We're All Made Of Stardust

Chapter 43: Mirror Mirror

     Endless walking felt natural. The hallways seemed to never end and the longer his feet took him down the pathway, filled with turns and twists that felt natural and secure, began to jumble in his head. The longer he walked, the more content he felt and all the chaos that clouded his mind before, seemed to wash away.

      Itachi closed his eyes, his body coming to a halt and when he opened them he was no longer in the building, but instead a lush garden filled with trees and flowers. He blinked, the rest of the world forgotten when felt his little brother tug his hand.

     "Itachi-nee!" Sasuke exclaimed, a bright grin filling his face as he looked up at Itachi with a familiar and expecting expression. "You promised to help me train today."

      The words, maybe next time Sasuke, almost escaped Itachi's lips as something in the back of his mind told him that he didn't have the time to spend on his brother. Despite this, Itachi didn't utter those words as the longer he looked into Sasuke's eyes; the more he wanted to forget his responsibilities. "I can't go back on a promise." Itachi said, walking closer to his brother and returning the grasp.

      And like that, the worry that lingered in the back of his mind disappeared.

                                                                                  ●▬Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ▬●

      At a last ditch effort to avoid Kifu's next attack, Shisui found himself at a standstill as the woman's speed was so great that he didn't have remotely enough time to create a single Jutsu. His Sharingan also became useless in slowing her down as he soon found out, much to his displeasure, that the girl closed her eyes when she fought him. Fighting her felt like lightning, and he soon realized that his speed was nothing in comparison to hers and there wasn't much he could do as long as she outclassed him in this area.

      Initially, he assumed her defense would be weak, considering her highly loose clothing and docile appearance. Now, he found that her offense more than made up for her otherwise lacking weak points.

      She thrust forward, one handed as her feet glided over the ground as if it were ice. Her stance was open and she was low to the ground as she jumped into the air with great speed and lunged down at him, which he narrowly avoided before she appeared behind him and he dodged her attack before noticing her speed was increasing until, to the naked eye, it would look as if she were teleporting all around him and attack from every angle.

      If he didn't have his Sharingan, he would certainly of fallen at her hand. All her attacks would have been fatal, he noticed, and his kodachi couldn't withstand them all.

      She was clever and aimed for his weak points, despite the fact she couldn't see him. He was certain that if he were anyone else, he would be dead by now.

       He jumped back, escaping her thrusts as she dashed towards him with such speed that he could feel the sharp edge of the wind brushing against his cheek despite the fact that he managed to dodge her lunge. He grabbed her wrist before she could take back her stance, and used his other hand to grip her throat, finding that her thin neck fit well into his hand. He wasted no time, as this kind of opening would probably be scarce and he swiftly bent his leg to knee her in the stomach.

      His action made her eyes widen as she opened her mouth in pain. Her eyes narrowed on him and she dropped her blade from the hand where he currently held in place and it fell into her other hand. He saw the hit coming, but did nothing to stop it as she stabbed her sword into his shoulder before she flipped him over so she could straddle him whilst digging her blade into his shoulder. Her graceful and thin legs holding him down with not nearly enough strength needed, something Shisui didn't doubt she knew as she swiftly took the sword out from his shoulder and attempted to swiftly finish him off.