Naruto walked down the alleyway. The sound of his footsteps bounced off the walls and seemed to go on forever. Through the dim light, the walls seemed to close in on him. In fact, they were closing in on him! Naruto's pace quickened. He could see the light at the end of the alley. He sprinted towards the exit, but it seemed to never end. He ran and ran but could never get to the exit. The walls were so close now that they brushed against his shoulders. He began to pant heavily. He was so close, he could touch the edges… and he could feel the cool breeze on his face! But no matter how fast he ran he never got to the exit. All hope seemed lost as the walls began to squish him, but then a hand appeared out of nowhere. He grabbed it, and it hoisted him up. It lifted him higher, and higher, until he reached a grassy meadow filled with flowers up above.
He sighed in relief and gazed upon his savior. There was the kind hearted, yet shy little girl he'd always known, Hinata. She smiled at him and whispered, " I love you Naruto." He sat down next to her and replied," I love you too." They leaned in closer to each other…
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!
Hinata sat up quickly in bed. She grumbled and slapped her alarm clock. She was so close! She hugged her pillow as she imagined what could have happened had her dream gone on. Then Neji came in.
"Hinata we'll be late if you don't get out of bed, NOW!"
She pouted. She was so close! Neji walked out of the room as she started dressing. By the time she came downstairs, everyone had already eaten. She quickly gulped down some cereal and headed out the door with Neji.
They walked for a while without talking, and when they came to a fork in the road, they went their separate ways. After a few minutes Hinata spotted Shino leaning in the shade against a tree. " Yo!" she shouted happily, but Shino continued to be gloomy. Kiba jumped out of some nearby bushes, startling Hinata.
"Yo Hinata!" he said cheerfully as he dismounted Akamaru. She beamed at him. Then they sat down to wait for Kurenai. The three of them waited for a while before Shikamaru showed up.
" What are you doing here?" Kiba growled, backed up by Akamaru.
Shikamaru rolled his eyes. " Well, there is something important I have to tell you."
Kiba raised his eyebrow in surprise, " That must be like the FIRST time I've ever heard you say a sentence without saying 'troublesome'!"
Shikamaru sighed, " This isn't the time for jokes. Come, follow me." And with that he bounded off.
While team 8 followed Shikamaru, Kiba made funny faces behind him that made Hinata laugh. After a while, Shikamaru stopped suddenly on a tree, causing Kiba to almost crash into him. " Hey! What's the bi-" Shikamaru covered his mouth. " Shouting isn't good for the baby." He informed them. " The current circumstance doesn't help anyways." He said with a sigh.
Kiba cocked his head to the side. Then, in a lower tone, asked,
" What's going on?"
Shikamaru sighed and shook his head, " Well, for starters, Kurenai is pregnant."
At this information Hinata squealed in delight. Shikamaru raised his eyebrow in amusement and she quickly covered her mouth.
" As I was saying, Kurenai is pregnant with Asuma-sensei-"
" How is that a bad thing?" Kiba interrupted as Hinata broke out into another fit of squeals.
Shikamaru glared at the group. " As I was SAYING, Kurenai is pregnant with Asuma, but she just found out that," he took in a deep shuddery breath, as if he couldn't continue on, then let it out in a long depressed sigh, " Asuma-sensei is dead."
The team gasped in shock, even Shino cared to show some emotion by coming out of his gloomy state for a while. Shikamaru looked away, and it was then that team 8 noticed that Shikamaru was smoking. Shikamaru let out a ring of smoke and said, " Well Kurenai's there. Go talk to her if you'd like. Asuma sensei's funeral is most likely on Friday." On that note, he left.
Team 8 was left stunned. Hinata suddenly felt guilty for her squeals of delight only moments before. A cloud of gloom hung over team 8, even more so for Shino. After a moment of silence Kiba broke the silence, " Shall we go see her then?" Hinata nodded and the three knocked on their sensei's door.
For a while no one answered, but then the door slowly crept open. Kurenai peered around the corner. Her face was deathly white, and her eyes were red from the crying she had done only moments before. She smiled weakly and stepped back to let her team walk in. Normally the place was clean, but this wasn't a normal circumstance. Books and clothes were strewn all across the floor, and albums were piled high beside a rocking chair that was still rocking after Kurenai's departure from it.
Even Shino seemed to shiver as they entered the cold, sad atmosphere. The team sat on a couch as Kurenai resumed her previous position in the rocking chair. She held her head down, looking at her growing stomach. The team shifted uncomfortably on the couch, particularly the guys. Hinata was the first to move. She got up and hugged her sensei, " I'm so sorry Kurenai-sensei." She whispered. The room was so silent that none of them dared to speak too loudly.
After a few moments, Kurenai burst into tears and hugged Hinata tightly. Kiba and Shino then stood up and walked over to their sensei. Kiba put his hands in his pocket and stared down at the ground. Shino could only look away.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Tobi jumped around excitedly. "Deidara-sempai!!!! Where are we going?"
Deidara was getting pissed off. This was the fifth time in fifteen minutes that Tobi asked him.
" Deidara-sempai… where are we GOING?" Tobi whined even louder.
"ARGH!" Deidara cried out, " I told you that you'd see when we got there! Un!" he exclaimed.
Tobi frowned. " That doesn't answer my question Deidara-sempai."
" Well good. Un."
" Deidara-sempai…"
"What? Un."
" You're mean."
" Good. Un"
Tobi went to the back of the giant clay bird and began to pout. A few moments later Tobi was back to his cheerful self.
" DEIDARA-SEMPAI!"
"WHAT?! Un.
" Guess what I can do?"
"Mm." Deidara replied, obviously annoyed.
" Watch this!"
Deidara watched him make the hand signs for a fire jutsu. " NO YOU IDIOT! THIS BIRD IS EXPLO-" but he never got to finish before Tobi cried out, "Katon, Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Deidara quickly jumped off the bird, but he was too late. It exploded behind him, sending him crashing into the woods below. Once he regained use of his limbs, he sat up and rubbed the back of his head with his only arm. " The idiot…" he muttered. He quickly made another bird and flew into the air again. If the idiot got himself killed, so be it. He'd leave him there; and so Deidara flew off.
Tobi had actually been able to avoid the blast completely, unlike Deidara. He saw Deidara fly off, and was disappointed. Deidara-sempai was leaving him! Tobi quickly followed close behind, leaping from tree to tree. It was about an hour later when he saw Deidara slow down and begin to lose altitude. Tobi chose this moment to quickly catch up to him. As Deidara landed, he leapt out of the bushes and gave Deidara a big bear hug. " DEIDARA-SEMPAI!" he cried with a hint of a giggle.
Deidara had just landed when someone leapt out of the bushes and startled him. He was about to whip out his kunai when the person called out, " DEIDARA-SEMPAI!" and he sighed. He had hoped the blithering fool was dead, but he just wasn't that lucky. It wasn't until Hidan came into the clearing that Deidara noticed that Tobi was still on his back. " GET OFF YOU FOOL!" he shouted, throwing Tobi over his shoulder in front of him.
" Ow." Tobi said as he went sprawling onto the dirt.
Hidan shook his head. " What the fuck did the bitch do now?" he said, examining Deidara in his messy state.
Deidara was still fuming. " The fool performed a fire jutsu while we were riding on my bird! Un!"
Hidan laughed. " That must have been some fucking nice explosion there. Too bad the little shit didn't get you." He said with a cackle and walked off.
Deidara was boiling mad when Tobi came up to him and poked him. " Deidara-sempai…" he said in a wary voice.
" GAH!" Deidara suddenly yelled in his face and walked off, leaving Tobi frozen with his hair blown back and his finger still in position to poke the place where Deidara was moments before.
Deidara entered the cave without even bothering to tidy himself up. His hair was still sticking up at odd ends and his face was all black.
Kisame came over to say hi, but stopped short and laughed. Deidara then wiped his face of all the soot and tidied up his hair.
Tobi came in prancing soon afterwards. Deidara glared at him, but Tobi kept on prancing into the cave.
" So THIS is where we were going." Tobi began to skip around Deidara. " So how come you didn't tell me Deidara-sempai? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh?" Tobi then put his face right in front of Deidara's and shouted, " HUH?"
Deidara was going insane. " JUST GO TAKE YOUR SEAT! Un!" he exclaimed, and sighed in relief as the orange masked brat went prancing off to bother someone else. Zetsu appeared behind Deidara.
"What was that all about?" The white half of the plant-like man questioned.
"Ya what was that all about?" Zetsu's dark side butted in.
Deidara only grumbled and went to go take a seat at the table.
By the time Pein and Konan got there, everyone was already seated, except for Tobi, who was still skipping around the table, annoying the other members. " Sit, Tobi." He said in a casual tone, announcing his arrival. All Akatsuki members turned to watch him sit down in his seat at the head of the table. Konan went around and sat at his right hand side. " Now," he began, " We're here to discuss certain, how should I say this, problems we've been having with the kyuubi."
At this everyone glanced at Deidara, Itachi, Kisame, and the empty seat where Sasori used to sit.
" So," Pein said, interlacing his hands and peering over them, " What do we do?"
Everyone remained silent.
Pein looked around at the members and his gaze rested on Tobi. A momentary flicker of emotion passed his eyes that only Konan, Itachi, Zetsu, and Deidara failed to miss. The rest were either looking down at their feet, or had something else on their mind.
The ones who did see what Pein had just done looked at Tobi, who was at the end of the table. Normally there was a sort of happy aura around the boy, but not now. Tobi sat in the shadows, with his fingers similarly interlaced such as Pein. He was leaning back in his chair, his bright orange mask obscured by the shade. He had a menacing aura around him that all noticed now, even the ones who had not been paying attention a few moments before.
Tobi leaned forward. His mask, before neon orange, was now an eerie brownish-orange. " Well now isn't this a problem." He said in a deep voice that definitely did not belong to the cheerful Tobi from only moments before. " Why don't you go clean up the mess Pein?" he said, more of a command than a suggestion.
Deidara gasped. " Tobi, don't speak like that to leader-sama!" he exclaimed. Tobi turned his gaze to Deidara. Deidara felt a shiver go up his spine.
"Shut up idiot. It's too bad the bird really didn't take you out." He said and returned his gaze to Pein. Deidara was still fuming from before, and, unfortunately for him, decided to take his anger out on this scarier version of Tobi.. " How dare you talk like that to me Tobi!" he declared, which was just about the worst thing he could have done. Tobi snapped his head in his direction and fixed him with his one glowing red eye. Deidara felt something close around his throat. His arm flew up to his neck, but felt nothing there. He was slowly choking and running out of breath. He fell onto the floor gasping for air. " Tobi! Stop!" he said in a strangled cry.
Tobi released him, which sent him into a fit of sputtering coughs. No one else interrupted. Tobi once more looked at Pein. " Well? If you think we're so incompetent then go clean up our mess Pein."
Pein was obviously distressed. " Well," he gulped. " That's an excellent suggestion Ma-" but he didn't finish the name. He quickly shut his mouth and looked away.
Meanwhile all of Akatsuki was looking between Pein, Tobi, and Deidara, gasping for breath on the ground. This was an entirely new side of Tobi that none of them had seen before.
Tobi chuckled softly; it was an evil chuckle. " Good, be seeing you soon Pein." And once more leaned back in his chair.
It must have been just the trick of the light, but the shade drew back to show a sleeping Tobi with a bright neon mask. Deidara had finally gotten up off the floor and whispered, " Tobi?"
" Gah!" Tobi cried out suddenly. Deidara hid under the desk, and slowly came up to see that more than half of the other members had flinched too. Tobi looked like he had been sleeping this whole time. Tobi chuckled; it was different than before though. This time it was a happier chuckle. " Oops! Sorry leader-sama. Tobi must have dozed off there…" he looked around at all the Akatsuki members staring at him. " Why are you all staring at Tobi? Tobi doesn't like…" he said as they all continued to stare at him. " Tobi's a good boy…"
Pein sighed and nodded his head, " Yes, we know you are, as I was saying Tobi, I'm going to take the responsibility of getting the Kyuubi."
Poor Tobi only nodded in confusion, as the rest continued to stare at what was, only moments before, a terrifying presence.
A/N: Edited