Chasing Vermilion

Chapter Five- Homecoming

Long chapter this time guys. Hope you like it! Sorry I haven't uploaded for so long, things have been pretty busy.

This chapter follows Itachi and his return to Konoha to collect the nine-tails, and Kana's first time inside a crowded place like the Leaf! There's a five year time skip… Enjoy!

Chapter 5- Homecoming

*FIVE YEARS LATER. KANA IS NOW TWELVE YEARS OLD.*

A lot had altered in the five years that Itachi and Kana spent training together. The memory of the first kill she had made was still stark in Kana’s mind, yet Itachi noticed that still, she concentrated all her efforts into putting on the face of someone cheerful and happy-go-lucky. If anyone was going to guess that was a cover-up of her pain, it was Itachi. He knew what had happened to her that day, and it shocked him half to death.

Kana had progressed so far and fast that Itachi speculated that she would be a formidable opponent in battle with any skilled shinobi. He had been trying all this time to get over the fact that she looked a lot like Sasuke, and had done very well. Now that Kana was older, her physical appearance was more mature, and she was now too old to be called 'cute' or a 'child'. He never thought about that now, and firmly considered her and Sasuke to be completely separate people.

Itachi had resigned himself to the Akatsuki and was losing himself- he felt like he didn't know himself anymore. The memory of Sasuke niggled him at the back of his mind, always on the peripheral but never quite at the forefront of his cluttered thoughts. Kana was his focus now. When the time came for Sasuke to kill him, he would know and there was no point in dwelling on things like that for now.

As Kana had grown older, her face had matured beyond her years, obscuring the emotional scars her time so far in the Akatsuki had imprinted on her; the missions they were assigned to were hardly suitable for a kid. She had gained quite a reputation in the organisation for being a prodigy in killing people in a 'big' and dramatic way. Itachi was staggered: somehow, despite all her ordeals so far, her face still held the picture of innocence that it had on the first day that they met.

"Itachi-sensei… where to now? I'm as strong as you now. Is there any need to keep on travelling together?" Kana speculated, her new official Akatsuki cloak covering up her clenched fists. She didn't want to leave, but the fear that she might have to was too much. Her hands were clenched so tight that her sky ring was beginning to hurt her fingers.

"Leader requests that I have you here until we finish sealing the tailed beasts. I shouldn't have to tell you this again…" Itachi snapped, and then he could have punched himself. Why was he such a jerk to her sometimes? It must be the Akatsuki rubbing off on him. No matter what, he couldn't allow himself to forget his old life.

Itachi felt a tug in his mind. Leader wanted to speak to the both of them.

"Kana-"

"I know."

They both closed their eyes.

"Kana, Itachi… how are things?" Leader asked.

"You want to ask how we are? " Kana said loudly. She immediately bit her lip.

"Hold your tongue, child."

"I'm not a child!"

Leader sighed, exasperated. "Be quiet. You're as bad as Deidara for rude interruptions."

"Deidara's the new member isn't he? The one me and Itachi went to recruit? Yes, I remember him. He is rude to everyone who does not appreciate his art, so he openly despises me and Itachi," Kana chattered.