Rose
Thorn #6
Itachi and Shisui were by the cliff that overlooked the river banks hundreds of metres down below. It was a place where they would frequently go when they needed to talk about things that they didn't want others to eavesdrop on, but it was also a place where they could relax, even if just a bit.
"I heard that that killer struck again." Shisui turned to Itachi. Previously, he was facing the river, watching the waves harshly strike the rocks.
The older Uchiha's voice was light hearted, but Itachi, being his long-time friend, could tell that it was just a disguise to cover the tension his voice held.
The younger ANBU nodded in affirmation. "We still haven't caught them."
"Why is it so hard to catch this killer?" Shisui let out an exasperated sigh, scratching the back of his head in thought. "Even if he is a ninja, wouldn't it be natural to at least leave behind a clue that will get us to them?"
Itachi stared at Shisui while thinking—the results of the investigation of the recent murder had actually produced a lot more clues than they were used to. It was good so that they could catch the killer soon, but there was also a possibility that they were doing this on purpose.
"We did have a fruitful investigation." Itachi said after a moment.
"That's good." Shisui could only smile, but it dropped after a couple of seconds.
"Are you worried that they'd go after Koharu-san?" Itachi questioned.
"…you got me." Shisui laughed lightly. "I'm just a bit on edge because of what's happening back at the compound and if Koharu's safe or not."
Itachi could understand his worry. Of course, it wasn't easy balancing a work life and personal life when work life seemed to bleed into personal life.
Itachi, even though he was younger, wanted to say something that would cheer his best friend up, even just a little. "I think Sasuke likes talking to her."
Shisui raised a brow at Itachi's attempt, knowing exactly what he was doing. He then laughed, "Koharu told me about what Sasuke's been saying to her. It's quite funny. They're all coincidences, though."
"Is that so?" The younger mentally sighed a little in relief.
There was silence, only the wind blowing and rustling the leaves.
"Itachi, tomorrow night I'll be on patrol at night." Shisui broke it. He turned to another direction, staring up at the retreating sunset orange.
"That's when they will murder again." Itachi realised, saying his words slowly.
Shisui nodded. "We got a tip off where the next one will be, so we'll be around that area." He added, "Oh, by the way, you're not going to be on duty then so can you escort Koharu home when she closes shop?"
Itachi tilted his head slightly, but nodded without complaint. It was the first time his friend had asked him, so he didn't mind.
"I'll make sure she gets home safely."
The day after, night was coming. Shisui had already gotten ready for his night patrol shift, along with a few others that were scheduled too.
Evening was coming and he knew, it was around this time he had to be weary of. The darkness was a clever way to cover for something horrendous, therefore they had to be extra careful with caution.
Itachi should be about to send her home around this time…Shisui thought. He was perched up in a tree nearly, making sure he wasn't seen by anybody.
Now, where will that killer strike?
Itachi looked at the sign for the flower shop, having gone there to make sure Koharu was escorted home safely. He stood with an indifferent face at the sign that said 'CLOSED'.
The lights weren't on nor was there any activity inside the store.
Did she go home early? I did come a little later than the proposed time because I thought she was cleaning up…or maybe she's in the back?
No, I don't see any light?
Itachi suddenly had a thought that went through his mind.
He wasn't on duty, but it almost felt like he was. He activated his sharingan, taking a look inside the store. He didn't see anything apart from the normal stuff there, much to his relief.
She just went home early.
Shisui saw a few young women coming back from the bar. One of them was drunk and the two friends were there to support her.
After a little bit of walking, they split. One of the sober girls went off by themselves and the other two went off together.
Shisui, knowing that there would be a higher chance of the single girl getting targeted, followed her, making sure that she would get home safely. Of course, it didn't help when she went through an alleyway to get to her house.
How long is she planning on walking? Shisui questioned, jumping to another rooftop. He made sure to not make a sound at all, and go to a place that was easy to hide from prying eyes.
Hm?
His onyx eyes caught the sight of a dull shine somewhere to his right. It was a shine he was all too familiar with. His eyes widened when the girl came out of the alleyway to get to the main road, and as he jumped down, the girl was dragged back inside by an arm, jerking her so quick and so strong that she didn't even have time to scream.
After he had landed on the ground in the alleyway, he brandished his sword and went to attack the one that had dragged the lady inside. He wasn't a big nor small man, and that was what confused Shisui.
"I'm sorry, Kimiko!"
Shisui stopped in his spot and jumped to the side, just quick enough so he didn't have to do any senseless killing.
"T-Tada-kun?!" The girl was just as surprised as Shisui was.
They know each other?
Making sure to keep watch because appearances can be deceptive, he held the sword closely to him, ready to make a move anytime.
They're just having a lover's quarrel…Shisui wanted to sigh. He put back his sword and stood up, heading back to the roof after the couple exited the alleyway.
He watched them as they went.
He quickly jerked to the right, searching. He was sure that he saw some movement. Now using his sharingan, he found the one responsible. It was a man—a ninja—that he had saw previously with the sword.
What's he doing down there? The Uchiha followed him with his eyes.
When he blinked, he was gone, and the sound of something slicing through flesh could be heard not too far from where the ANBU was.
Shisui was immediately there next to the couple, a few metres away as he tried to find the one that had escaped his vision, ignoring the blood that had started spurting from the necks of the couple.
How did he…?! Shisui clenched his hand around the sword and took it out, quickly searching, locating the ninja.
He let out a whistle with a different sound pattern to indicate to the other ANBUs that something had happened. He then went straight after the shinobi, who had gone east.
He's fast! Shisui upped his speed and dashed through the empty streets, following the guy.
The shinobi quickly turned a corner, and once Shisui had done the same, he nearly tripped over something at how fast he was going.
Creasing his brows in confusion, he stared down at the thing by his feet, recognising it immediately as the one that he had been chasing. Blood oozed from him, and his body was still warm. He was twitching just slightly, as if he were a dying fish, and his hand reached towards Shisui, shaking, before it hit the blood covered ground.
Shisui quickly looked up after hearing very light taps against the walls. He saw a figure retreating very quickly. Not even a moment had passed and they had already gone.
Was that…ROOT ANBU?
Shisui creased his brows and kept his sharingan on, leaving them to go. He'd ask Danzo and the 3rd about it later. Right now they had to make sure that they cleaned up the mess that had happened.
"ROOT was involved?" Itachi questioned with a tad bit of a surprised tone.
Shisui nodded. "The person that killed him was wearing the ROOT ANBU uniform." He added after a moment, "I got their chakra signature, too, so I could just go around Konoha searching for them that way."
"If they're ROOT ANBU they're bound to appear when we have our missions as well. Won't you be able to find them during that time?"
"I guess so." The older nodded.
"Was the murderer for those cases the one that really died?" The son of the police force questioned. He had his doubts, but mainly because he was killed so easily. Someone that evaded police and ANBU capture many, many times wouldn't have made such a careless mistake.
Shisui observed Itachi for a long moment, then nodded. "Yeah. It was him. We also had some people come forward and tell us about him."
Itachi's onyx eyes turned to the older one's face. He was almost silently asking him to elaborate.
"They said he had lost his wife to an illness that changed her outer look and mentality completely." Shisui started. "According to his neighbours they often heard them arguing one sided about her, and how she wasn't beautiful enough compared to other girls and that they should die."
"…so he made her dreams come true."
"Kind of. They think he went crazy when his wife died."
"So what changed his mind to suddenly kill the male this time too?" Itachi questioned. He had overheard that it wasn't just the female victim, but also her boyfriend as well.
"Maybe it reminded him of the times that they would fight and he killed him too?" Shisui wondered. "It's a sad story."
Itachi could only nod.
Shisui made sure that he was silent when he walked to the 3rd Hokage's office. He wanted to ask what the third currently thought of his plan for the upcoming coup, and if he knew why ROOT ANBU and Danzo would interfere with ANBU's missions.
As he walked down the hallway, he heard some light voices with his acute hearing. It was coming from Danzo's office.
It's really late at night, shouldn't he be resting? Shisui wondered.
Shisui activated his sharingan, his eyes flaring to the red they would become when using his kekkei genkai. As he walked by he peered into the room with his eyes, seeing the two chakra signatures that he recognised as Danzo, and the one that he had saw the night before.
"Good job on your mission yesterday." He heard Danzo tap his cane against the ground and walk.
"It was no problem, Danzo-sama."
That voice.
Shisui's eyes widened and his voice got caught in his throat. He quickened his step and arrived at the Hokage's office, standing outside for a moment.
He stared at the wooden door, just like he stared at the door that was the entrance for Koharu's flower shop the very next day.
I should go in.
Shisui put his hand on the handle and pushed down, pushing the door in so that he could enter. As he did, his eyes flickered into his sharingan, where he caught sight of the same chakra signature as the one he saw two nights ago.
"Shisui! You're early today! Do you want some tea?" Koharu was as bright and bubbly as he had remembered. She held such a gentle smile, one that made him feel at ease whenever she was with him.
It almost made him want to ask, 'why?' to address the topic. But, he couldn't bring himself to say those words, because he knew that the moment he said those words, the fairy tale that was her would disappear.
The only thing left would be a tattered book of lies.