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

Chapter 25.

Though the Akatsuki weren’t sure whether anyone was in the mansion at the time, they still decided to go in from the back. After doing a quick check over the building, they found no cells, and no signs of Kiken; meaning that there was obviously a basement. Seifu's son had decided to head back to the house, but apart from a few of his friends, there was no one else there, meaning it wasn’t about to be a difficult fight. They just had to make sure they could get Kiken out of there safely without letting them hurt her in anyway.

Itachi was already planning what he could say to Kiken. If he said the wrong thing he could make it worse, and she might not want to go with them out of mistrust or fear. The idea that the trust he had built up with her over the past few days had been destroyed was bad enough, but to see the look in her eyes; to see the fear as she ran away from him...He didn’t want anything to go wrong. He had to explain fully what had happened, but do it quickly. He had to explain that the Akatsuki weren’t going to treat her like anyone else had done in her life; like Seifu had, but still persuade her to leave with them within the space of a few minutes. He had to make her understand what had gone on; but not be too forceful with it all.

This was going to be tough.

And overall, Itachi hadn’t a clue as to what he was going to say.

Abruptly he was brought out of his stupor as he was nudged in the shoulder and told they were heading inside now. Nodding in acceptance of that fact, Itachi did nothing more as they advanced towards the building, and after a second’s pause, broke in through one of the windows and got everyone inside. There was no need to remain quiet; regardless of whether they were quiet or loud, the mission was going to go smoothly. The majority of them all were going to confront those within the house, while Itachi headed into the basement to find Kiken, anyway, so the whole aim was for them to be heard.

Something that was proven a minute later as a couple of guys headed towards the noise, widening their eyes in surprise at what they met as they came to the end of the corridor, and the fight instantly begun. With the amount of people fighting—along with Itachi's natural affinity for stealth—he managed to slip away quickly, and began searching the place thoroughly. When he couldn’t find her, he clenched his fists, just about ready to punch something, when he realised what he was doing and calmed himself, looking a lot more closely this time, and a moment later he found the entrance to the basement. Staying silent this time, he slipped in and down the stairs, turning on the light he found there and glancing around the place.

It was dark, damp and depressing, and there were two rows of cells extending towards the back of the basement. Flicking his gaze over the first two, he saw no one in either of them, and continued onto the next. Once again he was met with nothing, and sighing softly in irritation, he continued on down the corridor, empty cell after empty cell appearing before him as he did so. He had thought she would be down here. They wouldn’t have needed to hide her thoroughly when no one knew who Kiken truly was or what she could do; so why hide her anywhere else? Unless they’d been more paranoid than that; hidden her somewhere more isolated.

Itachi gritted his teeth with that realisation as he reached the end of the corridor, glaring at both cells. It wasn’t until his eyes alighted on something in one of the end cells that he halted and looked again. At first thinking it was just something that had been in there to accommodate any prisoners that would be placed in there, Itachi widened his eyes in disbelieving surprise as he saw it was Kiken. Smothering a sigh of relief, he stepped closer, his joy at having found her disappearing momentarily as he noticed she was curled up, facing the corner, her face covered by her hair and her body language revealing she had all about given up.

Kiken sensed it was him as he stepped closer—but she couldn’t be bothered to care anymore. What did it matter? There was no hope for her in any aspect of her life, and she wasn’t about to try to do anything. Even though sobs began to rise in her throat, feeling more like crying than she had done in years as her feelings for Itachi wanted to override her thoughts, she pushed it away and remained where she was, curling even further into herself. He was just going to lie to her—wasn’t he? Kiken wished he wasn’t with all his might, but tried to stop herself from raising her hopes up. She couldn’t take them being knocked down anymore.

Seeing how down she was, any plans of what he might say to her upon arrival vanished from his mind. That didn’t mean he was left speechless, however; abruptly all hesitation as to how to go about it dissipated, and he felt so much calmer. It didn’t matter what he was supposed to be doing with his words; he just had to say what he felt.

“Kiken; please. I’m sorry. I know what you thought when you told me your story and ran away; and I’m sorry I made you think that. Because it’s not what I meant at all.” He was improvising all of this, but it felt right; what more could he do but be honest? Kiken tried to keep herself facing the wall, not looking at him; but a part of her began listening—clutching at any chance that she might have got it wrong as Itachi went on,

“When I said that—I meant I was sorry for what had happened to you; you should never have had to go through what you have. I wish I could do something to reverse it; to make all of it go away, Kiken, I really do.”

She couldn’t stop herself anymore, and found herself slowly turning to face him, pushing her hair out of her face and staring at him in disbelief. There was no dishonesty in his eyes, body or tone of voice, his gaze glued to the floor as he spoke, and Kiken's eyes began to tear up once again at the idea that what she had hoped for was true. Then Itachi's voice suddenly softened as he breathed,

“We don’t want to use you as a weapon, Kiken. We want you to be another member, like I am—like all of us are. We’re not trying to control you and force you to do things you don’t want to do. I—I can’t force you to come with us, and if you really don’t want to come, I will help you get away—just like I said last time. I’ll help you escape; to run.” Now the tears spilled over, running down her face as she shuffled forward and up to the bars, whispering,

“Really?”

Flinging his eyes up to meet hers, seeing the emotion in her eyes and face, he nodded slowly, smirking sweetly back at her; she’d been through enough already—he wasn’t about to make her go through anymore. Knowing what she had been worrying about; what she had been thinking of while she sat in here, he remained smirking at her, adding,

“It doesn’t matter what anyone has said to you over the years, Kiken, or even now; you’re not a weapon. You’re a human being with thoughts, feelings and the right to make your own choices. You deserve better than what you’ve received in life.”

Pulling herself closer to the bars, Kiken's tears slowly stopped as something else took over; anticipation. His words made her happy; incredibly so, but there was something underneath it all; something that made her heartbeat increase rapidly and her throat go dry. Pausing for a moment, unsure what the answer would be, she whispered hesitantly,

“Why would you do all that for me, Itachi? Why say all that?”           

Itachi glanced away at her questions, not certain as to how he should answer them. But his mind answered for him; he found he couldn’t stop himself; words were bubbling to his lips without even passing through the rational part of his mind first. As such, he wasn’t able to halt as he began,

“Because I...I—”

But he never got to finish his sentence.