Chapter Six: In the Shop
A bright and sunny Sunday afternoon in Konaha was warm and joyous as usual. Most were dressed in casual clothes and Kaeda was no exception, except she was busy fixing her new home. She was dressed in a white tee shirt and brown capris and the usual black sandals. Her hair was pulled up in a tight yet messy bun. It had become messy from all the work she had been doing around the house as the young boy she was guarding slept peacefully in the largest bedroom in the apartment. "There we go." Kaeda said, setting the last photo on the wall of her room. It was the team going in rank order. She stepped back with a smile. "Hello everyone." She said to the picture and then stepped away to admire it. It was a wall of photos that she had set in her room, all the precious memories with all her precious people. Even a new photo that she had taken with just her and Sasuke was there. Even in her small room she insured that everyone had a big role.
Stepping forward she touched the picture of the ANBU team. Her warm face was ruined by a cold frown. Her graze turned towards the floor. Yohei died first, it was on a mission, he was blown apart by an explosive tag on a kunai. He faded from the picture. Isako died next, she was hurt by a poison Kaeda had never seen and by the time the team got her to a suitable doctor, she died. She was the next to fade from their smiling picture. Soon, I was facing slightly away from them I had already been trapped into the idea of what would befall my family and the thoughts of what was happening to my team… well, it was all overwhelming. Kaeda's heart had been beaten from this emotional torment, and Taiyo could not let these deaths of the comrades just pass over his head. A few days after Isako's death, Taiyo died too, he saved Kaeda from death that evidently led him to his. This was just as bad as war. And here we were the two of us alone in a picture, as sorrowful as we could be, but this is only a picture even if our emotions have changed we will be forever with the dead and bright smiles. Even if one of us is wearing a different uniform and has our back turned to the frame, even if one of has cut their hair and dropped many ranks.
How cruel. I don't blame her for needing this. We were all happy, we did well together while we lasted. This action is simply a moment of clinging onto good memories, a simple and human thing to do.
Kaeda went to the living room and examined everything with a victorious smile returning and illuminating her face once more. Her new home was fully ready and asking to make new memories in it and live in it. With the positive thoughts making her steps light she stepped into the kitchen and smiled at the bright white tulips at the table and started making tea for the morning. Her ears perched up at the sound of footsteps sliding across the floor. Kaeda turned and watched as Sasuke stumbled into the kitchen, tired from being out late at night training. Kaeda giggled as she watched him go to the fridge, pour himself a glass of orange juice and a small bowl of cereal.
"Do you want me to make you a bigger breakfast?" She asked.
"Going to sleep." He mumbled, barely speaking to her. He rubbed the back of his messy raven hair, as he tried to slide back to his room in his shorts and tee-shirt that he used as pajamas, but Kaeda swore that those were the clothes he was training in the other day. It only made it evident that he came home and fell on the bed and fell asleep disregarding anything else of the night. That's why he was eating. He had not eaten dinner at all.
"It'd be better if you drink a glass of water and went to the bathroom." She suggested. Lightning fast, he glared heavily at her before continuing his way. Kaeda was taken back suddenly on edge from that glare. She wondered if what she said insulted him in any way. She had no idea that those words were simply a painful remind of me. As the minutes ticked by the thought of Sasuke being mad at her started taking over her consciousness. She felt horrible about insulting the boy she was meant to protect.
She paced the kitchen before she stormed into Sasuke's room making him jump out of his bed. He sat up and looked at her, confused. "What do you want?" He asked, coldly.
"Did I insult you?!" She asked, clear worry in her face and voice.
Sasuke took a moment to examine her before scoffing a little bit. "No, stupid. How the hell did you even become an ANBU you let yourself be so visibly emotional? It's obnoxious." He said before grumbling and letting himself fall into the bed and pull the covers over his head. Kaeda was taken back for a moment before laughing as she stood in his doorway.
Kaeda set her house keys onto a small table beside the door. Her hands felt numb, like everything she was doing was being caused by a puppeteer. Every movement and every breath was against her will. Kaeda felt the need to pull her own dark brown hair out. She had no desire to be in this house. She knew where she was suppose to be and it was suppose to be next to the boy with obsidian hair and eyes. She was suppose to be beside him and singing to him about great battles and heroes even at his age. But why? Why those songs? Songs they sang to children to motivate them to become the best shinobi possible, they were songs for children.
To her eyes, Sasuke was a child. No, not exactly, in better terms he was a teenager than never really learned what it meant to be a child. He grew up too fast and all too soon he found himself with the mentality and drive as a teenager before overcoming the mentality and earning the stability that came with going through childhood. Kaeda wanted more than anything to provide that to Sasuke. It didn't matter to her that her early years where in shambles too, it mattered to her was that Sasuke was like family. She was still part of the team and teammates looked out for each other. Even the dead ones. Even the traitorous ones. Sasuke was Itachi's little brother. But, Kaeda remembered and knew every well that Sasuke was more than just a brother. Sasuke was Itachi's whole world, his sun, his moon, his stars, his light and his darkness. If she could protect the very last thing left in her team she would do so.
She had to.
Sasuke's room was the first one she checked. She smoothed out wrinkles on his nearly perfect bed. She looked around for any imperfections she knew she wouldn't find but looked for them anyway. "Jeez, as if it would kill him to leave something for me to do once in a while." She muttered under her breath. She left the room and decided to do some laundry since she was in no mood to sleep. She went to the small washing room they had and grabbed a basket full of his laundry. "At least he smells like a teenage boy." She sighed and started separating the clothes by color and fabric.
It was a mindless task but she did it, she did it to refrain herself from thinking about Itachi, that he had come maybe not for Sasuke but it hurt to see him like that. It hurt to see Sasuke fight and it hurt to see Itachi emotionless. A tear spilled from her face. She let go of the shirt she was holding. "Right, some tea will calm me down." She muttered to herself again. Her head was flustered and her feet moved without her recognition. She found herself in the kitchen putting the kettle of water on the fire.
You seemed so simple doing that, and so open. How obvious it was to anyone passing by that you are the most upset being in the world at the moment… however it's all my fault, its because… I ruined your world in that moment. Just as you had finished painting a black canvas white I came along and splattered black on it again. It's a horrible habit and I am so terribly sorry.
The kettle whistled. Blindly, she reached out the grab the handle but touched the actual kettle. Her hand felt the hot metal burning her palm. She reached back and just as she parted her lips to let out a soft yelp of pain she felt a foreign hand cover her mouth and stop her from making sound. Her back was pressed against the wall behind her, and the first thing she heard was. "Didn't I tell you to not mingle with us any longer?" A calm, mundane voice that was all too familiar told her.
Kaeda eyes snapped open for a moment before shutting them again this time in fear. She knew exactly who was in front of her. Itachi Uchiha was in front of her for the second time today. She kept her eyes closed, she knew better than that. She knew him better than that. Itachi watched her for a long while expecting her to struggle in some way. Other than her hands that were pressed against his wrist there was no attempt to stop him. "Open your eyes." He demanded. The stillness of the room was unbearable. The Akatsuki cloak covered both of them in the darkness of night. Itachi's whole body was calm, every single muscle in perfect zen but ready to fall into action within a moment's notice, Kaeda however was locked up under his touch.
He noticed her attempt to speak. He tilted his head to the side, his black hair falling over his shoulder. The ruby red sharingan with the black tomoe stared down on the former ANBU. His lips in a slight frown became more neutral the longer he looked at her. She wanted to talk, a fool as always was his only logical conclusion. His elegant jaw dropped to release a much held in sigh. "What am I to do with you?" He asked. "You are holding Sasuke back." He watched Kaeda's brows knit together in discontent from that statement. "If I killed you…" One of the hidden kunai in his sleeves was released. He felt the cool metal brush past his skin, but never cutting it. His finger's automatically wrapped comfortably around the kunai's handle. Skillfully, he twirled the kunai so it would be facing Kaeda. He felt her need to suck in a breath as he pressed the kunai against her stomach. No, Sasuke might… no, he will do something completely irrational.
In a flash, his hand left her mouth and took her throat. Kaeda's eyes opened without much thought to it. Such déjà vu. She couldn't breathe. He watched her skin turn different colors until she just stopped fidgeting for air. Itachi released her and she came down tumbling onto him, unconscious once more. He held her again just like he did all those years ago. Except this time, he was not going to set her down onto the floor and leave her there to go on a live her life. I should have killed you, spared you out of so much misery. He thought as he hooked his arms under her legs and began to carry her slightly out of the village and taking her away.
Sasuke was not having pleasant dreams. Somewhere in the depths of his mind, his subconscious began to torture him in the only way it knew how to. It was a dream consisting of going person per person , listing their names of the people that were in his clan and listing all of them and knowing that they were dead. His bubbly aunt, his wise uncle, his benevolent mother and his strong father. After a long, long time he reached the end, he reached it but after what seemed like an eternity. Yet, something strange was at the end of this line of the dead. There she was though, in the white as usual and the little white daisy pin perched in her low bun. Kaeda stood before him, her warm smile and comforting gaze turned upon him within the line of the dead. He looked at her and looked beside her and there was Itachi, still the young teen he was, with a bright familiar smile on his face. The face the he recalled as brother, or what he knew as the face of a liar.
Kaeda also was having a similar unpleasant dream. But instead of the Uchiha clan she was standing around a familiar camp fire, listening to familiar laughter and familiar voices. The voices of her teammates and the cool voice of Sasuke. She opened her eyes and watched every single one of them alive and well, her very own captain sitting directly across from the fire. She watched each one of them, one by one disappear. Youhei, Isako, Taiyo and finally Sasuke disappeared leaving only her and Itachi. She watched him wrap the Akatsuki cloak around him and stand up before her. "Stop it." She begged him within her dreams. "Can't you just stop this all?" He turned and began to leave. "Stop…"
"Stop!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, her whole body jumped up. She looked around and found her in a large empty room. She stood up. "Where am I?" She questioned, and noticed her hair was fizzed, most likely from being in a humid environment.
"You are in the base of Akatsuki." Itachi's bland voice stated. Kaeda turned to the direction of the sound and looked up seeing a ledge and very high ceilings. Itachi was perched there like a bird, looking down at her like she was a tasty little rat made for pray for a nocturnal animal. Perhaps that's what he thought she was, pray. He certainly could be. The high S-ranked criminal in the strongest criminal organization was simply looking down at a simple ex-ANBU, the current jonin. The chase would be fun and yet utterly unnecessary. In this world, the game of cat and mouse was played too often; it would serve no purpose to be playing it again… or at least in Itachi's logic it had no purpose.
The brunette looked up at the man. "You have me unbounded and in a large empty room. Itachi, I think your intelligence is losing its touch." Kaeda told him, flatly.
A small entertained smirked brushed over his lips. "You know better than that." Stupid. He thought. He watched her shuffle uncomfortably, knowing that she was confused about what was going on or more importantly, what was wrong with the picture. "You will stay here until I decide what to do with you." Her gaze turned back to him, and he suddenly became the center of attention once more. "Returning you is no longer an option, killing you would cause a mess."
"Chain me up and work me like a dog if I can't go home." She whispered under her breath. Itachi cocked an eyebrow as if daring her to repeat herself. She bashfully looked away. "Stupid captain." She said before she could think about it. Itachi perched his eyebrow up again and shook his head.
"You haven't changed. You too are weak." He told her.
Kaeda snapped her gaze up at him. "Don't you dare!" She snapped. "Don't you dare say something like that to my face after what you did to Sasuke! Don't you dare!" She wanted to punch him, get that calm expression off of his face.
"Did I strike a nerve?" He asked and Kaeda quickly composed herself. "Or perhaps is it your instinct to protect something that isn't yours." Kaeda was insulted and it was obvious by the way her eyes narrowed. "You were in Sasuke's way, Kaeda. In my way. Everything won't be able to roll properly with you." She disappeared in front of him but the sharingan warned him of her next location and lifted his hand to block her punch as she reappeared in front of him.
Before she could process it, with a speed she was unaccustomed to Kaeda found herself pinned to the ground below them, Itachi kneeling above her, his hand pressed against her throat once more. Her hands, quickly reached up and grasped his wrist again. "Itachi… Itachi…" The crying sound rang into his ear as he looked down at her harden face. "Itachi, please." The tears rolled uncontrollably down her face. I took her by her shoulder and yanked her away from the corpse of your teammate. "No, no! Stop, stop!" She begged me, struggling against me, but as soon as she was close to me she gripped onto me. Her arms wrapped around my neck, sobbing against me. This five man squad has gone down to two.
Itachi was brought back to the present by something wet. She was crying. He made no reaction. He could but he shouldn't. He watched her cry for a little while before she spoke. "Kill me, please if I can't go back just kill me." She let go of his hand, she knew being pinned under his hand in this manner would get her nowhere. She looked up at him waiting for something, anything. But instead, nothing he stood perfectly… a statue of a man, but of a faceless man. She waited for him to say something or do something, this faceless man. She shook her head at the blank expression. She disappeared before Itachi could grab her again. He stood straight and turned around to observe her as she stood a good twenty feet away from him.
If they were still how they where she would have questioned him on the graying tone in his eyes, why he didn't speak. Why the genius Uchiha had let her go so easily. He definitely had not slowed down over the years; her on the other hand, yes she had. She had lost most of her amazing capabilities and drive that had pushed her through the ranks as a kid. Her jaw locked, angry with his emotionless expression. Yet, she knew she had no one to blame but herself, she was the one overly emotional and she knew it. She had the choice in this moment to stop what she was doing and surrender. Instead of doing the most logical thing, she did the most illogical and lost all control of her emotions.
The sharingan had traced her movements due to her lack of speed. This information enabled him to effectively block the punch of the sentinel. He pushed her off and she went back the twenty feet she came from. With a burst of speed they had both left their standing points. They clashed kunai and shuriken, moved with the fluency that had they had been trained with for all their lives. The top of Konaha's shinobi, the finest and the strongest and that's what they knew of alone when fighting. After a while there was a moment of pausing simply circling each other. Itachi's eyes were on her fully, but Kaeda was concentrating on anything but his face. Smart move. She had no idea how far he had progressed those damned eyes of his, but something else was obvious. She's exhaust of fighting. Yet, so was he.
Why did I do this? Was it simply a whim? Perhaps. But here she is now and I can't do anything about it. It's simply up to-… his thoughts interrupted by the flash of kunai coming dangerously close to his face but with such elegancy that he dodged it almost seemed that he did it on purpose, and it gave him opportunity for a counterattack. He let his body's weight drag him back and used his legs to knock her feet right from under her. While Kaeda fell, Itachi landed on his hands and used them to launch his body onto a back flip and landed on his feet. Kaeda not so elegantly crashed down to the ground. She groaned at the sensation of a forming bruise. He looked down at her and allowed her to raise herself back to her feet, but her hair was falling out of the bun she had. Her hair… a dark and long haired brunette. Short. Why did it only reach her shoulders? Women, silly and emotional as ever. She's in just as much pain and hurt as Sasuke. Silly dead man why do you insist on raising from the grave.
"You are fighting with depleted chakra." Itachi stated, observing her weakened form from the little bit of fighting.
Kaeda let her head fall. "So?" She asked, "What do you think that it's stupid?" A tear began to form in her eye and fell without her control. "If you die here, Sasuke won't have to come after you, he'll have what he wants; you dead." She said, prattling about intangible and unfathomable things. It was obvious that she was crying.
"Stop protecting Sasuke." He stated with that calm voice that had become annoying to Kaeda at this point.
"Why?!" She shouted, looking up at him. "You aren't!" She looked to the side her bangs falling into her face. "You left him, you hurt him." He stepped closer to her since her guard was completely down. Once she felt his presence, she jumped back but by that time, Itachi had his hand there and grasped her hair, fisting it. The Akatsuki cloak waved in the light breeze in the room. Kaeda locked her jaw again and shut her eyes. Kaeda began to struggle again when he grasped her neck and began to press against her main artery, cutting off her blood circulation. Kaeda's eyes widened in horror, now convinced that she was going to be killed by him. After a few moments of struggling she fell unconscious again and Itachi quickly removed his hand. Any longer and it could have killed her.
Their fight meant nothing, it only showed that he had excelled and she had remained exactly here she was when he left. That and … she still trusts me enough to let me get that close to get her neck. He shook his head and picked her up bridal style. "Moving, simply moving." A childish voice said on the verge of tears. Itachi looked up at the orange masked man. He jumped down to the ground in front of the Uchiha. "She's a pretty pretty thing." The man said and circled Itachi, who glared at the stranger with sharingan. "I am surprised with you, Itachi." The childish voice suddenly became deep and gruff. "I thought you killed her a while ago."
Iruka climbed the stairs of the apartment that Kaeda and Sasuke lived in. He was following up in a report that Kaeda had left the house but she had left the kettle on the fire, triggering the smoke alarm. He found the landlady standing at the door of Kaeda's apartment. The old lady eyed him, "Are you the shinobi sent here?" She asked in a high pitched yet raspy voice. Iruka nodded. "I tell you, Kaeda is losing her mind. She's always getting into accidents. Oops this and oops that. I am shocked she hasn't burned down this building yet, or something."
The chuunin sighed. "I am sure she doesn't do it on purpose." Iruka said trying to be pleasant as he watched the old lady shuffle through her pocket.
"And another thing, she hasn't come back at all in the past two days." This made Iruka frown his brows and tilt his head a little bit to the side.
"What do you mean?" The door to the girl's apartment swung open. Everything seemed too much intact but the house seemed eerily quiet. Iruka rushed in not liking the sense of this at all. He saw that the kettle that had been blackened from being on the fire for too long, but didn't stay there long. He moved and saw the laundry room open and saw the unfinished laundry. This worried him, more so that Kaeda would never up and leave something unfinished. He felt the worry in his chest, could have something possibly happened to her?
The last room left to check was her bedroom. He stepped in there and opened the room. Everything seemed in place. He stepped inside, noticed the box just outside her closet doors. He stepped there and opened it up. It was her old ANBU things. The mask was the first thing in the box. Iruka took it out of the box and examined it as if the porcelain would give him some clues, but it wasn't the mask. Beneath the mask was something more revealing, it was the flower pin she always wore in her hair.
He held the pin in his hand and set the mask aside. Iruka knew he needed help and it would have to be someone closer to her than anyone they knew. He grasped the pin and brought it close to his forehead. "Naruto, Jiraiya, please bring Lady Tsunade here soon. Another person could be in danger." He whispered a prayer aloud.
Pein turned towards the masked man as he finished explaining the presence of the new guest. "I hope you don't mind, he's still young." The deep voice said. Konan looked at the orange haired man who stared back at Tobi. It took the leader a moment to formulate an answer, enough time for the thunder and lightning in the sky to get closer and closer to them and the tears of the sky to become heavier. His rings of eyes turned towards the rain.
Such a heavy atmosphere and the never ending rain was something most people were so used to. "A few more tears change nothing in this sort of rain." The young leader finally answered. Konan looked back, silently, at the orange masked man who simply chuckled. Tobi shrugged at his response.
"I will take care of it if anything should get out of hand." Tobi smiled. "Especially with Itachi."
Wake up, Sasuke.