Something to Fight For (Naruto)

Releasing

Itachi laid on his back, looking up at the stars. A few feet away to his right, he could hear the soft snores of Kisame, while the Uzumaki girl tied to the tree on his other side slept silently. Sighing, he sat up, keeping his eyes trained on the dark sky.

It was a clear night, without a hint of clouds and a bright moon shining up above. On nights like these, Itachi couldn't help but think of the legend of Tsukuyomi. The story was about a man named Tsukuyomi, who was the moon, and his sister Amaterasu, the sun. One day, Amaterasu sent her brother to the feast of Uke Mochi, the goddess of the harvest. When he was there, though, he was so disgusted by how she created food, which involved a lot of spitting and throwing up, that he killed her. Ever since then, Amaterasu refused to look at her brother ever again, leaving Tsukuyomi by himself in the night sky.

He wasn't sure why such nights made him remember that old legend, especially since his mother had only told it to him once as a bed time story when he was very young. Perhaps it was because it was one of the few precious memories he had with his mother before the massacre, or because it was one of the few stories he had told Sasuke when he was a baby. Either way, it continued playing over and over in his mind.

He always disliked Amaterasu. In all of the stories he knew about her, she never thought things through, putting her feelings before anything else. Once, she had even almost killed the entire world because one God killed one of her favored followers. It made him mad to think that she'd give up her brother because of what he had done. Sure, Tsukuyomi may have made a mistake, but that didn't warrant an eternal shunning.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Itachi tried to give the problem at hand some more consideration. Everything he came up with, though, had some unacceptable repercussions.

If he were to take the girl to Leader, then he and Kisame would be punished for making such a mistake and possibly put on probation.

If he killed her, then he'd have even more unnecessary blood on his hands and the potential of using her as a hostage would be lost.

If he let her go, she could have learned something valuable about them from their short time together and Konoha would have more information on them.

There had to be some option for him to take that didn't have a downside. If push comes to shove, he'd have to go for killing her and give up the possible advantage she could give them in the future, but he wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything else available first.

Quietly, Itachi stood up and slid over the girl, crouching down in front of her to see her face. Narrowing his eyes, he covered her mouth with his hand, making her jolt awake. He put a finger to his lips, signaling her to keep quiet. When she didn't nod her assent, he tightened his hand, pushing her head against the tree bark. The Uzumaki hesitated another second before slowly moving her head up and down, glaring.

With a glance to his sleeping teammate, Itachi pulled out a kunai and slashed the ropes tying her to the tree, still keeping her cocooned in her restraints. She fell forward, eyes wide, and he caught her by the back of her collar when she was an inch from the ground. Swiftly, he tossed her on his shoulder and ran a short distance, making sure they were out of Kisame's range.

Once they were in a small clearing a few miles away, he tossed her on the ground and quickly made a sound barrier with his chakra. As soon as it was up, everything, including the small chirps of the crickets, turned off, giving the forest an eerie silence. Satisfied, Itachi daintily sat in front of the girl, staring at her impassively.

The two stared at each other for a few minutes, allowing Itachi to notice a few small details. The Uzumaki had sweat dribbling slowly down her neck, but refused to show any fear what-so-ever. She had some minuscule stains on her tank top which looked like some kind of sauce that would have went unnoticed if he wasn't paying such close attention. And, despite her defiant stare, she had already accepted her death.

He could see it in her eyes, that same dazed understanding he had seen in dying men hundreds of times before.

"Why?" She asked softly, making him blink. Her voice was strange, lacking the feminine softness that most women had. Instead, it was rough and forceful, like a daredevil's.

"Why what?"

"Why did you take me here?" She elaborated, lifting her chin up.

"To think of what to do with you." Itachi told her, watching her stiffen.

"May I make some suggestions?" She questioned, pursing her lips. Itachi said nothing, and just continued to stare.

"I ask that you either let me go, or kill me." The girl implored, licking her lips nervously.

"Hn." He grunted vaguely, used to such requests. Every single captive they had taken had asked for similar things, knowing that being a prisoner to the Akatsuki was a fate worse than death. Still, it was a first for someone so young.

After another minute went by, Itachi sighed loudly through his nose, taking out a kunai. He had known what he would do about the prisoner ever since he had discovered who she was; all of his thinking and consideration was just his way of fooling himself.

"It's a shame that that sannin arrived before we could capture the nine tails." He mused out loud, looking up at the stars. Itachi stood slowly, deactivating the sound barrier he had created. He turned his back towards the girl, walking in the direction of Kisame. Right when he got to the tree line, he threw the kunai over his shoulder, not checking to see if it hit its target.

With one last glance at Tsukuyomi, he left, doing his best to take his mind off of what he had done.

///////
Haruka flinched when she saw the kunai heading towards her, knowing that she wouldn't be able to dodge it. To her surprise, it merely cut through the ropes, freeing her.

Eyes wide, she jerked her head back in the direction, only to see he had disappeared. She had no idea why he would help her, but was almost crying from her gratefulness. She swore that she'd do whatever she could to repay him for allowing her to see her Nii-san at least one more time.

Trembling, she stood shakily and headed home, using the stars as her guide.

/////
Itachi arrived back at their camp to find Kisame awake, leaning against the tree that the Uzumaki had previously tied up to.

"What happened to the girl?" He asked, crossing his arms.

"What girl?" Itachi replied softly, a thinly veiled threat in his voice.

Kisame chuckled, not reacting to his partners menacing tone, and slung his sword back over his shoulder. "As kind hearted as always, eh, Itachi?"

The ravenette ignored him as he began running back to the base, already making up a story in his head about their failure.

Current Count: 98
Reader Count: 80
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Soooo.....

I wanted to make Itachi apart of the deal, as a lot of people suggested, but it just didn't fit... Sorry!

That's the last of PaciFicAMV 's drawings, and it's a very awesome, and semi-sassy picture of Haruka.

I have the next book decided, and I'm currently planning it. I'll give you a few hints about it, though....
It's a crossover,
I'm using it to practice researching when writing,
And the main character is also kind of crazy, but he's a bit of villain, too.

Thank you!
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