This is the re-upload of the first chapter. A lot of things have been changed and some things added. I'm very happy with the results and hope you like it as well.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Only this story and kaiya.
Birthday Surprises!
I looked around myself to see I was in a field of yellow flowers. Looking up towards the sky told me it was close to six o'clock and almost sunset, my favourite time of day. There was a slight breeze as well, which quickly reminded me that I was wearing very little clothing, just shorts and a tank top. Wrapping my arms around myself I sat down on the ground, waiting, I didn't know what exactly I was waiting for but the thought of moving to leave never once entered my mind.
I turned my head to look up at the dying light of the day, allowing the soft cool wind to blow my hair back out of my face with a content smile.
"Kaiya?" I turned my head slightly to left to see him standing there. Was he what I was waiting for?
"Oh it's you.' I gave a soft sigh and stood to turn to him. "What are you doing here?" I asked a little more forcefully then intended, though he didn't seem affected at all, just watched me from a few feet away.
"What do you mean? I've been waiting for you." He replied as he gave me the most dazzling smile I've ever seen. The soft wind gently ruffled his crimson hair. All I could do was gaze into his beautiful brown eyes as my mind went completely blank. I saw his lips move and slowly realised he was talking to me. He was calling my name, but why?
"Kaiya." Wait, mum?
"Kaiya! Get up!"
I looked around my room trying to find the source of the noise that woke me up. Soon my eyes landed on my mum, katie. Great. I've been awake for less then a minutes and she's already hyper. Fighting to keep my eyes open I tried to sit up in bed to stretch. Feeling my bones pop back into place felt amazing and honestly all I wanted to do was lay back down and sleep a bit longer, but knowing mum she'd never allow that.
"Morning sweetie. Happy birthday!" Mum all but screamed in my ear. "Come on get up lazy bones breakfast is ready. I've made pancakes!" She yelled out as she walked out of my bedroom.
Moaning some form of a response in my half asleep state I slowly got up and dragged myself to the bathroom to have a shower and afterwards I got dressed in a simple black shirt, and an old pair of ripped jeans.
Fifteen minutes later I was out, dressed and was brushing my long blue hair, mum swears I got it from my grandmother, but she died before I was born so I never got to meet her, when my dad, Enarkai, knocked on the door. "Can I come in honey?" I paused for a moment in concern, dad never calls me honey unless he had something bad to tell me, trying to soften the blow or something like that.
"Yeah dad. What's up?" I asked rather cautiously as I sat up on the sinks bench.
He just stood there for a while with a look of pure sad concentration. The whole time I sat there and kept quiet, letting him think. A million things ran though my head in the silence, what could possible be this serious on my birthday? After a few minutes he finally looked ready to say what was on his mind.
"Honey can you meet me in the living room please?" Now silently freaking out I frowned. Dad never asks me to meet him in the living room unless something was really wrong. To say I was worried was a big understatement.
"Dad what's wrong, did something happen? Did I do something wrong? Is mum okay? Are you okay?" It rushed out so fast I'm surprised he caught it all. He gave a small sad smile while shaking his head.
"I'll get your mother and we'll talk okay." After a moment I nodded, even though I knew something was wrong, especially since dad didn't say everything was fine like he normally would, and headed for the living room to wait for them. I sat on the lounge nervously shaking my legs up and down still trying to figure out what this could be about. When nothing came to mind I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down. No use worrying myself just yet.
It was about three minutes later mum and dad came though the door with grim faces. "Mum? Dad? What's going on?" I stood up as I questioned, barely able to keep my voice from shaking like my legs had been just moments before.
"Sweetie why don't you sit down?" Mum suggested noticeably forcing her voice to stay strong. She seemed to be freaking out as much as I was, which did nothing to help me feel better.
"O-okay." I spoke softly, again taking deep breaths to calm down. Sitting back down I watched them collect themselves.
"Honey we have something important to tell you and we don't want to hurt you okay?" I nodded as a clear sign for dad to continue. "Kaiya you know we love you right?" again I nodded. "And we do everything in our power to keep you safe."
"Yes"
"So I want you to know that it kills us to do this…" I was starting to get really scared now. What was he talking about? "But we have no choice in the matter."
~ Flashback ~
Knock knock knock
"Argg" Enarkai looked over at the clock to see it was three fifteen in the morning and some one was knocking on the front door. Kaiya was fast asleep in her room so he had no idea who it could possible be at this time of morning.
"Enarkai what time is it?" Katie asked in such a tired voice that he knew she hadn't been to sleep yet.
"Don't worry sweetheart go to sleep ok." She nodded and turned over to go to sleep.
Slowly, as not to wake up Kaiya, he made his way down to the door to give whoever it was a peace of his mind. "Who the hell do you think yo….u…are" He saw them, The dreaded red clouds on black and froze. It was time. But no! It was too early; she was still too young damn it!
"Honey? Who is it?" Enaikai was just about to tell Katie to go back up stairs when he heard her gasp. "No" It was blearily a whisper but he caught it. And it shattered the mans heart even more to see her, standing there with her hand to her mouth trying not to cry out with all her might.
"It's time. Leader sent me here to pick her up." He said it with no emotion. Like he didn't care that he was about to take away their baby girl and throw her into an organization that thrived on stealing and killing and other unimaginable things. And why should he? He was one of them, it didn't matter to him.
"Please just give us more time. We haven't even told her yet!" Enarkai yelled trying to reason with the man, who could kill him in less then a blink of an eye. He gave a small almost silent sigh and seemed to think it over.
"You have until five PM tomorrow. No more, no less. I'll be back then to collect her weather she knows or not."
And with that he left without a sound.
~ End Of Flashback ~
"A few years before you were born your mother and I tried to have kids. We tried everything we could think of, hoping and praying we wouldn't have to adopt. It's not that we didn't like the children there it's just they weren't ours and they were all four years and up. None were really babies anymore and that's what we wanted you know. Eventually we went to the doctors to see what the problem was." Dad stopped to take a deep breath. Just when he was about to continue mum jumped in for him.
"It took about three weeks before we heard anything at all. We were just about to give up when we were called into the doctor's office. When he told us why we couldn't have children I felt like the lowest of the low. It turned out that a small accident that happened when I was seven had done permanent damage to my womb and I had a one in a million chance of getting pregnant." Mum looked like she was about to cry just thinking about it. I wanted to go to her and hug her as tight as I could and tell her everything was ok and that I loved her, but somehow I held myself back. I needed answers. And I needed them now.
"But you beat them didn't you. I mean I was born so…" I cut myself off when I saw my mother softly shake her head.
"We have some friends from a long time ago. They're in to some really dangerous work, no place for a baby, they didn't want to give their child up but it was for the best and so they found the best family they could and gave her to them to raise and prepare for the outside world, and someday they would take her home."
As I sat there and listen to my 'mother', tears started to run down my face. I wasn't crying, no sobs left my mouth, it was just tears. I don't know why they were there, I wasn't sad, I wasn't angry, I felt nothing. At that moment I was numb. Plain and simple. I was just so shocked that the people I've grown up to love, as my parents are nothing more then stand-ins, fakes, liars. I stood up intending to go to my room but my 'mother' once again was talking.
"They were trying to protect you. It's not like they didn't want you. They loved you and I'm sure they still do sweet-"
"DON'T call me that!" I hissed out so coldly you could see her heart break though her eyes, but I didn't care at the moment. She opened her mouth but 'dad' put his hand on her back and shook his head, and with that I was gone.
I stayed in my room most of the day, I didn't need to go to the bathroom and I wasn't hungry so I didn't need to leave, it had to be like four thirty by now. I was still in shock so when my window opened and someone came into my room I was completely unprepared for them to come up behind me and knock me unconscious.
They hadn't seen Kaiya at all since she left to go to her room and Katie was starting to worry. she was still in shocked from when Kaiya told her not to call her sweetie. She's never done anything like that before in her life, although she couldn't blame her. It was a lot to take in. She looked over at the clock to see it was almost time. 'I better get her ready' Katie thought as she walked up to her daughters room. Softly She knocked on the door; if Kaiya was asleep she didn't want to wake her until she had to.
When She didn't get a reply she took it as a sign that she was indeed asleep and went in, but the scene that greeted her was not what she had hoped. It looked like a hurricane had hit it. Twice! Taking everything she owned. All Kaiya's clothes were gone, her four books, her stuffed bear that she slept with every night. Everything! Something caught Katies eye on her bed side table; a note.
"Enarkai! Come here quick!" She yelled as if her life depended on it. Soon she saw her husband run into the room. "It's Kaiya, she's gone!" She was almost in tears once again.
Enarkai reached for the note. "What does it say?" She asked, almost afraid of the answer.
Akatsuki
That's all it said; Akatsuki. Somehow she felt relieved and terrified at the same time. Their baby girl, the very one They'd raised and cared for, was now with the Akatsuki.
'Oh god my head was killing me! Arg! Since when was my bed so lumpy? Oh right I was planing on running away, but I don't remember actually doing it. I raised my hands to my throbbing head in hopes to lessen the pain even somewhat slightly. Through the pounding I heard what sounded like the flickering of a small fire. As I came back to my senses I realised I felt the warmth as well.
"Finally awake I see, hmm." What the…?
" …"
"Don't worry I'm not here to hurt you." I looked to the guy that was talking to me to see a girl; well I would have thought he was a girl if I hadn't heard him talking a few seconds ago. He looked to be maybe a year older than me, 15 maybe 16. With his long blonde hair in a ponytail on top of his head that looked so soft clouds would be jealous. He had these bright blue eyes that where so wide and innocent, and I would of thought he was except for the fact he just kidnapped me! Taking another look I saw he had three different bags with him. Two were mine.
"Who are you?" I questioned, looking around I saw that I was no longer in town. Trees surrounded us in every direction and trying to see the sky proved useless as said trees kept it from view. The only thing I could tell was that it was night, and that was not a comfort.
I looked back at my company and waited for an answer. "My name is Deidara." He finally said after I was sure he would just ignore me.
"What do you want from me?" I asked so timidly I barely recognised my own voice.
"I don't know."
Taken aback by his reply I blinked and frowned in confusion. "What do you mean you don't know?" I questioned him once again. Praying I wasn't in immediate danger I looked around again to see if I could recognise anything.
"Just that kid, I don't know yeah. I was just told to get you. That's it hmm." He replied with a simple shrug acting like it was no big deal. I thought about mum and dad. Were they okay? Were they even alive still?
"Did you hurt my parents?" I held my head high, trying in vein not to show my fear.
"Settle down kid, they're fine hmm. I was just told to take you. That's it yeah." He had a charming smile on his face trying to calm the situation down.
"Ok if you don't know why you took me do you at least know where you're taking me?" I held my breath waiting for his response and braced myself for what would come.
"I'm taking you to the leader of the Akatsuki."
"…..What?" I felt the colour drain from my face and my body froze. I'd heard rumours of the Akastuki but never could I have dreamt that I would somehow get mixed up with them. If I was scared before it was nothing compared to the absolute terror I felt now. I scrambled to my feet in hopes of running away but after only two steps he was in front of me.
He just grinned and shook his head. "You're not going anywhere without me kid hmm."
I let out a quiet gasp and fell back down to the ground. With wide eyes I looked from where he had been only a spilt second ago to in front of me where he now stood blocking my path.
He crouched down before me, his grin softened into a gentle smile. "Come on we have to get back to Ame before tomorrow afternoon hmm." He put out the fire and started walking away at a lazy pace waiting for me to catch up. I knew that I didn't have a choice in the matter and any more escape attempts could get me hurt so I got up, brushed myself off and hurried after him. I probably couldn't have found my way back home anyway even if I tried. My safest bet was to take my chances with this Deidara guy.
"Why do we have to get there before tomorrow afternoon?" I tried to keep my fear down, if he was going to do anything he would have done it by now. Although I had no guarantee when we got to Ame, I figured it was safe to assume I was in no danger for now at least.
Deidara gave another shrug. "Got stuff to do." He said simply without moving his eyes from the path ahead of us.
As we walked I started to relax and took in my surroundings again. The gentle breeze made the trees dance ever so slightly and stopped the night from being dead silent. It was peaceful and calming and before I knew it I found myself smiling with my eyes closed and just taking everything in, in hopes of clearing my mind of the last half an hour.
"What are you smiling about kid?" Deidara broke my concentration and dropped me back to reality. I opened my eyes and dropped my head to watch my feet.
"My name is Kaiya." I whispered. I was surprised to see him nod once from the corner of my eye. 'He actually heard me? I could barely hear me.'
All conversation dropped after that as we continued at my slow pace through the forest. I withdrew into my thoughts paying only enough attention to not run into a tree or wonder off and get myself lost, although I doubt that was possible without him dragging me back. I watched him for a while thinking to myself. 'He doesn't seem evil. But can I trust him to keep me safe? There isn't anything I can do either way but still, if he wanted to hurt me he would have by now but he hasn't.' My eyebrows drew together as a deep frown set on my face. 'It could be a trap but why go through all that trouble? I couldn't defend myself either way so there would be no point.'
I looked down at the space that steadily grew between us and sped up a tiny bit so I wouldn't fall behind any more than I already had. 'No he's not going to harm me if this leader wants me, that would defeat the whole purpose of kidnapping me in the first place.' I let out a silent sigh and raised a hand up to my head, my previous headache returning. 'Okay so I guess they don't want to kill me, and if they wanted information this guy could probably get that himself, I doubt he would have to take me to the leader, so that's not it. I'm not a ninja so it can't be they want me to join them. Hmm.'
I spent a few more minutes going over every possibility I could come up with when Deidara suddenly stopped and I crashed into his back. "Ow." I groaned as I rubbed my now sore nose. I looked around and realised we weren't on the road going through the forest any more, but in a small clearing for camping. I'd be so caught up in my thoughts I hadn't noticed the change.
"We'll rest here for the night hmm. We covered a lot of ground so you might get to sleep in tomorrow." With that he proceeded to make a small fire and then leaned against a tree. He grabbed the bag that wasn't one of mine and dug around for a moment. After a minute or two he pulled something out and then threw it at me.
I caught it and looked at what was in my hands then glanced up at him with a questioning look in my eyes.
"It's food. Not the nicest tasting but it'll get you though till we get to Ame." With that said he started eating some of whatever it was he gave me. When I saw that he wasn't dramatically choking to his death, I to started to eat it. He was right when he said it wasn't tasty, I could barely get it down.
Once I was finished Deidara told me to get some sleep, and although I know you shouldn't fall asleep when with the enemy I was just too tired to argue so grudgingly I laid down and closed my eyes but before I let myself fall asleep I had to ask the one question I couldn't get out of my head. "Deidara?"
"Hmm?" I heard him move against the tree slightly.
"Am I-" I took a deep breath and tried to swallow the lump in my throat. "Am I going to die?"
With a sigh he replied simply with, "I don't know, Kaiya."
I was walking. That's all I really knew at first. I was walking to get somewhere, but where? I didn't know. I walked for at least ten minutes before I realised I was walking towards a park. As soon as the swings came into view I started running. I don't know why but I just had to get to them as fast as I could.
Finally I reached them; I sat down and started to swing. I felt like I was missing something but couldn't figure out what it was. I didn't know why but I swore something was being pulled to me, like a magnet. I looked up to see him. Standing on the grass in all his glory. God he was beautiful. His blood red hair blowing in the wind. The sun setting just behind him and his dazzling smile that made me go weak at the knees every time I saw him. He strolled over to me at his own unrushed pace.
"Kaiya. It's wonderful to see your smile again." He had this playful glint in his eyes as he said that. He walked up behind me and started to push me on the swing.
I had no idea what to say so I just closed my eyes and enjoyed the breeze on my face as he slowly pushed me higher and higher into the air. I started to feel light headed but also giddy so I started to giggle then outright laugh. I was having so much fun that I didn't realise that the park was changing, morphing into something straight out of a nightmare.
Suddenly he stopped and slowly I came to a halt. Wondering what happened I turned around and opened my eyes to find nothing but dead, decaying bodies everywhere. I looked around trying to find him but I couldn't see him anywhere. He was gone. I was starting to freak out when I heard someone calling my name.
"Who's there?" I yelled hoping someone; anyone could save me from this hell.
"Kaiya get up!"
"Huh?" Still half asleep it took a few seconds to remember where I was. And who with.
"I said get up yeah. The sun will rise soon so we need to get going." It was Deidara. He seemed a little irritated but hid it well. Everything was packed up and the fire had been put out so the only thing he was waiting for was for me to get up. I rubbed at my eyes trying to wake myself up as I stood up and yawned.
"Come on we have to go if you want to make it there by lunch, or do you want those protein bars again, yeah?" Thinking back to last night and the taste of the bar, I made a face to show I didn't and we were back on the road again within five minutes.
"So how much longer do we have to go?" I asked, surprised at the strength in my voice. I wasn't as scared today and so I relaxed next to Deidara as we made it back onto the forest road.
"Awhile still. If you think you can handle it, we could go a little faster yeah?" I think I saw him smirking. Feeling more confident I gave him a half smile.
"I think I can manage." I picked up my pace as much as I felt I could comfortably maintain without exhausting myself.
Two hours passed and I was beginning to slow down again though so without warning Deidara sat down and dug through the third bag again.
He pulled out a small water bottle and handed it to me. "We'll rest for a few minutes to let you catch your breath, hmm."
"Thank you." I accepted the bottle and took three long swigs. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand before I gave him the bottle back and watched as he also took a drink before dropping it back into the bag. "You're a ninja aren't you?" I asked with a curious tone while sitting down.
Deidara looked taken aback be this but answered none the less. "I am." He raised a brow at me in question as if to ask why I wanted to know but he didn't actually say anything
"Just curious is all." I looked down at my feet pulling my knees to my chest. "Do you work by yourself?"
"I work with a partner, guy named Sasori, yeah. He can be a jerk sometimes but at the end of the day I respect him as a fellow artist, hmm."
I looked back up as surprised washed over me. "You're an artist?" He gave me an almost cocky nod of his head and pulled his robe aside to show me the pouch that hung off his hip. Digging his hand in he pulled out some clay and right before my eyes made an amazing sculpture of a butterfly. "Wow, that's amazing!"
"I can make them explode as well but might leave that for another time." He offered me a reassuring smile, but try as I might I could only return it half heartedly.
'There might not be a next time.' I thought to myself grimly. Without warning he got up and started walking again. It was a while before either one of us talked again, and it was even longer then that before we managed to hold a conversation.
"How much longer until we get there?" Deidara slowed down a bit to walk next to me as so he wouldn't have to raise his voice when he replied.
"Not long now, about half an hour yeah. Heh you tired or something?" He asked with playful grin, he was teasing me again which he seemed to be doing a lot today.
Holding back a smile I pretended to snap back at him. "No!" His smirk just widened, that was the first time I'd yelled and it meant I was maybe getting a little too relaxed around him. Ignoring that thought for the time being I crossed my arms over my chest childishly and pouted. It was nice being playful like this. It made it easier to keep my mind off of what would happen when when got to our destination.
"Hmm yeah yeah." He let out a short chuckle before returning his attention back to the road. After that we just talked about random things, such as the weather in hidden rain, art, and what my life was like until he kidnapped me. I found that he really wasn't all that bad. To be honest I enjoyed his company. He was smart and funny and not too bad on the eye if I'm being completely truthful. I didn't notice how long we talked until he pointed out the gates of hidden rain to me.
"Wow we're here already? That didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would!" I said as a smile lit up my face. It was bigger then I thought, and really beautiful! All the buildings looked as if they could touch the sky. For a moment I forgot just how much trouble I could be in now that we were here. With a quiet sigh I looked back to my guide. "Where too now?"
"My orders are to take you to leader yeah." He said simply. And then pointed in front of us to what was probably the biggest building in the whole village.
"Ok." We fell into a comfortable silence for a while. I was content to just look around and take in the gorgeous view of the city, until I noticed something. "Didn't you say it always rained?"
"I didn't say it always rained hmm. Just that it rained most of the time. Even leader can't maintain a justu forever yeah." He explained as we entered the building where this 'leader' of his was.
"Deidara." I stopped. Not knowing how to say what was on my mind.
"Yes hmm?" He turned around to face me.
"I'm scared." I finally squeaked out. I closed my eyes tight. Waiting for him to laugh at me. We had stopped walking now and were standing in the middle of the hallway. Alone.
He didn't say anything. All he did was put a hand on top of my head ruffling my hair a bit, before moving to keep walking me towards my fate.
