A/N: Wooooo new story!

So I'm trying this new concept I thought of while designing my new OC, Mikazuki who you will find on my deviantart of course. BUT there are spoilers in the description below her picture so don't read that part, even though it's been slightly altered for the sake of plot.

I'm not entirely sure where this story is going to go yet or how well it'll go down in terms of readers, but reviews are much appreciated and if there's some good interest shown I will put much more into it!

QUESTION TIME AT THE BOTTOM :)

Disclaimer: I do not own any Naruto characters, as much as I'd love to.

Himika: The Flame Empress

'Right, so I'll see you next weekend then?'

'Sure thing, oh and Mika?'

'Hm?'

'Please, try and get some sleep.'

The girl rolled her eyes. Although it wasn't a direct command, it was something that heavily implied she should listen, and anyone who knew her at all, knew damn well that she would do anything to avoid obeying an order. It wasn't that she was purposely trying to be rude or difficult, it was just completely against her nature to be compliant without argument.

All the same, she threw the bar owner – her temporary manager – a nod before moving to pack the rest of her things. She set her guitar into its case and slid the strap over her shoulder, careful not to knock anything as she left the bar.

On her way out, she caught sight of one of the staff members nailing a small, black and white poster with her portrait on it to the wall. It read:

Himika: The Flame Empress

LIVE HERE

Every Saturday night from 7pm.

She rolled her eyes at the name, Himika. It meant 'Scarlet, intense flame', a fitting title for The Flame Empress herself. Really, all she did was sing a little and play her beloved guitar while dressed in red, but it had been one of her old managers that had thought up the name. It was tacky and cliché, hell, it'd even been referred to as a 'stripper's name' before, but she didn't care. It did the job of a show name and that's all that mattered. A stage name was all she needed to hide her identity. Well, that and a slight change of appearance.

Her real name was Mikazuki Naya, esteemed singer and local runaway from Tanigakure, her so-called home in the Land of Rivers. And yet here she was, living blatantly amongst the oblivious people in the village, right under everyone's noses. Hiding in plain sight.

She twisted a piece of dyed scarlet hair between her fingers thoughtfully. Her amber eyes had been harder to disguise, but with her bangs left loose she was able to shadow them slightly and throw off people's perception of her. It had been over three years and, so far, it had worked, so who was she to complain?

She scowled into the night at the timid little raindrops that had begun to patter around her, and she tugged the hood of her maroon coat on further as she hurried across the street. A short walk later, she arrived at her small apartment, placing her guitar on the bed in the spare room carefully before trudging into the kitchen to flip the kettle on. She shuffled around the room tiredly, rummaging in the cupboards in search of a meal she didn't own, cursing her luck when she realised she had also run out of coffee. Well, that sucked.

She sighed as her feet carried her to the window. The weather wasn't too bad, in fact, if she had to guess, she'd say the night would soon dry up if it didn't get any heavier.

Pulling on a black pair of slightly heeled boots, she retrieved her coat once more before venturing back into the cobble stoned street.

She was just about to pass an old, slightly bent looking street lamp that was barely worth calling a lamp for all the light it was giving off, when something moved in the depth of an alleyway.

She froze mid-step, a shiver tingling all the way up her spine as the familiar sense of being watched crept through her. But, never one for being intimidated, Mika turned to face the darkened alley.

'I know you're there. Come out, cowards.'

The pair that emerged from the shadows were not men that she recognised, but she definitely knew those cloaks. They were from Akatsuki.

'Well, well. Look what we have here, Itachi… Don't worry, kid, we're not here to hurt your precious little village.'

She reigned in a comment about the odd, blueish hue to his skin, and instead spat with as much venom in her voice as she could, 'I don't give a shit about this village, old man. Now why are you rats here?'

The raven-haired male, Itachi, made no move to respond, but apparently that was the wrong way to address the taller one even if he was obviously no older than his mid-thirties. 'Watch your mouth, little brat, you don't know who you're dealing with.' Before Mika could blink, the strange blue intruder was in front of her, one large hand clasped firmly around her neck.

Thinking fast, she channelled her normally masked chakra to her forearms as she forced his hand away from her throat, leaning forward to knee him in the crotch. He caught her leg easily, just inches from its destination, as though he were mocking her.

'If you're so desperate to live, you're going about it in the wrong way.' He warned, baring his teeth as she growled and slapped her hands together. Her fingers twisted into several quick hand signs, and the Akatsuki male just managed to catch a glimpse of a smirk cross her features before her body was engulfed in blazing scarlet and orange flames.

'What the–' He leapt backwards startled, the hand that had held her knee slightly singed. He watched in open amazement as the flickering red spun furious circles around her entire body, a blizzard of flames.

It died down almost as quickly as it had started, which he took as a sign that she was now satisfied with the distance between them.

'I'll ask you once more, Shark face, why are you here?' To say she was irritated by the lack of response from his partner, Itachi, would be an understatement, but she supposed she should be grateful he wasn't getting involved.

He ignored her question and tilted his head calmly. 'It certainly is unusual to find such a prominent fire user in the Land of Rivers. Where are you really from, girly?'

She was mildly surprised at the fact that he guessed she wasn't originally from this country, but then again, from what she knew of Akatsuki, they were exceptional shinobi. 'I was orphaned at birth, so I wouldn't know. And even if I did, why should I tell you?' She dipped her chin slightly and narrowed her eyes, making it obvious she was offended at his curt nickname.

'Whatever. It's too bad you can't hold your tongue, you might have made it to your 18th birthday otherwise…'

'You jerk! I'm 21!' She moved to sign for her defensive jutsu again, but true to their skilled reputation, the Akatsuki member moved too quickly, and soon had her arms pinned painfully to her back with one hand while the other gripped her twin ponytails at the back of her head, forcing her face down against the cold cobbled floor. She grunted in discomfort as her face was pressed against a shallow puddle, and snapped her mouth shut.

The hand holding her head down suddenly vanished, and something prickled at the side of her neck. A quick, yet awkward glance to the left had her amber eyes widening in horror.

'Bastards…' She ground out, anger evident in her tone as the ginormous, bandaged sword scraped across the floor as it was pulled backwards, preparing for her own decapitation.

Unable to hide her horrified expression as the noise faded out, Mika squeezed her eyes shut as she waited for the inevitable but swift blow.

'Ngh!' The weight above her was suddenly flung sideways, her head snapping up just in time to see him collide heftily with the already knackered street light, which spluttered in protest before finally giving in and dying out completely.

'Do you know how much it fuckin' sucks to have your head cut off, fish face?!'

She leapt to her feet at the new voice, vaguely registering it as familiar in her brain. She could just about make out his figure through the night, and she supressed a growl at the lamp's inconvenience of going out on her now, of all times.

'There is no time for this. Let's get moving, Kisame.' Mika spun round again to meet the cool gaze of the black-haired male, which now seemed to glow a brilliant crimson through the darkness. Coughing from another direction had her whirling back to the Shark man, and she bit her tongue in frustration at being severely disadvantaged, not only in numbers, but skill level too.

'Fine, fine. You get to live another day, kid.' Kisame, she assumed, had risen to his feet and was now ambling casually to stand beside his partner.

'Wait!' Mika's voice flew from her mouth before she could stop it and, figuring that she may as well finish what she started, sucked in a breath before continuing. 'If you aren't here for me, what are you here for?'

'That's classified… And don't flatter yourself, brat. You may be good, but you'll never be one of us, right, Itachi?' His partner ignored him completely.

'Yeah, 'cause that's what I aspire to… A nice criminal life of running, hiding and killing from the shadows.' She scoffed, flipping him off. She hadn't meant that she'd thought they wanted to recruit her, but she wasn't going to correct him for fear of drawing attention to her situation.

Kisame was quiet for a moment as though debating on whether he'd seen and heard her correctly. Apparently, no one had disrespected him like that before and lived to tell the tale. But before he could think of a suitable response without making them even later, loud, barks of laughter shattered the silence like a hammer to a glass window.

'Wow, Sharky. Owned by a girl!' Again, something had alarm bells ringing in the back of Mika's mind as the third voice spoke a second time, and this time she couldn't shake the strange feeling of familiarity.

She turned in the darkness, squinting slightly as she cocked her head. 'Why do I know that voice?'

She hadn't realised she'd spoken out loud until the figure chuckled and began to move towards her. A normal person would have run, or at least backed away a few steps. But years of unrelenting childhood bullying had taught Mika that trying to escape usually only made things worse, so stubbornly, she stood her ground.

He stopped a few feet short of her, flashing her a grin as recognition dawned and blatantly showed on her stunned expression.

'H-Hidan?!'

His grin widened. 'The one and only.'

She stared, open-mouthed, unable to respond before Kisame piped up curiously.

'You know her?' He addressed the third member almost disbelievingly, then muttered, more to himself, 'So, that's why you stopped me…'

Mika shook her head as if to clear the shock. 'B-but how… How did you–'

'How did I recognise you?' Hidan raised an eyebrow before shrugging. 'Just 'cause you dyed your hair doesn't make you a different person, seriously.'

She frowned. Huh. That was unexpected…

'Oh, and you stopped masking your chakra when Kisame slammed you to the floor.' Ah, there it is.

'You idiot! He surprised me, that's all! Shark face over there is lucky you showed up when you did or there would have been some serious hell to pay.'

'Yeah, yeah. I'd love to stay and chat, but Leader-sama will throw another bitch fit if I'm late again…' He waved a hand dismissively before turning to head towards the other two men. No wait, three men… When did the other one get here?

She supressed a shudder at the newcomer that she had failed to notice, piercing green eyes with unusual red sclera glaring out from the shadows.

'Erm… okay?' She watched Hidan come to a standstill in front of the one called Itachi, throwing one more grin over his shoulder. And then they all simultaneously disappeared into the night, with the unspoken promise that he'd be coming back to 'chat' as soon as he was done with whatever they were late for left lingering in the air.

'…Well, that was weird.' She took a hesitant step in the direction she had originally been heading and, when nothing stopped her, picked up her pace. She had almost forgotten where she had been heading, but a glance up to the village clock tower had her stopping dead in her tracks. It was 5 past 11, and the store she needed closed at 11.

'…Well, shit.'

A/N: So, the concept I mentioned at the beginning is the idea to start a story sort of half way through if you like. So basically, there's gonna be flash backs to explain how she got to this point and how she knows Hidan etc.

Anyone hooked? Vaguely interested? Bored and got nothing else to read so this'll do? Whatever. I'm a sucker for reviews! Apologies for any mistakes, please don't hesitate to point them out. Flames welcome. (Ironic, flames for The Flame Empress?)

Just for fun – A question: Which, out of the four kings in standard playing cards, is the only King without a moustache?

And a riddle: Poor people have it. Rich people need it. It's greater than a God and worse than the Devil. What is it?

No cheating with google, answers will come in the next chapter!