dans les morceaux

(in the pieces) we find too bitter a hatred

a fanfiction written by dreamsofdestiny and moonmagicks in a collaborative work in which the characters used belong to masashi kishimoto, shonen jump, and respective copyright owners. this is a work of fandom and hence has no materialistic benefit towards it. moreso, there will be wild and unbelievable pairings and scenarios in which the collaborated authors wish to say will include sexual innuendo, incestuous themes, physical and mental torture, and of course crude/vulgar humor. please beware and note the rating is there for a reason.

notice: questions/comments/random junk? please do post on the author's forum! (forums, fanfiction discussion, dans les morceaux)

snark! kisaita and sasuhina ahead! xD

6

Kisame remembered the all his first times with Itachi. The first time he had heard of the boy was when he was age 8, and the Akatsuki recieved a notice about a boy genius with a thrist for power. Of course, the Leader's eyes had been almost piercing with interest, and Kisame knew all too well that another member was to be recruited soon. He would never have known that this member would be his future partner, nor would he have predicted that his previous partner would die.

Now that he came to think about the topic (he did have a lot of time and all, seeing as how this mission was meant to take two weeks...), Kisame realized that he could hardly remember exactly how the face of his first partner looked. He knew it was male. And he knew that the body height was definitely shorter than him, and probably lighter. But those were all descriptions that would have suited more than 99 percent of the population of ninjas. If you asked for more detail than gender and height, Kisame probably would not be able to dig up the information.

His facial features were lost on him.

The personality didn't even exist from what he could remember.

And he knew that he definitely would not be able to pick his previous partner's face out of a crowd of people.

Putting down the teacup and surpressing a sigh, the missing-sharknin thought reluctantly how this wouldn't be an issue at all were it not for the fact that he could remember all that and more with Itachi. Said boy-murderer was sitting a couple feet away, reclining on a bed while rereading the mission scroll. Even though the henge's eyes looked relaxed and his posture seemed to be at ease, Kisame knew his partner better than that.

The uneaten plate of dango gave away everything. Of course, there wasn't any real danger at the moment, but Kisame knew that the sounds and smells and motions coming in and out of the hotel had Itachi's ANBU senses on a complete high. He himself had learned long ago how to ease one's muscles to the point in which it was as if you had no bones at all.

However, it was a technique that Itachi deemed unworthy of learning.

Biting back yet another sigh, Kisame attempted to concentrate on his portion of the mission scroll. It was useless however when the tension creeped up to boiling point in the room, what with Itachi fixing his Sharingan on his partner.

Kisame was a well-trained ninja. Unquestionably so.

But even he could not restrain from fidgeting aimlessly when being held on by the eyes of a so-called God.

The third sigh was not given as Kisame threw his mind with full force at the scroll, refusing to look up or answer Itachi's silent but beckoning question. 'Why did you do what you did back at the hideout?' ringing on repeat through his blue head as the kanji and hiragana swirled together to the point of illiteracy. Of course, stubborness was enough to pull his mind through the calling.

It was battle of wills with an obvious victor, but Kisame sure as hell was not going down easy.

Itachi's eyes narrowed minisculely. Not that the shark could have noticed, of course.

So he wanted to be stubborn.

5

"Sasuke..." Hinata murmured, lightly tracing the boy's pale brow as his eyes flickered open at the name recognition. Blood-red met pearl-white, and she would have flinched away if it weren't for the fact that he simply looked so much like Itachi right now. Of course, his personality sucked and the lines under his face were barely visible and not at all dignified.

In short, this boy was not God.

But, because he was not God, he was human.

He was like her.

4

Previously stated Avenger awoke to someone stroking his face. It wasn't exactly an unpleasant feeling, but it was definitely more alien than anything he was accustomed to feeling. Blearily blinking open his eyes and adjusting his focus, he realized (with little to no surprise) that the culprit was indeed Itachi's little pet servant, Hinata. The sad thing was, this was the third time he had blacked out, and the third time he had awoken one way or another because of her intervention. His mind reeled with the repeated phrase of 'pathetic, pathetic, pathetic,' but of course, that was just his daily living hell.

What was seriously being an area of concern was that, even though he should have been thinking of a way to kill her, to kill Itachi, at very least to getting the fucking hell out of this pathetic hideout, all he could think about was how...strange she was. Three times he had tried to kill her, each time almost succeeding. Three times she had seen him fall and three times she had somewhat helped him get back on his feet.

This girl...was different, that much was obvious. To be in Itachi's prescence, alive, for a long period of time (she had been gone from Konoha for what, five years?) was something to be commended in itself. It was only necessary for any companion of his elder brother to be quiet and knowing of the gold in silence.

If she were anyone else, he probably wouldn't have just stared at her touching his face. He probably would have done something violent.

But all he did was whisper quietly:

"Why...?"

Why did she do all this? Why did Itachi (nii-san, nii-san, nii-san his mind wants to add but it will not, cannot) take her in? Why is she still alive? Why is he still alive? Why is Itachi plotting all this out?

Her face contorts for a fraction of a second, obviously confused as to the reason behind his half-question. But then, it snaps back to its placid demeanor, and she slowly removes her hand from his face, as if there was nothing wrong with having it on his face in the first place. And other than everything else in his life being so damn fucked up, there's nothing wrong (crazy, you mean to say, crazy) with the situation at all. And that would be the end of it all.

Except that Hinata opens her mouth to speak.

"You're like me." She says, putting both hands to his face and leaning in to observe the widening pupils, the beating heart, and the slowly-heating face. He is like her; he is human.

Sasuke, of course, has had too little experience in such matters to have any control over them, and all he can think of to do is shut everything down. The past week has been too much him anyways, and he has no idea in hell as to why she's holding his face in such an...intimate manner as that.

Hinata wonders how hard it would be to stop that beating heart. Itachi has done that to her many times more and surely it wouldn't hurt the boy. She knows which tenketsu points to press, and how long he'd be out accordingly. But it is not necessary, and her chance (excuses, excuses...) slips away when the beat of his heart slows down to a hibernating pace. His eyes don't seem to focus, and she is left to wonder how ungodlike this person (this person who has God's eyes) really is.

She wonders if she should be disappointed that she can't knock him out and test out how nicely she's been working on her byakugan. Or whether she should be relieved that he didn't attempt to kill for a fourth time in one short week. But it doesn't matter what she feels, because she shouldn't be feeling in the first place, and she knows that even though Itachi will not look at her in a disapproving fashion, will not hiss at her incompetence, will not lock her away in her room as punishment, the fact that he disapproves, the fact that God disapproves is punishment in itself. And she gently places the boy's head back down on ground.

His breathing is even, and all he's ailing from is exhaustion. She clutches at the ends of her kimono, getting ready to depart, and just as she turns around and takes the first step away from the first human she's been in contact with for so long, she feels a tugging at the end.

It's the little brother, and his eyes are saying words. She can actually read what they're saying, what they're feeling, and she can almost hear the begging in them "please don't leave me alone," and wonders if this is how Itachi feels around her. Suffocated. Disgusted. And dragged down. But then, she realizes that maybe it's not that bad of a feeling, seeing as how she lowers herself to the ground once again, laying herself down so that their heads made a right angle.

Sasuke's eyes are closed once again, and she does not do anything about the hand that is tightly clenched around the hem of her dress.

It does not bother her, after all.

And she suddenly feels unexplainably exhausted, as if she's got those lines under and over her eyes as well, and she yawns before turning on the side that does not face the boy, and dozing off to sleep on the cold stone ground.

She has never been bothered by the strange coldness it always seems to hold, because it seems to also have a strange lull that makes people sleepy.

And they sleep.

3

The crows caw in the morning, once for the rising of the sun, and once again when the sun has reached the east tower. Hinata knows all of this all too well because it was all she did for the first part of her stay. Itachi had given her full rein of exploration, allowing her to explore the entire manor, seeing as how it certainly had nothing to hide. She remembered staring in utter horror at the skeletons that lay in the torture room, and sneezing while within one of the many dust-covered guest rooms.

It had all been so strange when she first came here, but with the rise and set of the sun, and the subsequent coming of winters and summers, she had grown rather accustomed to it, and wondered if Itachi would allow her to call this place "home". And then she took that thought back, it was obvious he wasn't one for words as sentimental as "home". It was simply a "place", a manor if one wished to be descriptive. Somewhere with a roof, somewhere to sleep, and somewhere to eat nongourmet meals.

And by the second caw, Hinata has already gotten up, wrenched the hem of her kimono out of the boy's grasp, and changed into a new kimono. She has far too many, but never wonders as to why or how Itachi has managed to acquire so many.

After all, he has never told her necessary information before, why start with the unnecessary?

There is breakfast on the table in the west hall. This is the most beautiful portion of the manor, Hinata thinks, glancing at the tall, elegantly shaped ceiling, and the richly-colored bricks that adorn the walls, consequently protecting the inner room from all harms as well. And there is an equally grand cherrywood table. She has sometimes pretended that it was imported from a faraway and land, and with a bloody past as well. But what really sets this room apart from all others are the windows.

They are beautifully tall, and equally elegant works of art. Each one is perfectly symmetrical with the next, and it is because of them that the room has never had a need for lights. Both the moon and the sun are able to illuminate their way into the room, and the building has been desgined so the two of them are constantly circling about the windows in a beautifully circular motion. There are curtains, of course, made of silk, and they gracefully fall like water. However, they are to keep prying eyes away, and do nothing to block any sort of light.

Hinata loves this room the most.

And it is in this room that Sasuke manages to stumble upon her once again. She's sitting at one end of an enormously long table, and her new robes are flowing down from the sides of her chair. She seems to be eating rice with flavourings, but he's never been one for culinary knowledge, so it could be porridge for all he cared. She nods at the coming of his prescense, but does nothing more.

There is an identical bowl on the other side, filled with the same things, and Sasuke goes to sit there.

He looks rather blandly at food, and not-so-discreetly takes the multi-colored dango out of the bowl and on top of the table.

Hinata blinks in surprise at this. The two of them are so similar, and yet they do not have similar tastes? But she doesn't say anything, and simply continues to eat her meal. She has never wondered as to how the meals are made (although she's always suspected some invisible chef, seeing as how the crows couldn't possibly do this as well, right?), and has only learned that whomever puts the food on the table is either unwilling or unable to clear it away.

And that has become some sort of amusement for her, taking the dirty dishes and washing them eiher as quickly or as slowly as possible.

When Sasuke has finished picking at his meal (he's left more than half of it uneaten, for fear of food poisoning), he notices that although she has long since finished, the girl has not gotten up. Until now. Hinata calmly walks over, her own bowl and chopsticks in hand, and takes Sasuke's as well, heading towards the kitchen to wash them. As always, there is a lone bucket filled with clean water, and a clean towel for scrubbing.

Another mystery of the manor that she has never bothered questioning.

Sasuke follows her with his eyes. He hates her, he thinks. How dare she be a cohort of the man who murdered his entire family! How dare she smile so serenely, so many miles away from her home! How dare she seem so...content with her current lifestyle! It annoyed him to no end, and he had no idea as to why he was so annoyed. Other than the obvious fact of her being a companion (of sorts, at least) to his nii--target. To Itachi.

He hates Itachi. He hates Itachi wholeheartedly, and because of this, by order of association, he hates the girl as well.

He hates her kimonos, they remind him too much of Mother's.

He hates the way she looks at him, another disappointed glance because he is not Itachi.

And what he hates the most is the way she acts. So shy and quiet and unable to be killed.

2

Hinata has long since noticed the boy's stare. It would be a lie to say it was not unnerving. It was. It had been far too long since anyone had glanced at her for so long. Itachi's eyes only rested on her for a couple seconds at the absolute most. Kisame sometimes stared, but it wasn't at her, but rather through her. And the crows...they didn't look at her at all. Unless she was feeding them, and even then it was never with this sort of intensity.

CRASH.

She winced at her stupidity, at having managed to drop a bowl. It was completely shattered beyond repair.

Sasuke did not come to look at what she was doing, but rather chose to leave the west hall. She wrinkles her nose at his unpleasant nature before bending down to pick up the fallen pieces. A couple crows come to help her, and she has learned that they are incredibly smart birds. They pick up the pieces of the bowl with their beaks and discard them in the properly labelled area for garbage.

Walking away after her morning dishwashing duties are finished, she retires to her room. With all honesty, she is stumped as to what to do. There has never been such a human visitor in the manor before, and certainly no one has stayed with her for so long. Although it has only been two weeks since he's come (and one more week until Itachi and Kisame return), it feels like a lifetime. Without a doubt, he has, at very least, given her something more to do, whether it be tending to his wounds, giving him his meals, or simply cleaning his dishes.

But now that he doesn't need all that, what is she supposed to do?

He is still undoubtedly in the house, and it would not be wise to go frolicking in the outside. She was not certain as to why Itachi had told her to not allow him to leave the Manor's grounds, but she certainly wasn't one to disobey God. Which brought her back to her current dilemma: what to do?

After a couple moments of thought, she decided that her best bet would be to pretend he wasn't in the manor at all. In which, she proceeded towards the vast stretch of room that she referred to as the "library". It housed more books than she'd ever have a lifetime to read, and she had read all the titles in the first sixteen shelves so far. Finding where she had last left off, she grabbed her book titled "Ancient Interclan Relations and Disputes". It was boring, yes. But it was a way to pass the time, and she was certain that there would be a day in which she'd be able to put to use the fact that "in past times, most clan disputes were settled by a large-scale animal-eating competition that lasted for several days. The most frequently used animal was the yellow frog, for its unusual inability to be consumed cooked".

She was halfway through with this title when she noticed a hard stare on her being.

Looking up, she was not at all surprised to see the boy looking at her.

She shuddered, refusing to allow it to affect her any more than it should, choosing to flip the page of the book and submerse herself into the little-known tradition of marrying enemy clans' respective mascots together.

Sasuke didn't seem like he'd be leaving soon, and although she was very clearly bothered, there was no way she was going to get him to leave. She wondered if he'd follow after her if she decided to return to her room to read, but decided against it. This was moreso her manor than his--he had almost no right to be here! Well, other than the obvious fact of the master of the manor wanting him here for one purpose or another.

She sighed, in a personal defeat, closing the book and heading towards her room.

Sasuke did not follow, but kept his eyes trained on her, glare in place. It was really all her fault that he was here right now (although the fact that it was also partly of his own free will did not seem to occur to him right now) and without any sort of aid. He had no idea as to how Suigetsu, Juugo, and Karin were doing. He rolled his eyes, Karin had probably attempted to kill Suigetsu and Juugo probably saw blood and killed the two of them.

They were predictable like that.

And in the most perverse manner of all, he was reassured by that fact.

1

"I didn't think it was very fair that you always left her hanging," Kisame relented. Itachi's eyes narrowed. Was the shark not trusting his judgement? But then, one glance over didn't just confirm the fact, but thinking back, Itachi realized that perhaps, it had been a little cruel of him to never tell his blank slate anything. Although he could hardly feel guilty for it.

"Very well," he responded evenly, choosing ignore the roll of eyes Kisame gave as a reply.

Another week before they went back to the manor. Perhaps by then, the two of them would have somewhat bonded, making breeding much easier.

And then again, this was his foolish little brother and his blank canvas being discussed. It would probably be easier to force results, rather than patiently waiting. And although there was a lot at stake, Itachi understood the many capabilities a Byakugan-Sharingan child would have. As long as the child was not pale and weak, it would be a rather strong force, more than most would be able to reckon with.

And if he managed to produce such a creation...Itachi allowed himself a small quirk upward with his lips, then all the time spent into Hinata, and subsequently Sasuka, would well be worth it.

0

end of the fourth chapter