A/N - Holy crap, Chapter three!! For all of you who've stuck with me this far, have a cookie, and lots of cyber money! -throws money up in the air- I love you all for your dedication! It's so nice to think that people actually like my story!!
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Naruto, or any of it's characters. I simply twist them and their characters to suit my twisted idea of a story line.
Warning: Spoilers from the manga chapters, like 398 or so, and onward. Also, I'm opening Itachi's character. If you want the Itachi we all thought we knew(the cold and emotionless one)...leave now. You won't like this story.
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Ch. 3 - Protests and Plans
--
-
Breakfast consisted of rice porridge(A/N - congee, I think it's called), miso soup, rice, vegetables, and trout in the quiet corner of a small restaurant. They were half way through when Mioko set down her chopsticks with a decided CLACK.
"Okay, consider this the last meal we're eating out for a while. After this, we're going shopping."
Shisui choked on his green tea, and Itachi found the semi-warm substance now coating his face. He wrinkled his nose in distaste and reached for a napkin as Shisui began to formulate excuses.
"Well...uh, gee Miho, I'd love to-"
"Good, then you can help carry the bags."
Shisui began to pout, knowing there was no way out of the situation without pissing her off.
Itachi hid his smirk behind his napkin as he dried his face. Miho turned to him.
"You are aware, with you having the Uchiha fortune and us being assigned to you, that you're paying, right?"
He sighed, then took a sip of his own tea, and Mioko took that as his assent. She smiled and went back to her breakfast while Shisui sulked and poked at his.
--
"You still like her."
Shisui's head swung around to face his cousin as they both trailed behind their female friend, loaded down with grocery bags. The older Uchiha turned a soft red color in the cheeks.
"What makes you say that."
Itachi almost smirked.
"You watch her to the point of obsession."
Shisui stumbled and nearly dropped the five bags he was carrying, causing Mioko to look back at them.
"Shi-kun, what are you doing?"
Shisui righted himself with a goofy smile on his face.
"Oh, nothing, nothing!"
He shot Itachi a malevolent look behind both the grocery bags and Miho's back.
-
It was just as Mioko finished putting all of their spoils away that a knock came from the area of the shoji door. In came three ANBU agents, and the one with a captain's bar marked on the forehead of his cat mask held out a scroll to Mioko.
As she took it and began to read it with a frown, the captain pointed at Itachi.
"He has been summoned to speak with the council. We'll take him from here."
As the other two moved to surround Itachi, he started to activate the sharingan.
Only to find he couldn't! Somehow, his body just couldn't activate it. He fought down panic, and looked around surreptitiously for a weapon. He didn't need it, however.
"I don't think so."
Both Mioko and Shisui were standing in between the ANBU and Itachi, a kunai in Shisui's hand and the sharingan activated, and Mioko in a very threatening taijutsu stance.
"No one comes near him if they don't want to get hurt. The council will see him, but they'll see us too. So is the personal order of the fifth Hokage."
One young ANBU, new by the lack of military paraphernalia, made to step forward, but his captain motioned him back with mistrust evident in his every movement.
"Very well. This way."
And the ANBU started out the door.
-
"Damn. I was hoping those old farts would wait at least until dark before they tried to talk to him. Tsunade's gonna be pissed when she hears that they took us through the village. In fact...-"
Mioko smirked from her place at Itachi's right.
"-I don't see Takuma having a captain's bar for much longer, eh Shisui?"
His cousin let out a nasty snicker from his left, making the ANBU captain in front of them give just the tiniest twitch. And then the over-eager ANBU from earlier decided to try and muscle the female around for some brown-nose points. He held a kunai to Miho's throat.
"Quiet, you useless slut.", he barked.
Two seconds later, his porcelain mask shattered against his face as he received an up close and personal introduction with the wall, courtesy of the ' useless slut', who's face had become her very own mask of ice as she twisted his wrist behind his back hard enough to make the bones groan audibly from the strain.
"I'm sorry.", she said sweetly, "But I'm afraid I didn't quite hear you. Would you like to say that once more?"
The ANBU gargled something unintelligible that still sounded suspiciously like 'fucking bitch' from behind all of the sharp porcelain shards cutting his mouth.
Mioko gave a razor thin smile that wasn't friendly in the least. Then she drew back one hand, formed it into half of the standard tiger seal, and brought it down in a vicious jab on the top of the ANBU's spine.
He crumpled like a paper doll and lay on the floor, twitching. Mioko looked over at Takuma with narrowed eyes.
"Some captain you are. This kid's pathetic. How'd he even get past the first level exams?"
Takuma stood firm, his eyes emotionless behind his mask.
"Father and uncle on the Nobles' Council."
All the other shinobi rolled their eyes.
"Of course...", Shisui muttered.
Mioko simply wrinkled her nose.
"He calls me a useless slut again, and not even his high up connections are gonna save him from an extra-large serving of whoop-ass."
Takuma gave what sounded very much like a chuckle, but he hid it well behind the mask.
"Come on."
He motioned them on down the hall, and they followed, leaving the useless kid lying there on the floor. They knew someone would find him eventually.
-
"-To spread such slanderous lies! It seems you cannot be trusted! We revoke both of your ANBU ranks."
Mioko choked back a laugh.
"Gimme a break. We all know only Tsunade can do that. Besides, I stopped listening to you fossils the moment I knew the whole story."
Koharu's head jerked back as if she'd been slapped, and her old, slightly rheumy eyes narrowed as she regarded Mioko.
"I have no idea what you speak of, girl."
Mioko rolled her eyes.
"We all know that a load of fucking BS."
Homura gave her a deep frown.
"That language is not welcome here."
"Ask us if we give a fuck."
Shisui was leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest and one foot propped against the wall.
The council raised affronted eyebrows, and Shisui smirked.
"People know I exist now. I can see your influence going Nieeeeeeroooooo!! Krch!"
Shisui mimed a plane going down in a death spiral with one hand before mock crashing it into the other.
Mioko and Itachi each lifted a hand to cover their smiles, while the ANBU tried not to give into snickers.
It was then that the doors to the council room swung open with a bang, and a livid Tsunade stood there, flanked by both Sakura and Naruto. Danzo, who'd been standing in the shadows during the entire interaction, moved silently into the light. Mioko gave him a sneer.
"You know full well you may not talk to any shinobi under probation without my direct permission and supervision. And you certainly don't have permission to talk to my Uchihas."
Koharu drew her self up to what little height she had.
"How dare you order us-"
"How dare you overstep your bounds as council! You have directly disobeyed the lines lain down that dictate council power! As Hokage, I am now authorized to remove you all from duty, and label you as civilians!"
There was a tense silence in the room. All hell was about to break loose.
Koharu puffed up like an angry cat.
"You can try, but you shall regret it."
"That sounded like a threat."
All of the room's occupants swung around to look at Itachi, who hadn't spoken until that moment. Koharu and Himura stilled, and Tsunade cleared her throat.
"If you let me finish. I can demote you, but I'm not going to. What I'm going to do is now alter the boundaries for the council's power. Consider most of your privileges...gone. And your influence?...out the window. Especially once the citizens hear about this."
She turned to Danzo.
"And you..."
Shisui bared his teeth in a feral grin.
"You are on round-the-clock watch. You sneeze, and I'll know."
Danzo gave a deep frown, but said nothing.
Mioko pulled a nail file out of her kunai pouch, and began to round out the edges of her nails in a brisk manner.
"So...we done here, or what? I wanna get back to the compound before dark."
Tsunade gave the barest hint of a smile and waved an imperious hand at them.
"G'won. Get out of here before I kick you all out."
With a grin each, Miho and Shisui grabbed one of Itachi's arms and hauled him away.
-
"There you are, Itachi! Dinner's rea-oh."
Itachi was kneeling before one of the clan shrines, his head bowed in prayer before the picture of a beautiful, pale skinned girl with the characteristic Uchiha black hair and eyes.
In her picture, she wore a secretive smile, as though she knew something that no one else did. Around her neck was the same necklace of black and white beads that lay around Itachi's neck. Incense burned before the picture, the smoke curling around the picture, and Itachi's still form.
Shisui approached as silently as possible, but as he moved to kneel next to his cousin, in front of the picture of his aunt Kijuuki, the floor gave a loud and obnoxious creak.
Shisui winced and silently cursed the floor in Japanese, English, and Farsi.
Itachi's eyes snapped open, and his body dropped from it's position of prayer. He silently looked over at Shisui, who was looking at him with a contemplative face.
"What?"
"Did you even...regret what you did? I mean, did you ever wish...you could bring her back?"
He gestured to the picture of the young woman, watching Itachi for even a twitch of emotion.
His cousin remained as unreadable as always. Itachi stood and walked toward the door, answering his cousin's question over his shoulder.
"She was already dead. There was no point in wishes or regrets."
"If there's no point, why can't you say Meiyo's name?"
Itachi paused, half way outside, his hand on the door jamb. Shisui watched as his hand clench just the slightest bit, and frowned.
"I'm just asking if you ever missed Meiyo, Itachi. Did you?"
Itachi looked at him over his shoulder with a sad and pained expression.
"Yes. But not as much as you...or Miho."
And then he was gone into the darkening twilight, toward the house.
Shisui turned back toward Meiyo's picture, and looked at it with a depressing face. Then he knelt back in front of the picture and lit a new stick in incense.
"Hey Meiyo. Been a while since I talked to you.", he began, thinking.
"Yeah, I know. You just heard from Itachi. I bet you would have been really happy if you were here. Believe it or not, that girl you used to hate so much, Mioko? She's the one who saved us both. Hope that puts a burr in your panties."
He closed his eyes and thought back to the time when he'd discovered how much Meiyo had disliked his friend, and why.
-
"You little tramp!"
A medium sized vase made of celadon pottery soared out of a window, and past Shisui's very surprised face. He silently moved to the window, and peered in. His eyebrows shot up when he saw Meiyo, looking frighteningly ugly in anger, which was a direct juxtaposition to her usual beautiful calm. Facing her with her back to both the window and Shisui, her legs spread for balance and her arms up in a defensive position, was Mioko.
Wondering what the hell was going on, Shisui kept quiet and watched.
"How dare you call me a slut, you useless little foundling!", Meiyo snarled, reaching for another vase.
"Better a foundling than someone who sleeps around when she's supposed to be in a relationship! I saw you last night in the grove with Hyuuga Shinoku! And that sure as hell wasn't talking that you two were doing."
The vase whistled through the air at her head, but Mioko stepped aside in time to avoid it as it smashed into the wall just underneath Shisui's window. Shisui felt unease growing beneath his breast.
"You nasty little spy! Watched us the whole time, did you? That's the only action you'll ever get!"
(A/N - Don't you just love bitch fights? They are the lowest and dirtiest you will ever see. Hair pulling, yelling, nasty names, it's all there. Anyway, Meiyo...God, hate her so much. I made her to be the stereotypical bitch. She's going to be one of the people who gets hurt...a LOT. And that's how I get rid of anger. Anyway, let's watch how Mioko does, eh?)
Miho crossed her arms in front of her chest, and her tone became scathing.
"Finally you stop denying. Seems we're getting somewhere. As for spying, I didn't come along until you two were almost finished, and I only stayed around long enough to see who the hell was screaming like a dying cat."
Meiyo gave an outraged shriek.
Shisui felt his jaw go slack.
Wait, wait, wait.
Meiyo had been sleeping with that Hyuuga bastard? That Hyuuga bitch, he amended himself.
Oh, that cheating slut! He kept gazing through the window, rooting for Miho to put Meiyo down, but also willing to jump to the rescue in case Meiyo got tired of throwing vases, and decided to go for her kunai instead.
"Plus, you're a kunoichi. That fact that you didn't even know I was there only shows I'm better. And as for getting any action...that comment was so trashy, I'm not even going to grace it with a response."
Meiyo hissed angrily and pulled out a few kunai. Shisui and Miho simultaneously reached for their own.
"I don't care if you know. You won't get the chance to tell.", she snarled as she took a menacing step forward.
Shisui's jaw tightened as he got ready to activate the sharingan.
"I'm not going to tell.", Mioko said, putting her kunai back.
"Huh?"
WHAT?!
"I said: I'm not going to tell. And do you want to know why? Because I refuse to sink down to your level and do something so petty and ugly. Not to mention dishonorable."
Miho walked past a dumbstruck Meiyo, and paused at the door, getting in one last jab before she left.
"While I don't believe in gods, I do believe in Karma." She gave an evil smirk.
"And I hear she's a bitch."
Then she was gone.
-
Shisui smirked at the memory.
"I bet you never knew I knew. I only wish I'd told while you were still alive. I hated you."
Shiusi opened his eyes with a frown, and stared at the picture as if he was looking at the real person as he poured out his dislike.
"Always hanging on Itachi, dragging him down. You were a manipulative little bitch, and you knew exactly how to get what you wanted. And damned if you didn't play my best friend like a damned devil. He never found out just how much you'd been around. After overhearing about the Hyuuga, I looked into things. You really were a slut. I'm fairly sure you did someone from every single ninja clan around. If I find out you gave Itachi anything, once I die, you'd better be prepared for a worse hell than the one you should be enduring right now."
His hands clenched a little, and then he relaxed and gave an evil smirk.
"But we both know who'll have Itachi wrapped around her finger just by being herself. That little girl you hated loved your man too. And damned if she isn't better for him. I hope you are watching how they flirt and get all romantic, where ever you are, and I hope you suffer like hell, knowing she's going to be everything you weren't and so much more."
Then Shisui rose and turned to walk out the door, feeling lighter and somehow triumphant. He walked out of the cold and empty shrine into the dimming day with a smile.
Then he turned and started walking back toward the main house.
-
Mioko set down her chopsticks softly, and looked back a forth between Itachi and Shisui, who were both so absorbed in their own thoughts, silence reigned at the table.
Mioko could feel sadness and confusion radiating from Itachi, and Shisui was obviously upset because his foot was tapping softly against the floor like it always did when he was upset, angry, of thoughtful about something.
What the hell was wrong?
"Hey, guys...Is anything wrong?", she asked as she picked up her cup.
"Hey, Miho...you remember that fight you had Meiyo years ago?"
Mioko choked on her tea, and then stared at Shisui. How had he known about that?!
"What fight?"
Itachi surfaced, and was giving Mioko a piercing look. Mioko looked at Shisui, her face promising lots of pain, but he remained unfazed.
"What'd she mean by calling you a foundling?"
The girl nearly had a heart attack.
Oh, Kami, what the hell else had Shisui heard?!
"Uuuummm...", she hedged, as both men leaned in.
"What fight, Mioko?"
"What did she mean, Miho?"
"Eh heh heh...", she laughed fakely, rubbing the back of her neck uneasily.
And then someone knocked on the door.
"Oh, thank Kami!", she said, shooting to her feet and darting away to answer the door.
She slammed the door open to reveal a slightly surprised and bloody Genma.
"Genma, I cannot believe I'm going to say this, but...I LOVE YOU!", she cried and threw her arms around the senbon shinobi. Genma staggered back, and wrapped his arms around Mioko's waist as Itachi and Shisui materialized in front of the door. He grinned at them.
"She's finally come around! If you'll excuse us."
He swung Mioko up into his arms bridal style, and she began to wriggle.
"You idiot, I didn't mean like that!! Put me down!"
With a sigh around his oversized toothpick, He slowly put her down, and she stepped back to take in his bloody appearance.
"What happened?"
"Rough mission, and I don't dare go back to the hospital right now. Think you can patch me up?"
He smiled sheepishly and spread his arms.
"Why can't you go to the hospital?", Itachi dared to ask with a raised eyebrow.
"Because he keeps playing grab-ass with the medics.", was Mioko's answer as she disappeared back toward the house, crooking her finger at Genma to come along.
With a sigh, Genma, Itachi, and Shisui followed her into the house.
-
Ow, ow, OWW!", Genma whined as Miho stuck the needle back through the gash in his eyebrow to stitch it back up.
"Stop it, you big baby."
"Can't you just use a jutsu for this? OWWW!"
Mioko had pulled the string a little harder than necessary.
"Sure, as soon as I can get the skin close enough to heal it together without too much scaring. You wanna keep that pretty face of yours, don't you?"
"You're a sadist...", he muttered.
Mioko gave him a sweet, disarming smile-right before she applied the antiseptic.
"OOOOOW!! That hurt!"
Her hands glowed a soft green briefly, and then she swiftly removed the stitches.
"All done, you big sissy."
She patted him on the head, and he crossed his arms in a pout. She pulled a sucker out of her kit and held it out to him.
"You're reward, for not grabbing my ass."
And then his hand made contact with said ass, and gave it a squeeze.
"I like this reward much better."
KA-wham!
Genma's chair toppled over from the force of her punch, and he rubbed his now bleeding and swollen lip with a big, happy smile.
"It was worth it, I tell you! Worth it!"
"AAAAH! Get out, you pervert! OUT!"
She screamed, her face red with humiliation.
And Genma found himself outside the Uchiha compound in a puff of smoke before he could even blink.
He rubbed his forehead.
"Damn. I forgot Shisui could do that..."
He stood and brushed himself off, then strode off down the street in search of a pretty lady.
(A/N - Sorry, but I just wanted to wrap that up quick...)
-
"Ooh, Sasuke, we don't need them. Let's just get the Elders ourselves! It'll be easier with just the two of this."
Sasuke fought the urge to curl his lip at her. Karin was leaning on the arm of his chair, batting her eyes and simpering. He couldn't suppress the thought that Sakura had never been this bad.
(A/N -possible side pairing, right there! I HATE Sasuke/Karin with every fiber of my being. It is the ONLY pairing I'm not open to in the slightest. Now Karin/Suigestsu...that's a different story...hmmm...)
"Would you back off?", he asked, his tone colder than ice.
She huffed, then sat back in her seat, looking very pissed.
"What is the plan, Sasuke?", Juugo asked quietly from a shadowed corner.
"Isn't it obvious?", came the shadowed tone of yet another male from another darkened corner, "We must build an army. It's the only way to keep all of the shinobi busy long enough for you to get to the Elders."
Out of said shadows stepped a menacing figure draped in black, with an orange swirl mask covering his face.
"Hn."
Madara took a seat, and rested his masked chin in one hand.
"And to control so great an army, we're going to need all of the Bijuu."
He pulled a scroll out of his pocket and slid it across the table. Sasuke picked it up with a disinterested air, opened it, and scan/read it.
"You'll find the eight-tails at that location. How you capture it is up to you, but it must be alive. Once we have all nine, power hungry outcasts and rouges will join us. And then you'll have your opportunity. What do you say, Sasuke?"
Sasuke 'Hn'ed again, then stood and walked away, followed by his team.
-
As soon as he was gone, Kisame and a new man entered the room.
This new comer had pale skin with two parallel scars running vertical from his left temple to his chin, mid-length brown hair that lay in a small pony-tail with some spiky bangs lying in the man's icy blue eyes. He stood about six feet flat, and he was the perfect specimen of an excellently built shinobi.
He wore a pair of kodaichi on his back, the standard kunai and shuriken pouches, and knives up his sleeves, under his collar at the base of his neck, two at his hips, one over each of his kidneys, one in his belt buckle, and one in each of his boots.
He wore non-descript black pants and a shirt, with his legs bandaged from ankle to just below the knee. On his forehead was the hitai-ate of Konohagakure, bearing a long and thing scratch down the middle.
"Ah, Hikara Yuu. Welcome."
He motioned to the chairs in a bored manner.
The man grunted and sat down in a chair across from Madara, and pulled out a scroll.
He pushed it across the table to Madara, who opened it and read it swiftly.
"I've got about sixty squads ready and willing to follow me. When you're little 'Destroy Konoha' plan goes down, send us a signal, and you'll have our help."
Madara raised one eyebrow behind his mask as he set the scroll aside.
"Oh. And what are you getting out of this? Revenge?"
Yuu gave an evil smirk.
"Nah. I just want a certain woman. She's gonna learn you don't scorn me without consequences. Stupid bitch was too hung up in Uchiha Itachi, even when we were together. She's the one who gave me these."
He ran his hand down the two vertical scars on hi s face, then lowered the hand and clenched it against the arm rest. His eyes took on a crazy, feverish light.
"And she's going to pay for it."
"Uh-huh."
...
Madara pulled out a com. unit from one of his huge Akatsuki sleeves and placed it on the table between them.
"Very well, you're in. Take this com. unit. We'll contact you when we have further information."
Yuu grunted, then stood, took the com. unit from the middle of the table, turned, and left.
Kisame watched him go with a small sneer on his face.
"That's one desperate fucker. If he thinks he can stop someone from liking Uchiha, even evil and dead, he's fighting a loosing battle. Women are crazy that way."
Madara smirked behind his mask.
"Desperate fucker, indeed. Girl did nice work with those scars, though..."
-
Mioko sneezed as she stirred the miso soup, careful to sneeze away from the food into her shoulder. Itachi looked up from the book he was reading as he sat at the table, waiting for dinner.
He found he quite enjoyed seeing Miho in an apron. He found it sexy.
No he didn't. Swiftly, that thought was banished to the back of his subconscious and tied there with heavy chains and exploding tags. Those thought needed to stop.
"Something wrong, Sempai? You've been staring at me for a full five minuets."
"Nothing.", he said quickly, blinking and going back to his book. Mioko, knowing he was lying, smirked, then put down her spoon and walked over behind him, and knelt down to wrap her arms around his waist and peer at the book as she rested her head on his shoulder.
She felt his heart speed up as she pressed her chest firmly against his back.
"Are you ok?", she breathed against his ear, smelling a small whiff of his masculine shampoo.
He stiffened under her hands, and his heart skipped a beat. However, he was as unreadable on the outside as ever. She frowned, and then leaned forward a little and scanned a page of his book.
"Advanced Genjustsu Theory? Haven't you already memorized this?"
Itachi shook his head just the slightest.
"Newest volume."
"Aah. Meaning you stole that from my room. Bitch."
She felt him chuckle under her hands and against her chest, and her breath gave a quiet hitch as something hot and unidentifiable zinged through her. Itachi didn't seem to notice, but he had. She saw it in the tiniest smirk on his lips.
"The door was open and it was sitting on your bed. Didn't think you'd mind."
"I don't. But you still stole it. So I'm still going to call you a bitch."
"Very mature, Miho."
She stuck her tongue out at him, then flicked it against his ear, just to be mean.
He froze stone still, half-way through turning the page.
"I assure you, Sempai, I can be very mature."
"Hn."
She knew she'd excited him, and that was what made her run her tongue along the shell of his ear, then blow on it.
"What kind of a response was that?"
She watched in fascination as his arm muscles began to tighten and flex, as if he were struggling with something.
(A/N -Isn't she a bitch? lol. She doesn't even realize what she's doing. She just thinks she's teasing him. To her, he's safe, and she thinks he won't care what she does. AKA, not interested in her. Ah, silly Miho...-shakes head-)
She giggled, then placed her lips against his neck. His breath gave a near silent hitch, and Miho knew she'd won. So she released him, stood up, and went back to making dinner.
With an overly large smirk on her face.
-
-
-
E/N - Ok, I know that was really uber-short compared to the last one, but it's mostly a transition chapter.
Next chapter, I'll be intro-ing some new characters, like Ibiki, Kyoko, and Hanaka Umahi.
They all play a minor role in the story as a whole, but a big part in getting Itachi and Mioko together.
Also, you've met Hikara Yuu. And anyone with half a brain will know who he is. If you wanna check that reasoning, drop me a line, and I'll tell you yes or no.
Also, in the next chapter, Tsunade does some healing, Itachi finds out why he can't use the sharingan, and we get the threat on impending doom from the Akatsuki.
And maybe Madara will find out Itachi's alive. And maybe not.
Yes, I know congee is actually eaten in China mostly, but Japanese eat it too. So don't whine!
lol.
Anyway, tell me what you think! REVIEW, people, REVIEW!!