The Burden
Onyx and Ivory
Itachi waited patiently where he stood, he would give it a few minutes before he would attempt to follow the pair into the tunnels. He didn't want to risk being detected, with Hoshiko out in their Genjutsu he didn't want to place her in any harms way. He was certain though, the strength of their Genjutsu wouldn't be enough to keep her down for long, she could've even broken out of it already.
When the mental timer in Itachi's head was up he stepped out from the shadows, he was fully garbed in his ANBU gear now. He had returned to their hiding place before Hoshiko and ventured out into the night to fetch his armor and forehead protector. Hoshiko's armor and headband were safely tucked away in their room back at the inn. His Konoha headband glinted in the moonlight as a sound from above had him looking to the night sky.
The full moon shone down on him, a few clouds dotted the sky, obscuring the heavenly stars but Itachi was able to make out the Konoha hawk that descended towards him. It always amazed him how the animals would be able to find anyone anywhere, it had something to with their own chakra network that some animals had, they were able to pinpoint the location of their targets almost always, but that wasn't the reason why Itachi had a frown on his face as the hawk landed on his shoulder.
The bird chirped, pecking at its leg where the small scroll bag was tied.
Itachi, with his furrowed brow, reached up to unclip the bag and pull out the scroll. He remembered sending his crow summon to Konoha with a scroll containing information about their mission so far and asking a question about some information they had received from the woman who ran the inn. He had sent it yesterday and a horrible feeling sat in his gut at how fast he had received a reply, normally the hawk would've come in the morning, but for it to be here already had him feeling nauseous.
Itachi unfurled the small scroll, his dark eyes reading along the parchment, he came to the end as his eyes widened suddenly. His heart leapt up into his throat for a split second, as he took off in a sprint in the opposite direction. The hawk of his shoulder squawked loudly in his ear and flew off into the night, but Itachi didn't care that he had annoyed the bird, there was something that he had to check; and he had to check it immediately.
He leapt up onto the roofs of the buildings, jumping from one to the other as he landed gracefully on the ground in front of the inn. He ran back inside, pushing the door open and hearing the little chime above the door. His eyes scanned the reception room, looking for the woman who always sat behind the desk with her book, but she wasn't there.
Itachi was positive that she had been there when they had left the inn, she had wished them farewell. Itachi leapt over the desk and slid the door open to the back room where they had been the night before, when the woman had given them the information on the missing children. The room was empty, same as before. His dark eyes glanced around, looking for anything out of place but the room was neat and tidy. He backed out of the room and headed down the short hallway.
Upon entering the inn for the first night the woman had told them that if they ever needed anything to come ask her at her room, she had told them which room and it was where Itachi found himself now.
He didn't even bother with the door handle, using excessive amounts of force he kicked the door open, not caring about if any of the other occupants heard him, which actually made him realize that he and Hoshiko were the only two people he had seen in the inn for the duration of their stay.
The door flew off it's hinges, falling to the floor as Itachi walked in calmly, his eyes blazing red as he searched the corners of the dark room, waiting for something to jump out at him. He expanded his senses, not sensing anyone else in the room with him.
He turned to corner and into the adjourning bedroom as he stopped, a putrid stench wafted into his nostrils, it was something he had smelt before and was cursing himself for not picking it up sooner. His eyes settled on something as they widened once more, a curse leaving his lips as he spun around, flying out of the room.
"Dammit, Hoshiko."
This first thing that Hoshiko realized was that the Genjutsu was a lot stronger then she realized. It had taken her a long time to break free of it, which was strange seeing as she was normally very adept at Genjutsu, seeing as her partner did have the Sharingan. When they were younger and Hoshiko was still her annoying childish self Itachi would frequently place her under Genjutsu to stop her from talking and annoying him, it would give him peace and quiet for a few hours while she managed to break out of the technique. She was always able to figure out a Genjutsu quickly and dispel it in a mere few minutes, but for some reason this one had taken her a lot longer.
The second thing she felt when she awoke was that she was lying on cold stone floor. She was freezing and another thing was that she could hear whispering voices around her. Her silver eyes opened slowly, her brow furrowed as she squinted in the darkness; she spotted a lone lantern hanging from a rusted hook in the stonewall as a young face peered down at her. His face was round, with reddish dark hair and inky black eyes.
"Are you ok?" He asked. Hoshiko stared at him, confused as to who the hell this kid was, he couldn't be much younger than her. She pushed herself up, bracing her hands against the cold floor as she twisted her body around. She was met with over a dozen pairs of innocent eyes, all peering at her curiously as they all huddled together, most with their arms wrapped around each other, bottom lips trembling. Dirt marred their tiny faces, with clear tear tracks running down their plump cheeks.
Hoshiko found herself looking back at the boy who had spoken to her; he was staring at her with a furrowed brow.
"Can you talk?" He asked.
"Of course I can talk." Hoshiko answered him with an eye roll. With another glance around the small jail cell Hoshiko pushed herself to her feet, noticing that her shoes were gone. Thick iron bars caged her in with all the other missing children, a small door with a heavy lock was in one corner as she wondered over to it and tried ripping it off, it was no use.
"Who are you? I haven't seen you in my village before." The red headed boy said as he followed her.
"I'm Hoshiko." She stated, her silver eyes looking around for any weakness in the iron bars, she could try to use chakra-enforced strength to get out of there.
"Ren."
Hoshiko turned, looking over her shoulder and taking in the appearance of the redheaded boy again. So this was Ren, this boy was the most recent to be taken, no wonder he was the most chattiest, he hadn't been here as long as the other children and hadn't had all of his hope diminish.
"I met Sadao-san," Hoshiko said to him. She watched as Ren's eyebrows shot up into his hairline, a faint smile crept over his face, then he frowned, looking perplexed as he met her gaze.
"Who are you?" He asked.
Hoshiko glanced around at the frightened children; they weren't scared of her, just for themselves. Their tear filled gazes broke her heart as she pressed her lips into a firm line.
"I'm a Konoha Shinobi. I was sent to locate you all and bring you home."
"You're here to save us!" A little girl cried from the corner, she was huddled up against another older girl.
"I want to go home!" Another little boy cried out, breaking down in tears as Ren hurried over to him, patting him on the shoulder gently and reassuring him. Hoshiko sighed. She would've been in a much better position to help these children had she not been stuffed in the same cell as them. She had been counting on the fact that she would break out of the Genjutsu quick enough to disarm or kill her kidnappers, not be stuck with the children in question.
Hoshiko looked at each child seriously, a determined look on her face, "I'm going to get you all out of here; but first I'm going to need your help."
"This isn't going to work," Ren said with a deadpan look to the girl who was supposedly his savior. Hoshiko narrowed her eyes at him, lowering herself down onto the ground.
"It will, trust me. These people want us alive and kicking, just start screaming." She hissed to the boy as Ren rolled his eyes at her. Hoshiko clamped her eyes shut as Ren strolled to the iron bars. He gripped them tightly, and taking a deep breath he started screaming.
"Help us! Please she's going to die!" Ren screamed. "There's something wrong with her, she wont wake up! Please help her!"
Footsteps echoed into the stone hallway as one of the kidnappers appeared in front of the iron door. His headband glinted in the low light as his malicious eyes darted from Ren to Hoshiko who was feigning sleep on the floor.
"What happened?" The male Shinobi ordered.
"She just collapsed. I don't know what's wrong with her!" He cried helplessly. The enemy Shinobi glanced around the cell, his narrowed eyes settling on Hoshiko.
"Stand back, against the wall, all of you!" He ordered. The children complied as the Shinobi opened up the door and stepped into the cell.
Ren watched helplessly, holding onto the hand of a boy just a little bit younger then him as the Shinobi lowered himself down.
His fingers pressed against Hoshiko's neck, his brow furrowed; and then Hoshiko made her move.
Hoshiko twisted her body, her legs sweeping his out from underneath him as the Shinobi landed on his back.
"Aler—"
Hoshiko pounced on his torso, a hand clamped around his mouth tightly, she gripped his head tightly, and bringing it up and then smacking it back down onto the cold ground. The Shinobi's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he was knocked unconscious, or dead, Hoshiko didn't have time to check as another Shinobi suddenly appeared at the cell door.
The Shinobi only had enough time to open up the cell door as Hoshiko lunged for him, she jumped up, hanging onto the bars of the door as she swung her body into the Shinobi, effectively kicking him to the other side of the room. The Shinobi groaned, seeing stars as Hoshiko ran over to him; she pulled her fist back and punched the Shinobi in the face, knocking him out cold as he slumped to the floor.
"That was awesome!" A child cried from behind her. Hoshiko turned, seeing a young boy, with dark hair and dark eyes, she realized that this boy was Kenta, the child who Hoshiko and Itachi had been claiming was their brother.
"You really are here to save us." Ren said in awe as he appeared at the door.
Hoshiko looked up and down the dark corridor, seeing stairs at the end. She motioned to two of the older children, both boys who looked older than herself.
"Take these two and lock them up in the next cell over, there should be keys on their bodies." The two boys nodded and began dragging the bodies away.
"What can we do?" It was Ren that had spoken. Hoshiko stepped closer to them and shook her head at him.
"Nothing right now, I need you all to stay here until I can clear a path and have my partner come here and help me." Hoshiko told them all.
"We want to fight, they took us from our homes, they need to pay!" A girl, probably the oldest in the group said, her eyes set in hard determination.
"They will," Hoshiko replied. "But you have no training. I'm not letting any of you get hurt or killed."
"They took three of us up an hour ago!" Kenta called out as Hoshiko met his worried gaze.
"What?"
"Just before they brought you in, some of his men came and took us. We haven't seen them since."
Hoshiko swore loudly, she looked around at all of the children's hopeful and pleading faces, "Ok, all of you stay here. I'm going to go and find those kids and I'm going to get all of you out of here."
"Be careful." The same girl who had voiced her determination spoke to Hoshiko with a serious gaze. "I overheard them saying something about the man who orchestrated everything might be here too."
"All the better," Hoshiko said with a devilish smirk.
Hoshiko crept up the stairs, expanding her chakra senses as she tried to figure out where the other children where being held and the man who did all of this, she would end this all. She didn't sense anyone nearby so she pushed open the door and stepped out into a lavishly decorated room. Large paintings were on the walls and under her feet were polished wooden flooring. From the look of the place Hoshiko guessed she was in a some sort of mansion, the man who did the hiring had to have exceeding amounts of money considering the amount of Shinobi in the place.
She sensed around five Shinobi in a room at the end of the hallway, she angled her body towards it and began creeping along the wall to the sliding door.
As she reached the door a chill ran up her spine, the little voice in her head was telling her that something felt wrong but she pushed it aside and wrenched open the doors. She stepped into the well-lit room, her eyes seeking out the occupants in the room as slow clapping reached her ears.
Five Shinobi, all wearing the same musical noted headband stood with their hands clasped behind their backs, smirks on their faces as their gazes all focused on Hoshiko as she glanced to the man sitting in a large plush chair.
He was short, with greying hair, a long grey beard, heavy gold jewelry decorated all ten of his fingers and a large chunky gold necklace was hanging around his neck. As the man clapped his rings clinked together.
Hoshiko walked into the room, finally understanding that this had been what the man expected all along, her and Itachi had been played.
"I'm impressed, Ginyoru Hoshiko." He said to her.
Hoshiko's frown deepened as she eyed up all of the Shinobi in the room, her gaze finally settled on the man, "You seem to know me, but I don't know you."
"Ah, forgive me," he said, rising up from his chair. "My name is Kosui. I'm what you would call a private contractor."
"You mean you paid these Shinobi to kidnap innocent children!" Hoshiko exclaimed, her anger rising.
Kosui chuckled, a hand covering his mouth, "You seem to be misinformed. You assume that I have paid these Shinobi, they were given to me to use."
Hoshiko frowned, confused but was trying not to show it.
"I was contacted by a very formidable person to acquire fifteen children for him. In return I would sell the children to him at a very reasonable price for him to conduct his experiments."
"Experiments?" Hoshiko said in disgust, her stomach turned at the thought. "How did you know about me?" Hoshiko asked.
Kosui narrowed his eyes into slits as he laughed, "I have known about you the second you stepped foot into that hovel called Hanabira. Shiki!"
To her left, another door slid open, revealing a person who entered the room. Hoshiko's eyes widened in disbelief, "You!"
The door flew off it's hinges, falling to the floor as Itachi walked in calmly, his eyes blazing red as he searched the corners of the dark room, waiting for something to jump out at him. He expanded his senses, not sensing anyone else in the room with him.
He turned the corner and into the adjourning bedroom as he stopped, a putrid stench wafted into his nostrils, it was something he had smelt before and was cursing himself for not picking it up sooner. His eyes settled on something as they widened once more, a curse leaving his lips. His eyes settled on the mangled corpse of a man, the rightful owner of the inn that he and Hoshiko had been staying in the past few days. Itachi cursed, turning on his heel and flying out of the room.
Hoshiko's eyes landed on the woman, the kind woman who had run the inn that they had been staying at. She pushed her glasses up her nose, smirking at Hoshiko as she came to a stop next to Kosui.
"You were apart of it?"
The woman made the rat seal, and before Hoshiko's eyes, she watched as the old woman's face morphed into a younger version of herself, clad in the same ninja gear that the others wore.
"I would have sensed a Henge no jutsu!" Hoshiko growled, feeling idiotic that her and Itachi had let something as simple as that slip by them.
"It's not the Henge no jutsu," the female ninja said to Hoshiko. "My master has studied the secrets of a Legendary Sannin's ability to make herself appear younger. He merely twisted her technique in an effort to make someone appear older, the technique itself is impossible to detect."
Hoshiko seethed in her spot, her fists were shaking in anger. So her and Itachi were played from the very beginning, she could only imagine why, but learning why wasn't important, the most important thing was getting the children out of the mansion and back home. She also needed to signal Itachi, things were getting out of control and she was going to need his help.
She poured all of her energy into spiking her chakra, their signal for help.
"If you were thinking about getting help from the Uchiha brat you might be waiting a while," Kosui said nonchalantly as Hoshiko's eyes cut up to the man. She kept her face impassive as he continued. "I suspected that he would tail the two who took you so I took extra precautions to make sure that he would be taken care of." The smirk Kosui sent Hoshiko would've sent a cold chill up someone's spine, but Hoshiko wasn't scared, and she wasn't weak. Instead she smirked, her gaze meeting the dark brown of Kosui.
"If you were thinking that a simple distraction would work on an Uchiha, you're sorely mistaken."
Kosui's smirk dropped, he inclined his head, meeting the gaze of one of the ninja. The ninja, in response nodded to the rest of his team. Hoshiko didn't even have a second to prepare herself as all six of them jumped her.
Itachi glanced up; drawing his kunai out of the body of the ninja he had just killed. It seemed that there had been an ambush waiting for him. Two teams had been waiting in the tunnels; one took Hoshiko one way, and the other led Itachi another way. It was only ten minutes later that he realized what had happened, but it was too late for him to turn back as four Shinobi had leapt out of the trees to attack him.
It had taken just over an hour for him to kill the last one.
A powerful chakra flare in the distance had him turning his body in the direction, the chakra flare was familiar, "Hoshiko." The name left his lips as a whisper as he swore in his head. He should've been there with her by now, he didn't want her to have to flare her chakra in her signal for help. Without a backwards glance Itachi ran off in the direction he had felt the flare, he only hoped that he would make it in time.
Hoshiko knew that she was outnumbered. She also knew that it would be slightly impossible for her to take on six ninja's on her own, she had no weapons and no armor, they were all still with Itachi who was supposed to bring them when they were busting the children out. Now that plan had all gone to shit.
She dodged another barrage of kunai, her body twisting and flipping as she landed back on her hands and feet, the yukata that she was wearing was indeed getting in her way now, the piece of clothing already had holes and rips in from their attacks. Hoshiko untied the clothing and discarded it to the far corner, leaving her in her ninja shorts and a black tank top; it was a bit revealing for her but what choice did she have, and besides, now she could move better.
Her ANBU tattoo on her shoulder was fully healed, Hoshiko saw Kosui's eyes flicker to it quickly, "He never said you were ANBU!" He cried out in shock.
Hoshiko smirked; at least she had that going for her.
Her chakra senses alerted her to one of them suddenly appearing behind her, she dodged, jumping away, and the second her feet had touched the wooden floors she sensed another one to her left; the male ninja brandishing a kunai in his hand. Hoshiko ducked, kicking him in the gut and quickly disarming him, taking his kunai in her own hands.
She jumped back, blocking a blow with her kunai in hand as she spun in the air, kicking him away as another one came at her, they were trying to overwhelm her with their numbers. Hoshiko couldn't very well use any of her Katon techniques in the mansion, lest she burn the children with the building, which left her with her Raiton techniques.
Hoshiko blocked the female, while she was blocking a male was coming up behind her. Using her quick thinking Hoshiko ducked, kicking her legs up as she kicked the male in the chin, making him soar back and crash into the wall. She spun around and using her chakra-enforced fist, punched the female in the stomach, sending her flying back and hitting the wall on the opposite side of the room.
Hoshiko watched as the remaining four ninja's glared at her, she was a formidable opponent, even with limited weapons. Knowing that she would need a single and powerful attack to finish off the ninja's she took her stance, her icy silver eyes bore into her enemies as she made the Ox, Rabbit and Monkey seal. She held her right hand down, her left holding her wrist as she pooled chakra and lightning into her technique.
"Raikiri!"
Hoshiko felt the burst of energy erupt within her, her arm shook from exertion, the same as last time she had used the technique in her ANBU exam. The wooden floor around her feet began to crack as her body sunk an inch into the floor. A strong gust of wind that had been created by her technique blew her hair around her in an ethereal sort of way.
Hoshiko saw the way her enemies eyes widened a fraction as she pushed off, her body reacting to the new speed and power as she darted left and right, confusing her enemies. The chirping from the Raikiri was the only sound in the room as Hoshiko cornered one of the male Shinobi, plunging her hand straight through his chest with no warning. The man screamed, blood pooling into his mouth as he began to choke on his own blood and spit.
Hoshiko wrenched her hand out of his chest, blood spilling at her feet as his dead body collapsed to the floor. Hoshiko's tunnel vision turned to the next nearest enemy as the female backed away slowly. This was something they had never seen before, her speed was incredible, their eyes couldn't keep up with her movements. It was terrifying.
Kosui now understood why Orochimaru wanted him to lure this girl here. Said man was huddled behind the large chair that he had so easily been sprawled out across only minutes before. Orochimaru had told him that the girl would be easy to defeat, the bastard had lied to him obviously, that would teach him to trust someone who looked and sounded like a snake.
Hoshiko pushed off from her spot, blood that had splattered onto her shoes kicked up behind her. The Kunoichi prepared to dodge or parry her attack; Hoshiko was inches away from her when suddenly she felt a sharp stinging pain to her back. It travelled from the base of her neck all the way down to her pelvis. She felt excruciating pain flare up as her Raikiri died off in her hand. A scream tore itself through her lips as she could feel the blood run down her legs and back.
One of the Shinobi had managed to sneak up on her, knowing where she would appear to strike the female in front of her to slash her back open. It was the only drawback to using the Raikiri, it gave her the stupid tunnel vision, but she should've been able to sense someone coming up behind her, her chakra senses were far more advanced then the normal Shinobi's.
Hoshiko dropped to the ground face first. She could feel herself loosing consciousness quickly as the edges of her vision began to fade to black.
"She may be ANBU, but she's still a kid." One of them said from above her. Hoshiko managed to turn her head and stare up at the Shinobi; his kunai was coated in red, her blood.
"How?" She asked weakly, her voice wavered.
The Shinobi above crouched down, he was only inches away from her, "We come from Otogakure, a village that specializes in using sound as a weapon."
No shit, Hoshiko thought bitterly.
"I can use the sounds around me to obscure myself, for example the sound that was coming off that powerful technique, I was able to copy it and surround myself in it, disabling you from being able to sense me. Pretty nifty technique, don't you think?" The man chuckled, throwing his head back in glee. Hoshiko's silver eyes blinked up at him.
She thought about the children who needed her help, they were all probably cowering downstairs in the cells, wondering what was going to happen to them. She had promised to get them all home, and she wasn't about to go back on her promise. If she died here, who would protect them? This Orochimaru that wanted them for his experiments, she wouldn't let him take them.
She thought about her mother back home, she would be waiting for her, wanting to hear about her first mission, if she didn't come back she'd be heartbroken.
She thought about Itachi, he would never forgive himself if she died here, he had voiced his concern about her being bait for this very reason, and she hadn't listened to him. Why did she never listen to Itachi, he was always right, even when he was wrong, he was somehow right.
"The road is long, and full of holes, you must be careful to navigate them, unless you want to be lost forever in the dark abyss. Overcoming obstacles is your strong point, and you should remember that, it will save you more times than you know."
Hoshiko thought back to Aishi's reading. Overcoming obstacles was her strong point, she would always find a way to make something work, she was determined and stubborn. Aishi said that her road is long, she wouldn't have said that if her journey ended here, bleeding out on the cold wooden flooring, enemies surrounding her.
Hoshiko chuckled, blood dribbled out of her mouth as she clashed gazes with the man crouched a few feet away from her. The man peered down at her curiously, wondering why a girl on the verge of death was laughing.
"If you think that technique was powerful, wait until you see this one."
Hoshiko finally understood what Aishi meant about the burden on her shoulders, and the dark shadow looming behind her, she was afraid of her Mizukiri, it was both a burden and a shadow combined. The constant fear of hurting her friends weighed her down, like she was sinking.
Her Mizukiri was only feared because it had been used in the wrong way and by the wrong people for the wrong reasons; but Hoshiko was Hoshiko, she wasn't her clan. She wasn't brought up around them; she didn't remember anyone from her clan. If her Mizukiri could save her now and save the children she so desperately wanted to protect, she wouldn't fear it, she would embrace her power
"Baka!" The nearest female screamed. "He said to not go near her!"
It was already too late. Hoshiko focused on her Mizukiri, the power she had been suppressing deep within her gut. She felt it overcome her; she felt the need to touch someone's skin, to drain them of chakra. She could faintly remembered feeling this way when she had been injured during the exam, but this time was different, she knew what was happening to her now, and she knew that none of her friends were around to be hurt by her.
Hoshiko's hand clasped around the mans neck, her fingers digging into the fleshy part of his skin as he gasped for breath. His gaze met hers, a look of pure horror crossed his face as he tried to scream, he could feel the life being sucked away from him.
Hoshiko's eyes glowed ominously; she could feel the flow of chakra entering her body from where her skin touched the enemies. She could feel the wound on her back closing as she stood up gracefully; there was no stumbling with her. She rose up, taking the man with her as she watched his face turn hollow and pale. His body seemed to wither away in her hands. With the flick of her wrist she cast him aside, she had barely used a muscle but his body went flying through the wall, leaving a large hole.
Hoshiko's head titled to the side, examining her damage as she smirked, "Oops."
"You bitch!"
Hoshiko spun around just in time as the female she had tried to kill before lunged for her. She caught her weapon in her hand, blood oozing from in between her fingers as the woman stared at her in shock. The woman tried to jump back but Hoshiko's newfound speed was too quick for her. In a split second Hoshiko's hand was wrapped around her neck, she watched gleefully as the chakra and life was drained from her face and body. The woman turned into a corpse before her glowing eyes, her hair falling out and her teeth dropping to the floor. A sadistic smirk appeared on her lips as Hoshiko threw her body down to the floor, again using little effort but she still managed to crack and lodge the body between the floorboards.
The chakra around Hoshiko grew even larger; the aura surrounding her was becoming unbearable. The cowering Kosui could barely breathe through the murderous intent and the power of her chakra.
Hoshiko stepped towards Kosui and the three remaining ninja who had barely moved a muscle the entirety of the fight.
"Three down…four to go," Hoshiko said, cocking her head to the side dramatically. The three Shinobi gave each other looks as a silent order passed between them; with a swift nod of their heads they each broke through the roof.
One of the males was nearly clear when he felt a sharp tug on his left arm; the tug didn't stop until suddenly he felt pain like no other erupt in the limb. He screamed, his gaze looking down to see Hoshiko below him, his severed arm in her grip as she tossed it away like a piece of trash.
"Damn, I only meant to pull you down, not rip your arm off," she said mockingly as the male crashed to the floor. Blood pooled around him as he screamed constantly. He couldn't think, he could barely breathe, the pain was unimaginable.
"Oh well," Hoshiko said lightly, a smile on her face. She stalked to the ninja, bending down to pick up a kunai as she twirled it in her hand; she crouched down to the ninja. The man was still screaming, tears ran down his cheeks as his eyes began to roll into the back of his head from the blood loss. "You're so noisy. All I did was rip your arm off." Hoshiko muttered. With speed like no other, she slashed the kunai across his throat. He gurgled, trying to breathe but it was no use, he was dead within seconds.
Hoshiko rocked back up onto her feet, her head rolling to the side as Kosui sat with his back to the wall, his eyes were wide and fearful as Hoshiko began stalking towards him, the bloodied kunai in her hand as it left drops of blood on the floorboards.
"Yo—you're a monster!" Kosui stuttered in fear, trying to back even further against the wall, like he was trying to become one with it.
"No better then you," Hoshiko replied. She reached Kosui, kneeling down to his level. "If I'm a monster for killing the people who wanted to sell and experiment on children, then what does that make you?"
"Please!" Kosui pleaded. "I was only doing what I was told, I had no part in the experiments!"
Hoshiko laughed, it was a cruel and toe curling laugh, "Please, Kosui. We both know the type of man you are, you'd do anything for a price. Including kidnapping children. I'm just sorry that your death will be quick."
"No, wait!"
Hoshiko plunged her fist through his chest, mimicking what the Raikiri had done, but this time it was just her pure power and strength that had her caving out a hole in his chest. Kosui spat up blood, splashing Hoshiko's face with it as her smile grew as she watched the life fade from Kosui's eyes. The warm blood coated her hand and arm as she pulled it from his chest, watching his body slouch over and fall to the ground. She stood up, her gaze slowly drawing away from Kosui's corpse as she inclined her head up to the three holes in the roof.
"Now to finish them off," she said.
She sensed a new presence. She turned, her glowing eyes staring into a pair of crimson irises.
"You're a bit late, Itachi. I've already dealt with them." Hoshiko said loudly, motioning to the room littered with bodies.
Itachi surveyed the room, seeing blood everywhere. A mans arm was on one end of the room while the rest of his body was at the other. Two people had holes in their chests and two others were practically skeletons.
"What have you done?" Itachi asked quietly.
A bored look came over Hoshiko's face, "I took care of it. Now two of them got away so I'll be back, I can sense them from here." Before she could even take a step Itachi called out to her.
"Hoshiko stop!"
She faltered, looking back down at him. "What? Want to join?" She offered.
Itachi remained stone faced. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, was this the power of her Mizukiri? What he had seen before with Kakashi hadn't even scratched the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
"Stop this, now." Itachi ordered.
Hoshiko rolled her eyes at him, "Come now, Itachi-kun. I've already killed five of them, I need to finish them off before they head off back to their leader."
"This isn't you." Itachi continued, stepping towards her.
Hoshiko laughed, tossing her head back. She continued laughing for a while until she met Itachi's gaze seriously, "I've never felt more like myself. This is the true power of the Mizukiri, Itachi. I don't know why I was so scared of it? Look at what I was able to do with my bare hands?" Hoshiko pointed to Kosui's corpse. Itachi didn't look; he kept his gaze on his friend.
"This isn't you," he repeated firmly. "Stop it, let's take these children home."
"You go on ahead, I'll catch up after this." Hoshiko said dismissively to him. She went to jump.
"Hoshiko!" The tone of Itachi's voice had her stalling once again. She faced him, annoyance present on her face.
"Let me do this, Itachi!" Her eyes seemed to glow even brighter for a second in her anger.
Hoshiko had to dodge the kunai that he had thrown, it was child's play in her current state, and she twisted her head away, dodging effortlessly. She turned back, and gasped when she was met with a pair of red eyes inches from her own face.
Itachi's Sharingan swirled as stared into her eyes.
He had a theory about being able to disable her Mizukiri if he ever needed too, he had never been able to test it for obvious reasons but now he had his reason. He watched as her glowing silver eyes slowly faded into her normal shine, the chakra around her dissolved into the air, different to what had happened from last time as her body stumbled.
Hoshiko held a hand to her head, feeling incredibly weak. She felt strange, like the past half an hour hadn't actually happened, like she had just been a spectator in her own body. Her body hunched in on itself as she gazed around the room. The pungent smell of blood and death hung in the air as Hoshiko's eyes widened.
I did this…
The bodies littered around the room brought tears to her eyes. She looked to Itachi, he was still standing inches from her own body, his eyes now back to his bottomless black. His expression was one of sympathy and remorse and a great sadness. She could feel the icy clutch of unconsciousness grasping at her, she tried to fight it, wanting to stay awake. She reached for Itachi, her hand grasping his shirt.
"Itachi…I—"
Her words were cut off, her silver eyes rolled into the back of her head, her hold on his shirt released as she went face first to the floor.
Itachi caught her before she hit the ground, her body shaking against his. He lifted her up into his arms her head lolled to the side. Blood still coated her face and clothes as he was eerily reminded of the last time he had to carry her all bloodied and unconscious.
Itachi stared down at her for a second before setting his face into a blank stare as he leapt out of the room.
"Should we go for them, Orochimaru-sama?"
Orochimaru stood in the shadow of the trees, his loyal comrade by his side as Kabuto pushed up his glasses after asked his question. The two Shinobi that had made it back from the wrath of Hoshiko lay dead at his feet for failing him.
Orochimaru shook his head, "No."
"They are both weak. They would be easy for us to kill," Kabuto reminded him. He knew he was treading on thin ice by arguing with his masters' plan.
"You forget, Kabuto. I don't want to kill them."
"Of course, but may I ask why you did this knowing that the plan would fail?"
Orochimaru faced Kabuto, a sadistic smirk on his face as his long tongue flicked out to moisten his lips, "Who says my plan failed?"
Well...A LOT happened in this chapter! This chapter was actually so much fun to write, I love writing crazy people and fight scenes, I just get listening to some awesome music and bam, it all comes out! So a few things may not make sense but it will all be explained in the next chapter! If you're thinking about how they knew that Itachi and Hoshiko were going to Hanabira, let's just think back to a certain someone who has been hinted at plotting with a certain snake man...you get it yet?
Anyway i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, and who knows, next chapter there might even be a little more Itachi/Hoshiko fluff! I mean, these two are already cute but now Hoshiko's vulnerable again, how will Itachi cope?
REPLIES
StarshineRose18 - ahhh the fortune, I had that planned since forever, I took inspiration from a story that I read years ago that was in a completely different fandom but it had always stuck with me to do something like that! We shall see how it plays out, fortunes are tricky subjects and all! ;)
BreatherOfInsanity - Thank you!
Davina - Yay! Hello there and welcome! You're review left me feeling really giddy and happy when I read it, I'm so happy that people are enjoying it so much and we're still only in the early stages, wait until we get a little bit further in...eeeeep I'm excited! Those insults give me life, and we'll be seeing more of Hoshiko interacting with the other people in the narutoverse, how will she effect some certain people? Who knows!
ALilSweetNSour - Hi thank you! You're review made me feel so happy about everything you said about my little story! Thank you so much, hope you enjoyed the chapter!