Author: Hello everyone! So this is the next chappie! :D And, like I warned, characers will be out of character... so... yeah...
Itachi: Wait... you mean you're actually doing more of these? Oh, gawd...
Author: Excuse me! You should be thanking me! You're, like, one of the main characters!
Itachi: Exactly...
Author: Aww... you're embarrassed aren't you? Anyways, here you go! Oh, and hopefully this will clarify some things... or maybe not... Either way, enjoy!
Ch 2: The Juubi Jinchuriki~
Tears welled up inside of me, and I let them come. "Itachi, you're…you're here! But... wait… you're not—you can't be! One of the Akats—" I was cut off by a warm, smooth hand on my mouth.
"I… uh… Sorry." Itachi pulled his hand from my mouth awkwardly with a sheepish look on his face. He could see that I wanted to speak and put his finger up to silence me. "Please, Ayano, let me explain."
"Well… when you put it that way, I guess I can't kill you. Plus, I gotta give you a chance to get over your whole awkward moment there." A smile spread across my face as I waited to hear his explanation for the distinct Akatsuki cloak he was wearing.
"Uh… yeah, well, obviously, I'm one of the Akatsuki, hence the cloak. But—"His voice suddenly got much quieter and more serious. "—things are bad, really bad. Pein, the leader, is trying to capture all of the Jinchuriki, but he doesn't know what you are, at least not yet. Madara knows, I'm sure of it, or else he would have killed you too. Please, Ayano—" Footsteps could be heard echoing from a fair distance away. "—be careful."
What the fudge? Jinchukiki? As in the tailed beasts? I hardly knew anything about them except that they were sort of like chakra monsters/natural disasters sealed inside a few unlucky people. And what's with the whole 'he doesn't know what you are?' I am so confused! Grrr… He really needs to work on his explanation skills! Isn't the whole point to make me less confuzzled than I already am? I mean, the least he could do is apologize for abandoning me after rescuing me so he could go join his psycho Akatsuki buddies! "Ita—!"
"Hush, Ayano. Please, just hang in there, for me." Itachi sounded really worried, and this added even more confusion to my already majorly confuzzled brain. Wait a second… did he just say 'for me?" Where in the hell does he get off saying that? Darn that weasel… he's trying to guilt me into doing whatever he says just cause he saved me… Like I'm gonna fall for that!
Then, the mother of all surprises. He leans down to kiss my forehead, throwing an apologetic look my way before exiting the darkly glowing room.
ARGH! What the hell is going on? Honestly! He was acting so weird, and I hadn't the slightest clue what to think. My mind was on this crazy hyperdrive with a gazillion whirling questions, and how many answers? Zero. Nada. Zip.
Suddenly, I noticed the footsteps that had slowly gotten louder had stopped outside the door to my room. It slowly came open and a figure stepped in, carrying with it a light.
It was the fire-headed man with rod piercings on his face. During our fight, the Akatsuki had called him Leader-sama. The Akatsuki, the organization that Itachi was a member of, the organization that had captured me. I was so, unbelievably, hopelessly confused. And alongside my confusion was anger, a huge, boiling pot of it. Anger at Madara/Hedgehog, for killing Chihiro and part of myself with her. Anger at this man and the Akatsuki for hunting me and imprisoning me, no doubt for the same reasons Hedgehog did. Anger at Itachi even, for filling my head with questions, betrayal, and no answers whatsoever, and for joining the organization that was out to torture me. And greatest of all, my anger at Life for placing my twin and I in this world, this god-forsaken world in which my only purpose was to be used by others. I would rather be dead rather than alive at this point.
If Itachi hadn't shown up to rescue me, I would be dead.
All this went through my head and stubborn tears trickled out as the fire-headed man stared at me thoughtfully.
"Who are you?" My voice held no emotion. I was too exhausted to even think clearly. Which is probably why I didn't make the connection between Itachi's 'Pein' and the Akatsuki's 'Leader-sama.' I am so smart at times like this, right?
"Different people call me by different names. But you can call me Pein." His voice and face were bored and completely devoid of any feeling. And that's when I finally realized that Pein was the leader of the Akatsuki… so smart…
"Pein? Bit full of yourself aren't you?" I said this in as sarcastic a voice as I could manage. "Why are you doing this? What do you want from me? I've already gone through this process once before, in case you didn't know. And I'm tired of all you psychotic people torturing me, trying to take something I can't give you! Hedgehog tried and failed, killing my sister in the process. So I don't know what you're hoping to accomplish here." I was sick of being carted around, never getting any answers as to why all these people were coming after me.
"I see you understand a little of true pain. You have nothing else in this life to live for, except to serve the cause of peace and justice. Using you will help me to become the god of this cursed shinobi world, a world where the only way people can truly understand each other is through pain. The thing inside you… It is faint, but it is unbelievably powerful. All I need is for you to awaken the beast inside."
"I don't know what the hell you're rambling on about, but the only thing inside of me is a broken soul. And you dare say I know a little of what true pain is? You have no idea the hell I've been through, you bastard." The tears were coming steadily now. I've always cried easily: because of sadness, loss, anger, inner pain, physical pain. I used to be ashamed of it, but after Chihiro's death, I swore to accept who I was—every aspect except for one. My dragon. I could not ignore the Rykugan or its powers—trust me if I could, I would. One thing I could do was give up my dragon, no matter how stupid or pointless it was, it was my punishment for allowing Chihiro to die. They hadn't helped us win anyways, only almost gotten themselves killed.
"Oh, I do know. We share many more things than you are willing to accept. For now, though, you must sleep. I need you rested if you are to be of any use in my plans." With that, he left the room, leaving me even more angry, confused, and hopeless than before.
After a few minutes or so, I found that I was able to get up and move around. I stretched and found a glass of water next to my bed. How nice of them. I drank it grudgingly to soothe my parched throat. As I walked around, I examined my cell. It was solid rock, and the door was impossible to open because of some powerful sealing jutsu. It was then that I discovered I was unable to perform any jutsu, or use any chakra at all; they must have drugged me with something akin to what they gave Chihiro and me when we were Hedgehog's prisoners.
Then, I heard a quiet knock on the door. A moment later, in came Itachi, followed by a blond man with long bangs and a blue-haired woman with a flower in her hair. Both wore the Akatsuki cloak. Immediately, I tensed, ever so slightly relaxing as Itachi gave me a reassuring look.
"Ayano, this is Deidara," he said, gesturing to the blond man, who grinned slightly, "and Konan." Konan stepped forward with delicate, graceful steps, her amber eyes burning into me.
"Ayano," she said. "I won't pretend to know precisely what you're going through, but I assure you, I do have some idea. We are here to explain everything that's going on." As Konan spoke, her bright eyes tightened with sadness. I wondered what happened to her, and I didn't doubt for a second that she knew pain that could rival mine.
"That's right," said the blue-eyed Deidara. "I know what it's like to be captured." With this, he glanced at Itachi, who stiffened uncomfortably. "But we need you to overthrow Pein and Madara, un." With a grin, he added, "You're our special weapon, yeah."
"Overthrow Pein?" If possible, which I didn't think it actually was, I was even more confused. I felt like I was about to burst. The pounding headache from exhaustion and achiness, further enhanced by my confuzzlement, didn't help much either. "But… you're Akatsuki, right? And Pein's your leader… so, why would you want to overthrow him? Also, what have you lot got to do with Madara? He's the one that…" *sighs* Oh, gawd… I must sound like a complete moron to these guys. I know I sounded like a complete moron to me… wait what? Grrr…
…Silence. They were all looking at me. "Okay, you're right. I am confused. No—I'm beyond confused. I don't think a word exists that can convey my level of confusion. And you damn well better answer all of my questions. First off, what in the hell are you talking about when you say 'what I am,' and when Pein said, 'the beast inside of me?' I'm human, thank you very much, and I just happen to have the extremely rare Rykugan. Really. Bite me."
They all had different expressions on their faces. Konan looked amused and slightly surprised. Deidara looked impressed and like might start laughing. But apparently, I had never been well enough to make sarcastic comments to Itachi, because he looked stunned. Well, somewhat. At the very least, he was as stunned as I've ever seen him. "Well, ah, let's see here…" With a warning glare from me, he hurried to speak. "Don't worry, we'll answer all your questions. As if I had a choice. But it's just hard to explain it without explaining the history first."
I glanced at Itachi suspiciously, and then sighed. "Fine." I sat back on my bed, looking at Itachi expectantly.
"Well, I'm pretty sure you know this already, but there are nine tailed beasts in existence. They are all contained inside Jinchuriki so the Kage who has power over them can keep the beast under control. But what is not common knowledge is that when the Sage of Six Paths divided the Juubi into the nine tailed beasts, he made one more beast, a second Juubi, which was much more powerful than the others, and also the key to reuniting the tailed beasts into the ultimate Juubi. The Juubi Jinchuriki has not existed for over 500 years, and was thought to be lost. This is because only twins of the Rykugan can be the ten tails Jinchuriki."
Wide-eyed and with my mouth hanging open, I stared in shock. "You mean, Chihiro and I…we are...were the Juubi."
Konan spoke up. "Exactly. And you still are. But when Chihiro was killed, she transferred her portion of the Juubi powers to you. Now you, Ayano, are twice as powerful as a normal Juubi Jinchuriki, which is still much more powerful than the other tailed beasts. That's why Pein and Madara want you so—"
The door slammed open. A tall man with an orange mask and Akatsuki cloak skipped in, followed by Pein.
"Hello!" said the masked man in cheery voice. There was an eerie familiarity to the sound, but I couldn't pin it down. Pein glared at Itachi, Konan, and Deidara with his Rinnegan, and they bowed their heads and stepped back, Itachi looking at me worriedly.
"I would ask exactly what your purpose in here is, but now is not the time. Our business is with her." He pointed at me with a bored expression on his face.
I stood up in surprise when, suddenly, a black blur whooshed in front of me. A terrifyingly familiar voice spoke out from behind the mask. "Ayano, my precious little Juubi child. How nice to see you after all this time. Don't you miss me?" He then turned to Itachi, who was squashed against the wall along with Konan and Deidara. "Itachi, friend, I haven't seen you so long. Hmm… the last time was… let's see, I can't remember exactly, but I don't think it was a very pleasant encounter, was it? Hahaha…"
Rage and loss surged through me. I couldn't believe that psychotic Hedgehog had the nerve to show up here after what he did to me.
"Shut the hell up! What do you want, Hedgehog? I'm done with your sick, twisted torture games! Really, I never want to meet the people who raised you! Or what, did you kill them too? I wo—" I was so angry at him, for all that he'd done, and my anger was fighting its way out.
"ENOUGH!" he exploded back at me. This was definitely not the cheery, boyish man from before. This was Madara Uchiha, and an extremely pissed off Madara Uchiha at that. Then Hedgehog suddenly grabbed the front of my shirt with one hand and hauled me up against the nearest wall. With his other hand he pinned my hands above my head. His hand then slipped from the front of my shirt to my neck and I choked as my air supply closed off. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the other three: Konan looked really worried, Deidara like he didn't know what to do, and Itachi like he was having some major difficulties keeping himself from lunging at the other Uchiha and choking him to death.
Hedgehog readjusted his grip so I could breathe, but only slightly. "I've had enough of your mouthing off, my little Juubi girl. Oh, but I'm sorry. You're not a little girl anymore, now are you?" He stepped back slightly and released my hands for a moment to pull off his mask.
I gasped—Hedgehog was… not a hedgehog anymore. He had cut of his huge mass of Hedgehog mane. Also, one side of his face was covered with bandages. On the un-bandaged side, his red sharingan eye shone in the dim light. One thing was certain: this was Madara Uchiha, the man who had tortured my twin and I, and killed Chihiro. By the time I had gotten over the shock of seeing the man that had haunted my dreams for over five years, he had pinned my hands above my head again. Then, his ruby gaze travelled lazily up and down my body.
"Get your hands off me you disgusting, perverted freak!" This made him grin, which only served to infuriate me more, resulting in me screaming and kicking out at the creepy Hedgehog.
"Haha… Yes, you've grown into quite a fine woman, if I do say so myself." Hedgehog still had that smug, perverted smile on his face.
Just as I was preparing another screaming and kicking fit—I was still unable to use any jutsu or chakra—Pein stepped forward. "Madara," he said in a commanding tone, "control yourself. We've wasted enough time already. It's time to begin extracting the Juubi."
Madara hesitated, a strained look on his face. Then, a mucho creepy smirk spread across his face. "Yes… let us begin the extraction of the Juubi. I can't wait to hear your screams, Ayano."
Yeah, cause everyone though that my capture would be all happy and painless and torture-free… yeah right.
Well, crap. I am so screwed.
Author: *gasps* O_O OMG! Madara's so CREEPY! And perverted! And all-around disgusting! I didn't know hedgehogs even could be perverted... Ugh… He's one of the few characters I do not want to come to life…
Madara: Hey, why do you have to go and make me out as the bad, creepy, disgusting, and perverted guy? Huh?
Author: ummm... I don't know... Because you are?
Madara: grrrrrr...
Author: See what I mean? Oh no... He's mad... Itachi help!
Itachi: *looks down at Author* Hn. That's what you get for putting me in this story and making me look like a big softie.
Author: Ah! Runnies! Anyway, please review and all that. Bye-bye for now, my faithful readers!