AHH IT'S HERE!
~
Itachi hated being compared to him, the man was worse than anyone else here. Experimenting on children, hurting them, it was despicable. He didn't want to be associated with him in any way. Itachi was cruel, but not as much as a man who tore children open while they were awake, begging and screaming. It angered him to think about how the girl he was looking at right now had to experience that for such a long time.
Even saying his name brought back bad memories for Harumi, speaking it made fear spread through her body. The man who condemned her to so much torture, pain, and trauma. He was still alive and well, never caught. She tried to run so many times, but he caught her every time. She was punished for it. Every. Single. Time. Not once was she spared, not once did they care that she was only a little girl who was scared and wanted to go back home.
Instead, they treated her like a slave, working her every hour of the day, and punishing her until only what it took not to kill her. She couldn't erase the memories from her mind, no matter how hard she tried. She hated it, she hated how she still shook if someone touched her too suddenly, she hated how she would have flashbacks, nightmares and panic attacks because of him. She hated how he broke her down to the point where the only two things she could feel were fear and pain.
Kabuto had trained all the aspects of medical ninjutsu into her, hours and hours of training for it. She became a master at it. She soon found out why. After fights, she was left there, bloody and bruised, her body shutting down. She was forced to heal herself. No one else was going to help her, she had to do it herself. One time, she didn't heal herself. She was too injured to move, and was on the brink of death, and only then did Kabuto step in. She remembered the disgusted disappointment in his eyes as he watched her bleed out.
After that, Harumi remembered waking up in a clinic. The moment she was awake, she was forced out of the bed. Kabuto decided since she hadn't improved her medical ninjutsu enough, she'd help heal the other prisoners there until she was out of chakra or passed out. Whichever
came first. That day was exhausting, she remembered her tiny legs running around, trying to heal as many people as possible. She remembered begging Kabuto to let her rest for even a second, but he refused. He said it was either this or whatever Lord Orochimaru had planned. She ended up running out of chakra first. She remembered the helpless feeling she felt when she couldn't move her arms or legs. How she felt when she had to be hooked up to the machines to make sure she didn't die while she was awake.
That was one of her easier days though, the others were just pure torture for her. She shook her head, refusing to keep reminding herself of how terrible those days were.
She barely managed to escape, and she had scars to prove it. Orochimaru was never able to put a curse mark on her. The thing inside her would reject it and oh god, she remembered how painful it was when he was rejecting it. It burned, she was only awake for the first minute before she passed out, but it was one of the most painful minutes of her life. Orochimaru didn't try to put another one after that, he knew there was no point. Not to mention that he didn't want to lose his prodigy specimen. She gritted her teeth and shook her head, turning away and crossing her arms.
'I know it's technically not your fault, but god damn it. You're always getting me into trouble' thought Harumi.
I'm sorry.
She sighed, feeling bad now. She looked around, were the others not going to come down? She turned back to Itachi, her eyes studying him. He was as quiet as always, but she wanted to fish some information out of him.
"The Akatsuki, huh? I never thought you'd go as far as to join a terrorist group," Harumi said. His silence continued, so she added "I saw Sasuke a while ago by the way."
She watched him, wondering if his shell of a mask would crack, and she nearly smiled when she watched his eyes flicker.
"Yeah, you wouldn't believe who his sensei is. And his teammates as a matter of fact." She sighed, carefully watching as his head slowly turned to meet hers. She looked into his midnight eyes, trying to detect any emotion, but none. They seemed so cold and distant, like you could drown in their sea of darkness. As she looked deeper into them, she could almost swear she saw curiosity. Maybe he wanted to know how Sasuke was doing. He was about to speak but was cut off by other voices.
"It seems you two are already awake." Kisame came over with a grin.
"This means we can leave immediately," said Sasori as everyone began walking towards the doors. Harumi could see Deidara glaring daggers at her, but she didn't care. If it helped avoid Sasori's wrath, she'd throw him under the bus a thousand times. They all left the building, an uncomfortable silence now there. Harumi looked at the trees passing by, they were so green and full of life, unlike her. She wondered if the rest were already aware of the mission she was supposed to complete.
~
It had been two days since they started traveling, and she came to know the others as...weird. They all had their weird quirks, but she had come to find out that they acted like normal people a lot of the time. Sure, they had their psycho moments where they talked about death like it was normal, but other than that, they seemed rather normal.
The invisible man hadn't shown up either in a while. It was hard to sleep for a few nights but last night was different. She fell asleep out of nowhere and she didn't remember how.
*Flashback*
"I think we should sleep here. We're all tired from our trip and it's almost midnight," Deidara said. The others agreed, it seemed everyone was tired. They all picked a tree in which they decided to sleep in, since there were no motels or abandoned buildings nearby.
Harumi picked a tree and it was unfortunately right across from Itachi's tree. She sighed, curling into a ball and laying against the bark, her eyes still wide open.
She looked up at the shining light above her head, 'well hello old friend' she wanted to say, but she felt as though it would come off as weird, so she refrained from doing it. She looked around, everything was so peaceful, and she wanted it to stay like that forever. Where the trees were a dark viridian green and the sky was pitch black, only lit up by the light of her friend and the stars.
When she was very young, she used to wonder 'is the moon not lonely, up there all by itself, no one to talk to?'. It was from then that she decided the moon would become her best friend. And the only other friend of the moon? Well it was the ocean of course. It relied on the moon to keep it calm, because without it, the oceans would argue with one another and clash against each other, causing waves and tsunamis. So, she decided to befriend the ocean as well, but it wasn't that hard since she always had a love of rivers and water itself.
She grew up a bit more and realized that the moon had even more friends than she thought, it just couldn't talk to them. The stars were too far from the moon to communicate with it, and the sun always left when the moon would come back. So she talked to the moon every night, telling it about her emotions, friends, life, family, problems, everything. She loved that it would keep each and every one of her secrets, and how it never complained and simply listened to her.
Thinking back on it, Harumi knew it was just a way for her small self to cope with everything going on around her. Still, the feeling that the moon was her friend still stuck with her, even now that she was much older.
Her eyes began to droop, but she forced them back open. What if the invisible man came back? She looked up across from her, but couldn't seem to find Itachi. Was it too dark? She was about to stand up when something hit the back of her neck and she went unconscious.
Itachi carefully laid her back against the tree, he had noticed she hadn't been sleeping for a few nights and her body must have been exhausted. He didn't want her to suffer anymore than she needed to. When he was done making sure she was safely positioned and asleep, he went back to his own tree, falling asleep as well.
Still, Harumi's last conscious thought was 'Hey moon, look out for me while I sleep, okay?'.
*End of Flashback*
Harumi never realized Itachi was the one who helped her fall asleep, but that was better for him, he didn't want her to think he cared.
They soon arrived at their destination, a village filled with tourists and people. Harumi was informed by Itachi that her mission was to kill someone, a man named Asahi. He was apparently a powerful ninja who made enemies with the wrong people, and they –or she– was hired to kill him. She didn't mind all that much since she had heard his name before. He was dangerous, and had killed quite a few innocent people over the duration of his life.
They all walked into the village, and Harumi ran to the nearest clothing stand.
"Wow, proper, undamaged clothes!" she exclaimed passionately.
"Are you alright, miss? Your clothes are all torn!" said the old woman in charge of the stand.
"Oh I'm quite fine! Can I ask how much this costs?" Harumi picked up a purple shirt with pretty ninja shorts. The old woman told her the price, and she looked at Itachi and the rest with hopeful eyes.
"You can't expect me to walk through town with these clothes without attracting unwanted attention," she said bluntly, gesturing to her torn up outfit. Deidara sighed, girls were so needy. Itachi, on the other hand, simply handed her the money, knowing she was right. She grinned before buying the clothes and putting them on. She had bathed in the river a mere ten minutes ago, so she was much cleaner.
They were so awful the whole time, only giving her five minutes. They all turned their back to her while standing along the river side as she cleaned up as fast as she could. After that, she had to wear the same old tattered clothes. It was a nightmare. Now, thankfully, she had new clothes she could wear. She walked out the store with a grateful smile she sent towards the store owner, to which the kind, old woman returned with a wave.
She looked back ahead, walking with the others to where their target was apparently staying. It was in a motel, and he was apparently here on a mission to kill someone. Ironic, since she was also on a mission, but to kill him.
"We'll wait out here. You kill him and tell us when you're done," Deidara stated, motioning for her to leave quickly. Harumi nodded. For Hido.
She walked into the large building, only to see him in the lobby. She sighed, this would be quick. She created sharp chakra edges at her fingertips, ready to cut open his throat and zap out of there. Just as she was about to send the chakra to her feet, Asahi looked at her and scowled. He got up and dashed past her. Crap! She ran after him, passing Itachi and the others who looked stunned.
She didn't want to use any jutsu and put the civilians around her in any danger, so she sent the chakra to her feet and appeared in front of him.
"Get out of my way before I kill you!" Asahi yelled, making seven clones that scattered with him.
"Jeez, why am I so slow today?!" Harumi groaned before doing the same.
Her clones chased down his clones and she finally found him. He growled before going from the rooftops back down to the ground. She quickly followed and sent a kick flying his way, but he dodged it. They kept going hand to hand, their hits so quick it was hard for those around them to keep track. Thankfully, Harumi was finally able to land a punch on him which sent him flying back. She panted, she had to finish this now. He suddenly quickly made a few hand signs before yelling, "Fire Style, Fire Bullets!"
Harumi panicked as the people around her screamed in fear, so she countered with, "Water Style, Water Bowl!"
The water put out the fire, thankfully, but as she was releasing the jutsu, he continued running. She ran after him and began catching up really quickly. He got annoyed, and that annoyance grew when he saw a crowd of people blocking him.
"Outta' my way!" he yelled before releasing multiple fire bullets at the villagers before turning a corner. Screams echoed throughout the street.
Harumi's heart pumped against her chest, everything seeming to go in slow motion. One person who was too close had part of his arm burned by the fire, and he was screaming. Other parents screaming to protect their kids, the couples trying to move out of the way, Asahi running the other way, it was all so much. But something caught her eye. A little girl, standing right in front of a coming fireball. Her parents were trying to run to her, but they weren't going to make it in time. The little girl's eyes grew wide, feeling the heat of the fire coming at her.
Harumi didn't even know what her body was doing, but she was reaching her hand out. All these people are going to burn. She couldn't let that happen. They're all going to die. She didn't want them taken away from the earth so early. You're going to watch them die like you watched everyone else die. No, she couldn't let them die when she had the power to stop it. How are you going to stop the attack? You're too scared to use your power. No, she wasn't going to watch them have their lives taken away like the lives of her friends back then! Dead, their fate is sealed. Not yet! They're going to burn like she did.
"PANTHER, NULLIFY!" Harumi screamed. Dark chakra burst out of her hands and engulfed the fires. The fireballs disintegrated in it, the dark matter absorbing it.
Her head then slowly turned to Asahi's fearful, retreating frame. Her purple eyes glowed and her teeth were bare, the pure rage clear as day. As she was flying forward, she turned her body midair and stretched her hand out, looking him dead in the eye. Asahi felt the color drain from his face as he watched her mouth the next sentence.
"Panther, nullify him."
Her hand fisted, and the black matter-like chakra was sent straight into Asahi's body. The last thing she heard from him was his agonizing scream before his body dropped. Harumi caught herself as she rolled on the ground and back up. She stood still for a moment, everyone around her cowering away. They all looked at her with terror in their eyes. It's all too familiar.
Harumi walked to the corner alley where Asahi's body was, and she looked down at it with emotionless eyes. His body resembled that of a skeleton now, his skin attached around his bones, no signs of fat or muscle anywhere. His frozen expression of terror was still painted on his dead face.
She simply stared before she began coughing into her hand. She looked down at it. Blood. She expected as much, she knew that move would most likely harm her body, but she didn't care at that moment. That sicko got what he deserved. She quickly wiped the blood on the wall before turning around, the Akatsuki looking at her with shock.
Deidara's eyes were wide and his jaw slightly sacked, she did that to him? He couldn't even tell how that happened to him, they arrived at the scene a little too late. Kisame was surprised too, the body looked horrific, like the life was sucked right out of it. Sasori simply kept a poker face, he didn't want to show that the only thing going through his mind was that the girl in front of him was not as weak as he thought she was. Itachi simply stared at her, right at her voided eyes that stared back at him, no emotions in them. They were simply blank. That was, until she finally spoke up.
"Done. What's next?"
So, the name of the beast in her has been revealed!~
It seems kind of childish, I know, but it's supposed to be! There's a reason behind the name.
This chapter was a thrill for me to write, because not only am I shedding light on Orochimaru's canonic sociopathy, but also, Harumi's knowledge of medical ninjutsu! Not to mention, her power! Any theories on exactly what it is?
It's pretty scary, but I love that for her. Anyway, comment or vote if you enjoyed!
Sincerely,
Ro.