The following day, Koishi learned that the reason Itachi had brought her to his clan's ancestral land was because compared to where she would be training, it was the more comfortable option. As they walked into what she could only describe as a desolate wasteland, a nauseous feeling churned in her gut. The ground was rough and nothing seemed to grow here. In the distance, a rocky outcropping of rocks in front of a few higher peaks told her they were in the foothills of an undisclosed mountain range. Fear coursed through her at the thought of being anywhere near Iwa.
"Don't worry." Itachi's deep voice spoke from behind her right before his large hand came to a rest on her shoulder. "We're southeast of Konoha, not north. Nowhere near your homeland."
Relief coursed through Koishi and she nodded. Without turning to face him, a heavy sigh pulled her shoulders down as she said, "We're here to work on my Rokkudesu, aren't we?"
After a short pause, he asked evenly, "That's what you call it?"
She nodded, a grim look on her face. "It's called that for a reason." She whispered, her hands beginning to shake. "It's extremely lethal; even when the user doesn't have complete control, as you've witnessed."
He had. A flash of the aftermath of the last time he'd seen Koishi wield her jutsu flashed in his mind; the body of her opponent lying in a pool of his own blood on the forest floor, every bone in his body crushed by the blast of rocks that had been sent his way. Itachi himself had felt the impact of it and he'd been thrown fifty yards back by the shockwave. It had been impressive, he had to admit. Even if she didn't want to, Koishi had incredible capabilities. He briefly wondered if even the likes of Shimura Danzo could stand a reasonable chance against her fully realized skills, but the thought vanished from his mind as quickly as it appeared. She didn't want to fight at all and he had long since learned that there was no point in pondering on the what ifs in life.
"Can you walk me through the basics of how you use it?" He asked after a few minutes, glancing out over the landscape as he waited for her reply.
"It's a combination of wind and earth elements." She explained softly. "As the wind is being circulated in a funnel, the user pulls rocks from the ground at the same time. Once one has gained full control, the funnel can be condensed with the chakra infused, and then..." She looked down at the ground, angry tears forming in her eyes. "It explodes outwards. Anyone in the vicinity is torn to shreds."
He listened as she spoke and felt a pang of guilt when he saw tears begin to spill out of her bright blue eyes. He wished he hadn't had to ask, wished more than anything that he wasn't forced to make her do something she'd clearly been reluctant to do for her entire life. It was clear to Itachi more now than ever that her destructive capabilities were a curse to her, and he found that he could relate. Sometimes he wondered how his own life would be if his Sharingan had never awakened.
After she finished explaining the basics of Rokkudesu and how it worked to him, Itachi didn't say anything for several long minutes while he thought through the options he had. He ultimately decided that while he could push Koishi, he couldn't actually spar with her to pull it out of her. His own defensive jutsu were limited in their capacity to actually protect him from something the likes of which she'd described. At the same time, it was clear that, at least for right now, she needed to have it pulled out of her. It left him with one good option.
"You'll spar against clones." He told her after coming up with a strategy that he wasn't entirely comfortable with. He knew for certain that Koishi wouldn't like it, but he decided that warning her what to expect would be counterproductive to what they were doing out here in the first place.
She nodded shortly and didn't say a word as she walked out a fair distance away from him. Itachi watched as she made her way, wondering if perhaps warning her would have been the kind thing to do. Then again, he thought, kindness wouldn't get Koishi where she needed to be.
He created a clone and found a perch on a lone pine tree to watch what was about to unfold. His clone followed Koishi's path and stopped about fifteen yards short of her, standing directly her opposite. She stood there motionless for a moment before taking the stance he'd taught her weeks before. A second later, his clone made the first move in throwing a kunai towards her as a test of her reflexes.
Koishi batted it away easily with the one held defensively in her hand just as he had predicted she would and then made a move of her own. He was surprised to see her sheath the kunai and head straight into using ninjutsu, something she didn't typically do during their sparring matches. It seemed she realized that this wasn't like their previous training sessions. She looked more serious now than he'd seen her look before, more determined. To do what? Itachi thought to himself, watching carefully.
She made a series of hand seals and seconds later Itachi's clone leaped into the air just before the ground opened up below him into a deep pit. He landed to Koishi's left, where he quickly formed the seals for a fireball jutsu that he blew directly at her. She was able to evade and Itachi found himself smiling at her speed. It had greatly improved since their time at the estate.
The two exchanged a series of basic attacks for the next fifteen minutes, neither one of them gaining much ground on the either. Itachi's clone had moved closer to Koishi and he could see by the frown on her dirt-streaked face that she was beginning to get frustrated at their apparent stalemate. So too was the clone, and he decided to take it up a notch. Itachi closed his eyes, knowing that what happened next was going to upset her. He told himself that it was for her own good; that he needed to test what he'd suspected the first time he'd ever seen her use her kekkei genkai, but that didn't make Itachi feel any better as he listened to his clone begin to goad her with words.
"Why are you holding back?" The clone called to her as they exchanged a series of shuriken and kunai before he quickly sent another fireball at her. Itachi could see the way her jaw clenched as she created an mud wall before jumping to the top of it, giving herself a height advantage.
"I'm not!" She angrily responded, her voice loud enough to echo off the nearby cliffs. As if to prove her point, she made another series of hand seals and seconds later, the clone version of himself was put on the defensive as sharp spears shot from the mud wall at him. Itachi watched as his clone burst into a murder of crows just before he would have been hit.
He almost felt bad when he saw a flash of the same fear on Koishi's face the moment his clone re-materialized next to her on top of the mud wall, inches away from her and the closest they had been since the start of their spar. Itachi forced himself not to interfere; she knew he would never truly hurt her, even if she was smart enough to fear it.
"Look at me." The clone demanded in a stern tone. Itachi knew this was to be the defining moment of the spar, the moment he'd been dreading since coming up with this strategy. He told himself it was what Koishi needed and braced himself for what was coming, hoping that she'd find a way to forgive him for what the clone Itachi was about to do.
He watched as Koishi made the same mistake so many shinobi before her had made; a mistake that would potentially cost the friendship he had built with her. When she looked directly into the clone's face, forgetting for a split second where they were and what they were doing, Itachi watched as her eyes widened when they became fixed on his.
Koishi had seen his Sharingan before and he'd given her a basic understanding of how they worked, but he hadn't told her everything he was capable of. She was trapped the second she looked at the clone and he watched as she dropped to her knees a second later while his clone used Tsukuyomi on her. Itachi's jaw clenched as he fought the instinct to run to her, telling himself that this was what she needed to use her own kekkei genkai.
His clone didn't torture her in the same way that he'd done to others in the past. He instead recreated her most painful memory and made her relive the moment her uncle had forced her to kill her best friend over and over again, all the while using cruel taunts and words that were intended to fuel the rage he knew was boiling inside of her.
It lasted only seconds, but it was enough. When the clone released her from Tsukuyomi, Itachi watched carefully as she stayed on her knees for a few minutes, her dark hair hanging around her face and hiding her expression from him. He could see, though, that his plan had worked. Her body was shaking; not from fear but rather from anger. Itachi could see it in the way her hands were clenched tightly into fists and heard it in the guttural scream she let out.
When she finally did look up, she turned to face him in the tree rather than the clone and Itachi felt an ache in his chest when he saw the amount of hurt and betrayal in her wide, teary blue eyes. "Why?" She screamed at him, narrowing her eyes as she slammed one fist into the ground before immediately pulling it into her hand and whimpering from the force of it.
He wanted to stop the spar right then and there, tell her that he'd made a mistake and pushed her too far. But Itachi didn't do any of that because despite the very real feelings of friendship and comradeship that had developed between them, Koishi was still his mission. He hated it; loathed himself for it, even, but he would not fail his mission. She needed to harness her abilities, and he had to be the one to bring it out of her.
"Stop talking." The clone told her, and her head spun to face him with pure hate in her eyes. The clone continued taunting her, saying, "You're still that same weak-"
Koishi's fist slammed into the clone's mouth as she moved shakily to her feet, her eyes narrowed. "Shut up!" She hissed, assaulting him again, and then again with her fists before the clone Itachi jumped back from her, creating some distance.
"Do you think your friend would be proud of you?" The clone sneered at her as he stood still a few yards away. "That she'd be happy to have died in vain? You can't control the very thing you were made to kill her with, Koishi. She died for nothing!"
It was the push she'd needed. Itachi watched with his Sharingan eyes activated as she began to control the wind, circulating it around herself just as he'd seen her do before. This time, he paid close attention to her hands and realized that she was making subtle movements with her fingers to direct the flow of air. Next, her chakra began to infuse itself into the cyclone.
Her eyes were closed this time, and Itachi also noticed that she had stopped shaking. This was the determination he had seen in her earlier. Koishi had found her resolve, it seemed. A moment later, she began lifting her fingers, bringing up loose, small rocks from the ground that got caught up in the wind. It wasn't erratic as it had been the last time he'd seen her wield Rokkudesu, but the outer edges of the tornadic funnel let him know it wasn't fully under her control.
"What do you know?!" She cried, finally lifting her head so that he could see the expression on her face. It broke his own resolve, seeing the mixture of anguish and betrayal reflected in her blue eyes. Tears streaked down her cheeks, wetting the dust that had settled on her skin as she let out another shrieking cry before continuing, "I hate you for this, Crow! I hate you!"
Koishi's words stung worse than any injury Itachi had ever had inflicted upon him before, and he realized too late that perhaps this had been pushing her too far, too fast after all. Danzo might be impatient, but his first objective of his mission regarding the girl from Iwa had been to befriend her.
Itachi didn't have time to think any further on his regret as he felt the energy in the area shift. His clone felt it too and retreated farther back. The Uchiha had barely leaped from the pine tree when his eyes noticed the tight ball of chakra in the center of Koishi's rock storm beginning to erratically discharge wisps of itself away from her, sending smaller bits of rock out with it and launching them like small bits of shrapnel.
Itachi jumped at the exact moment he needed to in order to avoid the blast that was coming. He felt the rush of air just before hearing the loud boom that let him know the jutsu was completed. Once again, he was caught by flying rocks that sliced through his arms and the backs of his legs as he moved back. A rush of first-person memories of the battle that had just taken place rushed into his mind and he knew his clone had been caught up in the blast.
Seeing the betrayal on her face close up in those memories made his chest ache. He had anticipated her pain and had expected her to be angry at him for what he'd done. But betrayal? Itachi hadn't counted on her feeling that particular emotion. He hadn't counted on feeling so helpless at the potential loss of her friendship, either. He had to find a way to fix this.
Three Days Later
It had been three days and Koishi still hadn't spoken to Itachi. She seemed to understand that her training could not stop simply because of how she was feeling, though Itachi certainly wished it could. They would eat a silent breakfast each morning before returning to the Pit, where she would silently spar with a clone version of himself. She used Rokkudesu each day, never getting any more control over it than she had exhibited in the first spar.
It was more precise than his first experience seeing it back at the estate, but it took her quite awhile to work up to it and using it always seemed to leave her completely drained. He determined that, at least for now, the most she'd be capable of using it would be once a day - not nearly what Danzo was expecting, even despite its enormous destructive capabilities. He worried about what that might mean for Koishi down the road if she weren't able to produce more for her diabolical captor.
Itachi had never intended for his Tsukuyomi to actually inflict this level of pain on her, but whatever scenario Danzo might manufacture to bring Rokkudesu to fruition certainly would be intended to create maximum pain for her, if that was what it took. And it seemed to Itachi that pain and anger were exactly what it took for her to wield her bloodline limit. He understood then that her uncle must have known the same thing when he'd forced Koishi to kill her best friend that awful day.
They were eating breakfast without speaking again this morning and as Itachi watched the way the sullen girl picked at her food, he decided that there would be no training today. Koishi may hate him, but he didn't feel the same way about her. She was still his friend, and he was determined to make her smile again by the end of the day.
When she was finished and had started walking towards the door as she had every morning since she'd arrived, he cleared his throat and she stopped just as her hand had grabbed the door knob. She waited for him to speak without turning to look at him.
"I thought we'd take the day off today." Itachi told her quietly as he carried his plate to the small tub he would wash them in later. When she didn't offer her opinion on his suggestion, he continued, "There's a river nearby, and I figured you'd enjoy a swim."
He watched the way her hands curled into fists at her side. A moment later, she replied bitterly, "There's no time for that, Crow. I'm supposed to be training, and you've made it abundantly clear that's all you care about. I'm going to the Pit."
It was the first thing she'd said to him since professing her hate for him and she said nothing else before pulling the door open and walking outside. He watched through the window as she stormed across the yard towards the desolate training grounds that he was beginning to loathe. She still wouldn't look at him. She still wouldn't say his name. Had he broken their bond beyond repair?
-x-
That night, Itachi sent a clone out to hunt a few rabbits for dinner while Koishi closed herself off in the room she'd claimed for herself after they returned from a day of training at the Pit. He had watched her push herself to her very limits today and she'd made her frustration at the lack of progress apparent in the way she'd punched a boulder without thinking about the ramifications of her action. It had resulted in a broken wrist and Koishi had been forced to let him close enough to set the splint to prevent the injury from becoming more serious.
She had flinched every time his skin came into direct contact with hers as Itachi had carefully wrapped bandages around the splint to keep her wrist straight. She wouldn't look at him, either; something he found hurt almost as much as her words had. Itachi missed seeing the bright smile on her face, the light in her eyes when she'd look up at him. He wondered if that version of Koishi was gone forever, another casualty in the wake of people he'd hurt in the past.
He hissed in pain as the hunter's blade he'd been using to skin one of the rabbits nicked his thumb at the thought of having permanently broken the very quality he'd admired most in the blue-eyed girl who'd somehow become a true friend to him. She'd found a way into a heart he'd truly thought was too shattered to care anymore.
Itachi sighed, setting the rabbit aside to tend to the cut. He had just finished wrapping it when he heard the front door of the house creak open before clicking shut and he looked up to find Koishi walking across the dewy grass towards the campfire he'd built to cook their dinner over. She took her place on the log opposite him, her eyes cast away while she pulled the blanket around her shoulders more tightly around herself.
"I'm making stew. It should warm you up, if you're cold." Itachi murmured softly as he went back to skinning the animal. She didn't say anything, but he hadn't really expected her to. He frowned, trying his best to concentrate on making their dinner rather than the hurt he felt at the fact that Koishi couldn't even bring herself to look at him. Was her trust in him truly that broken?
An hour later, they were both eating a hearty rabbit stew under a clear night sky while a cool breeze wafted around them. Itachi watched Koishi as she ate, feeling mild satisfaction at the way she discreetly added a second ladle of the meal into her bowl when she thought he wasn't looking. It gave him hope that perhaps there was a way to mend their friendship, after all. She was clearly still angry, but not enough so that she was willing to stop eating the food he provided. He began to formulate a plan in the back of his mind, a small smile on his face as he finished his second bowl of stew. He could fix this, he just needed a little bit of help. Luckily for him, he had just the right person in mind and her broken wrist gave him the perfect excuse to reach out.
Two Days Later
Two days later, they were sitting at the table inside the abandoned farmhouse when a flash of movement outside the window caught Koishi's attention and Itachi smiled, knowing that the letter he'd sent back to Konoha had reached its intended recipient. He watched the way her body tensed, clearly remembering the ambush at the estate and Itachi frowned. He should have thought through this better, perhaps; maybe he shouldn't have sprung a surprise on her, after all. Before thinking better of it, he reached across the table and placed his hand over her undamaged one.
"It's a friend," Itachi tried to reassure her, a half-smile on his face as he looked at her. He hadn't given up trying to bridge the distance he'd created between them over half a week ago. She didn't jerk her hand away, but didn't say anything in response either as she glared down at the floor, deliberately keeping her eyes from meeting his.
A moment later, she stood and turned to walk towards the stairs that would take her up to her room. Under her breath, quietly enough that Itachi was sure he wasn't meant to hear her, she said, "I don't have friends anymore."
She began walking up the stairs and had disappeared from view just as the front door to the house swung open to reveal a girl about his age with excited dark eyes and a wide smile. Itachi returned the girl's smile, glad to see that she'd come as he'd requested.
"Izumi," he greeted her as he stood up. "I'm glad to see you."
She waved him off, glancing around the kitchen curiously before giving him a confused look. "I thought you said she was here - that girl you've been spending all your time with. Well? Where is she?" His friend asked, hands on her hips as she waited for him to answer her question.
Itachi's smile turned into a frown and he pinched the bridge of his nose with a small sigh. "She's upstairs." He told Izumi, the look on his face causing her excitement to fall. She gave him a worried glance as she placed the basket she'd brought with her on the table.
"What did you do, Itachi?"
He told her everything from the beginning, leaving out only the part about Danzo having had his team sabotage Team Ro in order to retrieve Koishi. He explained why the old man was interested in her in the first place. Izumi's eyes widened in horror when he walked her through Koishi's bloodline limits and the disastrous first time he'd witnessed it for himself. And when Itachi told his friend the worst of it - what his own kekkei genkai had inflicted upon her, the cruel things he'd done and said five days prior, she slapped him.
He was dumbfounded by the action and blinked slowly as he rubbed at the red mark left behind on his cheek. He had anticipated Izumi's anger, but just like with Koishi, he hadn't anticipated such a harsh reaction. When she saw the confused expression on his face, Izumi let out an exasperated sigh.
"For such a genius, Itachi, you sure are dumb sometimes." His friend told him bluntly, hands on her hips as she stood across from him. "You really have no clue why she's so mad at you she can't even look at you? Really?"
"I know I shouldn't have -" Itachi started to defend himself before he stopped, his shoulders slouching. There was no defense for what he had done and said to Koishi, and he knew it. "How do I fix it, Izumi?" He asked her, his tone quiet as he looked up at her.
Her features softened and the anger melted from Izumi's black eyes, replaced with something that made Itachi shift uncomfortably on his feet. He recognized it as pity, something he was tired of seeing in people's eyes when they looked at him. She gave him a weak smile, reaching over to give his arm a gentle squeeze.
"You don't." She answered him simply. "Look, Itachi, I'm not going to lie to you. You really fucked up. You made that poor girl relive the worst moment of her life over and over again. You said awful things that she isn't going to just get over. Have you ever apologized for any of it?"
The way he looked away was answer enough. "Sorry won't fix it." He shook his head, knowing that it wouldn't be enough. His friend nodded, folding her arms across her chest.
"No, it won't." Izumi agreed. "But it will show her that you understand it wasn't right. After you apologize, give her space. She'll come to you when she's ready."
She began moving towards the staircase after grabbing the basket off the table and Itachi arched his eyebrow. "What are you doing?"
Izumi flashed a wide smile at him, the excitement shining in her eyes again. " I'm going to meet her. She isn't mad at me, after all."