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

Chapter 18.

Now it made sense; so many things had seemed strange, but now, just like a jigsaw puzzle, it began to all be pieced together. Kiken couldn’t do anything to hide it now—the moment she had said that; seen the look on his face; she had known Itachi had figured out what she was. Trying to disguise it would be useless; the only thing she could do…was tell the truth. Maybe if she was honest, both with Itachi and the rest of the Akatsuki, things wouldn’t be as bad as she was expecting them to be. She couldn’t even meet his gaze as he said it.

That was why she had frozen so much when he had first mentioned the mission would be involving the valley; it hadn’t been because she didn’t want to go back there—that was merely a secondary reason. The main thing was her worries of what the Akatsuki were thinking about; what they were looking for. If they had said they were looking for the overall power that everyone had been obsessed about, Kiken might not have been so willing to come with them and help out.

But she had agreed when Itachi had mentioned a scroll; that meant they weren’t after her and she could relax. Of course she didn’t know anything about a scroll that contained a huge load of power—there hadn’t been one to begin with! With the stories that had circulated, everyone had just thought that, not knowing the power—the so called ‘weapon’—wasn’t anything like that at all, but a person! Her status as the weapon must have been hidden in general; the less people who knew about her, the less people would try and chase after her, wanting Kiken's power for themselves.

Everyone must have wanted her, because whoever controlled Kiken, controlled the valley.

During that war…Kiken had been the most valuable resource available.

It was why she had lived in Seifu’s mansion—he most likely hadn’t wanted her to get kidnapped by anyone, or for anything to affect her training. She must have been hidden away from everyone, and why no one else seemed to react to her in the same way the guy in the village had done. Her personality had been shaped by that fact; acting like a servant and not liking to fight like most ninjas. After probably having been forced to fight in so many battles, she had come to see violence in a different light—just like had done after seeing the effects of the Third Shinobi World War.

Seifu had drilled into Kiken that he owned her, and that that was all she was meant for; apart from war, she was useless. Family had been replaced with trying to please the person who forced her to fight in wars she wanted no part in, trained her until she collapsed from exhaustion, and allowed her no contact with general civilians; with those her own age. She had been isolated in a way that wasn’t only physical, but mental as well. At least he had had only one aspect of it.

But there was still one thing that it didn’t explain.

Regardless of whether she was the power or not…

How had she survived that last day of the war?

The only reason the guy from the village had was because of his injury—he had been taken out days before it had ended. But Kiken had been right there in the middle of it all; clearly in the front line with how she had been coveted as a weapon to use in battle. Whatever had caused that damage must have enveloped her as well. Had she known what was going to happen, and she felt guilty about it?

Unless…

“Yeah, I am. I wasn’t trying to hide it from you, Itachi, I swear. You never said anything about the kind of power I can use, so I thought you weren’t after it. But obviously…I was wrong, wasn’t I?” Looking down at the floor by this point, Kiken sighed, but, keeping her gaze away from Itachi's started to elaborate on her story.

Itachi said nothing to interrupt her. After figuring out her secret, he had guessed there were a lot of things that had been wrong in her life…but never the kind of things that Kiken was describing to him now. That same wish to protect her immediately surfaced with her story, and Itachi didn’t blame her for not mentioning a thing—after how people had treated her because of it, why would she? But that wasn’t what got to Itachi the most—it was what Kiken said next, falling almost to a whisper as she went on,

“I—I don’t actually know how I was born. Whether it was a natural, human thing, or I was just created from nothing. I remember nothing like playing as a baby, being at a really young age or anything. Just that memory as the furthest back I can go. I don’t even know if I am actually human. A lot of the time it doesn’t seem like it. That I was made like any other weapon; just in a different form.”

It didn’t feel quite right saying that to Itachi; there were stories about what had happened during the war; about the power that had been created there. But never anything about how it was created. About her story itself. Explaining what had happened that day had been one thing, but telling Itachi that was another thing entirely. But it just felt right. Itachi seemed more likely to know how to react than anyone else out there; so why not? There was just one more thing to explain now, especially at the thoughtful look in Itachi's eyes.

“But I survived that day, Itachi. Everyone was fighting over me; then this one guy came over…I couldn’t take it anymore. I snapped. I didn’t even realise what I was doing; my body was so exhausted, and my head was so crazy, that everything just exploded out of me. My chakra just rushed out in waves—it shrouded everything, and I passed out. By the time I woke up, everyone was dead. The bodies and area was preserved…and the war was over.”

“So I did what Seifu had always told me to; whatever happens, pick yourself up and carry on. No matter what injury, what problems…keep going. I put the jutsu over it; to help things along now they were dead…and I left. I never thought I’d be coming back until you approached me that day.” Kiken finished, falling into silence, not able to look at Itachi or say anything more, the flashes of memories flickering through her mind as she spoke.

Glancing back at the battlefield, Itachi, too, remained in silence. Clearly she was incredibly powerful, and the reason why so many people had wanted control over her was clarified as Itachi remembered what he had seen back there. Pure chakra had preserved that place; had taken over everything and killed so many people in one fell swoop. Having used all that power, and Kiken had passed out, nothing more, being able to get back up, use a jutsu like that and leave Hoshi valley even after it all.

That didn’t mean Seifu’s, or anyone else’s, reasons for controlling Kiken like that were justified. They had done her so much harm, physically and mentally, and Itachi knew she would never fully get over it; not after all she had seen and been through. She hadn’t wanted to be in that war; to fight those people—she didn’t like violence. Itachi didn’t, but he had had ways of getting out of it, so he could avoid truly fighting anyone. Kiken hadn’t; she hadn’t had anything to help her, and abruptly he appeared next to her, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder as he whispered, wishing he could have done something to make things better in some way,

“I’m sorry, Kiken. I’m so, so sorry.”

But at that, Kiken looked up, and the floor just fell from beneath her feet.