Night had fallen over the desert. It had been a long day and Taryn groaned as she worked her muscles. Kakashi and the others should be back in Konoha by now. It had been four days. Should she had said more to him?
She was about to pull her top over her head when she felt a slight movement behind her. She turned and threw a handful of shuriken at the intruder. He blocked them and they fell to the floor. “You!” Taryn hissed, “get out of here!”
Itachi slowly approached her. His voice was calm when he spoke. “Go on. Call out. Someone will hear you. Let them arrest me.”
Taryn glared at him, but kept silent. Itachi stopped when he was right in front of her. “How could you?” Taryn asked, “he’s my brother! You know what he means to me. How could you do that?! How could you just kill him like that?!”
“It was not about your brother,” Itachi answered calmly, “we needed the one tailed beast that resided in him.”
“And that makes it okay?!” Taryn growled, “I hate you! How could you just sit there and watch him die and do nothing?!”
“I had no choice.”
“Don’t lie to me!”
Itachi sighed. “Even if I had refused to help them, they would still have extracted the Ichibi. Only it would have taken longer. Plus, they would have killed me for betraying them.”
“Why are you with Akatsuki anyway?”
“Because their goal is good. They want to bring peace to the world and destroy the world of ninja.”
“And that is a good thing?” Taryn gasped.
Itachi looked at her calmly. “As long as the ninja world exists, there will always be hate and violence. We are trying to put an end to that.”
“By killing innocent people?”
“We need the tailed beasts.”
“My brother!” Taryn snarled.
Itachi averted is eyes. “I did not know.”
“That doesn’t matter!” Taryn said, “none of the Jinchuuriki chose their fate.”
“Sacrifices must be made,” Itachi said toneless, “besides, your bother is still alive, isn’t he?” “Only because Chiyo-sama sacrificed herself. You could not have known that beforehand.” “Fact remains that he lives. And without the tailed beast.”
Taryn narrowed her eyes. “You expect me to thank you now?! What happened to you, Itachi?” “Nothing happened,” Itachi told her, “I’m still the same.”
Taryn shook her head. “That is not true.”
“Yes, it is. Maybe only now you see me for who I truly am. I’m sorry if you don’t like that.” “Will you listen to yourself?” Taryn said, “that is not you talking.”
“You’re a foolish girl, Taryn,” Itachi scampered, “you could have saved yourself all of this if you hadn’t disobeyed that order years ago.”
Taryn’s hand trembled as she hit him. Then she shook her head in disbelieve “You don’t mean that.”
Itachi’s eyes flickered with sadness. “It is better if you hate me, Taryn.”
“What are you talking about? What’s going on?”
Itachi sighed. “Goodbye,” he said.
Taryn stared at him as he turned away. “Wait,” she breathed, “why did you come here?”
“I… don’t know,” he said without looking at her.
“I don’t believe that,” Taryn whispered.
“Believe what you want,” he said coldly, “I care not.” He turned away again.
“Little brothers are sacred,” Taryn said softly. She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall. Itachi stiffened for a moment, but kept silent. She had remembered that?
Taryn sighed. Thinking he had already left, she whispered to herself. “When did the world become so wrong?”
Itachi heard her quiet words and turned to her sadly. He noticed a tear falling from her eye. Silently he walked up to her and stopped in front of her, carefully wiping her tear away. It startled her and her eyes snapped open.
“I don’t know,” Itachi softly said, “I suppose when people first learned to hate.”
Taryn looked at him through her tears.
“I’m sorry,” Itachi whispered.
Then she saw it. A small hint of the boy she had known in Konoha, so many years ago. She couldn’t help herself then.
She locked her arms around his neck and kissed him.
***
“This doesn’t mean I forgive you,” Taryn said softly. Despite of that, she pulled herself closer to him, inhaling his scent.
“I know,” Itachi said, “It’s alright.” His arm was secured around her bare back and he was drawing invisible patterns on her skin.
Taryn sighed.
“I have to go,” Itachi said, “it’s almost dawn.”
Taryn made a protesting sound. “Stay a while longer.”
Itachi’s hand paused. “I though you said you haven’t forgiven me.”
“I haven’t,” Taryn answered.
“So you want them to find me here,” Itachi stated.
“No,” Taryn muttered. She sighed. “Take me with you.”
“You know I can’t,” Itachi said, “you know they won’t have you back. Not with that curse mark still on you and not now.”
“Then leave Akatsuki,” Taryn told him.
“I can’t.”
“Why not? What is it you won’t tell me?”
Itachi looked at her sadly and kissed her forehead.
“Why don’t you trust me?” Taryn asked softly.
“I do trust you.”
“Not enough. If you did, you would tell me.”
Itachi sighed. “I will tell you. One day I’ll tell you.” His voice sounded tired and old.
Taryn rolled on her back and looked at him as he hovered over her. “Promise?” she asked.
He nodded.
Taryn softly ran a finger underneath his eye. “You shouldn’t use those eyes so much,” she said softly.
Itachi leaned in and kissed her. Then he climbed out of bed and put on his clothes.
Taryn watched him for a moment, but then got dressed too. “Wait,” she said.
There was a slight smile around his lips. “If I wait any longer, I’m afraid your brother will break down your door.” He kissed her forehead and vanished through the window.
Taryn stared after him and then looked at her door confused. Sand was visible underneath it. Taryn walked to the door and opened it.
Gaara was standing in the hallway with an angry expression on his face. Taryn said nothing. She felt guilty enough as it was. “Foolish woman,” Gaara bit at her, “you’re lucky it was me passing your door. Do you want to be banished again? Do you want to be branded a traitor for real this time?”
“How long have you been standing here?” Taryn asked carefully.
“Long enough,” Gaara hissed.
Taryn closed her eyes, afraid to meet her brother’s gaze.
“I know you love him,” she heard him say to her surprise. He walked up to her. “A ten minute head start should be enough for him.”
Taryn looked at him confused.
Her brother’s eyes were still angry. “Next time I will not be so considerate. I will see you in my office.”
There was no way to talk this right. No excuse that would make acceptable what she had done. She knew that.
There was an icy silence in the office. No one was there beside the two of them. A pursuit team had already been sent out.
Taryn stared out of the window. This could be the last time she saw the village. Why had she done it? How could she have been so stupid? This was far worse than what she had done last time. That had been to protect her brother. But this time… She had broken something between them and she wasn’t sure it could be fixed.
It seemed like forever until he finally spoke. “You put me in an impossible position.”
Taryn flinched at the tone in his voice. “I’m sorry,” she said, by lack of other words. She didn’t dare look at him.
“I know,” Gaara said. He sighed. “You are my sister and I trust you, but I’m the Kazekage too. And what you did was treason…”
Taryn tensed. Her hands tightened around the windowsill. She closed her eyes, waiting for the words that would follow.
“I won’t banish you…” Gaara said.
Taryn turned around, stunned.
“But…,” he continued, “I can’t let this go without consequences. I can’t look away just because you are my sister… You are under house arrest. You can’t leave the village until further notice. And neither can your team.” Taryn was about to protest, but Gaara cut her off. “I mean it Taryn. Don’t do this again.”
Taryn shook her head. “That’s not fair. You can’t punish my team for something I did.”
“You should have thought about that before.”
“You can send them under someone else,” Taryn said, “there’s no need to keep them in the village too.”
“No,” Gaara said firmly.
“What are you going to tell them then?” Taryn asked.
“Oh no,” her brother told her, “I’m not going to tell them anything. You will. You caused this. It’s your responsibility.”
“But…”
“Out of my office, Taryn.”
She stared at him, but he ignored her and sat down at his desk. Taryn pushed herself away from the window and stalked out of the room, fully aware that she was completely to blame for this mess.
***
Taryn sat crossed-legged on the ground on the outskirts of town. She was staring in the distance, playing with a kunai dagger. Her mind was miles away and she didn’t pay attention to her three students who were standing together not far away.
“What’s the point in training if she’s not even paying attention?” Hiro complained, “why are we stuck here anyway?”
“Shut up,” Daro hissed at him, “she’ll hear you.”
“So? Don’t you think we have a right to know?”
Daro sighed and kicked a rock. “I don’t know. Maybe.” He looked at Kuro. “What do you think?” Kuro glanced at Taryn. She had been distracted all day. Of course he knew more than most, since his father was in charge of the messenger birds. He knew she was in trouble, even if he didn’t know exactly why. But it had something to do with the Kazekage’s kidnapping.
“Dad?” Kuro asked. He watched as his father put the hawk back on its standard. The whole village was in an uproar. Kankuro had just been brought back to the village, poisoned and injured.
“What is it Kuro?”
“Is it true what the say? About Taryn-sensei?”
His father didn’t look at him. “I don’t know. What do they say?” His tone was far too casual. “That she betrayed the village. That she’s in league with those criminals that took Kazekage-sama."
Now his father did look at him. “You’ve trained under Taryn-sama. What do you think?”
Kuro frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Has she ever given you a reason to distrust her?”
“No,” Kuro said hesitantly, “but… they wouldn’t just say that, would they? And she was banished before.”
“Do you know why?”
Kuro shook his head. “She said… she said we had to decide for ourselves if she was a traitor…” His father nodded. “It’s true you know,” he said, “there are reports that she has been in league with Akatsuki. But not anymore. There are also rumors that she was spying on the orders of the Third Hokage of Konoha. And there are rumors that she followed her lover there. But I’ll tell you one thing. That girl would do anything for her brother. They were very attached when they were children. She still loves her siblings very much. I don’t think she’d intend to harm them. You know better than to listen to rumors, Kuro. I know your mother and I thought you that.”
Kuro nodded. He had a thoughtful expression on his face.
“My uncle was called out in the pursuit team,” Daro said thoughtfully, “they say one of those Akatsuki came back to the village.”
“Really?” Hiro asked, “I hope they catch him.”
Kuro glanced at Taryn again. He remembered what his father had told him. Perhaps that Akatsuki guy had come for her.
Daro followed Kuro’s gaze. “Kuro? You know something?”
Kuro shook his head. “No.”
Daro sighed. “Come on. Let’s go ask.”
Taryn sighed. What a mess she had made of things. The worst of it was that she couldn’t leave the village now. In two days there would be that encounter, at the Tenchi Bridge in hidden Grass, with Orochimaru. It was her chance to finally finish him off and now she couldn’t go. She didn’t dare defy Gaara’s orders. She had caused him enough trouble.
“Taryn-sensei?”
Taryn looked up. Daro stood at her shoulder with Hiro and Kuro nor far behind him. She studied him for a moment. He was fourteen now. The same age she had been when her father banished her. Had she ever been that young? It was hard to imagine. “What is it Daro?” she asked in a tried voice.
Daro glanced at his friends and looked back at Taryn a little hesitantly. “We… want to know… I mean… why do we have to stay in the village? We have a right to know.”
Taryn sighed. “Yes. You do.”
The boys came closer and sat down in the ground beside her. Taryn looked at them. She wasn’t sure what she was going to say. They were still so young. These were different times.
“What’s going on sensei?” Hiro asked.
Taryn gave a sad smile. “I’m in a bit of trouble. It’s nothing to worry about, but I can’t leave the village for a while.”
The boys exchanged glances. She wondered which one of them would dare to ask the question. “Is it true then?” Kuro whispered. He couldn’t believe at his idol was a criminal. He refused to believe that.
Taryn cast him a careful smile. “I wasn’t as lucky as you three,” she said, “I didn’t have caring parents. And after my banishment… I made a lot of wrong choices. Every choice has consequences. This is one of them.” She sighed. “For what I did today, my father would have had me killed.”
“What did you do?” Hiro asked breathlessly. His eyes were wide and he tensed the moment the words were out of his mouth.
Taryn was silent for a long time. How much should she tell them? How much did they deserve to know? “I loved the wrong person,” she said. The boys averted their eyes. “You can go to the Kazekage’s office and request a new teacher,’ Taryn told them, “it’s alright.”
Their heads snapped up. “A new teacher?”
“You don’t want to be our sensei anymore?”
Taryn looked at them confused. “Of course I do. I just thought… you’d prefer to be trained by someone else.”
“Just because you made a mistake?” Daro asked.
“Yeah, we do stupid things all the time,” Hiro agreed.
“Hey speak for yourself,” Daro said.
“We are a team, Taryn-sensei,” Kuro said, “you told us that from day one. A team sticks together, no matter what.”
Daro and Hiro nodded. “You’re the best teacher in the world.”
Taryn stared at them dumbfounded. Her eyes started to water. ‘Stupid tears,’ she thought and she turned her head away so the boys wouldn’t see. Silly how a few words could bring out so much emotion. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Taryn looked up when she heard footsteps on the pier. Normally not many people came to the river. That was why it was one of her favorite places. Here she could be alone. Here no one bothered her.
Except today.
Her annoyed expression changed however when she saw who it was.
Itachi was in deep thought, so he only noticed her when he almost tripped over her. He gave her a slight annoyed expression too.
They hadn’t spoken much since that day at the Hokage’s office. Itachi always seemed busy with one mission or another. Besides, it wasn’t as if they were friends. He was just not as unbearable as the rest of the village. And it seemed as if he was going through a hard time too. He knew what it was like to be the prodigy of the family. His father was almost as hard on him as her father had been on her. She had figured that out long ago at the Chuunin Exams. Still, somehow they always ended up in each other’s company. Not that they talked much, but that didn’t seem to bother either one of them. Taryn actually enjoyed having him around and Itachi was long happy that she wasn’t all over him like the other girls in the village.
He sat down across from her and leaned back against one of the poles. He stared out over the water.
Taryn eyed him curiously, but when he kept quiet, she closed her eyes.
It was silent for along time. And even though they weren’t there together, it felt as if they were. Then suddenly the peace was interrupted by a new set of footsteps. And three loud, angry voices. “Itachi! Get over here! We need to talk to you!”
Both Taryn and Itachi looked up. The three newcomers were all Uchiha.
Itachi’s face stayed emotionless. “What is it?” he asked.
The three looked at Taryn and gave her hateful glares. “You. Leave,” one of them said.
Taryn narrowed her eyes at him. What did she care that he had at least fifteen years over her. No one talked to her that way.
Itachi had stood up and Taryn came to stand beside him. The man that had spoken before narrowed his eyes. “This is no affair of yours girl. Leave. I won’t say it again.”
“Three against one isn’t fair,” she said.
Itachi glanced at her, a surprised smile around his lips. “Go,” he nodded at her.
She eyed him suspiciously, but walked away.
As she reached the end of the pier, she noticed a small shadow between the bushes. ‘Sasuke?’ Taryn thought, but she didn’t stop to make sure.
“What is it?” she heard Itachi ask.
The man from before answered. “It’s about Shisui… he also missed the meeting…”
Taryn disappeared between the buildings and let the Uchiha fight amongst themselves.
“It’s about Shisui… he also missed the meeting.”
“He threw himself into the Nakano River,” the second man sadi, “we know that you were like brothers.”
Itachi closed is eyes momentarily, a sad expression on his face. “Yeah… well I haven’t seen him lately… it’s a tragedy.”
“We are the police Itachi… we’ve decided to put our full effort into the investigation.” “Investigation?” Itachi asked.
The man took a piece of paper out of his pocket. “This is Shisui’s final note. A handwritten analysis was conducted. There was no doubt he wrote it.”
“If there is no indication of murder…” Itachi asked, “what is the investigation for?”
“For a Sharingan user… copying handwriting is easy.” He handed the note to Itachi. “The content of the suicide note is all in there, on this tiny peace of paper.”
Itachi unfolded it and read.
‘I’m tired of these missions. At this rate there’s no future for Uchiha. Or for me… I can’t run counter to the path any longer.’
“He was one of the most talented of the clan,” the first man spoke, “and the best ever at teleportation. He was always the first to take on any mission for the sake of the clan.”
The second man glared at Itachi. “He wouldn’t have given up his life or his clan that easily.” Itachi stared at them coldly. “You shouldn’t judge people by appearances or preconceptions.” “We’ll leave the note with you for the time being,” they told him, “take it to the ANBU and request their cooperation.”
“Understood,” Itachi said.
His visitors turned to leave. “Hopefully we will get some sort of lead,” one of them said.
The third man glanced back at Itachi. “We have alternate information channels into the ANBU. If you destroy the note, we’ll know.”
Itachi’s eyes turned sad. “Why don’t you just say it?” he asked.
They turned around. All three of them had their Sharingan activated.
“You think I did this?!” Itachi growled.
“In fact… we do… you child.”
“Itachi,” the first spoke, “if you indeed betrayed the clan… you will pay.”
Itachi moved too fast to see and knocked all of them to the ground. “Like I said,” he spoke to them, “don’t judge people by appearances or preconceptions. You misjudge me completely if you think I have any patience for you. The clan… the clan… you babble on, but you overestimate your abilities… and you have no idea of the debt of mine. Which is why you’re crawling right now.”
The first man spoke to him. “Shisui’s been watching you lately. It’s been moths since you entered the ANBU. What you’ve said and done since then is too strange to overlook. What on earth are you thinking?”
Itachi’s eyes were cold when he answered. “You cling to or organization, to your clan and to your name, but you are narcistic and arrogant. And you fear what you don’t understand… pure idiocy.”
“Itachi! Stop it!” a new voice called.
Itachi looked over his shoulder. His father had joined them. “That’s enough,” he told his son, “what’s wrong with you? Itachi… I’m worried about your behavior of late.”
“Why?” Itachi asked, “I’m busy with work. That’s all.”
“Then why didn’t you show up last night?” his father demanded.
Itachi didn’t look at him. “I needed to achieve the next state,” he said.
“What are you talking about?” his father asked confused.
Itachi pulled out a kunai dagger. “My ability has been repressed by this pathetic clan,” he said and threw the dagger at the wall, where it landed in the center of an Uchiha crest.
Taryn hissed and quickly rubbed her ear as an awful sound came through her transmitter. She pulled it out and threw it to the floor. She was lucky if it wouldn’t cause permanent damage to her hearing.
Itachi growled at all four of them. “Obsessing over worthless things like the clan… you lose sight of what is really important… Premonition and imagination. You can’t achieve real change as long as you’re bound by regulations and restrictions.”
“What insolence!” his father shouted, “enough! If you continue to speak like this you’re gong to prison!” He looked at his son as he stood there motionless. “Well? What are you going to do?” When Itachi didn’t speak, the second man narrowed his eyes. “This will not be tolerated Captain, give the arrest order.”
Suddenly a small figure came out of hiding. “Stop it brother!” Sasuke yelled.
Itachi closed his eyes and sighed. He fell to his knees and bowed to his fellow clan members. They looked at him startled. “I did not kill Shisui,” Itachi spoke, “but I apologize for my inappropriate remarks. I’m very sorry.” His eyes turned back to normal and he had a remorseful look.
His father sighed. “Lately… the heavy mission load for the ANBU appears to have tired him out.” “Captain!” one of hem protested.
Itachi’s father ignored him and continued. “ANBU is under lord Hokage’s direct control. Even we can’t arrest him without a warrant. As for my son… I’ll take responsibility for him.” He sighed. “Please…” the others exchanged glances and nodded.
“Understood.” They walked away.
His father turned around as well. “Itachi,” he said, “inside.”
Sasuke looked from one to the other with a frightened expression. What was going on here? When he caught his brother’s look, he shivered. The Sharingan was back in his eyes. But it was different from any other Sharingan he had ever seen before. And aside from that, Itachi’s eyes were filled with hatred.
Taryn saw him come into the restaurant and waited until he had reached her table. Without averting his eyes from hers, he sat down across from her and placed a small microphone on the table.
Taryn didn’t react.
“Surely Taryn,” Itachi said, “you were taught better than that.”
Taryn looked at him, not bothered. “I’ll hide it better next time.”
Itachi tilted his head amused. “Curiosity killed the cat.”
Taryn shrugged. “Cats have nine lives.”
They sat in silence for a while and Itachi studied her. “You’re not going to ask?”
“No,” she answered.
“Why not?” He sounded curious.
Taryn shrugged again. “It’s not important.”
After a moment of silence, Itachi seemed to come to a decision. “Would you like me to teach you the fireball technique of the Uchiha clan?”
Taryn stared at him and blinked. “You would teach me that?”
Itachi smiled and nodded. “I would.”
Taryn was stunned. Techniques like that were only passed down within a clan. They were never taught to outsiders.
“I’d be honored,” she said.