Hey guys! Thanks for reading ~ Yep, I know the summary sucked XP
So I wanted to attempt a Naruto fanfic... yeah... that's about it...
Hopes you guys likes it ^^
T for language and violence later on~
The rain pounded relentlessly on earth, which was above us, for the fourth day in a row. The ceiling of stone above us muffled the rapping from the water. We'll all knew a flood was being born up there.
Not that we were planning to go out any times soon.
Seated at the center table, we finished our breakfast without much motivation; Kagame confiscated our sake when Kono passed out the other day, drunk. Thanks to her, we were now sobered up and bored as hell. Thanks a lot, Kono. That baka...
"Pass me the news?" Seki asked.
"Sure blondie," I replied, reaching over to pick up the paper and tossing it to him. He frowned at the nickname, and flipped the paper to the crime section. I noticed the cover story, in huge print: The Allied Shinobi Forces- War Officially Declared Against Akatsuki! Tanaka glanced at the title nonchalantly stated, "I wonder when we'll get dragged into the war. I bet I can kill the most," causing little Satake to start. My heart twisted a bit, seeing the seven-year old's gentle face morph devastated at the thought of death- he barely made it through last night without fainting.
I shot Tanaka a dirty look as little Satake wrung his hands nervously; Tanaka shrugged my glare off.
"Well," Seki Hisaari cleared his throat, and began to read from the Shinobi Times. "Four Anbu nins, funny," he stopped briefly. "I thought we killed five."
"Fifth one wasn't an Anbu. He was just some random nin on lookout duty or something." Kono mumbled sleepily, her eyes closed and chin resting in her arms. Seki nodded, suddenly remembering.
"Right. Four Anbu nins were found lying dead outside of a high security Sunagakure bank vault, where an antique of dark chakra nature, as well as a five grand were stolen. After investigating the scene, officials believe that S-ranked criminals were responsible for the break-in and theft of the priceless artifact." Seki paused, then let out a low laugh. "Funny how it takes an official to conclude that we're S-ranked. Those bakas, we took out those pathetic Anbu nins easily."
I rolled my eyes, got up to set my dishes in the sink, and trudged tiredly back to my seat. "By the way, Tanaka, it's your turn to do the dishes."
"Whatever." came the usual, monotone response.
"An estimated of seven criminals,- That's a lucky guess, I bet- were to blame for of the crime, though no evidence was left behind." He was only reading this to boost his ego. It was all I could do to keep from strangling him.
Seki continued. "The chakra kunai, channeling dark jutsu, is said to contain to scroll of 'One's Own Life Reincarnation', a strictly forbidden form of kinjutsu which has only been used once in the past century; when the current Kazekage, Gaara, was resurrected by Chiyo-sama. Continue to C7 for the rest of the story... Pitiful. They didn't even give us a whole page." the blonde complained, flipping to C7 and skimming over the words.
"Where's Kagame?" We turned at the sharp voice we unfortunately knew only too well. Ashina. My slutty room mate clumsily stumbled into the main room of the base. Brush in hand, she struggled through her tangled, magenta curls. "Well? Where is he?" she demanded again.
"The meeting," Tanaka snatched the newspaper out of Seki's hands and flipped to the comic section. "Remember? He's taking that supposedly rare kunai and the money to Akatsuki as an offering. Surely he told you that when you two were screwing last night."
Ashina adjusted her way-too-short skirt and sniffed. "I don't know what you mean."
"Yeah, you do, ya lil' whore. The walls here are way too thin around here." Tanaka turned the page. Ashina's face morphed red.
"For your information, Tanaka-kun, we didn't do anything last night." She pulled out cereal from the cabinet and huffed over to her seat. The moment her skanky-clad ass made contact with the chair, she flinched violently and hissed in pain.
"I'm guessing anal?" Tanaka just didn't know when to shut it, did he? Ashina fixed an evil eye on him, which like my death glare, went ignored. I sensed her desire to punch him, but we knew he could snap anyone's neck without even trying. Ashina bit down a scathing retort and started eating her Kunoichi Krunch with her little, remaining dignity.
I sighed and left the table, heading towards my room shared with the pink-haired hussy.
I flopped on my bed and reached over for my iPod. Adjusting the headphones to a comfortable position, I cranked up the volume to drown out Seki and Tanaka's arguing, and the pounding rainfall. I leaned back leisurely
The first song was barely half-way through when someone prodded my side. Expecting Ashina to be bitching about my tasteless choice of 'goth' clothes, I snapped, "Just 'cause I wear black, does not make me emo, got it? You little-" I stopped when the prodding did and turned. "Oh, sorry." I switched the off the music and pulled off the headphones.
"That's ok, Oni-san" Satake meekly answered. Like everyone else in Kumo, Satake had no family. Or if he did, they were probably all dead anyway. I ended up being the only one to take care of him. Since the day Kagame brought him in from the street, years ago, for his special kekkei genkai... The blood on his hands, the scars on his back. He had only been four then. Thank the great Sage he didn't remember anything from that night...
He took a seat at the corner of my bed and looked at his hands. There was a long pause where he watched me sit up and smooth out my hair.
"So," I prompted. "Is there something you wanted to tell me?" He absently rubbed at the bruises on his arms, which he constantly received as Kagame's main punching bag.
Finally, he asked, "The nins we killed yesterday, they were good Anbu, right? I mean, they protected people in their village. Why did we have to kill them?" I must've twitched in the awkward silence following his question.
I mean, come one! How was I supposed to answer a question like that to a seven year old? Tell him killing is good?
"Well," I began hesitantly. The young boy interrupted.
"Because Kono, she told me they had to die, but she didn't say why, and I asked Tanaka, and he said because it was fun. But I didn't think it was very fun." His dark, solemn gaze pleaded for an answer.
God, Tanaka could be plain sick sometimes.
"Well," I said again, trying to stall. I probably earned myself a few seconds or so. I finally stood up and walked over to my closet. Pulling out one of the many identical capes all of us had, I sat down next to him and lay the cloth over his knees. His head tilted in a curious angle.
"You see this?" I gestured to the black silk patterned with white-lined red clouds. Satake nodded. "This is an Akatsuki cape. We sorta work for them. The real group, the elite group, wear cloaks; we're a smaller part of the organization. You know that, right? Akatsuki has many smaller teams, and our team name's Kumo. You with me so far?" Satake nodded again.
"Ok, good. So Akatsuki, the elite group, is on a special mission." I watched a gleam appear in Satake's eyes.
"A secret mission?" his voice laced in excitement. I smiled.
"Yeah, a top-secret totally-special mission." He perked up at this. I leaned in close as if sharing valuable information. "And only the coolest people know about it."
"We know about it!" he giggled, hands kneading happily into my cape.
"That's 'cause we're some of the coolest people around, right?" The smile on his face was priceless. I couldn't help returning a grin. "So, we gotta carry out the missions assigned to our team. You know where Kagame is right now?"
"Seki said at a meeting or something?"
"Yeah, with the elite Akatsuki group, and the other smaller team leaders. He's probably receiving a new top-secret mission for us right now!"
For some reason, the smile was suddenly wiped off the boy's face, and he looked fallen again. "Was last night a mission? To kill those people?"
I pondered thoughtfully for the right answer. "Um... yes, and no." Satake looked down and the cape in his lap, and traced the smooth seams. I coughed uncomfortably. "Last night, our mission was to take the kunai the nins were guarding. You know, that dagger Kagame stole- I mean, took from that charmed case last night? It's a special dagger, and Akatsuki needed it I guess. So as our mission, we got it for them. And the Anbu would never let us take it from them, and so the only way to get it was to, um, kill them. And that's, that's mission accomplished." The boy didn't look up.
I heaved a sigh. Would he get it? "One more question? Kara-san?"
"Yeah?"
"Are Akatsuki members, like us, are we the good guys? Or the bad guys?" Of course we weren't the 'good guys'... we were murdering criminals... duh?
"Of course we're the good guys. We're a family, right?" I reassured him. I forced a smile, and saw him let out a relieved breath of air.
"Thanks Kara-san!" The cute, bipolar, way-too-inquisitive little kid wrapped his arms quickly around me in a hug, and then scampered off, probably to play with Ooka and Kami. Only a second later, my forced grin melted off my face, and I lay back in exhaustion. Throwing the Akatsuki cape in the general vicinity of my closet, I noticed the scars on my arms were fading. That was a good sign, I think.
"Ok you little bastards! I'm back!" Alerted me that our big-headed egotistic jerk of a leader had arrived. I felt like I suddenly had a headache. Satake popped his head into the door frame again.
"What does bastard mean?" he inquired.
"Oh, it's what you call, um, cool people...?" Satake bought it, and nodded as if it made sense.
"Satake, get over here!" a shout from down the hall sent Satake scurrying away. God, what would Kagame want from Satake? I had to make sure he didn't beat up the seven-year old; it happened occasionally, whenever Kagame was in a bad mood.
Yawning, I pushed myself up and sludged out the room, only to be met by a scowling face slick with rainwater and plastered with wet hair. "You have five minutes to pack all your stuff. Meet me and Satake at the front." He ordered.
"Wait, what? Why?" I asked Kagame.
"Kagame-kun!" Ashina rushed out of nowhere and leapt on top of her... um... lover?
Kagame half-heartedly hugged her back, and pushed her off. She stuck out her glossed, bottom lip in a pout. "Remember," Kumo's leader said. "You have five minutes."
"Five minutes for what?" My roommate's shrill voice screeched. "What are you two doing together?" She grappled at him possessively and snarled like a dog who's bone was being stolen. I raised my hands defensively; yes, I knew, she did bite sometimes.
"Packing. Just packing..." both Kagame and I said at the same time.
Ashina suddenly perked up. "What? You're leaving?" Fuck her... Kagame nodded in confirmation. "Great! I mean, no offense," she scoffed very offensively. "I was just running out of closet room." She leaned over to Kagame and whispered not at all quietly, "Now we can do it in my room, ok? Doggy style tonight?" It amused me to see Kagame flinch away a bit, almost frightened of her. I mean, who could blame him? "Please?" She begged. I turned away, disgusted, back into my room, shutting the door to block out her complaining.
Tossing what few possessions I owned into a sports bag, I left my room to see Ashina more or less raping Kagame. Well, no. She was smothering him with kisses, while he tried to push her off, really pissed off. Seeing me ready, he was only too happy to pull away and escape towards the steps. Shooting me a look, like I was the one who scared her victim away, Ashina stomped into our room. "Bitch," she hissed before slamming the door.
"Slut," I spat back.
Kono, Tanaka, and Seki were still seated around the kitchen table, bored out of their skulls. Kono took out a knife as Kagame passed, rolled up her sleeves, and started cutting herself again. Tanaka flipped Kagame the finger, then flipped the page.
"Where 'ya going, Karasu?" Seki was the only one to ask. Honestly not knowing, I shrugged. "Well," he said as I mounted the first steps, "take care. By the look on his face, it's not gonna be good."
I felt genuinely touched by his warning. Well, not really. "Thanks," I said anyway, smiling at him. The Shinobi smiled back, and then doubled over when Tanaka kicked him under the table.
"Go wash the dishes, lover boy." The older nin ordered.
"Hey, it's your turn!" Seki flashed another one of his famous pouts. Without saying anything, Tanaka pulled two shuriken from his boot and spun then between his fingers, not taking his eyes off the article he was reading.
"I said, go wash the dishes." Seki scooted out of his chair and slid to the sink. I stifled a giggle and continued up.
Climbing to the hatch door, we entered the downpour, allowing a stream of water to rush down the stairs. The water reached a few inches above our ankles, and I was soaked in seconds.
Heaving the entrance shut, I saw Satake standing in the flood, with no luggage, and half his face bruised and newly cut. His bullied composure was complete with a swollen eye. In his arms, he cuddled Ooka and Kami, who snuggled into Satake's coat to avoid the uncomfortably rain. Distress washed over me, seeing Satake completely unfazed by his most recent injury- he was that used to abuse.
I turned on Kagame angrily. "What's your problem, asshole?" I hissed, not to let Satake overhear. "You can't keep on beating Satake like that! What did Akatsuki order this time, to get you so wired?"
"Don't worry," his reply was scathing with... was that a tint of jealousy? "I won't be hitting Satake anymore. Akatsuki wants to recruit you two. They say you're too talented for a subgroup like Kumo." Yep. He was definitely jealous.
I stared at him for a long minute. He just frowned back. "Wait, you're kidding, right?"
"Why would I?" he snapped.
"I mean, why would they need new recruits? And why wouldn't they take Tanaka instead? He's stronger." A vein pulsed in Kagame's neck. "And you, too!" I quickly added.
"They're interested in your kekkei genkai. Apparently, you two possess special talents that they need to use. Maybe you two will get lucky and get sent on a suicide mission."
I ignored his curse and pressed. "But why do they need our chakra release?" Wait a second, why was I protesting? Wasn't it only every day I wished to get out of the control of Kumo? To just take little Satake away from this hell hole and to a better place? Where we didn't have to kill someone every other night? Or live with that Ashina thing... Was I actually attached to this criminal subgroup that abducted me nine years ago?
"Well, we'll just have to wait and find out, shouldn't we?" He whipped around with his cape streaming behind him. Then he took off towards the woods on the right, almost enveloped by the fog and downpour.
"Where are we going, Oni-chan?" Satake, coming from nowhere, tugged on my sleeve.
"Somewhere special," was all I said. I was glaring hard at our leader's retreating back. "Follow us, Satake-kun..." I took a small hand in mine, and led him on the long trip to Akatsuki.
That was a sloooow beginning... Trust me, I'm working on it!
Review please? Suggestions... tips... critique? Thx