Naruto Fan Fiction / Tekken Fan Fiction ❯ The Knife ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

The Knife: A Naruto/Tekken Crossover

 

For Psychoblue

 

Kunimitsu flew through the trees. Here she was on an assassination mission looking for her prey. It's not like she hadn't done assassinations before, far from it; it's just that she didn't have the goal of stealing in mind. Oh no, it was for a completely different reason. She had heard that this man was wanted in many areas, dead or alive (preferably dead), and that there was quite a large monetary reward for his capture. Truth be told, she could use the money right now considering that she currently hadn't gotten any jobs for fixing air-conditioning.

 

She had her usual knife with her, but she had also brought a katana with her too. Not something she usually carried around. She had also brought an extra pair of clothes with her too as she figured this was probably going to be more than a one-day event. She had already spent two days hunting down his trail (which was quite difficult considering as he barely left anything behind), and in a few more days, she would have to change. She could only go for so long in the same clothes.

 

She pulled the photograph of her target out of her pocket and looked at it. She had only gotten a brief glance at it before, so she hadn't been able to look at it that closely. Quite the pretty one for a ninja, isn't he? she thought. She knew that that didn't mean anything though. Look at Jin Kazama. He was the perfect example of a pretty-boy. She shoved the photo back into her pocket when a figure caught her eye.

 

There he was, standing on a tree branch, perfectly still. She stared at him for a few moments, entranced by his beauty. He was more beautiful in real life than in the photograph. His looks rivaled even Jin Kazama's; not something many people could accomplish. This phase only lasted for about a minute before she remembered he was the enemy. After all, she could admire his beauty when he was dead and a corpse; killed under her knife. He turned his head in her direction, and she pressed herself against the bark of the tree. He looked in that spot for a few seconds before he turned his head back away. Good. He hadn't noticed her. So, stealthily sliding over and moving from branch to branch, she got closer. When she was on the branch above him, she jumped down, knife ready to stab into his neck. The man immediately streaked out of the way and grabbed her wrist, preventing her from furthering her actions with the weapon. He was rewarded with a sharp kick to the face.

 

Itachi lightly shook his head. He didn't think that that person's leg could reach that high. His enemy seemed to be extremely flexible. He had known long ago that he was there, so he didn't really feel the need to run away. When he got another look at the person, he realized that his enemy wasn't a he, it was a she. He also noticed she wore a traditional fox mask. ANBU? he thought. This thought lasted for only about two seconds before he realized that she wasn't wearing the proper uniform, nor did she have the required tattoo. If she wasn't on ANBU, then why was she wearing their mask then? A knife immediately slashed by his face, and he quickly dodged the oncoming blow. No ANBU member he knew of used knives instead of katana.

 

The blade came at him again, and this time he blocked it with a kunai. The sound of metal hitting against metal reverberated throughout the woods. They broke apart and Itachi slashed the kunai at her, which she narrowly avoided. She charged at him and he responded by blocking it. She dropped down to the ground and provided a low kick to his feet, hoping he would lose his balance as a result. Itachi stumbled a bit before a pain shot up through his arm. The woman had stabbed him in the shoulder. She wrenched the blade out of his shoulder and did a back flip to avoid the oncoming kunai that he had thrown at her. She charged at him again and Itachi prepared himself for a repeat of their scuffle just a few moments ago. When she was about three feet away from him, she disappeared. Itachi looked around, activating his Sharingan. What is this? he asked himself when he realized that it wasn't an illusion. If this isn't genjutsu, then what kind of ninjutsu is being applied here? A gut feeling made him look up. His enemy was now coming down from the sky; the knife's sharpened killing point aimed at him. Shit! I'm not going to be able to dodge it in time! Nevertheless, he jumped out of the way anyway, but not before being slashed across his other shoulder. He was confused. What kind of ninjutsu was this woman using? He had never seen anything like it before. He was also confused as to why this ninja wasn't using any hand seals. Was this person even a ninja? He performed a few hand seals of his own and executed a very complicated illusion. Let's see her try to get out of that, he thought to himself.

 

Kunimitsu looked around at her surroundings. What the hell was going on? He was there one moment, and then he was gone the next. She highly doubted he had run away, so that possibility was quickly scrapped. She hastily went through the different reasons as to why she wasn't seeing him in her mind, and she came up with the excuse. Illusion. She cursed. Breaking illusions was not her strong point. That was more in Yoshimitsu's territory. She was used to hand-to-hand combat as that was what most of her enemies used; their fists. The illusion broke suddenly and the weight on her back felt lighter for some reason. A blade was pointed at the back of her neck. Shit! He must have taken the katana from me while I was distracted! How could I have fallen for such a stupid trick? She dropped to the ground, earning a slash wound on the back of her neck. She turned around to face her enemy, but was immediately struck in the face. Her mask cracked from the force of it. A piece fell off as a result. Damn it! And that was my favorite mask too! She quickly picked herself up, but she was then quickly knocked unconscious when she was concentrating on her balance. Black and red was the last thing she saw.

 

Kunimitsu gave off a light groan when she awoke. Her head hurt a lot and she was extremely dizzy. She lifted a hand up to her face to steady the spinning that was going on in her head; or at least she tried to. She quickly realized that her hands were tied to a pole. Great, just great. Now what am I supposed to do? she thought to herself. She quietly contemplated ways of escape. She lifted her head up when she heard the door to her cell opening. In walked two men. Judging from their lack of Akatsuki cloaks, the two men were probably subordinates rather than fully-fledged members; or so she figured.

 

“See?” one said. “I told you she had a nice form.” Kunimitsu mentally gagged. Oh joy. Now I'm stuck in a room tied to a pole with a pair of perverts talking about my body. Oh hooray for me.

 

“Yes, this is true,” the other man said. “But what does her face look like?” The two men moved towards her, their intention probably to take off her mask.

 

“Touch me and die…” she hissed when one of the men reached for it.

 

“Quite the feisty one isn't she?” the first man asked his companion. When they came at her again, she quickly gave one of the men a swift kick to the groin.

 

“You bitch!” the injured one swore. Kunimitsu smirked under her mask. Yup, that's me alright. Three sets of heads looked in the direction of the door when they heard it being opened yet again. It was the man she had just fought with who knows how long ago. He looked from her to the groaning man lying on the floor, and then back to her again. He shook his head before addressing the two men.

 

“You two. What were you doing in here?” he asked them, a light tone of amusement in his voice. Kunimitsu couldn't really blame him. She'd be amused too if she had just walked into a room with a man clutching his family jewels in pain.

 

“We're sorry Itachi-sama, but we just couldn't help ourselves,” the uninjured man replied. Weasel? Kunimitsu thought. Who the hell would name their kid “Weasel”? The man named Itachi looked at the two men for a moment before speaking again.

 

“Out,” he said, pointing towards the doorway. The uninjured man nodded and started to drag his partner out the door. Before he did so, he bent over to whisper something in Kunimitsu's ear.

 

“Now you're really in for it,” he said. “Who knows what kind `fun' Itachi-sama is going to have with you?” When the two men left, Kunimitsu looked at the man named after a weasel before focusing her attention back on her bound hands. If she could untie her hands fast enough, she might have a chance at escaping.

 

Being a thief meant you had to be flexible, especially when one was a fighting thief. She wrapped one leg around the pole and took out a knife she had had hidden in her boot. After returning her leg back to its proper place, she then proceeded to start cutting the rope. The man watched her all the while.

 

Itachi raised an eyebrow at his captive's actions. And he thought she was flexible in a fight. What she had done then was nothing compared to what she was doing now. The woman paused in cutting the ropes.

 

“What the hell are you looking you at?” she said sharply, a bite in her tone. Itachi said nothing. He wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of an answer on that one. When she finished getting through the thick rope, she pushed her feet off the pole and flew towards him, obviously wanting another fight. He grabbed her by both wrists and pinned her down on the floor.

 

“Get your filthy hands off me!” she demanded.

 

“You're just going to attack me again,” he replied.

 

“Damn right I will!”

 

“Well, that's not really much incentive for me to let you go now, is it?” A mocking tone laced his words. He heard her give off a slight growl before relaxing against his grip.

 

“All right, what do you want with me?” she asked him. Itachi remained silent. What did he bring her back here for anyway? Maybe he was just curious about her ninjutsu style and lightly muscled build. After all, it wasn't every day one saw a woman with muscles. His captive waited patiently for his answer.

 

“You intrigue me,” he finally said after some time. “Who are you?”

 

“That's none of your business,” she hissed.

 

“I'm making it my business,” Itachi replied simply. The two glared at each other for a while before she finally caved in. Funny, he always seemed to have that effect on people, though they usually didn't last as long as she did.

 

“Kunimitsu,” she breathed, obviously struggling to catch her breath under his weight. “That's all you need to know.”

 

“Fair enough,” he responded blandly.

 

Kunimitsu struggled for a third time that day under his weight. The pressure he was putting against her chest by having the line of his body on top of hers made it particularly difficult to breathe.

 

“Get off of me,” she growled out. Having a muscular and very attractive man on top of her was not something that she particularly enjoyed. She knew some girls that did, but, luckily for her, she wasn't one of them. The closest she would ever let a man get to her was during hand-to-hand combat. He paused before getting off her, relieving the pressure on her chest. She picked herself up before returning her knife to its sheath.

 

“Now who are you?” she asked. “I know you're Itachi, but do you have a family name?” A smirk twitched at the corner of his lips.

 

“You never told me yours,” he answered.

 

“I'm not inclined to give you that information,” she replied back.

 

“Then I'm not inclined to give you mine either.” Kunimitu went through her mind of the information she knew of this “Itachi.” His family name started with a U. Uchi-something. She went through the various combinations in her mind until it finally clicked. Uchiha! She had heard that name mentioned vaguely once before when she was part of the Manji clan. From what she had heard of them, they were all supposedly dead.

 

“Wasn't the Uchiha clan wiped out?” she asked Itachi.

 

“It was,” he replied.

 

“How?”

 

“I killed them.” Kunimitsu was a bit surprised. This man had killed off his entire clan that consisted of aunts, uncles, cousins, and probably second cousins twice removed? He had killed them all? Well, look at the Mishimas, her mind reasoned with her. They're always at each other's throats. This was certainly true. A heavy silence hung throughout the room for a few moments. After another few moments passed, Itachi started walking out of the room. Kunimitsu ran after him.

 

“Hey!” she said. “You don't expect me to just stand there, do you?” Itachi turned his head around slightly to look at her.

 

“Can I help you?” he said coolly.

 

“Damn right you can help me!” she replied. “You can help me get out of here!”

 

“Your language is terrible,” he said back, smirking a little.

 

“Who the hell cares about my language? You will help me get out of this place.” Itachi said nothing and turned his head back around to face forward. He started walking again.

 

“I said you will help me!” Kunimitsu said, her blade at the back of his neck.

 

Itachi felt cold steel at the base of his neck. A throng of Akatsuki subordinates had gathered, obviously curious as to what was causing such a commotion.

 

“Kunimitsu-san,” he said, stopping and turning on her. “While you are among the Akatsuki, you will keep your temper under control.”

 

“That's easy for you to say,” she said acidly. “You're not the one that was captured.”

 

“Even if I told you the way out,” Itachi said, “you wouldn't have the faintest idea of where you were.” He wrapped his fingers around her wrist and she stiffened.

 

“Don't touch me,” she snarled. Ignoring her request, he guided her hand that was holding the knife down away from his throat. His fingers lingered there.

 

“I said don't touch me!” she said angrily, her voice rising. She snatched her hand away from his grip. Itachi turned around and started walking once again. After a few steps he stopped and looked over his shoulder.

 

“Are you coming?” he inquired.

 

“Why should I?” she snorted back. “It's not like you're going to help me out of here anyways.”

 

“Would you rather I hand you over to the subordinates you just encountered?” he asked. The woman looked around at the surrounding members before striding towards him.

 

“Fine,” she said hotly, “I'll trust you… for now…” And she followed him down the hall.

 

After a while, the man named Itachi turned and opened a door. Kunimitsu peeked over the man's shoulder to look inside the room. A fireplace was in the center of the wall across from them and the rest of the walls were lined and lined with books and scrolls. Obviously, it seemed the man liked to read. She cautiously followed him inside. He closed the door behind them. He then took off his large red and black cloak and hung it on the back of a chair sitting near a desk. Kunimitsu raised an eyebrow. A black mesh shirt? Who the hell did this man think he was? She hadn't seen anyone wear a mesh shirt in a long time. He took off his shoes and then proceeded to sit down crossed-legged on the futon sprawled out on the floor in front of the fireplace. Kunimitsu remained standing, not sure what the man wanted her to do. She was currently on his territory, and that meant she had to play by his rules. Itachi turned his head around slightly to look at her.

 

“Are you going to just stand there staring at me?” he asked. Kunimitsu made a face and he saw it as the bottom half of her mask was gone.

 

“What else am I to do?” she asked him back. “You haven't really been all that clear on what you want me to do here.”

 

“No, I suppose I haven't,” he said, throwing another log on the fire. He then got up and made himself some tea. When it was done, he went back to sitting down in the exact same spot he was in before.

 

“So where do you come from?” he asked, lightly sipping at his tea, staring into the fire all the while. Kunimitsu crossed her legs and leaned against the wall behind her.

 

“Fire Country,” she replied. She was all prepared for that question if it ever arose.

 

“You're not a very good liar,” he replied with a wave of his hand as he took another sip of tea.

 

“And how could you know this?” she asked. “You've seen nothing of what I look like.”

 

“You don't have an accent from Fire Country. I was born there,” he replied back, turning his head to look at her, giving her a look that clearly said “how could you have not figured that one out?”

 

“What I meant was,” he continued, “are you from some kind of clan? I've never seen ninjutsu quite like yours.”

 

“Well I was part of one once,” she said slowly, “but I was kicked out, to put it mildly.” He turned around to look at her.

 

“So your parents disowned you?” he asked.

 

“No. I'm not from that kind of clan,” she replied, rolling her eyes.

 

“Then what clan are you from?” He went back to looking at the fire.

 

“Manji,” she replied. “I'm from the Manji clan. At least I was.” Damn you Yoshimitsu, she thought.

 

“What were you exiled for?”

 

“I stole for myself.”

 

“That doesn't seem like much of a crime.”

 

“It wasn't at first, but by the third or fourth time, they got tired of it.” She sighed and sat down next to him without prior invitation. She looked at the cup of tea in his hands.

 

“Do mind if I have some of that?” she asked him.

 

“Help yourself,” he replied, refilling the cup and passing it back to her. So he expects me to drink from the same cup as him? she asked herself. She kept her lips tightly shut though and proceeded to drink the tea that she was given. She paused in her drinking after swallowing the first sip. Green tea? She made a face. She never liked green tea as she had never acquired a taste for it, but she drank it anyway. Her supply of water had run out a day ago, so she could tolerate any kind of liquid right now. The two sat in silence for a long while. After a few more moments, Kunimitsu decided to speak.

 

“How long was I out for?” she asked Itachi. Itachi turned his head to look at her as if just noticing she was there. He must have been in some sort of deep thought.

 

“About two to three hours,” he replied. Kunimitsu finished her tea and set the now empty cup on the floor in front of her. After a pause, Itachi spoke again.

 

“Why did you come after me?” he asked blandly.

 

“I meant to kill you,” Kunimitsu replied back. “Unfortunately I only managed to injure your shoulder.”

 

“I figured as much,” he said, “but for what purpose?”

 

“There's a large bounty on your head, and quite frankly, I could use the money.” This elicited a laugh from him.

 

“Being a ninja usually pays well. How could you be short?” he voice was laced with amusement.

 

“Being a ninja is not my main occupation,” she replied. “I fix air-conditioning.”

 

Air-conditioning? Itachi thought. He raised an eyebrow at the strange statement.

 

“Yes, I know,” his captive replied bitterly, “it's a strange profession.” She looked at him. “Why is your shoulder no longer injured? That wound was pretty deep.”

 

“I had a medic heal it,” Itachi replied. “Do you not have medic-nins where you are from?”

 

“What the hell's a medic-nin?”

 

“Obviously not.” He picked up the empty cup and placed it on the table, walking towards the doorway afterwards. “Come,” he said, stopping in the doorway. “Your injures, while minor, still need to be tended to. Poison was laced in those kunai that I threw at you. When you get treated, you'll see what a medic-nin is then.”

 

Author's Note: Many thanks go out to my three beta-readers: Psychoblue, Moonraker One, and MistressDragonFlame. A special thanks goes out to her for constantly reminding me that there are only nine Akatsuki members and not more than that. I appreciate what you do for me.