Author's Note:

ZAP! ZAP!

And that's all I have to say about that

Chapter 9-Strength

Sasuke kept his eyes fixed on Itachi as Katai went after her older sister. "What are you doing here?" the younger brother demanded.

"To finish what I started."

~*~

A small gust of wind blew through a clearing creating an invisible barrier between the two fighters, sisters getting ready for battle, a ninja and a daddy's girl.

In unison, the two girls started flashing through hand signs, as if a checkered flag waved in front of them to start the battle.

^o^

I couldn't believe it! Suki has mastered my kekki genkai too. Her chocolate eyes turned violet, as everyone who uses the technique does. Last I knew she had no fighting skills whatsoever.

Setting my confusion aside, I moved into kumite dachi and prepared to fight an opponent with unknown skills. My glaive lowered to the ready; its deadly blade leveled itself with my sister's neck.

Suki tired of our staring contest first and charged at me with the speed I'd discovered she had a few minutes ago. I reached into my leg pouch, took out four throwing needles, and threw them, not aiming for any of her vital spots.

"You'll have to do better than that." She said dodging them easily. "If you don't strike to kill, why stride at all? You'll only be wasting your resources."

She's right, I knew it, but how did she know? Last time I met her she knew nothing of battle. Now, she moves as if she's trained all her life for this moment.

Quickly, zigzagging across the clearing, my sister closed in on me fast. Kunai filled her hands. Equaling Suki's speed, I spun my naginata around only for it to be blocked. I grinned at the sound of metal grinding against metal. This is going to be fun. I thought as I repelled my onee-san's knives. No matter how skilled a fighter Suki might've become, her strength could never equal the strength I've built up over the years; and she'll never be able to match my experience.

In a flurry of movement we dodged in and out, our weapons clashed together. Sparks flew off of the friction-heated steel. My grin grew into a smile as we moved faster and faster. Our movements blurred in the graceful dance of battle.

I could feel the sweat running down my temple, lightly tickling the corner of my eye. I knew that no matter how much fun I could have in this fight, I needed to finish this up fast so I could get back and help Sasuke. Unlike Suki and me, the power difference between Sasuke and Itachi is less obvious, and Itachi has always been stronger. I continued my tijutsu battle with Suki, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike her down.

My chance came when Suki attempted a spinning back kick to my sternum. I jumped out of her reach, thrust out my naginata, and whispered, "Erekutorikku." My chakra escaped out of my hands, down the shaft of my weapon and shot out the blade, engulfing Suki in a torrent of electricity. My sister gave out a blood curling scream and collapsed to the ground. Her skin was burned in quite a few places where the electricity was most focused. Unfortunately, she was not dead yet.

~*~

Sasuke and Itachi continued to stare at each other long after Suki and Katai left. Both their eyes were red with sharinggon. "What are you doing here Itachi?" Sasuke asked, trying to suppress his violent jealousy of his brother.

"That is not for you to know." Itachi replied unemotionally.

"It obviously is since you're here attacking my…Katai and me."

"You seem to have unnecessary feelings for that girl. Be careful, your emotions have always been your downfall."

Sasuke clutched his fists, channeling his anger to use it in the fight. "I never asked for another one of your fighting lessons."

"Really? You used to beg me to teach you when you were younger."

"That was before, when you were a fake!" Sasuke finally snapped and could hold himself no longer. Close to being blind with rage, he threw himself at Itachi, chidori growing and chirping in his hand.

~*~

Slumped on the ground, holding herself in her arms, Suki caught her breath and started laughing. "Don't you see, Katai?" she said between giggles. "even if you do manage to somehow defeat me—which, by the way, is impossible—Itachi will only come and finish my job."

I clenched my teeth. "Not if Sasuke finished Itachi off first." That statement only seemed to fuel my sister's obsessive laughing.

"Impossible!" she spat.

"Why, why is it so impossible?" my patience for my sister was starting to wear thin.

"Dear sister, do you even know how the feud began?"

"You know it's forbidden to talk about, even if someone has the story."

"Oh people know the story, onee-chan, everyone knows. The records of it are in the house library. I guessed you would have known judging on how much time you've spent there in the past." My eyes narrowed. "But it seems you are not as educated as you would like to believe." Suki's grin grew. "It's story time, dear sister."

I knew I needed to get back to Sasuke, but for some reason I could not bring myself to finish my ranting sister off. So, instead, I crouched, but kept my naginata pointing at my sister as she wove the tale of what happened one hundred years in the past.

~*~

Itachi skillfully dogged the chidori, grabbing Sasuke's arm and lifted his knee up into his younger brother's stomach. Spit flew out of Sasuke's mouth as he crumpled onto the ground. Before he could stop it, a small moan of agony escaped from his lips.

"You're weak, brother. How can you go on when your judgment is clouded by your unnecessary feelings of love?"

"What about Suki?" Sasuke spat back, slowly rising to his feet, "there's more to that relationship than what meets the eye."

"Suki, like all other shinobi, is a tool. I taught her how to fight; won her loyalty, and promised her the one thing she wanted most—the death of her sister."

Why would she want that? Sasuke thought.

"To get revenge." Itachi answered, as if he were reading Sasuke's thoughts. "Katai had the one think Suki always wanted, and now, she has that in her grasp when all things fall according to the plan."

"And what is th…" Sasuke froze before he could finish his question. Fear and realization spread into his eyes.

Itachi's finger was pointing directly at him.

~*~

One hundred years ago, all the clans lived in peace. They traded with each other, let lovers marry between the clans, everyone was happy overall. That is, until the secret of the Uchia clan was finally revealed.

At this time, the head of the Yakunan clan was Yakunan Waizu. He was setting at his desk, completing the last of that day's paperwork when his right hand man, Yakunan Shinnin, came into the room bearing grave news.

Over the last few years, spies discovered that the Uchia clan was not as peaceful as they were led to think. The spies discovered the true reason why Uchia shinobi were the best. From a young age, they were teaching their children to be abstemious and cold blooded killers. Saying that the only way to be successful was to train hard and not care for anyone's life, not even their own.

This news enraged Waizu and the rest of the Yakunan clan as well. War broke out between the two strongest clans for three years. But Waizu knew that nothing but destruction could come from fighting. He called his troops back and cut off all communication with the Uchia chan. Once happy marriages between the clans were then either strained or broken. Some Yakunan's went to live with their spouse in Uchia territory, cut off from their families for the rest of their life. Others left their spouse and went back to their father's family. But, no Uchia's were ever allowed to set foot on Yakunan territory, married or not.

For years things went on like this. Waizu passed away and another clan leader took his place. The feud never ended. There were some years when the clan leaders would try and find a possible end to the feud for the sake of fire countrymen, but the negotiations only ended in insults and fighting.

Finally, on hundred years after Yakunan Waizu learned of the Uchia's heartless behavior, successful negotiations ended in a marriage treaty between Uchia Sasuke and Yakunan Katai.

~*~

"So you see, dear sister, the reason it is impossible for you and Sasuke-kun to defeat Itachi and I is because the feud may be over, but the cause of it is not taken care of yet. Itachi is one of these abstemious, perfect shinobi and he taught me to be that way too. We don't care what happens to us as long as our goal is reached!" in her last sentence, Suki's voice rose to a screech as she jumped forward, throwing electricity at me.

Acting on instinct, I did something I never thought possible. It was too late to move out of the way. So, instead of moving, I braced myself for the jolt and prayed for a miracle.

I gasped as I felt the current run through my body. It was like holding all the power in the universe inside me. But with that terrifying power, came the searing agony of the heat of the sun. I felt like I could run a thousand miles and collapse with fatigue and pain at the same time. But, just as fast as that power entered my system, it was gone again, in the blink of an eye.

Then reality kicked in, my bitten-back scream turned into a high-pitched moan as my body collapsed onto the ground. My stomach convulsed and I was shaking all over. I lost all sense of space and perception. Somewhere in the nearby distance I heard Suki's far off screech before surrendering my mind to the black, velvet abyss of unconsciousness.

~*~

Sasuke opened his eyes to the red and black terrain of Itachi's torturous illusion of reality. Quickly, he registered his surroundings; chains bound his wrists and ankles, holding him to the ground; a large glass box of water was in front of him and a very wet Katai was in the box. Itachi stood off to the side, explaining the "reality" in his illusion. But Sasuke couldn't hear him. Instead, his attention was fixed on the scene before him.

The glass cube was completely filled with water and no air could get in or out. He watched, unable to turn away, as Katai thrashed and banged against the sides of the box but to no avail. She was strapped and slowly running out of time. Gradually her movements weakened, her body sank toward the bottom. Sasuke could see the wild fear in her eyes before her burning lungs finally released her last breath. Her body convulsed when she tried inhaling the water. She managed to look at Sasuke as if to say, "Help me" before her eyes glazed over and her body went limp, floating to the top of the water.

The feelings welling up inside Sasuke were indescribable. It was a mixture of anger, fear, sorrow, pain, and most of all, helplessness. There was noting he could do to help his best friend. But, he knew that he had to do something to get himself out of the mess he was in. unbeknownst to Itachi, Sasuke had discovered a third way to get out of this kind of illusion.

When the scene repeated itself, Sasuke struggled against his binds with everything he has. He tried desperately to get free and save the image of Katai. But, despite his best efforts, none of his chains would loosen.

"It's useless, brother." Itachi calmly said, unimpressed at his brother's efforts to free himself. "You are trapped there, forced to watch this female die, until I decide to free you." At the end of his sentence, Sasuke watched, with horror, as Katai's last breath escaped from her mouth again.

Second after second, struggle after struggle, one last breath followed by another, so many fear filled eyes screamed for rescue. Slowly Sasuke took this all in while struggling against his own binds.

"This is what happens when you start to feel." Itachi said. "You watch those you feel for die and it clouds your judgment, it makes you weak."

At that word, Sasuke pulled harder than he ever did before in his ordeal. He screamed, giving voice to his agony as, slowly, his chains bent and snapped. The momentum bushed him forward and he landed on the ground. Before Itachi could react to the shock, Sasuke ran up to his brother, pulled one of his kunai knives and plunged it into his brother's heart.

Immediately the illusion disappeared. Both brothers dropped to their knees. Sasuke fought for breath. Itachi sat there, starring into space, unmoving, unregistering anything going on around him.

"That," Sasuke started between breaths, his brother flinching at his words, "is what happens when you care. It. Makes. You. Strong."

~*~

Finally! Katashi thought with relief when he saw the clearing with two bodies in it. He jumped down from the trees and landed between Itachi and Sasuke. "What happened?" he asked, noticing Sasuke's beat-up body, but starring at Itachi's still form. His face was blank; his eyes were looking off into the distance, focusing on something unseen.

"I'll tell you later." Sasuke stood up. "Can you take care of him though? I have to find Katai; she was fighting with her sister."

Kakashi shot his student a questioning glance but nodded. He figured he would get all the answers he needed later. Sasuke took off through the trees, only one person filled his mind.

There. He thought and landed in a clearing beside Katai. He knew, though, that he had to make sure Suki was finished with before checking on Katai's still body. One look at Suki's charred body—most likely due to fire or lightning—told him all he needed to know about her ability to fight again.

Returning his attention to Katai, he knelt beside her. She looked so peaceful, lying in the grass, all her muscles were relaxed. But something was not right, he couldn't see her chest rising and falling with her breath.

Memories of his ordeal with Itachi came rushing back to him all at once. The horror at watching Katai die in front of him, without being able to do anything to stop it terrified him. The one good thing about his battle was that he had finally realized his true feelings about the angel in front of him. But these feelings would do him no good with her dead. It would only hurt him all the more.

"No…" he whispered, not wanting to believe what he saw in front of him. He gathered her body into his arms, supporting her head and shoulders with one arm and wrapping his other across her stomach, holding her side. "No, Katai, I can't lose you too…I…I really care about you…I…I…I love you." He closed his eyes, fighting back the tears that were already clouding his vision.

Sasuke was too wrapped up in his grief to notice the pressure on the back of his neck until it was too late; his head was pulled forward, his lips pressed against Katai's.

In shock, Sasuke opened his eyes and tried to pull away, but stopped when he way Katai's laughing eyes searching his. He answered her unasked question by kissing her back with the need and desire of a man in love for the first time. He requested entrance into her mouth, which she happily granted him. With their eyes closed, they lost themselves in the other's embrace. Neither noticed the footsteps coming up from behind Sasuke.

The two broke apart, blushing, right before Naruto and Sakura landed in the clearing. "What's going on?" Naruto asked looking from Suki and Kakashi to Sasuke and Katai.

"Itachi jumped us on our way home." Sasuke explained. "I took care of him as Katai fought her sister."

"So, what now?" Sakura asked after taking in the scene in front of her, especially Sasuke's arms that were still holding Katai closely.

"Now, we put Suki and Itachi with guards and inform the Hokage of tonight's events; Sakura would you do that?"

"Yes sir." Sakura took one more venomous glance to Katai before she ran off to obey her orders.

Naruto and Sasuke carefully carried Suki to the hospital as Kakashi carried Itachi. With orders to rest, Katai staggered home and collapsed on the closest bed she came across…not even noticing that it was not her own. The next morning she woke up to Sasuke's arm wrapped around her waist and his chest pressed tight against her back; and she wouldn't have had it any other way.