"Tydus!" a female voice yelled, "You and Schuyler take half of the platoon south. I will take the other half north". The woman speaking looked to be around 5'6" ft., with brown hair tied up in a bun. She had a sharp, angled face with deep green eyes that glared with confidence. Dressed in nothing more than boots, cloth pants and a jacket, she looked incredibly frail to be commanding an army, however small it may be. "Yes, ma'am!" the others saluted. The man named Tydus was tall, taller than the woman, and resembled her as well, but couldn't have been over 6 ft. He was garbed in a chain mail vest, pants and helmet, like the other soldiers. The one named Schuyler was a female, with cropped black hair, wearing a dress. She was shorter than the first woman, but a bit more muscular, though not by much.

Tydus and Schuyler began to head south as the other woman began to head north, both accompanied by their respective group of soldiers. The area they were in was foreign to them, but was reminiscent of their homeland. Grassy fields, trees everywhere. There wasn't much scenery, perhaps a river or two, accompanied by a bridge, like the one north of the group's pathetic, makeshift base camp, comprised of leaves and broken trees. The woman who was apparently in command didn't make it far until she was stopped in front of said bridge by two strange men, both dressed in black cloaks adorned with red clouds. The woman narrowed her eyebrows, and one of the men, who was a short man, face covered with a hat, practically growled "Who are you, and why shouldn't we kill you now?". The woman simply relaxed her expression and smiled. "I'm Aisilynn. Aisilynn Lutgardis. Why shouldn't you kill me? Honestly, would you really hurt a poor, frail thing like me?" She tried playing the "pity me" card, something she didn't pull off well. She was too cocky to make it believable. The two men looked at each other. The other man, a tall blonde with hair pulled back in a ponytail, a large chunk of it covering his left eye, was the one who spoke up this time. "Right. What village are you from, Aisilynn, un?" Aisilynn looked confused. "Village? I was born in Ashford, south of Ascalon City, if that's what you mean..." She trailed off. Her once confident smile had faded. She was never a big fan of confrontation, at least of the verbal type. Fighting she had no problem with, but talking was another story. "Maybe we should just kill the girl now, Sasori no Danna, un?" Aisilynn's smile returned. Now, here was something she COULD do.

This entire time the soldiers following her had just been standing there, knowing their leader could take care of herself, but now they stood stiff, waiting in dreadful anticipation for an order. Aisilynn, however, was relaxed. She'd never lost a battle before, but then again, she usually started from a ways off, these men were practically in her face. If one of they got a good shot at her before she could cast her wards, she'd be dead meat. It didn't help that both of these men had an aura of power around them, she could sense it, it was nothing like she'd sensed before. But, she decided that she'd better get the worst over with. If she got a head start, then maybe, just maybe, she could win this. "Stand down, men". One of the soldiers protested, "But, milady..." Aisilynn sighed. "That wasn't a request, soldier. Send one of your men to find Tydus and Sch-" She was cut off by the shorter man, apparently named Sasori. "Others? There are others with you? Tell me, girl, where are you from, and who exactly are you people?" As if psychic, Tydus appeared, alone. Tydus' face was hard, several lines forming upon his brow. He and Aisilynn communicated mentally. Schuyler had run off with the troops. She'd opened a return portal and left without Tydus or Aisilynn. She sighed, and began to speak. If they were going to fight, why not get it done? Schuyler was gone, they were either going to make some allies or die, either of which was fine with Aisilynn, she was tired. "We... Aren't from around here. Well, I can't really say that, since I'm not entirely sure where 'here' is. But, we are a small group sent out from the Kingdom of Ascalon. A portal was supposed to take us to the neighboring land of Cantha, but we got thrown here instead. Now, as long as we're playing 20 Questions, I'd like you to tell me who you are and where the hell we're at". The shorter man spoke. "First off, woman, if you continue to speak to me in that tone, I will NOT hesitate to kill you. You are in a small town outside of Konoha, the Hidden Leaf Village. My partner and I are members of the Akatsuki... A... Local organization, you might call it". Aisilynn raised an eyebrow. Konoha? Akatsuki? She'd never heard of it, and judging from the looks of the others, they didn't know either. "Right," She began, "Well. You wanted to fight? Go ahead. Attack me. I'm giving you a free shot here. Wait, here's an idea. I want to show you something. Try to... Slit my wrist. Go on, don't tell me you're scared of a little girl," The two men looked at each other again, and the short one pulled out a kunai knife, and ran it across the girl's outstretched arm.

The blade didn't even touch her. Instead, a cut appeared through the man's cloak, digging into what appeared to be... Wood? The blonde man's eyes narrowed. Aisilynn simply smirked. They'd screwed themselves by not killing her before she could set up her barriers. The two men again looked at each other again, they'd been doing that a lot in the short time they'd been there. Aisilynn wondered if they were linked somehow, like she and Tydus were. She tried on many occasions to block him out, and sometimes succeeded, but only temporarily. She never could find a way to cut the ties for good. The blonde man spoke again. "She seems fairly powerful, Sasori no Danna. Maybe we should take her to see the leader, un". The short one, apparently his name was Sasori, simply sighed and muttered a "Fine".

Deidara, the blonde was named. After a long ride on a large clay bird, Aisilynn, Tydus, Deidara, and Sasori arrived at the Akatsuki headquarters. Deidara and Sasori wanted to leave Tydus behind, but Aisilynn made it noted that there would be no point, because of their link, anything she thought, saw, heard, or felt would go straight to him, plus, she said, "He's an excellent fighter, much better than I am. He does the real work, I just stand back and wiggle my fingers".

The Akatsuki headquarters were nothing much, simply a large building with several smaller rooms, and a large living area, along with a kitchen. As Aisilynn and Tydus entered, they were greeted with a plenty of strange looks given by even stranger people. One man resembled a shark, while another resembled a plant, one half of his face white, another black. There was another woman there, to the relief of Aisilynn. There were several other, less interesting characters. One man had red eyes and long black hair pulled up in a ponytail. Another was a man with his face covered, and eyes that reminded her of death. Another man was in a orange mask with only one cut for the eyes. Finally, there was a pale man, with slicked back white hair and purple eyes. He was attractive, at least to Aisilynn, but he had something... Odd, about him. An aura of chaos and beauty, one she had only sensed on a High Priestess of Lyssa, twin Goddess of Beauty and Illusion. The auras weren't the same, but close enough that she recognized the similarities instantaneously. The man's aura was also filled with a sense of death and pain, like the others in the room.

Deidara grinned wickedly at Aisilynn, something he'd been doing ever since he discovered that she wasn't a ninja from another village, and that she really didn't have a clue where she was. "I'll go get Leader-sama. Wait here with Sasori no Danna, un". He said, and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The man that resembled a shark was the first to walk up to them. He spoke to Sasori, with a smirk on his face, clearly showing teeth that were filed into points. "So, Sasori. Who's the new meat? What village are they from? They don't look like any ninja I've ever seen". Aisilynn and Tydus's faces narrowed. They didn't like this mans tone, and Tydus clearly wanted to kill him on the spot. Why did his sister have to agree to go here? Sasori sighed. "They aren't ninja, Kisame. They aren't from around here. They're from.... Where did you say you were from, again?" He directed the question at Aisilynn. Never letting go of her narrowed expression, she let her answer go through slightly clenched jaws. "Ascalon. Ascalon City. Tyria. My brother, Tydus was a guard. I was a soldier, more or less". The shark-man's smile faded, turning into a confused look that didn't last for long. Deidara emerged from a hallway across from where Aisilynn, Tydus, and Sasori were, with a tall man with orange hair and many piercings.