The Glass Kunoichi

by Spottedleaf9

Chapter 12

(Akane)

I was eating mitarashi dangos with a sweet and sour dipping sauce as I sat atop the boulder outside the hideout. From here, I could see the seal on the boulder; as it stood blocking the main entrance. To the left and right of me; in eastern and western directions miles off, the other two seals sat. One plastered across another rock and one of the seals slapped at a haphazard angle across a lightening-split tree trunk.

I had been on the boulder all day; having had nothing but watch duty since joining the Akatsuki. I liked to be on my own, even if I knew Itachi was discreetly keeping both eyes on me from wherever he stayed during the day. At the same time, if I were to pass Itachi in the stone halls, I'd freak out and flatten myself to a wall belly-first so that when he glided by oozing confidence in himself, I could not see the Sharingan eyes that reminded me so painfully of my biggest loss.

During the night, I watched Deidara making clay preparations; mixing new bags of chakra infused materials. I had taken to him for some reason. I just sensed that he was the least…twisted of the Akatsuki and I was somewhat safer with him than I would be in the presence of Kisame, or worse, that creep Sasori. I liked to watch him make tiny clay figures and carefully tuck them up his sleeves.

He never objected to me hanging around in the doorway. He did leave it open after all. But then again, he never said anything to me either; just busily working on his precious art in the small hours of the morning. Then he would quietly begin putting his things away. I took this as a signal to leave and would each night head back to my room until it was time for me to be on watch again.

When I was supposed to sleep, I would lay and stare at the stone ceiling, a small case of claustrophobia telling me that I was going to be buried alive as I slept in the stone tomb the Akatsuki, and myself, called home. I felt so alone. No one actually talked to me and I began to miss night time training with Haru. I wondered what Haru was doing in the Sound Village; sitting on his throne and talking to stuffy nobles all day. I wondered if he remembered our…kind-of friendship and hoped that he would forget my annoying persistence to always refer to him formally.

I was the only one besides Zetsu who didn't have a partner, but there was no way I was going to complain. Pain might actually hear me and put me with him and he was one mysterious ninja who I had no wishes to get to know any better than I did. He freaked me out even worse than Sasori; of whom I knew the secret to. Throwing thoughts of my past aside, I ate the last sweet bite of my dangos; leaving the dipping tray on the rock next to me.

Then I sat and pulled my knees up to my chest; the cloak covering me down to the bare feet that touched the smooth stone beneath them. When I was alone, I refused to wear my shoes. When I was alone and no one else was within earshot of me, I would cry; silent tears that would flow down my face and drip onto the rock before sliding off and hitting the ground below. I cried for my father; deep down believing it even without any confirmation that it was a true statement. I believed that I had lost my only remaining parent. I was an orphan again.

(Kakashi)

Pakkun was not surprised in the least when I summoned him and told him what scent he was to be tracking. "Find her." It was all I needed to say before my old friend understood.

It took him a solid hour to even find her scent in the area surrounding us; as faint as it was before he could begin to follow it. Lee stood to my right and Haru to my left; Pakkun leading the way and Naruto protecting our backs. We were each about two and half feet from one another; making our formation compact and harder to break apart. We were built for defense. "Remember…we're here only to take Akane back. If you have to fight, do it. But show me that you are each smart young genin and only engage the enemy if you have no choice. A party of this size stands no chance against two or three angry Akatsuki members. Pain has probably returned to the base by now and that only complicates things by giving us six new targets. I'd really rather not be detected if at all possible."

I knew it was asking a lot to slip in and then out with an extra ninja in tow and not be caught, but I felt like it was our only choice. There was no way we could survive even with my one Sharingan having reached the capacity to use Mangekyou.

I cast a sideways glance to my left; looking at Haru's face for any sign of wavering. Not a single one of us could afford to have even the slightest hesitation. Anything less than pure determination would give our already unbelievably strong enemies an edge on us that they really didn't need. On his face I saw only a steely anger; carefully concealed under his wavy silver locks as they hung in jagged spikes over half his face.

I looked to my left as I jumped to another tree branch to take a glance at Lee's face and gauge his level of readiness. On Lee's face I observed furrowed brows and concern. He was worried for the mission and Akane as a whole. Good. Worry was the only acceptable substitute for the steely emotions swirling in Haru's artfully masked eyes.

Risking a casual glance over my shoulder at Naruto, I was surprised to see unbridled anger in his eyes; furiously lashing at anything to lock gazes with the baby blue orbs. He was furious and would no doubt wreak havoc. Worry and determination being the only two ways to go, I still felt that Naruto would be more than able to hold his own against whatever trouble was coming his way. For Naruto, getting angry worked miracles in battle that only earned the rest of us clouded judgment; and that was a deadly thing.

Pakkun abruptly began to move faster through the tree branches. "I've found her. She's nearby. I'm speeding things up in case I lose her. I suggest everyone pick up the pace. No complaining." I wasn't going to and I seriously doubted that anyone else would either.

I could see Akane through the trees. She was sitting on top of rock eating dangos and staring into the forest with eyes that seemed surprisingly alert. What drove the breath of out of me was the black cloak rippling around her and how it appeared to perfectly fit her. When she finished her lunch, she pushed the small tray of dip to the side and sat; drawing her knees up and placing her chin in the perfectly sized crook left there. My heart broke watching her sit there; completely at ease.

It wasn't a genjutsu so…how could she be so calm and look so…Akane-like? Squatting in the bushes, I sighed. "Seeing as I am the most combat ready here, I shall stand guard. To balance this out, I'll take the most risky of our group and form a two man cell with him; Naruto, that's you. Stay behind with me. Haru and Lee…you go forward and get Akane's attention. Bring her out here and we'll all run together. Run like hell because this is the Akatsuki and there's no sense in just handing over the kyuubi like this. Don't be a hero. That will only get you killed young." When everyone nodded, I smiled. "Good. On three…one, two….-"

(Akane)

I stopped crying when I heard a shout from the bushes. "Three!" Lee and Haru burst from the brush, running toward me. Standing on my feet and not bothering to wipe my tears off my face, I spoke.

"This is Akatsuki territory. You've picked a bad time to get lost, friend. Please go. If you do not, I'm rather afraid I'll have to kill you both and then I'll have to submit a report to Pain-sama. That's troubling for both of us so how about you just leave and spare me the paperwork?" My voice was even. These were my friends from the past. I had betrayed them the moment I woke up and did not tear the Akatsuki robe from my body. It was a done thing and I couldn't take it back now after everything I'd done in the name of my organization. I'd killed. I had helped sealing the last biju they brought in; a giant, three tailed turtle without a vessel and this brought them one step closer to raiding the Hidden Leaf for Naruto and his kyuubi.

They exchanged startled looks and I sighed. I was going to have to fight them. While their gazes were not on me, I darted forward and placed my palm over Haru's face; sliding backward and out of range of Lee's taijitsu before he could strike. Not that he would have. He was still rather confused and in denial about what was happening before his eyes. Powering up my ability, I kept my eyes on Lee so that if he moved toward me, I would know. Unworried about Haru's troublesome ability now that I had laid a touch to him, I concentrated on Lee. I would have to take him out first.

Haru seemed worried, like Lee. He must have seen that my face was tear streaked and that there were dark circles under my eyes from a week of sleepless nights. "Go home without me. I've committed high treason; the likes of which cannot be forgiven. There is no life left for me in the village without Kakashi-otosan. I am a member of the Akatsuki and nothing will change this. Go. I will not hesitate to kill you now. This is your final warning." Pausing a second, hoping fiercely against all logical reasoning that they would heed me and go.

With a defiant grin, Lee lifted his eyebrows and smiled; holding out a thumbs up and fixing me with his sparkling gaze. "I hereby promise you while in the good guy pose that I will not leave you unless I am killed here today."

Drawing a kunai from the pouch on my right hip, I released a war cry and surged forward, slashing at him and cutting his cheek just below the ear. He jumped back alert of my movements, holding the tiny wound and from the corner of my eye, I saw Haru move forward to take advantage of the side I turned away from him; whirling instead to face him; forgetting that my real concern should be Lee with his dangerous taijitsu. Who I now had my back turned to. The fight was just getting started.

Haru slammed into me from the side, hitting me with surprising force from a kick that came down onto my shoulder, and slammed me into the ground. Of course I could not feel the pain of any of it, as Haru's body began to ripple. The fact that I had been slammed into the ground made it apparent he hit with considerable force, he may have hit hard enough to rival Lee. But he still couldn't move as fast.

The ripples let loose explosions all over Haru's body, and I knew that the naïve untrained prince would be unable to sustain his own attack. He was weak and inexperienced. The dust cleared as I rose from my laying position, and saw that Haru, although a bit scratched up, wasn't even winded. He stood, his blue orbed eyes staring deeply into me behind a face that made the world seem small and made it seem as though the answers to everything I want and need were somehow right inside of those deep ocean eyes. But I knew that was false, because the only person I ever cared for was gone.

Lee came out through the dust like a bullet and went to sweep my legs out from under me. He slammed into my leg, forcing me to the ground yet again. Again I felt no pain, and Haru's body began to ripple. Again I realized the fight was just getting started. An explosion enveloped Haru's body once more and the process of the fight repeated itself.

(Haru)

I glanced over at Lee after the dust cleared. This was the fifth time I had analyzed him, but he seemed nothing but confused. He had no idea what was going on, yet something told me I did. I thought back to the training with Akane and slowly began to fit together the pieces. Akane stood before me and simply waited, seeming to be in no big of a hurry and seeming as though she felt she could beat this untrained prince with ease. Akane is my friend, and I have no wish to hurt her, but something has to be done. I looked over at lee and nodded ever so slightly letting him know I had figured it out. I looked back at Akane and showed Lee to just keep on in the fight, and I would take care of the rest. He got the message, don't hold back and most of all, don't worry about what bruises he puts on my body. I wouldn't be able to inflict any wounds on her using my ninjitsu or taijitsu, and Lee wouldn't be able to either with his.

The fight began in the air this time as the dust cleared again and I got up for the hundredth time. I was fully aware of the pain flaring throughout every inch of my body but I pushed on fully aware that this what a shinobi life would mean, and that Akane mattered far more to me than the wounds on some physical body.

I scanned Akane for an opening, anything to signify my chance to do what I had to. And it hit me, after Akane was riddled by several of Lee's kicks and then feeling them explode upon the surface of my own skin which rippled with a film of bubbles, I saw an opening completely ignoring my own wounds that had just been inflicted, and moved in. Akane was not afraid of me and I could see that because anything I hit her with was just going to be me attacking myself. The more vital a body part that I went for, the more damage I inflicted on me. She knew there was nothing I could do to harm her, and as far as I could tell she was right, but I didn't need to harm her.

Lee inflicted a blow to the gut which I felt immediately, but I kept on running, he continued hitting her anywhere he could manage to keep her distracted and every last bit of it hit me. I simply kept running at her unable to ignore a single second of it, I had to endure for this attack. Finally I reached Akane and used my chakra to develop a floating orb of water that floated just above my hand. The sphere was perfectly cylindrical and I could tell that my training had paid off. My ninjitsu wouldn't do any damage to her, but I didn't need it to. She looked at me, unafraid, perfectly aware that I was coming in to attack and yet she did nothing.

I forced the ball of water into her throat and used my control over it to force it into her body, coursing through every vein, every muscle, and every bone. I had her in my control now. I looked over to Lee. Akane stood, immobilized. I had put my water element that I could control with ease into her very body, and held her in place. I had complete control over her. "She can't fight back anymore we have no reason to keep on fighting Lee. Come on, let's go back home. We finally have Akane with us." Lee looked at me and tears threatened to fall over the brim of his eyes, the very same tears that I'm sure brimmed mine. At that moment a movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention, my heart rose into my throat, and a black and red cloak flickered past my vision. Akane would have to stay put and watch us win. I bit my lip and cursed, our fight wasn't finished yet.