Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters… etc, etc. If I did, then the Akatsuki would be more of a big player in the story!

IMPORTANT: Okay, I know that it doesn't make sense that the Akatsuki members (especially Itachi) could walk around without anyone recognizing them. But… hey, that's the way the stories gonna go. Sorry if you think that's completely off!

Azu's Akatsuki Tale, Chapter 15: Waterfall

The smell of sake and food hung around the air inside the cool stone cave. The waterfall roaring nearby hung like a tapestry of glowing gold between us and the quick-flowing river outside. The sun approached the horizon, getting closer and closer to setting. We were desperate to keep playing as long as the sun was up.

None of us noticed the approaching sunset, except for maybe Itachi and Sakura, being the responsible ones here. The tension was thicker than an idiot's skull.

Itachi turned and gave Sakura a ghost of a smile. They knew they would win the game. The rest of us –Naruto, me, Hidan, Deidara, and Sai- tensed more. My head spun like a kid's toy top. If I drank one more penalty cup of sake for being the loser in a game of cards, I would probably throw up. Out of all of us, only Itachi hadn't lost a single game. He'd always been in the top three, too. Crazy.

Hidan dealt the cards, slightly drunkenly. I wasn't doing much better. The card numbers seemed to sway in front of my eyes. The light was too bright, then too dark.

"Are we ready…?" Itachi's soft voice cut through the silence. "Then, on my call."

I hunched my shoulders up and rubbed my eyes hard, willing the spray from the waterfall to clear my head up. But everything remained warm and slightly fuzzy.

"Go."

I grabbed a card. A five. Slammed it down on the growing pile, hurried, hurried to take another one… The sound of slapping cards got louder and faster as we raced against time. Our stacks got thinner and thinner.

"Speed." Itachi had finished. He had a very, very slight smirk on his face. Then, right after. "SPEED!!!! HA-CHA, beat that!" Sakura smiled in triumph.

"Speed, YEAH!" Deidara grinned demonically.

"Speed." Sai had finished.

"SPEED!!!!!!" Naruto grinned, and I almost let myself think about how he and Deidara looked too much alike to be true.

I glared at Hidan, willing his fingers to slip, for his cards to get blown away. Come on, come on… I glanced at my last cards.

Eight, six, five, and a jack. The cards on the two piles in front of us read a seven and a eight. I put down the eight on the eight, and a six, then five on the seven.

And my last card was a jack.

Hidan smirked, openly, at my face. He slowly, slowly, put down his remaining nine. I winced.

"Speed… Azu-chan, you get another shot of sake." He poured a shot glass of sake from the bottle.

Not that it was really strong or anything, but I had drunk God-knows how many cups of the stuff by now. My stomach was churning like crazy.

Deidara shoved it in to my hand. "Come on, don't back out on us now…yeah…"

Sakura gave me a friendly smile. "Bad luck, Azu, but you have to tough it out. Besides, this is the last game… you wouldn't want to ruin the fun, would you?"

Hidan peered drunkenly at the setting sun outside. "Yeah… Sakura-chan here is riiight… hey, Azu-chan, drink it already, then I can go home…"

I muttered underneath my breath, "Sure… more like crashing at poor Sakura's house."

Sakura waved a nonchalant hand. "Don't worry about it. Hidan, Deidara, Itachi, you guys are welcome to come over."

I whispered to her, "Are you sure that's a wise idea? Knowing these three… maybe not…"

Itachi cut in, randomly. "All right, you have to drink the sake before the sun sets." Everyone stared at me expectantly.

I tilted the glass to my lips, the amber liquid swirling like a pool of the Satan's spit. Closing my eyes and holding my nose as best as I could, I gulped the entire glass down.

The sake burned its way down my throat, slid down to my stomach… I tried desperately not to heave. God, that would be humiliating… I would never hear the end it of it from the rest of them.

Sakura, God bless her, noticed my situation. "Penalty for being the last loser… Azu gets to clean up this mess!" Grabbing Naruto by one arm and Sai by the other, she motioned for the others to come with her. "Don't worry about her… she'll be fine. Cummon, let's go home and crash for the night…" As they vanished, blurrily, one by one past the streaming waterfall, she turned back to look at me. "Are you gonna be okay, or should I come back and pick you up?"

I motioned vaguely. "I'll be fine; don't come back for me… I'll just clean this place up." Sakura frowned at me. "You won't stay up all night, will you…?" I replied, "Tomorrow I'll be in bed, I swear." I cracked a faint smile at her.

"Okay…" She vanished past the curtain of water.

The first thing I did when I knew they were past hearing or seeing me was to run through the great waterfall and heave what felt like my entire stomach out in to the river.

You've probably figured this out by now, but I'll inform you anyways: I'm very susceptible to drink. It affects me horribly strongly.

Shakily, I heaved myself back through the waterfall, sweeping crumbs and glasses away in to a basket, wrapping it up with trembling fingers. My legs kept giving way, annoyingly enough.

Sitting outside, under the fast-rising moon, I ran my hands through the water.

Only five minutes of break, and I'll go, I promised myself. The water slipped, cold and silky through my fingers as I hugged the still-warm stone…

I woke with a start. The moon was high in the sky, the air freezing cold on my face. The water was warm on my fingers still.

Shoot, I had fallen asleep. The basket was gone, probably taken by some wild animal, judging from the tracks near me. Shivering, I thought: Wow… I don't remember it being THIS cold at night before. I realized my stomach was hurting.

The water was warm, comforting, and inviting.

Seconds later, I was swimming in the deepest part of the river before it plunged down the waterfall. The water was swirling fast on both sides, but reflected the sky beautifully. Spreading my arms, I floated face-down a bit, feeling the water buoying the sky-blue tank top I wore and soothing my pounding head. My stomach-ache was going away fast.

There was a faint click sound in the water, and I suddenly felt somewhat lighter. It didn't register to me, until a fatal five seconds later…

Shit, that was my double-edged blade!!!

The sword had been given to me by Sasori, two slightly curved blades facing opposite directions attached by a bandage-wrapped wooden handle in between, which is what the user would hold. Plain, but functional, it was my favorite weapon and the one I was best at using. Sasori would kill me if I lost it.

I dove in to the water, forcing my eyes open. The water, it turned on me, became an enemy of cloudy darkness. Everything was swirling dark-blues and greens and turquoises, slimy plants wrapping around my legs and dragging me down. Bubbles rose in clouds like mites.

There! A silver flash!

Kicking my legs, I dove underneath, chasing that elusive blade. It fluttered through the water like a butterfly. I swam faster, my drunken mind not registering the sudden change in water speed, going faster and faster…

You know Wile E. Coyote? He always runs off a cliff, not realizing that he's running on air until he looks down. Then, up goes the sign: Oops, and there he goes. I'd always thought: If only he didn't look down, he could run across.

If only I hadn't looked down…

I was, for that moment, Wile E. Coyote.

For one instant, the water spat me out with force, so I was floating. I saw the hundred foot drop to the bottom of the waterfall, saw each droplet of spraying water hanging in mid-air, and all was frozen.

Then, for an instant, I saw my blade sink in to the water at the bottom, and stick between two rocks. The play button was pushed.

I was falling…

falling…

faster

and

faster

and…!

Screaming in my head, I sent my chakra shooting in thin blue webs, pleading that the metal in the sharp, jagged, hazardous rocks below soften and catch me like a mother catching her child. But in my head, I knew it was too close, I didn't have the time, I was still drunk, I would never make it…

The human selfishness, to save itself, is amazing. I still tried.

The extra energy surged through me in an instant. I felt a molten, volcanic power, almost unbearably hot, pouring out of my finger tips. The metal bent, suppliant as liquid. Steam rose to meet me. I almost didn't notice, for...the strength felt inhuman. I could practically see that glowing power pulsing through my body, bursting at my pores. Energy was pushing, tugging, ripping away inside me, overwhelming my body and demanding, screaming, howling to get out of me… I could feel the blood racing through my veins, faster by far than any normal human speed. My heartbeat was magnified in my own ears, a thousand times over, racing and getting faster, and faster, louder and louder until it sounded like those massive Chinese drums used in New Year's celebrations.

Later, he told me I didn't make a sound as I fell. Later, he said that I seemed graceful as a small fish, arching through the air. And later, he said that nothing unusual had happened…

But what I knew was that, in a moment, it was over. There was a sharp pain around the side of my neck, enough to bring black spots in to my vision for a moment. Then, that sensation of hurtling too suddenly towards too much power stopped. I plunged in to the cool water, bubbles rising to tickle my suddenly spent body. And somehow, I my only thought was…

Find the sword.

It came almost like a demand, a sharp punch in my head. I needed to breathe. My lungs were bursting, demanding air. But this demand was sharper.

I need to… find it. Find the sword… FIND IT…

I obeyed my own wishes, plunging deeper and deeper to find it, knowing it had been caught somewhere around here. Oxygen burst rose from my lips, and I searched harder.

There. There, there… there it is. Take hold of it, I should take it NOW…

I grabbed the thing in an instant with weakened hands, for the speeding water blurred my eyesight until I could only see that it was roughly the right shape and size, and the cold metal in my hand confirmed it.

And then stronger hands were dragging… no, throwing me out, and I landed on the bank side, harsh gravelly sand grating like glass against my cheek. I coughed, spitting up water. And I felt the familiar chakra…

"Azu. I was considering leaving you here for the night, but Sakura told me you had not come back yet… she was worried about you."

I looked up at Itachi. I had wanted to avoid humiliation. It had left, to come back later and bite me in the butt.

Sighing inside, I knew what I had to do. "Thank you, Itachi. The blade dropped from the clasp, and I was looking for it…"

Itachi stared at my hands. "That…that is certainly not the blade Sasori-san gave you." I looked at it…

At first, I saw only dark blood staining the stones of the river bank. My blood, I realized. There seemed to be so much of it. I had grabbed the sword by its blade, true, but that sword had been dull and did not usually cut at all, let alone warrant this much blood. My hands let off a dull ache, strangely unpainful.

Then I saw it.

Dear God, what was this?