Hey!
So so sorry for the delay but I've been very bury and I'm sorry this isn't the best chapter...
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Rima’s p.o.v
They hadn’t returned yet and all ready two days had passed. Sasuke had been emitted into the hospital along with Kakashi. I refused the treatment I was offered. If my wound scared, I wanted it to remain there. It would serve as a reminder, a reminder of what took place, of what he did, of who he was pretending to be. The wound would act as a reminder of what Itachi-sama did to me, of his lies.
But I knew...
I knew it wasn’t the real him, a part of me realised it and kept my rage to a minimum. That part of me wondered what had transpired to cause him to become what he is and if there was anything I could do. I didn’t want to lose him, not again, didn’t want to believe it. For the past few years, I’d been living in vain hope that it had been a lie, that Itachi hadn’t slaughter his clan, I couldn’t changed that thinking now, I wanted to still believe it.
I had to.
I would prove that this inner me was correct, that Itachi wasn’t the man who’d attacked me. I knew my Itachi was there somewhere; I just had to find him. But there was something preventing me from doing this and he was currently lying on the hospital bed unconscious. Sasuke was going to do something rash now that he’d encountered Itachi. Could I stop them from killing each other? Was it even possible? Or was I fighting a losing battle and stupidly letting them beat me down?
To see the real Itachi would I have to leave Sasuke and the others? Would I have to cause them pain in order to relieve my own? Maybe Hinata was wrong, maybe I was that cruel that I would consider betraying them in order to return to Itachi. I yearned to see the old him, the Itachi I grew up with, the one who cared for me, held me tight when I found my dead mother. I wanted him back, I needed his strength.
Yet, I didn’t want to leave this village. I didn’t want to betray them. I couldn’t, not to Naruto my new brother, nor Sakura my estranged friend or my father, no I couldn’t bear the thought of losing him again, yet...
Yet the thought of reuniting with Itachi was so immensely alluring that I couldn’t push it from my mind.
With a sigh, I shook my head and glanced over to where Sakura was perched at Sasuke’s side. As if sensing my gaze she looked back at me and frowned. My eyes flickered away from hers to the floor and I wound my arms securely around my waist.
“Rima? Are you alright?” she wondered.
“No Sakura, I do not think I am,” I murmured listening as the chair scraped on the floor and her light steps brought her to my side.
Sakura’s hand flittered in the air before falling to her side. “Should I get a doctor?”
“No,” forcing my eyes to meet hers I added, “A doctor can’t heal my inner demons, Sakura. No one can.”
“It would help if you talked about it,” she said hopefully.
Eyes flashing to Sasuke, I shook my head, “You would never look at me the same.”
The door whooshed open cutting off her next sentence and we looked over to see a blonde woman walk in and head straight for Sasuke. Sakura scurried over to his side and watched as she healed him. I watched too and noticed the woman peer over at me as she worked on Sasuke.
With another sigh I fled the room only to bump into Naruto who looked rather sombre. He steadied me and grasped my hand. Without a single word he towed me from the hospital and up onto the statues of the past Hokages where he turned to study me.
“How do you know Itachi?” he questioned in a quiet no nonsense tone that caused me to still.
“It’s nothing-”
“Don’t!” he snapped flaring out an arm and pointed at me. “I’m your brother right? So talk to me. Who is he to you? How do you know him? And tell me what happened on that bridge back in the Land of Waves. You remember don’t you, your eyes, they...” at a loss for words his voice faded and just looked at me.
“I remember,” I muttered looking away.
“Talk to me, Rima.”
“Naruto,” I begged. “Don’t make me tell you. You don’t want to know.”
“You don’t know what I want!” he shouted and I flinched. “Something is hurting you bad. How can I protect you if I don’t know what I’m fighting?!”
“You don’t,” I whispered. “I am to protect you.”
“If that’s so,” he said bitterly. “Then who protects you?”
“No one.”
“Wrong answer!” striding forward he snatched at my arm, forcing me to look at him. “I am,” he whispered and I saw the tears glitter in his eyes. “Why don’t you trust me?”
“I do,” I replied hating the hurt I was causing. “It’s just...”
“Tell me, please?”
With a deep sigh, I bowed my head and opened my mouth. What poured out was the truth, everything from before my mother died to just recently. No lies, no half truth, nothing but honesty. For his part, Naruto remained silent, holding his questions till the end but when I did finish - over two hours later - he said nothing, just eased his arms around me and hugged me close.
***********
“Say something,” I murmured some time later, still in the same cocoon of his arms.
“What can I say?” Naruto asked. “I don’t believe it. You’re a-.”
I shushed him, covering his mouth with my hand. “Don’t, please don’t say it aloud.”
“Why not?” he wondered after pulling my hand from his mouth.
“Because if word got out about me Naruto, it would be dangerous,” I replied forcing my body to stand and I looked down at him. “So please, don’t mention it again.”
“Ok, I won’t,” he jumped to his feet and grinned. “Believe it!”
“That catchphrase is really annoying, you know,” I muttered as he ran off to who knew where to do who knew what. But my guess was that he was gone to get ramen.
I shook my head and turned, jogging down to the ground and making my way down to find Hinata. I wanted to talk to the shy genin.
However, I didn’t found her, instead someone else found me. Mainly a white puppy who launched himself into my arms. I sputtered as he licked my face and held him at arm’s length. Akamaru barked happily at me and I grinned at the pup.
“Akamaru!” Kiba shouted rounded a corner and slowly when he realised who’d taken hold of the pup. “Oh, Rima.”
“Kiba, hey,” I answered passing him the delighted pup who he plopped on his head.
“How are you? I heard about what happened,” Kiba said as we began to walk side by side.
“I’m fine,” glancing around, I noted nothing unusual happened which was a relief.
“What was it like?” he inquired and I frowned at him. “Taking on an Uchiha.”
“Take on Sasuke and I’ll tell you it was ten times worse,” I grinned at him.
“Really?”
“Yeah,” I nodded and almost jumped out of my skin with Shino appeared out of nowhere in front of us. “Shit!”
“Creepy man,” Kiba agreed with wide eyes.
“We have to train,” was a Shino said before he turned and walked off.
Kiba sighed, nodded to me and hurried to catch up with his silent teammate. If they were training then that meant so would Hinata. Now it was my turn to sigh since I wouldn’t get the chance to talk to her.
I wasn’t alone for long.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in the hospital?”
Sasuke didn’t answer my question. He just watched me as he leaned against the fence. His hands were stuffed in his pockets.
“Sasuke?” I asked edging closer to him. “You OK?” Blank eyes followed me as I stood before him and frowned.
“You fought him,” he said, not a question an observation.
How had he found out so soon? “Who told you?”
“Sakura,” Sasuke looked away from me up to the sky. “You lost.”
I fought the urge to shoot back ‘so did you’ but I had the feeling if I did I would be doing something totally wrong and pushing him over an edge that I couldn’t see, so I remained quiet.
“You were hurt,” he added, those onyx eyes pinning me in place.
“I’m alright,” I mumbled back in unease.
“Did he use his Sharingan?”
“What of it?” I asked back, confused by his questions. “It’s in the past, Sasuke, there is nothing we can do now.”
“I need to be stronger,” he spat to me and I bristled.
“What good is saying it going to do?” I wondered. “Why stand here? If you are so adamant on becoming stronger then go to the training grounds and train!” I lifted my hands up in exasperation. “What do you want me to do? Wave a magic wand for you?”
His jaw clenched and he glared at me. I scowled back at him and we lapsed into silence. Folding my arms, I sighed and looked to the ground. This situation this tension was so at odds with the memories I had of him.
“Ri!”
My childish giggles filled the air as I sprinted on small legs away from the scowling raven haired boy. He shouted at me as I ran, laughing all the while.
“You can’t catch me!” I squealed with delight.
“Give it back!” He screamed at me and I glanced back to see him charging after me.
In my hand, I clenched the red ribbon necklace with a small silver amulet attached to it. Diving around a tree, I tripped and stumbled before gaining my footing and racing off again.
Behind me I heard a loud thump followed by a yelp and I skidded to a halt, spinning to Sasuke face fist on the ground. As I watched he leaned up on his elbows and spat out some leaves.
I giggled and skipped back to him. The younger Uchiha brother scowled at me as I squatted before him and dangled the ribbon necklace before his nose.
“Gimmie!” he snapped and snatched at it.
He pushed me away and I fell onto my butt with an ‘oof’ and stared as he glanced from the necklace to me. He pouted slightly before shoving his hand back towards me with a slight blush covering his cheeks.
I tilted my head in confusion. “Huh?”
“It’s your birthday present,” he mumbled.
“But my-.”
“Take it,” he ordered and I did just before lunging at him and hugging him tightly.
That took place the day before my mother’s death and I sighed deeply at the thought of it. He was so different now compared to then but then again, wasn’t I? I had changed to drastically that now he didn’t even recognise me as his childhood friend. It pained me to think of it but maybe it was for the best.
“I wish...” things were different.
Sasuke frowned over at me when my voice faded and I hung my head. “Wish for what?”
“Nothing,” I muttered shaking my head and backing up a step. “I got to go.”
Turning away I hurried off before I said something stupid. As I walked through the quiet village I couldn’t help put replay memories of my mother and I strolling down the streets or of me crying in fright whenever I saw Uncle Gai or of the time I ran screaming away from Uncle Ibiki because I didn’t want to train.
Those peaceful memories where overrun though my horrible images of the blood covered floor, my mother’s pale lifeless eyes. As I rounded another corner I picture myself at four years old crying and struggling against Itachi’s hold as we headed towards the gate to leave the village.
“Rima Hatake?”
“Depends on who’s asking,” I replied turning slightly to look back at a young woman with really short black hair holding a...pig?
“Lady Hokage,” she replied and my eyebrows creased.
“You’re not the Hokage,” I pointed out.
She laughed lightly and nodded. “I’m Shizune, her assistant.”
“What does the Hokage want with me?” I asked crossing my arms and watching the people pass us.
“She wishes to speak with you.”
“Regarding what?” I questioned.
“I’m not quite sure,” Shizune answered. “Will you come or must I use force?”
The question caught me off guard and my shoulders shook as I released a laugh. I grinned at the woman. “If you think you can contain me, you’re welcome to try but I wouldn’t want to fry the pig.”
Shizune took a tiny step back and squeezed the pig to her chest. She didn’t know whether I was challenging her or joking with her.
“Lead the way,” I sighed and began to walk with her to the Hokage’s office.
Once there she led me down the familiar halls to the Hokage’s office where she walked in without knocking and I followed closely behind. There, behind the large desk sat the blonde haired woman.
She knitted her hands together when she spotted me and leaned forward as I stopped before her and waited.
“You wanted me?” I asked.
“I have a mission for you,” Tsunade replied.
“Mission?”
“Yes but you will not be going alone.”
On cue the window to the right opened and my Father slid in. He looked at all of us before coming to stand by me as the door opened and in filed Asuma, Kurenai and Gai.
“You and your teams will all be going on a mission,” Tsunade said calmly.
“What sort of mission requires all of us?” I asked.
“One of importance,” she answered. “An island close to the Land of Waves has been covered with the blood of innocents these past few weeks.”
“What do you mean?” Asuma puffed out a smoke.
“People have been dying, dragged into the surrounding forest,” Shizune replied. “The night is pierced with the sounds of screams and rising howls. The people live in fear; their children have been vanishing also.”
“Howls?” I repeated.
“Is there no ninja on the island?” Kakashi questioned.
Tsunade met his eyes with a steady gaze. “They were all slaughtered.”
“So it’s haunted,” Gai proclaimed.
“No, it’s overrun with beasts,” Shizune corrected.
“Wolves,” I whispered with growing dread as my heart hammered in my chest. I glanced at my father and saw my growing nerves were not in vain as even he looked back at me with unease.