Designed For War...But Not Meant For It (Itachi Uchiha Story) Info.

Chapter 17.

Kiken hadn’t grown up in a ninja village; or anywhere near one!

The rumours must have got around about what he had done, but there was only so much she could know from hearing them. And even then, the stories would have had nothing to do with what Kiken had asked. Itachi had massacred his entire clan without so much as a word of warning, leaving only his little brother alive. Why would the dead bodies in the battlefield affect him now if he had seen the exact same thing before, and done by his own hand? He was supposed to be a cold blooded killer with no regard for human life.

So why was Kiken acting as if things were different?

She paid no attention to the surface rumours, ignoring what she might have heard about him and focusing on what she saw now; what he talked to her about and how he acted. She viewed him in the same way as she viewed everybody else, and, somehow with those eyes of hers she saw straight through him. Maybe it was because there were no specific parts to her eyes; no sclera, iris or pupil—merely black—that Kiken could see more than most humans. That she could feel more than most humans. Maybe that was why she knew people’s stories without having had them told her; why she could feel the atmosphere the battlefield gave off even when she was miles away.

“Those kind of images just never disappear.” She suddenly added, and Itachi narrowed his eyes at her words.

Whatever they had done to her when she was a child, it had made her so much more sensitive to everything in this world. It had heightened her normal senses, and given her more that tuned her in to the likes of spirits and ghosts. It shocked Itachi to the point where he was unsure how to respond, but then…he had always known there was something unusual about her; it was what had drawn her to him in the first place. He had known from the start that he had a connection to Kiken, and it wasn’t a bad thing for her to be able to understand the truth. Out of everyone, she was the one he’d want to know the most, and as such, he nodded slowly, stating simply,

“Yeah,” before walking over and sitting down next to her gently. Thinking over how he had felt back in the battlefield, he turned to look at Kiken another time to go on,

“Memories like that are always hard to get rid of—if you even can.”

Clamping her eyes shut, Kiken turned away from Itachi, curling into herself in an attempt to push away the affect he was having on her. If she had felt like telling Sasori everything when he had walked past her, it wasn’t made any better now Itachi was here. She could feel all that had happened to him, and she knew the difficulties he had had to face. Whether it was in the way he acted, the way he spoke, or what he said—Kiken knew why he had done it and what had influenced that factor.

That was why she felt so connected to him; because she understood his situation, and could feel what had happened with him, it meant she knew he could comprehend her own. All her life she had vowed never to tell her story to anyone; but that had been out of fear that people would judge her and turn her away. That she would be left alone, just like she had been before, and as such she had kept it all to herself.

But then Itachi showed up.

Suddenly, for the first time in her life, somebody understood. Itachi had been through similar things; he would know what to do. He had dealt with all that had come his way so well, continuing on with his life and doing everything he wanted; keeping his dreams and his pride. Still being strong even after it all. If Kiken could talk to him about it; if Kiken could share…then he could help her. She could get advice. But best of all…

She wouldn’t have to be alone.

From the very beginning, even before the start of the war, she had been alone. She hadn’t been allowed to make friends with the children in the village, or even with the other ninjas she worked with. During a war isn’t the best time to make friends, and then everyone she had ever known had disappeared from her life. Though she had moved away from Hoshi valley and had gotten other jobs; that need to hide her story from people meant she always had to keep people at arm’s length. Kiken had remained alone; but it wouldn’t have to be that way anymore. Not now Itachi was here.

A part of her mind fought this idea; told her not to do so; not with everything that was going on at the moment. That the time wasn’t right. But it was too late by now. The urge—the desire—to finally tell someone; to have someone understand; had become too much, and though she curled further into herself, she still blurted,

“I know exactly how you felt, Itachi. Well, I mean—how you feel.”

Once again, Itachi found himself shocked at the extent of what you knew about it all; but stayed uncertain as to whether talking about it right now—where they were at the time—was the best situation to be doing so. He wanted to properly answer her statement; he did, but not if it meant ruining everything they had already built up—destroying the friendship that they had just started on the mission.

“The way the battlefield was when we first arrived, Kiken. Did you do that? Hide it all?” He finally began, trying to redirect the conversation as best he could.

Kiken herself couldn’t help but be glad at that, and grabbing at the chance to convince her own mind to let it go, she began to respond. However, things didn’t go exactly as she had planned—the entire explanation of the jutsu bubbled to her lips, and Kiken couldn’t stop herself as she suddenly responded,

“Yeah, I did it. I couldn’t cover up everything—like the aura it gives off—but it was the least I could do after what I did.”

“Kiken, you didn’t do any—” Itachi began to reply, only to find Kiken wouldn’t let him say anything, exclaiming in return,

“Yes! I did! It’s all my fault!”

At that, however, it hit Itachi like a ton of bricks, and it suddenly came to him what the whole situation was. He couldn’t force himself to speak, but there was nothing he could think of that he could use to respond to her words. His mind had been wiped blank, nothing in his head apart from the realisation—the significance—of all that Kiken was suggesting; was practically telling him. All the signs had been there, he could see that now. But he hadn’t been expecting it, so he had ignored them all. That was why he was so shocked, as he finally got his vocal chords to move to murmur in surprise,

“You—you’re the power that everyone wanted in the war!”