that, Kana." He stared down at Itachi's body, his face unreadable. "I ought to tell you, for your sake, that Itachi was not defeated."

She sniffed, "What?"

"He collapsed near the end due to his poor health. The fight was what killed him. You know as well as I do that he was keeping himself alive by force, just long enough to do this. He was almost blind by the time the fight started, and he was shaking, barely able to dodge most of the attacks, and he kept coughing up blood throughout. He was in a greatly weakened state."

"Why would he do this, though? I just don't understand."

"You'll find out one day, when you come to know more secrets of the sharingan. Just know now that it pertains to keeping his brother, Sasuke, safe. Now, Are going to come with me and see Sasuke and continue to be a part of what can eventually give you what you wish for? Or will you not?"

She shook her head, and stood up steadily. She clenched her fists, and gave Madara once fleeting look of hatred before bolting in the direction of the village hidden in the leaves.

OOO

Life is for the alive, Kana. That was what he had said to her. Was she going to stain his words by going back to a depraved organisation that ruined her childhood? Not a chance. Tears kept threatening to surface, but she commanded them back down again. As she turned around and looked back toward the very distant black flames, a new wave of sadness hit her. She couldn't leave without saying a proper goodbye.

"Itachi… I know I was a brat as a kid. I was reckless, hyperactive and way too much chakra packed into a little girl, but I'm glad you put up with me. You taught me to fight, and although you tried to keep it bottled up, you also taught me what a true shinobi does. They don't boast or arrogantly proclaim their power; the protect people silently and honourably and without want for glory. You were a good shinobi, one of the best ever. Whatever the circumstances, Itachi… I'm glad to have met you. I promise to protect what you loved. Goodbye, brother."

She concentrated her chakra, and raised the tiger sign to her lips once more.

"Phoenix flower jutsu!"

The scarlet flames shot into the night time air, creating miniature fireworks in the navy sky.

Thus far after walking away, she had managed to reign in the stubbornly ever-present tears, but as the next day's sun rose, Kana could no longer hold them in. She could feel her world blackening, and the last thing she remembered was stumbling exhausted towards the gates of the Leaf, straight into Kakashi's arms.