Tainted Blood of a Ninja

Chapter Eight: A Subtle Change

Even though the autumn air was crisp, neither Mitsukai nor her new companion seemed to care. The small dog yipped and ran around her playfully causing her to smile and often join in. Itachi learned very quickly that the mutt was the only thing keeping her in line and as long as they didn’t try to harm it, they would receive no trouble from her. Having come to this conclusion, Itachi simply ignored the two. Kisame, on the other hand, was near his boiling point. Sure it was nice to have someone around to entertain him and it was often amusing to watch her and the dog play their games like Hide and Go Seek…but was it necessary to do so all the time? At the moment he wanted nothing more than to have peace and quiet. That mutt had been barking and yipping since the moment the girl had woken up…nearly seven hours ago. What was worse was that Itachi didn’t seem the least bit bothered or annoyed by this.

In the next village, they stopped to buy more supplies like food and personal hygiene things. After spending nearly two hours there, Itachi signaled that it was time to go. The four of them traveled to the outskirts of the village. Itachi suddenly stopped and looked back at Mitsukai and the dog. “You said that you would leave him.”

Mitsukai looked down at the dog and it looked up at her, as if expecting an answer from her. “Why can’t he stay? He’s very smart. Maybe I could train him to be a nindog?”

“No.” Itachi replied. Kisame grunted and continued onward into the forest ahead of them.

“But...Itachi—“

“Either leave him here or I’ll allow Kisame to use him in our next meal.” Itachi spoke softly yet gave her a hard glare. She swallowed and nodded; Itachi continued forward into the forest as well.

Mitsukai smiled sadly and knelt down beside her friend. “Then I guess this is it. I don’t want to subject you to any torture those two can come up with…so stay here, okay?”

The dog’s eyes mirrored her own feelings.

“Be a good dog.” She petted him gently and stood. With one final glance, she turned and followed the pair.

As soon as she had completely disappeared from sight, the dog sat down and tilted his head to the side. “It’s hard to tell but I’m sure she doesn’t want to be with them. She needs someone to give her hope that she won’t be with them much longer.”

The dog turned and looked over his shoulder, sniffing the air then redirected his attention to Mitsukai's direction. “It’ll be a while before Kakashi and the others catch up. I have no choice but to stay with her.”

With that, the dog bounded after his friend.

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“I’m only pointing out that there are other things to eat beside ramen and fried rice.” Mitsukai shrugged.

Kisame looked at her. “But they are the most simple and quickest things to cook!”

“Does that necessarily mean that’s all we can eat?”

“It’s all we can afford to eat if we want to keep to our schedule and complete our missions.” Itachi interjected causing the bickering pair to stop and look at him. “But I must say, this has to be one your more mature arguments.”

Kisame frowned at the insult while Mitsukai allowed her mouth to hang open in shock.

“Well no one asked you to comment, Mr. Sunshine.” Mitsukai countered and folded her arms.

“I had no choice. An argument about pasta was just too tempting to resist…even if it doesn’t require a fourth of a brain to participate in.”

Again the other two stared at the raven haired man in shock.

“You know, Itachi, you’re talking a bit more than I’m used to.” Kisame complained.

Itachi didn’t bother to look at them. He couldn’t help it. Knowing that Mitsukai had a strong connection to his little brother was often overwhelming to the spirit inside of him. ‘So close…yet so far from our goal…’ At times, Itachi only said what came to mind instead of bottling it in. As a result, he spoke more and actually held a few conversations a day with his teammates….even if they were only arguments.

Mitsukai didn’t have a comeback for this. They continued to walk along in silence. Mitsukai wondered a about her team. She wondered if they knew that she had been kidnapped…of if they followed Sasuke’s belief and maybe thought she left willingly. Her shoulders slumped. Maybe they weren’t even worried about her…and she was stuck with the Akatsuki.

A small white bird flew directly in front of her face, going from her right to her left. She paused as the bird then began to fly in circles around her head…then another joined it…and another…and another…

“What in the world…?” Kisame watched as the birds came from nowhere and swarmed around the silver-haired girl. A few landed on her in various places like on the top of her head, shoulders, and in her outstretched hand. Kisame took a step forward and some of the birds moved away from Mitsukai over to him and began to fly around him. He was swatting at them out of annoyance when a voice stopped him.

“If you cause two of them to touch, Kisame, you’ll be one angry fish, yeah.”

Mitsukai looked up from the bird she had petting to look around. “What?”

There was a rustling sound and Deidara dropped down from a branch overhead. He stood up slowly and smiled. “Hello.”

Joy washed over her and she started to rum towards him but he held up a hand. “What?”

“Those are bombs, yeah.” He nodded towards them. Both she and Kisame stopped to stare at the blonde. He only smirked as the birds all soared into the air at one time. “My art is more beautiful.”

The birds detonated with a fiery display of dark green and orange, barely visible due to the sun. As the colors disappeared, Mitsukai latched onto Deidara. “Hi, Deidara!”

He only patted the top of her head.

Itachi noticed that she hadn’t been this excited since finding the mutt. There was a faint rustling and another huge figure approached. “Deidara, we don’t have time to loiter about and socialize. Let’s keep moving.”

Deidara rolled his eyes. “Sasori, you make it seem like we’re having tea and cookies.”

Itachi watched this eye rolling and muttered, “He acts more and more like a girl every time I see him.”

The sudden silence told him that everyone had heard him clearly.

“What…did he…say?” Deidara stared at the Uchiha’s back.

“He’s been like this ever since this morning.” Mitsukai complained, sounding particularly sour.

“Deidara. Let’s go.” Sasori hissed, eyes glaring at the blonde over his black mask.

Mitsukai finally recognized what this meant. “Deidara, can I please go with you?”

His smile dimmed a bit. “No, Little One. You have to stay with your assigned team, yeah.”

“Where are you two headed anyway?” Kisame asked. Both Sasori and Deidara stared at him for a minute or two before Sasori spoke gruffly.

“The village hidden in the Waterfall.”

Deidara felt Mitsukai's grip on his waist get tighter. A gentle wind blew through the forest, causing the trees to sway around them, and a few green leaves that were turning brown on the edges floated around in the breeze. As much as he wanted her to be around him…he knew better than to go against their leader’s direct commands. He gently grabbed her arms and pried her off of him.

“Have you gotten your next mission yet?” He looked at her.

“No.” Itachi cut in and grabbed her arm, yanking her away.

“Wait!” She cried out, losing her balance. She felt herself falling backwards but couldn’t stop her fall; she closed her eyes and prepared to hit the ground. A swish of waterproof material sounded in her ear and she looked up to see Deidara standing over her, holding her up by her arms.

“Could you be any rougher with her, Itachi?” Deidara scowled up at him.

Itachi didn’t answer, instead choosing to walk away. “As Sasori said, you don’t have time for this. Move along.”

Deidara checked his growing temper and stood up straight, doing the same to Mitsukai before turning away. “You have no balance at all.”

“Thank you.” She mumbled brushing herself off, cheeks hot with embarrassment. Both she and Deidara silently recalled their first official introduction.

Deidara.” Sasori spoke firmly. “If I have to wait another minute—“

“Okay, danna.” Deidara smiled. He turned back to Mitsukai and took her hat out of her hand. He smoothed down her hair, and then put the hat on her head. “Be good and I‘ll see you again soon.” He touched the tip of her nose with his pinky.

“…Okay.” She nodded reluctantly. Despite her being fifteen, she realized that when she was around him she still felt like she was five…and wanted nothing more than to spend as much time with him as she could. He returned his own hat to his head and turned, walking in the direction of the village from which Mitsukai had just come. She stood still, watching him and his partner disappear amongst the trees. She blinked back tears, wiping away those that managed to escape with the back of her hand. She inhaled deeply and turned around.

“Are you coming?” Itachi stared down at her vacantly. She jumped slightly then nodded; she moved around him towards a waiting Kisame. Itachi stood still, staring at Deidara’s back.

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They came to a small river running through the forest so Itachi ordered that Mitsukai go take a bath. Once she was doing as instructed, Kisame and Itachi took their places next to each other and channeled their chakra through their rings.

A faint, shadowy figure appeared before the pair. “How is she doing so far?”

There was an uncomfortable smile before Kisame spoke. “How is she doing? How is she doing? Well, let’s see…” He started counting off on his blue fingers. “She’s saving trees, still refusing to wear her uniform correctly, tried to help two of our targets escape during our last mission, oh and one can’t forget to mention…that damned dog she’s dragging around with us!

The projection flickered a few times. “Kisame calm down.” Itachi spoke softly, seemingly unconcerned with Kisame’s annoyances. He took his time speaking. “It would seem that she’s holding onto her morals. It isn’t as if we can simply make her lose her innocence. She knows right from wrong; she’s actively choosing to do what she deems to be ‘right’.”

Those impassive grey eyes blinked slowly as the figure pondered Itachi’s observation. “Then at this point we must make her understand that she must follow all direct orders. She must understand that she has no choice but to do as she is told.”

Kisame tilted his head to the side. “And how do you propose we do that?”

“We’ve been paid to do another assassination. Given the circumstances of this particular hit…it would benefit us if we let her do it. Force her to do this alone….and if she refuses, discipline her.”

Kisame didn’t respond, only nodding. Itachi averted his eyes from their leader to his nails.

“Don’t interfere or help her. Just make sure she gets the job done.”

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Mitsukai held her canine companion tightly in her arms as she landed on the roof behind Itachi and Kisame. The cool night air reached her nose as she put the dog down.

“From here you’ll go forward on your own.” Kisame instructed.

“What?” Mitsukai looked up at him, confused. “You said that this was a group mission.”

“We lied.” Itachi responded bluntly. “Leader has assigned this mission for you.”

She froze. The dog looked at the three. ‘For her?’

“You mean….I’m to kill this target?”

“You need to. You haven’t helped in any assassination missions so far.” Kisame explained, recalling her trying to free their last targets.

Mitsukai stared.

“If you don’t do as you’re told…” Itachi’s dark eyes slowly lit up and the tomoes in his eyes began to spin. “…I’m allowed to discipline you. That would mean ‘training’ with me.” Itachi’s tone was cold, causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand. She swallowed hard and nodded. She didn’t know what Itachi was implying by “training”, but she did know that Itachi rarely issued direct threats.

“Your target is there in that room.” Kisame pointed to a window on the building opposite from the one they were standing on. “In and out. Use whatever method is quickest for you.”

Unable to think of anything to say, she nodded curtly, squatted, and with one leap disappeared. Itachi closed his eyes in frustration.[/p][p]“She didn’t even ask for a description.”

“There’s only one person in the room. It isn’t like she’ll need one anyway.” Kisame pointed out.

“That isn’t the point. When she sees who the target is, I’m willing to bet that she’ll choke. Had she asked for a description we could have handled that before she took off.”

Kisame sighed. “Fine. I’ll go a—“

Itachi stepped forward. “No. I’ll go. She needs to understand how serious this is. With you she’ll try to negotiate her way out of this. With me she knows that I won’t listen to anything she says.”

Kisame looked down at his dark haired partner. “You make it seem as if I’m soft on her.”

There was a long pause. “You are.” Itachi didn’t look up. “I’ve noticed the way you look at her. It’s the same look that Deidara gives her. You both see her as a human being, someone to protect and care for. That is not our mission. Our mission is to sharpen her skills and protect her as we would any other weapon. Your personal relationships with her may help her adapt to being with us but it also makes her believe that she is allowed an opinion and can ignore our orders. You are her superiors…not her friends. Those bonds that you’ve created only dull her skills as a kunoichi…..” His eyes narrowed. “…but I will sharpen her again.”

Before Kisame could respond, the younger male disappeared into thin air.

Mitsukai slipped into the room and crouched down beside a dresser. She peered around it and noticed a body in the bed. She pulled out a kunai knife with a shaky hand and prepared to move.

“You’re being difficult. How exactly do you plan to do this?”

She nearly screamed out due to her nerves being so shaky but a cold hand covered her mouth. Through her peripheral vision she could see a pale arm connected to the hand and the black sleeve covering it. ‘Itachi.’

“You have the ability to make this a clean and undetectable murder. Use your Genjutsu skills.” He whispered against her ear then let her go. She put away her weapon. The thought of intentionally killing someone was foreign to her. The most she’d ever done was cause severe brain damage…but that left the person alive….but kill? She realized that the longer she stayed with the Akatsuki…the more of a criminal she became. If she did this…there was no going back. She would be a cold blooded murderer…

“Go.” Itachi order and her feet moved involuntarily. She approached the bed and looked down….at the sweet, innocent face of her target, a six year old little girl. She covered mouth to stifle a gasp and stepped away from the bed as if it were fire.

“No.” She shook her head. Not a little girl. The child had to be about Konohamaru’s age. Thinking of Konohamaru only made her think of Naruto…Sakura…Sasuke…Kakashi…What would they think of her if they ever found out? They would never forgive her…never accept her among them again…She would alone once more. “I-I can't…”

“If you don’t…I promise you that you will not walk out of here.” Itachi moved from the shadows and into the moonlight that filtered through the open window. A cool breeze entered the room and the blonde haired girl curled up, rolled over away from them, and whimpered in protest from the sudden temperature drop.

Mitsukai gave Itachi a pleading look. “Please…don’t do this. What did she do—“

“She’s the daughter of an important political figure here in the Hidden Cloud village. He values her. If she were to pass away, his judgment would then become impaired and in the long run, he’ll be a bit easier to manipulate. This assassination is crucial as it affects our own plans. He would make an ideal future ally.”

Tears filled her blue eyes. “All of you…are sick! You’d actually kill his own child just to further your own goals?”

Itachi stared at her quietly for several minutes. “If you are trying to invoke my emotions and make me feel guilty and terrible for not caring about what you’re about to do….then let me remind you who it was exactly that killed his own family in cold blood and left his little brother to be an orphan. Who it was that feels no remorse for that he’s done and even shared the images from that night with previously mentioned orphan. I care nothing about your silly little conscious and morals.”

One tear fell. Two…three.

“I’ve told you that your emotions hold you back. Now we have an example. You belong to us….and you will do as you’re instructed to do.”

She looked down. “Then punish me. I refuse to harm her.”

His charcoal eyes flickered red. “As you wish.” A sharp pain shot up her arm and a clear crack was heard. Her throat simultaneously became dry, disabling her from crying out and her left arm dangled at her side. She fell to her knees and looked at him in shock. He hadn’t even moved…

“You rely on your healing abilities too much, Mitsukai. You may be able to heal yourself through jutsu and by tapping into the demon’s chakra…but nothing will prevent you from experiencing the pain. You think that hurts? I plan to crush every single bone in your body should you dismiss another command from a superior.” He took a step towards her and she instinctively scooted away from him. “You’re as pathetic as Sasuke….Get up.”

She scrambled to her feet and stood, shaking horribly.

“Kill her.” Itachi’s eyes faded back to black. Tears flowed freely as she slowly moved over to the girl. It took her several minutes to collect herself. She remembered inserting herself into Sasuke’s mind…surely the girl was dreaming. Would it be the same concept? Would it work? She lifted her working arm and laid it upon the victim’s shoulder and concentrated….

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The wind blew the tears that fell freely from her eyes away as she ran through the forest, determined to get away from them. How could they do such a thing? How could they even ask her to do it for them? She wanted nothing more than death at the moment and if deliberately ignoring Itachi’s command to follow them would earn her that…then she would welcome it with open arms. The girl’s fearful screams echoed in her head. She couldn’t get rid of them. She had ended those terrified screams swiftly, hoping that the girl wouldn’t feel any real pain in the blissful dream turned nightmare.

The dog had fallen behind when she used her chakra to escape. Hopefully he had enough sense to go his own way…

A loud crunch was heard and for a moment she thought she had stepped on something until her leg gave way from under her causing her to lose her balance. A familiar drained feeling washed over her and she mentally cursed Kisame and his damned sword. She fell to the leaf covered ground and rolled to a stop. She stared up at the night sky for several seconds before the pain set in. She sat up immediately and grabbed her leg, trying to keep from crying out. After careful examination she determined that it was broken. She tried to quickly repair the minor fracture with both medical jutsu and the demon’s chakra.

“You are trying my patience.” She heard the cold voice and looked up to see Itachi’s eyes flicker with what she assumed to be anger.

“Really? I didn’t know…” She shrugged and tried to stand. The second she was successfully on her feet, the back of Itachi's hand connected painfully with her cheek and knocked her into the tree behind her.

“Itachi—“

“Kisame. Stay out of this.” Itachi cut him off. Kisame only nodded and walked off, not wanting to witness what would happen next. Mitsukai watched as her only help walk off. Itachi stalked towards her in the exact same way she saw him approach his own brother…before beating him senseless. She tried to scramble away from him but his hand swiftly enclosed around her throat and brought her face inches from his own. “I warned you. Now you’ll see how serious I am.”

Before she could even blink his fist landed a powerful blow to her stomach causing her to double over and cough up blood. She could feel her ribs crumble under his fist and pain erupted in her chest. She thought he would allow her to fall to the ground but instead his foot appeared suddenly and connected to her jaw, resulting in colorful lights flashing under her eyelids. She went flying in the opposite direction and rolled across the ground.

“I hate repeating myself…I really do.” He mumbled and she felt both of her arms snap. She screamed out in pain and began to sob. “That will not help you.” He ignored her pleas and walked over to her. With both of her arms broken and a leg barely fixed from a fresh fracture, she was unable to get up on her own. Her bleating whimpers died down as her body went numb from the pain and Itachi continued to stare at her. He agreed that discipline was necessary…but executing it was another matter for him. He saw no use in beating the girl to a pulp. He examined the damage he’d done to her. It would take hours if not a full day for her to fully recover.

“…Itachi?” She could barely talk clearly with her broken jaw.

He didn’t respond, instead returning his gaze to her bruised face.

“…Who…is…Sojobo?”

Time seemed to slow down around them. No one knew. No one except Sasuke….and he wouldn’t tell. “Where did you hear that name?”

“I…went into Sasuke’s mind…the scroll…the Mangekyou…” Before she could finish her statement she passed out. He reached forward for her but stopped when he heard a faint rustling in the distance. Chinese stars appeared in his hand. Someone was coming…