Angst warning ahead~
Hido couldn't stop making the girl across from him laugh, she had a very cute smile that he loved. Harumi's is cuter though. He quickly dismissed the thought and focused on his date. She was very pretty. She had long brown hair and soft yellow eyes, which complimented her light skin. Akito, that was her name. She was an ideal girl; polite, kind, pretty, and funny. Hido considered himself lucky that she decided to go out with him. So why does my mind keep drifting to Harumi? Still, he couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that something was wrong. Not with her, but he felt a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, and his gut told him to check on Harumi. He ignored it though, he needed to forget about her for now and just focus on the girl in front of him.
Harumi ran through the market, dodging everyone she nearly bumped into. One, two, three. That's how many presences she felt following her. A part of her wanted to confront and eliminate them, but the other part of her feared that Itachi had come to finish the job. She first didn't think it was him, and it wasn't until a voice warned her that she doubted herself.
Be careful.
She ran the opposite way she knew Hido was meeting his date. She didn't want to drag him into something potentially dangerous. Some may call her a coward, but she valued her life much more than her pride. She had been training mercilessly the past five years, and didn't doubt her strength in the least, but she didn't want to risk it. If it really was Itachi, and he was working in a group which was very unlike him, they must've been incredibly strong, at the very least near his level. She didn't want to use her power, it was much too dangerous, and she still wasn't sure she could fully control it. She had her other jutsus, yes, but to fight Itachi and possibly to other people with the same power level? She'd need to pull out all the stops, even if it kills everyone within the barriers of her powers. She didn't want Hido to be anywhere near it, so for now, she'd have to try and lose them.
Hido had grown so close to her heart over the years, he was one -if not the only thing- keeping her attached to the earth. She needed him, he was her best friend, and she knew he'd never betray her. Unlike him.
She ran right back into the forest, which was ironically where she had most of her fights with people. Suddenly though, she felt a fourth presence, and decided enough was enough. She slowly closed her eyes and decided to let her reflexes move her body. She had been too nervous to detect power levels of the chakras, but she decided that it was time to know if it was him or not. One of the presences had hidden itself very well, but her senses were too sharp. She couldn't tell what their chakra levels were, but the others seemed rather small. She sighed in relief and began to wonder why its voice told her to be careful. Their chakra levels were nowhere near as powerful as hers. Was it the one whom she couldn't detect? Or was this not their true power, but a trap?
She bit on her tongue and abruptly stopped, and everything became silent. The wind rustled the leaves in the trees, but she didn't let that ruin her focus. The moment she heard a small noise come from her far left, she weaved her hand signs and said, "Lightning style level one, Lightning Bolt!"
Putting jutsus into levels of intensity was a habit of hers, she usually only said the level in her head, but exclaimed it to frighten her enemy. She wanted them to fear the capability and the limits of her abilities. She saw a girl with pink hair fall out of the tree, her ankle now having a small cut on it. This confused her; why was a little girl chasing her? Were the rest of her friends kids as well?
"Hey! Why are you chasing me, kid? Wait...you're just a kid. I just shot at a kid! Are you okay? I'm sorry!" Harumi was about to run over, but she stopped when she felt a kunai being thrown at her, to which she swiftly caught by the handle before it could reach her. She turned around to see the culprit. Her eyes widened at the sight.
"You're Kakashi Hatake, the copy ninja," Harumi spoke in a tone which made it seem as though she was doubting her own words.
"Harumi Uchiha, you really are still alive," Kakashi replied.
"Sakura!" a familiar voice said as he rushed to her side. She turned to see it as Naruto. What the heck?
"Of course I am, but that doesn't explain why you'd attack me. I never provoked you, so why were you chasing me?" Harumi questioned, still wondering if this was actually happening.
"See? I told you Kakashi sensei! She isn't a threat, we just spooked her!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Stay back Naruto!" Kakashi and two other voices yelled at the same time. Harumi looked back to see the girl had been the second one, but who was the last? She scanned her surroundings in a split second, trying to locate where the other person was. She heard another person jump out of the trees and next to Kakashi, but the sight was one she wasn't ready for. Her heart began to beat faster, her body froze and her eyes nearly began to tear.
"Sasuke? Is that you?" she asked as she dropped the kunai subconsciously. His features were as clear as day. From his black hair to the Uchiha symbol she saw a second ago, it was him. But something was different, his eyes were full of...hate? She didn't understand what was happening. Was Naruto a part of this squad? Why did Kakashi attack her? Why were they chasing her? Why did Sasuke look so angry? Nothing made any sense! She took a small step forward, but Kakashi warned her against it.
"You're an enemy of the leaf. The charges against you are the murder of three anbu black ops from the leaf and the possbile kidnapping, torture and murder of a fourth anbu. You have killed fourteen innocent citizens, five ninja from the hidden mist, seven from the hidden cloud, and ten from the hidden stone. There is also speculation of a charge of helping with the murder of the Uchiha clan. You have a reward on your head, dead or alive. You've also been put into the S-rank part of the bingo book, but no one has been able to locate you for the past three years." Kakashi began reading her body language for any signs of guilt or aggravation.
Naruto looked like he was sweating bricks, but his gut and her reaction told him that she wasn't trying to hurt anyone.
"All those allegations are false! I haven't killed any hidden village ninja for no reason, I called for medical help for the anbu's, the fourth anbu one quit his job after he realized Danzo was a psycho, I never hurt any innocent citizens, and I sure as hell didn't help with the murder of the Uchiha clan!" Harumi defended. Where were these stupid allegations coming from? And how the hell did she end up in the bingo book?!
"Well if you really are innocent, then you can surrender and I can take you back to the leaf and explain everything there, or I can take you back by force," Kakashi offered.
"But I didn't do anything! And I don't want to fight you! But I'm not going back to the Hidden Leaf, ever! Especially under false charges like that! You think I'm stupid? You think I don't know that they won't listen to a word I say?" She scoffed at his audacity. "You think I don't know Danzo's somehow got everyone to believe I did all those things?! I'm not going back there, and if you try to force me, I'll have no choice but to fight back. But since you're obviously so aware of my case, then you must know you're not nearly strong enough to take me on." Sakura ran to Sasuke's side, who looked like he was about to blow.
"Did you help Itachi?" Sasuke asked, his voice shaking with anger. Harumi's eyes softened greatly, her heart clenching at the sight of the once happy boy looking and speaking to her with such venom.
"Of course not, I could never do that, you know that. Please tell me you know that, please tell me you don't think I would help Itachi ruin your life and murder our clan." Harumi's eyes welled up with tears. "Tell me you know me better than that."
"I never thought Itachi was capable of it either, but he did it. For all I know, you helped him plan it! You were close after all, weren't you? You were the only person he talked to. Not me, or my dad, or my mom, you. You were the only other person who wasn't killed, the only other one who erased off the map." He felt a sudden rage go through him. "WHY SHOULD I BELIEVE YOU DIDN'T HELP HIM KILL EVERYONE?!"
Harumi bit her lip, he was right. It looked really bad from his perspective, it really did seem like she helped Itachi. "Because I wouldn't help kill a god damn clan for no reason! I wouldn't murder dozens of sleeping children and pregnant mothers! I would never help kill the only other family in the clan who treated me with kindness. I swear to you, the only reason I'm not dead is because I ran and had to fight Itachi. The only reason I disappeared was because I didn't want him to find me and finish the job. Sasuke, I would never, ever hurt you! You were like a little brother to me!"
Sasuke gritted his teeth, what she was saying made sense, and he never saw her near Itachi during the massacre, and she was also strong like his big brother. It was overwhelming him, he didn't know what to do. He wanted to keep talking to her, but he had to keep himself in check. I can't react right now.
"Sasuke, are you okay?" Sakura asked, clutching to his arm as she looked at him with worry swirling through her eyes. Harumi's eyes mimicked hers and was about to reach him when Kakashi suddenly appeared behind her and held a kunai to her throat.
"Don't go anywhere near them. Now are you coming willingly or do I have to force you back?" Kakashi watched her carefully. Harumi felt her blood boil, she already told him 'no' and now he was preventing her from going towards Sasuke.
She raised her hands up in what looked like surrender, before sending her head backwards, crashing into Kakashi's nose. She quickly grabbed the hand with the kunai in it and threw him in front of her, kicking his ribs, but holding back a little. He was shocked, her reflexes reminded him of Minato's. She wasn't nearly as fast, but she was still much faster than most others he'd encountered. He realized he'd need to fight, and just as he was about to weave hand signs, a voice interrupted him.
"Kakashi sensei, stop! You don't have to fight her!" Naruto yelled.
"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura. You three need to go, you're not ready for this. The only reason I let you come along was because I didn't know if it was her or not. The fact is that if she wanted to, all three of you would've been dead the moment she stopped dead in her tracks. You aren't ready to fight her, just go to the village and send a message to the leaf that we found her, and request backup from any nearby jonin," Kakashi ordered. "Go, now!"
Her eyes narrowed, he knew. He knew she knew where all the kids were, but didn't order them to retreat right away. Why was that?
"But sensei-" Sakura was interrupted.
"No, he's right. If I wanted to, I could kill all of you right here. But, I'm not exactly going to let you tell Danzo where I am, I can't risk that he still has any contact with him. You probably have no idea what I'm talking about, but you will one day. That being said, I would never hurt kids who were caught up in a fight that wasn't theirs, especially ones I love dearly. So you're going to sit in the trees, and you aren't going to move. When I finish up with your sensei, then we can talk out a solution since he obviously doesn't want to talk," Harumi stated, sending them a warning glance. Kakashi sighed, and got into a fighting position. The alarms in Harumi's head were ringing, why didn't he try and tell them to go? She knew he knew she was stronger, but why was he taking her word that she wouldn't attack them?
Her eyes narrowed down on Sakura, who was looking around with a strong look in her eyes. Harumi felt her heart pumping, something wasn't right. First, Kakashi told her all the charges, which you shouldn't exactly do to an enemy who might retaliate with aggression or try to run. Second, he let kids come with him to chase down a potentially S-rank criminal. Even if it was only a hunch that it was her, he shouldn't have let them come. He stated that he was aware that she could kill all of them, but then why did he let them stay as long as they did? And why on earth would he tell them the plan to get backup in front of her? Unless-
Heads up.
Harumi jumped as high as could into the air, getting a good view of their surroundings.
"Fire Style, Fire Ball jutsu!" she exclaimed before releasing the jutsu to the trees that surrounded the area she was in. She let out a shaky breath when she saw a few dozen ninja jump out of the trees. Oh no. It was a trap, and they were prepared. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw the ninjas from all those years ago, the ones who witnessed Naruto getting hurt and didn't do anything about it. Her eyes widened, it all made sense now. They must've sent Kakashi's squad because it had two people she had connections with in it. They knew she knew Naruto, and must've known that she was very close with Sasuke. They set a trap, and she fell right into it. She could see the doubt swirling in Sasuke's eyes, and the confusion in Naruto's. Her heart ached, the poor boy probably had no idea that he was being used.
What she didn't understand was why she didn't sense them earlier, there were so many of them. Was something dulling her sensory skills? That was impossible. It wasn't bragging to say that her senses were sharper than knives, it was simply a fact. How did she not sense that many ninja? Her head began to hurt and her body began to feel weak, what was going on? She looked to see a small machine next to one of the ninja, it seemed to be letting out a type of gas. Poison? They must have all taken the antidote beforehand so that only she would be affected. They were stalling her, that explained their odd behavior. It explained why Sasuke didn't irrationally attack her, why Kakashi kept the kids there. It explained everything. She had to figure out what to do at that moment.
'Please, dodge, please dodge, please dodge.' Harumi prayed for the kids before weaving the hand signs for a fire Style, Phoenix Flower jutsu. She watched as they began to scatter as she continued to fall from the sky. No no no no, she couldn't have Danzo get her. As the fear spread through her body like a disease with the intent to kill her, she felt chakra she worked too hard and too long to suppress rising.
'No, stop it. I can't control it yet,' Harumi thought.
They'll take you back there.
'No, I can get out of this,' she replied.
When she was met with silence, she knew that she had to keep her word. But it was getting harder as the seconds passed. She had to dodge the attacks of jutsus and weapons being thrown at her. She knew what she had to do, she only wished Sasuke and Naruto wouldn't get caught up in the blow. Her tolerance to poison and adrenaline were keeping her from passing out, but she guessed she had about ten seconds.
"Lightning Style, Lightning Ball!" She released the jutsu as she watched its enormous size wipe out everything within the specific perimeter. As soon as she felt her toes touch the solid ground, she sent almost all her lightning chakra to her feet and dashed out of the forest, not bothering to look back. Hido, Hido, Hido, where is Hido?!
She had five seconds.
She looked at all the food stands she could, where was he?!
Four.
"Hido, where are you?!" yelled Harumi.
Three.
"Hido please! Where are you?!" she yelled again, the desperation clear in her voice.
Two.
Harumi slammed into someone and was about to fall over but they helped steady her. She didn't have time for this! She was about to yank her hand back until she looked up at the person.
One.
"I-Itachi?"
It all went black.
I hope everyone enjoyed today's chapter!
I loved writing it so much, and I can't wait for you guys to meet the Akatsuki!
Please comment and vote.
Sincerely,
Ro.
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