ERADICATION

Bloody Thirteen!

"The subject seems to have gained an amount of control."

"I guess it's time to move on to the next stage."

***
He hated it, not specifically her but the whole experiment. Or perhaps it was only because his otouto was involved.

He wasn't fit for this, which was quite unfortunate seeing as he was the only person talented enough for it. Quite ironic. But it was times like these that he remembered the one overseeing it all. Being a leader was a hefty price to pay.

Itachi breathed in, trying his best to remain ignorant of the fact that his six year old brother was right behind him, hiding in a bush.

It was usually at this point that he flickered away with the bags of blood in his hand. This time however, he remained walking, taking a slow pace for the little one to keep up.

At three feet he turned slowly, just in time to see a small figure gasp and hide behind a tree-albeit poorly considering the fact that his duckass hair stuck out like a neon sign.

Itachi blinked, then proceeded walking.

***

Mei was restless. It'd been three weeks since she spoke with the dark haired boy. Had she scared him away?

That morning she'd gone to visit her human friends in the village but turned back when an alarming scent filled her nostrils. Yes, she hadn't forgotten about the strange boy she'd saved that night.

He was dangerous

She juggled the last bottle in her hand. Komi had been sleeping most of the time, which was a bit unsightly. He slept like the dead.

But then, compared to her situation she supposed his was better. A week after the cat had calmed down she had investigated the changes made.

The panther had triple the strength he first possessed but not as much as hers. He didn't have wings tearing at his back but he could control his size which she couldn't.

Also, she realised his main diet intake was the blood in animals, but could handle that of humans all the same. That was the opposite of hers.

He still needed to eat a deer or two from time to time. Along with his abilities was a plus in his appetite. Komi was a strange one.

She stopped playing with the bottle when an alluring scent made its way into her system. She recognised that smell. Her package had arrived.

Getting up, she moved to get out of the house when another thing made her pause. Mei took a sniff and froze. It was the same smell, yet stronger, fresher. She breathed in.

It was flowing.

Gears turned in her head and she smiled. Itachi had heeded her request, he hadn't forgotten her.

Her smile turned to a grin when she smelled the movement in which they approached. Humans were strange creatures indeed. Then her smile fell and she blinked, remembering one test she hadn't yet made on Komi.

Humans weren't strange, they were stupid.

***

The stares were the same, but no moves were made. Instead, the looks were mixed with a new kind of emotion, fear.

There were no witnesses, but the stories were the same. The demon child had killed twenty civilians. There was no proof, no body, and one seemed to care about the little detail that was left behind.

Those twenty were going to kill him. It wouldn't have been the first time they had attempted that, and it sure as hell wouldn't have been the last. Or would it?

That night, if the mysterious girl hadn't appeared, he knew he would have died for sure. She had saved him, and then...disappeared.

Three days later people had begun to notice the absence, posters had been made. Families had grieved. And as the searches went on he begun to notice the eyes that followed him, the frequent rounds made at that place, and the whispers, always the whispers.

They had known.

That night, there had been a celebration. He had thought it was someone's birthday. Who would have thought it was rather a deathday?

The village had finally acted out, seeking to purge their streets of him. It had backfired.

Their celebration became his. No one dared touch him again. That day, after the disappearance, he had never attained a bruise again.

Naruto lifted his chin up as he walked. 'Mei, wherever you've kept them, don't bring them back!' He thought, then cowered under a very hateful gaze.

'Just bring yourself back!'

***
Oh where oh where has Bloody Fourteen gone? Oh where oh where can it be.