Okay, well just to give you a general summary, since there wasn't enough of room for a good one out on the story listing page..: This story was written, for the most part, because I got ticked off that there were no girl Akatsuki members(I got really ticked after learning for sure that Dei wasn't, and then kinda lost all hope). I created the character of Mai to be an Akatsuki member- the 9th, mystery member- a while back, before Hidan and Kakuzu were even introduced. Of course, I didn't really do anything with said character, until Hidan and Kakuzu were introduced and were both males. I started getting nervous that there wouldn't be a female member at all!!! Luckily now there is though(updated on 7/19/07)!! And in this story, Mai is supposed to be her. Yeah, I know she has blonde hair in chapter 1- but you'll see how everything plays out. It's a long road to psychotic mental breakdown, just ask Itachi. She'll be our lovable little blue-haired emo-goth before you know it! I'd say by chapter 13 or so, Mai will be the Akatsuki female member we all know and love, not some sappy little rich girl. :) And that way, there'll be more time to see 'Blue' in action in the manga, and get a real feel for her personality.
I've had to change quite a bit from my original concept, like making Mai's sister be the 2-tailed jinchuuriki from Kumogakure, instead of her brother the 6-tails like I'd planned.(Because a village can't have more than 1 jinchuuriki, right?..And Mai needed to be from the Village Hidden in the Clouds).Oh well... Anyway, the story, for the first few chapters, will just introduce Mai and her family, and hopefully get you liking and understanding them a bit better.
Yes, Mai is a made-up character, completely of my own creation, but hopefully you'll give her a chance. And there will be more interaction with Akatsuki as time goes on, and as Mai has no choice but to interact with them- if I told you how that comes to pass, that'd be ruining the story, but you'll see. Hope you enjoy. :) And don't worry, Mai won't be all Mary-sueish and everything(why is it called 'Mary-sue' anyway? That's ticks me off, since that's my mother's name...)
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any of the characters in the Naruto series, including any of the Akatsuki members, who will be playing a major role in later chapters of this story. Masashi Kishimoto does. I do however own rights to my made-up characters the Hoshikori family, as well as the original plot of this story(well, except the parts later on where Akatsuki captures the Nibi- that's not mine, but I don't wanna stray completely from the manga, so I'm going with that.) :) Of course, Mai is supposed to be our little 'M's Flower-chan' of Akatsuki, so… maybe I don't own anything. Oh well, sucks for me.
Dusk and Daybreak
Chapter 1: Kumogakure's Brightest
A cool breeze wafted through the village as the townspeople hurried around, making final preparations for the day's ceremonies. The Ninja Academy had been closed at noon, so that the students would have plenty of time to get home, wash up, and get into their best clothes in time for the ceremony at 3. Despite the school officials' best intentions though, most of the kids just wound up playing ball or 'practicing' their 'ninja skills' with friends, impeding the work of ceremony officials in the process.
As all of the villagers hurried to prepare for the induction ceremony of the new Raikage, and the wonderful carnival he was hosting for them as thanks for choosing him, that night, one young girl sat in a small, windowless room in the Kumogakure Ninja Academy, a pile of paperwork on the desk before her.
"But Mai! The paperwork can wait!.. A new Raikage is selected how many times in a lifetime?!", a girl pleaded with her from in front of the desk, where a group of 6 teens stood impatiently. "Yeah, besides…", Taiki, the only male of the group interjected, "you wouldn't wanna miss the carnival. When the hell has this damn village ever had a carnival before?! My mom's on the setup committee- I saw the rides, Mai, and ya wouldn't believe 'em!"
Mai folded her hands in her lap, and stared down at them, as though she was trying to burn a hole through them with her gaze. Sighing deeply, she explained "You… you guys know how much I'd love to come… But I told you yesterday- and the day before- that my father won't let me. All 5 of us are forbidden from going to anything involving the new Raikage. I'm sorry… Anyway, I've got tons of tests to grade. You guys have fun, huh? And I want you to tell me all about it tomorrow."
"But Mai-!", another girl, Amaya began; Mai looked up at her friends, then quickly grabbed a test from the pile and started grading it, indicating that the conversation was over. Her friends looked at each other, then defeatedly turned and left, leaving Mai to break down in tears once the door clicked shut.
Mai walked silently home a few hours later, pulling her long blonde hair out of its tight bun and letting it fly free in the cool breeze. It certainly was a relief after hours of grading papers in that stuffy room. 'At least something is free', she thought sadly.
Suddenly, she saw her sister Yugito walking out of a store with her friends, balloons and cotton candy in hand, talking animatedly about the carnival. Mai walked over to her and grabbed her arm, turning Yugito so her sister's shocked face was staring into her own. The cotton candy fell to the ground forgotten. Yugito's friends muttered hurried goodbyes and ran off.
"What the hell do you think you were doing?! Do you know what Otousan would do if he found out?!" "I… I'm sorry. But everyone was going.. They started making fun of me when I said I wasn't allowed and all…" Mai just sighed and pulled her sister along after her, hurrying home.
Their father was waiting at the door. "Where were you two? Why are you back so late? I thought that I specifically told you to come straight home!" Their father yelled at the two girls angrily. "I…um…we..", Yugito started, but Mai quickly interjected, " I had tons of exams to grade. I was at the Academy until now Otousama, and Yugito was nice enough to offer to wait with me so I wouldn't be lonely. I know that girls shouldn't be out alone after dark", Mai had to use every bit of reserve she had to keep explaining, instead of arguing at that point about her father's views, "but I had no choice, because the tests needed to be finished. I'm sorry we were so late Otousama." Yugito nodded fervently. "Fine. Dinner's ready, so go and get washed up you two." Their father turned and walked inside, and the two girls quickly followed, running up to their rooms.
After dinner each night, all 5 of the children were to go upstairs to sleep, since bedtime in the Hoshikori household was strictly observed. Mai's father even had all the lights set on a timer so that they went off at 9:30pm each night, leaving every room except the bathrooms in pitch blackness.
Mai however, at 19 years old, just couldn't see going to sleep at 9:30- who would? It was outrageous! And so, each night, without her parents knowing it, she would place a powerful genjutsu around the door; then using one of her family's special bloodline limit jutsus(Raiton: Mai no Hagane (Lighting Release: Brightness of the Sun) she would light the whole room like daylight, reading wonderful adventure novels about shinobi of old, long into the night. Her father and mother would never suspect. Ever since her father had prevented her from joining ANBU 3 years before, and had used his connections to put her in the Academy, as a 1st grade teacher because he felt teaching was more a woman's place, she never used any jutsus except the most basic in front of them, or anyone but her closest friends. It wasn't that she was angry at her parents, but she missed active duty as a ninja, all of the adventure of it, and all of the promise that she supposedly held.
Although she loved teaching, she felt that she was wasting her life in a way too, since she had once been called 'the most promising kunoichi to come out of Kumogakure in the last 50 years'. But she kept training secretly, hoping that someday she would be out from under her father's strong grip; till then, she enjoyed helping the younger children to improve, and settled for reading about shinobi adventures, and hearing her friends tell about their missions.
The next morning, Mai was awakened violently by her father. After 2 minutes of yelling and shaking didn't work, he resorted to kicking Mai. It wasn't a hard kick that would send her flying across the room or anything, but it still hurt, and she immediately jumped up from where she had fallen asleep on the floor with her book the previous night. "I told you to be up at 8:30 this morning dammit. Is that too much to ask?! We need to get going, and you need to help get your brothers and sisters ready. Unless of course you want to ruin the vacation for everyone!"
"I… I'm sorry sir.." Mai quickly apologized, kicking her book under her bed and out of sight, and scurrying around to find her clothes to get ready. "Oh, leave the girl alone… You and your damn rules, Akio. The poor girl doesn't even have a life. You'd better let up already, or she's gonna go awol one of these days, and run off with one of those boys you're always worried about her seeing." Mai's mother laughed as she passed by towards Mai's brothers' room with a basket of clean laundry, stopping and leaning in Mai's doorway.
"Midori, I'm not in the mood for your banter and stupid comments! We need to leave, and Mai's shirking her duties again!" He yelled angrily at Mai's mother; then turning to Mai, he said defeatedly, "Just get ready Mai, and do it fast. Then go and help your sisters get ready and bring their suitcases downstairs." With that, Akio turned and left the room. Mai quickly got up and respectfully did as he said, thinking on her mother's words, and how ironic they really were.
Mai quickly gathered her things and changed out of her nightgown into a t-shirt and jeans, then hurried off to 5 year old Kikyo's room. She quickly dressed her sister as well, though it was hard to find Kikyo's traveling clothes at first, among the mess of toys and coloring books strewn everywhere on the floor; not even an inch of carpet had been visible in that room for months, and Mai's parents had given up trying to clean it, except on special occasions. Mai then sent Kikyo down to the kitchen; she could smell the wonderful aroma of the breakfast her mother was making already filling the house.
After Kikyo was out of Mai's way, she packed a small suitcase of toys and a few clothes for the girl, and walked to the stairs and threw it down, where it landed easily next to Kikyo's other suitcase. Then Mai headed towards Yugito's room, blaring heavy metal music greeting her before she was even within 10 feet of the door. She knocked and knocked, and finally her sister came to the door, opening it a crack. "What do you want Mai?.." Yugito yelled over the music. "I'm supposed to help you get ready to go!..." "I don't need your help! What do I look like, a 6 year old?! Go away, I'm tryin' to listen to my music! I'm ready, tell Otousan and Okaasan I'll be down in 10 minutes!!" And so all Mai could do was sigh and leave the 17 year old to her own devices; besides, she was starving, and that food smelled really good.
The family quickly ate, while Otousama and some of the servants packed all of the luggage into the family yacht, a little ways away from the main house, on the waterfront.
Yugito finally made her appearance downstairs, dolled out in a new, low-cut summer dress and tons of makeup, just as the family was gong out the door. Mai's siblings just stared at her, and Okaasama didn't seem to notice as she herded the 3 younger children out the door, but Mai sidled over to Yugito. "Yugito, you really shouldn't be wearing that dress or all that makeup. What will Otousan say?.." she asked her sister worriedly. "I don't care. Besides, what can he do? We'll be on the boat, and he can't make me take the dress off in front of everyone… You know why I'm wearing this anyway.."
"Yeah, but cousin is too old for you Yugito-chan.." "Oh, and I suppose you want cousin Kakashi-san all for yourself then, huh Mai?! Well forget it! I'll wear what I want and leave me alone!" Everyone, including their mother stared after Yugito as she ran off to the yacht. "Mai, would you mind taking along Kikyo, Akeno, and Taikimaru to the boat? I'd better calm your father down before he sees the way your sister is dressed.." "No of course not Okaasama, go ahead.." Midori walked quickly off to save Yugito, and Mai grabbed Kikyo and Taikimaru's hands in her own, and walked off after her mother, more slowly since her brothers and sister had little feet and couldn't keep up.
Mai's mother was able to calm Akio down, though he made Yugito wash off all of her makeup immediately. But Mai couldn't blame her sister after all. The family only visited cousin Kakashi- though the distant relative was only called such for convenience- once a year, and although he wasn't Mai's type, he was extremely hot. Mai settled herself into the couch of the yacht's multi-purpose room, and thought about the next week's events, and how much fun they were sure to have in Konoha, eventually falling asleep to the sound of Akeno and Taikimaru killing each other.
Meanwhile, eight figures stood in silence in the recesses of a cave, cloaked in darkness. Before them lay a body of a young girl, no more than 10. Finally, another figure's shadowy form appeared before them, and the voice of their leader broke suddenly through the silence, "Let us begin." From a scroll, the leader immediately summoned an immense statue. "Also, Zetsu, I wish to know the progress of your search for the remaining jinchuuriki.", the leader commanded as he and the 8 Akatsuki members took their places on the fingers of the statue to extract the Soko(4-tailed Biju), from its jinchuuriki.
"I have as you know been tracking the jinchuuriki of Ichibi for some time. He has just been appointed as Kazekage of Sunagakure, and support for him is slowly growing, so I recommend that action is taken soon." "You idiot, you forgot the other jinchuuriki whose location we discovered! Leader-sama, I have also learned the location of the Nibi's jinchuuriki, which may actually be easier to obtain since it's not in a position of power. However, both will be hard to obtain; the Nibi seems to be well liked by her village, even more so than the Ichibi's jinchuuriki, and I can detail you on my findings more in-depth if you'd like once we're done with the extraction ceremony." "Thank you Zetsu. That'll be fine.", the Leader said, turning from Zetsu and beginning the extraction jutsu.
Well, I hope you all enjoyed my first chapter! I didn't wanna make it too long, because I have a tendency to do that... so I hope it wasn't too short either.
About the Hoshikoris being related to Kakashi- I've noticed that people relate better to characters they either know, or who have some sort of connection to characters they know. Note that I didn't make them close relations, which would totally go against the manga and all- they're more like realllly distant cousins, from way back when. Kakashi does after all have an affinity for lightning based jutsus, Kumogakure's specialty- and he's related to Mai's mother, who was just a regular member of the village. I might explain the relation better in the next chapter, as I already decided how they'd be related, but am not sure if explaining all that would seem too monotonous and dragged out. Let me know if you want it explained. Also, I figured that, since I knew for the storyline to work the family would have to be gone a few days, what better place than Konoha? Mai will be acquainted a bit with some of the canon characters, from when she sees them once a year, and that'll work nicely later on. You'll see. After all, do you really care about characters from obscure villages that have absolutely nothing in common with your fav characters?... No.
So anyways, please review, good or bad! Bad reviews are welcome, because they help me to improve... :)