Disclaimer – I only own my OC's. Why would I own the Naruto characters? If I did the akatsuki would still be alive and Sakura would have died a long time ago .


Chapter One – Look of an Angel

Akuji sat on the stool behind the counter of the small weapons shop. She was tending the store while her onii-san and boss was away. He had told her that he needed to tend to some important business and would be back soon. Though it didn't necessarily mean he'd be back in a timely fashion either, he always knew how to take his time.

Akuji put her head down on the flat surface of the wooden counter. She hated slow days but she rarely complained about them because the days are always slow. The small shop was in the middle of the Tundra of the Land of Snow. People rarely stopped by for their wares but it was the best they could do with the amount of money that they had. For they had set up the little store on the main road to give travelers a better chance to see them. However their works, per say, were more angled towards those that fight on a daily basis and do so for a living like the ninja and mercenaries.

A question that always flew across the young girls mind was that why would most people buy things like this? They looked like they would snap at any moment and most were ancient. Though her big brother was specialized in repairing the old things to a better condition than they were brought in, bought, or found. Those were our main selection for the rare collectors that come around every so often. We have another secret collection if you will. Weapons made for the ninjas and fighters were hidden and you had to ask specifically for them.

Sighing the young girl shifted on the stool. That small shift and shudder made a strand of her platinum white hair fall out of place. It hung right in front of her left eye and she playfully glared up at the stubborn strand. She attempted to blow it out of her face so she would not have to move, but it just fell back in a more annoying fashion. She sat up and used her gentle touch to place it behind her ear. It barely stuck into place. Her hair was shoulder length, and her bangs barely made the length where she could safely tuck it behind her ears and out of the way.

Akuji, for one who never met her before and caught her sleeping, could be mistaken for a life-sized doll. Her skin was a very pale white, giving her the appearance of one who was stuck inside for most of their natural life. Her platinum, white hair was ruffled a bit, like it was layered and intentionally irritated so the strand stuck out in random directions. Though it gave her a cute appeal, when she walked in the sun it gave off a sort of light metallic blue sheen. Her eyes were an intelligent, crystal blue that hid her innermost thoughts very, very well. They were the eyes of one who had lived their life to the fullest and for some unknown reason just gave up, after something had effected their way of thinking and nothing was the same. The crystal orbs made her look older than she really was which was a contrast to her body, which was almost childlike. Despite her appearance, she herself was only seventeen.

She shook her head in a drowsy pattern, and she blinked slowly. With a huff, she hopped off the stool and had begun heading into the back to make herself a cup of tea. Just as she was about the pass through the thin curtain separating the store from the back and her boss's personal quarters a cold breeze brush her ankles causing her to shiver. A soft ding accompanied the chill, telling Akuji that customers have entered the small shop. Deep in her mind she had wished they were actually here to look for wares rather than ask for a bathroom like the ones that came through. As she turned to look, she had seen that two men had walked through the entrance.

One was greatly taller than the other and Akuji could already tell that he was the more intelligent. His eyes were gazing around the small shop slowly, looking for something in particular. He also was wearing an outfit suited for the weather. Wearing a white hood and a black facemask he was the one that looked prepared for the storm brewing outside. The hood bore his headband on it, and craved in the metal was the sign of the hidden waterfall village. The scratch across it shown that he was a rogue, but that didn't bother her, she had people like that all the time come in. From under the mask she could tell that he had a brown tinted skin and his eyes were beautiful. Red where the white should and his iris was green with no pupil.

His partner was definitely not as observant as he was. The silver haired, albino man was walking slowly around, gazing with a bored expression at the weapons that lined the walls. His hair was just short of shoulder length and it looked as though he used over a half a bottle of hair gel to make it stick. He had beautiful magenta eyes, and his cheeks were a rosy color that stuck out from the rest of his face. Akuji had noticed that the man had no shirt on and thought him crazy. She had also noticed he looked like an angel, his gentle looking face had helped his thought. Akuji couldn't help but blush…

The only thing that the two had in common was the cloak draped across their shoulders. The main cloth was black, with embroidered red clouds. The other thing she noticed was the shorter man was staring in her direction with an impatient smirk plastered across his face. Then after she caught his eyes he growled and looked over to his partner.

"What the fuck are we doing here Kakuzu?" The albino man snapped in his velvet like voice. She blinked as the curse flowed out of his mouth so easily. She realized he may look like an angel but his language was certainly anything but angelic. "We shouldn't be stopping at this lame little store. We need to get going rather than stopping to look at this shit," he mumbled as he flicked a specialized kunai hanging on the wall. The force of his touch made the small knife sway back and forth a few times before hitting the ground with a clank. Akuji forced herself to let out a tiny smile as she slowly approached the two larger men. Her heart was beating rapidly and her breathing was becoming more and more shallow.

"Can I help you?" Akuji asked quietly when she arrived before them. She couldn't help but be intimidated by them. Her hands were folded neatly in front of her and she forced herself not to flinch as the two turned to her direction.

"Yeah, the fuck you can-" The silver haired man started but a silent glare from his partner caused him to go quiet. The larger man, apparently whose name was Kakuzu, then looked down at the small woman.

"You sell old and repaired weapons here correct?" His deep voice boomed as he towered over her. She looked around at the shelves and nodded slowly. "Then I'm assuming that you collect them from the area and buy them off of people, do you not?" She focused her gaze on him and again nodded slowly. "Then you wouldn't have happened to pick up a large, red, three bladed scythe have you?"

His partner, which was now staring daggers at the large man, finally seemed to catch on to what he was getting at. He took in a deep breath before he blew a gasket and managed to calm himself before speaking. For once he seemed to realize that scaring the young shop tender would not help them any. "Yeah, have you seen the damn thing?" He turned so that both the men were now bearing down on Akuji. She forced herself not to tremble. "Some mother fucker snuck up on us while we were sleeping. We almost had him but he managed to paralyze us and ran off with it."

Recognition flashed through Akuji's eyes for a moment when she recognized Daren-sama's technique. That must have been what he went out for, but something wasn't right. He should have been back by now. She blinked then shook her head, returning her gaze to the two men. "No, sir. I haven't seen anything like that." Akuji didn't notice but the larger man had seen her recognition and narrowed his multicolored eyes dangerously at her. Turning towards the door, he motioned at his partner.

"Come, Hidan." Kakuzu muttered darkly. "We will get no further standing here any longer. It's not here." He walked towards the door, waiting for his partner to follow.

With a small sigh of relief, the albino turned towards Kakuzu. "About fucking time. I'm not leaving this area until we find the fucking thing." Kakuzu rolled his eyes and cleared his throat. "Yeah, yeah you old shit, I'm coming." Hidan looked at Akuji one more time and smirked before following his partner. Another cool breeze rolled through the shop again followed closely by a small ding, and the two men disappeared into the snowy night.

Akuji stood frozen in place for a long while, staring at the door where the two men disappeared. Why did they have this effect on her? The two made her want to run and hide but yet, there was something more. Something hidden under the profane curses and sadistic smirk. She shook her head not liking the feeling the albino had on her. She let out a sigh and walked over to the fallen kunai. She reached down and picked it up, staring at the thing before placing it back where it belonged.

She blinked her eyes tiredly and walked over to the door and lipped over the 'now open' handmade, sign on the door and now it read, 'sorry closed." After she had done that, she slowly walked behind the counter and into the back room. She filled up a small teakettle and placed it on the small stove. She sat on a chair thinking to herself. Keeping her gaze on the wall she sat still and unmoving. Only when the teakettle started it's annoying whistling did she move, though only to glance up at it.

Sighing, she stood about twenty seconds later and poured the hot brew into a small cup when she heard the front door swing open with the annoying chime. A smile touched her face when she heard her onii-san has finally come home. Peeking out the doorway like a little kid waiting for their mother, she grinned when she seen the bundled up mesh of human standing before her.

Daren had returned, shouldering a rather large package with him. His cheeks were a rosy color, along with his nose. His blonde bangs hung over his right eye, hiding it completely from view. His bangs gave the impression his hair was quite long, however it was short in the back. His left eye was uncovered, proudly showing off its intelligent, bright green coloring. His chest was heaving from the cold run he had just come back from. Akuji shook her head she he took off the large jacket he was wearing. As he did that, he revealed a long sleeved fish net, partly covered by a black vest. His black pants matched the rest of his outfit perfectly. When he seen her, a playful grin finished off his appearance.

She smiled back at him looking his familiar appearance. One would say he would be sexy or hot, but to Akuji he was just her onii-san, her big brother. He had just reached the age of twenty a few months ago and she had been with him for thirteen of those years. She sometimes wondered why girls went so crazy over him since he wasn't seen as a sex interest to her.

Narrowing her crystal orbs at him, she huffed, crossing her arms. Daren looked at her with a confused expression then busted out in laughter. "I had no other choice, Ji-chan." He looked at her innocently. "Besides it was worth it." He said motioning at the package lying on the floor.

"It's no excuse." Akuji said as she walked back into the small kitchen. Since there was enough water for the both of them she poured another cup of tea. Picking the small cups up, she walked back out behind the counter. She put them down and slid one over towards him, sipping on the other cup of liquid. "Why didn't you wait until the blizzard was over? At least you would have not frozen yourself half to death."

"One, I hid it last night and wanted to grab it before the real owners found it." He grinned as he picked up the large package. A small dread began to grow in her chest. "Two, if I had waited, the blizzard would have hidden it under the snow it so kindly gave us. Then I would have never found it."

Akuji shook her head as he began to unwrap it slowly. "Yeah, yeah onii-san." She only regarded him as onii-san when they were alone, other wise it would have been Daren-sama. She hated calling him that, but he had black mailed her into it. He continued to unwrap the large package, and eventually its contents were revealed. As she thought Daren was leaning over a large, three bladed scythe. As he was leaning over it gave her a good view of his right eye and shuddered.

She had never liked the thing. Both the iris and the area around it was pitch black. The pupil was a bright red, silted like a cat's. It was a permanent side effect to over using his kekkai genkai too much. Akuji shook her head to get rid of the spine chilling feeling that the eye gave her.

When he stood back up to his full height, his hair returned to its position. He smiled gently at her as he walked over to the young woman. He stopped in front of her, ruffled her hair, and then sat down next to her. "Why don't you go home Ji-chan?"

"I should but I want to help you out." Akuji smiled as she reached up and fixed her hair. She grinned at him to try and deceive him, but her eyes gave her away since they were half closed. She almost looked drunk as she nodded at the weapon drowsily.

Daren smiled at her gently. "No my little Ji-chan." He cooed softly as he stood to his full height. He was at least a foot taller than the young woman, but that wasn't surprising considering she was only 5'2. "Go home and get some sleep. You've been here all day." Akuji nodded slowly in agreement. "Besides tomorrow I have a surprise for you."

Akuji nodded again in an almost robotic motion. She stood up drowsily and wobbled over to the coat rack. With a yawn she reached up, grabbed her winter cloak and threw it over her shoulders, putting the hood up. She turned and gave Daren a warm, loving smile before she opened the door letting the cold breeze roll through the shop. With a sigh she disappeared in the darkness.


Alright there's my first chapter. I know it started out slow but its going to pick up soon. I hope you enjoyed it!

Please Review, it helpe me write faster.