Chapter Eleven
Glimpses of Darkness
Author: shattered-words
Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, it’d be called ‘Gaara’. So, isn’t it a shame that I don’t own it? (The verse belongs to M.e.Tello)
Summary: The Kakurezato are on the brink of war and certain events leave several lives hanging in the balance. Meanwhile, what’s the fire wielder’s fate, and who is the deadly Oto Oinin that has suddenly appeared? (AU, Sequel of "Glimpses of Fire")
AN: Happy Birthday to me and to Toshiya on March 31, 2008. There is not much I want to say, but only that I loved this chapter a lot. Thanks to Dina, my beta reader. She rocks as always.
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She searches for the truth,
clinging with desperate hands to hope.
In this world full of lies,
she tries, and still she cries.
Where our nightmares are revealed,
waiting in the dark of night.
To consume our hearts and minds,
and show us the despair inside.
~*~*~*~*~*~ Chapter Eleven: Disastrous Reunion ~*~*~*~*~*~
Amane cursed for the second time that night as she knocked the other girl away from the door. The Hunter, meanwhile, watched apprehensively from the other side of the room. Although, she couldn't tell what he was thinking, she could see that his muscles were taunt and he appeared to be ready to pounce if the situation turned ugly.
The wind user could honestly say that she had no idea how it was going to turn out. She wasn't taking the news too well herself, but she had enough self-restraint to control her actions and at the moment, storming the Council room wasn't in their best interests. It was almost certain that the status of Arisa wouldn't be announced right away because it would slow progress since they still hadn't decided on a Kazekage.
That meant that those within the council would find out that they had a source on the inside, and while the kunoichi didn’t know whom it was, she certainly didn’t want anyone else to find out. So, in order for their secret to remain thus, she had to control the enraged Iwane.
She prayed the other girl would forgive her and she closed her eyes as her comrade made for the door again. Her figure faded from in front of Iwane, and the next second she was sprawled on the floor. Amane winced as she heard her friend’s head connect with the wood.
Now she turned her glare on the Oinin and she saw his head tilt, and could almost swear he was giving her a sheepish smile. She wanted to inflict pain on him but also knew this was an unwise decision. "Until Sabaku-san is made Kazekage, we will not be able to search for Eizan-sama openly," she told him, to which he nodded.
Harukaze brought a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, remembered he still wore the mask and sighed as he let his arm drop back to his side. "Hai, I know." He knew he should leave to get some rest since he had a mission tomorrow morning, but he felt the need to stay. He glanced at Iwane’s unconscious figure and glanced at her. "Would you like some help?"
The Itagaki smirked but shook her head. "Iie, there is no need to trouble yourself. Kamawanai de kudasai," she responded politely.
Aiko grinned beneath his mask as she told him in no uncertain terms to leave. Although she had said it nicely enough, he knew that she’d forget her manners if he insisted on staying. "Aa, Wakarimashita," he muttered. He turned and let her lead him to the door. "I have a mission. Ashta tachi-mass."
He bowed slightly to her and she returned the gesture. "Nan-paku dess ka?" She opened the door so he could step outside.
"Shirimasen," he admitted as he stepped into the hallway. It was blissfully empty and he was glad since he didn’t want to explain his presence at the kunoichi’s apartment. "Mo ikanakereba nari-masen."
Amane nodded and inclined her head. "Ki o ts’kete. Konbanwa."
"Kochira koso. Konbanwa, Itagaki-san." She closed the door, having seen him disappear as if he’d never been there. Amane found herself falling against the door on her knees, clenching her eyes shut as she took in deep breaths.
She pressed her flushed features against the cool surface of the wood, wishing with all her might that she could inflict pain on something. "It isn’t fair," she whispered. Then again, no one had ever said that a shinobi’s life was fair or easy.
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The girl gasped sharply when she awakened and her feverish eyes snapped open as they searched the room. He knew who she was searching for but said nothing as he moved toward the cot. She turned her panicked gaze on him but he made sure not to move too fast lest she perceive him as a threat. He held the bowl of water out in front of him to show that he only wished to change the compress that had been on her forehead, which had fallen into her lap when she had sat up.
She swallowed and winced, but he could understand since her throat was sure to be completely dry. He set the bowl of cold water aside and picked up the water canteen he had at her bed side at the same time he sat down on the chair besides her. The female tried to get it by herself but it slipped from her injured, stiff fingers and into her lap. She tried several times to pick it up with the same results before she frowned and threw him a helpless look.
The Hunter had the urge to chuckle at the sight she made but stifled it and reached out for the canteen. He brought it to her mouth and tipped it so the water would flow into her mouth. Her throat muscles shifted as she drank and she lifted her chin when her thirst had been sated.
Hitori replaced the canteen and gently nudged her back against the pillow on the cot. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing to lie on, but it was the only thing he had. So, he resigned himself and removed the old compress and fished out the new one from the bowl with a gloved hand. He strained the water from it and then placed the damp cloth on her forehead.
All the while, her eyes watched him carefully, and he knew that in her feverish state, she wouldn’t recognize him. He might have henged into a familiar figure if he knew anything about her, but he didn’t even know her name. Also, he had no idea why he was going through all this trouble for her.
"What’s your name?" her hoarse voice shook him from his thoughts, but gave no outside indication of this. She was regarding him with calculating eyes that had dimmed even more with their crimson edges, but there was still quite a bit of black left.
The Oinin tilted his head to the side as she asked that and didn’t quite know what to answer. Of course he knew his title, Hitori no Tate, but his name? He frowned and tried to think of a time before his obligation and loyalty to his master, but there was only a despairing darkness that answered his thoughts.
He opened his mouth to answer and didn’t remember the last time he had spoken. There was no need for him to ever speak, only follow commands. His master’s will was the only thing he knew and everything else was unimportant. "I...do not have a name," he finally spoke, voice croaky and unused.
She frowned at his response, her eyes softening as she reached out a tentative hand toward him. "That’s sad," she muttered. He took her smaller hand in his gloved one and her fingers closed over his. "What do I call you then?"
Hitori inclined his head in thought, not sure what to answer her. No one was supposed to know his name or his existence. He was a nameless shadow that protected and served his master, and when his use was spent, he would cease to exist. So, he had no way of answering this strange girl that wanted to know his name.
"Shirimasen," he admitted to her. She was a strange creature that had him thinking more then he had ever done before. He could honestly say that he didn’t just want to cease to exist if she was around. He wanted to protect her. "What...do you think?"
Her face wrinkled in thought before she turned to him with a smile. "Let me see your face, and then I’ll know." She seemed so sure but he hesitated. He knew she didn’t remember their first encounters, since she was still feverish, and wondered if she’d react the same way.
The pleading look on her face as he shook his head made his resolve waver and he almost sighed. He slowly reached up to the leather strings that kept his mask in place and undid the tight knot as they fell around the mask, one gloved hand holding it in place. Once more, he hesitated but she urged him to take it off.
His hand fell away, pulling the mask with it and he turned dead eyes to look at her. He saw it in her blood rimmed orbs first and then the smile faded from her mouth as she shook her head. "Iie," she whispered. Then she was screaming and he rushed forward to hold her down or she’d hurt herself.
She was saying something as she thrashed violently against him and it took him a moment to register what her words were. "Onryou! You’re not real! NO!" She was crying again as tears ran down her face and he quickly pushed a pressure point in her neck. Her screaming abruptly stopped as she went limp.
He pulled the covers to her chin and replaced the compress as he attended to her. All the while, Hitori couldn’t stop his hands from shaking.
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Iwane’s first sight as she opened her eyes was the darkened heavens through her skylight which had been left open, and she tried to stifle a sigh. She didn’t have to hide the fact that she’d awoken since Amane would hear when her breathing changed even slightly. As she lay there for several moments, aware of the other’s presence in the room, she felt anger taint her thoughts once more.
Arisa had been labeled as a Nukenin and any and all attempts to recover her would be done with her execution in mind. At the time she had been engulfed in a suffocating rage and she had tried her hardest to escape the apartment and slaughter something. In actuality, she didn’t really blame her comrade for knocking her out, but she felt the dull ache of where her head had connected with the floor and held onto her anger just a bit longer.
She finally sat up, letting her feet slip over the side of the bed so they touched the floor. Her glare found the Itagaki near the window, leaning beside it as she peered outside and the more than likely slumbering village. "Sumimasen," she muttered before Iwane could even speak.
The harsh words that had formed on her lips died and she finally allowed the sigh to leave her lips as she hung her head. "Iie, it’s okay." She ran a hand through her short, uneven hair and laughed. "I needed some sense knocked into me, I guess." A shrug of her shoulders dimissed the issue. "What happened to Oinin-teme?"
Amane smirked slightly at the nickname her teammate had for the Hunter, but she had noticed that she wasn’t as opposed about his help as before. "He left to get some rest since he has a mission tomorrow morning."
"So dess ka?" She chuckled a bit darkly. "Is it too much to hope that he returns missing at least an arm?" she asked.
The wind user shook with mirth as she sighed. "You’re incorrigible," she commented.
Iwane shrugged. "It’s part of my charm," she argued.
They seemed as close as they had ever been, but something about their actions seemed forced. The room fell silent afterwards and Amane’s gaze was brought once more to the slumbering village outside. Iwane lay back down and stared through the skylight to the dark sky above. Both kunoichi wished to have Arisa back soon, or they’d wind up drifting completely apart.
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Naruto lifted his head and once more glanced around to see if he could pinpoint Jiraiya’s location. There was silence in the clearing and wondered how he had been able to disappear so suddenly when there was no where to hide. It said something about the skills of the Sannin.
His ears twitched and he jumped away as the ground shook and a hand came out of the ground beneath him and caught hold of his foot. He felt it dragging him down into the ground and knew he’d be finished if he allowed the man to pull him under. The blondes’ hands came together in seals and he formed a bunshin a few feet away and performed Kawarimi with it.
As he landed, his hands were once more performing seals and the Kaze no Yaiba ripped through the ground. The white haired man jumped out in time to keep the blade of wind from ripping him in two. He held up a hand for him to stop when Naruto would have attacked him once more.
He blinked in confusion but complied, since it was still light outside. "Naruto, where did you learn that jutsu?" he asked, although the narrowing of his eyes was enough to show that he already had a suspicion on who had taught it to him.
The whiskered teenager gave him a cheeky grin and folded his arms behind his head. "We all have our secrets, Ero-sennin," he commented instead of answering. "So, where are we going next?" The older man identified the change of subject but decided that it was best to drop it.
"We’re traveling north and away from the Land of Earth," he told him, even if he knew that the blonde would relay this news to the Suna-nin. The only thing that the blonde was smart about was that he didn’t give their exact location anymore and only gave hints to where they might be going next.
After all, they couldn’t risk it with Akatsuki after Naruto as they had seen when Itachi and Kisame had infiltrated Konoha after him. Luckily, he had been out of the village at the time, but they had still found him. Naruto could tell that there was something that the white haired shinobi wasn’t telling him, but he didn’t push for any information. After all, as he had said, they were all entitled to a few secrets.-
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Translations:
1. Kamawanai de kudasai: Leave us alone, please
2. Ashta tachi-mass: I’m leaving tomorrow
3. Nan-paku dess ka: For how many nights?
4. Shirimasen: I don’t know
5. Mo ikanakereba nari-masen: I must go now.
6. Ki o ts’kete: Take care.
7. Kochira koso: The same to you.
8. Onryou: vengeful ghost, apparition
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End, Chapter Eleven