In Anamnesis [Night, the First]
title: In Anamnesis
chapter I. Night, the First.
characters/pairings: Uchiha Itachi, Yuuhi Kurenai. ItaKure
rating: M
summary: In victory, the soul is glorified. In freedom, the soul is sanctified. In memory, the soul is stolen. In the presence of the one who recogonises it truly, the soul is purified.
notes: Kurenai's name\ means 'Crimson Evening Sun' I've used it symbollically, however now its just Red Sun.
standard disclaimer applies
edit1 for spelling/grammar/awkward sentance structure.
--
Winter stands upon the shore. It's quiet, he thinks. But the Red Sun in sinking. Perhaps a great battle has been fought?
Or rather, is one about to commence? You must not linger on the past, he thinks once more, only on how to mold the future. So he stares at the Red Sun, splendid with its certainty and how it knows it will rise again, and he pities the Sun, shades from pink to blood red to so dark it might be black and the clouds are her hair, in the same pattern -- but she does not know, safe and warm in her cycle, in her patterns and in her being.
"Winter" sighs the Red Sun like a morning breeze "Winter? Why do you cry so?"
But Winter had no answers, because he had melted as he was due under the Blood Red Sun.
---
The mission was simple in its goal, but dangerous in its execution. It required three days surveillance, four of her strongest illusions as round the clock traps and very little sleep.
The mission? Keep the enemies out of the compound. They didn't know why, they just did it. That was what it meant to be shinobi.
She was sitting seperate from her comrades, being female had that sort of effect in a team of men. It was also sort of out of respect, she was on the toughest strain at night, her concentration all poured into the traps. So against the wall she sat, somewhat slouched as she held herself together.
They were the sort of illusion that she kept running even in her sleep, it was taxing on her chakra, but she held it firmly, glad that it was only three days, she probably couldn't hold it a day longer.
Instead she went over the basic mediation's, felt around her, moulded her chakra again and again, her fingers going through hand signs.
"You do that often."
Her eyes snapped open -- and there was her team leader, Uchiha Itachi ...so young.
"It... helps me."
"I noticed, you move your chakra through your body slowly, with each hand sign, holding it in a specific place for a specific sign. Does it have some sort of purpose?"
She blinked. "Must it?"
"If it didn't, it would be a pointless exercise."
She tilted her head to the side. "You think that do you? Ah well, no it doesn't have a purpose, now that you ask, apart from keeping chakra pathways open, perhaps it helps me call Chakra faster, should the need arise." she sighed. "And it keeps my mind alert for the length of my shift."
"Perhaps?"
"Perhaps."
They looked at each other, she was inclined to smile at him, but didn't. It'd be a waste, such a waste of happiness on such a blank face.
--
Kurenai let her traps drop for one moment, twice a day. And that was when she went from asleep to awake and awake to sleep. In those few seconds of between states, all control dropped, but not so far that she couldn't call it back easily. He felt it, it was fairly obvious, the chakra emitting from her slide like two blocks of ice falling off each other like they did in the land of Snow.
Itachi was fascinated with it, she was no where near his leage, after all she was twenty-three and still a Chuunin, despite taking Jounin level missions... he wondered why.
It was in the minute, when she was falling apart and then came back together, and she interacted with the other members of the team, but rarely with him, and that was alright, very few did.
Most men knew about Kurenai Yuuhi. She was never in the village for very long, constantly being called away on solo missions. Her illusions were... special, it was said. Different to his, they lured, and where not vicious like his. He smirked, she seemed the luring type. Or at least most men wanted to be lured by her.
It was, however, Itachi's first time working with Kurenai. The team was specialised for survelance and defense. A Abruame having his bugs doing what they did best, and a branch house Hyuuga. Eyes ready as soon as Yuuhi or Abruame gave word.
Itachi paced through the empty corridors. The place was deserted, but apparently an attack was possible and apparently imminent. Itachi wondered what had happened to the guards, and what they had been guarding. As he turned a corner, a swarm of bugs buzzed around his face, the sign that movement had been sensed.
Going straight back to the room that was his base, Kurenai eyes were wide open and alert, hand already at her kunai pouch. The Hyuuga was staring through the walls. His eye brows shot up. "Its... a child."
"What?" hissed the Abruame.
"A child, a little girl, she's crying -- she seems no threat, I can't see anything above a normal civilians amount of chakra, pathways are barely used. There doesn't appear to be anyone else following?"
Kurenai and the Abruame nodded, neither had anything tripped. The Hyuuga nodded. "Then she is at the main entrance."
"Alright then, Kurenai-san, come with me."
"Hai, Captain." Kurenai fell into step behind Itachi. They reached the main entrance, Itachi first assessing the entrance with his Sharingan, then nodding to Kurenai, who stepped through first, spotting the girl immediately, her white dress was streaked with dirt, hair knotted and sniffling miserably, as Hyuuga had said.
Itachi somewhere behind her, the girls eyes were riveted on him, Kurenai knelt a meter away from her. "Where is your family, child?"
The girl mumbled, she was biting onto her sleeve end. "Caravan, with my Kaa-chan. It... um, some men came, they took her away and... she told me to run so I did." the little girl began sobbing again. Kurenai grimaced. Dropped her head and sighed. The little girls tiny hicking sobs echoed in the dark forest, the old wood amplified it. Kurenai opened her arms. "Come here child."
The little girls eyes got hopeful and wide. She stumbled and tripped, so visibly exhausted Kurenai cringed and wondered why exactly she wasn't dead already.
It was then that when she wrapped her arms around the child to lift her, and felt the sticky warmth on her hand that she realised. She was just dead and walking. The blood loss was slow, but consistent, and it wasn't clotting.
Fragile things didn't last out here.
The wound was deep and whilst the thick clothes she wore had stopped it somewhat, the tremble in her body was obvious enough. She turned back to Itachi, whom she guessed, probably already knew about the wound.
"Lets keep her safe for the last,"
Itachi nodded. "Just for the last. Just for the child."
--
Kurenai did what she could for the child, she brushed her hair, cleaned her face up, gave her a clean shirt, black cloth and mesh as was fitting, straining under the effort of keeping the girl happy and running her traps. Mission first, death second.
She brushed the girls hair, plaited it, so as her fever got stronger it wouldn't stick in her face. Kurenai let her hold hand as she fell in and out of consciousness. In a odd display, Abruame summoned a butterfly and it landed on the girls arm, who fluttered her eyes open enough to stare at it smile and dropped back.
It seemed to Kurenai, that as the child got closer, she aged, her life was shorter now then most, so it was making up for everything it would never be. In the bare light, it seems as though wrinkles formed under her eyes and her skin sagged and lost its colour, a girl, a child, become older then Kurenai had even known a single person to look.
The girl began to mumble incoherently, and Itachi stood beside her shoulder. "Not long now." Kurenai murmured to him, the words slipped out of her mouth, not that anyone really needed to know it.
"Not long at all. At least she think she's loved."
"She is?"
"She's very much loved -- her mother loved her, still loves her, where ever she is." Kurenai lifted the girl's hand to press a kiss to her knuckles.
"But she is not there to recieve it."
"It doesn't matter -- there is still someone that loves her."
"But that would be assuming, how do you know if its true?"
"You don't, you take some things on faith, like that your mother loves you."
Itachi paused, Kurenai was not even looking at him, barely addressing him, one hand held the girls hand and the other was pressed against her face, thumb under he neck to feel her pulse.
"You take that sort of thing in faith?"
Kurenai cast him a look. "Yes, Uchiha-san, a mothers love is always given, without thinking, its a debt no child can comprehend until they have children of their own."
Kurenai wasn't looking at him again, she was caught she was looking at the girl, the child, frail and needing of a mother's love. She lent down and pressed a kiss to the girls temple. "Your Mama loves you." she murmured.
The girl stopped breathing.
It had only been two hours.
"Love doesn't save you though," he observed, when the grave had been dug and the girl lowered.
Kurenai cast a glance. "No it doesn't, no one ever said it did. It's just a way to feel alive."
"Ah." Itachi looked at the grave, "Just safe, until the end?"
"Yes, it supposed to keep your heart safe, to consoul you." She shook her head. "No one ever said it would save you."
"Has it ever saved you, Yuuhi-san?"
Kurenai didn't answer, she turned and went back into their base.
--
As night came again, Winter crackled against tree branches and waited for the Red Sun's return, so he could melt once more.
--
chapter I. Night, the First.
characters/pairings: Uchiha Itachi, Yuuhi Kurenai. ItaKure
rating: M
summary: In victory, the soul is glorified. In freedom, the soul is sanctified. In memory, the soul is stolen. In the presence of the one who recogonises it truly, the soul is purified.
notes: Kurenai's name\ means 'Crimson Evening Sun' I've used it symbollically, however now its just Red Sun.
standard disclaimer applies
edit1 for spelling/grammar/awkward sentance structure.
--
Winter stands upon the shore. It's quiet, he thinks. But the Red Sun in sinking. Perhaps a great battle has been fought?
Or rather, is one about to commence? You must not linger on the past, he thinks once more, only on how to mold the future. So he stares at the Red Sun, splendid with its certainty and how it knows it will rise again, and he pities the Sun, shades from pink to blood red to so dark it might be black and the clouds are her hair, in the same pattern -- but she does not know, safe and warm in her cycle, in her patterns and in her being.
"Winter" sighs the Red Sun like a morning breeze "Winter? Why do you cry so?"
But Winter had no answers, because he had melted as he was due under the Blood Red Sun.
---
The mission was simple in its goal, but dangerous in its execution. It required three days surveillance, four of her strongest illusions as round the clock traps and very little sleep.
The mission? Keep the enemies out of the compound. They didn't know why, they just did it. That was what it meant to be shinobi.
She was sitting seperate from her comrades, being female had that sort of effect in a team of men. It was also sort of out of respect, she was on the toughest strain at night, her concentration all poured into the traps. So against the wall she sat, somewhat slouched as she held herself together.
They were the sort of illusion that she kept running even in her sleep, it was taxing on her chakra, but she held it firmly, glad that it was only three days, she probably couldn't hold it a day longer.
Instead she went over the basic mediation's, felt around her, moulded her chakra again and again, her fingers going through hand signs.
"You do that often."
Her eyes snapped open -- and there was her team leader, Uchiha Itachi ...so young.
"It... helps me."
"I noticed, you move your chakra through your body slowly, with each hand sign, holding it in a specific place for a specific sign. Does it have some sort of purpose?"
She blinked. "Must it?"
"If it didn't, it would be a pointless exercise."
She tilted her head to the side. "You think that do you? Ah well, no it doesn't have a purpose, now that you ask, apart from keeping chakra pathways open, perhaps it helps me call Chakra faster, should the need arise." she sighed. "And it keeps my mind alert for the length of my shift."
"Perhaps?"
"Perhaps."
They looked at each other, she was inclined to smile at him, but didn't. It'd be a waste, such a waste of happiness on such a blank face.
--
Kurenai let her traps drop for one moment, twice a day. And that was when she went from asleep to awake and awake to sleep. In those few seconds of between states, all control dropped, but not so far that she couldn't call it back easily. He felt it, it was fairly obvious, the chakra emitting from her slide like two blocks of ice falling off each other like they did in the land of Snow.
Itachi was fascinated with it, she was no where near his leage, after all she was twenty-three and still a Chuunin, despite taking Jounin level missions... he wondered why.
It was in the minute, when she was falling apart and then came back together, and she interacted with the other members of the team, but rarely with him, and that was alright, very few did.
Most men knew about Kurenai Yuuhi. She was never in the village for very long, constantly being called away on solo missions. Her illusions were... special, it was said. Different to his, they lured, and where not vicious like his. He smirked, she seemed the luring type. Or at least most men wanted to be lured by her.
It was, however, Itachi's first time working with Kurenai. The team was specialised for survelance and defense. A Abruame having his bugs doing what they did best, and a branch house Hyuuga. Eyes ready as soon as Yuuhi or Abruame gave word.
Itachi paced through the empty corridors. The place was deserted, but apparently an attack was possible and apparently imminent. Itachi wondered what had happened to the guards, and what they had been guarding. As he turned a corner, a swarm of bugs buzzed around his face, the sign that movement had been sensed.
Going straight back to the room that was his base, Kurenai eyes were wide open and alert, hand already at her kunai pouch. The Hyuuga was staring through the walls. His eye brows shot up. "Its... a child."
"What?" hissed the Abruame.
"A child, a little girl, she's crying -- she seems no threat, I can't see anything above a normal civilians amount of chakra, pathways are barely used. There doesn't appear to be anyone else following?"
Kurenai and the Abruame nodded, neither had anything tripped. The Hyuuga nodded. "Then she is at the main entrance."
"Alright then, Kurenai-san, come with me."
"Hai, Captain." Kurenai fell into step behind Itachi. They reached the main entrance, Itachi first assessing the entrance with his Sharingan, then nodding to Kurenai, who stepped through first, spotting the girl immediately, her white dress was streaked with dirt, hair knotted and sniffling miserably, as Hyuuga had said.
Itachi somewhere behind her, the girls eyes were riveted on him, Kurenai knelt a meter away from her. "Where is your family, child?"
The girl mumbled, she was biting onto her sleeve end. "Caravan, with my Kaa-chan. It... um, some men came, they took her away and... she told me to run so I did." the little girl began sobbing again. Kurenai grimaced. Dropped her head and sighed. The little girls tiny hicking sobs echoed in the dark forest, the old wood amplified it. Kurenai opened her arms. "Come here child."
The little girls eyes got hopeful and wide. She stumbled and tripped, so visibly exhausted Kurenai cringed and wondered why exactly she wasn't dead already.
It was then that when she wrapped her arms around the child to lift her, and felt the sticky warmth on her hand that she realised. She was just dead and walking. The blood loss was slow, but consistent, and it wasn't clotting.
Fragile things didn't last out here.
The wound was deep and whilst the thick clothes she wore had stopped it somewhat, the tremble in her body was obvious enough. She turned back to Itachi, whom she guessed, probably already knew about the wound.
"Lets keep her safe for the last,"
Itachi nodded. "Just for the last. Just for the child."
--
Kurenai did what she could for the child, she brushed her hair, cleaned her face up, gave her a clean shirt, black cloth and mesh as was fitting, straining under the effort of keeping the girl happy and running her traps. Mission first, death second.
She brushed the girls hair, plaited it, so as her fever got stronger it wouldn't stick in her face. Kurenai let her hold hand as she fell in and out of consciousness. In a odd display, Abruame summoned a butterfly and it landed on the girls arm, who fluttered her eyes open enough to stare at it smile and dropped back.
It seemed to Kurenai, that as the child got closer, she aged, her life was shorter now then most, so it was making up for everything it would never be. In the bare light, it seems as though wrinkles formed under her eyes and her skin sagged and lost its colour, a girl, a child, become older then Kurenai had even known a single person to look.
The girl began to mumble incoherently, and Itachi stood beside her shoulder. "Not long now." Kurenai murmured to him, the words slipped out of her mouth, not that anyone really needed to know it.
"Not long at all. At least she think she's loved."
"She is?"
"She's very much loved -- her mother loved her, still loves her, where ever she is." Kurenai lifted the girl's hand to press a kiss to her knuckles.
"But she is not there to recieve it."
"It doesn't matter -- there is still someone that loves her."
"But that would be assuming, how do you know if its true?"
"You don't, you take some things on faith, like that your mother loves you."
Itachi paused, Kurenai was not even looking at him, barely addressing him, one hand held the girls hand and the other was pressed against her face, thumb under he neck to feel her pulse.
"You take that sort of thing in faith?"
Kurenai cast him a look. "Yes, Uchiha-san, a mothers love is always given, without thinking, its a debt no child can comprehend until they have children of their own."
Kurenai wasn't looking at him again, she was caught she was looking at the girl, the child, frail and needing of a mother's love. She lent down and pressed a kiss to the girls temple. "Your Mama loves you." she murmured.
The girl stopped breathing.
It had only been two hours.
"Love doesn't save you though," he observed, when the grave had been dug and the girl lowered.
Kurenai cast a glance. "No it doesn't, no one ever said it did. It's just a way to feel alive."
"Ah." Itachi looked at the grave, "Just safe, until the end?"
"Yes, it supposed to keep your heart safe, to consoul you." She shook her head. "No one ever said it would save you."
"Has it ever saved you, Yuuhi-san?"
Kurenai didn't answer, she turned and went back into their base.
--
As night came again, Winter crackled against tree branches and waited for the Red Sun's return, so he could melt once more.
--