Heya people! laughs nervously Sorry it's taken so long, and this time it really has taken long... SO SO SORRY! ducks from the knife thrown at her head
I won't bother making excuses coz there's too many and I'm sure you guys don't really care...
So once again -Gomen!-
Disclaimer: I still don't own naruto and his merry men/women, wish i did, but no... it still hasn't happened.
Someone is going to die in this chap... but who?
Dun dun duuuuuuun!
ENJOY!
Chapter 11: Mako's Love
"Why don't you hate me enough? Little brother…" Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the realisation that he had been had. All these years of constant training repaying him with failure, he was at his brother's mercy… again.
Sasuke was about to begin a one handed seal, he would try anything he could to get back on even ground; get some space between them so he could be at the advantage. But before he had managed to form a single seal, the hand holding his neck had released him, it was then replaced by his brothers other hand as it swung full force, hitting a certain sensitive spot.
Everything went dark, his limbs felt heavy and he no longer possessed the energy to open his eyes let along to keep himself up. His mind went blank as his body sank into the moss bedded ground.
The last thought that flashed in his mind was the same image that had flashed in his mind the very night all this started. Itachi.
Sai's eyes narrowed at the sight before him.
"…Sasuke?" He called out into the chilly night air.
Sai had heard Sasuke's voice as he shouted at someone. He had rushed out to see what was happening, but found Sasuke on the ground.
"Baka." Sai hissed at the unconscious nin as he forced himself to move into the shadows where he had some form of cover. He moved slowly to what seemed to be Uchiha Sasuke's unmoving body.
Reaching his side, he kneeled beside him and took his arm in his hands checking for a pulse. It was there and it was strong.
"What are you doing here?" Sai muttered another silent comment, he almost expected a reply.
Which he got…
…just not from the right Uchiha.
Kakashi threw a set of kunai in the direction he had sensed Orochimaru's chakra pattern mere seconds before. Instincts were what were keeping him alive. He had no time to think.
Doing a back flip in mid air Kakashi barely managed to dodge the snake that had escaped from Orochimaru's arm.
Why did this always happen to him? Why couldn't he live a normal life that lead to none of what he was experiencing now…
…no, not a normal life, he would have grown bored of that quite quickly. Kakashi after all wasn't the kind of man that stood still, in the same spot for great lengths of time. However much others thought that he would most enjoy to have a carefree life with his books, that wasn't what Kakashi wanted. He had never wanted that.
He hadn't ever even attempted to think of that…
He needed something in his life to keep him going, he need his job, he needed to be a ninja to feel like his life had meaning. He needed someone too…
Thought he didn't know who that someone was.
He knew who he wanted that someone to be, but that didn't mean that someone was who he was going to get.
Whatever Kakashi wanted from life, he was damn sure that he hadn't wanted to be here, now.
Quickly doing a few hand seals Kakashi raised his hand to his mouth and blew fire in the direction Orochimaru had sent another one of his snake minions at him.
This battle wouldn't be over quickly… which was what Kakashi hated most.
Haziness, that was the only word that came to Sakura's mind to describe her current situation. Everything in her mind was hazy. When she opened her eyes her vision blurred and that didn't help her one bit. When she lifted her arm, it shook and she couldn't keep it up for long, her energy dwindling with her every movement. With her every breath…
Where was Sai? She hadn't expected him to leave her. She was ill wasn't she? And wasn't he on her side? Shouldn't he have stayed to help her, to heal her. And if not that, should he have taken her back to Konoha to have her healed there?
Some ninja he was…
But for some reason Sakura hadn't expected anything less of him.
She realised something in that moment, she was so cold. She hadn't realised it before because of all the distractions, the shouting, the banging and the rest. She hadn't noticed that she was shaking, she hadn't noticed how pale her skin was, and she certainly hadn't noticed how daft she was being paying more attention to herself than the shouting and banging that she heard outside the hut.
All that seemed to drown out too though, as her hearing became as hazy as her sight.
She lay there contemplating her situation. But the more she thought the less energy remained to keep her awake, and as an image of a face she hadn't wanted to picture flashed inside her mind, he mind went black once more, and her breathing became shallower.
"Leave." He said simply.
"Uchiha Itachi I presume." Sai commented confidently. He had never been intimidated by the likes of him and Sasuke. He had grown up around people that had been intimidated and scared of the remaining two Uchiha, and it had sickened him.
What was so special about them?
Nothing
They were two cowards strung up on pedestals with merely their reputations to strike fear in the people around them. They weren't gods so they weren't immortal.
This meant that they could die.
And if they could die, that meant that he could be the one to kill them. Both of them.
"Hn." The sharingan swirled in his irises as he watched the younger nin. Itachi felt no threat, only sheer annoyance at the boy's blind confidence.
He was full of himself.
This amused Itachi to no end. He reminded him of his brother down to the T. He had never thought possible for a twin to form out of nowhere, of his brother no less.
"I suggest you give yourself up if you want to avoid bodily harm." Sai's gaze met Itachi's, neither backing down, neither showing any emotion, both confident in their ability.
Itachi smirked. He wasn't about to let some brat mouth off to him, however much he had gotten used to it. This was one of the traits that made this nin and the one lying unconscious beside him, so similar.
They both had traps that they just didn't know when to shut.
Quicker then the blink of an eye, Itachi had made his move. Sai caught completely off guard stiffened as a hand wrapped around his windpipe cutting off his air supply.
He couldn't believe it. How had he been so fast?! Not even Kakashi could compare to that speed, not even Jiraya could! He hadn't seen anything like it before. It wasn't human.
He's not human…
Those words haunted his thoughts. Tsunade had said them as she briefed his anbu squad about each member of the Akatsuki. She was right.
But Sai wouldn't go down without a fight. Grabbing the kunai that he had hidden in his sleeve he slashed at Itachi's neck. But before the kunai got within inches of the Uchiha senior, he had gone. Sai fell to the ground, his lungs desperately taking in oxygen to keep his body going.
Senses heightened Sai tried to predict Itachi's next move. His next attack.
But there came none.
Sai stood, his body in full fighting stance.
"Where the hell are you Uchiha?" Sai growled, he was keeping his anger under control; after all he wasn't the type to give into his emotions. He never had been…
But he hated bastards like the two so called Uchiha 'Prodigies'. He didn't understand what they had done to deserve that name, what they had done to gain the respect of so many and the fear of so many more.
That's when it hit him. Before he could process his thoughts any more his body had already began moving. Swinging the door of the cabin open, Sai slammed him fist into the door in frustration at his own stupidity.
She was gone.
He had been too slow, too dumb to realise the Uchiha's true intentions. He should have caught on after hearing her say his name in fright, after seeing him appear here. Once again he had been like the rest of the fools that feared the Uchiha brothers, he had thought that they were out to get each other; he had assumed that they were trying to kill each other.
When Uchiha Itachi had never showed any sign of wanting to do so.
He had failed.
Kakashi sighed to himself as he leaned against the tree he was hiding behind. He was tired; this battle was taking up too much time, too much energy. He had no chance if it came down to a 'who can last the longest' fight, the sannin beat him in chakra reserves, so if he wanted to win, which he obviously did, he had to end it soon.
He wasn't quite sure how though.
Dodging another array of poison that had escaped through the fangs of the snake summon that Orochimaru had brought into the game, Kakashi jumped into the branches of the tree throwing his own kunai which hit his target blinding it. The snake screeched in pain, but its attack did not falter as it continued on its path.
After all that's what the pale sannin saw this as. He didn't see this as a fight to the death, he saw it as a game, and saw Kakashi as one of the tiny pawns.
"Kakashi, running will only delay the inevitable." Orochimaru commented. He watched amused as the silver haired nin dodged another attack by his pet, before disappearing into the foliage thanks to one of his many jutsus.
Mako gasped when a hand appeared from the earth beneath Orochimaru's feet grabbing said limb and dragging him down into it's crust. Kakashi appeared moments later right next to the spot that Orochimaru had just disappeared into. He grabbed the katana on his back and waited as the snake summon sniffed him out. The blade glistened dangerously in the moonlight. Although Kakashi's scent was partially hidden by the heavy rain, the snake summon was soon heading in his direction.
Without a second thought Kakashi was running towards it, disappearing right in front of Mako's eyes to appear behind the snake. Kakashi gripped the sword tight as he pulled back the blade before slashing with all his strength right through the neck of the snake. The blade sliced without a sound, which made it look to Mako, almost effortless. She watched in awe. Kakashi landed on the ground gracefully as the body of the snake fell to the ground followed by the head in a bloodied heap. Kakashi threw the katana by the body of the snake and pulled out a kunai ready for Orochimaru.
Mako shut her eyes. She couldn't believe what she was seeing; this wasn't how everything was supposed to turn out. Sakura was the one who should be dead. She was the one that deserved to be dead. Not them.
She never liked Orochimaru, but she understood that he was on her side, so she didn't want anything to happen to him. But Kakashi…
She liked him a lot. Mako knew that Kakashi had never been sure of her, that's what had drawn her feeling for him in the first place. She didn't love him the way she knew she loved Itachi-sama. She loved Kakashi in a completely different way.
Mako saw Kakashi as the father she never knew. She saw Kakashi as the epitome of fatherhood, the kind of man that any child would be lucky to call dad. He was what she wanted; he was what she had been waiting for for so long.
Yet everything was going wrong.
Orochimaru appeared behind Kakashi's form, a wide smirk on his face.
"NO!" Mako screamed as she and Kakashi realised too late what the snake sannin was up to.
The snake head that had once been Orochimaru's arm penetrated through Kakashi stomach. The young girl felt sick as she saw the snake head pierce right through the stomach of a man she saw as a father, blood rushed out all around the wound as she saw Kakashi's open eyes go dull.
Mako's eyes widened sharply in horror. This wasn't supposed to happen. He wasn't supposed to die.
Before she knew what she was doing she was running towards them.
Orochimaru pulled out his snake, his arm returning back to normal as the silver haired nin before him fell to his knees.
Kakashi hadn't been fast enough. He smiled to himself. I guess age is finally starting to catch up to me, Kakashi thought, amused.
"I'm going to enjoy this" Orochimaru smirked wider as he pulled a kunai out of his sleeve.
Kakashi closed his eyes; his sharingan would do him no good now. It was quit ironic that at the moment that he needed it most, it was the most useless thing in him. It was draining him of the little energy that he had left, which left him none to move, to escape.
Orochimaru raised his arm, kunai gleaming in the moonlight.
Kakashi's last energy left him and he no longer possessed the will to stay upright. He barely noticed the rain subside above him. His form relaxed as the pain in his stomach numbed and his body fell forward, his face in the dirt as his world went black for the final time.
"I SAID NO!" Mako screamed picking up the katana that Kakashi had dropped before Orochimaru's attack. She grabbed a vile that she had hidden in her yukata and broke it onto the blade, the liquid inside pouring down the metal and onto the ground below.
Orochimaru hadn't even turned to face the girl, he didn't feel threatened. He didn't feel threatened because he didn't see the look in her eyes, he didn't feel threatened because he hadn't seen what vile she had used.
He felt it though when it was too late, the blade sliced into his pale skin. It sliced through his flesh, through his ribs, through his lung and right through to the other side.
Orochimaru gasped for air as he realised what had happened, his eyes were ablaze with anger as the kunai he had readied for the nin in front of him, twisted in his hand and he spun around to face his assailant.
Mako screamed as fear took her over. She could move, she couldn't turn and run to save her life. She was a deer caught in headlights. She hadn't thought of the consequences of her actions before she had actually done them. And now she would pay the price.
Orochimaru's dug the kunai in deep before all strength left him and his body began to sway. The snake sannin couldn't believe how lowly this was, all these years, all the opponents he had faced and beaten and the one that finally gets him good would be a little girl?! It wasn't right; he couldn't believe that she had done it! Better yet, she had done it with the same poison that he had given her only moment before for a completely different purpose, for a completely different person.
Why had she turned on him? Why hadn't he suspected it? Why had he deemed her no threat?
He was dead before his corpse hit the ground.
Mako's eyes filled with tears at the pain that shot from her stomach right through to the rest of her body. She fell to her side as she curled up; this caused her double the amount of pain. Her tears slipped from her mahogany eyes and fell to the dirt she lay on.
She couldn't believe that this was how it would end. There was no way of anyone saving her now. She could feel the poison coursing slowly through her body. The poison that in the process of her breaking the vile had spilled all over her, so when the snake sannin had pierced her flesh with the kunai he had effectively infected her with it, with death.
Her eyes looked up at the silver haired nin that she could see was still breathing. Her eyes filled with more tears. Would he every find out what she had done for him? Would he ever remember her for what she had done? Would he ever know?
Mako lifted her hand into her yukata to pull out a small red rocket. It had been a present from Ino, in case she got lost and needed to be found. She smiled sadly before wincing as more pain rippled through her body.
More tears rolled down her cheeks as she rolled onto her back and thought of Ino. She had been so kind, if she had her wish, Ino would have been the mother that she too had never known. That made Mako smile, Ino and Kakashi…
She pulled the pin out of the small rocket as it escaped her hold and flew into the sky above her.
Maybe they wouldn't find Orochimaru or her alive, but Kakashi had a chance. If he was lucky, which she didn't doubt he was, people like him just naturally were, then he would be found, he would be healed and maybe… just maybe, he would be told what happened here, what she had done, what she had done for him.
The rocket erupted in a multitude of colours as she watched the sparkling lights which reflected in her dulling eyes. She hadn't wanted to die this way, but it was better than the way the woman she despised was living. Maybe she hadn't gotten the chance to tell Itachi-sama how she felt, maybe she hadn't had the chance to see if he felt the same way back. But at least she got to die for a person she loved.
At least she got to die with honour and with pride. She had taken down a legendary sannin. She smiled at that. The poison had finally spread around her system as her heart was slowly shutting down.
"…I'm…sorry…" Mako breathed into the cool night air, her last breath. "…Itachi…-sama…"
Soooo... Yey or Ney?
Thank you so much to all reviewers! If it hadn't been for you guys constantly pushing me to continue writing, this wouldn't have been here...
So keep it up guys!!!
I'll try get the next one up a.s.a.p!
Cya!