Welcome to chapter seven (: Please enjoy it.

WARNING: Deidara ^^
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto or the song (Lightning Crashes by Live).

Anything in bold is important or with emphasis.
This is what memories look like.
This is what thoughts or letters look like.
'This is what song lyrics look like.'

~SCARRED~

'I can feel it, coming back again, like the rolling thunder chasing the wind.'

~SCARRED~

Uchiha Itachi is one ominous motherfucker.

He didn't glance at me, or Chiyo. His eyes were on Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi only. So once again I was being overlooked. That set my blood to boiling. From the way Kakashi was holding us back, more specifically me (his arm was splayed out directly in front of me, having glanced from the corner of his eye), the chances of me releasing some of that tension on fighting Itachi was not likely in the slightest.

Great. I would say I was being underrated again but seeing as how Itachi was not the one for me to fight, but for Sasuke (though not now), I would have to deal. And I wanted to keep my strength up for when I would fight Masao, most likely later today if he was still at the cave with Gaara and the other Akatsuki.

"Kimi-chan," Kakashi murmurs. "Keep Sasuke back, will you? If you can."

"Hai," I respond, my voice clipped and emotionless. I turn to Sasuke. He's glaring directly at Itachi, Sharingan spinning rapidly. I frown. I didn't want to disable him completely by using a mind block, because then he wouldn't be able to fight as easily if needed. But I could. His muscles are tense and so are mine. I would have to physically hold him back. Words wouldn't cut it this time.

I pay half attention to Itachi the entire time, my eyes staying focused on Sasuke instead. Itachi's words briefly process in my head, dismissed once understood and then not drawn upon again. I note the way he points at Naruto. And how Naruto Rasengan'd the empty air. He was likely under a genjutsu, but my watchful eye was the only thing preventing Sasuke from attacking Itachi and I couldn't possibly look away.

Itachi finally turns to Sasuke again. "Foolish otouto. You are not strong enough to beat me." Sasuke snarls and charges forward. I grab his wrist as he takes his first leap towards Itachi, and when he struggles I increase the pressure, a clear promise that if he moved I'd break his wrist. If he doubted my willingness to hurt him in order to hold him back like Kakashi asked me to before he didn't now.

A muscle in his leg twitched and he was about to attempt escape. I send a mental block through to his head, giving him pause long enough for me to properly hold him back, kneeling on the ground with his hands twisted behind his back and held in place by my near bone-crushing grip. He growls at me. "What the fuck?"

"I'm only listening to Kakashi," I respond.

"But you should fucking understand! I need to do this!" He hisses, trying to twist his wrists around. I smirk at the back of his head and tighten my grip ever so slightly.

"I do. But now is not the time. Your allegiance is to Konoha. Your priority is carrying out your assigned missions above all else, avoiding conflict if necessary and obeying your superiors. And doing your damndest to put your teammates and mission above any personal motives you might have. Like protecting Naruto. Right? Or no?"

He growls once again but doesn't struggle anymore. After a few tense moments I release him. Then he stands smoothly, approaches Naruto's stiff form, and knocks him on the head with his fist to force his chakra . Naruto jerks once and his eyes fly open. He looks at Sasuke, then over to me. Then to Chiyo and finally Itachi. "Where's his clone?" He asks.

"There is none," Sasuke replies. He's about to add something on to that but then Kakashi is jumping backwards and digging his heels into the ground, bits of dirt flying about.

"Naruto!" He shouts. "Get it together! Are you ready?"

"Hai!" Naruto shouts. Kakashi charges toward Itachi, the latter forming several rapid hangsigns. He spits fire out, Kakashi dodging each fireball in his path. Itachi does another jutsu, a great fireball. Chiyo, Sasuke and I withdraw into the treeline. The smoke clears and Kakashi is standing with Raikiri blazing away in his palm, leaping forward to attack Itachi. He is dodged, of course, and Naruto attacks from above with a Rasengan. Smoke fills the clearing and a massive shockwave from the force of Naruto's jutsu blasts through the trees. I wince and lay back against a tree, shielding my eyes from the raw power.

I turn my head ever so slightly in Sasukes direction and whisper, "I feel useless."

Out of the corner of my eye I see him nod in agreement, making a brief smile threaten to show on my lips. But then the transient happiness finally dissipates at the clearing of the smoke to reveal Itachi just standing there and neither Kakashi nor Naruto in sight. I feel my heart pause momentarily. I turn to Sasuke. He's watching the scene with extreme displeasure. His blood was probably boiling with hatred right now, as mine would be if Masao were here.

Every time I thought of Masao I wondered how it was I could be related to him, how he got so fucked up, and how painful his death would be. I would say I would prefer slowly and agonizingly but I would rather him completely dead than still breathing as he was now. I wish my brothers were here to aid me in my fight against him. That would certainly make it easier. As I had it worked out in my head now, I would fight Masao alone while Kakashi and one of the boys fought one of the other Akatsuki memIbers and Chiyo and whoever between Sasuke and Naruto didn't go with Kakashi fought the other member. Because they were sure to be there, to flaunt the death of Gaara in our faces and mock our inability to reach him sooner.

I look up to the sky. It was edging towards noon. How much longer would this last?

~SCARRED~

As the smoke from Naruto's Oodama Rasengan clears, we join the two of them in the clearing. A body lays in a trench, twisted and bloodied. But it's not Itachi's.

"Do you recognize him?" Kakashi asks Chiyo. After a moment of pause, she nods.

"Yuura. A jounin from my village," she remarks. I look back to the body. He was obviously dead. Blood covered his face and his form was crumpled, one of his arms bent at an awkward angle. That must have been a sudden death. I wonder if he could feel it, if he had any conscious thought?

Either way, it was done and over now. We were still pursuing Gaara. And he was our priority.

~SCARRED~

"I can do it."

"Hm? Really?" Naruto asks, his voice full of curiosity. I look over at him. His bright blue eyes are alive with the same curiosity in his voice.

I nod, turning back to look at the enormous rock blocking the cave entrance. "Yes. I can destroy it. Everyone, please stand back."

After some hesitation they stand a decent distance away. I turn to the large rock before me. Time to get rid of it. I form the proper hand signs and murmur, "Boil Release." As the words leave my lips acidic mist emanates from my mouth. I kick the pH up until the rock begins melting. Once all that's left in its place is molten bits of rock, I adjust the pH so the mist is harmless and release the jutsu. The mist dissipates and the rest of the group rejoins me.

Ignoring the obvious looks of surprise from certain members of this group, I keep my gaze upon the entrance. Finally the vapor is gone, revealing three key things. A blonde wearing an Akatsuki cloak, the giant form of what looked like a doubled over man who was also wearing an Akatsuki cloak. And then Gaara's corpse, laid out like some sick sort of trophy. Tears prick at the corners of my eyes from the feelings of anger and disgust but I push them away as well as memories of a mission we'd completed in tandem. I can also feel the immense fury, sorrow and pain emanating from Naruto, turbulent waves of hatred flowing from him. His eyes were locked in on the Akatsuki members. The blonde one smiles. "Nice of you to join us, hm," he says. "Though it's a little late."

"Shut up!" Naruto shouts, his voice radiating everything he felt.

The blonde just laughs. His blue-eyed gaze flickers over to me. "Oh, you're Masao's kid sister, right, hm? Well, you're a lot older, hm, than I thought you'd be. He talks about you. Says you're useless, hm. I wonder if that's true?"

I keep my face straight, but that doesn't stop the dry laughter from escaping my mouth. "Masao's an idiot," I say as he laughs, yet again, upon hearing my response. It seems brother dearest wasn't all that loved by this blonde.

The other Akatsuki member grunts. "Shut up, gaki!"

The blonde scowls. "Whatever, Danna, hm. Now, let's start, shall we?"

~SCARRED~

Dear Team Seven,

Nearly two years since I've seen you. I miss you. I just got back from Kiri, so I'm tired, but I wanted to write this letter anyway. It's been a month since I last wrote you anything.

I know some people think I'm strange, because I keep writing to you three. Like Sakura. She doesn't hate me but she doesn't feel very comfortable around me either. I make her ill at ease. And she feels bad for me - I can always see it in her eyes. Others give me pitying looks sometimes. It upsets me. I don't want them. Especially not when they come from Hinata. Those pale eyes look too mournful. She should be happy, she deserves it. She's grown so much, gained more confidence and she doesn't faint at all anymore.

And then there is the look Iruka-sensei gives me. It's almost as bad as the look Hinata gives me. His eyes fill up with pity and sorrow and I want to run away from him and burn out the memory. But I don't and can't. Then the next time we saw each other he'd give me one that was even worse than before, one that will make me miss you even more.

One person never gives me any looks. That's Neji. He doesn't scold me for smoking. He never ever mentions anything about the scars covering my body. Or anything about my family or you three. Not a single word. He acts like the scars aren't there and like you never existed. He's helping me train to be a jonin and he's one of the most understanding people ever. He understands I don't want to think about it or acknowledge it and I sure as hell don't want pitying looks from everyone. That's not to say that most people never look at me normally - they do. The pitying looks come only when people remember what happened. But I still don't want them. I feel uncomfortable. It feels wrong.

I'm going to sleep now. Goodbye.

-Kimi.

~SCARRED~

Ta-da!

I owe the success of this story to Lainjukinjs ^^ she's awesome.

So, OCs (two of them) will be introduced in the near-future. For one of them you readers are given the choice of picking the name. The options are either Kasumi or Kiri (the OC is female). Please comment your favorite name. I would really appreciate it.

REVIEW RESPONSES:

I forgot to do any for the previous chapters, so here they are now:

Anon: Thank you so very much ^^ hearing that means a lot to me, makes me really happy and makes writing this worth it.

visitor: me too :D

Chester-Grey: Weelllll I completely forgot. So I'll go do it now. Thank you for reminding me (:

WhenTwoTearsFall: The intro is supposed to be a bit long, refreshing some things about the story that are relevant. Like a brief review of the major events, adding in how Makoto came to be around Kimi, and then her interrogation, the starting point of her major growth. And Makoto is a ninken. And I agree with you on the opening ^^ And no. The whole point of them operating separately was that they were underrating her, believing that with all the sumy'd grown they could take her down individually. And Kakashi is dense. Main point of this, still underrating her and slowly coming to view her as an equal, even as perhaps surpassing him in terms of ability. And also for the majority of the quotes I either do state in the beginning, I came up with myself, or it's a common saying (like 'Be yourself, by yourself'. I originally heard it in a song ('Walk' by Pantera) but upon further research I discovered it was a common saying, so I saw no point in citing).

Ergelina: Is that a good thing? I hope (: thank you for your review!

Luna Silveria: :D here is your update!