When Masami entered the realms of consciousness once more, she found herself greeted by a blinding light seeping in through her bedroom window. As the sun smiled down at Masami in all its rays of glory, she offered it a dark frown in return and a view of her rear end as she twisted violently away from it. The birds twittered loudly outside, almost laughing at the child's crumpled body. Half of it was stretched over the quilt, whilst the other half seemed to be dangling off the side like a branch in the wind.
"Neh... Sun go away!" The young child lay still for a long moment, trying to ignore the squawking of birds outside. In Masami's opinion, she had heard better sounds emitted from a cat with a bone stuck in its throat. "Ergh!" Slamming her hands on the bed, Masami finally flicked her eyes open and sat up. Despite her pupils blurring, she quickly managed to register the yellow colours of her bedroom wall. It hurt at first, but not as much as the pounding sensation in her head.
"Stupid birdy gave me a headache..." The child glared at the ugly crow outside her window before groaning softly. She couldn't even remember who put her to bed last night.
"Owe... Oka-san... Oka-san!" Naturally, Masami whined for her mother but was strangely met with a cold silence. Puckering her lips tighter together, the child pushed out her chest and extruded a louder shriek from her lungs
"Oka-san my head hurts!"
...
Nothing
Sighing deeply, Masami lazily stumbled from her bed and tottered towards the door with a loud yawn. Her whole body swayed dangerously from the sudden movement, her mind muddled like it had just been forced into a blender. Abruptly, Masami took a leap of faith towards the door, her mouth dropped open in concentration and her tongue slipped out licking air. The sooner she found Mikoto, the sooner should could get some medicine for her sore head.
"Do you have any idea how stupid that was?!"
Masami fingers froze in mid reach, the tips of her nails timidly brushing against the door's handle. On the other side of the wood her father's livid voice vibrated through.
'Did they find my pink blanket? I told Itachi to wash that!' Masami bit down on her bottom lip with a hard force, leaving teeth imprints on the red skin. 'No... he wasn't this angry last time that happened...'
Masami's ear seemed to move on its own as it pressed silently against the door, which was the only thing shielding her from her father's wrath right now. It was hard to admit, but deep down Masami knew she was a coward, even the sound of her father's raised voice completely terrified her. Somehow, it managed to break through the walls and shake the whole house with ease.
"Itachi, she could have been killed... How are you ever going to become a successful ANBU officer if you can't even keep your eyes on a simple child? Hmm?"
Itachi's in trouble? But he's never...
"And Sasuke, I have told you countless times to keep an eye on Masami and yet you never fail to disappoint me! Itachi has a hard enough time looking after you as well as your imouto-san, the least you could do is make a proper use of yourself!"
Masami clenched her eyes shut. Her heart felt like it was plummeting into the depths of her stomach for Sasuke. It was at that moment every memory from yesterday seemed to come crashing down on her like a giant, ugly bug. It was only meant to be a fun game of hide and seek... but somehow she had managed to get her brothers into trouble, almost crack open her skull, and gave her favourite mask to a crazy guy who also planned on destroying Konoha.
Great!
"My mask..." Cradling her neck, Masami gave out a longing sigh. She already missed it.
"Masami are you awake?" Her father's stern voice leaked in from behind her door. Masami slapped a hand over her lips with eyes larger then plates. Every ounce of her body went cold and rigid at the seemingly innocent question.
'I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead... Holy ramen don't make a sound Masami!'
"No...?"
She could almost picture her father repeatedly slapping himself as she said that. Why oh why did she say that?
"Masami, could you come out of your room please," Masami could hear the tension in his voice. It wasn't more of a question but an order. "We need to talk."
'We need to talk.' The four words Masami feared the most.
Squeamishly, Masami opened her bedroom door and shuffled into the hallway. Her steps were heavy and clumsy and drew all of the attention that was previously on her brothers to herself. It took a while before Masami came to a complete halt but when she did she just wished she had kept running.
At first, she peered up at Sasuke with half lidded eyes to analyse the situation. His face was stained a watery red colour and his eyes had turned puffy, Masami didn't need to look long to tell he had been crying.
It was a bad sign... Sasuke never cried.
As soon as Sasuke met his sister's shocked expression, his features twisted and his eyes screwed into an angry glare. Apparently, he believed everything was her fault too, which it probably was... but Masami didn't like to say so.
Feeling very guilty now Masami peered towards Itachi in search of hope, but alas his lips were drawn into a thin line obviously unhappy about the whole situation too. For some reason, the sight made her feel even worst inside. Right now she just wanted a reassuring smile.
"Masami, look at me."
Finally, Masami met her father's stony gaze with a nervous gulp. Standing faithfully beside's him was Mikoto who was rubbing circle's into Sasuke's back in a feeble attempt to calm his hiccups down. Masami hated to admit it, but she wished her father had a plumped face rather than such a sharp one, it made him even more terrifying. Somehow, even when he smiled he had the ability to radiate an uncomfortable atmosphere.
Masami however, had the ability to make pigs laugh with her cheesey smile.
"Explain."
Masami flinched under his bluntness.
"Uh..." She began to fiddle with her pyjamas, her nervous tendencies already kicking in. "Explain... Explain hide and go seek? It's very simple you see-"
Masami's goofy smile instantly faded as her father's eyes narrowed.
"Explain to me how Itachi found you with your head half split open."
Masami shot a quick glance at her older sibling who stood silently in the corner. 'Maybe he saw Tobi?' She thought with a little sigh of relief. Maybe he would back her up on this argument if that was the case too? Safety in numbers and all.
"Itachi will tell yo-"
"Itachi and Sasuke were very worried about you, Masami. You can't go running off like that, what were you thinking?" Mikoto's voice rose over Masami's little rant with ease. It was far more soothing than Faguka's tone, even a tad more worried but even so Masami did not fail to miss the sternness still laced within it.
It made the child's eyes darken and her head feel worse.
"I just wanted to find a good hiding spot..." Glancing away from the disappointed stares of her mother and farther, Masami blinked rapidly feeling her eyes burn.
Why was everyone ganging up on her? No one had yet asked if she was ok.
'I'm not ok! My head hurts! I'm scared! Angry that no one seems to care!' Masami could list all of her feelings in a heartbeat, but could never find the courage to speak them.
Her voice started to crack as she tried to explain what happened. "T-then I gave the monster Tobi my mask a-and, a-and" Masami let out a loud hiccup trying to lock away the monsters screaming inside of her head. "I hit my h-head and t-the village-"
But it was too much, only sobs of nonsense started to spill from her tiny lips.
Mikoto peered down at Sasuke with a tight frown, placing both hands on her hips in disapproval. "Have you been scaring Masami again with those stories, Sasuke?"
Sasuke threw his arms up in defence. "No! Masami is always making up imaginary friends!"
"I am not!" Masami shot Sasuke a look that could kill, stomping her foot in a huff for attention. "Tobi's real!"
"You still eat grass too!" Sasuke continued to poke, now just throwing out any random insult.
Masami felt her face flare red in anger but mostly embarrassment. "T-that was only once!"
"That's enough!" Fugaku's tone had reached a new level of rage. Instantly, Masami and Sasuke fell deathly silent in both fear and shock. "Sasuke go to your room, Itachi take Masami to Shisui, your mother and I need to have a word with you and we don't have time to be keeping and eye on her."
Sasuke gave Masami a pointed look before storming off to his room. Mikoto sighed and looked over at her husband with a small frown.
" Fugaku there was no need for that tone of voice," She said unhappily, before following her youngest son to his room. Faguka gave out a heavy sigh, the creases in his forehead deepening. He looked older now then ever.
Pinching his nose in despair, Faguka calmly looked at itachi.
"And make sure Masami gets there safely this time."
Itachi solemnly nodded as Masami drooped her shoulders awaiting a final lecture from her father. He stared at her with a blank face, somewhat flecked with regret. She could have imagined it however.
"Masami..." He breathed. "Please don't do that again, you know how much me and your mother lo... Care for you. Please just try to think next time."
Masami sighed for a long time at her father's faltering speech whilst lowering her shoulders even further to the ground.
Why was it so hard for her father to say 'love you?'
Was it too mushy?
Fathers where indeed complicated specimens.
...........
Itachi was silent on the way to Shisui's house, just focusing on the beaten path before him. Masami was also quiet, giving a rare sniffle every now and then. She was loosely holding onto his hand, clenching and unclenching it with every step. For some reason she felt lonely, everyone was mad at her for something that she didn't intent to happen.
"Tobi is real..." She murmured. "I didn't make him up this time Onii-san!"
Itachi stared down at Masami, feeling her shoulders shake all the way through his arm like an electrical current.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean for you or Nii-san to get into trouble! I don't want you to hate me!" At this point, Masami was beginning to wail. "A-and now Shisui will hate me because I gave my mask to Tobi! I- I was just being nice and-"
"Masami..." Itachi tried to sooth but it was pointless. Masami was tossing her head in hysterics, trying to dry the tears away as she pulled roughly down on her brother's arm.
"He says his going to hurt you Itachi, I don't want Tobi to hurt you or Nii-san!"
This time Itachi stopped in his tracks. Slowly, he bent down to look at Masami square in the eyes, a serious frown pulling across his lips. The wind blew softly, flicking the boy's long hair in several directions.
"Masami... I want you to forget about Tobi. His not going to hurt you, I promise."
"He doesn't want to hurt me though, he wants to hurt the vill-"
Masami's voice is muffled by Itachi's hand as it is placed roughly against her quivering lips. She goes silent after a long moment. She looks around, noticing the pathway they are walking on is strangely quiet.
"Masami you must keep this to yourself. You must trust me. I will protect you and Sasuke from Tobi, I promise. Just promise me you'll speak of this to no one." He repeated quietly. Masami stared, never having witnessed such a burning intensity in Itachi's eyes before. Slowly, she nodded.
How did Itachi know Tobi?
Did he see what happened earlier?
Would he be able to protect them?
Itachi slipped his hand away from Masami's mouth.
"Don't worry onii-san, I promise."
The words came out automatically . But In the back of Masami's mind she could only hear Tobi's voice telling her otherwise.
"Even your closest loved ones will betray you in the end..."
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Woo ! Two chapters in one day! I'm on a roll!:D