"To break ones faith is a sin that not even god himself could forgive."
::
Hatake Kakashi x OC
( This book is in the same universe and connected to 'Haven | Senju Tobirama' )
The dark haired man was sprawled out across his bed, sighing as he heard the rattle of a knock at his door, a familiar eerie presence behind it. He sat up, his arm draped over his knee as he turned his attention to the door, watching as the handle turned and the frame swung open.
"Itachi." Madara spoke in his usual dull tone, echoing throughout the Uchiha's seemingly empty room - minus a bed.
Itachi stood, flattening his crinkled dark singlet, the only clothing he really owned, and turned to face the masked man.
"Pain has assembled everyone." Madara addressed his kin without so much as a nod. "Gather Rieka. It is time to begin the hunt."
Itachi nodded, bending down with outstretched fingers to fish up his Akatsuki cloak. As Madara swirled from existence, Itachi draped the cloak of his shoulders, not even bothering to place his arms in the sleeves.
He spared his empty room no further glance, shutting the door softly behind him as he made his way down the dark halls. Itachi felt a sense of nostalgia, for the dark halls he walked amongst reminded him of his own mind palace. Everyone had one, each was moulded and styled to fit the persons mental state and mind set, to match the way they thought.
Itachi's was a tunnel of never ending corridors, leading to nothing, leading to nowhere. He was lost, always, lost on what to do, how to act, how to live.
Itachi was lost, and it seemed like everyone else around him was as well. He often caught Rieka's companion, the Uzumaki, staring off into space, his eyes glossed over. Like himself, Sachihiro tended to wander the halls endlessly, no destination in sight, he simply moved forward with no idea where to go.
Rieka was different, she gave up wandering years ago.
At first, when Itachi first arrived, he seemed to catch the brunette waltzing through the base on a weekly basis. He believed that even before he arrived, when she had just first left Konoha, that she never stayed in her room, always wandering the halls.
Now the woman never left her room, she never dared to wander those empty halls. She knew she would find nothing, so she gave up looking, years and years ago. Itachi still looked. Sachihiro still searched. For anything. For anyone.
But Rieka gave up.
Itachi arrived at the brunette's room, he lightly knocked against the door but was greeted by silence. He placed his hand on the handle and turned, opening the door. The halls were empty, and dark, but they did not compare to the woman's room.
Not even a bed remained, she had discarded it years ago, taking to simply laying on the cold stone flooring, staring up at the celling.
"Rieka?" He muttered into the silence.
Rieka remained still, not a single muscle moving, she looked dead to the Uchiha. "Yes?"
He almost jumped, he had not been expecting a reply.
"Time is up, Pein-sama is gathering a meeting."
Rieka slowly sat up, silently climbing to her feet and turned to face the Uchiha. With her cloak scrunched up in one hand she stepped out of her room and into the halls. Even though they still were dark, Itachi could make out the brunette's small statue.
She looked different then he expected. He expected her to be thin, sickly and on the verge of death. But Rieka looked fine, physically anyway. She had her usual toned yet delicate physique, a healthy amount of fat on her body and usual ivory skin-tone.
Ever since he could remember, Rieka always had bags etched into her skin, so they didn't come as a surprise. She even gave him a smile, placing her arms into the sleeves of her cloak and meeting his eyes with hers.
He could see it now, her eyes, they held nothing.
When he first looked into her eyes, he wasn't even a day old, she held such adoration and love for him.
As he grew, he noticed certain things. Her eyes twinkled whenever she was mischievous, they blazed like a roaring flame when she was mad, they glazed over with specks of silver when she was saddened, and they shone brighter than ever when she was happy.
He had seen her at her lowest. One night, when the realisation of her entire life came crashing down, her eyes were blank.
But this was different, her eyes were like two black coals, yet they remained their usual sea-foam green. There was nothing, no shine, no blaze, no twinkle, no glaze.
Simply nothing.
"Rieka." Itachi began, the woman in question followed silently behind him as they made their way through the corridors.
"Hm?"
"When you close your eyes.." He began. "What do you see?"
Rieka said nothing for a moment, silent as the corridors came to an end, the passage opened up into a huge clearing, where the Gedō Statue stood tall. She looked up and whispered.
"Nothing."
::
"Deidara. Sasori." Pein spoke, catching the two artists' attention. "You two will capture the Ichibi Jinchuuriki. Alive."
"Yes, Leader-sama." Sasori replied in his masked voice, sitting ideally inside Hiruko.
"I will not tolerate failure."
Rieka watched from beside Obito as Pein flickered from existence, soon after the other members followed, all but Itachi who was the only one who was actually in the base. He glanced back towards Rieka, seeing her beside Madara, and silently took his leave.
"Rieka." Obito began, his one Sharingan eye fixed on her from beneath his mask. "I want you to follow Deidara and Sasori, make sure they don't mess up. We can't risk it."
Rieka nodded a reply, standing to her feet and without so much as a glance, she left Obito alone, disappearing in a swirl of dust as she shunshined away.
Obito sighed, leaning his chin on his palm as he stared blankly at the spot the brunette once stood.
