Hey just another chapter!
Warnings: Mentions of rape and killings and some actual killing and cussing. I think that's about it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters (except for the original ones) I just own this plot. Nor do I own "Concrete Angel" By Martina McBride.
Red. The walls were painted red. It flowed down them like some morbid waterfall. She reached out to catch some on her fingertips. The liquid was already cool, since the blood was of people who had died three hours earlier.
Remorse. Shouldn't she feel it? Why doesn't she?
Silence. Her Uncles dead eyes stared up at her, filled with the same fear he felt when he had died. He had begged before he died. The silence was a blessing now, because his crying had gotten annoying.
Running. Someone was running. Was it her? Was it someone else? Or was she just imagining it?
Remember. Remember what?
I jerked awake, accidently dislodging Akira and Konan in the process. The movie they had been watching was rolling through the credits. "Kali?" Akira asked sleepily. "Nothing." I said. "Just go back to sleep." She was too tired to notice that I was straining and dutifully went back to sleep.
Konan, however, was awake. "Want to talk about it?" She asked. I leaned back. "I'm not exactly sure what needs to be talked about." Was all I said in reply.
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Itachi threw a weapons bag to me. "We're going on a mission." Was all he said by way of explanation. Surprised, I rooted through it. A month had passed since the first training session. The first week had been hell, and I had been sore and tired. After that I got stronger, and advanced quickly against Itachi, who wouldn't admit it, but he was surprised when I was able to last thirty minutes in a fight against him. We hadn't worked too much with my chakra, but hey I wasn't complaining.
Kisame waited for us just outside the protection wards. "Hey kiddo." He said, greeting me with a hug. Kisame and I had bonded over complaining about Itachi. He even went out and bought me cloths that actually fit me! "Hey." I replied into his stomach. I hated feeling short compared to him.
Itachi just rolled his eyes and set off, with us not to far behind him. "So." I said, refusing to be just the sheep. "What are we off to do?" "Were going to the Village of Birds." Kisame replied without mush emotion. "To do what?" He and Itachi traded a look. Irritated, I stopped. They did to.
"Listen," I said, crossing my arms defiantly. "I know you don't trust me, and I understand that. I mean really, why trust a woman that you know nothing about? But honestly, at this moment I am your teammate and if there is one thing that you need to know about me, I don't betray teammates. So suck it up and telling me the hell we are doing. You can't have me going in knowing nothing, and you never know I might be able to help come up with a plan." My gaze was hard and I swear that Kisame flinched a bit. Why, I'm not sure, it wasn't like I was spitting fire at them. Well not yet anyway.
"You're a bitch." Itachi said, startling both me and Kisame. Sure I expected a response, just not from the raven-haired man. Glaring, I turned my body to face him. "I wouldn't have to be if you just told me what we were doing in a village as small as the Village of Birds." "Well actually it isn't all that small." Kisame said. Nodding, I gave him that one, because it was actually true. "It's small for a coastal village." I said.
Itachi regarded me for a moment. "How much do you know about the village?" He asked. Shrugging, I reeled off what I could remember from the reports that Shinomaru read to me. "It's port recently lost millions of dollars from getting busted for delivering illegal goods. The village leader struggled with the debt that the loss put them in, but as he was an old man, he keeled over and died from the stress, putting his son in the seat of power. From what I hear, he is a fairly tyrannical leader."
"He's also a murdering rapist and a slaver." Kisame threw in casually. Automatically, my body tensed up and I gritted my teeth. I had dealt with a slaver the first year as the Mizukage. What I had seen ripped my heart out as I stared at the damage that the people had sustained. I had personally killed the bastard the moment I was allowed. "And our target." Sighing, I looked at them. "Do we have a plan?" I got blank looks and again I sighed.
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"This was a horrible idea." I said as we walked down a busy street. My arm was hooked around Itachi's, who just ignored me. Before we had arrived at the port village, we had stopped to change into our disguises. Itachi sported a blond wig that reached his shoulders and blue contacts. He even changed into a bright green shirt to go with his black cargo pants. Kisame was harder to disguise, so he just used a jutsu to cover his appearance. Still standing at 7 foot, he now sported shoulder length black hair and bright green eyes. His skin was no longer blue, but golden as if he spent a lot of time in the sun, and the jeans and red shirt accented it.
I personally, felt ridiculous. I also wore a blond wig, but mine fell to just past my waist. My eyes were a really noticeable color now, since they were a violent purple. Regrettably, I had to be a lady, so I wore a short black dress that left very little to the imagination.
Kisame chuckled. "Don't worry sweetheart, you're gorgeous." I glared back at him. "If this is gorgeous, I want to go back to being ugly." I hissed. "If you went back to your real appearance, then you'd become unearthly instead of ugly." Itachi said with little emotion. The comment surprised me, and I gaped at him. Of course, being the man that he was, he ignored me and continued to talk as if he hadn't said anything. "We need to split up to find him. According to the people that I've spoken with, he likes to walk the streets chasing skirts." He gave me a look. "Right." I said. "That's what the dress is for." Kisame patted me in the back and slipped me a small knife. I didn't need it, I had enough weapons on me to take down a country, but the gesture was appreciated.
I sat at a two-person table outside a pretty little café on the seaside. Pretending to immerse myself in my book, I kept my eyes peeled to my surroundings. Even though we knew that the leader of this village was a handsome man, we couldn't get a name or a decent description, which was frustrating. A man wolf whistled at me, and I raised innocent eyes to look at him. As if I was just a pretty little virgin. Heheh they don't know a damn thing.
I saw Kisame once; he walked past me and shot me a look that said he hadn't found anything yet. I sat there for a good two hours, before someone sat down across from me. Glancing up, I found myself staring at a golden man. He was a gorgeous man, with dark blond hair, tan skin and golden brown eyes. He was toned as if he excersised on a daily basis and he smiled charmingly. If I weren't me, I would have fallen for him immediately.
Forcing myself to blush, I politely put my book down. "Hello." I said tentatively. His smile nearly blinded me. "Hello, I'm Al." He replied holding out his hand. Hesitantly I took it, and replied quietly, "I'm Irene." "Well Irene," He said leaning back and regarding me. "How old are you?" "22." "Really, you seem younger." I blushed accordingly. "That's what Aidan always tells me." I said, not meeting his eyes fully.
Al raised an eyebrow. "Aidan?" I blushed again. "A friend of mine." Was all I said in reply. He laughed. "Seems you like him more than a friend." I looked away from him. "He's engaged." I whispered. Immediately, his laughter disappeared. "I apologize." He said bowing his head at me. I felt kind of guilty for lying to him, he seemed like a decent man. "You didn't know." I amended, looking at him fully. "That's why I came here. I wasn't going to go anywhere at home, so I came here to see if I could maybe find my dreams here. My father was against it, but my mother helped me pack, she never achieved her dreams, and when my cousin invited me here, she told me to jump on the opportunity. So here I am." I finished, by swinging my arms out, to indicate the surrounding village.
Al took me in for a moment. "Here you are." He whispered. Then he seemed to shake himself out of whatever thoughts he was having and smiled brightly at me. "So what are your dreams?" I tried to make myself as small as possible, blushing furiously. Gesse, I was getting sick of myself, I can't deal with being shy. Regardless, I replied to him meekly with, "I want to be a singer." "A singer?" He asked, though not doubtfully, actually it's like he was thoughtful about it. Slowly, I nodded. "Sing a little something for me." The deer in the headlights look that I gave him could not be faked. 'Shit, should have thought that through a little bit more.'
He gave me an encouraging look. "Here?" I squeaked. Nodding, he told me, "You can't meet your dreams if you don't perform them outright." Looking around, there weren't really that many people so I just took a breath and began to sing.
She walks to school with the lunch she packed
Nobody knows what she's holding back
Wearing the same dress she wore yesterday
She hides the bruises with the linen and lace, oh
The teacher wonders but she doesn't ask
It's hard to see the pain behind the mask
Bearing the burden of a secret storm
Sometimes she wishes she was never born
I had pitched my voice a little bit higher to fit the childlike vision I had created. Somehow, I lost myself in the song.
Through the wind and the rain she stands hard as a stone
In a world that she can't rise above
But her dreams give her wings and she flies to a place
Where she's loved concrete angel
Somebody cries in the middle of the night
The neighbors hear but they turn out the light
A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate
When morning comes it will be too late
Through the wind and the rain she stands hard as a stone
In a world that she can't rise above
But her dreams give her wings and she flies to a place
Where she's loved concrete angel
People gathered around me, but I didn't notice them. I didn't even know that I had stood up. I was feeling the music.
A statue stands in a shaded place
An angel girl with an upturned face
A name is written on a polished rock
A broken heart that the world forgot
Through the wind and the rain she stands hard as a stone
In a world that she can't rise above
But her dreams give her wings and she flies to a place
Where she's loved concrete angel
There was quiet at first, and a pain I didn't know filled my chest, and I almost choked. Suddenly, there was a hand on my back, and I turned to see Al beaming at me. "That was beautiful!" He exclaimed and the crowd around me burst into applause.
I squeaked with surprise as hand grabbed my elbow and Kisame stood there out of breath and worried. "There you are kiddo!" He said pulling me into a hug. "We looked everywhere for you!" Al moved back respectfully as Itachi came and forced me out of his grip. "I'm sorry Setsuki!" I exclaimed and he pulled me into a hug. It was weird to hug him, and it was familiar, but I've never hugged the man before so how the hell could it?
Confused, I just hugged him back. "You shouldn't go out by yourself." He said holding me arms length away from. Looking properly ashamed, and nodded. "He's right." Al said, stepping forward. "You never know if you'll be taken off the streets by strangers." With that he walked away, and my brows furrowed. Was he trying to warn me?
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Later that night, we recapped and we were going to figure out who this bastard was. Apparently a couple of girls had been found the night before, raped and dead. This pissed me off considerably and Kisame wasn't too happy about it. Itachi seemed indifferent and told me to catch this guy's attention.
I hope that wasn't easier said than done.
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Something woke me from my peaceful sleep. Something had fallen over. Opening my eyes, I nearly screamed when a pair of eyes stared down at me. Immediately, I lashed out, and caught his face. He flew backwards and I shot up in bed. Again he was coming at me. A sharp sting caught my arm and I saw at the door was another man. Suddenly, one of them was on me, groping at my cloths. A familiar terror filled me.
This time I did scream.
My mouth was covered, and my reactions were slowly. They poisoned me. Shit. I continued to claw, and bite, and struggle. Making as much noise as I could, I managed to distract the man enough, so that I could throw him off of me. My tank ripped in the process. The other man rushed me, but I was prepared for him and killed him swiftly with the Kunai that was under my pillow.
Within moments, my room was streaming with men. For a moment I wondered where the hell Itachi and Kisame were. No sooner had I thought that, they burst through the door. Unfortunately, something else was stuck into my shoulder and everything went black.
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Lylas shot up screaming and sweating. Sasuke shot up with her and grabbed on to her, holding as the terror gripped her. Something was wrong. This wasn't here terror. It couldn't have been, she was safe and Sasuke would never harm her, so what the hell?
She began to calm down somewhat and began to think more clearly.
SaiKura.
It had to be her. Who else? She'd heard her voice in her head, so why not be able to feel her emotions. A new terror filled her. If that was the case then something had happened to her best friend. Whipping around, she grabbed onto Sasuke's shoulders. He covered her hands. "What?" She stared at him. "I need to talk to that research woman again." Was all she gave as explanation, as she vaulted out of bed. He shook his head.
"Sweetheart, she already told us she can't give us the information on her research." Lylas's face became a hard mask of determination. "I have feeling SaiKura is in danger." She said. "I can feel it. I've never been able to do that. I can hear her thoughts and right now she's terrified. I need to know whats going on, and she's going to tell me what the hell Akira can do.
With that, she stormed out of the room, knowing the way by heart.
Whoo-hoo it's all done. See you next chapter. Reviews are love!