A/N: Man, you gotta love the Akatsuki. I was very depressed when Dei-san and Hidan-kun died. (Even though Hidan isn't really 'dead', per say.) :'( But I don't miss Sasori that much. Oh well. And Tobi is still awesome, despite it all. xD And since Tobi is here and Sasori (And Hidan :P) is dead, that should be a giveaway that the story happens during Shippuden! (If you didn't know, I just told you :P ) But, I felt compelled to toss in a random character to ruin their lives! :D Nah. Just kidding. But, I did toss in a random lass. And she's not exactly a prude when it comes to language. (If given the chance, she'd love to give Hidan a run for –cough-Kakuzu's-cough- money.) I'm not sure how regularly I'll update on account that I'm handling two or three stories at a time. -.-; I've got to learn to finish one story before I start another. Meh, well, here it tis.
Quick Disclaimer: (I only do this once, so, if you must, copy and paste this at the beginning of every chapter) I do not own Naruto or anything associated with it. But, I do own Arashi because she is basically a split persoanlity to me. -.-;
-O.O.O.O.O.O.O-
Beneath the beating sun's rays, beneath the cool moist earth, lurks an evil in an orange, spiral print mask. And his name is Tobi. Well, according to Deidara at least. A soft knock stirred the blonde from his thoughts and earned a muffled reply.
"Come in, yeah." He mumbled, still partially hidden in his faithful old black, red cloud print cloak.
The same orange mask that he had just been inwardly cursing popped around the edge of the door as soon as it was humanly possible to do so. "Deidara-senpai, where is Kisame-san? Oh, and Itachi-sama too?" It was just like Tobi to barrage Deidara with question as soon as he got the chance.
"How the hell should I know, yeah?" the blue-eyed male asked with an air of indignance in his voice, mostly at the mention of Itachi, as he turned on his side to put an imaginary wall between the two. But said 'wall' was shattered at Tobi's next statement.
"Leader-sama is looking for you three." The black haired nin announced from his post by the door. Upon hearing Leader being mentioned, Deidara was on his feet, ready to go.
"I'm going then." Was all the male said before opening his door wide enough for him to push past Tobi and make his way solemnly towards the one place her hated most. Akatsuki headquarters wasn't bad in general. A little ramshackle, a little half-assed construction wise, a bit foreboding, but away from nearly anything and everything, not to mention being very well hidden. It was home to him. Well, the closest thing he'd ever had anyway. Subconsciously, his feet had carried him through the maze of corridors until he stood in front of a large, sturdy, looming oak door and rapped gently on it with his fist, hearing the softness echo about in the large room that gave off the sense that it was nothing but a black hole in a sense. One way in, no way out. He waited only a moment's time before he was given the same reply that he had given to the knock at his own door.
"Come in." the voice was rough, yet rather fetching. It seemed to be stuck somewhere in between the two. But nonetheless, he slipped the door open enough just so he could fit through before closing it as lightly as he could. Despite his efforts, the sound of air being pushed from the domain, plus that of the door coming in contact with its frame, only resounded in the large cavern known as a room. As his eye that was not shielded by his scope adjusted, he noticed that the two others that Tobi had mentioned were already there, standing side by side in front of a large empty throne upon a high platform, whose purpose seemed to be meant to remind them exactly who was in control.
Taking his place on the opposite side of Kisame, and as far away from Itachi as possible, as if a body between wasn't enough. The stone throne was cold for only a moment longer before Pein decided to join the party and claim his place above them all.
"It's only fair to assume that you all want to know exactly why I decided to summon the three of you. Deidara, since Sasori is now dead, and Hidan is… Well, indisposed, you will be completing this mission with Itachi and Kisame on account that it might take all three of you to complete it. And because in the end, we should be able to rope ourselves a new member to hopefully rebuild the Akatsuki's ranks." The spiral eyed man explained giving them a brief overview of the mission that they were being assigned.
"So this is a recruit mission? Why send all three of us again?" Kisame asked in his usual feral tone, obviously not happy about being the mediator between the two males on either side of him.
"Because, like I said, I don't know if one, or even two of you, could bring her back here and remain intact yourselves, so, it's best that all three of you go and work as a team to complete the goal. " Leader said, confirming Kisame's suspicions that he was expected to be the 'in-between' guy in the group and try to keep the peace. The shark-fish man considered what he had said and was about to have another outburst but Deidara seemed to be thinking the same thing and beat him to it.
"Wait, did you say 'her', un?" he asked, a slightly quizzical look upon his youthful face.
"Yes, I did." The 'emperor', or so he seemed to be, confirmed, a hologram of a map of all the shinobi nations appearing beside him.
"Her name is Haretsu Arashi." At the mention of the girl's name, Itachi's ears perked up. He knew that name from somewhere. But, he just couldn't place a name to a face. "I have yet to discover from where she hails, but, I'll leave that to you. Last time she was seen was after this village," he paused, taking time to point to a small, red dot on the map in the Rain region, which caused several pictures of a broken, burnt town to pop onto the screen. "…was brought to the ground at her mercy. Survivors have yet to be discovered. Arashi works as an assassin for hire mostly, but, I've noticed that she's tackled much larger-scale attacks, such as taking down small villages. From what I hear, she's a force to be reckoned with, but not only because of her battling abilities. It's her intelligence that is usually her enemy's downfall. Her kills tend to be clean and undetected until the body is found, but she leaves a distinctive mark on all her victims, or the town itself." The leader continued as if he had practiced what to say in front of a mirror for several hours.
Pausing for a moment, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a picture. He tossed it up into the air, and as it fluttered back to earth, the Samehada-bearing male caught it in his grasp.
"That picture was taken three days ago outside of Ta no Kuni, she was possibly in route from Otogakure, and just recently she's been seen heading west along the Fire country's border, then south west through Kusagakure towards Sunagakure. For what reason I do not know. Probably another job, or to get away from someone. Anyway, at the rate that she's moving, she should be on the north-east border Ame no Kuni as we speak." Pein continued his explanation as the three Akatsuki scanned the picture. The scenery was blurry, but, it was enough to get a good look at the 18 year old girl's face. Although she looked quite a few years younger in her face, her body's natural curves gave her away. They'd have to know her face, which only one of them was looking mostly at, for later, and so Kisame took the liberty of slipping the snapshot into his cloak for safe keeping. As soon as the picture could be seen, Itachi knew where he knew her from and why he seemed so familiar. It was the small, black dot under each eye that gave her away. And the silver colored locks that were thrown about in vast disarray on account that she was moving at a rather fast pace, looking over her shoulder to see something behind her. Her headband was loose around her neck, but, it was turned at such an angle that the symbol was unrecognizable.
"I know where she's from." The Sharingan-eyed male spoke out, all eyes on him, including Leader's who commanded him to elaborate. "She's from Konoha. We graduated together." At that, nearly all of the 5 eyes (Excluding Deidara's scope) that had been staring at him widened ever so slightly. They knew that Itachi was nearly 20 now, and she was obviously younger than him. If they graduated together, that was saying something.
"Thank you for that bid of information. Now, all three of you, pay close attention. She's tough. Very tough. A small fleck I found on her past was that she spent a few years with a traveling entertainment group as both a contortionist and member of the 'Freak Show', as to why she was put into the latter, I do not know. Nonetheless, it is mostly her IQ and strategic abilities that give her an edge, but, be wary of her physical movements as well. Reviewing her criminal history, I noticed that most cities are burnt to the ground, so, I'd assume she has apt abilities with fire in some form."
"Pyrotechinics. One of her foster families owned a fireworks shop." The black haired male again confirmed.
"Thank you once more."The elder man was about to continue, but, Kisame, again, interrupted.
"Why do you keep saying about her IQ? Is it that big of a thing?" he asked bluntly, arching an eyebrow ever so slightly.
"Yes." Itachi interjected in a low, nearly inaudible tone.
"Indeed. When you have an IQ of 265, you're mostly likely a strategically gifted psycho. And she's no exception. Like I said, she's dangerous. So, watch your backs. I don't need to lose anymore members. The less people I have the harder it is to complete my goal." The last sentence that Pein spoke seemed to wipe away all hopes that he might have harbored the slightest hint of caring for them or even being grateful for all that they were doing.
"Why are we going after her again?" Kisame asked, obviously having forgotten the goal already.
Though no sigh of annoyance crossed the Leader's lips, his voice portrayed slight irritation. "Because she's an S-rank criminal and Orochimaru is after her too." He explained simply.
"Why is that bitch after her too, yeah?" Deidara asked, finally deciding to speak once more.
"I honestly don't know. But, if we have her, that means he doesn't." Was all Pein said before getting to his feet. "You are all dismissed. I expect you gone in an hour. Just sedate her and bring her back here, then I'll handle it. Don't get involved in run-ins with other shinobi if you can help it. Remember, it's a recruit mission, not a mission to see who can kill more people and get the group caught first." With that, he was gone.
Itachi left the room first, then Kisame, Deidara bringing up the rear. Though he wore a look of indifference, Deidara was still contemplating what Leader had said. Maybe it wasn't so much that she was too much for one person, or two, maybe having all three of them wouldn't take as long and they could get back quicker. He probably should have been considering how they were going to go about capturing this fellow criminal, but, then again, the blonde was not one to plan ahead. He'd much rather make it up as he went, it was much more fun and artistic if you acted spontaneously. That's just how he rolled. Double checking his clay supply, he figured he'd have enough for the few days that they'd be gone. Sighing out of slight boredom, he leaned against one of the walls nearest the exit, hands in his pockets, as he awaited his two 'team mates' who apparently had to grab a thing or two before they left. He had everything he needed. Hairbrush in an interior pocket, a small sketchbook, along with a few pencils, both graphite and colored pencils for slight accents, and his clay. That was everything he needed for a trip as short as this. Now, Deidara wasn't a very patient man, in fact, most men weren't. They just wanted to do things and be done with them.
-O.O.O.O.O.O.O-
After what seemed like forever, the fish stick and the mole returned with their faces showing no acknowledgement that they had kept their comrade waiting. The two left first, leaving Deidara to follow up. After taking to the trees, Kisame slowed slightly so he was in pace with Deidara before speaking.
"We're hoping to make it to the boarder of the Wind country by sunset tomorrow so we have time to survey the land and spread far enough so that there's no way she can get past without running into one of us. I'll go into more detail later." He explained. "I also have a plan for the actual encounter, but, I'll tell you before we split up to take positions along the border." Deidara simply nodded in agreement.
"Since she'll be on Ame land between Kusa and the Wind country, there is less of us having a run in with ninja from any of the shinobi nations. " he continued. "Especially Konoha. Not that they'd care much that we were taking one of their Rogue shinobi."
The blonde male was only paying half attention now. Instead, he was mentally sorting through the little information they had received on their target.
'So, she uses explosives, eh? Well, this should be most interesting…' he mused.
"Deidara, she doesn't use explosives for fights." Itachi pointed out, his voice practically in the blonde's ear.
"Well, how else would she use them, yeah?" he inquired, glancing over at the male that was now on his opposite side. He didn't get along with Itachi in the least, but felt he should seize the moment and try to find out more about their opponent.
"She marks people with them. Arashi-san has been using them near as long as I've known her. Most of them are designed to leave her signature pattern, but, she may have changed their uses since then." The vermillion-eyed male began to explain. "Her fighting style is completely new to me on account that I haven't seen her since a few years after we graduated. It was not too long after she was offered a position in ANBU that she disappeared, never getting a chance to accept the offer. But she did say that she wanted to."
Both Deidara and Kisame were staring at him as if urging him to continue, but, he left it at that. Though he was silent on the outside, internally, he was busy being captured in his past.
-O.O.Flashback.O.O-
"Oi, Itachi!" a young girl's voice yelled over the slightly blustery October winds.
He turned in the direction of the noise to see a girl, slightly younger than himself, walking in his direction.
"Hey Arashi." He said in his usual low tone as she sat next to him atop the head of the First Hokage that remained stationary in the large rock that overlooked Konoha.
The female didn't look any different on the outside, but, her eyes held a look of concentration. She always seemed to be thinking of something in ways most people didn't. Sometimes, during training, he'd glance over and see her looking at a squirrel or other forest creature and catch himself wondering what she saw. There were many occasions that'd he'd have given his Sharingan to see the world the way she did. Especially with the look they now held.
He glanced nonchalantly over her form, taking note that she had altered her wardrobe slightly to accommodate the slightly cooler conditions. The black zip up hooded sweatshirt with a purple hood and short sleeves of the same shade that she wore every day had become long sleeved and slightly thicker. The pale blue capris that would normally cover her legs had lengthened into a pair of pants as well. But, she looked the same otherwise. Her silver hair was always pulled back into a rather askew ponytail, a good portion of it being too short to be pulled back and instead hanging in front of the hitai-ate that was laced tightly around her forehead. He half expected her eyes to be staring back at him, but, they were still focused on something in the distance.
"Arashi-san…" he said, tilting his head in her direction slightly.
"Nan desu ka?" she replied, keeping her eyes straight ahead.
"What are you thinking about?" he murmured, actually turning his head in her direction this time. He had yet to understand how her mind worked, so, he was nearly always interested in what she was thinking.
After a moment's pause, she finally answered. "Now that I'm a Chuunin, they want me to join the ANBU." She muttered, placing a short, quiet 'hm' at the end of her sentences as she did when she was really thinking hard about something.
Itachi looked back out across the village, his eyes looking first at the crowded streets, mentally retracing the path that he had seen Arashi and a certain orange clad blonde ninja walking earlier that day. Then his gaze shifted to the colorful houses, then the roofs, then the Hokage tower, not really looking for anything in particular after seeing watching the path the two had walked, especially because they seemed, well, happy. His wandering eyes were brought back to his companion when her voice broke his thoughts.
"They asked you too, didn't they?" Arashi muttered, looking at him this time, with her face in his direction. Slipping his eyes over to look at her, he noticed that the small black dot beneath each of her eyes seemed to be staring at him as well.
"Yeah, they did." He mumbled in reply.
There was a few minutes of silence before he felt some weight on his shoulder. Turning to face her, he saw that Arashi was looking at him as well, her arm draped over his shoulders. "The Konoha no Hinote Futago are going to stick together, right?" she asked softly, her eyes all but looking trough him.
He looked at her as if he was going to say no, but, at the last minute, he swung his arm over her shoulder in the same fashion. "Right." He agreed, managing a small, nearly invisible smile.
That was the last time he'd seen her.
-O.O.End Flashback.O.O-
Itachi had become lost in his thoughts and without realizing it, darkness had set in. But, there was no rest of the Akatsuki until they were on their way home. Unless they were being chased by shinobi or something else along those lines.
A/N: Well, that's chapter one. Cliffhanger(ish), yay! :D I'm considering continuing, so, lemme know what you think or if you'd like to guess what happen in the next chapter. Well, that's about all I have to say. So, R&R if you please.
Quick Japanese lesson: Konoha no Hinote Futago should translate to something along the lines of 'Fire Twins of Konoha'. Well, like I said, something like that. xD And Nan desu ka? is equivelant to 'What is it?' if you couldn't tell by using context clues :P