Touch Of Black: The Withering Rose

Chapter Two: Hope

When the Akatsuki had attacked Konoha all those years ago, the 'great' Emiri house had been burned to the ground, along with many other family houses. Of course, most of these families had survived; they'd built their houses again; restored the respect that they deserved and went on with life. To these families; the attack by Akatsuki was just like any other attack. And they rose above it. Unfortunately Maiko and Ai were the last sole survivors of the Emiri clan; and Maiko was gone. This meant that Ai took her place as heir to the clan; and on his eighteenth birthday he had decided that the Emiri's would be powerful once again. You see, he knew little of how his family really were thought of in Konoha – as a child he was ignorant, and by the time he might have gotten over that ignorance his family were destroyed. He didn't realize that the Emiri clan were once great warriors, competent scholars and feared or hated by most. The men in the family had a certain way about them that was intimidating; they stood by old fashioned rules and demanded respect. The women were deemed as threatening as the men, and so too had an arrogance about them.

The Emiri's were disliked so much because they acted like they were the only decent clan; even when they knew well enough that other families were far better than them. They were over-confident, but honest. Cynical, but genteel.

Yet they hadn't always been this way; Maiko's Great Grandfather was the original founder of the Emiri clan; he and his brothers built the first Emiri house and expanded their family with great pride. They were kind, modest shinobi who trained well and did everything asked of them by the Hokage. Her Grandfather too was much the same, but her Father was not. Somewhere in his childhood he became harsh and loud; this developed in adulthood. He was no criminal, but he could certainly be deemed a villain at times. The first two generations of the family were either dead or retired; and during her Father's early years as the head of the Emiri's things changed.

They became more arrogant, and less powerful.

But Ai didn't know about this; he'd never understood why people liked him less when they discovered his heritage. Nobody had ever told him; not even Kakashi Hatake – who had raised him from the moment he had been left on his doorstep.

Ai saw Kakashi as something of an older brother; when Ai graduated from the Ninja Academy Kakashi took up the role of mentor. With his help, and medical aid from Tsunade Ai had overcome his illness. He became strong and trained hard everyday.

A month after his eighteenth birthday all of the plans had been laid out; as heir he still owned the land upon which the original Emiri house had been built. And he was going to rebuild it. Much differently. A new structure for a new life. For a year he had been engaged to marry a Shinobi girl a year younger than he; Yoko Sasaki. When the new home was built they would move in together (Ai still lived with Kakashi, and Yoko with her family) and, Ai hoped, all of his memories would be swept away. He wanted a large family; new Emiri's to train and be great Shinobi. And he knew they would be, he would train them himself – and he had been trained by Konoha's famous 'Copy Ninja'.

And Maiko...

Maiko too, had guided him in his earlier years. Guided and frightened the poor boy, as her mood always changed drastically within the day. And that wasn't even counting that terrible evening when he had heard his parents discussion her. She'd killed a thug, a criminal of some kind in cold blood. They said that it had been a ruthless, bloody killing which was unnecessary. They'd forbidden everyone in the family to talk about it. They were to dismiss it as a rumour and nothing more. But Ai had always wondered if it were true.

She had been a great teacher; understanding and intelligent. But she'd always gotten so frustrated when he couldn't do things properly.

Thats why he was so glad of Tsunade, and of Kakashi; she healed him and Kakashi taught him. They'd made Ai the Shinobi he'd always dreamed of being.

Only now he had no sister to share his happiness with.

"You are a Missing Nin now. Your training will be intense, you will train constantly until you become one of us. You will become one of us,"

Whilst Maiko Emiri had shrugged off her Shinobi ties in order to protect her identity; she still trained everyday. In secret, in the old forest behind her home. She'd remembered what Itachi had said to her when he had taken up her training, she remembered how he had behaved. How he had filled her with so much self-loathing and anger, how he had made her stray from the loving person she had once been, and how she had almost turned into someone as cold and indifferent as he was. He'd used his Kekkai Genkai to enforce her good behaviour, constantly threatening the spoilt Emiri heir that emerged from her being every now and again.

So why then, had she grown to care for him so? He'd hurt her so many times, mentally and physically and yet she kept coming back to him like a lost puppy. Perhaps it was because she knew resistance was futile; if she tried to escape she, AND her brother would be hunted down and eliminated. And of course, any kind of defiance led to all sorts of horrid punishments, which frightened her a great deal. She loved Itachi because she knew he was all she'd ever really know.

She was bittersweet towards the Akatsuki now; they had rescued her from an arranged marriage and the tedious life of a Konoha Jounin, hell; there had even been moments when she saw them as people and not ruthless killers. But at the same time they had destroyed her family, taken her brother away from her and forced her to join them.

Maiko remembered it all so well; most especially the night of her last mission with the Akatsuki; when Itachi had tried to save her. He'd told her to run, to get as far away as possible and never return. He'd said that it was a group decision, but after an interruption from Deidara it was obvious that it hadn't been. He'd lied to save her. But she'd gone along anyway; drawn by the strange expression on Itachi's face and in his eyes whenever he looked at her...led along by her own stubbornness and pride. He'd protected her during the mission, always on guard and with his fingers entwined within her own. Even when she had been struck down by a collapsed wall; she'd known how difficult the task was. How bravely the Akatsuki had fought in defeating their opponents. How they'd won, but suffered greatly in the duration of the fight.

That night had been both one of the worst and best nights of her life. Itachi had, (although not vocally) confirmed his feelings towards her; and she in turn had reciprocated. But her injuries had been severe, so severe that they all agreed she should be taken back to Konoha and forgotten about. This wasn't the case, long after they'd disappeared and Itachi had vowed to come back for her she felt life within her again. Itachi had transferred much of his chakra to her, and slowly it was taking effect upon her poor, beaten body. It wasn't until guards of Konoha had attempted to take her in that she'd disappeared. She realized, in those hours spent lying there; that this wasn't the life she wanted. She wanted to be with Itachi, and if that meant being with the Akatsuki then so be it.

She'd spent a few weeks working in order to get the money she needed to travel; and from then on she'd lived on the island between fire and lightening.

For ten years she waited at the shoreline, waited for Itachi to fulfill his promise. But he never came. It was hope that kept her from dying of heartache. Precious hope that gave her reason to continue onwards. To most she was Maiko Sakamoto; but to herself she was still Maiko Emiri.

Over the years she'd become less confident; but more powerful. Training took up most of her time when she wasn't working; so her techniques were grand things to behold. Only she was the only one who ever saw them.

One night, Maiko sat cross-legged in the forest: where she trained in private. She'd made replica's of her old Emiri clan outfits. Black and white trousers, tops and kimono's; all with the Emiri symbol embedded upon the back. She even had her old headband; the Konoha leaf with a scratch through it to show that she was a Missing Nin. Obviously she never wore this in front of anybody else; just during training. She would sit in the middle of the silent forest and imagine that Itachi was there with her; watching her and guiding her through her training like he had once had to do. And then she would put all of her energy and strength into practice. All kinds of different techniques she used, as long as they weren't to draw attention to the area she was content. The attacks she'd learned were silent and deadly. Just as Itachi had been.

When she sat there, she often wondered what it would be like to go back to Konoha. She even had it all planned out; she knew a good shape shifting technique, she'd pretend to be a Kunoichi from Sunagakure who was visiting. She hoped that her old friends were still around; she missed Kakashi, Kurenai and all of the other Jounin. Although she had never been that sociable she regarded most of the Shinobi as friends, hell she'd even be happy to see Tsunade (Whom she'd often found quite intimidating) again. Just to experience her old world once again. Before disappearing forever in this new one. She needed closure; she needed to let go. From her ties with Konoha at least – she knew she would never be rid of her feelings for Itachi. She was born to look into his eyes and know herself. She was sure of it.