Traitors

Onyx and Ivory

1 Month Later.

Her heeled boots clicked against the hard concrete as she marched down the dimly lit hallway. The lanterns hanging on the wall her only source of light as she tossed a look over her shoulder to see her two comrades following her closely. With an annoyed click of her tongue she turned her head and her silvery eyes landed on the door she was heading to. When she reached it, she didn't bother knocking as she gripped the handle and yanked the sliding door so hard that it rattled when it smacked the other side. She could feel the disapproving glare from the two Root behind her but she didn't care what they thought. It was the middle of the night and she had just returned from a three day long mission, with only having seven hours of sleep over the three-day period. Oh yeah, and she was pissed.

"Danzo!" Hoshiko barked at the old man who was calmly sitting at his table. He inclined his head just as she slammed her hands down onto the wood, shaking the table and quaking the cup of cold tea by his side.

"You have returned." Danzo stated obviously.

"Barely." Hoshiko snapped at him. "You and I have very different definitions of the word 'simple'."

Danzo chuckled boldly, "I see the dignitary gave you a much harder time to kill."

"He had his own personal guard of Shinobi lying in wait for us. You're lucky I managed to get your men out alive."

With that, Danzo's gaze turned to the two Root members, he could see their clothes ripped and that if he didn't dismiss them soon they were probably about to drop dead on the floor. If they did, Danzo would kill them himself, none of his Root would be so weak.

"We faced fifty Kiri Shinobi. All for your stupid cause!"

"The protection of Konoha is my main concern." Danzo said, facing her again. "He had been sprouting propaganda about this village, now that he is gone the threats will cease and a raid has no doubt been adverted."

"And if we were killed in the process?"

Danzo gave her a leering smirk, "Well, you weren't, so there is no need to dwell on the past."

The look on Danzo's face made something snap within Hoshiko. Over the past month she had been tortured, beaten and pushed to the very edge of her sanity, she was surprised that she was alive after all the experiments and 'training' that Danzo had put her through over the weeks. So seeing the smile on his face as he calmly spoke about her life made her snap. In a burst of rage, that had the Root around the room bracing for an attack from her, Hoshiko lashed out with her leg, kicking the table as it went sailing across the room, smashing the tea cup that had been on it and breaking against the wall, falling into splinters. There was silence within the room as the Root waiting on baited breath for Danzo's orders, but they knew if they tried to take her down, they'd all die, and Danzo knew this too.

Feeling like she had gotten something out of her system, Hoshiko glared at Danzo one final time before she spun around on her heel and stormed out of the room, sliding the shoji door shut with such force that it came off the tracks.

"Danzo-sama…" One of the Root behind the leader spoke softly, asking without asking what they should do about her.

"Leave her be." Danzo said simply. "I've grown quite used to her moods as of late. This wasn't the worst I have seen."

"She has grown more powerful." The Root stated.

And angry, Danzo thought to himself. "Humph. That means she is finally ready."

"Ready for what?" The same Root spoke.

"Her final test."

X

Hoshiko reached her room in record time. She slammed the door shut behind her and glanced around her blank room. She hated this room. She hated this place. She hated Danzo. She stripped off her armor quickly, letting it drop to the ground at her feet as she tossed the porcelain mask onto the bed as she collapsed onto it backwards. She could still feel the anger coursing through her veins as she thought back on her argument with Danzo. His smirking face only fueled her anger as she pushed herself up on the bed. Her gaze was caught at her kunai pouch as she knelt down on the ground and fetched one of the weapons out of it. She rose to her feet, and shuffling over to the wall next to the door, where, when opened would be completely covered by it. She reached up and dragged the kunai down on the stone in a short line three times, evenly spaced to the next one as she sighed and dropped her hand.

Thirty-five. Thirty-five days I've been forced to stay here, she thought to herself bitterly. Over a month since she had come to Danzo, over a month since she had seen anyone from her old life, the only contact she had was with Danzo and the stoic Root who put up as much conversation as a dead slug.

She missed her mother. She had never been away from her for this long, she wondered how she was doing, did she miss her? Hoshiko had to mentally slap herself; of course her mother missed her. She had to stop herself from thinking about her, because whenever she did, she always became upset, and Danzo would probably put her through another one of his torture sessions if he found out again.

She washed up for bed and was thankful she was able to sleep on a mattress tonight, even if it did feel like rocks under her back. She woke up in the morning to someone knocking on her door. She grumbled under her breath. It had taken the complex a whole two days to realize that unless you wanted your body punted to the other side of Konoha, you should not wake Hoshiko up under any circumstances unless she was on a mission. The repercussions were dire, and whoever was pounding on her door when she was this tired was about to be in a whole new world of pain.

She yanked open the door, glaring with all the hate she could muster in her tired body as her eyes narrowed at the masked man standing in front of her. She had come to know him as Danzo's right hand man. The Root before her was his personal guard and when Danzo left the complex, he'd go too. His spikey light brown hair stood up at odd angles on his head, and he was extremely tall, almost three heads taller then Hoshiko, not that surprising as Hoshiko was tiny for her age.

"Danzo-sama wants to see you, Tenshi." Hoshiko could hear the sneer on his face when he said the name that had been given to her. Tenshi meant angel. It was supposed to be a play on word seeing as Hoshiko was far, far from being an angel, and Danzo thought it was fitting with her polar opposite appearance and attitude. She really did hate him.

"If Danzo wants to see me. He can come get me himself." Hoshiko snapped back, she stepped back further into the room, intent on slamming the door in his face when he stepped closer, his hand gripping the wood.

"It wasn't a request." He said, his voice dangerously low. Hoshiko knew that this man, even though he barely showed emotion on the outside, could still show it with his voice; and she knew that she was getting on everyone's nerves. She was Danzo's favorite and got away with everything, even murdering seven of their best. Danzo never enforced the no emotion rule on her, no one could figure out why. Which meant that they all had to deal with Hoshiko's constant outbursts and rages nearly every single day.

"It never is with him." Hoshiko hissed to the Root. There was a stare down between them. Hoshiko could barely make out the light blue colour of his eyes as they held each other's gazes for what seemed like hours. It wasn't until the Root backed up, turning on his heel.

"You have ten minutes." He ordered, turning his face slightly to the side, not that Hoshiko would be able to see his expression anyway. With a frustrated sigh she slammed her door shut. She turned and leaned against the wood, feeling the rough surface against her back as she slowly slid down the door until she hit the floor.

Exactly ten minutes later Hoshiko was knocking on the shoji door that had been repaired and put back on the tracks from the previous night's encounter. "Enter," came the familiar monotone voice of Danzo as Hoshiko opened the door and entered the room. Her eyes quickly glanced around the room, seeing no evidence of her violent outburst from last night. A new table was even in the center of the room, not that it surprised her. Danzo was seated at the back of the room; in the wooden armchair that he had occupied the night she had come to him for information. She also realized that none of his Root were present in the room, he must really trust her self control right now.

"You wanted to see me." Hoshiko drawled lazily. Folding her arms across her chest and leaning against the wall.

Danzo nodded once, he reached over the chair and picked up the beige folder and extended his hand out to her. Hoshiko eyed the folder carefully as she collected it from him. "What's this?" She asked.

"Your assignment." He said simply.

Giving Danzo a skeptical look, Hoshiko tore open the folder and pulled out the first page. Her eyes were drawn to the picture as they widened, she glared up at Danzo, "Is this a joke?"

Danzo remained stoic, "Do I look like I'm laughing?"

She held back the comment she wanted to make about him and instead shoved the paper back into the folder, "I refuse. I don't care what it is, I'm not doing it." She said stubbornly.

"You cannot refuse."

"Watch me," she snapped back.

Danzo's face darkened and Hoshiko felt that same fear she felt a long time ago, the one that always subconsciously warned her about him. She felt her heart jump as Danzo's uncovered eye bore into her own, "Your assignment is tracking and reporting on Uchiha Itachi's whereabouts."

"Why?" Hoshiko questioned.

Danzo inclined his head, motioning to the folder as she sighed and took all the paper out, flicking through it and scanning over the words. "I believe that Uchiha Itachi is planning a Coup d'état."

X

"Dammit, we're running out of time." Shisui sighed. He stood facing the Nakano waterfall, his shoulders hunched and his long arms folded. Itachi stood a few feet back, his expression stoic as he continued to stare at the black back of his cousin.

"We managed to stall for this entire month." Itachi spoke softly.

"Yeah, but they're getting impatient. They've had enough, Itachi. Whenever they are going to do this, it's going to be soon." Shisui exhaled loudly, tilting his head up to the burning sky. "We've tried everything."

There was a moment of silence before Itachi spoke, "I convinced the Hokage to meet with my Otou-san again. Hopefully the meeting they have might be able to buy us another week at most."

"That's good." Shisui nodded. "You think it'll work?" He asked, turning around to face him.

Itachi shook his head, "The unrest in the Uchiha is too strong. If my Otou-san backs down…"

"Yeah…" Shisui agreed, the sentence not needing to be finished. They both knew what would happen if Fugaku backed down.

"Did you receive any news from your contact?" Itachi asked Shisui suddenly. Shisui rubbed the back of his head, he looked away, concerned at sharing the information he had but decided that Itachi needed to hear it.

"Yeah, the guy I know who knows a guy in Root said that Danzo's been keeping her pretty close. He's been training her personally. Sent her out on a mission the other day, said she killed fifty Kiri Shinobi by herself…" Shisui relayed the information to Itachi as he watched the younger Uchiha's expression shift slightly. He saw the slight tensing of his jaw. "That's not all—he mentioned briefly that the day she arrived, seven of Danzo's best went missing. It was never directly confirmed but he suspected that Danzo had her kill them as part of her initiation or something."

Itachi turned away from him, part of his hair obscuring his face. Shisui waited for him to do anything, but Itachi stood still as stone.

"Itachi…" Shisui said kindly, "You couldn't have known…at least…at least we know that Danzo wants her for something—he wont hurt her."

Itachi still didn't reply to Shisui, and he didn't expect him too, Shisui knew the pain his cousin must be in. He had forced away his friend to protect her, and now…now she was probably in a worse position then before. Shisui saw the frustrated and broken look on his friends face as he idly touched the skin by his eye.

Kotoamatsukami.

If he used that and stopped the coup then everything could go back to the way it was. Itachi could free Hoshiko from Danzo's grasp and they could be together again. Shisui wasn't stupid; ever since that day when Itachi had forced her away he had been a wreck. It had killed him to say those things to her; Shisui had been waiting nearby and had heard everything he said to her. He would never be able to get her voice out of his head as she begged him to stop.

'I'm your friend, Itachi!'

'You can't mean that…'

Hoshiko had been heartbroken, he had heard it in her voice; Shisui's own heart had broken for her too on that day. But there was one more heart that ached. Itachi had refused to speak to him for two days after he sent Hoshiko away, and Shisui understood why. The question that Shisui asked himself was when? When did Itachi's feelings for her change? He had never admitted anything out loud, he wasn't that kind of person; but Shisui saw it in the way he stared at her when she wasn't looking. The proud look in his eyes after they sparred together. When he sometimes found his cousin sitting on her rooftop, and when he watched Sasuke and Hoshiko bicker like siblings. There was a gentle look in his eyes when he watched her, it was the way he looked at his little brother, but different. He looked at Sasuke like he wanted to protect him fiercely, forever.

He looked at Hoshiko like he was a blind man seeing the sun for the first time.

Shisui furrowed his brow, his right eye shutting as his fingers gently smoothed over his eyelid. He would stop the clan, he would use his power to do it, so that he could save the village, save their clan…and more importantly, save Itachi from his regrets.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Hoshiko demanded, her eyes narrowed as her fists balled up at her side. "Itachi would never…!"

Danzo regarded her coolly as he stood from the chair, the furniture creaking as he rose up. He took slow and deliberate steps towards her; "I have reason to believe that he has been plotting with another, conspiring against this village and his own clan to usurp the Hokage."

"That's insane!" Hoshiko said in outrage. "He loves this village, he told me himself! Why would he want to do this?"

Danzo ignored her question, asking one of his own, "You tell me. In the days that you saw him, was there anything strange or odd with him?"

"No he—!" She stopped. The words died in her throat. Her eyes became wide as she breathed in a shuddering breath. She met Danzo's gaze, her mind shooting back to over a month ago. Itachi sending her away, the dark and dangerous look in his eyes. The way he had smacked her hand away from him sent shivers down her spine and his expression had drove full-fledged fear into her heart. It was a side she had never seen from him, and now, looking at Danzo, she understood why.

"From your silence I assume there is something." Danzo said, smirking.

Hoshiko looked down at the papers in her hands, it was all the information they had on Itachi, it went into great detail about his academy days, his early promotions, everything, "He…" her voice was quiet, "Why?"

"Why else? Power." Danzo stated.

Hoshiko didn't want to believe it, Itachi couldn't…he wouldn't…but everything was there. The way he had been acting lately, his rage at her. "You said…there was another, someone helping him. Who?" Her voice was timid, she had asked the question but she had a feeling she already knew the answer.

Danzo didn't miss a beat, "Uchiha Shisui." Hoshiko's eyes slid shut in grief. "The two have been spotted having secret meetings. They have isolated themselves from the clan. Meeting in secret to discuss their plans for a coup. It's no wonder, those two are the most powerful Uchiha as of now."

"Why me?" Hoshiko asked, opening her eyes again. She thought back on her memories. It was true; she could remember catching Itachi and Shisui together sometimes, talking quietly to one another, never telling her the full story. Other times they would make excuses to her, saying they were going to a clan meeting. Hoshiko had once followed them out of curiosity; they led her to the Nakano waterfall where they had talked for hours about something she couldn't hear.

"You know them." Danzo explained. "You know how they think, how they act, how they fight. I need someone to protect this village. Can you do this?"

"Maybe if I just talked to them! I can help them see reason!"

"No." Danzo said sharply, causing Hoshiko to flinch. "If they find out that they are being watched they will kill you."

Hoshiko's breath got caught in her throat. She didn't want to believe that that would happen to her, this was Itachi and Shisui, they had been her friends for years, they helped and protected her on numerous occasions. They wouldn't hurt her. And yet there was a voice in the back of her head telling her that they would.

"The Hokage? Surely he must know, we can ask him to talk to them, they'll listen to him." Hoshiko pleaded.

"The Hokage does not believe, I have already tried. We must settle this ourselves."

"Settle? You mean…" she let the unfinished question hang in the air. A heavy feeling settled in her gut.

Danzo turned his back on her; Hoshiko watched with curious eyes as he appeared to be unwrapping the bandage on his head, "Your mission is to tail Uchiha Itachi. Follow him and report back to me everyday on where he has been, who he spoke to and anything suspicious. Do not let him discover you."

With a grim look on her face, Hoshiko nodded, "Hai."

"And one more thing." Danzo said as he slowly began to turn his body back to face her. When Danzo faced her one again, Hoshiko saw a flash of red and a calm feeling washed over her. Danzo walked the three steps to her as she stood, swaying slightly on the spot. He reached out and grasped her chin, tilting her head up so that her eyes looked directly into his normally concealed stolen Sharingan, "You will tell no one expect for me of this mission. Do you understand?" He said, the tomoe in his crimson eye swirling as he used a light Genjutsu on her, it was one that could compel a person and would be undetectable unless the person knew they were under it. Even a powerful Sharingan user wouldn't detect it unless they knew what they were looking for.

"Hai." Hoshiko replied.

X

Hoshiko shook her head, her black hair falling into her eyes as she scanned the empty room. She frowned, rubbing her forehead. Where was Danzo? Hadn't he been here a second ago? Her eyes looked to the floor, where she saw the scattered sheets of paper that she had obviously dropped in her confused state. Itachi's stoic face stared up at her from the paper as she crouched down, reaching out for it as she took it into her hands. She slowly stood, her eyes gazing over his face as she sighed.

Why, Itachi? Why would you do this? Don't you love the village?

It didn't take her long to collect her gear before Hoshiko was leaping out of the complex. She had been cooped up for too long in the dark place, except for the one lone mission she had returned from last night. Danzo hadn't let her leave the Root headquarters for anything, and now she could freely go around the village once more, well sort of.

Her first stop was her home, it was still early and Hoshiko knew that her mother wouldn't have left for her job yet, it would be close, but she should catch her just as she was leaving. Her smile was broad as she scaled up the wall and pried open her bedroom window, slipping through quietly. She could hear sounds from the kitchen and sighed in relief, she hadn't left yet. Hoshiko opened her door, the sound alerting her mother to someone being in the house.

"Hoshiko?" Hiroka called, her voice muffled through the hallway.

Hoshiko emerged into the kitchen, "I'm home, Okaa-san." Hoshiko said softly as Hiroka released a heavy sigh of relief. She stepped towards her, wanting to hug her, but thought back to the last time they had spoken; it had ended in an argument between them. Hoshiko, deciding that it was stupid and horrible for her to have left without saying a proper goodbye to her mother, reached her in three steps and threw her arms around her. "I'm sorry, I was mean to you when I shouldn't have been. I missed you so much."

Hiroka squeezed her daughter tightly, they were of the same height, but somehow Hoshiko had managed to place herself directly under her chin, "It's ok. I'm just glad you're safe."

Safe wouldn't be the word Hoshiko would've used to describe her situation, she was stuck firmly between a rock and a hard place, a very hard place. Thinking back on everything that had happened to her over the past month, she was just thankful to see her mother alive and healthy. After all, she had agreed to stay with Danzo on the condition that he wouldn't harm her.

Hiroka suddenly jerked away, her head looking over at the clock, "Oh no. I'm going to be late for work." She said, quickly grabbing her bag and throwing it over her shoulder as Hoshiko watched her silently. "Will you be home tonight?" Hiroka asked as she reached out and touched Hoshiko's cheek with the palm of her hand.

Hoshiko sighed into the feeling, she had missed her mother more then she could put into words. Hoshiko shrugged, "I'm not sure. There's something I have to do, but I wont be far."

Hiroka gave her a final smile before leaving the home.

It didn't take her long to find him. She perched in a tree, far enough away that he wouldn't sense her if he activated his Sharingan but close enough so that she could watch him and see what he was doing. She shifted on the thick branch. The Jounin vest that she had on was a lot more bulky and heavy then her normal armor. She thought it would be best, if she were in fact caught, that she be wearing the green jacket instead of her armor. It was a lot less threatening and she could make up some excuse about being there. Her hair was pulled up into a messy ponytail with her forehead protector tied on the top of her head. She wore a simple navy blue long sleeved shirt under the jacket and her long black pants and shin high boots. It was the outfit she had worn before she joined ANBU. Hoshiko sighed; it felt like years ago, not months since her whole life had been thrown upside down.

Focusing back on her mission she expanded her chakra senses while also keeping herself completely masked, over the month Danzo had her practicing this ability until she passed out, making sure that not even a bat would be able to sense her presence. She had been pretty good before with it, but now she was excellent. She located Itachi's chakra signature, and she was surprised to see that he wasn't alone. She assumed it to be Shisui, but further prodding she found that the chakra levels weren't even close to Shisui. And besides, she recognized the signature anyway. It was Sasuke.

"Nii-san!" Sasuke's loud whine echoed in the forest clearing. "You've had your break. Now it's time to practice with me!"

She couldn't hear the reply as Itachi's voice was too quiet but she could see him moving around the clearing. It was then that she realized the clearing was the one with all of the targets, the one where Itachi had trained her years ago. She felt the feeling of betrayal again. Had she been so oblivious to his intentions all this time? She was having a hard time accepting the fact that Itachi and Shisui could be traitors, but as she thought about it more, it was starting to make more sense to her. The file that Danzo had given her had gone into depth about how many meetings they had been spotted having, how Itachi and sometimes Shisui had abandoned clan meetings altogether.

Hoshiko sighed; she would continue this mission. If it turned out to be wrong, then no harm done and she could forget about this ever happening, but if it turned out to be true, and Itachi and Shisui were in fact planning a Coup d'état against the village, she would be the one to personally stop them, no matter the cost.

Well, I told you I would have another chapter out soon! And wowee! So did any of you see this coming? So I just want to explain why it was so easy for Hoshiko to jump on board with the whole Itachi traitor thing. I referenced through the chapter that over the month she spent with Danzo, he had put her through torture sessions and had trained her until she passed out. She never got to go outside, only for a mission where she killed ninja's. During the story I will go back in depth through flashbacks about what she actually went through but not yet, but she went through not only physical beatings but emotional one's too, as you can tell with her violent outburst. Anyway, she is extremely fragile, her mind is open to manipulation and Danzo is exploiting that because he's an actual bastard from hell.

Also, he used his Sharingan on her just to make sure that she wouldn't go telling anyone, obviously Danzo needs to keep this a secret as we all know that Itachi and Shisui are innocent in all of this. There's a reason for this which I wont be sharing, you'll just have to wait and find out! ;)

And I hope I satisfied you all with a little insight into what Itachi was really thinking when he sent her away, it wasn't from his perspective but from Shisui's, I thought it was cute but really, we all knew that Itachi had lied to her face about not wanting her around, now he just created a ginormous clusterfuck...poor Itachi...

REPLIES

Me And Not You 1001 - Well I wouldn't say he's trying to kill her...but it's pretty close. He was literally testing her abilities and pushing her to see how far she could go. But it could backfire in the long run I guess, what's that saying about cornering an animal or something? Eh I can't remember but yeah like that! xD The question is what CAN he do about it? ;)

StarshineRose 18 - I hope he does something too, we shall see! Thank you!

Dark Rose Charm - Wow. That review had my head reeling! I love your theory, some aspects are similar to what I have planned but everything will be revealed!

santoserimar - Hahaha I feel bad about giggling to myself about your review but your reaction is literally me when I started writing this story and planning everything out xD A kiss scene between them? We shall see, I do have a few things planned for them but we shall seeeee! Yeah Danzo's still a bastard, no change here. Thank you!

Sara R - Thank you! Yes there are a variety of words I would use to describe Danzo...

Davina - I know it was ages, but thankfully I think it's only been a week or something since my last update! Told you I would be getting another one out. Thank you! You have no idea how much that means to me to hear it! I'm so happy you enjoyed the chapter and all the scene's in it. And yeah, a lot of time and energy has been put into this story, so many hours of research into everything *shudders* but hopefully it'll all be worth it in the end! Well if you cried at that, be prepared for the next few chapters...