Death's Angel {Naruto FanFic}

Chapter Sixteen

I don't have a particular reason for waking. The gentle motion of being carried is unfamiliar and unwanted, but not unwarrented. I let it slide for now, and open my eyes unhappily. "Put me down." The words tumble from my mouth before I have so much as a thought of stopping them.

"You'll fall." Itachi says without hesitation. He doesn't even bother to look down at me, and I can feel irritation welling up in my veins.

"I'm more than capable of walking on my own." I say icily, resisting the urge to club the taller man with the nearest tree branch. "Put me down now." I can't tell if Itachi doesn't hear me or if he simply doesn't care, but my temper is not something to mess with. I clamp my jaws shut and try not to grind my teeth together. "Itachi."

"No." He replies in his usual, brisk manner, and it makes me angrier. How can he be so normal, thinking everything is okay when he's the reason my mask is broken and thinks he can get away with it. Fury bites poisoned fangs into my heart before I can batter it down. I have half a mind to simply jump into Demon Mode and smack the daylights out of the Uchiha, but common sense tells me that I'm not in the proper shape to get a fair fight. The back of my head smarts and my back is overly sore from being slammed into the tree earlier.

What's more worrying is the fact that my face is exposed for all to see. I can no longer sense any of the ninja we'd previously encountered, but that doesn't make me any less anxious. More than anything, I just want to see Haru again. His heartbeat is still racing from what I can tell, but I can't tell if it's from fear or exitement.

After a few minutes, Itachi finally stops carrying me. I'm placed next to a tree trunk as gingerly as humanly possible. It's a little strange, to be treated like I'm fragile when I'm used to reaching the breaking point time and time again. My head is aching a bit and sometimes the light that filters to me is all too bright, but I'm sure it could be considerably worse.

"You said you need to see Haru." Itachi says calmly as he goes through his weapons pouch. "Explain that to me." The order-like request startles me visibly, with my eyes widening. Then I look away from the tall Uchiha and grit my teeth. Can I tell him? Is such a thing permitted? There's only two Tenshis left anyway, so maybe it won't be so bad. It's only going to get worse.

"It's hard to explain." I reply quietly. Red eyes glance back and stare at me intensely. "Haru and I are both the remnants of the Tenshi clan. To my knowledge, while there are similar factions of the clan in other ninja villages, there aren't any like ours. We're the only ones that have to cover our faces, and the only ones to use demons as well."

I can practically see the gears turning in Itachi's head, but I'll have to ignore that for now. I must figure out a way to explain this bizarre situation. "Demons and angels both like being in groups of sorts. That's why, in my faction of the clan, nobody strays from clan territory very long. The longest anyone's ever been away has to be a year or less. For those of us who got our masks early, we don't leave on missions longer than three or four months." It's strange to say things like this to an outsider.

"I think it's easiest to look at the Tenshi clan as different parts of the same being. We have a demon and an angel, which can represent good and bad intentions. But for those parts to balance out properly, for the good and the bad to remain stable, we must be exposed to the good and bad in others. Staying near other Tenshis allows for us to remain balanced individuals, all part of the same general being." It's a little easier to explain in this way. It's not quite accurate, but it's as close as I can get at the moment.

"Because you and Haru were always together, you balanced each other out." Itachi says calmly. "When you two are separated, your demon challenges you. Would Haru's angel challenge him?" I press my lips together and glance away for a few minutes.