Demon's Path

Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine...

Warning: This chapter contains allusions to massive slaughter and rape... don't say I didn't warn ya!

Chapter 4: Betrayal


Kaishi walked quietly down the alley. She wanted to avoid the villagers today. Wanted to avoid the dark looks she received from them. As an Onibashi, she was used to them treating her as though she were truly a cursed creature, but as caretaker of Naruto, they just seemed worse.

"Dangerous to wander the alleys," a deep voice interrupted her thoughts.

Kaishi glanced to the side, her crimson gaze locking upon the obsidian black of Itachi. She rolled her eyes at him. "Itachi."

"You didn't even notice me. You were too preoccupied."

She shrugged. "I always notice you. You're always there," she answered plainly.

Itachi grinned. "Why is that?"

Kaishi snorted. "Because I have a theory that you're stalking me."

Itachi smirked. "And if I was?" he posed.

Kaishi's eyes lost their amused glimmer. "We've had this discussion."

"And I still don't see the problem," he sighed.

"You're... you're one of my close friends. I don't want to ruin that," she countered.

"You're afraid, aren't you?" he asked.

Kaishi's gaze grew hard. "I do not fear."

"You fear loving me," he stated.

Kaishi growled and pinned the teen to the wall. "I. Fear. Nothing."

"Where is your indomitable calm now?" he asked softly as he allowed her to hold him against the cold brick.

Kaishi sighed angrily and dropped the Uchiha genius and backed away from him. "You did that on purpose."

"Not entirely, but it was a bonus."

Kaishi was ready to punch the boy out when she heard the tell tale poof of a teleportation jutsu. She turned to her right, coming face to face with the silver haired jounin that had been her friend for most of her young life, Hatake Kakashi. "Kaka-kun," she greeted.

Kakashi noticed the angered look that came over Itachi's visage at her casual greeting to him. "Am I interrupting something?" he asked.

Kaishi shook her head. "Nothing important. Is there something up?" she asked.

Kakashi kept the fuming Uchiha in his peripheral, expecting any moment for the younger boy to explode, as he faced the Onibashi jounin before him. "We have a mission from the Sondaime."

Kaishi sighed heavily as she nodded. "I'll get Iruka-kun to watch over outo and meet you at the bridge?" she offered.

Kakashi nodded. "That's fine. Take your time."

Kaishi rolled her eyes. "You'll do that anyways."

"We're not finished here," Itachi growled, reminding her that he was still there.

Kaishi snapped her head over to the Uchiha. "We've been finished with that conversation for a long time."

"You sure I'm not interrupting?" Kakashi asked.

Kaishi shook her head, her eyes still on Itachi. "Not at all. I'll see you in a bit," she bid as she leapt up onto a roof with a blur of speed.

Itachi glared at the tall, silver haired jounin with a burning anger. "You think you can keep her from me?" he asked darkly.

Kakashi raised a brow. "She can do that on her own. She doesn't need me to protect her."

Itachi looked away, his stance relaxing. "It doesn't matter, anyways. You're unworthy to protect her, to even look at her."

Kakashi raised a brow. "Riiight. Alright then, nice talking to you!" he bid with a poof, leaving the genius Uchiha to stand alone in the shadows.

~*~*~

Ryuo paced the bridge impatiently, his hands piled a top of his head. He had changed over the years from the loudmouth boy that was so easily agitated by the cool-headed Onibashi girl. His once spiky red locks were longer, pulled back into a low ponytail. He was garbed in his ANBU gear, a pair of swords strapped to his waist and his white and red bear mask hanging from his belt.

Nariko was waiting patiently, leaning against the railing. Of all of them, she had blossomed the most. After being friends with Kaishi and Ryuo for so long, she had come out of her shell. She had to in order to keep the pair from killing one another. Her long brunette locks were kept down in loose waves that hung past her shoulders, her glasses replaced for contacts a few years back to allow her soft brown eyes to be seen by the rest of the world. She had stopped dressing like a boy two sizes too big, her ANBU uniform clinging to her soft curves and showing off that she is, indeed, a girl. Her sword was strapped behind her right shoulder and her red and white rabbit mask lying on the top of her head. She still blushed every time Ryuo paid her any attention, which was always now that they were seriously dating, and she was still soft-spoken, but she was also a damn talented medic nin and best friend to one of the most intimidating ninja in Konhoa.

Kaishi appeared in a blur on the bridge, her ANBU uniform on with her usual red scarf. A black and red mask hung from her belt, the design not alluding to any animal.

"Kaishi-chan," Nariko greeted warmly.

"Ohayo, Nariko-chan," the usually stoic woman greeted back.

"What took you so damn long?!" Ryuo grumbled. "Bad enough that we gotta wait for Hatake now."

"I needed to ask Iruka if he would watch Naruto from time to time for me," she answered.

Ryuo snorted. "You baby that damned fox way too much, Onibashi. You're becoming too attached."

Kaishi glared at the red haired man darkly. Naritko sighed in defeat. "Ryuo-koi... Naruto-kun is not the Kyuubi. He's a boy, you know that, you were there for his birth."

Ryuo rolled his eyes. "The moment the seal was put there he became something else than a boy, Nariko! One day, he's going to turn on Konhoa, and then we'll all be screwed because Kaishi won't be able to kill the damned thing!"

Kaishi moved forward, only to feel someone grab her from behind tightly. She tensed and fought against the strong arms, her eyes glowing with anger.

"Kai-chan," Kakashi's voice soothed.

Ryuo looked over to where Kakashi restrained the team leader. "'Bout damn time you showed up Hatake! Can we get going now?"

Kaishi stopped struggling and let herself relax into Kakashi's hold. "You can let go, now."

"You sure?" Kakashi asked.

She nodded. "Hai, aniki. Let's just get this mission over with."

~*~*~*~

As soon as they had returned, a few weeks later, they had been sent to the Uchiha compound. The four ANBU members had been sickened by what they found. Corpses of Uchiha clan members, viciously slaughtered, lay in the streets. Every member of the police force, the old and the young, women and children, all were dead.

Kaishi's eyes widened as a thought came to her. "Itachi... Sasuke... Oh, kami no."

Kaishi left the others behind, Nariko and Ryuo leaving to get a team to take the bodies as Kakashi searched for survivors. She darted rapidly down the street, a look of true fear in her eyes as she came upon the residence of Itachi and Sasuke. Before she even reached it, she saw him.

"Itachi..." she gasped, relieved. "You're alive."

Itachi stood stoicly, the unconscious form of Sasuke lying behind his feet. His eyes bore into hers as Kaishi stared the Uchiha genius down. "Kaishi."

Kaishi was confused. "Itachi... who did this? Who could do all of this?" Itachi smirked then and Kaishi knew. "You... you did this?! Itachi, nanda?"

"Because they were weak," he answered simply.

"Itachi," she began, only to feel herself suddenly dragged into a new world.

The sky was black, the moon (or was that sun) red as blood. She glanced about herself, only seeing the same alley she had been standing in, only in this strange discolored light.

"This is my world," Itachi's voice echoed as he appeared before her, dressed solely in a pair of loose hakema.

Kaishi looked at herself and gasped. She was nude! Quickly, she attempted to cover herself, only to hear Itachi chuckle amusedly. "Itachi," she growled his name darkly.

Itachi was suddenly in front of her, and she was lying on the blood-stained ground with him hovering over her, his pants suddenly missing. "As I said, this is MY world."

"Itachi..." she managed in a whisper. "Itachi... onegai."

"Here I can take you, take you right now, and you will feel it. I can make it last an eternity and it will only have been minutes out there."

Kaishi pushed onto his shoulders. "Itachi... onegai... don't."

Itachi's gaze grew hard. "Tell me you hate me. Tell me that after everything I've done, after everything, you hate me."

Kaishi froze, her crimson orbs wide. "Itachi... I... I don't know."

Itachi smiled manically. "Then let us have this, have this moment."

Kaishi shook her head. "Itachi... I... iie."

Without warning, save a coldness coming over his smile, Itachi slammed himself within her. Kaishi arched her back as a scream of pain erupted from her throat. He paid no mind, his eyes glazed and his smile large as he held her down and continued to violate her brutally.

~*~

Kakashi approached the two ninja cautiously. Kaishi seemed frozen in her spot, her eyes completely locked upon Itachi's. There was something wrong about this. He then watched as Itachi smiled maliciously and Kaishi crumpled into herself with a scream.

Itachi merely cast a glance to Kakashi, his smile causing shivers to trail down the silver haired man's spine. "I told you that you couldn't protect her from me," he bid as he vanished into the night.

Kakashi was torn. Would he stay, or would he pursue Itachi?

"Kak-a-shi," Kaishi's voice trembled. "Go... go after him."

Kakashi paused for a moment. "Kaishi?"

"GO!" she ordered. "He did it... he killed them all. He killed them all and replayed it to his little brother before knocking him out. Stop him!"

Kakashi's visible eye hardened as he nodded briefly and vanished after Itachi.

Kaishi slowly crawled to her knees, her body trembling terribly as she dragged herself to where Sasuke lay. She gently pulled the young boy into her arms and felt hot tears course down her cheeks. "Gomen nasai, Sasuke-kun. I should have known. Should have stopped him. Gomen nasai," she wept softly as she stood shakily, boy in her arms, and started to trudge towards the Hokage tower. "I promise, Sasuke, it will never happen again. I won't fail you again."

~*~*~*~

Naruto sat alone on a chair outside of the Hokage's office, his short legs swinging back and forth as he waited for Kaishi to come out. Nariko and Ryuo had left already, and Naruto had bitten the red head when he had made a comment about Kaishi being a 'damn whiny weak onna'. Nariko had laughed and Ryuo had given him a lump on his skull for it. Kakashi had yet to show up, something about him going after whoever who had killed the Uchiha clan.

Naruto began to sing a song, making up the words as he waited for his neechan to come out. The subject, big surprise, happened to be ramen. He had gotten to his third verse when Kakashi appeared in a poof of smoke.

"Yo, Kakashi-san!" Naruto greeted with a grin, showing off his teeth, one missing.

"You finally lost that one, ne?" Kakashi asked casually.

Naruto smiled wider and nodded. "Hai!"

"You didn't pull it out, ne?"

Naruto frowned and shook his head. "Iie. Inuzuka Kiba knocked me down at school and it fell out. Kuso inu shounen."

Kakashi chuckled. "Your neechan is going to kill you if she hears you swear."

Naruto scoffed. "Like she can do anything..."

The door to the office opened and Kaishi's irritated gaze caught with Naruto's. "I hear you say it, or anything like it again and there will be no ramen for a month!" she ground out before popping back inside.

Naruto pouted. "How does she do that?"

Kakashi chuckled. "Find out, and you will solve a mystery of the universe."

The door opened again, and Kakashi entered the office. This time, the door did not close, and Naruto leapt off his chair and peeked around the corner. There, sitting on a couch, with Sasuke clinging to her, was Kaishi. Sasuke seemed frightened and sad, his knuckles white with how tightly he was holding her hand. Kakashi leaned against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest, and a dire look seemed fixed in his visible eye. The Sondaime sat at his desk, flanked by two of the village elders. They too, appeared grim in their disposition. Kaishi, though, Kaishi was furious. Her red eyes were glowing with anger as she let Sasuke hold to her. Were her scarf pulled down, Naruto was certain that her fangs were bared.

"Nani?! What do you mean?" Kaishi growled.

One of the elders snorted. "It is all well and good that you are willing, Onibashi-san, demo... it is our decision that this is not to be so."

Kaishi wrapped an arm around Sasuke and held him close. "Then who?"

The elders looked to one another and then to the Sondaime. "That is not your concern," the Sondaime answered.

Kaishi tightened her hold on the weeping boy. "Not my concern? NOT MY CONCERN! K'so! What makes you think you can do this? I care about him! I have known him since his birth! How is his fate not my concern?"

The Sondaime sighed. He truly seemed to feel for Kaishi and Sasuke. "Kaishi, you have Naruto to care for. On his own, he is impossible. If you were to take on the care of Sasuke on top of that, you would surly go mad. And as Hokage, it is my responsibility to make sure that one of my finest shinobi stays that way."

Kaishi's eyes softened and filled with a sadness that Naruto had never witnessed before. "Hai, Hokage-sama. I see your reason, demo, I just... I want to make sure he won't be alone."

The Sondaime smiled kindly. "He will be cared for. And you will be allowed to see him. We still need to find another to care for Sasuke permanently. So, until then, I am suspending your missions and placing him in your care. I think, that without missions to worry about, you should manage both him and Naruto for the time being, ne?"

Kaishi's gaze grew happy and she nodded. "H-hai, Hokage-sama. Arigato."

The Sondaime smiled. "Hai, hai. Now, why don't you take Sasuke home with you and Naruto? You both need to sleep, from your appearance."

Kaishi nodded and stood, lifting Sasuke into her arms gently as she turned to leave. For a moment, she paused beside Kakashi, his arms on her shoulder. "Kai..." Kakakshi began. "If you need me."

Kaishi grinned, although it didn't reach her eyes. "I know, call three hours before so you'll be on time," she teased.

As she left, she looked to Naruto, an exhausted and sad look on her face. "Come on, Naruto. Let's go home. Sasuke is sleeping over for a few days."

Naruto nodded, still not understanding why this was all going on. "Hai oneechan!"

~*~

The door to the Hokage's office closed then, and Kakashi stepped forward.

The Sondaime looked serious once again. "Did you catch up with Itachi?"

Kakashi shook his head. "Iie, demo... three others did... they're dead."

The Sondaime sighed and fell back into his chair. "Kami!"

Kakashi ignored the shocked looks of the elders and remained focused on the Hokage. "Before I found them, Itachi attacked Kaishi somehow. He never moved, merely stared into her eyes. A moment later he was grinning like a mad man and she screamed in pain."

The Hokage's head shot up in shock. "Nani?"

One elder gasped. "The Onibashi? Screamed?"

Kakashi nodded. "Aa. She could not move, yet there were no wounds, no blood to speak of."

"A type of genjutsu, perhaps?" the second elder asked.

"Possibly, but I have known no genjutsu that strong, save the song of the bakemono," Kakashi answered.

"A genjutsu that rivals the song of the bakemono... rivals a song that creates your worst fears to the point of self-mulitation and possible death.... Kami," the Sondaime muttered.

~*~*~

Kaishi seemed so tired as she tucked both Naruto and Sasuke in. Sasuke fell asleep immediately, soon followed by Naruto. She remained at the doorway for a while, just watching the pair sleep, their bodies curled into one another. She smiled sadly as she watched Naruto comfort the scarred Uchiha in their sleep. Naruto seemed to understand Sasuke so well, and vice versa.

"Sleep well, boys," she murmured as she finally left the doorway and headed towards the shower.

The hot water steamed the room as she peeled her sweat and blood stained uniform from her body and tossed it to the floor. She winced as her muscles bunched and protested, feeling wounds she knew were not there. She hissed as the hot water poured over her pale skin and drenched her long black hair.

As she stood under the stream, she could hear his voice. *You have no idea. No idea how much I'd sacrifice for you.*

She clenched her eyes shut. "You never needed to sacrifice anything," he muttered aloud.

*You're all I wanted.*

"Onegai, nanda? Nanda?" she whimpered.
*Aishiteru, Kaishi.*

Kaishi's eyes snapped open as she slammed her fist into the wall. "Is that how you show love? How you prove yourself to me? By destroying lives?!"

*Aishiteru.*

Kaishi whimpered as she crumpled to the floor, the water still streaming over her body as tears fell from her eyes. "Nanda, Itachi? Nanada?" she asked aloud before crumbling into sobs.

Kaishi wept until the water turned cold, the icy drops beating her skin harshly as she sobbed. She wept until she could cry no more and she fell asleep under the torrent of cold water. She didn't see the dark figure sneak into the apartment, or watch her as she crumbled into a sobbing mess. Didn't notice as that same figure moved into the bathroom and turned off the water before wrapping her in a towel and carrying her into her bedroom. She didn't wake as he dressed her gently, his dark eyes caressing her pale form with a sadness and pure love. She didn't move as he lifted her again and tucked her under her sheets.

She sighed as he touched her face gently, his fingers combing through her hair as he watched her sleep. "Itachi..." she murmured with a sad smile on her lips.

The figure smiled softly then, the sadness and love not leaving his eyes as he gently kissed her brow and smoothed his fingers over her cheek again. He then moved to the window, the moonlight revealing his figure.

Itachi paused once more to gaze upon her. "Gomen nasai, koiishi. Aishiteru," he apologized before vanishing out the window and the borders of Konhoa.

~*~*~*~