The warm glow of the late-afternoon sun delighted my cool flesh as I lay listlessly under an ancient sakura tree
The warm glow of the late-afternoon sun delighted my cool flesh as I lay listlessly under an ancient sakura tree. My body was sprawled across the ground in a chaotic manner, soaking up the last bit of daylight that hung in the air. I sighed as my eyes caught sight of a cluster of sakura blossoms dancing in the light autumn breeze. Oh, how I envied their elegance. I closed my eyes, relaxing in the peacefulness of the meadow, and imagined myself dancing just as gracefully as the delicate flowers. Within mere seconds, I was lost in a deep slumber.
When I awoke, the moon was already shining brightly in the darkened sky above me, devouring the last traces of sunlight.
I knew I should be getting back to the base, it always irritated Pein when I stayed out after dark alone, but there was just something about this place that wouldn't let me leave. I was contemplating spending the rest of the night in my meadow when I heard a rather loud cracking sound behind me. I swiftly turned to locate the source of the disturbance and found myself face to face with what resembled a large green shell protruding from the ground.
"Hey, Zetsu!" I smiled and nearly sang his name as I lightly tapped the green shell.
"Shiori, you really shouldn't be out so late, Pein is getting irritable." He replied, opening his shell slightly.
"Yea, I figured he was. I really don't understand why he gets so ticked at me for staying out though. I'm an S-Ranked Criminal for God's sake! Doesn't' he think I can take care of myself?" I whined as I turned away from Zetsu.
I didn't expect him to reply. He was never one to make much conversation; at least, not with anyone besides himself.
"Shiori, what is it that makes you come to this place so often?" He inquired in a nearly inaudible whisper.
"Uh, I'm not sure, Zetsu." I managed to choke up a less than brilliant reply, rather startled by his sudden question.
He didn't reply.
"I guess it's the fact that I'm one of the only people who know about this place. I come here to escape I guess." I figured I should at least try to answer his question, even if I did sound like a complete idiot.
"Escape what?" He asked, his voice was tainted with curiosity.
"Well, you know, life, I guess. This place is like a haven for me, to say the least. Sometimes I think my recent visits to this place are, literally, the only things that keep me sane." I answered as I stared across the vast meadow. It was so beautiful, even in the dead of night.
"Oh, I see." He replied, his voice now completely void of all interest it had previously held.
We fell silent for a moment, and the sudden quiet sent a strange chill through my body. Neither of us spoke for a while, and, after a while, I began to wonder if he had left.
"Zetsu?" I questioned, although I was sure he had already gone.
There was no reply.
"Well, so much for that." I sighed to myself, wishing I had kept our earlier conversation going.
"So much for what?" I heard a raspy voice inquire from behind me.
I was startled to hear Zetsu's voice once again. I was sure he had left.
"Oh, nothing. Let's just get back to the base." I sighed as I began to walk into the nearby forest.
"I don't think you're going to be going anywhere tonight, doll." I heard the same voice say, only now it was closer. It didn't take me much longer to realize it wasn't Zetsu's voice I was hearing.
"Uh, what?" I managed to choke out as I turned around.
It was so dark now that I could hardly see anything, but I could at least make out the dark figure of a man, standing only a few feet from me. He was tall, much taller than my small 5'2'' frame. Besides that, all I could make out about the man was that he had dark shoulder length hair, and deep green eyes.
"You heard me, doll." The man teased as he stepped closer to me. He was so heavily intoxicated, I could smell the alcohol on his breath even though I was a good five feet away.
"Great, now I'm going to be covered in blood when I get home." I mumbled to myself as I made a quick spear of ice generate from my hand. "So much for not killing anyone today." I finished with a sigh.
"So, I suppose you expect me to be afraid of that." The man almost laughed as he pointed at the makeshift katana in my hand.
"No, I don't expect you to be afraid, not yet anyway." I replied with a smirk as I took a step closer to him.
I expected him to run, or at least make some attempt at escaping, but he didn't. He just stood there, completely still, waiting for me to slaughter him. It was rather unnerving actually. I hated it when my victims didn't try to escape. It took all the fun out of killing them.
"Are you just going to stand there?" I questioned as I stopped moving toward him.
"Yes, I am." He stated simply, and I could tell he was smirking.
"Okay, what the Hell is-" I began to ask, but I was silenced by a hand covering my mouth.
Someone was behind me.
I heard the man in front of me chuckle as I was lifted off the ground and had a rag tied over my mouth and eyes. His laughter was soon accompanied by that of another man, or men. I couldn't tell how many of them there were. Next, the bastards decided to tie my arms and legs up with some vines on the edge of the forest.
Immediately after I was tied up they began walking. Where they were walking to, I didn't know, I couldn't see anything that was going on. I knew it was stupid to try escaping, but I tried anyway. I thrashed about as much as I could, but it was no use. Whoever was holding me had too good a grip on my waist, and the vines weren't helping my desperate attempts at freedom much either. I tried screaming numerous times, but they were all stifled by the cloth that had been tied across my mouth.
'Well, I guess Pein was right. I shouldn't stay out alone after dark. Too bad I didn't realize this until after I was abducted. A lot of good it's doing me now.' I mentally cursed Pein, even though I knew it was my own fault that I was in this position.
"Shiori, Shiori! Damn it, put her down!" I heard someone yell from in front of me.
'Wait, how do these freaks know my name?' It took me a minute to realize it wasn't one of my captors that had said this. It was Pein. 'Shit. He's going to kill me for this.' I had completely forgotten about the fact that I was being abducted. Now, I was more worried about what Pein was going to do to me for getting into this.
The next thing I knew, I was being thrown threw the air and caught by someone else. Whomever it was that caught me started running, and it wasn't long before I started hearing ear-piercing screams behind me. I wondered what kind of torture Pein was putting those bastards through, but, more importantly, I wondered who the Hell was carrying me. I didn't know if it was one of my abductors or one of the Akatsuki. Therefore, I began thrashing once more, hoping that if it were, in fact, on of the Akatsuki they would be smart enough to put me down and untie me.
"Gah, Shiori, what are you doing! Stop squirming, un." I heard a familiar voice wine after a second of helpless flailing. "Oh, I guess you want me to take this stuff off you, un."
"Mmhm." I mumbled into the cloth as I frantically shook my head.
With that, I was gently sat on the ground, and within seconds I was freed of my restraints.
"I can see! Thank you so much Dei! I thought I was going to get raped by those freaks!" I screamed as I jumped on the blonde, pulling him into a hug.
"Don't thank me, un. If it weren't for Zetsu, none of us would have known what happened to you, un." He replied before picking me back up.
"What do you mean, if it weren't for Zetsu?" I inquired, not even bother to have him put me back down, although normally I would tell him I was perfectly capable of walking.
"Well, Pein sent him to find you, un." He began.
"Yea, I know that, he told me when he found me in the meadow, but I thought he left." I interrupted.
"He did leave. He left to come tell us where you were and that there was a group of a dozen or so men waiting to abduct you, un." He continued. "He came back to the base as quickly as he could to tell Pein, knowing he couldn't protect you from all of them on his own, un."
"Oh, I was wondering why he left me there without even trying to make me go back to the base." I replied.
"Well now you know, un."
There was a short silence before I spoke up again.
"Dei, where are we going?" I asked as I stifled yawn. I could only guess how late it was.
"We're going into the forest, un." He replied with a smirk.
"Huh? Why the Hell are we going there, shouldn't we be going back to the base?" I asked, my voice shooting up an octave.
"But Shiori, if we go back to the base, how will I ever get to have my way with you, un?" He teased.
"That's not funny Dei." I growled, glaring at him.
"Yea it was. You should've seen your face, un." The blonde laughed.
I didn't stay mad at him long, not that I was really ever mad at him in the first place. How could I be after he had just saved me from getting gang raped by a dozen intoxicated freaks.
The rest of our trip was filled with various jokes of how much torture Pein was going to put me through, and other pointless stories. It was always so easy for me to talk to Deidara, and I was grateful for that.
He was one of the only Akatsuki I could actually talk, Kisame being the other. I mean, Itachi hated me for all I knew, then again, he hated everyone. Kakuzu just freaked the Hell out of me to be completely honest. Normal people don't have tentacles. Zetsu was a schizophrenic, cannibalistic plant. Not to mention he wasn't much of a talker. Hidan couldn't say three words to me without pissing me off completely. Tobi was too freaking happy. No one can possibly be that damn happy, and Pein was just too overbearing. I hate arrogant people. That fact alone probably explains why I can't get along with half the Akatsuki, especially Pein. Deidara was different though, he knew how to listen for one. He wasn't as abnormal as the others were, save the mouths on his palms, and he wasn't full of himself.
I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't realize we had arrived back at the base until Deidara pecked my forehead.
"What was that for?" I asked, snapping out of the trance I had been pulled into.
"I was waking you up, we're back, un." He replied with a grin. "You're lucky I didn't take you into the woods while you were asleep, un."
"I wasn't asleep Dei." I replied, rolling my eyes at his comment as I jumped out of his arms.
"Sure you weren't. Well, good luck, un." He smiled as he motioned toward the entrance of the base.
I gave the entrance to the base a reluctant look before I slowly reached for the door.
"It's going to be a long night." I mumbled to myself, earning a quiet laugh from Deidara.