Chapter Two: This Faceless Crowd
God, I wanted to stop, I wanted to stop, I needed to stop. I was killing her, killing her with my own hands. Even in the darkness, I could see her face was turning different colors; blue was slowly seeping into those colors. Her feet dangled as they tried to reach the ground. I wanted to say it; I wanted to say stop struggling, stop struggling and pretend to dead. "Ita-", her voice started as a soft murmur but instinctively I have a quick jolt upwards "Ah!" She screamed, barely breathing and in pain. Her neck was bruised and her whole body was in pain.
When I could tell she was slipping into her unconsciousness, I set her down on her feet. I pulled her close, my lips pressed against the shell of her ear the only thing that got in between us was her long brown hair. "Stay away from me, away from Sasuke and from this clan." I whispered. I couldn't find myself able to look at her face, nor let up the pressure on her neck. In a lower voice, I couldn't help myself. "Take care of yourself." After that she fell limp into my arms, the unconscious body fell into me. The hand once wrapped around her neck was now in her hair cradling her head and pushing her body away but then wrapped that arm around her waist. Her hair was so long that some of it got trapped under my arm.
I set her down and looked at the damage done. I saw all the blood and the destruction. I hate violence, I hate war, I hate this… for this single moment I hated myself more than anything else. And in the midst of all these, there laid the two people I could never harm, no matter what. They are my angels and my heavens. I took a step back into an expected hand. "Good job." The man, I wish I had never met, told me. My eyes were glued on the bruise on the girl's neck and the large scratch on the boys shoulder. What have I done? I wish I could turn back time stop this all, make everything better. Almost a vision of the three of us, flashed before my eyes and disappeared into the darkness all together, such things could have never happened. Not in this lifetime.
I bobbed my head complying with this man's compliment. "Yeah, we should go before authorities come." I whispered and was nearly shocked on at my own voice. It had turned cold, heavy and bitter. I sounded so much older than I was and I was sure I now looked so much older than I was. I had taken life, life of people that were blood relatives. I began walking out of my home, the dead silence was so irritating, and it would haunt me more than anything else for that night. I looked at the exit; I knew I would never return. I'd never again feel the warmth and safety of a home and I had no one to blame but myself.
But what hurt me most was that I had ruined home for one other person. I had ruined it for my brother. I ruined my brother's family. He couldn't come home laughing and joyous ever again. He could never have such things ever again. Until he came for me and had his own family, he could never have such things again. But I was wrong. I would have never known that one day; I would see him with a family member. He could have emotions that resembled happiness and I was not there to witness it. I could not be there to stop it or to praise it.
The shocking thing about this was that it was her that attempt to fill his life with happiness. She isolated herself, all to keep this boy happy. Could I have meant that much to people? I didn't want to believe it, nor could I have accepted it. Not for what was meant to happen I could not. She did not heed my warning and did exactly as I had warned her not to. She had taken the child, took him in, raised him as best she could. She did it so he would not be alone. She hadn't changed.
Kaeda hadn't changed, she was still the supportive girl and strong willed person that I remembered her to be. But that was a lie, a false mask she was portraying. I knew that she had been broken and bent just as badly as Sasuke. But Kaeda did want to create something. She wanted to create a constant for him. Kaeda became a person that wouldn't change being someone important for him, a parent and a confidant. She had done a very good job at it too. When it would be time for our reunion something would have to be done for this. Another rip and tear between this makeshift family. I didn't want to. How could I? Things needed to be done and none of us have the time for blocks. Kaeda, you are one of them. But I can't kill you. What could I possibly do? If we both cling onto the same hope and are held so highly by the same person… how could I hurt you? What could I do to you to remove you? I can't… you are too important of a person to ever be removed in such a cruel manner.
The months had passed since then, the first C mission had come and gone and the Chuunin exams passed and thankfully most of the village had been restored back to how it was. The attack by the Sand village and the Sound village had indeed left a remarkable scar on the village and especially with the Third Hokage dead. It had left the village mornings in a horrible mist that whoever attempted to enter could barely see two feet in front of them, but this included the guards. Because the village was under no ruler at the time, security had been vamped up, taking many precautions until a new Hokage was put into power.
A middle-aged man was placed in guarding an entrance to the village that was rarely used and not many people knew about. Only the shinobi and ANBU were really informed that this gate even existed. The morning mist was unusually thick and because the morning sun hadn't yet graced the sky no one could really have that much visibility. The guard heard a bell. Confusion flushed in his body. Who would be carrying around a bell? In such a dangerous world having yourself clearly standing out with the sound of a bell was foolish.
After a while two cloaked figures appeared in the distance, as they approached the bell sound was more clear and approaching. Without showing any id, greeting or even looking at the man. He felt a bit alarmed by this and tried to stop them. "Huh? Uh… Excuse me…" He said taking their attention before they entered.
The men stopped just before entering. The shorter of the two men turned towards the man. The guard attempted to see under his hat. A sudden and heavy blanket seemed to wash over him, trying to lull him into a deep sleep. The moment of resistance was absolutely futile, as the man immediately fell backwards and drifted into sleep letting the foreigners in the village undetected and in silence. The only thing that showed their presence was the sound of their bells.
Kaeda stood in her room shuffling through some of her things in her closet. Her hair was not done, so it was flowing just a little bit past her shoulders. The box she had set high up fell as she tried to reach a medical kit she had. She stepped back and heard a cracking sound. She bent down and pulled the box up. She opened it and saw what had cracked, her old ANBU mask. She picked it up and stood up. Without much thought about what damage she was going to do to herself and her mental health, she stepped in front of her mirror and placed the mask in front of her face. A flush of memories she never wanted to recall again flooded her head. The sound of laughter, a strong arm grasping hers, a soft smile, the most perfect eyes she had ever seen and the feeling of safety all flooded back and then the feeling of all that being ripped away. Instinctively, she threw the mask away from her but as a result her mirror shattered before her.
The brunet stood watching her reflection in the shattered mirror. Sasuke from hearing the noise rushed in and watched Kaeda trying to catch her breath and her brown eyes wide in horror. Sasuke tilted his head, curiously. He was fully dressed from head to toe in black. He knew he should have left and let her deal with it alone. He bit his lips as he thought about the options and he spoke before his thought process ended. "Kaeda." He said taking the girl's attention bringing her back to reality. No, he brought her back to the present. They stared at each other for a moment, the silence was not like the silence back on that day; it wasn't blood stopping. This silence was a reminder, this was the present and what had happened then was in the past.
After a few moments, she smiled. "Sorry about that." Sasuke nodded and went to the kitchen. He got himself some breakfast and Kaeda cleaned up the mirror and did her hair. Sasuke looked mad as he had the right to be. His head was buzzing with visions of failure that Orochimaru had pumped into his head from the Forest of Death. He wanted to get out of the house, he wanted to be alone. When people are alone and most importantly alone with their thoughts, they are the most destructive, especially to themselves. Sasuke took his plate of boiled eggs tomatoes and fried rice to the table. He ate alone in silence as he watched Kaeda come and go. He was already manifesting negative thoughts about how weak he was about how people around him where making him weak and how he hated feeling like this. His aura became darker than usual and the seal on around his new curse mark worked more vigorous as it tried to seal up the negative effects from it.
Once the plate was empty Sasuke knitted his fingers together and stared into empty space, Kaeda entered into the kitchen. She was twisting her hair into a low bun, the daisy pin in her mouth so she could secure her hair with it. "Stop wearing that thing." Sasuke snapped quietly. Kaeda turned her gaze to the onyx eyed boy. It was her turn to tilt her head in confusion. She took the pin out of her mouth and secured her hair in place. "Why are you still wearing that? Have you forgotten what he did?" He snapped ready to stand up.
Kaeda didn't budge at his words. "You know my opinion on that matter." She whispered and went to get her own breakfast.
"Are you blind?" He stood and made Kaeda freeze. "You know what he did; you know what happened for God's sake he nearly killed you! How could you say that he wasn't himself, he willing nearly killed both of us!"
"He didn't…"
"Kaeda!"
"Enough!" She shouted back. They both stared at each other again in silence. "I thought we said we would never talk about this subject… I'll stop wearing this tomorrow." Sasuke nodded. "Go on." Kaeda whispered, "I know the last thing you want is to be here with me." She continued in her soft voice. Sasuke stood and marched out of the apartment. He was fuming with anger and he would have never known that Kaeda only broke down crying after that.
Hours passed since their fight, both had tried to pretend like it didn't happen. Sasuke got signaled by Kakashi and was making his way to the white haired man. The bells of the foreigners still rang in the village. Kaeda was making her way towards the hospital to go heal some injured people who were rebuilding the village. Young Naruto was digging in his pockets for his ticket to get his breakfast with no avail. The Ichiraku man went back to work he heard the bells of his shop. He turned the entrance but saw no one, confusing him.
Outside a little tea shop, Kakashi Hatake was reading Make-Out Paradise. As the people around him hussled around trying to get things done, Kakashi maintained his cool aura. Nothing fazed the jounin. Or at least, it seemed like nothing fazed him. His nonchalant mannerism was an unforgettable on many scales. He was a person that was unreadable. Only a few traits of his were constant. If you did not know this person, your initial thought was that he was crazy. And in a sense, he was. Now the sensei for Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke, it became his duty to always care for their protection and well being. That job he carried out flawlessly and of course did will to protect them.
His duty outside this little tea shop also had to do with the matter of Sasuke's and Naruto's protection. He saw Asuma and Kurenai, two very good friends coming towards him. He closed his little red book at glaced his uncovered eye at them. "Yo, you two!" He said, cheerfully. He stood up straight, no longer using the wall behind him as support. "You seem to be getting along well."
Kakshi's assumption made Kurenai blush. "Fool, Anko asked me to buy rice dumplings. That's all."
"What are you doing here?" Asuma asked, the usual cigarette in his mouth.
Kakashi smiled behind his mask. "While I'm here to buy offerings, I've made plans to meet here…" His lazy eye looked towards the men in the black clocks with red clouds. "with Sasuke." He finished, expecting a response. Though it was unseen one of the men's fingers twitched.
Asuma looked surprised. "Huh, it's rare that you wait for people. Is the offering to Obito?" He asked.
"Obito?" Kurenai asked in confusion.
"Well… that's about right." Kakashi answered. Inside the shop the man with the blue skin set his tea cup down.
Kakashi's gaze stayed locked with the two men in there. Sasuke approached Kakashi, "Kakashi, it's strange for you to be here first." He said.
"Well… once in a while." Kakashi tried to correct him even though his habit of being late was now out in the open. Sasuke tilted his head when he saw an empty table where the pair of men used to be. Two full and warm cups of tea were still at the able the sweets were still there as well.
Sasuke's gaze turned to Kakashi, assuming he wanted to sit there and talk. "I don't do natto and sweet things." He said, quickly to dismiss the idea.
"Oh… is that so?" Kakashi asked, sounding slightly disappointed. Kakashi turned to Kurenai and Asuma who nodded in understanding. The two disappeared before Kakashi and Sasuke's eyes going to track the two men. Sasuke understood from that something was wrong. Something he would not be permitted to know. A few miles away the two men were walking along one of the man made water ways that was near the forest within Konaha. They passed by a small fishing boat casually.
Both came to a halt when Kurenai and Asuma stopped before them. There was a strange silence between them and the two strange, foreign men. "You guys aren't from the village… Why in the world did you come?" Asuma asked getting straight to business.
Another moment of silence passed before one of the men spoke. It was the shorter of the two with pale skin and a fair voice. "I haven't seen you for a while, Asuma, Kurenai."
"If you know about us, are you former Leaf Shinobi?" Asuma asked. The man reached up and tilted his straw hat up a bit to reveal his right right eyes. The black tomoe was revealed with the chime of the bell on his hat. Both jounin were in shock at the sight. Neither wanted to believe such a man would even fathom of returning to the village, but there he was. Not wanting to believe it, they had to ask, "Y-You are?" He slowly began to remove his hat, without abrupt motions as to not cause panic for the enemies before him. He took his arm out of his sleeve and began to unbutton the top of his cloak. "Without a doubt…" He rested his hand at the opening of the cloak, lazily. "Itachi… Uchiha." The noticed the large slash on his forehead protector that crossed out the Leaf symbol.
While they stared at the young man they failed to notice the older man. The blue man spoke, "You are acquaintances of Itachi?" He asked. His voice was a bit higher pitched and freer than Itachi's strained voice was. "If so…" He took a hold of his hat as well. "I'll introduce myself as well." He took off his hat. "I'm Kisame Hoshigaki." Kisame's skin was blue even on his face. His teeth were ground sharp and resembled a shark, hell he looked exactly like a shark except he had legs not fins. "Hereafter, I hope to be familiar with you." He too had a large slash over his forehead protector, destroying his village's symbol as well, but he was still identifiable as a former shinobi of the Mist.
Asuma looked agitated at the two. "Never mind later, I'm going to beat you now!" He proclaimed.
"Itachi." Kisame said taking his attention. "It seems you're pretty unpopular in the village too." His smirk was cocky and Itachi could have rolled his eyes at the comment.
"I know you, too." Kurenai said, "Kisame Hoshigake, originally a shinobi of Hidden Village in the Mist. Suspected of national covert activities and of killing a feudal lord, a rogue ninja from Land of Water, on the wanted list in all nations."
"You're a major S-rank criminal listed in the Bingo Book." Asuma finished. "Itachi, you have some nerve coming back to this village after causing that awful incident."
"Asuma… Kurenai… Don't interfere with me." I say that too much, to too many people. "I don't intend to kill you."
"That's not a line for you who killed his comrades. I know there's no way you'd come here without any clear purpose in those suspicious appearance. What are you after?"
Itachi did not answer Asuma. He left him with silence as he gazed right at him. Kisame reached back and pulled his sword from his back letting it hit the ground with enough force the crack the path they were walking on. "This guy is pretty annoying." Kisame stated. "Should we kill him?"
No one flinched at this. "It doesn't look like we are able to leave the village so smoothly… But don't overdo it, your techniques tend to stand out." Itachi ordered, calmly.
"They're done for then." Kisame swung his sword over to his shoulder. Itachi tossed his hat to the side and Kisame went right in for the attack. The bell sounded once more as the hat hit the ground giving Kisame the go to attack Asuma. He brought his sword down to him with all his strength. Asuma dodged the bandage covered blade with ease. Kisame swung his sword back ready for another attack and brought the long sword crashing down again. Asuma grabbed his chakra blades and used them to stop the sword as it came towards him and Kurenai.
Kurenai found the opportunity to jump back and get ready to fight as well. Kisame would not allow such a thing, but before he could even attempt to stop her, Kurenai had already cast out a genjutsu. Itachi took interest casting his sharigan filled eyes onto the battle. This is…Genjutsu. His thought was simply an observation. There was no impression behind what she had done and it was almost pathetic for him. Using genjutsu on the eyes that could see all, it was insulting. He let his kekkei genkei do its job and see right through the illusion.
Kisame sneered realizing this as well. Kisame pressed more weight down onto the sword with only one hand and nearly touched Asuma's shoulder. Asuma was impressed with this strength. The most impressive thing was because this man was solely using brute force. It was nearly inhuman for anyone to possess such strength. With a little more pressure, Kisame was able to let the edge of his sword touch the man's arms. He smiled, "My large sword, Shark Skin…" He tore it away with more effort than he was using to hold it there and for good reason. The sword had drawn out large shark like scales that had dug into Asuma's skin, tearing the skin clean off his arm. The bandages covering this large sword were torn in the process revealing just how deadly this sword was. "It doesn't cut, but lops it off!" He said with pride in his voice.
Asuma was now setting, bent over and holding his injured arm. A small smile graced his lips. "Kurenai… you're late." He said. A moment later Kisame looked shocked as he watched the ground from beneath him raised up and try to entangle him. Itachi merely stood motionless as a large tree began to form around him, wrapping large branches around him to trap him. The young Uchiha looked up and saw exactly what he was expecting to see. Kurenai reached out of the tree that now enclosed him with a kunai in hand.
The kunai was raised into the air, ready to strike. "With this… it's over." Kurenai whispered and brought down the kunai. Itachi smirked simply at him. In the blink of an eye their roles were switched. Kurenai gasped surprised. How could this have happened? When did it happen? Not many people see through my illusions, my lies, not many people can see me. "Genjutsu of that level doesn't work on me." He said emotionlessly. As Kurenai tired to think of how in the world he was able to do something like that and only concluded that it was a genjutsu reversal.
She would not be able to continue her trail of thought, as Itachi allowed a kunai to peer out of his long sleeves. The kunai shined in the bright sunlight. The woman closed her eyes and bit her lip until it bled, a small trickle of blood falling from the wound down to her chin. Itachi came charging at her to kill her and Kurenai braced for the worst for a moment before she had a look of utter shock. She managed to end the genjutsu but barely managed to duck down, a few of her hairs got cut off. With a very flowing movement, Itachi allowed the full motion of the strike to go through and allowed himself to pull back and kick Kurenai in her center which she managed to block in time.
With the force of his kick sent her flying, she was tossed towards the river before them and fell right in unable to break her own fall. "Kurenai!" Asuma shouted with concern, looking towards his fallen comrade.
Kisame smirked, cocky. "There's no time to look away." He said a light laugh behind his tone. Asuma's attention immediately snapped back forward towards his rival, forgetting he was in the middle of a fight as well. He got his chakra blades in position for another attack.
The water cascaded off of the dark haired kunoichi. "That's what's expected from you, Kurenai." Itachi said calmly and monotone. Kurenai's heart nearly stopped when she realized that the young Uchiha had managed to get behind her. What a grave mistake it was to allow a man of his strength to get behind her. "But…" Itachi began.
He looked down at her, ready to kill her as he had promised but was interrupted by a familiar voice. "But this is as far as it goes… for you." Kakashi had arrived to the scene saving Asuma from one of Kisame's powerful jutsu and halting Itachi with merely his presence.
Asuma placed his hand into his pocket. "Why have you shown up too?" He asked, coolly.
"Well… I asked you to take care of them earlier." The Kakashi clone said standing in front of Asuma. "But I kinda felt uneasy, you know?" the real Kakashi finished standing behind the young Uchiha, a kunai aimed for his back. Sharingan had met sharingan for the first time in years.