Edit: I have completely rewritten some parts of this story in order for it to make sense. As well as fixing grammatical errors and such. So please enjoy :D
Minako was exhausted. She had been running for the past five days through a thick forest in order to escape being killed by the Sound ninjas who had only just launched an attack on her clan.
With no food inside her and hardly any water, she was ready to collapse. But she had to keep going, not just for her sake, but for her baby sister as well.
Minako wanted to stop and rest, maybe sleep for a good six hours or so, but that would leave them vulnerable, not to mention there could be people trailing her. It was unlikely since they were probably preoccupied with the massacre on her clan and she didn't think anyone had seen them, but she wasn't going to take any chances.
"Mom...Dad...Aito," she breathed, knowing she would never see her parents or older brother again, remembering how all the houses had been set on fire and seeing everyone hoplessely outnumbered. She didn't know if they were alive, but she didn't think they stood a chance against that. She shook her head in disbelief, unable to cry anymore, but still terrified at the very thought.
"Don't worry Hikari, I'll protect you. I promise," Minako whispered into her sister's ear. Hikari was sleeping, but she looked so peaceful that Minako smiled for the first time since fleeing the village.
They had been lucky enough to escape because Minako was on a walk to Marble lake with Hikari at the time of the attack. Marble Lake was on the outskirts of the village and was far away from the thick of the action.
Being only 7 years old, it would have been stupid for Minako to run back to find her family or try and help. She wasn't training to be a ninja and would only have gotten in the way and most likely would have gotten herself and Hikari killed.
She knew that there was another village on the other side of the forest; she believed it was the The Land of the Mist, but she really couldn't be too sure. Her head was pounding and she was so dizzy that the forest was starting to spin around her.
"No!" she cried out as her vision was becoming blurry and unfocused. She took a few unsteady steps in front of her and tripped over a root which sent sent her tumbling down a sharp incline.
Her first thought was of Hikari. She had promised she would protect her! Clutching the child close to her chest, she hoped Hikari would be okay. She was only a baby after all!
Hikari screamed and cried as they tumbled down the small ravine, Minako's body shielding her from the sharp rocks. When they finally reached the bottom, Minako glanced down at Hikari to make sure she was okay. She was still crying, but otherwise unharmed. Taking a look at her own body, there were dozens of scratches and her body felt so sore that she had a feeling bruises were developing all over.
Struggling to stand up, she cried out from the unbelievable pain radiating from her left ankle. She sat back down, biting her lip and cradling Hikari in her arms.
"What would you do big brother?" Minako couldn't help but ask, glancing towards the sky. Her older brother Aito had been a ninja and always found himself in situations like this when going on missions with his team.
She, however, never wanted to be a ninja, and instead took cooking classes, hoping to one day own her own restaurant. Or, maybe if she was lucky, an actress. She hated fighting. And she was clearly awful at protecting people considering her baby sister was still crying and had scratches all over her face and would most likely starve unless she could find them both food.
With no sense of direction either, she had no idea where they were, or how long it would take to get out of this god forsaken forest. Even if she did know the way out, she knew she was too weak. There was almost no strength left in her. Her body was bleeding in various places and she had a bad feeling that her ankle was sprained. Plus, the backpack she was wearing was missing, so now they were in desperate need of food.
She lay down, needing to think about what to do in their situation, when she heard voices coming from above her.
"Who knew jumping from tree to tree could be so much fun!" a high pitched guy's voice rang out over the forest.
"Tobi, shut the hell up you idiot! Do you want to just announce yourself to the whole world, hn?"
"Oh, Deidara," squealed the first voice, "what are we doing here anyways? I'm bored. Can we get some food? Oh please, can we!"
"Ugh, please stop talking. We're looking for the retarded fish's sword. Apparently he dropped it over this forest. How can someone be so careless?"
"Ohhh I see now. Hm. Why's he making you do it?"
"Well, because he ordered me to do it because he's a lazy son of a bitch, and he said he'd sic Itachi on me if I didn't do it. Plus, I uh, sort of owe him one after blowing up his room."
"Ahahahah wow Senpai, you sure know how to make people angry. Boy, and you sure are scared of Itachi huh?"
"SHUT UP! Just because Kisame ordered me to go find his stupid sword, doesn't mean I'm the one who's going to be doing it. Since you're under my command, I'm making you do it. So go find it, hn."
"Whatever you say Deidara," the voice said, cackling insanely.
Minako, who was still struggling to see what was going on, had no problem hearing, and grew extremely terrified when she heard someone drop to the ground near her. She glanced over at him, only to see a blurry figure wearing a bright orange mask.
She gasped when she realized he was wearing the Akatsuki uniform; a black cloack with red clouds. And he was carrying their signature hat in his hand.
She had heard of them and knew they were one of the most dangerous organizations to have existed in a long, long time.
"Now, where is that sword? Wait, why are we even looking for it in the first place?" The guy with the mask asked himself whilst scratching his head.
She crawled along the ground quietly, holding Hikari, and tried to blend in behind a bush.
Orange mask perked up when she moved to hide.
"Is someone here? Tobi will find you! He's great at hide and go seek," he exclaimed gleefully.
"Oh no," Minako murmured. She tried to be as still as possible, covering Hikari's mouth, hoping they would go unnoticed, but it was her rather heavy breathing that gave her away.
Plus, no one could fool Tobi.
She felt a tap on her shoulder and she wildly looked around, finding herself face to face with orange mask.
"I found you!" he exclaimed. "Oh you look like a girl version of Deidara!" He squealed, pointed at her long blonde hair; part of it covering her right eye. But that was only because of the position she was currently in.
"Well, actually, Deidara looks enough like a girl anyways," orange mask chuckled.
"Please," Minako started to say, trying to choose her words carefully, "please don't hurt me." She wanted to back away, take her sister and run, but she knew she didn't have much time left.
"Ohhhh you're hurt, are you?" He just seemed to notice the condition she was in, her eyes barely able to stay open.
"Tobi, what the hell are you doing, hn?" a pissed off sounding voice said as he landed next to Tobi. "You're being so-" he stopped when he noticed what Tobi was looking at. A girl, who looked no older than 8 years old, was badly hurt - that was obvious, but she was also carrying a baby who didn't seem to be suffering from any serious injuries.
Minako glanced up wearily at the new arrival. If this was the 'Deidara' the orange mask was talking about, then yeah, they kind of did look similar.
From the way Tobi was staring at the two, well Deidara could only assume he was staring what with the mask and all, he had a bad feeling he knew what he was thinking.
"No way Tobi," Deidara said. "We have a mission, let's go. Although we should probably kill these two that they've seen us, hn. You can take care of that part Tobi."
And with that, Deidara turned around and started walking away muttering about how stupid Kisame was.
"Where are you from?" Tobi asked before he could stop himself.
Minako was terrified, and assumed they'd most definitely kill her if she didn't answer their questions.
"I'm part of the Suzuki clan from the Village Hidden in the Rock, and it was just attacked," she added, hoping maybe they would spare her if they knew she just lost everything.
That stopped Deidara in his tracks. He was from the the Village Hidden in the Rock as well. He wasn't part of any clan though. Normally he didn't pity people, but he couldn't help feeling sorry for the little girl who had probably just lost her whole family, and now was slowly dying from her injuries. She looked like she'd been through hell and back. She was probably starving too, considering how gaunt she looked.
"Please," Minako whispered, "please take her. I don't care who you guys are or what you've done, please just get her somewhere safe..." Her voice trailed off as she closed her eyes.
"I-I think she's dead," Tobi said, picking up a stick so he could prod her to see if she really was dead.
"Tobi! Have some respect!" Deidara wrenched the stick away from him, snapped in half, and threw it far into the woods.
But Tobi wasn't listening. Now he knelt down and was poking the baby. It made a cooing noise and he giggled.
"Can we keep it Deidara?" he asked with glee.
Deidara glanced down at the baby girl, her blonde hair sticking up.
"I don't know," he said awkwardly, " I mean, who's gonna look after her? I feel like Pain would kill us if we took her back to the hideout. Maybe," he looked around making sure no one was looking, "maybe we could just take her and drop her off on someone's door or something, hn."
He knew nobody was probably close by, but it was still embarrassing to even suggest that. No one from the Akatsuki would let him live it down they caught him delivering babies to safety. They'd probably kill him right then and there if he actually brought her to the hideout.
But he couldn't help but feel sorry for her as she clearly had no one left. Kind of like all the Akatsuki members. Well, Itachi had Sasuke, but they weren't on the best speaking terms as of right now. Nope. Killing your entire clan can definitely hurt a relationship.
Tobi had been staring intently at Deidara this whole time, and he could tell from the embarrassed expression on his face that he was going to give in.
"Tobi will be a good boy and raise you right little one!" He went to pick up the little girl but Deidara slapped his hand away.
"I'll carry her."
"Soooo, does this mean we're going to take her back to the hideout! If so, I can't wait to introduce her to everyone!" Tobi started humming loudly.
Deidara picked the girl up, and decided the hell with it. She looked under fed, and he felt like she needed some medical assistance. Not being one to trust people, he wanted to help her himself.
'Besides,' he thought, 'I don't care what the others say, because I was forced to join this freaking organization, and she'll be a reminder that they don't have complete control over me.' He knew he'd have a hard time convincing Pain to keep her around, but he'd find a way to make a good argument in her case. He liked to think himself a master arguer by now, considering it's all he and Hidan did when they saw each other.
With that, he smiled, signaled to Tobi to stop being an idiot, and they set off for their base.
Too bad they forgot to keep looking for Kisame's sword. Whoops.