The Crow Chapter 35: Reminiscences, a naruto fanfic

Reminiscences

A swallow and a plea –first conscious decisions she took when blinking, exhaustion overtook her body and forced her to remain in the position she awoke, body unresponsive –muscles screaming in pain, chest heavy with each breath she forced upon her lungs. Why live? Why move? Ino was a puppet –a doll, not even a pleasant one. Not anymore.

She craned her neck to glance whatever was around her, both her arms were tightly restrained by chains that hung above and at each side of her form, legs curled under her, right knee above the left one, her head resting on her left shoulder –when she moved, the sensitive bone there cracked and a shock of pain ran through her spine, brain spinning, how long had she been asleep –comatose –senseless?

She moved her head slowly –vision coming to a halt, clearing. Her forehead touched her right arm and sweat drops fell from her skin to the cloth, up she glanced, moved her fingers –saw the dirt under her nails and furrowed her eyebrows. It wasn't the time to concern about her vanity –but the thought surfaced anyway, warm and inviting to soften reality, so she exhaled and agreed, such carelessness was unbecoming of her. She wiggled her hand once more, as if the movement could make the dirt go, and dropped her hand –it hung from the chain, metal sunk on her skin.

She swallowed and noticed the thirst that clung to her throat –she bit her lip and when it bleed, she drank her essence, would they leave her to die here by not fulfilling her needs? Is this to what she had been reduced to?

To consume herself for the slight hope of survival?

The darkness before her moved –a shade slightly less dark than the rest of it, shaped like someone patiently sitting until her notice, she swallowed again –her blood alleviated nothing of her craving-, and followed the slight motion of shadows with her gaze. Blinking didn't relieve the weight of her eyelids –she just wanted to sleep…

She opened her mouth, realized she had nothing to say to her captor, and closed it. Her head hung in frustration –if she could just do her seals and force this man to disappear –order him to walk far away and into his deathbed –but oh, would she even be able to? Could his will overpower hers?

Her head hurt –white pain pierced through her skull and made her world spin, she wrinkled her nose when feeling the acid climbing up her throat, and thought 'well, here's another unbecoming thing', and promptly puked on the floor. Ino glanced up to see if there was a reaction –but the figure didn't move, it stayed as still as before.

"It's your chakra," she spat –literally, saliva falling down her chin. Concussions and sensing weren't exactly compatible, and with the quantity of chakra this creature possessed, it was difficult not to get dizzy with the pressure that it forced upon her.

It didn't speak, it didn't move, if it wasn't for the feeling of him and the sudden, indisputable notion that he was watching her –she wouldn't even be sure he existed.

"Who are you?" Her voice came out cracked –choked, it was far away from the image of a kunoichi that she embellished in her mind. She forced her head to move up, chin pointing at the dark side in a lame attempt to display some virtue.

When the silence stretched once more, Ino bit her upper lip and found her jaw moving to the side in raw annoyance –hatred: this person stripped her from everything she possessed, and now refused to even give her answers. So she was supposed to be toyed with by a shadow? So this was what being a shinobi actually entailed… "ANSWER ME—"

She wanted to swallow her words the exact moment she yelled them –vehemence was of sweet flavor before indulging and of a bitter aftertaste, her control had slipped –she had shown her true colors and lost command of herself. The shadow replied by sending a wave of raw power through their chakra –it possessed such tight control of their being it was incredible how the slightest change in their emotions could modify to such spectrum her sensing –her head was forced back and she breathed through her mouth –it was like hot, tight air was suddenly thrown at her before it died out. A warning then.

And with her face still facing the void above her, tears fell from the corner of her eyes –will he not speak to her? Entertain himself with her and drive her to madness by simply refusing to allow her some truth? Ino let her head fall and drops of water fell to the ground, the chains moved with her, swallowing her sniffs. The shadow left…

Ino allowed herself to cry and wish –

Shikamaru had been on his knees with his back facing her, breath coming out of him through shivers, water pouring down unforgiving –perhaps hoping to drown them all. Over Ino's hands, water drops washed away the blood from both their squad leader and her assassin, the two bodies resting next to each other. They had kicked the missing-nin from their leader's form a little bit too late –he had already pierced her lungs and destroyed her ribcage. Ino had been the one who sliced his throat with shaky hands and a shuriken while Shikamaru immobilized him with his shadow. Performing medical duties on their comrade was useless –she had died instantly.

It hadn't been an Ino-Shika-Chö mission, Ino was solely put in there as a last-minute resource when Sakura declined it in order to take a much more important request from the Land of Iron. She was shocked to learn that Shikamaru was made second in command –her envy ate up her logic, perhaps if she hadn't been so focused on Shikamaru's success, she would have been able to see the trap going off.

Shikamaru had his hair down, he had lost his hairband at some point during battle –the rest of the bandits flew the scene after their leader had been killed, and he ordered her and the other chünin not to pursue. Ino had gritted her teeth in frustration, but she wasn't about to disobey a direct command after their leader had been killed –so she stayed put, gently re-arranging the body of their comrade.

"We can't burn it with this rain," she said, clinically, expertly –Shikamaru barely glanced at her from above his shoulder, the rain distorted his features from a distance.

"You mean… her?" He asked, his tone reached her ears despite the harshness of the weather.

"It's standard procedure to-"

"I know the standard procedure," he interrupted her, Ino bit her tongue. "Spirits."

As the medic of the team, she was in charge of both the health of every member of the group and their bodies should they die. Only when the person was important enough they sealed their body back to Konoha –otherwise, total destruction was the norm, the most they could carry back was their Hitai Ate. "Then what, Captain?" She asked, almost casually.

Shikamaru wasn't a fool. He glanced at her again, his scowl deeper and eyes narrowed, he watched her as the drops fell from her forehead to her chin and to the ground, saw how the crystalline water turned pink when they met her fingers and fell on the grass. It was a sudden –soft change, his eyebrows lost their tightness and his eyes opened slightly, jaw unclenching; he turned again and replied nothing. Ino wondered what the fuck was wrong with him.

She sighed and moved her fingers to regain some warmth in her limbs, when she pursed her lips, she glanced back at the other member of the group –the man couldn't be much older than both of them, and he was shaking from the cold, looking at their new captain and waiting for something to do, anything that would distract him from the piercing air.

Ino walked towards Shikamaru while letting down her hair, Shikamaru was a strange creature of habit, and she gently tried to comb his brown locks. He tensed, like expecting his own Shuriken to the neck, but she didn't let that action deter her and tied his ponytail with her own hairband. When he resembled more his usual self she allowed herself to take a step back and lean towards him so he would look at her, his eyes were devoided of any brown, looking absolutely black, "there, so, what now, Captain?"

Ino glanced down, dry vomit was around her –its smell piercing through her nostrils, she glanced up and heard her neck crack; and when she glanced at her restrained hands –pink, scaly and irritated sink was on her wrists. Her nails were dirty and broken.

Ino hung her head and looked at the darkness in front of her –swallowing again and noticing the thirst that assaulted her throat. She blinked away her exhaustion and saw the black figure, it was as still as a statue –waiting. Waiting for what? For her to die? Break? She licked her chapped lips.

She spoke –demanded an explanation. She cried. She wished…

The black figure left.

"Is this your shrimp?" The man's hold wasn't exactly tight nor harsh, he was gentle despite the meanness of his countenance and his low tone of voice; yet, Ino wasn't able to move a single millimeter away from him –his gentleness concealed strength.

Inoichi glanced back and grimaced, a lock of his hair falling from his ponytail and into his face, he sighed and Ino smiled in an attempt to plead innocence, "I told you not to wander around," he said, and cracked his neck.

"But daddy!"

"Don't," he interrupted her and moved towards her, the strong man released her and she made a spectacle of rubbing her neck, yet it did little to help her, he had grabbed her by the collar, and everyone saw. "Thank you, boss."

Her dad's boss furrowed his eyebrows, "are you sure you want to bring her here, Inoichi? She's too young to move around this place, it's dangerous."

"She's a Yamanaka," Inoichi replied, "and she's five –our Council believes that she's old enough to submerge herself a little bit in our family's field. She'll be the leader after all." He glanced at the scarred man, his expression slightly more serious than before, "besides, she'll probably be your student –you're the director after all."

The man didn't reply immediately, Ino glanced at both of them, suddenly uncomfortable, "nothing guarantees that. Konoha is evolving, clans don't have the same privileges as before. A few years back it was unthinkable for a non-Yamanaka shinobi to become the leader of the T&I Department. Now… well…"

Inoichi smiled and chuckled, kneeling beside her and cleaning her cheek with his thumb, "ah… that's right –" he said, "then better make sure she becomes the best option, hu?" He said, Ino smiled widely.

The man glanced at his father, his eyes slightly narrowed, Ino looked at him from above her father's shoulder and blushed when his eyes landed on hers, "your family will be fine, don't you guys have that boy?"

Inoichi's smile faded slowly, his hold on Ino dropping, "yes…" he replied –it was a whisper, his breath touched Ino's cheeks and she cocked her head to the side. "Now, my love, I told you to stay in my office, I have an interrogation to do-"

Ino whined, "I don't wanna! I want to see!"

Inoichi patted her head, "don't be like that, princess, one step at a time-"

"Please!"

"No, Ino. Stop asking." Inoichi deadpanned, caressing her cheek when she flinched at his tone. He moved closer then, the tip of his nose right in her jaw, and planted a small kiss there, "tell you what," he whispered, "if you behave, you can come to my landscape and choose a memory of today, whichever you want –wouldn't be nice?"

"Yes!" Ino yelled, then brought both her hands to her mouth and blushed furiously in shame, but she loved so much to be in daddy's library! It was so warm and nice!

"Well then, you nee—

Tell me about the memory he showed you

"I…"

A swallow and a plea –first conscious decisions she took when blinking, exhaustion overtook her body and forced her to remain in the position she awoke—

"Stop this," she said, her voice could barely be heard under the pressure of her thirst, her tongue felt heavy and dry, she allowed her head to fall to the side and rest her temple on her arm. Her wrists burned –yet there was no point in assessing the damage, she knew by the pain how they must look: red, rough skin shining in the darkness. There was so much more she wanted to ask, like why and please can I have some water –but her tongue allowed none, she fought against that torture to simply beg: "please just stop this."

And now, any will to fight against this had vanished –she just wanted to rest, to be left alone, how come her determination had just slipped through her fingers? Why would—

"Will you behave?"

Ino swallowed –her throat was so tight she coughed out her own spit, the shadow waited for her response, and Ino just… nodded. She will do whatever it takes to—

"You have pledged obedience before and foolishly tried to escape –you won't be that stupid again, won't you?"

N…no, what did it mean that she had tried to escape? How come she didn't remember this? Was he lying? When did she try to leave? She couldn't have moved in this condition –so when…

A sound came from the pitch black and forced Ino into the present, she tensed in fear –her muscles complained at the sudden movement and rush of blood, her body desperate to flee and take shelter from the menace. The sound persisted, soles against stone –he was dragging his feet, wanting her to hear his approach, Ino couldn't help but to physically recoil; the chains prevented her from moving –metal sinking harder in her wrists.

Ino had never believed in the stories she was told at school or in sleepovers that wanted to awake fear in young souls that knew no better but to fear what they couldn't see instead of human nature. And yet, when she could look –when his face became more visible under the poor illumination of the cell, Yokai was the word that bubbled towards the surface of her mind.

Ino loved beautiful things –she just never thought the Spirits reigning this world would mock her in her last moments for it.

"Sasuke…" the name came to her lips before the thought of him made it to her mind, such was his influence of her still –he had made its way to her heart when young and had rooted in every single one of her veins, heart skipping a beat at the remembrance.

"Ah…" the man's step did not falter, coming to a halt mere centimeters away from her, "so you know my little brother." He said, voice as smooth as silk (it wasn't the first time she had thought that wasn't it? The fear he installed on her seemed accompanied by the ghostly caressing of his voice).

Brother.

Little brother.

"In a shinobi village numbers don't particularly matter, one Uchiha Itachi whipped out an entire clan in one night," Asuma had said.

Something in her expression must have changed, eyes bigger, mouth slight ajar –she noticed her body moving impossibly more backward –away from the creature that before her stood. Warm liquid fell from her wrists, blood coming out from the wounds that her terror brought when sinking further inside her, lower lip trembling.

The man cocked his head to the side, "so you know who I am."

Her father had told her what had happened with Sasuke's family soon after he stopped going to the Academy –making her promise not to divulge the name of who had massacred the mighty clan of Konoha "for Sasuke's sake", yet, after Sasuke left, few people were unaware of who Uchiha Itachi was –the man their comrade swore to kill.

She was going to die.

"N-no… it can't be –it just—"

"I haven't given you permission to speak."

It would have been a normal thing to just indulge in her rising panic, a wonderful thing even –proof enough of her still present humanity, evidence of the existence of her survival instinct. Yet, Ino did the unthinkable and closed his mouth before the scream came out of her burning throat, her chest rose with each breath she took –how low she had fallen.

"If you obey," he said, "I'll give you a chance to live."

She would have cried hadn't been for the lack of moisture, her lip trembled harder –images of his smiling father behind her eyelids, Chöji's blushed cheeks, Sakura's warm embrace with infant's arms –all lost, all nothing but memories of a woman who'll die surrounded by darkness, such was her fate.

"You want to live –don't you?" He said, and his words forced her to look up to him.

She quickly shook her head –she will not become a traitor, whatever he was about to ask would be about Sasuke or Konoha, and helping Yokai on any of them made her insides twist with repulsion.

"Do not lie –I know your spirit, child. I've seen it. Nothing is kept from me." He moved closer, his chakra surrounding her like a veil. "You'll do as I say." He said simply, turning without adding anything further, and returned to darkness –his presence vanishing and leaving her alone with the weight of her new reality, it would have been kinder of him to kill her.

Such was her fate.

With his molars he bit, back resting in the cold wall of the labyrinth. Alone he stood, eyes looking at the ceiling of the vast construction; a deep breath passed through his nose. Itachi was tired –it wasn't the lack of chakra that exhausted him, it was difficult to bring him to such limits, yet moving back and forth as to both appease his teammate's curiosity and to create a fissure in the kunoichi's mind became more trouble than it was worth –but he didn't trust his servant not to screw up this one as well.

One week had taken to break the woman's will, one weak of putting her under his eyes' spell to force her to tell her secrets –and he found none of what he was looking for, she knew nothing, her youth prevented her from having the knowledge he sought. However, not everything was lost –he could still use her, force her to perform, and delve into the mind of the other one. Yes, that he could.

"My Lord," Yua's voice carried jasmines' smell –her neck exposed as to be enticing, yet Itachi felt nothing but contempt for her. It had been a year since he decided to entertain her desires as to gain her favors after the few Yamanaka he encountered decided to detonate their brains before he could force them to sheer truths; tries and errors were his masters, yet the woman hadn't been able to be much more successful than him.

"Treat her –she's no use dead." He commanded, Yua nodded and walked closer, shyly moving inside his personal space with a faint blush on the bridge of her nose, Itachi forced himself not to move away from her reach.

She licked her lips and gazed upon the marble skin of his collarbone, slightly exposed –her pupils dilated with want, lips reddening in raw desire. Typical. "My Lord," she repeated, primal needs clouding her judgment, "please."

There was no need for her to explain further the reasoning behind her pleading, he had punished her by not pleasing her. "You have been careless Yua," he said, teasing her when passing his knuckles through her cheek, she sighed at his mere touch, "such an expert at genjutsu you are…"

"I am," she pouted childishly –she thought men desired clumsy, shy women, Itachi found her kind to be unnerving. "Howard is still under my control."

He hummed, it had been so easy to make her change alliances –she was ruled by desire, such an easy game to make her betray the man that had given her a roof. "Yet you drove our subject to a catatonic state, haven't you?"

Yua pursed her lips and brought a hand to rest over Itachi's, forcing it to stay on her cheek when he was about to drop it, "I didn't know the memory was bugged!" She complained, Itachi gritted his teeth –she had tried to force the man to open the remembrance and the effort fried his brain. A trap. She was able to save his life, however, keeping him alive enough for someone else to explore what was left. Itachi couldn't use his gifts to recover the remains –his doujutsu didn't allow him such inspection.

"Have you received any answers?" He narrowed his eyes when Yua decided to kiss his thumb, a hum making its way to her lips when licking his skin.

She huffed, clearly annoyed at his cold demeanor, "yes. Such a careless village of yours, making one of them wait for a week before settling the matter –it's a good thing I could force her to write those letters…" she smirked, "such a weak mind…"

"She escaped your influence once, stop underestimating her or you'll proof your lack of intelligence further."

"So mean," she pouted again, eyes shining when seeing his lips. She brought her free hand to her cleavage and sank two of her fingers in between her breasts, taking out a letter with her knuckles –it had Konoha's stamp. "They gave her two more weeks." Yua giggled in victory, "that's enough for you to use her!"

Itachi grabbed the letter and yanked his hand away from Yua's grasp quite rudely, which deterred her not and simply made her whine. She moved not a single step away from him. He opened the envelope and read the contents of the scroll with mild interest. Then he stopped. "Her name is Ino." He deadpanned, Yua bit her lower lip and cocked her head to the side.

"Ah –is it?" She giggled, "horrendous."

"You –you mighty fool," he gritted his teeth, Yua's expression became frightened in less than a heartbeat when her brain understood the implications of Itachi's tone –stupid creature. She finally took a step back while Itachi took a step forward –who was the one being trapped now? "Do you know what it means? She's nobility –not a pawn, you damn idiot!"

"B-but My Lord—"

Itachi's expression darkened, his hand flew towards Yua's delicate neck, a fragile slim thing he could easily break by adding the slightest pressure –the fact that he hadn't yet was a testament of his control. Of every member of the Yamanaka clan, Yua had chosen her of all people!

How this massive detail escaped his scrutiny? He had forced her to share his memories with him –yet he had been so focused on his main objective that he hadn't paid attention to her true identity! He was furious with both himself and his companion for allowing such a thing to happen! How come he hadn't recognized the mighty leader? He never considered him a person of interest in his life, even before cutting his father's throat -how could he be so careless? How could he?!

He was showing mercy! Why did Kamisama put his sanity to the test when he sought nothing but fairness?! How easy would be to simply tell Dänzo of his suspicions and allow the man to bring doom to the dubious clan! But his actions will cause nothing but despair to Konoha's doors –Nara and Akimichi clans won't stand aside and do nothing if one of the mighty three falls –doom, doom, doom!

How could he? On top of everything he has—

He brought Yua closer to him, the tip of their noses pressed together, she wasn't flirting anymore –trying to move away from his choking hold, "you better pray for this to work now –for we won't have any other chance." He breathed against her, before tossing her to the floor. Was it fair to take everything out on Yua? Itachi was far away from caring –he was a selfish man, and he cared for nothing but Konoha and his baby brother.

The kunoichi's disappearance won't go unnoticed –if this fails and the girl doesn't return, the Yamanaka would be wary of their members, and Itachi wouldn't be able to investigate further in the matter.

"Treat her-" he ordered, not even sparing a glance to the woman still coughing on the floor.

This will have to work –he had to make it work.

A/N: I apologize for being absent lately, I decided to take a break from social media, hope this chapter is good enough to compensate at least a little. I've read all of your comments and they're incredibly wonderful. Thank you so much for taking your time to write something so encouraging -I really appreciate it and use it as my fuel when I think my story isn't good enough.
About my previous question, about what famous character inspired many of the ambiance this story will have: Dracula.

Sometimes, when in Ino's POV, I use "he/his/him" (meaning, human form) and other times, "it/them/their" (in that particular context, as to dehumanize) when referring to Itachi, that's absolutely on purpose.

The word Yokai [Japanese folklore] comes from:

yō, meaning attractive, bewitching, calamity

kai meaning mystery, wonder

Put together, the idea is of an attractive yet calamitous mystery. And that's the best way to describe Yokai in English as there's no better direct translation.