Weeping Samurai | Uchiha Itachi [Editing]

Chapter 6: Madness

"Fair enough," Itachi huffed and stepped back from Shiro.  He offered a hand to her as his eyes glinted like steel.  "Shall we be going now, Musei-san?"

~~~*~~~

The trio moved quickly, scaling the mountain range that sliced the Land of Iron from the Land of Earth from each other in only a few hours before setting foot on the hard rocky ground on the other side.

At the top of the peak, Shiro had glanced back, taking in her last look of her home:  the Land of Iron, the country of the samurai.  With her eyes shimmering on the brink of tears, Shiro kicked off the summit and plummeted down the other side of the mountain, her plain black cloak rippling behind her like wings.

Itachi and Kisame first lead her through the Land of Earth, which was a relatively large country just like the Iron.  For twelve years Shiro had wandered around the Iron, try to scrape out clues about her missing sister, but to no avail.  Now, seeing that she was acquainted with two men who knew their way around, she would have no trouble really in crossing the land in no more than a week; that is, if they went nonstop.

Kisame had other ideas though, as he made his teams stop in some villages to get something to eat and to stay the night; the man was more of a material guy than Shiro had anticipated.  As jittery and restless as she was, Shiro had no other choice but to comply to Kisame's demands as he would rampage if she didn't; or so Itachi had told her.  The first night in the Land of Earth, the team stopped by a hot spring resort to unwind and relax.

"Kisame insists we stop by every hot spring we pass, so be prepared," Itachi muttered in her ear as they walked through the shoji door and into a neat tatami board room.

"Kon'nichiwa!" an elderly woman with thin graying hair greeted the three at the front desk.  "How may I help you today?"

"We'll rent one room for the night," Kisame grinned an evil sharp-toothed smile as he glowered down at the poor old lady, "and visit the hot spring."

"S-stay as long as you want!" the lady's eye twitched as she stared up at the giant man.  She handed him the room key as he plopped down a few bills to cover for the room.  As the trio made their way to the locker rooms, Kisame called over his shoulder, "and be sure to have dinner prepared in our room in an hour!"

"C-certainly!" the lady cried out before bolting into the kitchens.  She frantically screamed at the cooks to quickly prepare the best dishes for the "scary blue man."

Shiro broke off from the group to enter the girl's locker room.  Inside, she immediately untied her katana sheaths and set them to the side.  She shed her thick black cloak, draping it over a wall hook, and untied her thin white ribbon that replaced the usual wide obi fabric that tied around her waist for her white kimono.  The long white dress came off too as she wrapped herself in a soft towel and headed for the spring, tucking her simple black flats inside a small bamboo cubbyhole.

Shiro slid open the shuddering shoji paper screen door to reveal a large steaming pool, smelling faintly of sulfur with a hint of incense.  Her dainty pale feet patted on the shiny hardwood floors as she ambled over to each of the candles on the sides to ignite the scorches wicks, striking the provided matches on the grainy clay pots.  As the last of the incense were lighted, Shiro lifted her head and glanced around; she was alone, as expected, with a giant wooden wall separating the men's sector of the spring from the women's.  Feeling the steam tingling her sweat-streaked face, Shiro unwrapped herself from her towel and slowly dipped herself into the spring.

The water was hot, the spring seeming to absorb her stress and tiredness away from her aching body as she soaked herself.  From a tray on the side, Shiro folded a small towel and drenched it in the mineral-rich water before pressing it up to her face.  She sighed as she felt her muscles relax in the hot water, tilting her head back into it with the towel still draped over her face.