Disclaimer:I don't own any of the characters or their backstories, they all belong to their rightful owners. I only own my plot.
The cold, cavernous walls seemed to grow closer to her with every cautious step she took. Her breathing quickened when she realized there was someone nearby, luckily, just as they crept closer, she had hidden in an alcove to the side. Hidden beneath the shadows, the figure simply walked by her, without a second of hesitation to suggest that they had noticed her.
Slowly, when she knew they were gone, the young girl slipped out of her hiding place into a bright hallway, long black hair swishing on her hips behind her. She checked her surroundings, so as to not have such a close call again, and came back with nothing regarding shinobi. As she again walked down the long and maze-like hallway, she recalled why she was even here in the first place.
"They won't suspect you, you're the only one who can get what I need, Mai." The raven haired man stated emotionlessly, though she had known the man long enough now, to pick up the urgency in his voice. He simply stared at her with onyx eyes, silently pleading with her to complete this 'simple' task he had given her.
"Fine, but don't expect me to do every little thing you ask, I'm not like your little lackeys." She finally replied, earning a small smirk of respect from the shinobi protégé. He slowly approached her, giving her the scroll that contained information vital for this mission.
"You won't regret this, Mai." The Uchiha said with an arrogant but grateful smile, directed towards her. The small amount of malice in his words weren't missed as she began walking away from that horrible place. He knew that she wouldn't betray him, he knew that she would complete her mission. But what he didn't know, was he had underestimated her abilities for the last time.
"I'm sure I will..." she whispered under her breath as she disappeared from the hideout, greeting her friends known as shadows. This was going to be a long night.
Mai scoffed to herself as she finally approached the door to which she had been looking for all night. She quickly checked for chakra signatures inside and when she found it safe, pushed the door handle down just enough so as to not make a sound, when it clicked back up. The slender girl slunk into the room and closed the door silently behind her, only to turn around and find a mess of papers on the desk, bed, closet and even the en-suite bathroom for god's sake.
Immediately, she began sorting through papers, letters and correspondents, nothing seeming important to her. Suddenly, a yellow piece of paper caught her sapphire eyes, drawing her attention away from everything else in the room. Only the corner of the paper was sticking out from underneath a pile of clothes, making it seem more interesting than it probably was. Mai lifted the clothes off and onto the bed, making sure to note their exact position to be replaced again later. She carefully picked up the paper, reading it, only to almost drop it again from the pure shock that had hit her. Her blue eyes scanned every word again and again, numbers and names. Names.
Drinking in every word, the shadows creeping closer, warning her of impending doom, Mai cursed herself quietly. She folded the piece of paper and stuffed it into her pack, slowly bringing her attention back to the room. She had hit the jackpot with that, now she had to simply escape the compound and get back to Konoha. As if she would go back to that dreaded place.
A spike of chakra nearby brought her out of her thoughts as she quickly dropped the small smile she had worn previously. The shinobi realized that she was trapped within the room if the intruder, or rather inhabitant of the base, decided to come near her current position. Though, she breathed a silent sigh of relief when the person simply walked by, honestly, what is it with S-class shinobi and thinking that there wasn't anyone to hurt them. Finally creeping out of her spot, Mai swiftly exited the dull room and made her way through the hideout. Only stopping when she reached an unfamiliar passage, gods, was she lost?
"HIDAAAAAANNNNN!" a booming voice shook the walls of stone, emphasizing the fact that she should be running. Picking up her pace to a sprint, Mai turned at every chance she got and eventually smelled the night air and heard crickets chirping. Though what she found was not in fact the outside she had been hoping for, but actually an underground training ground of some sort. She heard footsteps behind her so she quickly hid in the shrubbery of the underground forest. Waiting, hoping, she would go unfound.
The footsteps followed her into the training room, revealing the owner of the booming voice to be a very irritated Akatsuki member known as Kakuzu. At least she thought so. The clashing of blade on blade terrified her, though Kakuzu simply stalked angrily in the direction of the metallic noises. Mai took that as her cue to leave, she sprinted out of the bushes and made her way out of the training grounds. She was not going to stick around to hear the conversation between the Akatsuki members, she was not going to be caught.
Her black hair acted as a cape behind her as she dashed in and out of corridors, trying to find the exit. After being thoroughly convinced she was lost, she ducked into a small room and opened the scroll that the damned Uchiha had given her to help navigate the complex. Apparently, she had taken too many wrong turns and now had no way of finding out where she even was on the badly drawn map. So, the black-haired ninja decided the only way she was getting out of this place was just running around until she found the exit.
Mai pushed herself out of the small room and into the hallway with new resolve, she would just have to use her instincts. Again, she started running to what she thought must be the exit of the compound, only to come face to face with a large set of oak doors, which looked similar to the ones she had faced when first entering this dreaded place. She heard a banging noise in the room down the hall and decided it would be best to hide in the room in front of her.
She slipped quietly into the large room, checking the hall she had been only seconds ago for signatures, finding no more than two walking the opposite direction of the large room she currently inhabited. She slowly turned around, only to choke on her sigh as she saw someone sleeping, she hoped, in the large four-poster bed less than two meters away from her. Snoring, no less.
From her point of view, this could either be really bad, or death. Hopefully the latter was not going to be her fate. The young girl didn't move for ten minutes out of fear that he might wake up, but eventually she would have to leave, or else he would just wake up naturally. There was no telling how long he had been asleep for already, meaning that he could wake up any second and slit her throat. Which, she decided, was not a pleasant thing.
Slowly, quietly, deathly silent and only moving every two seconds by a millimeter, she made her way towards the door. She prayed to gods above, the devil below, anything and everything she could think of that he wouldn't wake from his slumber. Only after almost another ten minutes of agonizingly slow movement did she finally make it to the door. Her mind was reeling from the pressure she was putting on herself to no move too much, to not make a single coherent, or even incoherent, noise.
'Knock knock knock' and her fate was sealed. The snoring had stopped and she heard rustling behind her. She quickly unsheathed her katana from where it sat on her back, only to be stopped halfway by a strong hand on her mouth, preventing screams.
"Yes?" the man behind her spoke, his voice so deep that it rumbled from where his chest, bare chest, was touching her back. She didn't allow herself to shiver out of pure fear, focusing entirely on remaining strong.
"Deidara and Tobi have returned from their mission, would you like them to report?" it was a female voice that spoke, Mai recognized the two names that she had said and immediately tensed as she realized that they were lackeys, and the only person that they would report to was-
"No, just tell them to report tomorrow morning." The low voice of the leader of the Akatsuki said. She was in deep shit, that was for sure.
There was a moment of silence before the sound of heels clicking sounded, telling her that it had indeed been a woman he was talking to. After the sound of clicking had faded, Mai let out a quiet breath, as did the man behind her, tickling her neck. This again alerted her to the fact that a very dangerous man was currently behind her. 'Shit', was all she could think as the man behind her moved away and towards the bed again.
Mai turned around like lightning to be met with the sight of a very, and she was not exaggerating, pierced man with ringed, violet eyes. He was simply staring at her, as she did to him, clearly sizing each other up. The only difference between them was the small smirk that he wore on his otherwise emotionless face. She noticed this and instantly decided she didn't like how easily he had changed from nothing, to a devilish smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"So," she was startled by his deep voice, regardless that she had heard it less than a minute ago, "what brings you to my hideout?" the malice in his voice did not go unnoticed and she felt herself tense up slightly at the sound of it. The way this was going, she probably wouldn't live to see the sunrise in the morning.