If I fall.
Chapter 1
Dismissed
"Itachi, stop fooling around! Deidara, same to you." Here I stood at the front of the Akastuki meeting table. I scowled at the two boys. I watched Deidara wiggle and giggle beside Itachi as they played with each others fingers under the table. Around the rounded table were all ten of us. I sat directly opposite of Madara. Beside me to my right was Konan than Zetsu followed by Itachi and Deidara. To my left came Hidan, Sasori, Kakuzu, and Kisame, than, of course, Madara.
"Sorry!" Deidara squeaked the ending of his sentence. His face flared red and everyone turned to look. I knew exactly what Itachi had done. He sat there with a smug little smile on his face, as arrogant as ever. Deidara looked down and flushed harder. He looked at Itachi, as though waiting for him to move his hand, but all the Uchiha did was smile.
Strangely enough, my fingers twitched for something to throw. But that's not it. The fact that that I didn't want to aim it at Itachi, the conductor of the hysterics that had now fallen upon my meeting, was strange.
The large domed hall was filled with awful laughter and loud bickering. The sounds bounced around the hall and into my head. Whispers pounded against my skull. More than the people at our table were speaking.
These voices clouded my head everyday of my life. They spoke from different points of views of every situation. Of every thing that was said. Of every sound.
"Stop. Talking." A silence, filtered with the angry waves of disapproval that washed off me, filled the room in concentrated tides. I was angry but I needed to stay calm. I had come to realize that when dealing with an assortment of belligerent immature fuckups, it's best to stay calm and remain un-confrontational. The chatter died immediately, replaced by a silence that was very deep. So I said this very calmly and slowly. "Itachi. Switch spots with Konan."
"Leeeeaderrr-saamaa!!!" Itachi complained uselessly. Konan gave me the helpless look but got up to stand behind Itachi.
"Move." I said flatly.
I just looked at him, dominance etched into my features. My expression dared him to disobey. His perfect lips drew slightly back over his teeth and a slight hiss slipped out but he rose anyhow. He brushed his way past Konan and came to sit beside me. He carefully angled his chair closer to Zetsu and away from me.
Fucking bothers you, doesn't it Nagato?
It seems as though it might be bothering you. A lot.
He seems… reluctant to have the boy sit… farther away. That's all.
The voices rang clear in my head in the almost silence of the room. Across the room, Hidan was scratching gruesome pictures with his nails into the table, a sure annoyance for me. It is true that no one can get away with anything in my house. I hear everything.
And while this might be true, I would want nothing more than to cut off my own ears and slice slits down my external Meatus. I don't want to hear what everyone is doing at every moment. I have no bother with it.
Pain sets into my ears everyday, a ringing that will never fade. And if I try to retaliate, I only scream louder. I can't stop the red blood that drips from my offended ears. Sometimes it's hard to think coherently. Bless, think at all.
Nagato. Everyone's waiting.
The voice snapped me from my thoughts. I looked around at all the solemn faces. Each was waiting patiently. The silence deepened as I searched for something to say.
I look down at Itachi. He faced Zetsu with an angry glare. Zetsu sat expectantly, waiting for me. Konan smiled coyly. Deidara pouted. Madara… had his mask on, but I felt as though I could feel his thoughts underneath. Kisame sat paying attention to the little fish he was trying to give CPR to. Kakuzu was slyly taking a dollar out of Sasoris pants' pocket, who sat numbly starring past me. And Hidan sat scratching away. I looked back at Itachi.
"Thank-you. Well, we have to…" I was at a loss for words. For once in my life I couldn't find them. I looked away from Itachi and found I could think more clearly. Was I still that angry?
Oh wake the fuck up Yahiko! You know what this means, don't you?
I ignored the voice. It made me angrier. The worst part was that I did know. And I wasn't having that.
Craftily keeping my eyes from returning to the Uchiha, I began again. "As you all understand, I don't call you here for any reason at all. I call you on matters that are either interesting to me or are a threat to the organization. Or something repeatedly happens that annoys me." I threw a pointed look in Konans direction and she blushed. The room filled momentarily with laughter of remembrance.
"Is Konans hair caught in the drain again?" Asked Hidan rudely, setting off another bout of laughter, slightly louder.
"No, not this time." I smiled at them quickly, not flashing my teeth. "This time it's something that concerns you all."
I noticed how my words shifted the atmosphere. Hidan stopped his scratching to look up, Sasoris eyes focused on my face, Kakuzu lifted a brow, Kisame stopped giving the dead fish life support (which wasn't helping anyhow) and Itachi looked up over his shoulder. I looked away from Itachi.
"It seems we have a new, how can I put this lightly? A killer abroad. He is stealthy and classic. He kills the bad guys." I walked over to the wall and leaned up against it; I cocked my head back and threw a cheap smile in place.
"You all have another mission on top of your other ones." There was a loud groan. Successions of "Leeeadder-saaammaaa!" rang out. The shouts smashed around the room. I felt every one of them hit me like a punch in the face. Most of them were complaining to the person next to them, Itachi, stared at me relentlessly. I looked at the floor. "It's not as though it's hard or anything. Just, after your missions or during them, look around for some info on the killer Bloodlust."
They rambled a little, their voices rumbling a thunderstorm in my mind, setting alight the fire of voices in my head, each picking out someone else to dissect, but slowly their chatter went quiet, leaving them with disgruntled expressions and angry glares.
I stared at them and screwed up my face, my expression as mean as I could manage. Their faces went blank with horror. They stared back alarmed, pupils large. "Dismissed." I said bleakly.