Hey guys! Sorry for the delay on this chapter, I've been super busy the past two days...and frankly, I haven't been feeling too great about myself so...bleh :P I apologize if this chapter isn't as great as I'd like it to be as well...like I said, I've been kind of bleh lately. Well, nonetheless, I hope you enjoy it!
Kisame
When Pein didn't return to the Akatsuki, Kisame had mixed feelings. On one hand, Ari and Hana had been through enough hardships and he had no idea how they would take it if Naruto was captured. On the other hand, Pein was still Kisame's friend…creepy as the guy was…
With Pein gone, Madara allowed everyone a week off to regroup as he did some final touches. Kisame took the time to go back to the house. Even though Ari had insisted she didn't need it, the Akatsuki figured he had better help her clean out some of Itachi's things. When he returned, however, he was surprised to find the front of the house looking as if someone took a sledge hammer to it.
"What the hell happened here?" Kisame asked to himself. As he looked around, he found several uprooted trees and debris which created a path leading straight for Konoha. "Oh shit, Pein!" Kisame groaned. Following the trail, the Akatsuki had to muster up all his strength to keep from falling on his butt in shock. Where the proud Village Hidden in the Leaves once stood was nothing more than a massive crater with some survival tents scattered around in the center of it.
His heart racing, Kisame snuck into the village, looking for his friends. It was late at night and all of the security power had been diverted to medical assistance, so getting inside was no difficult task. Navigating towards the crater turned out to be difficult, however, because all of the village had been blown to the perimeter of where the village once stood. Tripping over remains of houses, Kisame fell over a toy rabbit. "Damn this blasted-!" Kisame spat, but as he turned to see what he tripped over, he was surprised to find Hana's stuffed rabbit, Tim-Tim, "Oh no," Kisame groaned. If that kid were dead...
Tossing the boulders around looking for remains, Kisame found the picture fram Itachi had given Ari along with Itachi's Akatsuki cloak and headband along with Ari's camera. He must have been standing in Ari's apartment. Or what was left of it. To Kisame's surprise, what Kisame could find was fairly intact. Tim-Tim had a tear at the seam of its head and the camera lens was cracked, but that was the only damage he could find. Everything else Kisame found, like furniture, the rest of Hana's toys, and other less important belongings were completely destroyed. At least what was important to the two were either still intact or still at the house. And no bodies. Well that was good. At least now, Itachi wouldn't kick Kisame's ass in the afterlife!
"Samehada, show me where Ari is," Kisame asked his sword in a low voice. In return, Samehada came to life as if it were a dog. It made gurgling and hissing noises and the hilt pointed towards the tents. Having sparred with Ari in training on several occasions, Sharkskin had learned Ari's chakra signature. It took abnormally long for Sharkskin to pinpoint exactly where Ari was among the tents as he snuck around and ducked behind things to keep out of sight. "Come on, you lazy sword, why can't you find her?"
Sharkskin let out a whimper as if to say that her chakra signature was too weak for it to pick up. Beginning to worry, Kisame peaked his head through just about every tent, hoping no one saw him running around like an idiot, until he glanced in one and saw little Hana sitting on her knees next to Ari, who was lying on her back.
Stepping inside, Kisame whispered, "Hana."
Turning, a puffy faced Hana lit up, relieved to see him as she jumped on Kisame crying, "Uncle Dory! Thank goodness you're here!"
Kisame's jaw dropped when he got a better look at Ari. She was on her back, unconscious and covered in bandages and she had a breathing mask on. "What happened?" he asked.
Hana sniffled as she tried to explain, "Pein he…he wanted to take Uncle Naruto away, but Mommy wouldn't let him. So then…he tried to take me and Mommy, but Mommy protected me and she…she…" Hana couldn't finish as she began whimpering and rubbed her eyes.
Ari…what kind of idiot were you for trying to take Pein on alone? Sighing heavily, Kisame knelt down in front of Hana and pulled out Tim-Tim, holding the bunny out to her, "he got a little beat up and he needs a bath, but I found your favorite playmate."
"Tim-Tim!" Hana said, a smile returning to her face. She gently grasped the bunny, careful of its head and squeezed it gently.
Kisame then pulled out the cloak, headband, and picture, setting them down in a basket with what appeared to be the rest of the duo's salvaged belongings, "I also managed to save some of your dad's things. I know how important these are to you and I want you to have them. But make sure no one else sees these, okay?"
"I know, I know, and I will," Hana said nodding her head. She ran back over to Ari and sat down at her mother's side. Kisame frowned. He knew the whole situation was messed up from the beginning. The day Ari and Itachi first brought Hana home, he thought they had both gone insane. In fact, the day Itachi decided to propose to Ari, and then when she accepted his proposal, Kisame thought the couple was insane. A half-demon and a mass murderer. Yeah, that would go great! The Hokage and the rest of Konoha would just think that was a swell idea! But, Itachi was always a little stubborn and Ari was even worse. She promised to stay by his side until the very end. She promised him a flower even, and she fulfilled both those promises.
But did they really have to suffer that much for the sake of love? Did Itachi's family have to go through this much pain just for the sake of protecting the village? It didn't seem right. Not right at all. Kisame stayed and visited with Hana and helped get the girl to sleep. With Ari out of commission, someone had to take care of the kid. Hana had curled up at Ari's side, tucked into her arm, and the little girl slept with Tim-Tim in one hand, and her locket held tightly in the other.
Kisame was starting to doze off too, but then Samehada hit the Akatsuki hard upside the head, causing him to jump to alertness just in time to hide as an old man accompanied by ANBU Blac Ops entered the tent.
"What do you wish to do with them, Lord Danzo?" one ANBU asked the elder man. The left side of his face was covered in bandages, leaving him only able to see through his right eye. He walked with a cane and his arm was tucked into a makeshift sling in his robes.
"As the new Hokage, I will not tolerate such dangerous creatures running amuck in my village," Danzo spat, "Hiruzen and Minato should have just killed the girl when she first appeared. But now she's gotten too strong and she brought another filthy half-breed with her."
Kisame held his breath. This guy was the new Hokage? What happened to Tsunade? And what did this creep have against Ari? Didn't she just save Naruto and Hana?
Danzo sighed heavily and continued, "But, she is under strict medical surveillance. And she is considered a hero now. Not as great of a hero as Naruto is, thankfully, but because Naruto looks up to her, so does the rest of the village. If she were to die suddenly…who knows what would happen. I'll let her recover, but do not let her out of your sight. I'll give you the signal when to take her out."
"Yes sir," the ANBU said. Shortly after that, the three disappeared.
Having created a puddle just outside the tent to hide, Kisame pulled himself out of the puddle, enraged. How much worse could things get for this poor girl? Come on! She was his friend, why did she have to go through all of this crap?
Groaning, Kisame figured it was probably for that very reason that she had to suffer: she was a half-demon and she befriended on criminal, then married the other (unofficially). Ari had screwed herself over from the beginning.
But still, Kisame had to warn Ari of the impending danger. He hung around the village for a few days, waiting for Ari to wake up. He had to get her out of the village if she and Hana were going to live.
Ari
"Man…where are they?" I groaned out loud. Ita and Kisame had been gone for days now on their mission. It was their first time away since I had moved into the house and I had no idea how long missions took. Frankly, I didn't even know criminals were still assigned missions… With Ita gone, leaving me all by my lonesome, I really had no idea what to do with myself. I couldn't really move anything to the house that was at my apartment unless it could fit in my travel pack, we were in the middle of nowhere, the one TV they did have was crap, and there was nothing in the pantries or the fridge for me to cook!
I spent the entirety of the first day of their absence cleaning the house and throwing things out that weren't needed anymore (they were men after all. Who knew how long Itachi and Kisame had been living here, but you could tell they had settled themselves in…along with everything else that once made this house an Uchiha stronghold). The day after that, I spent working on my scrapbook and shopping for food and furniture in nearby towns to make the place a little homier. But the third day, well, I thought they would have been back by then. I paced around all three floors of the former hideout, at a complete loss as to what to do with myself. On the main floor in what I had dictated the living room sat a bookshelf that was filled to the brim. Out of curiosity and sheer boredom, I went over there to peak around.
Ita and I had always been bookworms, and as I scanned the shelf, I realized that most of the books were ones that we had each read in the past. But I found a couple of foreign titles. I grabbed on and rested on the couch. Lying on my stomach, I was slowly able to immerse myself into the story's plot and forget about my growing anxiety. Of course, just as I was about to completely forget about my missing fiancé, a hand reached out and grabbed my ponytail, gently pulling my on to my back.
Screaming, I scrambled to grab a kunai in my weapons pouch and drew it in front of my face just in time to find Itachi staring down at me, horribly confused, my head in his lap.
"I-Itachi!" I yelped, realizing it was him, "don't do that!"
"Do what? I was just coming to say hi," Ita smiled, still unsure of my reaction. I groaned and sat up, shooting him a glare as I put my kunai away.
"You scared the shit out of me!" I snapped, "and if it had been a second later, I would've killed you."
A smile broke out on Itachi's face as he began to belly laugh, creating sounds that always managed to ease the tension in the room. He was so beautiful when he laughed. I tried to resist the urge to melt into Ita's arms as I crossed mine and forced myself to glare at him. He looked up at me and smiled as he said, "I'm sorry. I was just happy to see you is all. I thought I'd surprise you. But I guess you didn't know when we'd come home so I should have known better than to scare you."
Sighing heavily, I gave into Ita's silky voice and his gentle ways and said, "It's fine." I then leapt onto his lap, standing on his thighs as I curled myself into a ball, facing him. I wrapped my arms around his neck to hold my balance. I gave him a gentle kiss as I said, "so how was your mission?"
Itachi couldn't hold his smile back as he said, completely distracted, "You're so cute!"
"Huh?" I raised an eyebrow. I looked down and gave myself a look-over, "how am I cute? I haven't bathed at all today."
Itachi let out another belly-laugh as he said, "But still, I don't know. You're just so tiny and adorable!"
Confused, I managed to give Ita a small smile. Was there something I was missing? "I don't think I'm following…and I'm not that tiny anymore. I'm not too much shorter than you are!"
"I'm sorry," Ita apologized, unable to contain his smile, "I'm just so happy to have you on my lap is all, I can't stop looking at you. And Ari, I can rest my chin on your head. To me, you're short."
I giggled, a huge smile forming on my face, "you can't stop looking at me? Wow, if I look this good when I smell bad, I wonder what you'll think when I make an effort to look decent for a date!"
Itachi really started laughing at that one as he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling my curled-up body closer to his chest. He then leaned his head forward so our foreheads touched as he sighed, "I missed this…"
Unable to contain my happiness anymore, I let out a squeal and pulled him closer as I wrapped my legs around his waist. We held each other tightly, cuddling on the couch together. I hadn't realized just how much I had missed Itachi Uchiha until that moment, when we were both in each other's arms, our entire lives ahead of us to spend together.
I slowly opened my eyes to find the top of a tent staring down at me. The past three years with Itachi had run together in my head and had seemed so realistic that for a moment, I had forgotten all about the hell I had suffered through in the past month. But as I sat up, pain surging through my body and discovered myself covered in bandages and attached to IV's with a battered up Hana curled up at my side, it took all of my will-power to avoid crying and not go back into my dream world.
"Thank goodness you're awake," a familiar voice said. I turned my head to see Kisame sitting at the corner of the tent. He avoided eye contact with me but reached over and grabbed Itachi's Akatsuki cloak and draped it over my shoulders. It wasn't until then that I realized that, other than the bandages and a thin camisole, I wasn't really wearing a top. I pulled my arms into the sleeves and wrapped myself tightly into the cloak, inhaling Itachi's scent. I closed my eyes, trying to imagine him sitting at my side, holding me close.
"Jaws, what are you doing here?" I asked, "and how did you get into Konoha even?"
"What Konoha?" Kisame retorted, "Pein blew the place to bits. And besides, don't worry about me right now. Worry about yourself."
"Wh-why?" I asked.
Kisame knelt down and looked me in the eyes, a grim expression on his face, "do you know an old man by the name of Danzo?"
I nodded my head, "yeah…he's in charge of the Leaf's underground. He's one of the advisors."
"Did you ever…do anything to piss him off?" Kisame asked, not sure how to phrase the question. I thought long and hard about that one. I had done a lot of things to piss him off, what with my surly attitude, defying some of the Hokage's orders, going to live with Itachi, adopting Hana, and calling him Eye-patch all the time but…that pissed pretty much everyone off and they got over it, so why did it matter?"
"How pissed off are we talking here?" I finally asked in response. Kisame groaned, face-palming.
"Oh god, Ari!" Kisame grimaced. He then sighed heavily and started over asking, "Look, have you ever done anything that would make him want to kill you or Hana?"
At that, the color drained from my face and my heart began to race. "Jaws…what are you trying to get at…?"
Kisame opened his mouth to answer, but was forced to retreat to a puddle just outside the tent and hid himself when we heard footsteps outside. As the tent flap began to open I scrambled to get Ita's cloak off of me and I threw it under my blanket, tucking it under my legs. My squirming shook Hana awake and she groaned as she sat up, rubbing her eyes.
"Mommy!" Hana smiled brightly as she saw that I was awake. I smiled down at her and pulled her into a tight hug, stroking her hair just as Naruto and Kakashi barged into my tent.
"Ari!" Naruto cried out when he saw me, his face lighting up, "thank goodness you're okay!"
"Hey, Naruto," I said. I looked the boy over and found that he was only a fraction less beaten up than I was. The right side of his face was covered in bandages and his left arm was in a sling. He limped over to me before he clumsily knelt down.
"I'm so glad to see you awake, you've been out for two weeks! And we're in a lot of trouble right now," Naruto explained, his demeanor getting serious.
"What happened?" I asked.
Kakashi stepped in and explained, "We received a visit from several Cloud Shinobi. The Raikage has called a summit in hopes to stop the Akatsuki, and he wants Sasuke to be taken out immediately."
"What?" I asked in disbelief, panic striking me in the core, "What happened to Sasuke?"
"They're saying he kidnapped the Eight-Tails," Naruto said, "and that he joined the Akatsuki."
I leaned back slightly in disbelief. I glanced over at where Kisame was hiding, shooting him a glare. Sasuke did what? "But he…" I began, holding my breath, "he…killed Itachi…"
"I don't know," Naruto shrugged, forlorn, "I don't know why he would do that…but…Ari, I have a question for you. It's something that Pein said…about you and Itachi…"
"Oh shit," I groaned, leaning my head back. Hana looked up at me confused and then looked back at Naruto. How in the hell was I supposed to explain that one?
Kakashi, thankfully, saved the day and he said, "We'll have time for questions later. We need to get going if you're going to find the Raikage."
"What are you guys planning?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
Kakashi turned to me and said, "The Raikage is meeting the other Kages in the Land of Iron. Tsunade is in a coma and Danzo has been named the Hokage in her place. However, since he is for taking Sasuke out as well, Naruto wants to speak with the Raikage and try to convince him otherwise. But we have to leave soon because Root members have been posted all over the place and aren't allowing Naruto, Hana, or you out of the village for the time being. I have a genjutsu on the ones currently assigned to you three for now. If you guys come with us, you can get out of here."
Sighing, I tried to roll onto my feet, but I felt as if I had been hit by a train. I just didn't have the strength yet to run around. "I'm sorry, Kakashi, but I can't even stand up, much less help you guys out with this. I'll leave this matter to you for now. I'll catch up with you guys later."
"Ari, are you sure?" Kakashi asked in a low voice as if he were trying to warn me of some other danger.
"Yeah, I just need more rest," I said. Sighing, Kakashi and Naruto left the tent. Right after that Kisame leapt out of the puddle and grasped my shoulders tightly as he shook me.
"You idiot! Why didn't you go with them?" Kisame growled at me.
"What am I supposed to do?" I snapped back at him.
Kisame groaned and lowered his voice as he said, "what part of 'Danzo is Hokage' did you not understand?"
I sighed heavily. The idea did scare me, Danzo hated me and Hana. He always had. But this was Sasuke we were talking about. The kid might've had a loose screw in his head, but if anyone could help him come home, it was Naruto. This was my boy we were talking about, and if Itachi could trust Naruto to bring Sasuke home, then Naruto would bring Sasuke home.
I shook my head blankly and Kisame explained, "he came into your tent the other night. He is going to kill you. Both of you."
"What?" I shouted, hugging Hana tighter, "But why?"
"He sees you as a threat. He's always wanted you dead," Kisame said, "look, you have to get out of here!" Kisame helped me to my feet and threw me some extra clothes. I was in capris and a tank, but he tossed me my ANBU uniform and my swords, helping me into my armor. He then threw everything that we did have in the tent into a travel pack. "The rest of the stuff that you need is at the house. We'll stop there before you go."
"But where am I supposed to go?" I asked in disbelief, "We're half-breeds and this had been my home for years! I can't just…leave it! I haven't done anything wrong!"
"I don't care where you go, but you've got to get out of here," Kisame urged, "I can help you get out of the Land of Fire, but you're on your own from there. The Five Kage Summit is way up north in the Land of Iron. It's a neutral country that does not get involved with the shinobi world. I can imagine that you'd be safe there. You could start a new life."
"But I—" I started to say, just as a Root member walked in on us. I hadn't even heard him approach.
"Ariala Uzumaki," the man said in a monotonous voice, "you're under arrest."
"What?" I shrieked, "I've been unconscious for the past two weeks! What did I do?"
"Well, for starters, you're associating with him," the Root member pointed at Kisame.
"Sorry, you brat," Kisame spat at him, "but I've been sent to take these half-breeds into custody. The Akatsuki needs them."
"And that is exactly why you are under arrest," the Root member said, "Lord Danzo has ordered the annihilation of all threats to the village. Including half-bijuu."
The Root member started walking towards Hana who began to back away. She held Tim-Tim tightly in her arms as she started to whimper. I took a step in front of her, glaring at the Root member.
"Look, I don't mean to be any threat to this village," I said in a low voice, "I am a proud shinobi of Konoha. If anything, you guys should be glad I'm on your side. And Hana…she's a child!"
"None of that matters," the Root member says, "Lord Danzo has declared you a monster. And you shall parish!"
The man lunged towards me with his sword drawn. Panicking, I pulled out my twin swords and stabbed the man through the heart, killing him. He slumped forward into me, his weight almost pulling me to the ground. Kisame quickly pulled the body off me and threw him to the ground. I stood there in shock, covering my hands to my face, shaking.
"Oh my god…" I whimpered. Behind me, Hana was crying, her eyes closed as she hugged my leg tightly, "What…what did I just do?"
"You killed him, that's what," Kisame said with a straight face. No…I wasn't a criminal! I wasn't someone who would kill her own people! He was…he was after me, but he was still a proud shinobi of Konoha and I had probably fought alongside him on several occasions! Why would I do such a thing? "Ari, you are not a Leaf shinobi anymore. You're a fugitive whether you've done anything wrong or not. Itachi asked me to protect you two, and goddammit, that's just what I'm going to do. Now let's get out of here!"
Kisame scooped Hana up in his arms and grabbed me by the wrist. He led us out of the village and back to the house. As we approached the doorsteps, I froze in my tracks, causing Kisame to fall forward.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Jaws, I…I can't—" I stammered, but Kisame didn't give me time to finish. Despite the injuries and the concussion I had been dealt, Kisame punched me hard across the side of the face, knocking me to the ground.
"Uncle Dory! Stop! Why did you do that?" Hana screamed in a panic.
Setting Hana on the ground, Kisame said, "I'm sorry, Hana, but your mom is not thinking clearly!" he then grasped me by the collar of my shirt and pulled me close to his face, "I don't care if you're ready to face the facts or not, Ari! Itachi is dead and there is nothing you can do about it! I know it sucks, but you're still alive. Hana is still alive! It doesn't matter what kind of pain you're suffering, you still have a little girl who needs you. Who depends on you, so snap out of it and start acting like a mother again!"
I stared at Kisame with wide eyes for a long time. I let out a whimper and allowed a few tears to escape. Frowning, Kisame let me go as he stood back up.
"I'm sorry," he spat, "I don't know what else to do."
"No," I said in a low voice, "I'm sorry…" I then stood and forced myself to look at the house. The front had been badly damaged from Pein's attacks back in the village. Shaking, I took a step inside the house. Everything was as we had left it. On any normal day, it would be as if I was just coming home from a mission or from Konoha.
But I was on the run. I needed to clear the things I needed out of here fast. There was no time to clean. No time to cook dinner. Only time to run. I went up the stairs and Kisame took Hana to her room and helped her pack the things she needed, and when she was packed I would help give her a bath before we left. I stood outside the room of my bedroom for a long time. The door was closed as Ita and I had left it a mess after our last night together.
Holding my breath, I hastily turned the knob and stepped inside. I looked around. Everything was the same. The bed sheets were a mess, our pajamas were strewn about all over the floor, the bathroom still needed to be cleaned…
Like a robot, I took my backpack off and unzipped it, trying to decide what I would need. I could fit most of my clothes in there along with toiletries. If I was going to the Land of Iron, I would need some winter clothes. I pulled out my winter cloak and a light blue dress with long sleeves and a turtle-neck collar which I would wear with black leggings and white leg warmers when I went to cold countries on missions. As I rummaged through other personal belongings, I tripped over the scrapbook.
"Dammit!" I cursed glancing over at it. I had left it at the house when I had left because I wasn't sure I wanted to see that thing again. It was full of too many memories at this point. They were happy memories, but they only gave me more pain. I looked down at the book, eyeing the page it had been opened to with my foot. I held it up, flipping through pages from Saya and me at gymnastics meets to Naruto's first day of school. I stopped at a page full of Itachi and me. It started with the picture of Sasuke sleeping on Ita's chest and traveled to a picture of Ita and I in our ANBU uniforms for the first time. I flipped through more pages and found Ita and I on his birthday. We were sent out on a mission together during it so I took him to his favorite tea shop as a gift.
And then, finally, I found the engagement picture of Ita and I. I stared down at my left hand and gazed at the diamond on my finger for a long time before I held the scrapbook to my chest and started crying.
"Ita…!" I whaled, curling into a ball as I wept silently. I leaned against the bed, missing Itachi, missing our lives together, missing what could have been, missing what never would be.
Kisame eventually came into my room and said, "Hana's all packed up now, if you want to give her a—Ari?" Kisame walked over to see my pitiful depressed form weeping over a scrapbook. He knelt down next to me and placed his hand on my shoulder, "hey, you're going to be alright."
I looked up at him, tears streaming down my face as I whimpered, "How do you know? Everything that I know and love is either gone or about to be taken away from me!"
"That's not true," Kisame shook his head, "you still have Hana, and I won't let her get separated from you. And you won't let her get separated from you. I can't imagine what you're going through right now, but you will be okay, I can promise you that much. As long as you wear that necklace and that ring, Itachi's always going to be at your side. He promised you that, didn't he? And Itachi's never broken a promise before as far as I'm concerned."
I sighed, shaking as I wiped my eyes. "Thank you, Jaws…" I whimpered.
Kisame chuckled, "And you can't be that miserable, you still haven't called me by my real name yet!"
At that, I laughed slightly, "It's because I made a bet with you. I don't lose bets."
Kisame crossed his arms and grinned, "neither do I."
After that, I got Hana into the bathtub and washed her up. As it was getting late, I went ahead and tucked her into bed. We would leave early in the morning.
"I'll get you up early, and we need to leave as soon as possible, okay?" I said gently.
"But why do we have to go?" Hana asked.
"It's not safe for us anymore. People are afraid of Grandpa and Auntie because they don't understand what they are. And because of that, some people are afraid of even you and me, and they don't know how to treat us. It's scary in the village right now and there are some who want to hurt us because they are so scared," I tried to explain, stroking her hair gently.
Hana frowned and hugged Tim-Tim tightly, but was careful not to hurt the rabbit's head as I had just fixed the seam in its neck. She asked, "but we aren't scary people. Why can't we just tell them that?"
"Well, sometimes it's not that easy," I said, "sometimes people just get so scared for no good reason that you can't tell them otherwise. That's kind of what's happened with us. Because Pein tried to take us and he destroyed the village, some people are just so scared of us for that reason alone and we can't convince them that we're not bad people. I don't want to do this either, but if we're going to stay safe, we have to move. Daddy wants nothing more than our safety, doesn't he?"
"Yeah," Hana sighed heavily. She then closed her eyes and patted her forehead gently, "I wish he were here to tuck me in with you…he's supposed to poke my head…"
"I know," I said, fighting the tears. I then smiled and said, "you know he used to poke Uncle Sasuke's forehead too?"
Hana looked up with a small smile on her face, "really?"
"Yeah," I said, "all the time."
"I bet Uncle Sasuke misses Daddy too," Hana said suddenly, "that's why he won't come back home. He's just scared like those other people are and he can't be told otherwise."
"What?" I asked. I shook my head, "well, I can't say if that's true or not, but maybe. Well, get some rest, goodnight, sweetheart."
"Goodnight, Mommy," Hana said as I kissed her on the forehead and tucked her in tightly. Hana gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and then she pulled out her locket, kissing it and said in a sad little voice, "Goodnight Daddy…"
I couldn't sleep that night. It didn't feel right lying in bed without Itachi next to me. I tossed and turned before finally giving up and going downstairs to sip some tea and wait for when it was time to wake Hana up. I was exhausted the next day, but I didn't care. All that was on my mind as I got dressed and bundled Hana up in her pink coat and scarf was getting her to safety.
"Stay off the main roads," Kisame explained, "I was looking around, and Wanted Posters are starting to go up for you, Hana, Naruto, and Sasuke. The Land of Iron is a neutral country and will gladly accept you two as refugees as they are not affiliated with the shinobi world. But while the Summit is being held, I would lie low and use a fake identity until it's all over with, just in case someone were to see you."
"Got it," I said, nodding my head. I then gave Kisame a hug before we departed and said, "Thank you, Jaws. You're truly a good friend."
Kisame chuckled as Hana gave him a hug and he said, "Don't mention it. And take care."
With that, we left. It took several days to get to the snow covered land of samurai. We didn't check into any hotels or stop at any regular shelter for food. We couldn't as I realized too late that my bank account was connected to Konoha's. As soon as I used it, they would know where I was. I had plenty of money in my wallet that I had saved up from recent missions, and Ita had kept several hundred dollars in a safe in case of an emergency which I took, but I wouldn't spend any of it until I had gotten Hana and I settled in the Land of Iron, away from the shinobi world.
We took shelter in caves or abandoned houses, however we could find it. I would build fires at night and tuck Hana in underneath Ita's cloak, and the two of us would sleep next to each other under his protection.
"I miss Daddy," Hana said one night, "I wish he never had to leave Konoha…he wouldn't have died if he hadn't…"
"I know, sweetie," I whispered back to her. Her head rested on my lap as I looked up at the stars. Hana closed her eyes and eventually drifted off to sleep. I stayed awake that night, looking up at the night sky, wondering if what Hana had said was true. Would he have lived? Probably. He would have at least had much better healthcare. He could have at least stayed with us longer…
"Oh, Itachi," I said to myself, a tear escaping my eye, "I wish you hadn't had to leave us…"
Naruto
The Raikage never budged on his resolve to destroy Sasuke. Broken hearted, Naruto, Kakashi, and Yamato went to a hotel to rest before they headed back home to the village. He couldn't sleep that night either, his mind continually drifted to Sasuke. Itachi was dead, so why wouldn't Sasuke come home? That was his goal, wasn't it? And what Pein had said about Ari…Naruto was inclined to brush that off as a jab towards an old relationship, but what the Kyuubi had once commented about Ari's relationship to it turned out to be true as well…what else did Naruto not know about Ari?
But then the masked man showed up, Madara Uchiha. He came claiming to shed light on the story of Sasuke Uchiha, but the news he had to give was far greater than what anyone in the room had anticipated. An Uchiha coup? A mission to destroy the Uchiha given by the Hokage? Itachi working as a double agent? And what Madara had mentioned about a lover…
"I can't imagine who it was harder on when Itachi died, Sasuke or Itachi's lover who has spent her whole life drowning in secrets…"
But as quickly as he came, Madara disappeared, leaving Kakashi, Yamato, and Naruto all in the snow alone. And that's when Sakura and the rest of Konoha 11 showed up. Sakura started begging Naruto to give up on Sasuke, that she liked Naruto now, but Naruto knew better. Sakura was hiding something, but what? This news was getting a little too hard to take…
And that's when he saw them.
That wild brown hair and that slender form, holding the hands of a child.
"Ari!" Naruto called out, catching the woman's attention.
At first, Ari panicked and began to run away from Naruto, but Kakashi rushed forward and stopped her. What was even stranger was when she pulled out a kunai as if she were planning to attack when Kakashi drew too close.
"What are you doing here? I thought you needed rest from your wounds," Kakashi asked, confused.
"I was," Ari said, skeptical, "but things got too dangerous for Hana and I back in Konoha so we had no choice but to leave."
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked in disbelief.
Relaxing slightly, Ari lowered her guard enough to put the kunai away and explain, "Danzo ordered for the half-breeds to be exterminated, simply put. The village isn't safe for us anymore."
His heart racing, the world began to spin as Naruto asked, "What?"
"Naruto, you know Hana and I are not entirely human," Ari sighed, "Danzo has hated me from the beginning. As the Hokage, he sees us as a threat because of our ancestry."
"But that's…that's not fair!" Naruto cried out, "Is that the only reason he wants you guys dead?"
Ari shrugged, "I don't know. I would assume so. Naruto, don't worry about me. You just protect yourself. You're the last remaining jinchuuriki and I don't know what I would do if I lost you too."
"Lost me too, huh?" Naruto asked in a low voice, "Why, because you've lost everything else? At least with…Itachi?"
"Naruto!" Kakashi scolded in a harsh voice. Ari's eyes widened and her expression hardened as the emotional barriers around the woman drew up.
"I have to know!" Naruto snapped back. He then forced back the tears and looked Ari in the eyes asking, "Ari, I know you and Itachi were old teammates, and I know you guys dated before he left the village. But…Pein mentioned a few things when we fought him…about you being Itachi's lover. And we just had a run-in with Madara and he said some disturbing things about Itachi…he said Itachi was only acting on orders when he killed his clan. I have to know…is all of that true?"
Ari closed her eyes and pursed her lips together as Naruto anticipated an answer. Part of him hoped none of that was true, he had hoped that everything he had known wasn't a blatant lie.
But nonetheless, Ari pulled the glove on her left hand off and showed Naruto the engagement ring on her finger. It matched the gold necklace she always wore perfectly. "Does this answer your question?" she asked in a dark voice.
Naruto's stomach dropped as he gazed at the ring. "But why…?" was all he could muster.
Ari sighed heavily, her lip quivering as she explained, "There are a lot of things people are not meant to find out in this world for their own safety. For many of us, one of those things includes the truth about Itachi Uchiha. Ita was my best friend, we were the Ultimate Tag Team. I knew him better than he probably even knew himself, so when he fled the village on that night, I just knew there was something else going on. He loved his family too much, his village too much, to just betray everyone and throw his life away for no reason. And when he returned to Konoha three years ago, I decided to take the truth into my own hands. I loved him, no matter what had happened. Even if that was all him, I probably still would have loved him…and he even proposed during the mission at Utsukuma Inn, can you believe it? I thought we had our whole lives ahead of us, he was such a good father for Hana…she's his flower…but he had a heart condition, and he wanted to die at Sasuke's hands…for all of us."
Naruto stared blankly at Ari, unable to comprehend what she was telling him. That couldn't be true…but…Ari…
"Don't give me that look, Naruto," Ari said as she forced a smile, "It's alright, really."
"But…when Pervy-Sage Died…that was right after Itachi…" Naruto said in a trance. Ari had been the one comforting both him and Hana that night, but what kind of pain had Ari been going through at that same time?
As the day wore on, more news was received: Danzo had tried to pull the Summit under the rug and gain control of power and had been removed as the Hokage. Kakashi was asked to stand in as the new Hokage in Danzo's place. The Eight Tails was still alive somewhere, but was either missing or hiding. And worst of all, Sasuke had tried to assassinate all five kages.
And if things couldn't get any worse, Sai came back to inform Naruto that Sakura and the others had resolved to take Sasuke out with their own hands.
He couldn't handle it anymore, this was too much. First Sasuke, then Ari, and now all of this? His breath quickened, unable to calm down as he began to hyperventilate. The next thing Naruto knew, he was collapsing in the snow unconscious.
Ari
That was definitely one of the shortest exiles for a shinobi in history. As news of Danzo's betrayal spread to us, Kakashi stepped in as the Hokage, assuring me that Hana and I would once again be safe in Konoha.
But if we were safe in the rest of the world was the real question. Madara was growing angrier and more impatient by the day. Upon Sasuke's failure to destroy the kage, and his subsequent rescue, Madara spoke with the kages and then declared war on the shinobi world in order to obtain the remaining two jinchuuriki. Nothing was mentioned, but I had a feeling that Hana and I had been made targets as well.
"The first thing we must do is return to the village and inform them on what has happened," Kakashi stated, gripping his head from the stress-induced headache. "But the next question I have is how they plan to protect Naruto. He won't just sit idly by while the rest of the world shields him."
I sighed heavily. Kakashi had been on one too many missions with Itachi and I in his ANBU days. Kakashi was starting to sound just like Ita. And he needed to stop that. "Kakashi, calm down. We'll just take it one step at a time," I said.
A few moments later, Naruto woke up in a panic, insisting that he had to stop the others from killing Sasuke. The news broke my heart, knowing that both of my Uchiha boys would be gone, but if Sasuke was as far gone as he seemed then…I didn't know what to do.
I finally encouraged Naruto to go back to sleep and that we would move in the morning, but after a half-hour, I took notice that for some reason, I couldn't sense Dad in the room anymore even though Naruto was still lying on the ground.
Freaking shadow clones!
I bolted out of the hotel with Kakashi on my heals as we chased after Naruto, leaving Yamato to watch Hana. When we finally found him, he was standing in a river with Sakura in his arms and Sasuke facing him. Sasuke had formed a partial Susanoo and was screaming at Naruto.
"You don't know anything about me!" Sasuke cried out, a demented look in his eyes.
"Sasuke!" I scolded as I landed behind Naruto. I took a step forward, glaring at the boy. He had grown up and was turning into quite a handsome man, but he looked absolutely crazed with the wild expressions he was giving us with his newly awakened Mongekyo. And by the way he was squinting, I could tell he hadn't transplanted Itachi's eyes yet.
"Oh great, now you're here too? Well guess what, Ari? I don't need your coddling! I killed the elder named Danzo, he confirmed the truth about my brother to me! The truth about you! I know everything, and I will not be told what to do by some half-breed!" Sasuke screamed before I could get anything out.
Glaring at him, I took a step forward, "just how much do you know about me then, Sasuke? How much do you really know about your brother? To take comfort in the idea of throwing your life away and destroying the village, the kages, that is?"
Sasuke jumped at my remark, his insane smirk fading into the expression of a hurt and confused little boy that I once knew so well, "Just what do you mean by that? And how dare you accuse me of not knowing Itachi when you don't even know him yourself! He gave up everything for the village and you just sat by, treating him like a traitor! All of you!"
"I sat by?" I snapped at Sasuke, "I treated him like a traitor? Which one of us has Itachi's blood on his hands?"
"He chose to die by my hands," Sasuke said in a low voice, "but you! You were closest to him before he annihilated the Uchiha! You were in the ANBU! But you did nothing to help him! You just left him all alone while I knew nothing! I was a child!"
"Sasuke," I said again, "I don't think you know the whole truth about me…"
"What?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow, but before he could say anymore, I took my glove off once again and held up my left hand. Squinting his eyes, unable to see, I took a few steps forward, showing off my ring.
"Do you know what this is?" I asked Sasuke.
"It's…a ring…" Sasuke said in awe.
"On my left hand," I said, "and what does that mean?"
"I—"
"What does that mean?" I growled, my anger boiling over, "You know damn well who gave this to me so I ask you, what does this mean? You're right Sasuke, you were just a child when everything happened. You didn't understand. But I wasn't, I had to live through Itachi's pain too, you know! The secrets he kept, the lies he told…and all to protect us! Did you even know he had the same heart disease that your uncle died from? Did you? I can guarantee not since I didn't find out until months before he died! And he died in my arms at that! I can understand the anger and frustration and loneliness you are feeling right now after being kept in the dark for so long, but you need to understand that Itachi did all that to protect you! And you need to get it in your head that I would never ever sit idly by while your brother suffered in agony, so don't you dare accuse me of doing so, ever again!"
"SHUT UP!" Sasuke screamed back at me, "You don't know anything! I don't care what your relationship was to Itachi in the end, he suffered so your sorry ass could just laugh and scorn his name living in that village without a care in the world! The Uchiha name has been poisoned by you Leaf Ninja! And I will destroy every last one of you. I will severe every single tie the Uchiha has to the shinobi world, by killing every single one of you off. That's how I will revive my clan!"
"You're out of your mind…" I breathed. I suddenly felt as if a huge weight had come crashing down on my shoulders. All Itachi wanted to do was free Sasuke from his hatred…but instead it all led to this…what was even worse, I feared, was I had a feeling that the only person who could even talk even the slightest amount of sense into Sasuke was Itachi. Someone please tell me why he had to die again?
The next series of events happened in what felt like an instant. Naruto and Sasuke clashed with their Rasengan and Chidori respectively. The backlash from the two attacks blue the boys apart in separate directions. Kakashi managed to catch Naruto while White Zetsu cushioned Sasuke's fall on the other side.
Naruto stood up with a serious expression on his face, "Now I'm certain," he said in a low voice.
"Naruto?" I asked Blondie, confused. Naruto ignored me and stared at Sasuke intently. Sasuke panted heavily, barely able to stand after his clash with Danzo and now having to face off against Naruto. But then, in the midst of swirling air, Madara appeared. I glared at the masked man, still not entirely sure that this was the same Madara, but I still kept my guard up.
Madara turned to Sasuke and said, "I thought I told you to come back and rest." Madara then finally noticed our presence and said, "The NineTails…and his half-breed daughter. When we do fight them, it'll be in a more subtle place. For now, we retreat."
Naruto then took a step forward and said, "There's something I need to say to Sasuke first."
His gesture took both sides by surprise. Madara knelt down but Sasuke and grasped him by the arm urging him to go, "Come on, Sasuke—"
"Wait," Sasuke cut the masked man off and turned his attention to Naruto. My eyes widened. The old Sasuke was still in there somewhere, I could feel it in that moment. Naruto had brought it out of him, which meant there was a chance that Sasuke could be saved afterall.
"Do you remember what you told me back at the Valley of the End? About Ninja of top-class?" Naruto asked. Sasuke remained silent, thinking back to a memory that only the two boys shared. Naruto continued, "one direct clash later, I understand a lot more. We've become top-class shinobi, both of us. So tell me, did you see what was in my heart? What I really feel? Did you see what'll happen when we fight again? We're both gonna die."
Naruto's words sat heavy on my heart as I stared at the two. There was no way that could happen. It couldn't. But I had never seen Naruto look so serious in my life. He must've felt something, and by the knowing expression on Sasuke's face, they both must have experienced that same feeling. Naruto continued to speak with Sasuke, assuring him that he would bear whatever burden stood on Sasuke's shoulders and that he would stay his friend until the very end. Unable to understand Naruto's feelings, Sasuke ran away with Madara, leaving Kakashi, Sakura, Naruto, and I alone with the brink of war and our lost friend hanging over our shoulders.
