AN: I decided to post this today, as well... if that isn't already obvious enough. I apologize for the boring-ness of the last chapter, and the length of this chapter (it's shorter). Yeah, nothing much to say.
Disclaimer: Once again, I am on a fan-fiction site.
Taken
"Quiet, it's okay. I won't hurt you as long as you do as I say."
It was a woman's voice, which helped Kazuki calm down a little, but the voice was still unfamiliar. She stopped struggling, and the woman let go. She turned around to see the outlines of two cloaked figures against the moonlit window. One was the same woman that had been restraining her. Barely visible was the outline of a flower in her hair. The other was that of a man, but he seemed to look more like a hologram... if that was possible.
"Who are you? Why are you here?" she asked staring at them.
"We are here to take you away from here," the woman told her, "you have two minutes to gather the things you want, and after that we are leaving."
"Um, do I have any choice in this?"
"No. We will take you by force if we have to. Now hurry, we're already running late."
"May I ask where you're taking me?"
"I can't explain it, but you may not get a chance to come back here for a very long time."
"O... kay... then..."
Kazuki hurried and grabbed her backpack. Her sketch pad, pencil, notebook, and wallet were still inside it, and to that she added several sets of clothing.
She walked over to her bookshelf. The picture was in the very center. After looking it over for a short moment, she decided to stuff that in her pack as well.
'It's the only thing I have left of him... besides this necklace... I should take it.'
Her jacket was in the very corner. It wasn't cold, but if she was going to be gone for that long...
"Are you ready?" The woman interrupted Kazuki's thoughts.
"Um, yeah. I guess."
Kazuki noticed the man had not said anything yet, and wondered why he had been so quiet all this time. It was almost like he was just supervising, making sure that she agreed to come along.
'His eyes... what's with them? They... aren't normal... Who exactly are these people?'
"Leader-sama is late," Sasori noted, "Those two shouldn't be keeping us waiting so long."
"They will come soon," Deidara replied, "They normally aren't late, hm."
"This person they're bringing is supposed to have a lot of potential," A hologram Kisame pointed out.
"I heard that the brat is from that fucking experimental anti-ninja place," Hidan's hologram butted in, "That doesn't sound very promising to me."
"Yes, supposedly this person has never undergone any sort of training before," Deidara said back, "can someone really become that powerful with such a late start in shinobi techniques, hm?"
"Well, whether they can or not, I can't keep waiting any longer," Sasori complained.
"Good, because you don't have to." Pein's voice sounded from the back of the cave. Konan was with one of his bodies, and following them was a young girl, looking about seventeen. She was wearing a black short skirt with knee-high gray-and-black striped leggings, and a simple black long-sleeved shirt. Her long hair was flowing in the gentle breeze that could be felt from outside.
"You're kidding me!" Hidan blurted out, "This is the girl?"
"Don't underestimate her, Hidan. Locked inside of her is the most powerful weapon we could hope for. It will be a perfect tool for us."
'Wait a second.... tool?! What do you mean tool?! What's going on, why am I here?! Well... I guess I should stay quiet for now. These guys seem pretty powerful. Who knows what they are capable of!'
"At any rate," the leader continued, "the reason I asked you to come here in person, Deidara, Sasori, was so that you could take her in for training for a while."
"We have to train her?" The guy with blond hair spoke up. "Why us, hm?"
"Because everyone else is busy fulfilling their duties. I will move her around onto different teams, later. Aside from training, she will also be helping with the missions that I assign you."
"Fine then," the large, hunchbacked one stated.
"All right. Meeting dismissed."
All except the two that spoke up before, basically all the holograms and the blue-haired woman had disappeared in a matter of seconds. Should she speak up to the two remaining, ask them what was going on? Or should she stay quiet? She wasn't sure, having never been in this kind of situation before.
'Well, it can't hurt to try...'
"So, um... what exactly is going on?"
"Were you even paying attention to what leader-sama was saying before?" the hunchback snapped at her.
"Well, that doesn't mean I know everything about this situation. Sorry for wondering why the heck I'm here." Kazuki said the last sentence sarcastically, but not meaning to inflict annoyance.
"You're testing my patience. Hurry up and get to sleep. You're going to have a very long, hard day tomorrow."
"Does this mean I have to sleep on the rock-hard floor? Not that I'm complaining, just wondering."
"Yes. Quit talking already, sheesh."
"Hmph."
So far, from what she could tell, he wasn't very friendly. She would make a mental note later to not bother him. But the other had hardly spoken. He was quiet… so far.
Kazuki was woken by a loud blast coming from the direction of the cave entrance and a splash of water to the face. Although it hadn't surprised her, the water was cold, and the slight breeze coming from outside didn't help with her shivering. However, she easily ignored the cold temperature enough to sit up and figure out what was going on.
"Are we being attacked?"
Of course, in this new world, that was her first instinct.
"No," Sasori stated, "you've overslept. You're late for your training."
"Sorry to make you wait, Sasori-sensei."
Today would be her sixth day since being taken from the orphanage. Her sixth day of training, and that would mean even more hard work.
She stepped outside into the light, and Deidara was there waiting for her on top of the hill. He had been pretty nice to her since she had come, telling her that he too had once been forced to join the Akatsuki. But it still wasn't the same. She wasn't a member, she was simply in training. And perhaps she would never become a member, never become of any use to them, just lingering around them… then, what would have been the purpose of her coming here in the first place?
Whatever. That wasn't the point. She had to do this, whether she liked it or not… but it could be nice sometimes. Deidara was nice to her, and Sasori could be okay… sometimes. She hadn't met anyone else yet, but hoped none of them were too irritable. The training was tough, a lot of work, and since she had no one to compare herself to, she had no clue how well she was doing. Deidara told her she was advancing quite fast, but she wasn't sure whether to take his word for it.
At their break later that day, Kazuki decided to bring out her sketchbook. This was the first time she had taken it out since coming here, but she missed drawing. Besides, after listening to Sasori and Deidara argue about what true art was, she had felt the urge to draw. Singing was also something she missed. She hoped her voice hadn't been too neglected in the past week. It seemed like it had been forever since she had done anything artistic, especially after hearing the other two mutter to themselves about art-this and art-that. Today would be a good opportunity to get some alone time.
AN: I need some more ideas for disclaimers... also, could you tell me what size chapters you like? For instance, should I combine two chapters into one from now on? Let me know what you think.
The little green button is your best friend!!! XD
