Heliology:
Study of the Sun
-taxiphobia
Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine, as always.
Notes: First angst fic; Contains short prelude and first chapter; Prelude purposely written incompletely; With manga chapter 366; Also, to prevent confusion, Sakura is referred to as 'the girl,' and Itachi, 'the man' in the prelude.
"I can see it in your eyes, that you're so sure."
Prelude:
"Ah, Naruto-kun," said he, the man, "how unexpected."
A solitary flash of crimson.
"I thought…"
Sounding in the distance: a thousand chirping birds.
"Sasuke!" he cried. (The man snickered.) The former escaped without a fight.
"Sasuke!"
-
"Eh? Naruto-kun?" The girl paused. " S-'Sasuke'-kun?" Now turned, "Wait for me, Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun!" She ran.
-
The girl shook. "You…you're not…" stepping back, "Why…"
The man closed his eyes, his face away from hers to prevent any harm, and, his fingers running through dark brown tresses, he contemplated very deeply on the next action. A plan, involving the girl greatly, he supposed, and benefiting both his desires and the Akatsuki, his cloak-and-kunai(1) organization, quickly came to mind.
"Yes, why is it," sardonically continued the man; a tight grimace formed. "—that I had the perfect opportunity to kidnap Naruto-kun, but I didn't after hearing him scream my brother's name?"
"How should I know!"
("It must be the weather," he added, staring upward.)
"Th-that's enough of you!" her voice trembled. Her body, with cold sweat glazed upon skin, legs especially, shook. An ineffable emerald stare abolished these and internal fears.
The girl sought to kill.
She would do something.
And should she die trying…
She charged forward, "I'll kill you!"
…it no longer mattered.
The man blinked, somewhat dissatisfied with the livid reaction to a mere tease, or he thought perceptively, and considering the girl was a woman, her feelings grew into a ferocity to avenge and kill.
He, die by a woman's hand? Shocking.
He sighed disapprovingly at the throngs of chakra the girl had channeled to her fists.
And then—
Scarlet intermixed with fragments of black.
Falling.
Foaming.
Fighting—among wind and thunder and fire from the distance.
Finally,
Red and black(2).
Prelude: End.
Prelude endnotes:
(1)cloak-and-kunai - Actual term, 'cloak-and-dagger.' But 'kunai' works better, no?
(2)Red and black – Referring to Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan (the genjutsu)
Will you continue reading? Please do!
"What a shame we've all became such fragile, broken things."
Chapter I:
"What is that?" inquired Kisame emphatically, brusquely poking the young kunoichi's cheek. Standing from squatting to look his partner in onyx eyes, and stepping away from whatever he (Itachi) was holding—or carrying—rather gently for his nature—the shark nin went on; "Let me guess, she's a prostitute from," looking downward, "—Konohagakure? Same city symbol as you! Didn't know you were into this sort of thing."
"She looks delicious," observed the darker half of Zetsu.
Silence ensued, rising the probability, maybe confirming, the theory of the gaudily dressed girl being a present for Zetsu—in his case—or an actual prostitute—in Kisame's.
"She is a woman from Konoha, Haruno Sakura, comrade of Uzumaki Naruto and Sasuke," said Itachi, "Running into her, I thought she could be of use to lure the two."
Standing nearby, unbeknownst to the three men, was Pein, overlooked as always when in shadow, brooding about as usual to his nature. Itachi's statement, the artful ingenuity of it—he was surprised no one, particularly when members were abundant, thought of the idea sooner—, that he remarked;
"Afterwards we eliminate them, I presume."
"Exactly."
Astonished by the fast paced approval, Kisame and Zetsu were mute.
"I doubt my brother would care, however."
"It's worth a try."
Zetsu politely interrupted the exchange of words with a raise of his hand, "Itachi, you have something planned then?" asked his white half, referring to the younger Uchiha.
"In a way."
"So," spoke Kisame. Negligent as he was with Itachi for intending to leisurely stroll about the hideout's outdoor milieu, and kidnapping a girl who's supposedly related to those troublesome two, and then scheming in a matter of seconds—intimidating really—; he spoke harshly with a tightened lip, "What do you plan to do with the girl?"
Having forgotten about Sakura, Zetsu and Pein, less notably than the former, jolted.
-
It was dark. The lack of sufficient illumination masked the cleanliness of the room (previously the late Sasori's), for there was no window, nor candle, nor lamp, nor light. The first objects that assumed a distinct presence before her, Sakura, were a mahogany table and a framed picture of an animated puppet atop it.
And then, slowly but progressively, images pertaining to the encounter with death she had had, it seemed, long ago, slipped into her mind.
Her eyes accustomed to the pitch black after vaguely registering items of the bedroom, Sakura managed to question audibly to herself:
"Where am I?"
A shuffle.
A minuscule candle, unseen due to its size and the dark, was lighted. The doer waited for its starting flickering to cease before speaking. Whereas, Sakura lay mortified in her bed at first sight of the shark nin's infamous garments.
Where was she? She knew that now.
Why was she here? Villainous ninja, or those who deserved being stripped of the title, she contemplated, often revealed their scheme, if more dangerous than usual, to the innocent victim. She did not know why she was where she was, at least at the moment.
"You woke up a day earlier than Itachi predicted. Either you're a strong girl, or he did it intentionally, so he wouldn't kill you," said Kisame.
Sakura gulped.
"Yep, we have a lot of plans for you," he carelessly sighed, leaning back a bit in the chair he sat on.
"P…plans?" Sakura feebly whispered.
"—but he probably wants to explain them to you himself. Uchiha Itachi: master of torture."
With that, he rose, gave her a quick glance, sighed once more, and walked to the exit. There in that spot, before leaving, he explained the dangers—death, the punishment—of escaping the 'prison,' asking too many questions, and of not obeying the leaders'(1) or Itachi's words and commands.
The explanation finished, the single light blown out, the door bolted and locked heavily with chakra and copiously arrayed with paper bombs, Hoshigaki Kisame was gone. She was, once more, in an eerie darkness which her eyes had yet to inure to this second time.
Sakura spent her time doing so, during the four days that passed. Never once during the course of this time, which was an eternity to her, was she informed, as promised, of the reason of her abduction, although wholly incorrect contemplations formed. Never once did she drink or eat a morsel of food. Never once, rendering her in a dying state, did Sakura catch a glimpse of sunshine or another flicker of light.
If her existence was of such important to the sordid fiends as Kisame implied just a few days ago, then why, she wondered over and over, why was she being tortured so? Why was she deprived of all her strength, and brought several times to suicide in the desolate room—as though she even could—, the fear of leaving heavily upon her, and brought to question herself in such a twisted mind game?
They were murdering her, acting as spectators to her rotting self.
Did Sakura exaggerate? Of course she did. But she was losing all sanity, what with issues of rescuing Sasuke, her love until even now, and the one who brought her to this.
There was an unexpected savior from this torment on the fifth day, however: it started with a low, two soft beats upon the door.
Who better to enter than her kidnapper, disdainfully a blood-relative to her Uchiha Sasuke…the only one left besides him, himself! With a lamp hanging from his left hand! And a tray of food and water!
She certainly wasn't thinking. Sakura wanted to cry, burst into those all-too-familiar tears. But, no, not in front of him. Instead, ravenously, she ran toward the man, grabbing whatever she could, and ate the food as a wild animal might.
Oblivious to the girl, Zetsu and Kisame monitored her—they preferred not calling it 'spying'—from time to time, this one by far the most entertaining scene.
"She could've killed Itachi!" commented Kisame, laughing scornfully after witnessing Sakura's sudden charge.
"Yes, and look at her," said Zetsu's white half, his black half continuing, "she's all torn up!"
-
Itachi, never once experiencing an inkling of out of placement in Sasori's old room, among the familiar dark abyss only his eyes could penetrate, watched, lamp still in hand, his tortured soul(2) with eyes of indifference.
I: End
Chapter I Endnotes:
(1)leaders' – Plural possession; The two leaders of the Akatsuki, Pein and Tobi (Uchiha Madara/Obito, I'm betting it's the latter), despite Kisame not knowing of the second leader. The authoress wrote it this way because she wanted to.
(2)his tortured soul – Referring to Sakura as Itachi's tortured…person. Itachi is not calling himself tortured.
First angst fic! It's quite different from the Naru-angst fics you see around the fandom these days (I hope so) involving Sakura. It's always (well, not always), 'Sakura is depressed. No Sasuke. Cuts. Bleeds. Emo-ness. He returns!' Uhh...no. So don't give me any sh!t about this not being an angst fic. The 'internal torment' theme is as angsty as you can get, and it's pretty hard to depict in words.
Next, if you are to review (please do!), suggestions, ideas, requests, etc., etc., are greatly welcome. I'm aiming to respond to each and every one of them...like a nice author should...save those I can't respond to. You know what I mean (the anonymous ones).
Finally, I apologize if my Itachi--as well as the other Akatsuki members--are out of character, if the plot feels rushed, for my inablity to write a longer chapter (this is a two-in-one, bear in mind), and if my usage of words is far beyond your comprehension...er, I mean, for anything else that irks you (like this Author's Note. When will it end? Will this arse of an author ever shut up? It's torturing...my...s o u l.) Teehee.
But despite everything I say, I love you all for reading. And I'd love you even more if you reviewed.
The length of Chapter II depends on the feedback I get. Just FYI.
Thanks for reading!