Mari has finally found her destination. The washroom is quite large and seems to only be lit by candles. She looks around and spots a mirror where she looks at her reflection. She has always been complimented for her looks and she is very proud of them too. Something is very wrong with what she is seeing. Her hair is filthy and tangled, but what surprises her most is her face. Back when she was in Konoha with her family and Totoya her face used to be rounded, always smiling and full of life. Now her face is very thin ,sad and almost sickly. She can't stand the face she sees in the mirror and feels her rage building up to the point that she can't control it. She punches the mirror making it shatter into hundreds of pieces. Her right hand has been badly cut, the blood dripping to the floor. Her back is against the wall and she lets herself slip down to the floor. The pain has brought her back to her senses.
Itachi is laying in his bed tying to get some rest. He hasn't had the best night of sleep because of his nightmares. It's then that he hears a giant crash that seems to be coming from the upstairs washroom. He remembers Mari being extremely clumsy so he'd better go check it out. He goes up the stairs and listens to hear more noise. He can't hear anything so he starts to run .
"Are you ok Mari?" Itachi calls through the door.
"Yes why wouldn't I be?" Mari stares at the puddle of blood on the floor.
"I heard a loud noise and I thought I should check on you"
"Well… I kinda fell. I'm fine though you can leave me alone"
"You know I wont do that." Itachi has always been protective of her because of Shisui. Whenever team 20 would leave for a mission Shisui would make Itachi promise to protect her. He also did care for her, she was like a younger sister.
She manages to stand up and lean on the sink. The room is starting to spin so she grabs the bandages from her right arm revealing a large L shaped scar that she received on a mission a long time ago. She wraps the bandage around her right hand the best she can and opens the door.
"Mari you haven't changed much have you, clumsy as ever." Itachi says looking at the mess and then at her arm, "I remember when you got that scar…."
"Itachi I'm fine, you can stop this, I can take care of myself." she says looking at the floor.
"I know you can take care of yourself, it's just habit. When I'm around you it feels almost like everything is back to normal."
"It'll never be normal again Itachi! You ruined it all! You killed your whole clan! You killed Shisui…" She looks into his eyes. She sees the sharingan but when she looks closer she thinks she sees sadness.
"Mari may I remind you tried to burn down the academy and the hokages mansion." His gaze seems to be entering her mind.
"that's…. that's different! I didn't hurt anybody! That village is stupid and corrupt!" She looks away hoping he didn't notice the pain she feels. She loves her village.
"You have no idea how much people have sacrificed for that village…."
"Yea right… like you would know!"
"Mari….." he puts his hand on her shoulder and she looks at him again. " Trust me…. I do." He grins slightly. He looks at her face and sees her shocked expression. I think she actually remembers. Itachi then grabs her injured hand and puts the bandage around it tightly. "I remember doing this exact thing for that scar on your arm, if it wasn't for that kekkei genkei you'd be useless." He finishes up and walks away.
Mari goes back into the washroom and manages to take off her clothes and get in the bath. She leans her head against the side and thinks about what just happened. Shisui used to put his hand on her shoulder and tell her to trust him when she got upset. That Uchiha always kept his promise, everything would always make sense after he said that. Did Itachi mean anything by that or was it some cruel joke…
After her bath she goes to see the two boys in the lounging area. Itachi has fallen asleep on the couch and Kisame is sitting on another couch reading a book. She is exhausted and just wants to go to sleep. Kisame gets off the couch and tells her to sleep there. He brings her a blanket and a pillow to try and make it more comfortable. He closes the light and leaves the room.
The morning after, Mari wakes up excited to start the day. She sits on the couch and sees Itachi still sleeping on the one across the room. He looks so peaceful while he sleeps, she can almost see the old Itachi. This makes her have an extreme urge to prank him. She gets up to go get some shaving cream. She tip-toes out of the room and makes her way up to the washroom. She walks down the stairs to go back towards the lounging room.
"Where are you going with that?" a mysterious voice calls from behind her. Mari turns around and sees a guy with long blond hair and blue eyes.
"I… I… uhhh." She can't find an excuse.
"Spit it out! That's my shaving cream." He looks irritated. Mari walks towards him and he gets into a defensive stance.
"oh relax." She gets closer to him and whispers "I'm going to prank Itachi" She smiles at him and he looks at her like she's nuts.
"You're going to….." Mari shushes him and motions to him to speak more quietly. "Prank Itachi? What are you thinking? Do you want to die?" He stares at her for a moment. "Who the hell are you?"
"My name is Mari Etsuko I am the new member of the akatsuki and you are?"
"….Deidara….."
"Nice to meet you. Can I borrow your shaving cream?" She looks eager to get going.
"Sure…. I wanna see this." He smiles and closes his eyes. This should be fun.
"Ok follow me" She smiles back at him and the two make there way to the lounging area.
A/N: Hi so I'm really enjoying writing this story i'm much happier with my last two chapters thanks to Scream109. I added another pic on deviant art :) .com/ its a pic of team 20 made with a cool character creator since i have no drawing talent at all.
Reviewing would be great since i really want to get better and i would like to see if anybody likes my story :)