I do not own Naruto~
Her heart felt like it had stopped.
She reread the note again, three more times, as if it was playing some sort of trick on her.
No. It's not true.
"Oi, Mom, this isn't funny," she called back. She received no answer. She laughed shakily. "Come on, I know you're there."
This was all just a joke. She knew it. When she found her Mom, she'd appear with Shisui and they'd all be happy again. After she beat the hell out of Shisui and forbid her mother from sweets. Yea, it was a joke.
"Mom, I'm not gonna fall for this," she said flatly. She was again ignored. She stuck the note in her pocket and went through the house again. There was definitely not anybody there, not even in the baby's room. Frowning, she walked out of the house and went to ask the guards if they had seen her leave for the grocery store or something.
They told her that they had seen her leave, carrying a large bag, and that she wouldn't tell them where she was going.
Ayano numbly walked back to her house. Her breathing picked up. She remembered how she walked in the house the day before with her mother crying and holding a picture of her...
What if she really was gone?
She broke out into a run, sprinting back to her house, and threw open the door, not even bothering to shut it.
"Mom!" she shouted. She rechecked all of the rooms yet again. "Mom!!" Her breathing was bordering on hyperventilation, now. Nobody was here. "...Mom?" she called weakly. No answer.
What did she do? Should she wait and see if her mother will come home? Call the police? Go out looking for her? Ask her father?
What should she do?
She turned around and ran back outside, not even aware of where she was going. She just wanted to get away from the emptiness of the house. But when she stopped on the doorstep and banged on the door, she knew what she should do.
Fugaku opened the door rather angrily after her persistent banging.
"What is it?" he asked sharply.
"My mom," Ayano blubbered. She wasn't aware of the tears streaming down her face. "She was there when I left and then I came home and she wasn't there--"
"She's having her baby?" Fugaku finished, eyes widening in surprise.
"No," she sobbed. "She left the village." His eyes widened more.
"How do you know this?" he demanded. Ayano shoved the note towards him.
"She left that," she told him shakily. "Next to a pile of cash." His eyes scaned over the paper, more than once, his eyes widening more every time.
"...There's something we need to tell you," he said suddenly. She frowned.
"But, can't it wait!?" she asked, looking at him sharply. "My mom-"
"Your Mom's not coming back," he said sharply. Her eyes widened.
"Wh-...what do you mean?" she whispered. He glared at her, surprising her.
"Mikoto!" he shouted into the house. "We're telling Ayano, now. Get down here."
"What?" Ayano asked again, her eyes hardening a little. "What are you talking about?"
He grabbed her forearm, dragging her into the house.
She gasped and struggled, screaming and clawing at his arm and trying to pull away. He yanked her foreward, hard enough to make her think she had dislocated her shoulder.
"Jeez, stop freaking out," he hissed. "You're only hurting yourself." She stopped struggling, glaring at him. If she activated Sharingan, she might be able to fight him... "Don't even think about it. You won against that Hyuuga because he was drunk, not because you think you're good at fighting." She scowled at him and he tossed her on the couch. Mikoto came down from the stairs, a hard glint in her eyes. It shocked Ayano. She had only ever seen Mikoto with a kind, motherly look to her face, and now it was like she was almost scowling.
"...What do you want?" Ayano hissed. She wasn't liking where this was going. What were they saying about her mother?
"The Uchiha is planning a coup de' tat," Fugaku deadpanned. Ayano's eyes widened.
She needed to act. Itachi might get in trouble if she told them she already knew.
"...What?" she whispered. "Why!?" Mikoto's gaze shifted between her husband and Ayano.
"Haven't you seen the way the villagers look at us?" he growled. "Noticed how we are confined to one section of the village?" Ayano's brow pulled down.
"Why is that bad?" she asked. "Having one section of the village to yourself? Have you seen the houses you all live in?" She cut herself off. She didn't want to say too much. She was making it sound like she was on the village's side.
"Because it's easier for the council to keep an eye on us when we're all rounded up in one place," Fugaku growled. Ayano frowned.
"Why don't they trust us, then?" she asked. Itachi had told her, but she might as well hear their side of the story.
"Because when this village was founded, the senju clan was made leader, and the Uchiha was shunned because of the fued they had. They though we would start a revolt, so they exiled us to one corner of the village." His scowl deepened. "And now they are getting just what they want." Ayano was trying to control her expression. Now onto the subject of her mother.
"And how does this relate to my missing mother?" she snapped.
"Your mother ran away because she didn't agree with the idea of a coup," Mikoto spoke up. Ayano turned her gaze to the woman. "She didn't care about the clan." She sniffed disdainfully and turned her head. "Good riddance." Ayano nearly blanched. Mikoto, the woman who she thought was the nicest woman she had ever met, that was her mother's best friend, was now talking about her mother as if she were dirt.
But Ayano didn't have to act anymore, though.
"My mother new about it!?" she exclaimed, jumping up in shock.
"Yes," Mikoto replied. "She probably didn't tell you because she knew we wanted you to help us." Ayano looked at her sharply.
"Help you?" she questioned. "What do you mean?"
Fugaku's aura exploded, causing her to fall back on the couch with a gasp. She looked at him in terror.
"That thing you just felt," he began. "It's called chakra. You are extremely good at sensing it, seeing as how I had nearly all of my chakra masked just then. We want you to help us find the council." Ayano's breathing was speeding up.
They wanted her to help them overthrow the government. To help kill people.
"But...I can't fight," she told them weakly.
"You have Sharingan," Mikoto said dismissively. "And we would have shinobi protecting you."
"But I'm not really that good at sensing...chakra," she blurted out.
"Stop lying," Fugaku barked. "You sensed that ANBU impersonator before even Itachi did. That's better than anyone in the entire clan. So will you fight with us?" She looked down at her hands, which were clenched into fists in her lap. How did she tell them she didn't want to?
The front door opened, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Any interruption would suffice.
And when Itachi walked in, she nearly shouted for joy. She quickly got up and nearly ran to him, hiding behind him. He looked at her in confusion and then at his parents, when a scowl quickly formed on his face.
"What's going on?" he demanded.
"I don't want to," she blurted out. He looked back at her sharply.
"What are you talking abou--"
"You don't really have a choice," Fugaku growled. Itachi glared at his father, finally realizing what has happened.
"She does," he defended for her, glaring defiantly. Fugaku glared back at him.
"If her mother went missing, then she has to move in with her father, who works in the government as well. Both of them would be our enemy." Ayano breathing sped up. She didn't want them to kill her father. She wasn't that mad at him. She had to...
Mikoto looked between her and Itachi.
"We took the trouble of getting her to help off your hands, Itachi," she told her son pointedly. He glared at her with as much anger as he could muster.
Ayano's breath caught.
She looked up in disbelief at the Uchiha she was hiding behind. He refused to look at her.
"You..." She couldn't finish the sentence.
He was going to try to get her to fight with them.
He wasn't denying it.
She trusted him!
Forget it. She hated the clan.
"I won't!" she yelled. "Find someone else!" And then she ran. She was terrified that they would follow her, but as she ran out the door no one tried to stop her. She didn't run to her house. She didn't want to see the emptiness. So she ran out of the compound, luckily there wasn't any guards today, and as far away as she could, not even stopping to catch her breath. She ran until she got to her old house, the one she had lived in before her mom and dad got divorced. It was still for sale, and it looked like someone had tried to break in. She crawled in through the broken window, careful of the glass, and made her way to her parent's room.
It was just as empty as her other house. But she could still pretend. It still smelled like her father's cologne, or her mother's burnt experiments in the kitchen. She huddled in one of the corners of the house, trying to remember what it was like to have a whole family.
She didn't know where to go.
Two days had passed. Itachi had searched for her multiple times, but no luck. She wasn't anywhere in the compound, and he had checked around the village. Uruchi and Teyaki were worried for her, and when he asked if they knew where her father lived, they told him she didn't tell him.
"You're distracted," Fugaku stated as he made a move to attack Itachi in his side, which he had left open. Itachi dodged it easily, though, and landed a blow in his father's jaw.
"Hardly," Itachi replied. They were sparring in the clan dojo because Fugaku said he needed to talk to his son about something. "What do you want? I have things to do." Fugaku narrowed his eyes at Itachi. The younger Uchiha had been anything but patient with him since Ayano suddenly disappeared.
"Stop concerning youself with that girl," he commanded. Itachi completely stopped and stood there glaring at Fugaku.
"You're the ones who forced us together," he replied. "It's your problem."
"She's a disgrace," Fugaku shot back. "Her entire family is." He was talking about her mother and father.
"Only her clan," Itachi growled. Fugaku blinked in shock. Itachi turned around and started walking away.
"Itachi," Fugaku barked. "Where are you going?" Itachi paused and glanced at his father over his shoulder.
"To find Ayano," he replied, before walking away again. Fugaku scowled at him.
"Why does that girl mean so much, anyways?" This time Itachi stopped, staring down at the ground, as the wind blew past them. He turned around and stared blankly at Fugaku.
"Ayano is just Ayano," he told him, leaving his confused father behind in the field.
Remember how I said that Ayano means "my color" or "my design?" Well, yea, plug that in to one of the Ayano's and you get "Ayano is just my design."
He was searching for her with renewed vigor. He hadn't really trained himself as a sensor before, but he was god enough at it to try. At first he though that since she was a civilian, she wouldn't have enough chakra for it to be noticable, but she had activated Sharingan, so she had to have had a decent amount.
So now he was going through the village, street by street, trying to find a small amount of chakra he would recognize as Ayano's. He had been walking for who knows how long, but his worry for her kept pushing him.
He was passing an empty house when he felt a presence that made him stop and look at the house with hope. It was for sale, and there was a broken window in the side of it. He masked his chakra as much as he could. He'd probably give Ayano a heart attack, but if she sensed him she would most likely bolt. He silently crawled through the window, careful not to make any noise, and landed on the carpeted floor in a crouch. He followed the presence until he came to a room that was in the corner of the house, and opened the door.
She was laying on the floor, staring blankly at the wall across from her. She didn't show any sign that she knew Itachi was there. He let out a sigh when he saw her empty expression. He walked to her and kneeled beside her.
"Have you been here the whole time?" he asked her calmly. Her gaze shifted to him and made a pitiful attempt to glare at him.
"What do you want?" she tried to growl. He sighed again.
"I came to find you," he stated. "You've eaten something the past two days, right?"
"I'm not stupid," she hissed, sitting up. It pained him for her to talk to him like that. "I get free meals at Ichiraku's because Ayame's dad owns the place. Go away." He winced and looked her in the eye.
"No," he replied. "Let me explain-"
"Explain what?" she snapped. "How you were going to try to get me to try and help overthrow the government? To help a clan that despises my family kill people? I hate-" He didn't let her finish what she was about to say and clapped a hand over her mouth.
"I remember we had an agreement no to interupt each other," he stated. "Let me explain." She glared at him. "It's true they wanted you to help them with the revolt. They told me to get you to join because you trusted me the most, and they told me that if I didn't coopoerate, then you weren't needed and that they would kill you." He moved his hand, watching her expression carefully. Her eyes were wide in shock. "I didn't know what to do. I knew that either way, you might be killed. I couldn't decide." She lowered her gaze, guilt overtaking her. She hated him for trying to save her life?
Why was her life like this? Why did she have to be born into such a horrible clan?
"Why can't I just have a normal life?" she whispered. "I don't want to fight or anything. I just want to have a normal family and a normal life." She didn't know she had begun crying. "I hate Uchiha!" Itachi frowned.
"I do, too," he agreed. "It's not fair for you or Sasuke." She glanced up at him.
"Then why don't we just leave? Let's take Sasuke and just leave! Maybe we could find my mom!" But Itachi was already shaking his head before she had even finished.
"I have to stop the coup," he told her. "Even if we left, they would still go on with it. There could be another war."
"Oh..." She lowered her gaze again. He frowned.
"Ayano..." he began. "Don't tell anyone Mari went missing." She looked up at him sharply.
"Why!?" she asked. "We need to have someone find her!"
"She left because she wanted the baby to be safe," Itachi told her. "He might not be, especially if she goes into labor any time around the revolt. And if anyone found out that your mother went missing, you would be sent to live with your father, and then I can't keep you safe." She frowned.
"But...what about my dad?" she whispered. He stood up and offered her a hand.
"I have it taken care of. I told Hokage-sama and he has ANBU guarding your dad. You only have to worry about yourself." She frowned more and took his hand, standing up. He offered her a smile. "Now, I'm sure the realtor wouldn't be too happy if he found out someone broke into the house he was selling, so we should leave." She nodded, trying to smile back.
But then she stopped.
"Shit!!" she burst out, hands flying up to cover her face. Itachi was instantly on high alert.
"What happened?" he asked, checking her for injuries.
"I left the door open!!"
...
He blinked and relaxed, allowing a small chuckle to escape him.
"Don't worry, I closed it for you," he told her. She relaxed and laughed.
"Oh, thanks," she grinned at him. It felt good to be friends again.
I'm so sorry I haven't updated in so long! . I had massive writers block, and I'm at the beach right now for spring break, and I haven't really had the time to write. Don't hate me!
But, even if you do, review!
Or I'll get my Sempai to smite you with Jashin, the stuffed ape! Mwaha!