～映画物語～

藤原のムラサキ

Megumi rapped her fingers sharply on the table, staring haughtily at the interrogator. Though he was only a year or two older than her, his scarred and pockmarked face looked far older. He was repulsive, but if she played her cards right, she could get him to do what she wanted. She'd gotten more from less.

She shifted, a slow smile crossing her face as she tilted her head endearingly.

"I'm sorry…I just wanted so badly to come back to the village! My father does such terrible things, I just want to stop him!"

Ibiki stared stonily back at her, his dark eyes showing not outward emotion. Megumi pouted, her eyes narrowing dangerously as her shapely eyebrows threatened to meet in the middle.

He must be gay.

There was a tentative knock on the door and Ibiki grunted, breaking his hardened stare and wrenching the door open. Megumi tried to see past him, out of sheer curiosity.

Much to her enjoyment, Kakashi strode in, followed by several ANBU.

"I'm here to pick you up, Megumi." he said flatly, clearly not terribly overjoyed. Megumi smirked inwardly, but played it cool on the outside: she was going to make him pay.

XxX

Sarutobi's office was as silent as a graveyard, only the soft sound of the chirping birds permeating the silent room.

The Third looked at each person in turn, his heart felt heavy as he looked at his former rival for the rank of Hokage. Danzou looked soberly back at him, his once proud jaw set in an almost threatening manner. Sarutobi wondered inwardly if Danzou had never quite forgiven him for being made Hokage.

Koharu and Homura seemed oddly cool and hesitant, and the young Uchiha that stood between them was silent, his perfect, aquiline features not even showing a flicker of the fear and sorrow Sarutobi was certain tugged at the boy's heart.

"Itachi-san…"

"Hokage-sama, I have made up my mind. My loyalty to the Village outweighs my loyalty to my family, and I cannot stand to let them continue."

Danzou looked at the boy, a slight, hungry smile curling his features.

"Such innocent sacrifice…"

"Silence." Sarutobi said sternly. "The matter of the Uchiha clan is not to be taken lightly…Sanjou's recent attack on Fujiwara-chan is but one of the tumbling rocks that will lead to a landslide. We must stop this from shattering the peace…"

"I'll do whatever it takes." The young ANBU agent said resolutely, his eyes flashing with terrible confidence in the act of betrayal he was about to carry out.

Sarutobi sat back, nodding silently. "You understand that you must leave the village after this is done."

Itachi nodded, bowing slightly. "Yes, Hokage-sama…I have began making plans to that. There is an organization that goes by the name of 'Akatsuki'. I believe this would be the perfect veil for our plans."

"I see." Sarutobi said quietly, glancing around the room. Danzou seemed as cool as any other day, which stood out on start contrast with Koharu and Homura, who looked nervous.

It was this that led Sarutobi to believe that it Danzou was up to something, something above and beyond the games he was already playing.

XxX

Murasaki heaved a heavy sigh of frustration, tapping her fingers impatiently against the hard cover of her book.

The brunet was growing frustrated as her fifteenth birthday drew nigh. It had been three months since she had been put on a field mission, it had been three months since she had seen hide or hair of Kakashi, and three since she had had the run in with Sanjou.

And Two and a half since Danzou went on leave.

Everyone's apparent absence scared her: every night she went out to the memorial stone and checked for names, checked her apartment for any sign of Jiraiya's return, and checked her back for any sign of Danzou.

The butterflies that had dominated the fields of late Spring had now been replaced by the drifting leaves of early Fall, along with a heavy, morbid feeling, like watching a loved one die of illness.

It only added to Murasaki's melancholic despondency to sit beside the memorial stone in the chilly autumn air, watching the leaves falling one by one. It had been Kakashi's 18th birthday a few days ago, and still no trace of his return to the village…

Her father was gone, off on a walkabout somewhere to work on writing his book. He barely had a chance to speak to her before he left. It reminded her that she was growing up, growing older, that that day would come that he would no longer be there, whether she needed him or not.

Nothing could be more terrifying to a shinobi family, and there was nothing they were more emotionally prepared for, but Murasaki hadn't initially been raised in a shinobi household, and the thought of him not returning was disorienting and terrifying.

It wasn't like she hadn't had that thought every day since she got here, but not it seemed like a far more tangible thought than ever before.

Murasaki stood up from the cenotaph, stretching her back as she shouldered her book bag, setting off towards her empty, silent apartment.

After the fire, the responsibility had fallen on her to locate a new home, as Jiraiya had bailed on her shortly after Kakashi had been called away.

For someone as young as she, it seemed like a heavy task, but she shouldered it with as much grace as she could muster, which evidently, was not much in her eyes. But after a short search, she found one that would suffice for her purposes.

She changed quickly into clothing more suitable for work, knocking the dead leaves off of her shoes before setting off down the street.

The air was heavy, promising a small storm later that night as the clouds dipped towards the buildings, growing darker as each moment passed.

She was lucky to make it inside before a sudden, heavy downpour broke the sky's over Konoha.

Murasaki sighed, closing the heavy door to the cool, damp air and signing in to work the evening shift.

XxX

Danzou sat opposite to Orochimaru, a sly smile on the faces of both men.

"You say you have Sharingan Kakashi in your grasp?" Danzou asked as .?docid=16014817 swirled his drink smugly, setting the caustic medication down with a wide, toothy smile.

"Indeed, That brat child came in handy after all. She was able to lure him into my clutches without much difficulty. Right now she's preparing him for extracting the eye…"

"And as promised, I'll deliver Uchiha Itachi into your hands in a years time…" Danzou said, sitting back in his chair, his right arm covered in bandages from the painful surgery that Orochimaru's surgeon had performed earlier, under the watchful eye of their lord and master.

"Now you know that Kakashi is a rarity, that oftentimes non-Uchiha reject the Sharingan." Orochimaru purred, fingering his cup delicately. Danzou enjoyed the slenderness of the woman who's body Orochimaru had taken, the elegance of her white hands. Her face had been perfect, carved out of porcelain like a Noh mask, with small, perfectly symmetrical black eyes and a carefully sculpted Cupids bow that helped form perfect, rose-pink lips.

The finest women, whores and courtiers alike, would have envied such loveliness. It seemed almost a shame for Orochimaru to not use her for his eugenics projects.

Almost.

But it was also undeniably perfect for Orochimaru; such decadence, such perfection was not spared for his obsession. He always had to have the absolute best, he had to be the absolute best.

And such had been the case for his spawn, when she whined and wept before her interrogators, and demanded diplomatic immunity, when that gullible pawn, Hatake, had come to her rescue…

Danzou considered the man before him carefully. Orochimaru no doubt had all the charm and the essence of a snake, and Danzou didn't trust him at all. Orochimaru seemed to sense this, but was undaunted by it, simply smiling wider.

"I get the feeling you don't quite trust me." Orochimaru purred, the faintest tinge of yellow flashing beneath the thick, dark lashes.

"Would I be a good shinobi if I did?"

Orochimaru laughed his agreement, taking a sip of his drink and licking his lips with his long tongue. "The Second was a fool not to make you Hokage…"

Danzou stared at Orochimaru blankly, sensing the slight hint of mockery beneath the snake-lord's sweet tone. He pretended not to hear it, simply raising his own drink in agreement.

XxX

Jiraiya leaned back into the shadows of the small teahouse on the border of Amegakure, his skin prickling with an electric fear.

He didn't like being that close to the border of a closed country, and adding to his unease was the absence of his informant on Orrochimaru.

Kakashi was missing.

Jiraiya frowned, checking his genjutsu to make sure the façade hadn't faltered in his frustration. Just five more minutes and he would leave: Kakashi was famous for being late, but not like this, and rarely with Jiraiya.

The owner of the teahouse's teenage daughter came by and asked if he needed anything else, making Jiraiya nearly jump out of his skin, but he recovered by standing up and placing his money on the table and leaving without a word.

The toads he had employed to keep an eye out down the road had nothing to report; no Kakashi anywhere.

Jiraiya paused beneath the torii of a small shrine, barely escaping the large droplets of water that threatened to fall from the great red beam overhead.

Taking out his ink and pen he wrote down a brief code on paper, sealing it inside a scroll and feeding it to one of his toads.

He had to organize a rescue mission, the question was, would anyone in Konoha come in time?

XxX

xXx

A/N: kind of excited to write the next part :)