8 months later...
"Captain."
Kana looked up from the pile of limbs at her feet and turned to head towards the door where Tatsuma and Torune were waiting, "Bring him in."
Tatsuma dragged in a bloodied individual to the center of the room, slinging him into a wooden chair and ignoring his horrified cry at the sight of his murdered children. Her subordinate made quick work of strapping him into the chair while Kana cleaned off her katana on the daughter's bed sheet that had been slung to the floor.
She grabbed his chin and activated her Ishikigan, but the politician squirmed too much for her to lock eyes long enough to get into head so Kana sighed and reached down to his shoulder. "You can sit still, or I will break you until you are incapable of moving. If you close your eyes, I will tear your eyelids off. Make your decision, and stop wasting my time."
When he finally stilled, gaping at Kana in horror, she activated her Ishikigan again and felt the cold sensation of ice water as she began to rifle through his mind. The advisor to the Land of Water's daimyo had been secretly employing mercenaries to retrieve sensitive intelligence from their village, so they had been deployed to take care of anyone that had come in contact with that information.
The mercenaries had been a group of rogue ninja from the Mist – none too surprising, given the village's poor economy and bizarre shinobi system producing one of the highest missing-nin numbers out of the entirety of the hidden villages. There were a total of five involved, all having been sent one at a time with the exception for a pair of twins that traveled together.
Four instances of successful infiltration, with three of those being successful intelligence gathering missions. The group must excel in stealth, and Kana wondered briefly if the group was composed of ex-special ops.
The advisor was smart with how he went about collecting the information in an attempt to feed lies to his daimyo in an attempt to start a war between the nations; the best and most convincing lies were the ones that had a sliver of truth to them.
Kana pulled herself out of his consciousness, releasing his head so it could hang down towards his chest. "Well, I at least have to thank you for keeping your business within your country," she mumbled, rubbing at her shoulders, "I was kind of worried we'd have to go all the way to the Land of Earth or something."
"A-are you going to kill me?" he whimpered.
"Um… I dunno, will there be a reason for my boys to come back here?" When he vehemently shook his head, slinging some blood splatters onto Kana's waist, she looked up at Torune, "Then yes."
On cue, bugs crawled out from the edges of her teammate's sleeves in a buzzing cloud that quickly muffled the advisor's screams. Kana turned on her heel and motioned for Tatsuma to follow her, "Let's go clean up the mess I'm sure you two made."
Kana sighed into the palms she cradled her face with and activated her Kurogan to perform a quick scan of their surroundings, snapping Icha Icha Pooltime shut.
"You're nervous."
She looked over at Torune, who was peering up at her from his sleeping bag while his cousin slept silently, and shrugged, "Just would rather be home." Snuggled up next to Neji, specifically. Or reading with Kakashi. Or training with Guy and Lee – shit, she'd do anything to just see her loved ones. Kana reached into her pack and pulled out the small lavender medallion Neji had gifted her upon her promotion to Captain, running a gloved thumb over the ridges of its engravings.
Instead of rolling over and going back to sleep like she had anticipated, her teammate pushed his sleeping bag open and sat up with a stretch. Kana put the medallion away and scooted to the side to make room for him on the branch she had been sitting on when he grabbed his blanket and jumped up into the tree; he wrapped the blanket around his shoulders like a cloak and mumbled something about not being tired when Kana leered at him curiously from behind her mask.
"I've been curious about something," Torune said after a long pause, not looking at her as he spoke.
Kana raised an eyebrow she knew he couldn't see, "Since when are Root agents curious?"
He made a noncommittal noise and shrugged, "I suppose you can't truly suppress a human's most basic instincts when you stimulate them enough," he said flatly.
"Alright," she mumbled, ignoring how weird his choice of words was, "What are you curious about?"
"You joined Root as an adult, long after forging strong emotional ties with those around you. You are also ill tempered and intentionally defy Lord Danzo where you can…" He looked down at a small beetle that crawled over the back of his hand, "I'm curious as to why you joined when you clearly do not support his ideals."
Using her fingers to comb through her ponytail, Kana sighed for the umpteenth time that night and reached over so that the insect crawled onto her fingertip. Over the last eight months she had grown comfortable with, almost fondly so, the bugs that the Aburames harbored in their bodies and, as such, had no qualms about the tiny beetle scuttling over her glove and onto her exposed skin.
"No choice," she muttered solemnly.
Torune finally turned to look at her through his goggled mask, and Kana wondered if her response had actually invoked some sort of emotion within him. "Do you mean to tell me that you were forced into service?" His bland tone quickly extinguished her thought.
She tapped her clothed lips to remind him that she was bound by the same rules as he was, even if Kana was sure to make a fuss out of things.
The Aburame frowned in thought, but let the conversation end there. He instead chose to reach over with an extended finger to retrieve his beetle, which had by that point crawled up to rest upon one of the red straps on Kana's shoulders.
Kiri-nin reminded Kana a whole lot more of pirates than shinobi, she noted while dropping the dead body to the ground. Another one of his teammates swooped in to avenge his death, this one covered in scars and wearing more wrappings than clothes; the kunoichi sighed and threw up a barrier. It curved over his body as he fell to form a sphere that quickly shrunk, crushing him into a bloody lump of tissue and clothing.
She channeled chakra to her hand and extended it over her katana as she side stepped a Mist shinobi that was blathering something about how she would regret getting involved with him. The blade swung up to cleave him in two, leaving only the leader of the gang left.
"Take care of them for me," Kana ordered as she approached the stoic man that knelt next to Tatsuma, who had his upper arms encased in a swarm of hissing beetles. She crouched down so that she was at eye level with him, resting her chin on the arms she wrapped around her legs. "You're really good at stealth, I'll give you that much. Anbu?"
The man spat at her – a glob of spit smacked wetly against her porcelain mask and Kana rolled her eyes from behind the goggles she wore. "Go fuck yerself," he snarled, "I ain't tellin' you shit."
A disgruntled noise made its way up her throat, and she yanked the Kiri-nin's sunglasses off to chuck them somewhere Kana didn't care about. What was it about the Mist village that made so many of its citizens act so trashy?
Just like with the Daimyo's advisor, and any other person she needed to get information from, Kana activated her Ishikigan and began digging around.
It seemed like the group didn't actually care about what happened with the politics of the world, and only acted off of greed – that was good. It meant that they had no reason to go around sharing the information they had acquired, and they didn't make any copies of it to use as blackmail. As far as this guy cared, it was just a job; he also wasn't dumb enough to make an attempt to sell the information to other nations.
Out of sheer curiosity, Kana reached father back until she found memories of his life as a proper shinobi. She grinned darkly at what she saw and released the jutsu, "Hunter-nin? That's ironic," she said wryly. When the man didn't crack a grin, only giving her a familiar look of violation that many gave her, she focused chakra to her hand and slapped him firmly across the face. "Trash," Kana snarled as she rose to a standing position.
Nodding at Tatsuma for him to off the guy, Kana focused her attention to her bloodied blade and pulled a cloth out from her pouch to start wiping it clean. When it was as clean as she was going to be able to get it right then and there, she sheathed it and brought the cloth up to her mask to wipe away the spit.
"You're angry," Torune observed from behind.
Kana stuffed the cloth into her pack with a mental note to just throw it away later before turning to her subordinate, "Shinobi that abandon their duty are garbage," she mumbled, "But Anbu? A hunter-nin? Turning your back on your brothers and sisters like that makes you even lower than garbage. It pisses me off."
Tatsuma approached the pair, a lone bug fluttering off of his shirt cuff and onto the captain's abdomen. "She likes you," he noted, "Or you're pregnant."
Silver-white eyes rolled behind black goggles, "As if. That was the last of them, ready to head home?" she asked, looking back and forth between the men. When they nodded, she turned and led them away in a sprint.
Kana felt someone rush up behind her just half a second before she turned around, opening her arms for the flash of green that slammed into her body with enough force to almost cause her to topple over. If it weren't for Lee's arms pulling her into a crushing hug, she'd most definitely be on her ass instead of wrapping her own arms around his lean shoulders.
"You are back! I am so glad to see you!" he cried, practically bouncing with each syllable.
"Lee," Tenten scolded, "She's only been gone for a couple of weeks. Ease up, will ya?"
Silver-white eyes glowing, the kunoichi squeezed Lee tight to her chest before releasing him so she could reach out to Neji. While not as passionate and noisy as his teammate's, he pulled Kana into a firm embrace that expressed just as much emotion.
She reached back to take the wandering hand on her waist into her own, lacing their fingers together and smiling into his chest. "I'm alright," she whispered, "Got home without a scratch."
Air whooshed out of Neji's lungs in a relieved sigh and he stepped back. "Welcome home, sister," he finally said, hooking his fingers under the edge of her mask; the teenager tugged the cloth down just enough to place a quick kiss on the top of her cheek with a sheepish smile.
Tenten gave an excited smile, "Are you guys ready? Guy-sensei should already be in lady Tsunade's office."
The group walked through the doors of the Academy and quickly made their way up to Hokage Tower. Kana could feel Neji's anxiousness build the closer they got to the sannin's office, so she reached over and discreetly rubbed his hip with the back of her hand reassuringly.
"Ah, good, right on time!" Guy said cheerfully when the group filed through the door in single file, his toothy grin only widening when his eyes fell upon Kana as she took her place between Lee and Neji.
Tsunade closed a file she had been reading and leaned her elbows onto the desk, folding her hands in front of her face, "Neji, as you can probably figure out on your own, I recently received the results of the jonin exam you were given two weeks ago…"
Kana felt herself stiffen in anticipation with the rest of the group, wishing that the Hokage would skip the preamble.
"Because it's so uncommon for someone of your age to be promoted, and dangerous, I went over everything myself as well. I studied your file, reviewed your past mission reports and acquired letters of recommendation from Might Guy, Hiashi Hyuga and Kana Shimi."
There was a smirk on Tsunade's face as she leaned back in her chair and she didn't get to the point in the next five seconds, Kana was going to lose her mind.
"I'm proud to say that not only did you pass your exam with a perfect score, but everything else passed with flying colors. Neji Hyuga, as of today you are now a jonin of the Village Hidden in the Leaves," she said with a pearly smile that did nothing to betray her age.
Lee literally jumped into the air while Tenten sighed happily and clapped her hands together for their teammate. Although he remained as cool and composed as always, Kana could see the overwhelming sense of pride in Neji's face.
Guy walked up to the group and placed a large hand on his student's shoulder, "I'm proud of you, Neji," he said warmly, "Congratulations. You've earned this."
Stepping back to give the team their moment, Kana blinked away the tears that stung at her swirling eyes and sniffed. 'Oh, Neji…,' she thought happily, 'If only Hizashi could see you now… He'd be so, so proud.'
To think she almost didn't get to see this, that Kana almost died of total chakra depletion when he was still a genin…Tears spilled out over her cheeks and into her mask, and she blushed shyly when Kana caught the Hokage giving her a knowing smile as she wiped them away with the back of her gloved hand.
Neji looked over his shoulder, following Tsunade's gaze, and chuckled when he saw the Anbu Root agent sobbing a few feet away. "I swear, you cry almost as much as Guy and Lee," he said as he pulled her into a hug. "You're going to blind us all if you don't calm down," he added as an afterthought when he looked down into her swirling eyes.
She giggled sheepishly and pulled up the goggles up from where they hung around her clavicle, "Sorry."
"It's time to celebrate!" Guy suddenly exclaimed, throwing a hand up into the air and sticking his hip out, "Neji, anything you want to do is on me. Just say the word and we'll throw the party of a lifetime!"
The expression on Neji's face was enough to even make Lady Tsunade laugh; it was a cross between a grimace and a look of absolute horror that made his answer to the idea of a party very obvious. "No thank you," he mumbled curtly, quickly regaining his composure but looking disturbed nonetheless.
A familiar chakra signature approached the door and Kana's mood immediately soured when the sound of a wooden cane could be heard through the walls. Quickly stepping back from Neji, she dropped to her knee as Danzo entered the Hokage's office with Sai in tow, "Milord."
"What is it, Danzo?" Tsunade drawled, having opened up a file in an obvious attempt at looking busy, "I'm busy."
"I'm here to collect something of mine," his deep voice rumbled. Kana's hands balled into fists on the floor as he spoke, "Captain Yokai, I have a new assignment for you. Come."
The room stilled for a full second, with even Tsunade's pen halting in its pretend-writing that everyone knew was just her scribbling on some poor bloke's mission report, before Guy took a hesitant step forward. "Lord Danzo, please, it's her first day back from a two-week long mission and this is an important day for-"
"Sensei, it's alright," Kana cut in as she rose from her kneeling position, "Don't interfere." She kept her voice steely and her head high while she walked over to Danzo's side, but her heart had fallen so far that it hurt; she had wanted to see this day happen for so long and now it was being taken away. Figured. Kana would have to make it up to Neji later, she decided when the door closed behind them.
"What the hell," she hissed, "We had a deal."
Team Guy was the one group of people Danzo allowed her to associate herself with, with the exception of Kakashi. It sucked, a lot, and it took Kana months to get over the heartbreak and readjust to a somewhat isolated lifestyle, not to mention the looks she still received from Genma and his group, but it was a compromise.
The village elder didn't turn to look at her as he walked down the stairs, "I have respected our agreement to its fullest extent, even as you continued to sneak off with that tokujo-" Almost as if on cue, a tiny beetle scuttled along her forearm; Kana crushed it and cursed Tatsuma for the hundredth time. "-But I'm afraid things have changed. I will brief you when we return to my chambers."
'Changed?' Changed how? Their arrangement had been completely centered around three factors: Her isolating herself from her friends and clan, Itachi's illness and her being trained personally by Danzo so she could keep Itachi alive for as long as possible while simultaneously keeping herself out of Orochimaru's reach.
The pair began moving up the staircase that would take them to the organization's base as Kana's mind continued to work. 'There are only four – no – three and a half months left before the agreed date…' she thought to herself, gnawing on an already bleeding lip, 'It could be that as the final quarter approaches, he wants me to pull away from the only people left in my life…'
Would he do that? Her eyes focused on the back of the bandaged head she had grown to despise the sight of so much. Factor one was supposed to remove her of her connections to the village, a decision that she realized only months ago wasn't something that Danzo had made maliciously.
'Unlikely - practically everyone in Root heard how loud I was kicking and screaming just to get the shitty deal I was offered.' Kana had probably taught the other agents a few vulgar words that night. Even if it would make leaving the village somewhat easier, the elder wasn't the kind of man to go back on his word; that much she had learned. 'Unless…'
Suddenly there were only two sets of footsteps echoing through the halls they walked down, and Danzo finally turned to face her; his face was an unreadable as ever.
Factors two and three were directly related to each other – if Itachi were to die before her training was complete…
"You're not releasing me from Root," she said slowly, eyes narrowing, "I know that'll never happen – my days in Anbu are over. But tell me, Danzo… Is my mission still to take place at the end of the year?"
There was a long pause, and Danzo only turned to continue walking when it was over.
Kana grit her teeth and took a menacing step forward, "Answer me! Am I still being forced-" Her jaw locked just as the rest of her body ceased to function properly; the kunoichi dropped to the metal floor panels painfully as glowing orange marks slithered down her limbs. Shit, so much for carefully choosing her words earlier to avoid triggering the curse mark.
Danzo continued walking, "Sai, help Captain Yokai to my chambers."
"Of course, sire," came the strangely pleased response. Sai pivoted with that bizarre fake smile he always directed towards her and those he encountered that weren't raised in Root, walking back to where she was laying and picking her limp body up off of the floor.
A small, half-hearted grin ticked at the very corner of her mouth, the only part of her body that was capable of moving; thankfully the seal's effects didn't last long. Kana activated her Ishikigan and locked her eyes on his when they opened. 'Still kind of creepy,' she thought.
Sai's false smile disappeared and was replaced with a disappointed frown, 'Is that so? I was hoping it would be comforting. I apologize, I truly have been trying.'
The small flicker of amusement she felt towards his attempt was snuffed out as Sai carried her down the steps leading to the mission chamber. Danzo didn't answer her question, which was more frightening than it was frustrating. The situation she was in made her accept the fact that her fate was in that bastard's hands, if only because he had placed the curse mark on her before she could tattle to the Hokage, but not knowing what was going to happen was eating away at Kana.
Able to at least move her legs enough to provide some sort of stability, she helped keep herself steady as Sai slid her off of his back so that Kana could rest against the wall.
"Leave us," the man ordered, his exposed eye closed. Probably in annoyance.
When the heavy metal door was shut, the pair sat in silence. Kana had to make the mental effort to stop chewing on her lip when her teeth scraped away another layer; it was a shitty habit she had picked up from Genma.
With a heavy sigh, Danzo set his cane to rest against his throne and sat back against the surface, "How long are you going to keep hiding?"
'What?' The kunoichi reached out with her senses, 'We're the only ones-'
Before she could finish her thought, there was a chakra signature that Kana was all too familiar with.
She felt it just as Itachi stepped out from the shadowed corner.
"You cursed her," he noted, "I thought we had agreed she wasn't to be treated like your other agents."
Unlike their last encounter, there were no strong emotions that washed over her and tore hell through Kana's consciousness - she could only wonder how the hell he had suppressed his chakra and hidden well enough for both Sai and herself to be completely oblivious to his presence. Granted, Sai wasn't much for detection, but Kana was all but officially a sensor type.
"I've given her more privileges than she deserved. She cares for her loved ones too much for me to trust her to keep her mouth shut," Danzo said with a hint of agitation; Kana was reminded of when Torune accused her of defying the man where she could. It would have been true enough about a year ago, when she didn't truly understand the purpose of her assignment. If it weren't for the curse mark, she would have informed at least Raido of why Kana had to dip out of their lives and below the radar. The reminder sent a pang of guilt through her chest; he had fought so hard…
The old man turned to look at the woman still sitting against the wall, "I know you can move, Captain. You will kneel in my presence," he all but snarled.
Itachi's chakra flared in response as she rose to her feet, she didn't need her kekkei genkai activated to feel it, "Being branded and spoken to as a lowly servant is a priv-"
"Itachi," Kana cut in, walking to the center of the room to drop to one knee with her head bowed, "Shut up." It was just easier to give Danzo what he wanted than to bicker over trivial power play bullshit like this.
"I suppose this means you're done throwing fits," he sneered, "Good. Then we can get to why I brought you here – I can assure you it wasn't just to crash your superfluous party plans."
Kana remained silent, and Danzo took that as a sign to continue.
"As I mentioned earlier, there's been a change in our agreement. The illness Itachi has been suffering from has begun progressing faster than either of us were able to anticipate, so I am afraid that your deployment is being moved up."
Every word that Danzo spoke tightened a cold wire that had quickly coiled itself her chest until she was absolutely certain she was going to die. Leaving the village was something that never truly left her mind, Kana knew it was coming eventually, but up until now she had safely compartmentalized it and always told herself that it was something she would just deal with later.
Now, her time was out.
"When do I leave?" she murmured, bracing herself for the worst.
There was an agonizingly long silence as what she assumed Danzo and Itachi exchanged looks, "One week," the raspy voice finally answered.
Not the worst, but Kana still felt her eyes slide shut in disappointment, "Oh," was all she could manage in a whispered response.
There was a strained noise that came from Itachi that sounded exactly the noise he had made in the forest over a year ago, but in rapid succession; he really was getting worse. Kana raised herself to her feet and turned to face him, sliding gloved hands under Itachi's cloak and applying chakra to where they rested over his ribs.
"You've lost weight," she noted quietly, feeling the way his ribs stuck out just a hair too much, "You know food pills aren't enough – you need to eat real food."
The buildup of fluid and phlegm in his lungs took only a few moments for Kana to remove, and she wasted no time in stepping back when her job was completed. Fingers didn't trail down his body like they did last time, desperate for a final touch. "Milord, if there's nothing else… I'd like to go now," she requested, turning back to the sitting man.
For the briefest, shortest of fleeting moments, pity flashed across the elder's face; it was gone so quickly that Kana couldn't help but wonder if it was only a part of her imagination.
"You are dismissed, Captain Yokai."
Stiff legs moved in robotic movements towards the steel double doors. Kana wanted to be out of this place – she wanted to be out of this dark, cold cage of a base and out onto the lively streets of Konoha.
"Wait," Itachi said just as she reached for the handle. She turned, but he wasn't looking at her as he spoke, "Remove the curse mark."
As if – if things were that easy, then the mark would have been lifted a month after she had been inducted into Root.
Danzo's thoughts appeared to be just the same as he scoffed, "I told you, she can't be trusted-"
"It's not a request, Danzo. Release the jutsu."
"It doesn't matter," Kana mumbled, turning the door handle, "I'm starting a fucking collection."
The clanging sound of the door shutting drowned out whatever was called after her. When she made her way through the compound, Kana made sure to make a stop in the cafeteria where she knew a certain Aburame was eating donburi and miso soup.
No one at the table had time to react before she swiftly flickered across the room, curling her hand into a fist and throwing it straight into Tatsuma's cheekbone. It cracked under the pressure of her punch, which had no chakra built up behind it but still succeeded in throwing him against the far wall and causing the metal panel to cave around his body.
Just a second later she was grabbing him by the throat – the hold wasn't enough to restrict his breathing, but it kept his head from moving long enough for her Ishikigan to lock onto his eyes.
'Spy on me again and I will break you,' she thought menacingly, sure to slip the memory of her crushing his beetle forward so he could see it. Hands were pulling at her arms and shoulders and Kana allowed herself to be pulled away – she had no intention of actually bringing harm to Tatsuma, she only wanted to remind him that she hated being watched.
To prove this, she dropped down to a knee and reached out to focus chakra to the cheek that had caved in at an almost dangerous angle. Parts of the bone had shattered completely and wouldn't have been able to heal fully if it weren't for the tinkling white yang chakra that mixed in with the flow, growing a new arch in its place.
"You know I cannot deny Lord Danzo's orders," Tatsuma muttered, rubbing his restored cheek.
Kana didn't bother answering. She already knew that it wasn't his decision, or wish, to plant a beetle on her, but it wasn't as if she could take her anger out on their leader. Guilt only added to the mountain of emotions that had been building since she left his chambers, and the curious look from Sai wasn't helping when he attempted to reach out for her arm as she stormed out of the cafeteria.
One day later...
The sun had set by the time Kana found herself standing outside Kakashi's apartment, where she stood before the silver-haired jonin staring down at her.
"I…" She whispered, staring up at the lone gunmetal eye, "I-I…"
He reached out to her quivering shoulders, sliding his hands over her shoulders to pull her through the doorway and against his chest, "It's alright," Kakashi murmured. The door shut behind her, but neither of them moved from where they stood.
Cinnamon, and musk. It was the scent that made her feel so warm ever since she was a little girl; it was the scent that always told her that Kana was safe even if enemies were all around them. As she clung to Kakashi, burying her face into the fabric of his shirt and breathing in the scent that was so unique to him, the kunoichi desperately wanted to feel that same warmth.
Shoulders heaved beneath Kakashi's arms as tears sprung to her eyes, "I-I'm scared," she whimpered, "Kashi… Kashi, I'm so scared…"
Her body was lifted from the floor, held tightly by the same familiar arms that cradled her every time she needed him. Kana wrapped herself around his torso and buried her face into the crook of his neck.
"You're safe," Kakashi whispered while carrying her to the living room, "You're safe, sweetheart." He pushed her goggles up, sliding them up and over her head with her forehead protector and setting them on the coffee table. The tears that had been trapped behind her goggles dropped onto her cheeks to join the ones that had begun to flow freely.
Of course she would be safe – Kana and Itachi were nearly unstoppable when they were kids. As adults, with Kisame Hoshigaki by their side, she had no doubt that little to no harm would come their way.
But it wasn't bodily harm that she was afraid of.
'Was this how you felt, Tachi?' she thought, 'Was this what it was like to know your happiness was being stolen away?'
Kakashi lowered them to the couch and Kana instinctively curled into him, unsure of when her boots and Root jacket had been removed.
'Is this why you want to die?'
The pain he must have felt must had been so much worse, and she finally understood why he hadn't taken her with him that night. As much as Kana overpowered him in hand to hand combat, as much as she always excelled in chakra control, she simply wasn't as strong as Itachi where it truly mattered.
"I don't want to be alone," she sobbed, pressing herself into Kakashi.
Itachi was selfless. He was willing to do everything and everything he could to protect their home, even if that meant being branded as a traitor that murdered his family and exiled to a life of espionage. He was a shinobi that was able to live a life of loneliness and despair, rejecting the choice of companionship so his best friend didn't have to suffer alongside him.
But Kana was clinging to Kakashi as if her life depended on it, just like she always did, hating each and every village elder that had organized this. Hating the Uchiha's leaders for being so self absorbed that things came this far. Hating her clan for giving her powers that were more of a curse than a gift.
She was too weak.
"I…" Tears that had been shocked into stopping resumed streaming down pale cheeks. Kana's heart raced painfully against her chest, and it took more willpower than she thought she possessed to tear herself out of the inviting warmth of Kakashi's arms. "I have to go…"
Glowing eyes screwed shut, the kunoichi stumbled away from the sofa and crossed into the kitchen towards the door. She would come back for her things later, right now Kana just desperately needed to be away from everything.
Her legs gave out just as she reached the door, though, and all she could do was slide down to sit on the floor.
The realization of what was happening hit her like a ton of bricks – she was being exiled from her home. Kana was being forced to venture out, join an organization she hardly knew anything about, to protect a man that was only going to die in a few years at best. What then? There were no plans for her to return home - she was on her own by that point. Up until then Kana had successfully hidden the thought, safely compartmentalized it and told herself to just deal with things later. But, now, there was no later.
It felt like there had been a blindfold over her eyes and someone had just torn it away so she could look directly into a burning sun; she was suddenly intensely aware of everything that had been going on and, for the first time in years, Kana didn't know what to do. "I…" The lump in her throat made her feel like she was being strangled but she forced herself to choke her words out, "I need to show you something, but the curse… The mark won't let me show you everything," she whispered, fixating entirely white eyes on his.
There was the familiar sensation of being dipped into ice water just before Kana began pushing her memories forward.
"Please understand," he said solemnly, "I only did what was best for the village-"
Itachi took a deep breath and hung his head, closing his eyes. "The next part of my mission has to be done on my own. You have to stay here. Protect the village-"
Lord Hokage the Third puffed on his pipe. "Surely you must have seen the signs yourself, as close as you were to the Uchihas-"
Kisame gave her a curious look, "Just how skilled of a medic are you?"-
The curse mark began to activate a splitting pain in her head as Kana quickly flitted through flashes of memories, desperate to relay as much information to Kakashi as she could.
Itachi suppressed a cough, his Adam's apple jumping in his throat-
Torune reached into one of his pouches and pulled out a small envelop with a familiar looking seal holding it shut, "Lord Danzo requests you-"
"I have successfully transplanted multiple Sharingan into my own body - the process is rather simple, really," Danzo turned and placed the jar on his desk before reaching out to yank Kana's goggles off-
The pain was almost blinding, but Kana wasn't done yet.
Danzo paused to step down from the platform, stopping just in front of the Anbu Commander, "Normally I would be forced to convict you of treason for associating with an S-ranked criminal, Miss Shimi, but you're just as invaluable as Itachi-"
"I have decided to have you transferred to Root under my command-"
A hot fire threatened to rip her skull open and Kana couldn't hang onto her dojutsu any longer; she screwed her eyes shut and turned to the side to dry heave violently, her empty stomach feeling as if it was going to twist itself apart.
In the end, she couldn't even try to cheat her way around the curse mark to explain things. Danzo always won.
The entire time, Kakashi's expression was unreadable as he sat down in front of the sobbing girl; he never reached out to touch her, and the entire time she had relayed information to him he remained silent.
When her body's attempts at vomiting came to an end they only sat there in quietude, the only sounds being the choked noises Kana made as she desperately fought back at the overwhelming feelings of anger and fear that threatened to send her back to the dark place she had been slowly sinking back into over the last year.
When she tilted her head back to look at him, Kakashi's normally stoic demeanor had switched to one of genuine trepidation, glistening eyes wary and even teeth gnawing at his bottom lip.
Confessions and explanations sped through her mind but Kana's mouth refused to form the words to express them. She was dimly aware of her short nails digging painfully into her back, though it didn't even begin to compare to the nausea and headache that had been building – Kana slid back down the wall until her tight shoulders hit the floor with a thud, having lost the will and energy to keep her body upright.
Kakashi's entryway blurred as she quit bothering to focus, only staring blankly at the far wall; she heard him ask her a question but the ringing in her ears muffled any and all noises that weren't in her own head, just as her breathing began to take off on its own.
She hardly felt Kakashi's hand grab hold of her upper arm to lift her up. It didn't feel as if he was grabbing her, but, more of some sort of thin barrier that was just outside of her skin – the pressure was there but the actual sensation of being pulled against his body wasn't present. Her chest was too busy caving in on itself and then attempting to pop all at once, heaving and causing her body to convulse against the breath that came in short, ragged bursts.
Kana was dimly was aware of that heading into shock, and she needed to pull herself out of this pit if she didn't want to go into complete catatonia.
Her mind focused on Kakashi's scent, the smell of cinnamon and musk that was so pleasant to her; the longer she inhaled the subtle aroma, the closer she felt her mind move back to reality. It was only a few minutes later that she began to feel the warmth of his arms wrapped around her waist – she realized that he had pulled her into his lap sideways so that his warm breath puffed against her hair, one of Kakashi's hands fondling the ends of her ponytail.
"Kana… Look at me," Kakashi pleaded, his voice quiet and hurt. The guilt made her feel as if her chest was going to cave in on itself, but she obliged and raised her tearful gaze to meet his cautious eyes. "Please be honest with me… Have you considered leaving the village to be with him?"
Fear rushed in with the shame and self-hatred that swirled in her body, twisting at her insides and making her feel like she's about to fall apart and cave in at the same time – her body convulsed as she choked on her tears and coughed. Kana wrapped her arms around her small frame as if she was going to shatter into pieces if she let go. "N-no," she half-sobbed, "H-he wanted so much to keep us all safe and happy… I-I feel as if I'm… But…" Kana's eyes fell back to the floor and she released a long, steady breath. "Kashi, I…"
"Someone like you…" Kakashi murmured, "Should have never been pushed into becoming a shinobi." His fingers threaded through her hair after pulling it from its tie and Kakashi pressed his warm cheek into the top of her head, "You were always too warm… Too kind."
Too weak.
As much as Kana wanted to run to Tsunade, to beg to have her force Danzo to release her, what Itachi doing was incredibly vital to keeping their home and the rest of the shinobi world safe. Not only that, but Orochimaru had already encountered her two times in just as many years – if he were to get his hands on her kekkei genkai and somehow find a way to use it… Especially with the way Danzo had altered her eyes... Then the Akatsuki would be the least of their problems. Being with Kisame even after Itachi died would drastically reduce those chances.
She couldn't continue to be this weak. She was a kunoichi of the Village Hidden in the Leaves – an Anbu Captain at heart and an Anbu Root Foundation Captain in the literal sense. It was time she stepped up and stopped acting like a pathetic child.
Kana picked herself up off of the floor on trembling legs that threatened to give out beneath her. With Kakashi still sitting, she made her way about the apartment to gather her belongings, pulling on her cropped jacket and fastening her headband just below her ponytail.
"In Root, you have no name," she whispered, hand on the doorknob, "You have no feelings. You have no past. You have no future. There is only the mission." Kana's eyes glowed behind her goggles, "I have a name that burdens me with powers I never wanted. I have emotions that I can't control as well as I'd like. I have a past that only ever comes back to haunt me. But those two last parts of the Foundation's creeds… Those are true."
'Please understand what I'm trying to tell you,' she silently begged.
"Sweetheart, wait-"
Kana forced herself to ignore Kakashi's pleads; she opened the door and pulled her tanto out from its sheath, reaching up to poke at the ceiling, "You can quit hiding, Sai."
A familiar pale face popped down from the breezeway's cover, "Are you going to punch me like you did Tatsuma?"
Their forehead protectors make a small 'Clink' when Kana touched her forehead against Sai's, eliciting a surprised noise from the younger shinobi. "No, because I know you're just here because you're curious."
That, and because there had always been something about Sai that made her genuinely like him.
"Don't walk away!" Kakashi suddenly shouted, his mask pulled up, "Please, just talk to me!"
Kana spoke curtly, "I apologize. I should have never come here."
Sai took her hand just as she extended it and sat up, pulling her onto the roof with him. They both took off running, though Kana made sure not to run too fast for her comrade so he wasn't left behind.
"Your parents… They named you Kana Shimi?" he asked when the pair had slowed to a walk, "It's quite befitting."
She sighed, "If I had a dime…" Sai raised a curious eyebrow at her, and the kunoichi sighed again, "It's a saying. When someone says "If I had a dime for every time I heard something" it means they've heard it enough times to where if they received a dime each time, they'd be rich."
The curious eyebrow furrowed, "Could anyone possibly hear something so many times that they would be rich just from dimes?"
"It's just an expression, Sai. It isn't supposed to be taken literally," she explained in a low voice.
"You're distressed," the teenager observed, "Is it because of that man saying you shouldn't be a shinobi?"
Kana stopped. All things considered, she shouldn't be surprised that he had been able to tell that she was upset - Sai had a habit of stalking her every now and then for observation purposes. Usually she found her time with him and Torune to be somewhat entertaining, the two being the only teammates Kana genuinely got along with, but what had just happened left her too depressed. It made sense that he would be able to pick up on that.
Suddenly, Sai had wrapped his slender arms around her shoulders and pulled her against him.
"Uh – um…" she mumbled, hands hovering over his bare waist, "Sai… What are you…?"
He made a curious hum, "I read that when another person is hurting, embracing them alleviates some of that pain and comforts them. Was I mistaken?" he asked, his head hooked over her shoulder. Sai's tone was flat, but disappointment was laced into his words.
Kana closed her eyes and was glad he couldn't see her face from behind her goggles and mask when she gently pushed him back, "You aren't totally wrong, no... When friends are hurting, it's common for them to hold each other," she murmured, "But… Sai… It doesn't mean anything if you don't care about the person."
Dark eyes blinked in response, Sai's lips parting just enough for the kunoichi to know that he was still confused. Kana twirled the end of her ponytail listlessly as she tried to make him understand, "The entire purpose of a hug is to let that person know that you care, and that you don't want to see them hurting. It's an expression of love – that's what helps make the pain go away."
"Oh…" Sai looked down at their feet thoughtfully, "I think I understand now."
Kana patted him on the shoulder and tugged so that he fell into step with her, "It's late. Let's go back."
Two days later...
"Alright, Kana! Lee! This one's for all the marbles!" Guy boomed, "Are you READY?!"
"Yes Guy-sensei!" Lee cried.
Kana smirked and tightened her hand around Lee's, "Ready."
"Three!"
Tenten hovered over Lee, eyes wide and expectant.
"Two!"
Neji made himself look calm, but there was an excited glint in his pretty white eyes as he stared at the hands clasped over the training stump.
"One!"
Lee grinned.
"Go!"
Muscles immediately tensed. Kana had to brace herself by tightening her knees around the post, feeling her friend's hand cover hers almost entirely and pushing back at her with just as much strength as she would have expected from him. Tightening her grip, she pushed back and watched Lee's muscles cord beneath green spandex in response.
Sweat beaded on the teenager's upper lip, "It is true, then," he said a little too breathlessly, "You truly have become stronger."
"You haven't beaten me since we were kids, anyways," Kana responded with a grin.
"Today that changes! First Gate…"
"Open," she purred.
There was an explosion of energy between the two of them that caused the training post to crack under their elbows. Tenten's eyes widened in response, "Whoa, guys, isn't this taking it a bit far?"
Wood splintered beneath them, and both of Guy's students dropped to the ground without ever breaking their grips. Lee's smile only widened in response, "Tenten, if I am to prove to Kana that I have become stronger then I must not hold back!"
'Oh, Lee… You've already proven that, in so many ways.'
"Yeah, but, still… Using the Gates like this-"
Lee's eyebrows furrowed in concentration when his arm began being pushed back, and his bicep flexed as his hand tightened almost painfully around hers.
"- Isn't it a little irresponsible? Guy-sensei?" Tenten looked up at him to back her up on the issue, but he was too busy jumping and cheering on both of his students to beat each other. It was almost comical, really.
The black gloved hand began to falter, and Neji almost jumped out of his skin when it moved back an inch. Kana laughed and opened the Gate of Rest just as Lee did, "Don't worry, Tenten," she shouted over the sound of the ground cracking, "We've got this, right Lee?!"
He didn't respond, but Lee's eyes looked back at Guy for half of a second.
Half of a second too long.
Kana quickly opened the Fourth Gate and used the teenager's distraction to shove his hand down into the ground with a loud crack. His face immediately fell, which made the kunoichi feel guilty, but she had promised them a long time ago that she would stop holding back for their sakes.
"YEEEAAA-HAAAA! Victory goes to my little girl KANA!" Guy hollered. When his eyes dropped to Lee's teary ones, his expression immediately changed and he began waving his arms around, "Ah, uh… Don't worry, Lee… You'll get her next time! You, uh, just need to train some more! That's all!"
To her right, Neji sighed in a hiss of satisfaction; Tenten almost looked as disappointed as Lee as she helped him out of the body-shaped crevice he had gotten himself into during the arm wrestle. Rolling onto her back, Kana sealed the tenktetsu with a groan. Using the Gates never seemed to get any easier.
With that in mind, she looked up at Lee to check him for any injuries and picked herself up from the ground when she saw that he only suffered a bruised ego.
"Lee, come with me for a minute," she said, waving the hand that wasn't still twitching from their match – Kana was left-handed, but she had been willing to use her right hand for the arm wrestling contest so Lee could use his dominant one. Now it was all sorts of shaky.
The boy followed after her without question into the treeline so that they were out of earshot from the thee that stared at them with varying looks of confusion. When she deemed them far enough, she turned and placed her hands on Lee's shoulders.
Reality struck her like a ton of bricks when Kana noticed how she had to reach up to touch his collar – he had grown to be significantly taller than her at age 16, and Lee's shoulders were noticeably broader than when he had made genin. He had grown up.
"Do you understand why you lost?" she asked softly, ignoring the sad feeling of nostalgia from her realization.
Wide, dark eyes looked down at his feet in disappointment, "Because I am not yet strong enough to-"
"You're plenty strong, Lee," Kana cut in, hooking a gloved finger under his chin so that he looked at her, "You lost because you continue to look to Guy-sensei for approval, to make sure he's watching. You allowed yourself to become distracted."
Lee began to look down again, but the finger under his chin kept his head in place, "I am sorry."
She furrowed her brow – her intention hadn't been to make him feel bad… This is why she would have made for a terrible jonin sensei. "Don't apologize, just listen to me. Okay?" When he nodded, Kana's hand drifted back down to his shoulder, "I understand how much his approval means to you, believe me, but you already have it, Lee… Guy loves you so much and recognizes you as a powerful shinobi – we all do."
Pulling him down, Kana tilted her face up so that their foreheads touched, "You're not a child anymore and no one sees you that way. You've grown into such a strong, wonderful man in more ways than one. You're a genius, you're brave, you're loyal, you're wise – sometimes even wiser than Guy – and you're a splendid ninja that will eventually surpass his sensei. You not only carry the Will of Fire, Lee, but you actively demonstrate it. So don't worry so much about seeking validation through Guy and the others. You don't need to look for something you already have obtained."
Tears were streaming down the chunin's face by the time her monologue had come to a close, and she couldn't help but smile sadly at the sight; he'll always be a big bundle of emotions. Lee pulled her into his chest for a crushing hug that she would have laughed at if it didn't practically flatten her lungs.
"Oh, Kana," he sobbed into her hair, "Thank you."
Kana pulled back far enough to breath and bit her lip to force her own tears to recede, though hers were those of a deep and dark sadness that had been looming over her heart, "You know… In the years we've known each other, I don't think I've ever told you how I actually feel…"
Glittering eyes peered down at her curiously, "What do you mean by that, exactly..?" he sniffed.
"Like Neji, you're precious to me," she chuckled, "I'm sorry it took me this long to say it, but I love you very much."
Another explosion of tears ensued from the younger man, and Kana would have fallen onto her butt from the way Lee dove into her if she hadn't possessed the frame of mind to brace herself. She laughed and brought a hand up to comb through his silky black bowl cut, smiling up at the group that still was giving the pair quizzical looks.
It was clear that Lee wasn't going to let up unless he was made to do so, so she wiggled out from his death grip and wiped the back of her hand under his eyes, "Come on, let's go," Kana patted his shoulder, "I'm hungry for some spicy curry."
At the mention of his favorite food, Lee whooped and threw his fists into the air before charging across the field to his teammates and teacher.
Four days later...
It didn't snow very often in the Village Hidden in the Leaves. In fact, it was such a rare occurrence that Kana had only seen it happen three times in the twenty years she had lived there. The sight was probably a beautiful one to anyone else, but it just felt like a bad omen to Kana as she quickly jumped the wall to the Hyuga compound and made a beeline to where Neji lived.
Vaguely Kana was aware that her use of stealth would only arouse suspicion to anyone who could see her – which was a very strong possibility even with her skills as a shinobi, considering she was sneaking through a district full of Byakugan users – but she wanted to be absolutely sure that no one saw her as she slid a paper window open.
Having become so accustomed to her presence, Neji didn't stir from his sleep when she silently dropped to the tatami mat flooring. He always looked so peaceful when he slept, which was why Kana had always abhorred waking him. A few moments passed where she just watched the steady rise and fall of his chest, a sad smile tugging at her lips when Kana noted the small cloud of darkened fabric near where his mouth was pressed into the pillow.
Reaching out, she brushed aside some of the long brown hair that had fallen in front of his face; a crack in her heart formed when the action didn't disturb Neji's sleep. Her chakra signature normally made others wary but, with him, it only seemed to relax the teenager further.
Kana hated this.
White eyes fluttered open blearily when she gently whispered his name, the confusion in them clear as day.
"Kana…?" he mumbled, wiping the back of his hand over his mouth as he propped himself up.
The crack widened at the sound of Neji's tired voice, "Neji do you trust me?" she whispered.
He narrowed his eyes and sat upright in his bed, now fully alert, "How can you even ask such a thing?" Neji hissed, "What's happened?"
"I… I have to leave-"
Neji stiffened, "You what-"
"Please, Neji," she breathed, "I don't have much time. I have to leave the village – it's a long story, and it's one I can't explain for a very long time. But I promise I'll explain everything to you one day, do you understand?"
Horror replaced curiosity with every word she spoke. Neji's wide eyes filled with unshed tears when a gloved hand reached into Kana's pack to pull out her forehead protector, placing it in his lap. "Does this mean…?" he trailed off, taking the headband into a trembling hand.
Kana nodded, "I'm not coming back. I need you to promise me that you will always carry this with you," her voice cracked as she spoke, "Promise me, Neji. Don't ever allow it to leave your sight, no matter what."
At first, he didn't answer; Neji only stared down at the hitai ate that had been placed in his and what it signified, looking back up at the kunoichi as if he were in a daze. She couldn't hold it against him – this was something that Kana had been mentally bracing herself for, but he was having to deal with it for the first time and all at once.
"I understand," he breathed, "I promise. I'll keep it with me always."
Pulling her mask to the side of her head and slipping both the goggles and cloth mask down to her neck, Kana leaned in and kissed Neji's cheek. "Please understand. I'm doing this for the village," tears spilled over her cheeks as she spoke, "I'm doing this for you, and Lee, and the rest of Konoha."
"Then let me come with you," Neji pleaded, wrapping his arms around her shoulders to pull their chests flush.
Déjà vu slammed into her like a speeding train at his words; they were the same ones she had said to Itachi ten years ago. Kana screwed her glowing eyes shut and returned his embrace, "You and I both know that's not possible," she whispered, "This is my mission."
Arms tightened around her shoulders, which only made her feel as if she was going to fall apart even quicker. Her heart felt as if it was shattering into a million pieces when Kana heard Neji's short, pained gasps as he wept into her shoulder. A wave of desperation washed over her. Kana didn't want to do this. She didn't want to leave Neji. The Leaf was her home.
"I love you," he whispered in a voice that radiated misery.
A choked noise pushed its way up Kana's throat when she finally was able to bring herself to peel herself away enough to look into his bloodshot eyes. He had grown into such a handsome man, elegant and strong in every way.
"You're so perfect," she murmured, "I love you, too. I love you so much, Neji. I'm so proud of everything you've become."
He turned his face into one of her palms that had slid up to cup his face, exposed thumbs gently caressing his cheek, "Will… I ever see you again?" Neji's eyes were searching hers, looking for any shred of hope to cling to and twisting her stomach into a painful knot.
For a moment Kana wanted to lie and tell him what he wanted to hear, but he was a shinobi. He wasn't just her little brother anymore. Sliding her swirling eyes shut, she took a deep breath and steadied her breathing before answering. "If you do, there's a good chance you will be ordered to kill me. If that's the case, and you're with others, I'll have to run." They both knew that her speed was something he, and just about every other shinobi, would be unable to match. With that in mind, it was supposed to be reassuring for him to know that he wouldn't have to face her in combat as long as Kana could run away, but Neji's face only continued to emanate his agony.
"Do… The song you would sing to me as a child… Do you still remember it?" the way Neji's voice sounded, so small and pained, left her feeling as if she was going to fall apart at the seams. Kana nodded slowly, and he laid back down over his blankets. "Will you sing it?" he asked in a broken whisper.
Kana had been given a very small window for her to escape the village without the Konoha Barrier Team being able to detect her through the sensing barrier, and that window was getting close to closing; she'd be lucky if she made it out in time. Still, she found herself sliding over the sheets to settle herself next to the teenager, fingers snaking into his long brown hair.
"Dango, dango, dango, dango, dango daikazoku," she sang softly, smoothing his hair out, "Yancha na yaki dango yasashii an dango."
Neji pulled her into a tight hug that pressed both of their bodies together.
"Sukoshi yumemigachi na tsukimi dango."
While his tears had stopped, there was a slight quivering in his muscles as the jonin fought against the emotions she knew were storming inside of Neji.
"Osumashi goma dango yotsugo kushi dango. Minna minna awasete hyaku nin kazoku."
Kana hugged him tight, trying to memorize everything about him – the way he smelled of green tea and jasmine, the way his long hair draped over her shoulders, the shape of his body as it curled around hers.
"Akachan dango ha itsumo shiawase no naka de. Toshiyori dango ha me wo hosometeru."
Her entire being focused on the points where the two were connected and Kana's mind worked frantically to ingrain it into her memory.
"Nakayoshi dango te wo tsunagi ookina marui wa ni naru wo tsukuri dango boshi no ue minna de waraiau yo."
There was a selfish part of her that screamed from the back of Kana's mind, insisting that she not go through with things. Its voice grew louder and louder as Neji threaded his fingers into her black ponytail, paying extra attention to each tiny braid he found between the loose tresses.
"Usagi mo sora de te wo futtemiteru dekkai koto kanashii koto mo zenbu marumete."
She touched their foreheads together and watched his shimmering eyes slide shut; Kana brought her hand up to cup his cheek as she repeated the chorus.
"Nakayoshi dango te o tsunagi ooki na marui wa ni naru yo. Machi o tsukuri dango hoshi no ue minna de waraiau yo. Usagi mo sora de te o futte miteru dekkai o-tsuki-sama. Ureshii koto kanashii koto mo zenbu marumet."
Neji's hold tightened when the end of the song came around, humming brokenly between subtle dry sobs.
"Dango, dango, dango, dango, dango daikazoku." Kana ended the song by placing a kiss over the green curse mark on his forehead.
When he pulled away, his hand reached back to fondle one of the small braids that Kana had in her ponytail, "Please be safe," he pleaded in a shaking voice, "Please stay alive."
"I promise."
Delicate lips kissed her cheek before long and slender fingers tugged her mask up and over her nose, with Kana's black goggles following suit. Neji pulled her fox-shaped Anbu mask over her face before pulling her into a final embrace.
It was Neji who finally released the hug after a few long moments that were still not long enough, anguish written all over his features as he shuffled away over the covers. Kana reluctantly slipped off of the bed, stepping over to where her backpack rest below the window and slung it over her narrow shoulders.
"I love you," she repeated and, with one final longing look, Kana jumped through the window.
She had to act fast if she was going to get to the village gates in time for the sensor barrier to not detect her. Kana raced over to the Hyuga compound's wall, nimbly jumping over the stone that divided the clan form the village and taking off in a full sprint.
'I left at 0100 on the dot,' she mused as she kicked off of a roof, 'It took ten minutes to get to the Hyuga manor. I spent twenty minutes with Neji…' Even at top speed it would still take nearly fifteen, most likely twenty, minutes for Kana to cross the entire length of the massive village. Danzo had made sure that the barrier's algorithm would be disturbed from 0130 to 0200, so that there would be time for Kana to escape the village undetected. By the time her bunk mates would have been able to report her missing to the village elder, who would then report to Lady Hokage, it would be sunrise.
She was cutting it close, she realized, and the threat of having Anbu sent after her much sooner than Kana had hoped became closer.
A roof shingle cracked beneath the force of her foot as the kunoichi channeled more chakra to her legs in a desperate attempt to propel her body faster, opening the First Gate so her muscles could keep up with what her brain demanded.
'I'm going to make it… Only a few minutes left…'
Kana jumped down from the final roof, skidding around a corner and bolted down the road. Itachi and Kisame would be waiting for her five klicks outside of the village gates, assuming they didn't run into any of the guards that patrolled the forests. It was unlikely, given the fact that the pair had been able to infiltrate Konoha undetected in the middle of the afternoon, but Kana activated her Kurogan to make sure that they were still there.
Dirt flew up in a cloud as she forced herself to come to a stop, boots skidding into the road with a dull roar. Kana had to pull out her katana and shove it into the ground, using her momentum to swing around, to avoid toppling over as inertia fought against her body.
Four shinobi jumped down from the trees they had been hiding in upon realizing that they had been discovered. Kana swore under her breath – she had assumed that no one would be suspicious enough to stop her, so she hadn't bothered with paying too much attention to her surroundings.
It was a stupid mistake.
Kakashi, Shikaku, Guy and Yamato were standing in a line to bar her path, every one of them looking grim as they stared back at her.
"Enjoying the snow?" she asked as her mind worked, "It looks pretty magical in the moonlight." Their plan was obvious enough: Kakashi and Guy were going to attack her to lure her into Shikaku's Shadow Possession Jutsu long enough for Yamato to cage her. When the jonin didn't respond, she stood up from her crouching position and sheathed the black blade, "How did you figure it out?"
"Lee was worried," Guy answered, "He said you looked too sad when you confessed how much you cared for him."
"So Guy came to me asking if I had noticed anything strange about your behavior lately," Kakashi added, allowing her to fill in the blanks on her own.
Keeping herself aware of where Shikaku's shadow was, Kana reached into one of the cylindrical pouches on her belt and pulled a red scroll out, "And you just happened to know what day I'd be leaving, huh?" she called while a thumb slipped under the edge of the paper.
All four shinobi tensed and crouched into defensive positions.
"No, we decided to camp out here every night for a week," Yamato answered, "Just in case the hunch was right."
Two kunai appeared in a puff of smoke.
"Don't do this, kid," Shikaku's gravelly voice warned, "That Uchiha kid is a bad egg, you don't wanna get involved with him."
Time was out.
Kana kicked against the ground to run forward, directly into the path of the four jonin, and launched the first kunai directly at Guy's head. Just as she had expected him to, the mountainous man dodged the blade and charged at the kunoichi. Kakashi's Sharingan was exposed, though, and he gasped.
"Shikaku, stop that kunai!" he shouted, throwing his own in what Kana assumed was an attempt to knock it out of the air.
As Guy's hands grabbed her waist, she folded her left hand into half-tiger, half-ram sign for the Seal of Confrontation and focused her chakra to where the knife was travelling. Her body teleported to the blade and Kana grabbed it out of the air while simultaneously rolling away from Shikaku's winding shadow.
Fighting the Jonin Commander, the Copy Ninja, the Green Beast and a descendant of the First Hokage wasn't something Kana was entirely sure she would walk away from unscathed, but Kana knew that if she had enough time then she could most likely take them down. This wasn't like before, where she was worried about being overpowered by her pursuers.
The fact was, she was out of time. And if she left the village after the barrier's algorithm was fixed, then there would be a team of Anbu tracking her faster than Kana would feel comfortable with.
Lightning screamed past her ear as she lunged to the side, throwing up a barrier to slow down the shinobi behind her and sprinting towards the gates. It wouldn't stop them completely, but they would have to move around it in order to deliver any physical attacks.
"Sweetheart, please! Don't do this!"
The sound of Kakashi's pleading voice caused a cold grip to wrap around Kana's cracking heart.
Guy's foot missed her ribs by inches; she grabbed his ankle and used the momentum of her dodge to swing his body around to throw him back into Yamato's body – but not before seeing the pain that clouded Guy's dark eyes.
The grip tightened, and more cracks formed.
Kakashi suddenly appeared in front of Kana, "Is this how you want things to end?!" he shouted, throwing his chidori at her, "Following in the shadow of a murderer?!"
"Alert lady Hokage!" Yamato shouted to the gate guards as they reached the village's mouth, "Captain Kana Shimi of the Anbu Black Ops Root Foundation is trying to leave the village!"
She dropped down under Kakashi's thrusting palm and jumped to the side, well aware of the shadow that was quickly snaking towards her. Kana flicked her thumb over her ring's claw and dragged the blood over the tattoo on her arm to summon her bakeneko.
"Hanako, stop them!" she shouted, not wasting time to watch the ninneko take off after the two gate guards.
Disguising it as a dodge when Yamato attempted to take advantage of her temporarily immobile state, Kana dove to the side and caught herself on her hands, using her legs' momentum to twirl around and launch the second kunai towards the gate as she sprung back to her feet.
Kakashi was on top of her in an instant and she had to quickly bring up the first kunai to avoid having her chest ripped open by his. Anger, fear and hurt warred within the man's mismatched gaze, "Please, don't leave," he panted, "You can't just let things end like this! Giving into Itachi – becoming his puppet?! Is that what you want?!"
Her eyes screwed shut at his words. He was only saying these things to use her emotions against her, to make her feel guilty about leaving the village – as if she needed any encouragement to feel anguished over leaving her home and comrades. What made things even worse was how Kakashi had caught onto what she had been trying to tell him, but had misinterpreted the situation despite being acclaimed as a genius.
A sudden influx of chakra told Kana that Guy had opened the Gate of Limit, and that she was going to be overtaken soon if she didn't do something. Fighting without harming either of them was going to be impossible, she realized, so black eyes focused on Kakashi's pained face as she jumped out of his reach.
"Whether you believe it or not, I'm not doing this just because it's asked of me," Kana hissed, "You couldn't stop Sasuke, you couldn't save Rin, or Obito. You couldn't help your dad. What makes you think that you can save me?"
It was an impossibly low blow; she didn't need the horrified expression that resulted from her words to tell her that. Kana had just thrown his life's regrets – some of his most painful memories – straight into his face. But her dirty tactic had granted her the opening she needed when Kakashi took a shocked step back into Shikaku's Shadow Possession Jutsu.
Kana pulled one glove off by her teeth before swiping her still-bleeding digit over the tattoo on the back of her hand, no longer needing to name the jutsu as she formed barriers around each shinobi so they couldn't move. With them rendered immobile she took the time to activate her Ishikigan, locking them on Kakashi.
'I'm sorry I'm such a careless person' he thought solemnly, 'I'm sorry I let you down.'
In the second she allowed herself, Kana relayed the guilt she was feeling before jumping away from the materialized shadows of Shikaku's Shadow Gathering Technique that was trying to sneak up from behind. She threw the kunai she still held in her hand into Kakashi's thigh, "Hold onto that."
All she could do was pray that he understood before forming the Seal of Confrontation and teleporting to the kunai that had landed outside of the village gates, watching the sensing barrier shimmer as it was restored to normal.
With the jonin still trapped in the barriers, Kana turned on her heel and took off across the forest floor to their meeting point. She kept her kunai in hand in case she needed to use the Flying Thunder God Technique again, though Kana doubted she would even as her hold on the jutsu waned. Chances were, the group wouldn't trust their skills to hold up against the three of them and would go to Tsunade for further instruction.
Her theory appeared to ring true when the barriers dissipated and the four jonin regrouped instead of taking off after her. Kana kept an eye on them as she approached the two cloaked figures, who were waiting just a few feet away from their agreed meeting point.
"Just in time," Kisame purred, "It looks like I lost our little wager, Itachi."
The shorter man ignored him, red eyes fixated on the marked kunai she still held, "Was there trouble?"
Kana looked down at her hand and pushed the knife into her large hip pouch, "Some jonin tried to stop me," she murmured, "I wasn't tailed, but we should get going before they send out hunters."
Itachi nodded and turned, motioning for Kisame to follow, "Come, then."
With a wistful, final glance over her shoulder, Kana jumped into the trees after the two men and ran.
Note: And thus we draw this chapter of Kana's story to a close! I've already published the first chapter to the sequel here: s/11647226/1/Red-Clouds-and-Starry-Eyes If the link doesn't work, it's called Red Clouds and Starry Eyes, and can be found on my profile.
I already miss Rairai :c