Tangents and Parallels

Kisame stared at the village in the distance and then at his morose partner, mouth twisted in a frown of confusion. When no explanation was forthcoming despite his increasingly questioning looks, he asked, “Oi, Itachi, what are we doing near Konoha? We aren’t supposed to approach our target yet.”

The Uchiha did not reply, Sharingan eyes focused on the gates of Konoha. The pair was still far from the village but the massive gates were visible through the trees. After a few seconds, Itachi turned and started walking towards the west, a grumpy Kisame following him.

“I think I deserve an explanation if you’re going to drag me around, Uchiha!”

Twitching when he still didn’t get a response, Kisame shot a dark glare at his partner’s back and followed. He had been hoping for a fight when he realized that they were near Konoha; two of the Akatsuki’s targets, the Jinchuuriki of the Ichibi and the Kyuubi lived there and even if they didn’t succeed in retrieving them, a good fight would have been welcomed.

But Itachi hadn’t even crossed the barrier the two knew existed, apparently content to watch from far away.

And Leader would have had their heads if Kisame and Itachi had gone after the Jinchuuriki so early.

After about an hour of steady walking, the pair reached a field of flowers, multi-colored blooms as far as the eye could see. ‘Didn’t think Itachi would like a place like this,’ the shark-like man thought, choosing to stay at the edge of the field while his partner ventured farther. ‘Wait…all of these are the same type of flower…I think they were called tulips?’

Uncaring of Kisame’s thoughts, Itachi knelt to brush his hand against the petals of a pink tulip, caressing the velvety surface gently. If one looked closer, they would be able to see a hint of sorrow and melancholy in his dark eyes, Sharingan deactivated for once.

A red tulip, with a very familiar shade of crimson, caught his eye and Itachi reached for it without thinking, fingers closing around the stem. The unintended action exposed his wrist and sunlight was reflected off a thin strip of metal, attracting the attention of the other man in the area.

“Huh?”

Kisame squinted, trying to see just what had gleamed. He only got a short glimpse before Itachi shook his sleeve back into position. But it was enough to deduce what it was. “That bracelet looks a little too feminine for Itachi…what a weird guy.”

Sitting down and leaning against the trunk of a tree, Kisame removed Samehada from his back and placed it at his side; he had a hand around the hilt though, in case he needed to draw the weapon immediately for some reason or the other. He simply sat there, watching the second youngest member of the Akatsuki looking rather at home amongst the flowers.

Itachi made his way towards the only tree in the field, red tulip clutched in his left hand. His right brushed over two names carved into the bark, tiny seals etched around them to prevent them from being worn down. They would remain until the tree died or was cut down.

A rare smile curled his lips, softening his features.

“…it has been a while. I’m back.”

It was almost sundown when Itachi returned to his partner, Kisame eyeing him with speculation. His curiosity had reached its limit hours ago and he had channeled chakra to his eyes to see just what was on the tree that had Itachi so riveted.

Uzumaki Hikari.

Uchiha Shisui.

The first was an interesting name, having had believed that the Uzumaki were long since extinct. To find out that there had been a survivor and that Itachi had known her was interesting.

“Hey, what did you come here for?”

Silence.

Kisame ground his teeth, squashing his rage so that he wouldn’t kill the ice prince in a fit. He did not want to be the one to explain to Leader why he needed a new partner. Much to his surprise, after they had walked for a few minutes, Itachi spoke up.

“…visiting a grave.”

Kisame pondered about what Itachi had told him about a grave but had not returned to the flower field on his own, understanding that it was an important place for the Uchiha. He may be a nukenin, but he had his own version of honor. Truth be told, he did not know much about his assigned partner, something he had not been concerned about before but it was an oversight he intended to correct.

He started by asking around in Akatsuki.

Approaching Pain and Konan was pointless; neither of them cared what the rest of Akatsuki was up to most of the time as long as they stuck to the plan. Also, searching for them was an exercise in futility.

Sasori was useless, too fixated on his puppets and Kisame wasn’t going to touch Orochimaru’s obsession with the Uchiha with a ten-foot pole.

It was Kakuzu who gave Kisame some information, having kept himself updated on the bounty on the Uchiha’s head in case he got an opportunity to claim it.

“Uchiha Itachi, S-Rank nukenin from Konoha,” Kakuzu intoned, nose still buried in the book he carried around to keep track of his money and available bounties. “Classified as such for the murder of an Advisor of Konoha, Shimura Danzo, the Elders of the Uchiha Clan, a renowned S-Rank Jounin and ANBU, Uchiha Shisui also known as Shunshin no Shisui and the ward of the Sandaime Hokage, Uzumaki Hikari.”

There were those names again.

Why would Itachi visit the grave of the girl and boy he had killed?

Finally his burning curiosity reached its limit and Kisame blurted out a question rather tactlessly and in the midst of most of the other Akatsuki members. Not that he cared; he just wanted answers.

“Does that bracelet of yours belong to Uzumaki Hikari?”

The rest of the room -a cave, really- consisting of Sasori, Deidara and Kakuzu, paused in whatever they were doing, turning to watch the Uchiha direct a rather impressive glare at the Hoshigaki. The swirling tomoe of the Sharingan just made it all the more threatening.

“That is none of your business.”

Deidara snorted, smirking as he jumped into the conversation, “Who knows? The prick might just be messed up enough to wear a mark of his lover! Who he killed!”

The temperature dropped a few degrees and the shinobi tensed, wary of the cold rage emanating from the dark-haired teen. Nothing ever affected the Uchiha much and most of the time, he was like an unfeeling block of ice. To feel his palpable rage was rather unsettling.

“Watch your tongue, Deidara,” Itachi murmured softly, the promise of a painful death in his voice. “Or you shall lose it.”

Unwilling to back down despite the danger, the blond shot back, “Anyone would think like that! I’ve seen you kiss that bracelet multiple times! Why would you do that unless it was your lover’s?!”

“I have never had a lover.”

“Bu-”

“Shut up, Deidara!” Kisame snapped, already regretting indulging his curiosity. The Akatsuki weren’t friends, just a bunch of powerful and bloodthirsty freaks united under the banner of their Leader. They didn’t care about making nice with each other.

Deidara huffed, throwing himself back into his chair with a pout, looking much like a petulant child denied candy. Sasori looked as unconcerned as ever while Kakuzu had a worrying glint in his greedy eyes, cataloguing Itachi’s reaction as a possible weakness.

Silence descended upon the shinobi one again, each member absorbed in their own thoughts or work. So it came as a shock when Itachi decided to speak.

“The bingo book has incorrect data,” he said, staring at the cave wall, gaze almost vacant. “I did not kill Shisui and Hikari.”

No one made a single sound, stunned by the Uchiha’s sudden willingness to talk about himself.

“Hikari was killed by Shimura Danzo and the Uchiha Elders, for they believed her to be a thorn in their side. And Shisui was killed while protecting her.” Itachi paused, raising the wrist with the bracelet to eye level and memorizing the little seals on them once again, a reminder of the girl who had done so much for him. “I merely exacted my revenge on them.”

He quietened, letting the others process the information. Itachi did not care about them knowing some of his past; it was something that no one could actually use against him, even if it was capable of evoking some emotion from him.

“I knew it! She really was your lover!” Deidara burst out, expression filled with triumphant glee as he pointed an accusing finger at the Uchiha.

The comment made Itachi shake his head. “Hikari was a dear sister to me,” he revealed. “It was, in truth, Shisui who was utterly besotted with her. And I believe that the sentiment was returned.”

With that, he disappeared from the cave, leaving behind a bunch of dumbstruck nukenin who, in his opinion, were really meddlesome gossips and a pitiful excuse for shinobi.

“Well, damn,” Kisame finally muttered into the silence. “To turn traitor for a sister-figure and best friend. Never expected that out of that ice statue.”

“Was it wise to tell them that?”

Itachi breathed in the cool night air, taking in the full moon and starless sky. Interacting with the Akatsuki always left him restless and twitchy, but he endured it because it was a necessary evil.

“It is but a fraction of the truth,” he returned to the other gift Hikari had left him, voice serene and steady. “It is of no consequence, Kurama-sama, and it will keep the rest from bothering me much.”

The Uchiha wasn’t actually lying when he told the Akatsuki that he killed the Elders but there was more to it.

Having grown increasingly upset at their failure to gain more power for the clan, the Uchiha Elders with a small faction who supported them, had attempted to take the two Jinchuuriki. That had not gone well with Hikari but unfortunately, the fools had managed to partially break the seals containing the Bijuu.

The Elders had allied with Danzo, who had brought along his Root. Shisui had taken up a defensive role while Hikari had occupied herself with sealing the Bijuu. Had it not been for Root’s underhanded methods, they would have succeeded with little to no harm to themselves.

Itachi had arrived on the scene, with Kakashi and the Sandaime in tow, just in time to see Hikari rip out Danzo’s heart with clawed fingers. Her expression had been a terrifying mix of incandescent rage and heartbreaking despair. Shisui’s cooling body had been lying a few feet away, littering with multiple lacerations and a sword through his heart.

She had then collapsed into Itachi’s arms, breathing labored and choking on her blood. She had apologized, saying that she and Shisui were leaving him behind. A vicious poison had been coursing through her veins, somehow killing her faster than Kurama could heal her.

“Do you regret taking me that night, Itachi?” Kurama asked, having followed his current host’s thoughts. “You would not have to suffer the life of a Jinchuuriki.”

“Not once,” came the prompt response. Itachi closed his eyes and sank into his mindscape, opening them when the scent of flowers hit his nose. Unlike Hikari’s sewer-like mindscape, his was an open grassy plain with daffodils and scilla under a starry sky. The flowers were a tribute to Hikari and Shisui, and Kurama didn’t mind them either, so they stayed and flourished.

The great fox was sitting on his haunches, crimson eyes watching the equally crimson moon in the sky. “I want revenge,” he said, allowing the teen to come closer and rest a hand on his leg. “Hikari was the only human I cared about, and dare I say, loved.”

“I know. And you will have it.”

Part of his vengeance had been obtained when Hikari had killed Danzo and Itachi the Uchiha Elders, but Kurama wanted to obliterate the true mastermind behind that plot, Black Zetsu.

If that creature had not meddled with the Uchiha Elders and concocted that accursed poison, then Hikari and Shisui would still be alive.

Itachi had known the truth behind Hikari’s existence and upon her death, had basically inherited everything she had owned. But above all, he had inherited her will.

She had told him about his counterpart and in order to obtain Kurama’s vengeance and accomplish her goals, Itachi had taken on the role of a traitor. Kakashi and Hiruzen had tried to convince him not to do so but he had been undeterred. He would leave Konoha with the impression that he had turned on the village; Shisui and Hikari’s deaths at his hands would convince everyone, since he had been very close to them.

If Shisui and Hikari could see him now, Itachi doubted they’d approve of his choices.

“Hikari would forgive you,” Kurama commented, nudging the Uchiha with his nose. “When I asked to be sealed within you and you accepted, she knew what you were planning. Idiotic plan it may be but she understood.”

That gained a smile and Itachi nodded. “Hikari did always seem to be able to see through me.”

Itachi’s reasons for joining Akatsuki was to find Obito and Black Zetsu, to save one life and end another. It included a bonus of having a chance to protect Naruto and Gaara, perhaps even stop Akatsuki’s plans before they could be executed.

Besides, it was kind of amusing to know that Pain had the Kyuubi right under his nose and not be aware of it.

“Kurama-sama, when all of this is over, what do you plan to do?”

The Bijuu pondered over the question, turning it over and over in his head. “Perhaps I’ll pass on,” he finally said, settling down with his head on his paws. “I have no reason to exist in this world of filthy mortals. And you?”

“I would like to see Shisui and Hikari again,” the Uchiha confessed, tone wistful. He had not lied when he said that he had no romantic feelings towards Hikari or towards Shisui, but they were parts of his soul and their loss was still a large, gaping wound.

Itachi knew that, should he return to Konoha after the completion of his self-assigned mission, they would welcome him back with open arms. The Clan Heads had never believed the fabricated story; his father had even intercepted one of his cats once and sent him supplies.

Sasuke, Itachi was aware, had made it his goal to uncover the truth and bring his brother back, joined by Naruto, Gaara and Karin. The latter trio had come as sort of a surprise, but they apparently saw him as a big brother and refused to believe that he had killed their sister.

Such maturity and compassion from mere children.

But regardless, Itachi couldn’t bring himself to go back. Every corner would remind him of his friends and eventually it would drive him insane.

When his mission was complete, Itachi, along with Kurama, would leave the world to join Shisui and Hikari.

They would be together again.