Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Shadows of Darkness ❯ Chapter Six: A New Objective ( Chapter 6 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: WolfGoddess_77 
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 02.13.2012 | Pages: 4 | Words: 5.3K | Visits: 133 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 02.13.2012 | Pages: 4 | Words: 5.3K | Visits: 133 | Status: Work In Progress
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any related characters. No money is made from the writing of this story.
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Mika opened the door to the shower room and stepped inside. Locking the door behind her - though it would do little good; Deidara had a key - she undressed, folding her clothes up and hanging them on a nearby towel rack. Apart from this towel rack, draped with several thick white towels, and the curtain that provided privacy for whoever was making use of the shower, the room was bare.
She arched one eyebrow. Even though she supposed it made sense for the base to be so empty – after all, why bother to decorate when you were constantly on the move? – she also found it almost unbearably boring. Since she had lived her entire life in Sunagakure, she had become accustomed to the monotonous sandstone buildings, and subdued colors of the desert, but even they seemed decorated compared to this place. Not to mention Sunagakure was brighter. Even with the torches, the base was still shadowed.
Pulling the curtain aside, she turned on the water and, after a few slight adjustments to the temperature, stepped under the flow. She sighed as the hot water ran over her tense muscles. Closing her eyes, she rested her head against the wall, her hair falling forward over her shoulders to hide her face. This wasn’t good… Even a hot shower wasn’t enough to help her relax.
Unbidden, her mind returned to what had just happened, and her face began to heat up in a blush. Deidara... His touch had set her blood on fire. She could still feel his phantom caresses, each one accompanied by a faint tingle of electricity. She shook her head, then sat down, letting the water pour over her. Her body had reacted to Deidara the way it never had to anyone else. Not even to him.
A year or so ago, she had had a lover; a fellow Jounin named Seiji. The rest of her team had been sent out on other missions, and she had decided to spend her time in the hospital, helping the medics. That very first day, Seiji had been brought in after being injured on a mission of his own, and she had been assigned to care for him. Before long, she had realized that she was interested in him. Seiji had been released from the hospital after a week, but he and Mika continued to see each other whenever they could. Before long, a real relationship had developed, and they became lovers.
At first, they spent as much time together as they could; going to restaurants together, or even staying at home and doing nothing but enjoying each other’s company. But as time went by, they were kept apart more and more often. They were on separate teams, and missions were becoming more frequent. Slowly, inevitably, they began to drift apart, and they finally decided to end their relationship. She had still seen him occasionally, in the stores, or passing him on the streets, but they were little more than strangers once more. Everything fell apart soon after that.
Just when things were beginning to calm down again, Deidara and Sasori had invaded the village. Many ninja were injured or killed. On top of that, it was discovered that a spy had been in their village the entire time. That alone would have been bad enough, but then they realized who it was; Yuura had been one of the council members.
But the worst part was that the Kazekage had been kidnapped, and his older brother was severely poisoned when he attempted to follow Deidara. No one in the village had enough knowledge to make an antidote for the dying Kankuro, and so the decision was made to ask for help from their ally, Konohagakure. Several ninja were deployed, including a medic who had trained directly under the legendary kunoichi, Tsunade. Almost immediately after she had finished healing Kankuro, she and the others had left to search for Gaara, along with one of the elders, Chiyo, who had a more personal stake in the matter.
A day later, they had come back. The Kazekage seemed unharmed, if a bit different, but Elder Chiyo was dead. They had said that she had been killed getting the Kazekage back, but Deidara had told Mika the truth. She still wasn’t certain why they decided not to tell everyone the truth. True, Edo Tensei was a forbidden ninjutsu, but it had saved the Kazekage’s life.
The morning of their return, Mika had been excused from hospital duty to go restore what she could of the medicinal herb supply. Shortly after that, Deidara had captured her.
At first, she had been terrified that he was going to kill her. Then, when he had told her that she was going to be his new partner, she had recoiled at the idea. But still, she had marked through her forehead protector after only a slight hesitation, and it wasn't just the threat to her life that made her do it. Sure, she hadn’t wanted to die, and she had been desperate to get out of that room, but those hadn’t been the only reasons. The truth was, given the chance, she would have left her village sooner.
She had told Deidara that she was loyal, and she was, in that she didn’t want anything to happen to her village, or the people who lived there. But she had always hated being under someone else's command. Of course, being in Akatsuki, she was still following orders, but she was beginning to see that she had more freedom. Here, it didn't matter how missions were carried out, as long as they were completed, and what they did in the meantime was entirely up to them.
That fact was one thing – the biggest thing - that had compelled her to stay.
Standing up, she quickly washed herself, then shut off the water and went to retrieve a towel. Thinking about the past certainly wasn’t going to get her anywhere. After drying herself off, she redressed, frowning when she realized that she had left her mesh shirt in Deidara's room. This wasn’t good. She had been planning to stay in one of the vacant rooms until she’d had a bit more time to think things over. But she couldn’t go out dressed like this. She would have to go and get her shirt, even though that meant facing him again. Her heart began to pound when she thought about that.
Suddenly, she slammed her fist against the wall, clenching her teeth. Damn it! He was a criminal, not someone she should be attracted to, even if it was just on a physical level! And it was just physical, she told herself firmly. But still...she could still feel his soft kisses on her neck and shoulders, and a shiver ran through her that had nothing to do with the slight chill that seemed to permeate every room in the base. Resting her arm against the wall, she leaned her head on it, closing her eyes. What was she going to do..?
Her head raised as she realized she could sense a chakra signature just outside the door. She frowned. That wasn’t good. She had been so distracted that she hadn’t even noticed that anyone else was nearby. Some ninja she was. If it had been an enemy, she would be dead right now. But the signature was familiar; Deidara. What did he want? And why was he just standing outside? He had a key; all he had to do was unlock the door and come in.
But even though she waited several more seconds, the door remained closed. How odd. She arched one eyebrow, crossing the room slowly. Unlocking and opening the door, she peered outside, unsure of what to expect. There he was; casually leaning against the wall, her mesh shirt in one hand.
"You forgot this, un," he said, holding it out to her.
Stepping out into the hall, Mika stood a few feet away from him. She studied him carefully for a moment, then took the shirt. Try as she might, she couldn’t read any emotion on his face. Whatever his thoughts were, he was being very careful not to let them show in his expression.
"Thank you," she said quietly, holding the shirt to her, covering her chest. Circling warily around him, she returned to his room. He had already come to find her; not going back with him wasn’t an option any longer, unfortunately. Upon opening the door, she saw that two plates of food had been placed on the table.
"I thought you might be hungry," Deidara said, following her into the room and closing the door.
She looked back at him, keeping the shirt held tightly against her chest, even though he had already seen her without it once. "Could you turn around for a minute?" she asked.
He raised one eyebrow curiously. "What for?" He just didn’t understand it. Why was she choosing now of all times to be shy? Sure, she had refused to take her overshirt off in order to remove the mesh one beneath, but even then, she hadn’t hesitated. And besides, she was wearing bindings under the shirt, too. It wasn’t like he would be able to see anything. This girl was almost painfully modest.
"Turn around," she repeated, more firmly. After a moment in which she thought he was going to refuse, he finally did turn his back, though not without a smile of amusement. Quickly, Mika pulled off her overshirt, draping it over the back of the nearby chair while she put the mesh one on. Once she was fully dressed once more, she glanced back at him. "All right, I’m finished. You can turn back around now."
Deidara turned, a smirk crossing his face. "So you're not comfortable changing in front of others, un," he said. “That’s an interesting trait to have. Most ninja don’t get embarrassed by something as simple as changing clothes. You’ll have to get over that.”
Mika narrowed her eyes at him, but instead of anger, all that was reflected in her gaze was friendly annoyance. "Oh, be quiet." What did it matter to him if she had a little modesty? She was the one that would have to deal with that, not him. Shaking her head, she made her way over to the table and sat down.
Deidara smiled at this. So she still felt comfortable enough with him to joke around, huh? Judging by the way she had been behaving around him when she had finished with her shower, he had thought she was afraid to be near him now. But this was a good thing. It meant he wouldn't have to try and build up her trust from scratch. Of course, he wasn't naïve enough to think that she was anywhere near trusting him completely - that was still a long way off - but it also meant that he hadn't gone so far as to completely shatter what trust she did have in him.
He could work with that; he would just have to keep building it up little by little, until he was able to reach his ultimate goal. He regarded her thoughtfully as she sat down at the table, crossing one leg over the other and propping her head up in one hand. She had actually let him go a lot further than he thought she would. She may have still been a virgin, but it seemed she wasn'tcompletelynew to this. That would shorten the time he would have to take to break her down. If she was totally untouched it might take weeks; even months if she was shy.
But now, he could probably do it within a few days, if he played his cards right. Maybe even less, if he was extremely lucky. It wouldn’t be too hard, especially once they were sent out on their next mission. He knew that cheap bastard Kakuzu would probably only give them enough money to rent one room a night at any inns they passed by, and that meant they would have no other choice but to share a bed. Normally, the lack of money would have annoyed him, but in this case, he could turn it to his advantage. Yes, she would be his in no time.
Still smiling to himself, he crossed the room, and sat down across from her at the table. Pulling one of the plates of food toward him, he gestured to the other. “Eat.”
Mika took the other plate, poking at the food that was on it. After a moment, she began to eat. She hadn't realized how hungry she was until she took the first bite, even though the food wasn’t exactly what she would call top quality. Still, it was edible, and it filled her up.
Deidara watched her carefully as they ate. Finally, he broke the silence. "Zetsu should be coming soon, to take a report of our mission back to Leader. He'll probably give us another mission while he's here, un."
Mika swallowed her bite of food. "What kind of missions do you do, anyway?" Other than the sealings of the Tailed Beasts, she realized that she actually didn’t know what it was that Akatsuki did. Deidara had never explained it to her.
"The obvious: scouting the locations of the Tailed Beasts. They're harder to track down than you'd think," he told her, eating the last bite of food on his plate, and pushing it aside. "But we also do routine missions; reconnaissance of the villages. Those of us in the inner circle - the nine of us - don't actually enter the villages, though. It’s too dangerous for us, especially now that we’ve made ourselves known. Instead, we have agents in every village who report back to us every so often."
She nodded. "I guess after your invasion the other day, everyone knows about you. As for the spies, it's perfect. No one knew about Yuura until the damage was already done." She leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms and frowning thoughtfully. If the spies were so well-hidden, then… "How many are there in Sunagakure?"
"Just one, now that Master Sasori’s little pet was killed, un."
Mika's back stiffened. "There's another one? Who?" What if it was someone she knew? All this time, she could have been working side by side with an Akatsuki agent, and never even known it, especially if his – her? - acting was as flawless as Yuura’s had been.
Deidara looked up at her, his gaze calculating. She was still worried about her village? This really didn’t come as a surprise, but it did worry him a little. If Pein found out, and thought she was likely to betray them, he would kill her. "I don't know his name. Unlike the other one, who was chosen by Master Sasori, Leader was the one who dispatched him. The only ones I know are the ones in my own village. We keep tabs on those from our home villages. Master Sasori would have known him, but I don't."
"Then who keeps up with the spies from other villages? The ones that don't have a representative in the inner circle?"
"Leader does, un."
She frowned. If there were agents in every land, that would be far too many for even nine people to keep up with, especially assuming there was more than one spy in each village. "One person keeps track of all-?"
Deidara cut her off with a raised hand. "Not one. Six."
This made her pause in confusion. "Six? I thought you said that there were only nine members of the inner circle. What about the other five that I met? Besides, your – our - leader is only one person."
He shook his head. "Leader has six different bodies, each one with different abilities. They're known as "the Six Paths of Pein". He has a kekkei genkai similar to Itachi's; one that manifests itself through the eyes; a doujutsu. It's called the Rinnegan. It allows him to harness all five chakra types. He can also see whatever the other five paths see. In essence, he can be in six places at once."
"He sounds powerful," Mika said thoughtfully. Of course, all the members of Akatsuki had to be powerful, if they wanted to survive. But this man… She had never heard of anyone who was able to master all five chakra types. Even the best Jounin in the village could only use three, and that was after training for years.
"With access to all five chakra types, and the most powerful doujutsu at his disposal, I’m sure he is. His partner, Konan, is the only one who's ever seen him fight, so I don't know how formidable of an opponent he is. But if he founded Akatsuki, he has to be fairly strong, un," Deidara told her, stretching as he leaned back in his chair.
"So where is he? I've met everyone except for him and his partner," Mika said after a thoughtful silence, finishing up her own meal.
"He stays in his home village, Amegakure, with Konan and Zetsu, who relays our missions for him."
"Will I ever get to meet him?" She stood up and went over to the bed, stretching out on it with her hands behind her head. Her meal had made her a bit drowsy.
Deidara turned to watch her. "I doubt it. Not in person, at least. The only way we ever get a chance to see him is if we go to Amegakure, or when we seal a Tailed Beast. Even during a sealing, it's a hologram of him, not his real body, un."
This caused Mika to look over at him curiously. “What do you mean by a hologram?”
“It’s simply a projection jutsu we use for convenience. Whenever one of us captures a Jinchuuriki, we take it to the nearest base. Since most of us are usually scattered over the lands, and too far away to go there ourselves, we project our images to the base using that jutsu. That allows us to help with the sealing without physically being there.”
Rising out of his chair, he followed her and sat down beside her, being careful not to sit too close. It was time that he found out the truth, before she actually did meet Pein. "Why did you stay here? And I want the truth this time. I know it wasn't just because you didn't want to die." He leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms and waiting for her reply.
"Despite what you may think, I am loyal to my village. I left because I wanted freedom. When I was still there, I had to do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. I can't handle that. I want independence. Here, I have that. True, I may still have to go on missions, but...in between them, and even during them, I'm free."
Deidara nodded once. "Freedom is something most ninja aren't allowed to have. I can understand wanting more of it, un. But I want you to listen closely. If you don’t want to be killed, you can’t let anyone else know about this. If the others think your loyalty to us is in question, they won’t hesitate to destroy that threat. Do you understand?"
Mika propped herself up on her elbows, watching him. The way he phrased that made it clear that he wasn’t the one who would be killing her, but that didn’t mean that she was safe. Still, what he was asking of her… Well, she wasn’t planning on returning to her village, so they didn’t have to worry about her betraying them. “I understand.” Although, that didn’t necessarily mean that she was completely loyal to them, either. Ah, well. They didn’t have to know that.
She held up a single finger, telling him that she wasn’t finished speaking. "But, even though I'm not part of Sunagakure anymore, I don't want anything to happen to those I care about. I need to know who that spy is," she told him. "That's the whole point of him being there, right? So we'll know what's going on there without putting our lives in danger." That way, she could occasionally check in to make sure everything was how she left it.
"You'll find out soon enough. Now that Master Sasori is dead, that spy will be your responsibility, un. You’ll learn who he is when it’s time for his next report."
There was a sudden sharp knock on the door, and Deidara slid off the bed, crossing the room. Upon opening the door, he found an irritated Hidan standing outside.
"Get your ass to the anteroom. Zetsu is here," he said, then turned to leave, not giving Deidara a chance to respond.
"It's time for our next mission, un," Deidara said over his shoulder to Mika. He came back to the bed and grabbed his discarded cloak, putting it on.
Mika stood up, retrieving her own cloak. She went over to him, buttoning up the cloak as she went.
Closing the door behind them, Deidara led the way into the anteroom.
Hidan and Kakuzu were already seated on one side of the table. Zetsu sat in the first chair on the other side. But someone else was there, too. At the head of the table was...
"Pein," Deidara said quietly. "That's the projection I was telling you about earlier, un," he whispered to Mika.
The shadowy figure stood up from the table, and Mika got a good look at him. It was almost impossible to tell anything about him, though; all she could tell from his silhouette was that he had short spiky hair, and his eyes... This was the Rinnegan? His eyes were composed of dark rings, but apart from those, his eyes were a solid mix of light purple and silver, with no distinction between iris and sclera.
"So this is the one you chose to replace Sasori?" Pein asked. His voice was distorted from the projection, though calm. He glanced at her forehead protector. "You already converted her. What was offered in return for her loyalty?"
Deidara was about to respond, but Mika cut him off. "I wasn't offered anything. I joined because I wanted to." She ignored the warning nudge Deidara gave her.
From behind Pein, Hidan gave a short bark of laughter. "Like hell. He kidnapped you. There's no way you would just decide to join us. Why did you do it?"
Mika turned her head slightly to look at him. "There are no rules here. I like living the way I want to, not how someone else thinks I should. You can understand that, can't you?" Her voice was icy as she spoke, which made the immortal smirk.
"Well, at least you have a damn strong will. We'll see how long you last, though. I don't think you have what it takes. You were dragged into this unwillingly. To be a member, you have to be able to fucking kill those that stand in your way. Can you do that?" He was baiting her; seeing how far he could push her before she snapped. And unlike before, this time, it was working.
She took a step towards him, but was stopped by Deidara's hand closing around her wrist.
"That's enough, Hidan," Pein said. "We'll get a chance to see if she'll betray us or not." He turned his attention back to Mika. "You retrieved the ring, I trust?"
Mika pulled her wrist out of Deidara's grasp and reached into the pouch at her waist, pulling out the ring and holding it up.
"If you succeed in your test, you will wear it on your left thumb. You will then be our representative from Sunagakure." He looked back at Zetsu. "Be sure to give them their missions before you return." With an electric crackle, the projection flickered and vanished.
"Hidan and Kakuzu, you will go to the villages in the east. Itachi and Kisame are already in the north." Zetsu stood up and turned to look at Deidara and Mika. "You will look in the west. If you find any clues to the whereabouts of the Tailed Beasts, report back to Pein through a projection. Only the One-Tail has been sealed so far. Now we need to focus on the Two-Tail. If you find its Jinchuuriki, or the Beast itself if it doesn't have a host, bring it to the nearest base, and summon us. If you find any other Beast, pinpoint its location, but do not go after it."
Behind him, Mika noticed Hidan was nodding at Zetsu's words. It seemed he had heard this before. Zetsu was probably only repeating the details for Mika's benefit.
But still, something was bothering her. West. That meant they would be coming close to Sunagakure. It was going to be a test, to see if she would betray them. Was that what Pein had been talking about…?
Hidan looked up at her, dark satisfaction dancing in his red-violet eyes. He knew she didn't like him, and he was having fun tormenting her. He knew that Pein would make her and Deidara search in the west; and he only wished he could be there to watch her struggle against her instincts to return to her home. This girl was interesting; she had a fiery temper, just like him. If he could just get her to overlook his rituals, they could probably be friends.
"Do you understand?" Zetsu's black half asked, looking at Mika, who nodded once. "Good. But before you go, there is one must thing you must do. It’s time for your test.”
The white half piped up, then. “To prove that you’re talented enough to be accepted as a member, you have to go through a short survival exercise.” He turned slightly, looking over at Hidan and Kakuzu.
“Your opponent will be Kakuzu. If you can survive for twenty-four hours, you’ll be welcomed as a full member.”
The dark-skinned man growled softly. “I’d rather not. I see no benefit in this for us. She isn’t even skilled enough to have a bounty on her head. What’s the use in keeping her here?”
Zetsu’s response was cut off by a snort of amusement from Hidan. “That’s just like you, Kakuzu. Too lazy to get up off your old ass and do what you’re told.”
The immortal didn’t even flinch as he was fixed with an intense green stare. “Shut up, Hidan. You have no room to talk about following orders. As I recall, when we were summoned, you initially refused, saying you had better things to do?”
Hidan nodded. “And I did. I was having fun playing with that guy. It’s a damn shame I had to end the ceremony early…” He sighed melodramatically, looking at the ceiling for a moment before turning his gaze back to Zetsu. “Well, if Kakuzu doesn’t want to do it, I’ll test her. As long as I can use her in the ceremony when she fails. That’s fair, right? You won’t have any use for her as a member, so it won’t be any real loss. Leader will want to kill her anyway. Why let a perfectly good sacrifice go to waste?”
Mika felt a chill go up her spine, despite the anger she had felt towards Hidan only moments ago. He wanted to use her in this ritual of his? She swallowed hard. Now she had to win.
Zetsu considered this for a moment. At last, the black half spoke. “Very well. You may be the one to test her. But you’re forbidden from inflicting any injures that might interfere with the upcoming mission. Do you understand?”
Hidan scowled, muttering to himself. “Tch, whatever. Suck all the fun out of everything, why don’t you? Creepy bastard…”
Ignoring this, Zetsu turned his head to look at Mika. “Your test will begin at dawn. Fail, and you forfeit your life.” Without another word, the leaves around his body slowly closed, and he sank into the floor.
Deidara sighed, shaking his head. This was not good. Hidan was by far the most bloodthirsty member of Akatsuki. Up against him, Mika didn’t stand a chance. Twenty-four hours… What was Leader up to? That was a long time for her to try and survive. Even against Kakuzu, who should have been her opponent, the odds of her coming out of it alive were slim to none. Kakuzu was nothing if not efficient. He would have eventually slaughtered her. Why not put her up against someone like Kisame, who was a bit more laid-back? True, they would have had to wait until he and Itachi came back to the base, but…
Well, standing around here wasn’t going to give him any more answers. He gestured to Mika. “Let’s go. If you’re going to do this, you’ll need to be well rested.”
Mika, who had been growing steadily whiter as the blood drained from her face, jumped at the sound of Deidara’s voice. “What…? Oh, right. Rest.” Yeah, as if she was going to be getting any rest now. She was as good as dead.
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Mika opened the door to the shower room and stepped inside. Locking the door behind her - though it would do little good; Deidara had a key - she undressed, folding her clothes up and hanging them on a nearby towel rack. Apart from this towel rack, draped with several thick white towels, and the curtain that provided privacy for whoever was making use of the shower, the room was bare.
She arched one eyebrow. Even though she supposed it made sense for the base to be so empty – after all, why bother to decorate when you were constantly on the move? – she also found it almost unbearably boring. Since she had lived her entire life in Sunagakure, she had become accustomed to the monotonous sandstone buildings, and subdued colors of the desert, but even they seemed decorated compared to this place. Not to mention Sunagakure was brighter. Even with the torches, the base was still shadowed.
Pulling the curtain aside, she turned on the water and, after a few slight adjustments to the temperature, stepped under the flow. She sighed as the hot water ran over her tense muscles. Closing her eyes, she rested her head against the wall, her hair falling forward over her shoulders to hide her face. This wasn’t good… Even a hot shower wasn’t enough to help her relax.
Unbidden, her mind returned to what had just happened, and her face began to heat up in a blush. Deidara... His touch had set her blood on fire. She could still feel his phantom caresses, each one accompanied by a faint tingle of electricity. She shook her head, then sat down, letting the water pour over her. Her body had reacted to Deidara the way it never had to anyone else. Not even to him.
A year or so ago, she had had a lover; a fellow Jounin named Seiji. The rest of her team had been sent out on other missions, and she had decided to spend her time in the hospital, helping the medics. That very first day, Seiji had been brought in after being injured on a mission of his own, and she had been assigned to care for him. Before long, she had realized that she was interested in him. Seiji had been released from the hospital after a week, but he and Mika continued to see each other whenever they could. Before long, a real relationship had developed, and they became lovers.
At first, they spent as much time together as they could; going to restaurants together, or even staying at home and doing nothing but enjoying each other’s company. But as time went by, they were kept apart more and more often. They were on separate teams, and missions were becoming more frequent. Slowly, inevitably, they began to drift apart, and they finally decided to end their relationship. She had still seen him occasionally, in the stores, or passing him on the streets, but they were little more than strangers once more. Everything fell apart soon after that.
Just when things were beginning to calm down again, Deidara and Sasori had invaded the village. Many ninja were injured or killed. On top of that, it was discovered that a spy had been in their village the entire time. That alone would have been bad enough, but then they realized who it was; Yuura had been one of the council members.
But the worst part was that the Kazekage had been kidnapped, and his older brother was severely poisoned when he attempted to follow Deidara. No one in the village had enough knowledge to make an antidote for the dying Kankuro, and so the decision was made to ask for help from their ally, Konohagakure. Several ninja were deployed, including a medic who had trained directly under the legendary kunoichi, Tsunade. Almost immediately after she had finished healing Kankuro, she and the others had left to search for Gaara, along with one of the elders, Chiyo, who had a more personal stake in the matter.
A day later, they had come back. The Kazekage seemed unharmed, if a bit different, but Elder Chiyo was dead. They had said that she had been killed getting the Kazekage back, but Deidara had told Mika the truth. She still wasn’t certain why they decided not to tell everyone the truth. True, Edo Tensei was a forbidden ninjutsu, but it had saved the Kazekage’s life.
The morning of their return, Mika had been excused from hospital duty to go restore what she could of the medicinal herb supply. Shortly after that, Deidara had captured her.
At first, she had been terrified that he was going to kill her. Then, when he had told her that she was going to be his new partner, she had recoiled at the idea. But still, she had marked through her forehead protector after only a slight hesitation, and it wasn't just the threat to her life that made her do it. Sure, she hadn’t wanted to die, and she had been desperate to get out of that room, but those hadn’t been the only reasons. The truth was, given the chance, she would have left her village sooner.
She had told Deidara that she was loyal, and she was, in that she didn’t want anything to happen to her village, or the people who lived there. But she had always hated being under someone else's command. Of course, being in Akatsuki, she was still following orders, but she was beginning to see that she had more freedom. Here, it didn't matter how missions were carried out, as long as they were completed, and what they did in the meantime was entirely up to them.
That fact was one thing – the biggest thing - that had compelled her to stay.
Standing up, she quickly washed herself, then shut off the water and went to retrieve a towel. Thinking about the past certainly wasn’t going to get her anywhere. After drying herself off, she redressed, frowning when she realized that she had left her mesh shirt in Deidara's room. This wasn’t good. She had been planning to stay in one of the vacant rooms until she’d had a bit more time to think things over. But she couldn’t go out dressed like this. She would have to go and get her shirt, even though that meant facing him again. Her heart began to pound when she thought about that.
Suddenly, she slammed her fist against the wall, clenching her teeth. Damn it! He was a criminal, not someone she should be attracted to, even if it was just on a physical level! And it was just physical, she told herself firmly. But still...she could still feel his soft kisses on her neck and shoulders, and a shiver ran through her that had nothing to do with the slight chill that seemed to permeate every room in the base. Resting her arm against the wall, she leaned her head on it, closing her eyes. What was she going to do..?
Her head raised as she realized she could sense a chakra signature just outside the door. She frowned. That wasn’t good. She had been so distracted that she hadn’t even noticed that anyone else was nearby. Some ninja she was. If it had been an enemy, she would be dead right now. But the signature was familiar; Deidara. What did he want? And why was he just standing outside? He had a key; all he had to do was unlock the door and come in.
But even though she waited several more seconds, the door remained closed. How odd. She arched one eyebrow, crossing the room slowly. Unlocking and opening the door, she peered outside, unsure of what to expect. There he was; casually leaning against the wall, her mesh shirt in one hand.
"You forgot this, un," he said, holding it out to her.
Stepping out into the hall, Mika stood a few feet away from him. She studied him carefully for a moment, then took the shirt. Try as she might, she couldn’t read any emotion on his face. Whatever his thoughts were, he was being very careful not to let them show in his expression.
"Thank you," she said quietly, holding the shirt to her, covering her chest. Circling warily around him, she returned to his room. He had already come to find her; not going back with him wasn’t an option any longer, unfortunately. Upon opening the door, she saw that two plates of food had been placed on the table.
"I thought you might be hungry," Deidara said, following her into the room and closing the door.
She looked back at him, keeping the shirt held tightly against her chest, even though he had already seen her without it once. "Could you turn around for a minute?" she asked.
He raised one eyebrow curiously. "What for?" He just didn’t understand it. Why was she choosing now of all times to be shy? Sure, she had refused to take her overshirt off in order to remove the mesh one beneath, but even then, she hadn’t hesitated. And besides, she was wearing bindings under the shirt, too. It wasn’t like he would be able to see anything. This girl was almost painfully modest.
"Turn around," she repeated, more firmly. After a moment in which she thought he was going to refuse, he finally did turn his back, though not without a smile of amusement. Quickly, Mika pulled off her overshirt, draping it over the back of the nearby chair while she put the mesh one on. Once she was fully dressed once more, she glanced back at him. "All right, I’m finished. You can turn back around now."
Deidara turned, a smirk crossing his face. "So you're not comfortable changing in front of others, un," he said. “That’s an interesting trait to have. Most ninja don’t get embarrassed by something as simple as changing clothes. You’ll have to get over that.”
Mika narrowed her eyes at him, but instead of anger, all that was reflected in her gaze was friendly annoyance. "Oh, be quiet." What did it matter to him if she had a little modesty? She was the one that would have to deal with that, not him. Shaking her head, she made her way over to the table and sat down.
Deidara smiled at this. So she still felt comfortable enough with him to joke around, huh? Judging by the way she had been behaving around him when she had finished with her shower, he had thought she was afraid to be near him now. But this was a good thing. It meant he wouldn't have to try and build up her trust from scratch. Of course, he wasn't naïve enough to think that she was anywhere near trusting him completely - that was still a long way off - but it also meant that he hadn't gone so far as to completely shatter what trust she did have in him.
He could work with that; he would just have to keep building it up little by little, until he was able to reach his ultimate goal. He regarded her thoughtfully as she sat down at the table, crossing one leg over the other and propping her head up in one hand. She had actually let him go a lot further than he thought she would. She may have still been a virgin, but it seemed she wasn'tcompletelynew to this. That would shorten the time he would have to take to break her down. If she was totally untouched it might take weeks; even months if she was shy.
But now, he could probably do it within a few days, if he played his cards right. Maybe even less, if he was extremely lucky. It wouldn’t be too hard, especially once they were sent out on their next mission. He knew that cheap bastard Kakuzu would probably only give them enough money to rent one room a night at any inns they passed by, and that meant they would have no other choice but to share a bed. Normally, the lack of money would have annoyed him, but in this case, he could turn it to his advantage. Yes, she would be his in no time.
Still smiling to himself, he crossed the room, and sat down across from her at the table. Pulling one of the plates of food toward him, he gestured to the other. “Eat.”
Mika took the other plate, poking at the food that was on it. After a moment, she began to eat. She hadn't realized how hungry she was until she took the first bite, even though the food wasn’t exactly what she would call top quality. Still, it was edible, and it filled her up.
Deidara watched her carefully as they ate. Finally, he broke the silence. "Zetsu should be coming soon, to take a report of our mission back to Leader. He'll probably give us another mission while he's here, un."
Mika swallowed her bite of food. "What kind of missions do you do, anyway?" Other than the sealings of the Tailed Beasts, she realized that she actually didn’t know what it was that Akatsuki did. Deidara had never explained it to her.
"The obvious: scouting the locations of the Tailed Beasts. They're harder to track down than you'd think," he told her, eating the last bite of food on his plate, and pushing it aside. "But we also do routine missions; reconnaissance of the villages. Those of us in the inner circle - the nine of us - don't actually enter the villages, though. It’s too dangerous for us, especially now that we’ve made ourselves known. Instead, we have agents in every village who report back to us every so often."
She nodded. "I guess after your invasion the other day, everyone knows about you. As for the spies, it's perfect. No one knew about Yuura until the damage was already done." She leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms and frowning thoughtfully. If the spies were so well-hidden, then… "How many are there in Sunagakure?"
"Just one, now that Master Sasori’s little pet was killed, un."
Mika's back stiffened. "There's another one? Who?" What if it was someone she knew? All this time, she could have been working side by side with an Akatsuki agent, and never even known it, especially if his – her? - acting was as flawless as Yuura’s had been.
Deidara looked up at her, his gaze calculating. She was still worried about her village? This really didn’t come as a surprise, but it did worry him a little. If Pein found out, and thought she was likely to betray them, he would kill her. "I don't know his name. Unlike the other one, who was chosen by Master Sasori, Leader was the one who dispatched him. The only ones I know are the ones in my own village. We keep tabs on those from our home villages. Master Sasori would have known him, but I don't."
"Then who keeps up with the spies from other villages? The ones that don't have a representative in the inner circle?"
"Leader does, un."
She frowned. If there were agents in every land, that would be far too many for even nine people to keep up with, especially assuming there was more than one spy in each village. "One person keeps track of all-?"
Deidara cut her off with a raised hand. "Not one. Six."
This made her pause in confusion. "Six? I thought you said that there were only nine members of the inner circle. What about the other five that I met? Besides, your – our - leader is only one person."
He shook his head. "Leader has six different bodies, each one with different abilities. They're known as "the Six Paths of Pein". He has a kekkei genkai similar to Itachi's; one that manifests itself through the eyes; a doujutsu. It's called the Rinnegan. It allows him to harness all five chakra types. He can also see whatever the other five paths see. In essence, he can be in six places at once."
"He sounds powerful," Mika said thoughtfully. Of course, all the members of Akatsuki had to be powerful, if they wanted to survive. But this man… She had never heard of anyone who was able to master all five chakra types. Even the best Jounin in the village could only use three, and that was after training for years.
"With access to all five chakra types, and the most powerful doujutsu at his disposal, I’m sure he is. His partner, Konan, is the only one who's ever seen him fight, so I don't know how formidable of an opponent he is. But if he founded Akatsuki, he has to be fairly strong, un," Deidara told her, stretching as he leaned back in his chair.
"So where is he? I've met everyone except for him and his partner," Mika said after a thoughtful silence, finishing up her own meal.
"He stays in his home village, Amegakure, with Konan and Zetsu, who relays our missions for him."
"Will I ever get to meet him?" She stood up and went over to the bed, stretching out on it with her hands behind her head. Her meal had made her a bit drowsy.
Deidara turned to watch her. "I doubt it. Not in person, at least. The only way we ever get a chance to see him is if we go to Amegakure, or when we seal a Tailed Beast. Even during a sealing, it's a hologram of him, not his real body, un."
This caused Mika to look over at him curiously. “What do you mean by a hologram?”
“It’s simply a projection jutsu we use for convenience. Whenever one of us captures a Jinchuuriki, we take it to the nearest base. Since most of us are usually scattered over the lands, and too far away to go there ourselves, we project our images to the base using that jutsu. That allows us to help with the sealing without physically being there.”
Rising out of his chair, he followed her and sat down beside her, being careful not to sit too close. It was time that he found out the truth, before she actually did meet Pein. "Why did you stay here? And I want the truth this time. I know it wasn't just because you didn't want to die." He leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms and waiting for her reply.
"Despite what you may think, I am loyal to my village. I left because I wanted freedom. When I was still there, I had to do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. I can't handle that. I want independence. Here, I have that. True, I may still have to go on missions, but...in between them, and even during them, I'm free."
Deidara nodded once. "Freedom is something most ninja aren't allowed to have. I can understand wanting more of it, un. But I want you to listen closely. If you don’t want to be killed, you can’t let anyone else know about this. If the others think your loyalty to us is in question, they won’t hesitate to destroy that threat. Do you understand?"
Mika propped herself up on her elbows, watching him. The way he phrased that made it clear that he wasn’t the one who would be killing her, but that didn’t mean that she was safe. Still, what he was asking of her… Well, she wasn’t planning on returning to her village, so they didn’t have to worry about her betraying them. “I understand.” Although, that didn’t necessarily mean that she was completely loyal to them, either. Ah, well. They didn’t have to know that.
She held up a single finger, telling him that she wasn’t finished speaking. "But, even though I'm not part of Sunagakure anymore, I don't want anything to happen to those I care about. I need to know who that spy is," she told him. "That's the whole point of him being there, right? So we'll know what's going on there without putting our lives in danger." That way, she could occasionally check in to make sure everything was how she left it.
"You'll find out soon enough. Now that Master Sasori is dead, that spy will be your responsibility, un. You’ll learn who he is when it’s time for his next report."
There was a sudden sharp knock on the door, and Deidara slid off the bed, crossing the room. Upon opening the door, he found an irritated Hidan standing outside.
"Get your ass to the anteroom. Zetsu is here," he said, then turned to leave, not giving Deidara a chance to respond.
"It's time for our next mission, un," Deidara said over his shoulder to Mika. He came back to the bed and grabbed his discarded cloak, putting it on.
Mika stood up, retrieving her own cloak. She went over to him, buttoning up the cloak as she went.
Closing the door behind them, Deidara led the way into the anteroom.
Hidan and Kakuzu were already seated on one side of the table. Zetsu sat in the first chair on the other side. But someone else was there, too. At the head of the table was...
"Pein," Deidara said quietly. "That's the projection I was telling you about earlier, un," he whispered to Mika.
The shadowy figure stood up from the table, and Mika got a good look at him. It was almost impossible to tell anything about him, though; all she could tell from his silhouette was that he had short spiky hair, and his eyes... This was the Rinnegan? His eyes were composed of dark rings, but apart from those, his eyes were a solid mix of light purple and silver, with no distinction between iris and sclera.
"So this is the one you chose to replace Sasori?" Pein asked. His voice was distorted from the projection, though calm. He glanced at her forehead protector. "You already converted her. What was offered in return for her loyalty?"
Deidara was about to respond, but Mika cut him off. "I wasn't offered anything. I joined because I wanted to." She ignored the warning nudge Deidara gave her.
From behind Pein, Hidan gave a short bark of laughter. "Like hell. He kidnapped you. There's no way you would just decide to join us. Why did you do it?"
Mika turned her head slightly to look at him. "There are no rules here. I like living the way I want to, not how someone else thinks I should. You can understand that, can't you?" Her voice was icy as she spoke, which made the immortal smirk.
"Well, at least you have a damn strong will. We'll see how long you last, though. I don't think you have what it takes. You were dragged into this unwillingly. To be a member, you have to be able to fucking kill those that stand in your way. Can you do that?" He was baiting her; seeing how far he could push her before she snapped. And unlike before, this time, it was working.
She took a step towards him, but was stopped by Deidara's hand closing around her wrist.
"That's enough, Hidan," Pein said. "We'll get a chance to see if she'll betray us or not." He turned his attention back to Mika. "You retrieved the ring, I trust?"
Mika pulled her wrist out of Deidara's grasp and reached into the pouch at her waist, pulling out the ring and holding it up.
"If you succeed in your test, you will wear it on your left thumb. You will then be our representative from Sunagakure." He looked back at Zetsu. "Be sure to give them their missions before you return." With an electric crackle, the projection flickered and vanished.
"Hidan and Kakuzu, you will go to the villages in the east. Itachi and Kisame are already in the north." Zetsu stood up and turned to look at Deidara and Mika. "You will look in the west. If you find any clues to the whereabouts of the Tailed Beasts, report back to Pein through a projection. Only the One-Tail has been sealed so far. Now we need to focus on the Two-Tail. If you find its Jinchuuriki, or the Beast itself if it doesn't have a host, bring it to the nearest base, and summon us. If you find any other Beast, pinpoint its location, but do not go after it."
Behind him, Mika noticed Hidan was nodding at Zetsu's words. It seemed he had heard this before. Zetsu was probably only repeating the details for Mika's benefit.
But still, something was bothering her. West. That meant they would be coming close to Sunagakure. It was going to be a test, to see if she would betray them. Was that what Pein had been talking about…?
Hidan looked up at her, dark satisfaction dancing in his red-violet eyes. He knew she didn't like him, and he was having fun tormenting her. He knew that Pein would make her and Deidara search in the west; and he only wished he could be there to watch her struggle against her instincts to return to her home. This girl was interesting; she had a fiery temper, just like him. If he could just get her to overlook his rituals, they could probably be friends.
"Do you understand?" Zetsu's black half asked, looking at Mika, who nodded once. "Good. But before you go, there is one must thing you must do. It’s time for your test.”
The white half piped up, then. “To prove that you’re talented enough to be accepted as a member, you have to go through a short survival exercise.” He turned slightly, looking over at Hidan and Kakuzu.
“Your opponent will be Kakuzu. If you can survive for twenty-four hours, you’ll be welcomed as a full member.”
The dark-skinned man growled softly. “I’d rather not. I see no benefit in this for us. She isn’t even skilled enough to have a bounty on her head. What’s the use in keeping her here?”
Zetsu’s response was cut off by a snort of amusement from Hidan. “That’s just like you, Kakuzu. Too lazy to get up off your old ass and do what you’re told.”
The immortal didn’t even flinch as he was fixed with an intense green stare. “Shut up, Hidan. You have no room to talk about following orders. As I recall, when we were summoned, you initially refused, saying you had better things to do?”
Hidan nodded. “And I did. I was having fun playing with that guy. It’s a damn shame I had to end the ceremony early…” He sighed melodramatically, looking at the ceiling for a moment before turning his gaze back to Zetsu. “Well, if Kakuzu doesn’t want to do it, I’ll test her. As long as I can use her in the ceremony when she fails. That’s fair, right? You won’t have any use for her as a member, so it won’t be any real loss. Leader will want to kill her anyway. Why let a perfectly good sacrifice go to waste?”
Mika felt a chill go up her spine, despite the anger she had felt towards Hidan only moments ago. He wanted to use her in this ritual of his? She swallowed hard. Now she had to win.
Zetsu considered this for a moment. At last, the black half spoke. “Very well. You may be the one to test her. But you’re forbidden from inflicting any injures that might interfere with the upcoming mission. Do you understand?”
Hidan scowled, muttering to himself. “Tch, whatever. Suck all the fun out of everything, why don’t you? Creepy bastard…”
Ignoring this, Zetsu turned his head to look at Mika. “Your test will begin at dawn. Fail, and you forfeit your life.” Without another word, the leaves around his body slowly closed, and he sank into the floor.
Deidara sighed, shaking his head. This was not good. Hidan was by far the most bloodthirsty member of Akatsuki. Up against him, Mika didn’t stand a chance. Twenty-four hours… What was Leader up to? That was a long time for her to try and survive. Even against Kakuzu, who should have been her opponent, the odds of her coming out of it alive were slim to none. Kakuzu was nothing if not efficient. He would have eventually slaughtered her. Why not put her up against someone like Kisame, who was a bit more laid-back? True, they would have had to wait until he and Itachi came back to the base, but…
Well, standing around here wasn’t going to give him any more answers. He gestured to Mika. “Let’s go. If you’re going to do this, you’ll need to be well rested.”
Mika, who had been growing steadily whiter as the blood drained from her face, jumped at the sound of Deidara’s voice. “What…? Oh, right. Rest.” Yeah, as if she was going to be getting any rest now. She was as good as dead.
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