Chapter 5
"Itachi, are you sure this is the right way?" Kisame grumbled. A dismal rain had just begun to fall and despite their long coats, the water was starting to drench them.
"Yes. I remember." Itachi steadily made his way through the rain. Kisame sighed.
"I guess we aren't getting back to the base tonight, huh, Itachi." Itachi didn't respond, only continued putting one foot in front of the other. When he started to cough, he had to steady himself on a tree trunk so that he didn't lose his balance.
"Itachi, are you okay? Did you strain yourself again?" Kisame put a hand on Itachi's shoulder to steady it. He stopped coughing after a few seconds and straightened up again.
"I think I overused my sharingan. But don't worry about me. I'm fine." He looked forward and started to walk forward again. Kisame didn't say anything, only looked at his partner with increasing anxiety until Itachi finally reached the clearing. "Ah, here we are."
"What is she doing standing in the rain?" Kisame asked and scowled when Itachi shrugged.
Yani was indeed standing in the rain with her arms crossed and her eyes staring into the distance. Her long hair hung in black, wet streaks and her clothes stuck to her slim figure, clearly showing that she was shivering. Kisame and Itachi looked at each other, each noting that her lips were tinged slightly blue and that she had lost color in her cheeks. However, when they started to approach, she heard them and gave a warm smile in their direction.
"You guys must be freezing!" she exclaimed when they reached her. She lightly slid her right hand into Itachi's left hand and her left hand into Kisame's right hand.
"But your hands are colder than ours," Kisame noted, trying to cover as much of Yani's cold hands as he could with his slightly warmer hands. Yani smiled again and started to move forward.
"It's okay if I'm cold. As long as you guys aren't." As they moved across the clearing, Kisame and Itachi exchanged glances over Yani's head, suspicious of her intention.
"Itachi? I know you're tired, but can you activate your sharigan? I need you to memorize the path to my house so that if you guys ever need it, you can use it." Obediently, Itachi's irises turned red as three dots appeared and circled around his pupil. He nodded and Yani began the path to her house.
Kisame, who didn't have the bloodline limit of sharingan, would have become hopelessly lost if he hadn't had Yani's hand in his own. Usually, there were holes in the brush that were hard to fit into unless you were Yani's size and stepping-stones too slippery for anyone besides Yani's nimble feet. However, they finally arrived at a huge house, which just fell short of being called a mansion, drenching wet by the pounding rain and freezing. Quickly, they ran to the front door and shook off all the moisture they could.
"Why are you laughing?" said Itachi, puzzled by Yani's behavior. Yani stopped, with a hand over her mouth, eyes a sharp, light blue.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know I was."
"No, no don't be sad…" Itachi said hastily.
"I think what Itachi's is trying to say is that we don't have a problem with you laughing, but why are you?" Kisame looked at Itachi with a pointed look.
"Oh, well…" Yani smiled and just opened the door, making the two ninja's wonder if the front door was ever locked. "This is big house and I usually don't have company. I get lonely. That's why I usually sleep at Kakashi's house. So, I'm glad you guys are here." She said this so sadly and so quietly that every suspicion of her evaporated from the ninjas' minds. "Why don't you hang up your clothes and pick a bedroom? Each one has it's own bathroom so there are towels if you need to dry off. Actually, why don't you guys take a shower, and when you're done, I'll have something for you to eat." Kisame and Itachi looked at each other.
"Actually, can we share a room?" Kisame asked, shifting uncomfortably in his wet clothes.
"Sure. The bigger rooms are upstairs." Yani disappeared into the kitchen.
"Do you think she's planning to kill us?" Kisame questioned his partner as they were trudging up the stairs. Itachi hesitated and then started to speak.
"No, I don't think so. What confuses me is that she looked like she was waiting for us at the meadow before. How could she have known that we were coming? How she got this big house in the middle of nowhere is also strange."
"Well, if anything, it's a free place to stay and free food." Kisame proceeded to hang up both of their dripping coats as Itachi continued to think.
"Well… we don't know if it's free yet. This might still be a trap. She obviously knows Kakashi. Probably, the only reason she isn't reporting us is the fact that she has no idea who we are." Itachi started to cough again as Kisame hovered, worried. "I'm fine, Kisame," he said after he stopped. "Why don't you take a shower first?" Kisame nodded and then went into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. Suddenly, he opened the door again.
"Hey Itachi, if she knows Kakashi, maybe she knows Sasuke." With that, he closed the door again, leaving Itachi to think about the possibility.
"Maybe," he said to himself, looking out the window.
Kisame opened the door of his room to see Yani, who had been knocking on the door a second ago.
"Hi! Can you help me bring the table up?" Kisame nodded and followed Yani downstairs, picking up the table laden with all sorts of hot dishes. By the time they got back upstairs, Itachi had come out of the shower and was looking out the window to watch the rain outside.
"Thank you for bringing up the table." Yani smiled at Kisame. "If you need more food, just ask me." As Yani was about to go out the door, Itachi started coughing again, this time violently.
"Oh, that sounds bad. Can I heal that for you?"
"No, don't." Kisame and Yani looked at him with different emotions on their faces. The shark ninja had an incredulous and concerned look on his face, clearly betraying what he was thinking. Yani, on the other hand, first had a puzzled look on her face, her eyes green. Then, they slowly turned into an ice blue as vague understanding clicked in her eyes. A small shiver passed through Itachi as he looked into those eyes. At that moment, he felt that Yani had stripped him of everything, washed his heart with cold water, and examined the very core of his being. Stepping forward hesitantly, she slowly passed a hand over the front of his neck and hummed a slow, solid, earthy melody, watching him for a sign to stop. When she took her hand away, his sore throat was gone. His chest still hurt but the need to cough had disappeared.
"Is that… okay?" she asked, wondering if she had guessed right. Itachi nodded and gently took hold of her Yani's wrist, facing her palm upwards.
"Here," he said, handing Yani a packet of color pencils. Her eyes widened when she realized what they were.
"I broke one last time. I'm sorry." They just stood staring at each other, both of them equally confused by what they knew of the other person.
"You're favorite color is gold, isn't it?" Yani asked. Her eyes flashed from a confused green to a gold-sprinkled black as she laughed at Itachi's astonishment and ran out the door.
"Thanks for everything, Yani," Kisame said, narrowing his eyes against the bright glare of the sun in the early morning sky. Itachi nodded and smiled slightly.
"No problem. You guys know the way back, right?" Itachi tapped under his eye and smiled again, this time, more widely.
"Good. See you again soon!"
"Wait, Yani." She turned around to face Itachi.
"Yeah?"
"Do you know a Sasuke Uchiha?"
"Yes, why?"
"How… how is he?" Yani looked up at the cloudless sky and sighed.
"He's… approaching a decision point. Whatever he picks will completely change the course of our nation." She looked at Itachi again. "He was really impacted by what his brother did."
"What did his brother do?" Itachi asked, his face stoic.
"He killed his entire clan and told Sasuke the only reason he spared his life was so that Sasuke could start to hate more." Yani tilted her head, looking at Itachi with thin blue eyes.
"His brother is horrible, isn't he?" Itachi asked, looking away into the forest.
"…no." Quickly reverting his eyes to Yani, he gave her a questioning look. She started to speak slowly. "A… brother's love… is very strong. I think… somehow… Sasuke's older brother was trying to protect Sasuke… even if this killing had to occur. It… is a very strong love…"
Kisame's genuine laugh exploded into the silence, as Itachi forced a smile. But even though a beautiful smile was on her face, Yani's eyes were still a cold blue.
"Well, we have to go," Kisame stated, and started to turn around when Yani spoke again.
"Can you guys do me a favor?"
"If it is reasonable," Kisame said and grinned.
"You're part of the Akatsuki, right?" Both of them narrowed their eyes and shifted slightly into a more threatening stance.
"So you knew, huh?" Kisame mumbled and smiled his shark smile. "We aren't going to stop killing people only because you housed us for one night." Yani scowled.
"Let her finish, Kisame," Itachi said quietly.
"Please… come visit again. With more of your group members if you can." The expressions of amazement on the two ninja's faces were so intense, it bordered on hilarious.
"You… are well aware of the fact that we are the greatest power of organized crime in the ninja nations and yet, you still want to associate with us?" Kisame managed to say.
"Did you read the sign?" Yani responded, and tapped on a wooden plaque next to her, drilled in to the door.
"In the darkness, light does bloom
In the light, exists the gloom
There is a balance in good and bad
That is not contained to a broken tomb
Do not ask me to forsake the night
Do not ask to dim the light
All I do is heal all hearts
I'll help when all men cease to fight
There are exceptions. A flower sign
Dwells upon those who are mine
Though it may not seem, I can kill with ease
Do not try to cross the line
Beyond this point, all life is dear
Do not try to fight in here
If you do, I warn thee
You have yet to know what is true fear"
"An ally for both sides, eh?" Kisame laughed, "Well, how can we trust you?"
"Trust is built. You can't just TRUST me. But after a while, you'll start believing in me." Yani shrugged and then smiled. "But I really do want to meet your teammates."
"We'll see," Itachi said and started to walk back to the shadows of the forest, Kisame right behind him.