Crow's feathers - Naruto fanfiction

Chapter 38 Shinobi

A shinobi must never show tears
A shinobi must suppress all emotions
- Rule 25 of the shinobi conduct 

With deep love comes deep hate
And nothing good ever comes from hate.

  

She heard them approach long before they came within view, but she didn’t look up. She didn’t want them here. She wanted to be left alone, but she knew it was useless. No way they would be leaving now. 

“There are people there!” Naruto pointed. He increased his speed and hurried over.
“Naruto wait!” Kakashi called. He sighed. He recognized the people Naruto was referring to.
Pakkun had noticed too and glanced at Kakashi concerned. “Do you think it was Sasuke?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” Kakashi answered, “can you catch his scent?”
Pakkun shook his head. “No. The rain washed it all away.”
Kakashi nodded. “Well, there’s only one way to find out then.”
“You think she’ll tell you?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s Taryn,” Sakura gasped.
Kakashi nodded. “Yes.”
“Is that… Uchiha Itachi? Is he…?” They had arrived at the ruins. All of them stopped some distance away from Taryn and Itachi. Kakashi asked himself concerned how long she had been sitting there like that. It must have been a while. There were traces of a huge fight, but Taryn and Itachi were the only two people here. And Itachi was dead. Taryn  might as well be too. Her eyes were lifeless and she didn’t move. It seemed as if she had been crying, but now she was staring ahead, her hand clutching Itachi’s.
Naruto took a step towards her. Probably to ask about Sasuke, but Kakashi grabbed his collar and held him back. “Let go!” the boy snapped, “I wanna know what happened! Was Sasuke here?! Where did he go?!”
“Calm down Naruto,” Kakashi said calmly.
“How can I calm down? If Sasuke was here, we have to go after him!”
“There’s no way we can trace him now,” Kakashi said, “if he was here, he’s long one. We’re not going to find him like this. He could be anywhere.”
“She can tell us where he went. Why would she care about that bastard anyway? He made Sasuke’s life hell. He even killed her brother!”
Kakashi pushed him against a tree and grabbed his collar again. “You listen to me,” he said, “I don’t care how you feel about Itachi, but the least you could do is show some respect. At least for Taryn!”  Naruto was about to protest, but Kakashi cut him off. “What if it was Sasuke lying there? How would you feel when someone was screaming at you while you’re grieving? Now be quiet. Sit down and wait. No better, make yourself useful.” He pushed a blanket in Naruto’s arms. “Take this to Taryn.”
Naruto glared at him angry, but didn’t move.
“I’ll take it,” Sai said. He had been watching Taryn closely and was confused by her behaviour. From what he had read, girls were very emotional. Shouldn’t she be crying? Instead it seemed more as if she had no emotion at all.
Curiously he walked over. After a slight hesitation he placed the blanket over her shoulders. She didn’t react and remained motionless. Sai moved to Itachi’s other side and kneeled down. He stared at Itachi for a long time. “Strange idea that he is dead,” he said, “I’ve heard a lot about hm. I didn’t think he would be taken down so easily.”
Taryn’s head went up and she glared at him. She was about to snarl at him that if Itachi hadn’t chosen death himself, there was no way Sasuke would have beaten him. But she couldn’t say that. Sai reported to Danzou. So she kept quiet.
She looked at Itachi again. She didn’t like it that they were here. But it gave her a chance to focus again. She couldn’t stay here forever.
She sighed and was surprised how stable her voice was. She didn’t look at Sai. “Could you… close his eyes for me?”
Sai eyed her curiously for a moment, but leaned over and closed Itachi’s eyes.
Taryn nodded. “Thank you.” 

*** 

Some distance away Kakashi was softly talking with Naruto and Sakura. Naruto had somewhat calmed down but was still restless. He wanted to know about Sasuke, but Kakashi knew that with Taryn’s current state they weren’t going to get any information from her. They would have to be patient.
He had started a fire, since it was a little cold, and it was getting dark. He was worried about Taryn, but left her alone. She wouldn’t want him near her now anyway.
He wondered if she had been here when Itachi died. Had she seen the fight? Had she participated? She didn’t seem injured except for the gash on her leg. It wasn’t deep though.
“So how much longer are we going to sit here?” Naruto asked. He had a frustrated expression. He wanted to find Sasuke, but even he knew he had to wait for Taryn’s explanation.
“As long as we have to,” Kakashi said.
Naruto sighed and glanced at Taryn. He had gotten to know her and he respected her. But he didn’t understand her. Itachi had killed Gaara. He knew she loved Itachi, but he just didn’t get it. She had saved Sasuke’s life over and over, but she must have known he wanted to kill Itachi. So why? The more he thought about it, the more it confused him.
He jumped when he suddenly heard Taryn’s voice.
“I need a cart.”
She was still at Itachi’s side and wasn’t looking in their direction. He noticed Sai had returned to their fire. Naruto looked at his sensei.
Kakashi had turned to Taryn. He didn’t speak, but nodded, even though Taryn wouldn’t be able to see. He turned to Sakura. “There’s a town nearby. Go see if you can find a cart and bring it here. Take Naruto with you.”
Sakura looked at Kakashi uncertain, but stood up. “Come on,” she told Naruto.
Naruto stood up and followed Sakura while casting glances over his shoulder. “We should be looking for Sasuke,” he muttered under is breath, but Sakura still heard. She glanced at him meekly. “We’ll find him,” she said, “as soon as we’re done here we’ll go after him and we’ll find him.”
“As soon as we’re back I’m going to get some answers from Taryn,” Naruto said, “what does she need that stupid cart for anyway?”
“I suppose she wants to take Itachi’s body with her.” She hesitated. “Do you really think it was Sasuke?”
“Of course,” Naruto said, “who else could it have been?”
“So where is he then? Why do you think he left? I mean… shouldn’t he have attacked Taryn too? He doesn’t like her at all.”
“Yeah,” Naruto said, “I don’t know.”