Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or its characters but I do own the characters not mentioned in the Naruto Anime.
The Unwanted One
Chapter 3
"Take her to a room, a proper one. We shall see how this little bird can fly." The Leader chuckled. Itachi moved through the room like he was royalty and took the now unconscious girl to a small room in between his and Deidara's. He would have to keep a closer eye on her, he underestimated her and was proven wrong. If Itachi hated one thing besides weakness, it was being wrong. He laid her down gently and pulled the covers up to her shoulders. Tonight, she would be warm.
When Ari woke, she found she was not in the cell she had been in the night before, but a small bedroom with a proper bed and blankets that kept her very warm. The room was painted a dull yellow with a dark yellow carpet. There was a desk and chair in the corner next to a small window across from the door. She sat up in bed and took in her new surroundings, and she thought back to her home. The yellow paint had reminded her of the old yellow wall paper in the dining room, where she had served many meals to the younger children. She missed them dearly, and wondered if they had given up all hope for ever seeing her alive again.
"Oh my god." She gasped remembering the meeting she had with the Leader, and the man who she killed. She could not remember how she had done it, but it was just like the last time. Her mind drifted to another time and place, where she was happy and young and in love with music. Tears drifted down her face onto the yellow carpet. She had done the same thing the night her parents had been killed.
There came a knock at her door and she got up and opened the door slowly. There in front of her was Deidara, the blonde Akatsuki who had helped her with her clothing yesterday.
"Hey, do you want to go get something you eat? You must be starving, yeah." He smiled and held out his hand. Seeing that she was indeed very hungry, and was essentially a prisoner, she smiled and took his hand in her own.
"Okay." She whispered. They walked down three corridors before they got to a large room with several long wooden tables placed low to the ground with cushions spaced evenly on the floor. Deidara led her to a table in the far back where the other members she had already met were eating. They all stopped eating when she approached, and stared at her. Itachi was the first to look away and start eating, the rest followed his example and dug into their breakfast. Deidara took a seat next to Sasori and motioned for Ari to sit next to him. Kisame was directly across from her and Itachi was next to him. She looked down at a bowl of food she could not identify. Throwing caution to the wind she decided she would rather eat what ever it was in the bowl than starve. She looked around for a fork, but was rewarded with a pair of wooden chopsticks.
"oh great" she said to herself. She picked them up and tried to imitate Deidara's handling of the instruments. They fell into her bowl when she tried to pick up something with them. Groaning in frustration she tried again. The others were now watching her interestedly, and she began to get redder and redder.
"Do you need help?" Kisame chuckled lightly. Ari picked up her head and gave a sheepish smile.
"I cant say I have ever used these before." She blushed.
"Do your people eat with their hands?" Sasori asked disgustedly.
"No! we have forks and knives and spoons." She was met with blank stares. "They are just different kinds of eating utensils." She picked up the chopsticks and tried again. This time she got the food halfway to her mouth before they fell from her grasp. All the men started chuckling at this point. Even Itachi cracked a smirk. Giving up on all lady-like behavior, she put the bowl to her lips and used one chopstick to shovel the food into her mouth. She was too hungry to care and the food was actually very good.
Once she was done making a fool of herself she set the bowl down and looked around the room. There were other members just staring at her. She found this very disconcerting and looked back to her empty bowl.
"The Leader says you are to start training. Because you are so old, the training will be every day for many hours. You need to learn to control your strength." Itachi stated in his deep bored voice.
"Training? What exactly am I training for?" Ari's eyes met Itachi's for a brief second before she looked away. Those eyes scared her to the core.
"You killed a member of Akatsuki, you must now join or be killed." Itachi answered her calmly. "You have no where to go, no way to get back to where you came from. You could die or live. Its your choice."
Ari thought about this deeply, he was right. She didn't know anyone here except these people. She didn't want to die, but didn't fancy spending her whole life killing people. Deciding that it was probably best for now to remain with the Akatsuki, she nodded her head.
"Good. You will train every morning at two until six with Sasori. You may eat at seven, but you begin you training with Deidara at eight until noon. You may eat lunch at one, and train with Kisame from two to six. Dinner at seven and then you will train with me from eight until whenever I decide you may leave." Itachi handed her a piece of paper with names, times and rooms in which she would have to be every day. She was horrified with the amount of work she would have to be put though.
"What exactly will I be learning?" she asked quietly.
"Anything we feel you need to learn." Sasori answered calmly.
"Chakra control, balance, strength training, different kinds of jutsu, and whatever else we think you can benefit from, yeah." Deidara finished, with a bit more clarity than Sasori. Although she had no idea what chakra, or jutsu was, she could guess that her training would be like that of a navy seal.
"Okay, when do I begin?" she looked at Itachi.
"At two am. Sasori will come and get you." Itachi stood from his seat on the ground and walked quietly out of the room.
"Well, he isn't much of a conversationalist, is he?" Ari asked no one in particular, and no one answered.
"You will need new clothes." Sasori stated suddenly. "Deidara, will you take her to Cloud and get necessary items she may need?"
"Sure, I need to get a new pair of sandals anyway." He smiled at her and stood. She followed and they left the room with all eyes on her back.
"What do you think?" Kisame took a sip of his sake. "Is she the one?"
"I have no idea, but if she is, we will need to keep a close eye on her. I thought she was weak, but I underestimated her, and she called me on it." Sasori stood from the table and walked away from the table. He knew she was the one, the prophesy was true.
"So where do we go first?" Ari was glad to be out of the Akatsuki camp and into a real town. A very strange town that seemed to be a mix of china town in New York and the middle ages, but a town none the less.
"Shoes, yeah." Deidara guided her to a small shop and they entered. There were many different kinds of shoes to choose from. Ladies shoes (which looked like a very old, very warped version of stilettos) big work boots, sandals of every shape, size, and color, and even shoes that look like torture devices for feet. Deidara chose brown sandals, much like the ones he was wearing. She moved through the selection and found a pair of small lace boots with a small heel. They looked like a mix between biker boots and hiking boots. She tried them on and found, not only did they fit, but they were comfortable! Deidara looked at her strangely for her choice but didn't say anything against it.
Next was pants shirts and undergarments. Deidara insisted on her trying everything on and making sure that it fit and that she was able to move freely. When it came to the underwear she flat out refused to show him. With a sigh and a shrug he resigned his efforts of trying to see the young woman in only underwear.
When they got back, after four hours of shopping, she went to her room to unpack her new things. She couldn't believe she had spent such a long time shopping! She had never spent so much time on herself before, and she thought it was kind of nice.
"Ugh noon, guess I should try and find something to eat." Her stomach grumbled in response. She started walking and slowly realized, she had no idea where the hell she was going. Trying not to panic, she asked a passing Akatsuki for directions. He looked at her in disgust and walked away. 'Oh dear' she said to herself.
"Lost?" She jumped when she heard a large booming voice behind her. Kisame laughed at her startled reaction and started walking away.
"Well, do you want to eat or not?" he asked and she got the hint. Ari paid attention to where they were going this time and was pretty confident that she would be able to find it on her own again.
At one thirty, she was awoken by an alarm clock placed in her room, presumably while she was shopping. She got out of bed and went into the small bathroom next to her bed. Taking a quick shower and brushing her teeth, she started to wake herself up and start mentally preparing herself for the day. She was dressed and ready by two, when Sasori came to get her. They went outside in a large courtyard, where there were no trees and very little grass.
"Sit." Sasori ordered calmly. She obeyed and sat Indian style on the ground.
"Today you will learn to summon Chakra. Close your eyes." She did and felt him sit down behind her. "Imagine all of your energy, your emotion, your life into a ball." Not wanting to disappoint her new teacher, she tried to do what he asked.
"Try and relax." He said and he grabbed her arms with his powerful hands. She tensed automatically, but then forced her muscles to go limp under his fingers.
"Good. Now I am going to try and bring your chakra to the surface. Keep focused on the ball." She thought deeply about the ball of her life force and slowly felt a strange tingling sensation in her skin. It started rising out of her skin and seemed to be all around her. She focused on the tug of her energy coming out of her body, and then it was sent back into her. She opened her eyes and turned to see Sasori. He smiled gently and asked, "Do you think you can recreate that feeling again on your own?"
"I can try." She closed her eyes and focused on the ball of energy deep within her. Slowly she felt the tingling sensation again and the energy creeping up towards the surface. When she was sure she had recreated the exact sensation Sasori had helped her achieved before, she brought it back down into her again. When she opened her eyes, she found that she was drenched in sweat and the sun was rising. She knotted her brow in confusion and looked at Sasori.
"How long have I been doing that?" she started to stand, but found her legs much weaker than they should have been.
"Four hours." He said calmly. You did not notice the time because you were deep in meditation. That was good for today, you may go and eat." She stiffly walked to her room and took a quick shower before she went to the mess hall for breakfast.
"Block, left cross, right cross, block." Deidara said over and over until Ari got used to the rhythm. He was teaching her hand to hand combat. Today was, as he said, simple. It was far from simple for someone who had never learned any kind of self defense.
"Good. Now you got the hang of it, go faster yeah." Deidara smiled at her horrified face.
Ari sighed and picked up her pace. By lunch she was getting faster at striking and blocking, but the bruises on her body were far too many than she would have liked.
Again she went to her room, now stiff and aching and showered quickly before going to eat.
"Your aim is pitiful. You throw like a girl. The target is over THERE!" Kisame roared at the flustered and now angry girl.
"I know my aim sucks, I AM a girl, and I can see the target just fine now get off my BACK!" she hollered back and threw two kunai which hit the target in the middle. She gasped and then a gleeful smile spread across her face.
"I DID IT!" she jumped up and down in happiness.
"About time. Now do it four hundred more times." Kisame drawled moving to sit under a tree. Ari's good mood was short lived and she went to retrieve the two kunai.
Now dinner time, Ari trudged to her room, now stiff, bruised, and very sore. She showered AGAIN and went off to dinner.
"Why do you shower so much? You are only going to get dirty." Kisame saw her wet hair and took another sip of his sake.
"I like being clean. If it bothers you I suppose I could go roll in the mud a bit." Ari regretted the words as soon as they came out of her mouth and she raised her hand to her mouth in embarrassment.
"I'm sorry, I'm usually never this sarcastic. I guess I am just tired." She blushed and looked at Kisame, who didn't look like he cared if she called his mother a whore.
"Whatever. Just means your getting a backbone." He went back to his drink and she quickly finished her meal.
"Um, Itachi? What are we going to do today?" she asked timidly. She was tired and needed to know if she should prepare herself for another beating. Itachi looked up and smirked slightly. Immediately Sasori and Deidara exchanged worried looks. Even Kisame looked troubled.
"Good luck girl." Sasori said as he left the table
"It was nice knowing you, yeah." Deidara left as well
"Sucks for you." Kisame snorted and left, leaving Ari with a really bad feeling.
"Come." Itachi said firmly, and she obeyed. They walked down the corridor towards her room. Confused she followed closely behind him. He stopped at a room, next to her own, on the left. He unlocked it and walked in. she stopped in the doorway looking around the room. It was dark, very dark. The walls were grey and the carpet and bed coverings were black . His bathroom door was closed and he had a small mahogany desk in the corner.
"Come in and close the door." He went to the window and opened it halfway. She stepped into his room and closed the door.
"Lay on the bed and relax." He took off his cloak and put it on the desk.
"Why?" she was nervous about being in his room… alone… and he was telling her to lie on his bed.
"You will put under mind control by at least one enemy in your life, maybe more. Most likely by my brother or his teacher. I am going to teach you to block it, but it will hurt and it would be easier for you if you were relaxed top begin with." Ari nodded and sat down on the bed. She eased off her shoes and laid her feet on the bed. Now completely flat on his, very masculine smelling, bed she forced herself to relax for the second time that day. She felt him move around the bed to the side she was laying on.
"Open your eyes." He demanded and she did as he asked. Her violet eyes met his sharingan and she felt herself falling down very fast.
"Mommy! Were going to be LATE!! Little Ane yelled to her mother who was walking down the stair case with all the beauty and grace of the ballet dancer she used to be.
"Arianna, ladies do not shout." She smiled lovingly at her precious daughter. Come now and gather your music and we will be off." Ane smiled and ran off to fetch her music.
Ari gasped and sat up crying. She had not seen her mother in ten years. Itachi looked at her blankly and pushed her back down on the bed.
"You need to try and block these thoughts. Force me out of your head girl." Itachi admonished her.
But she couldn't. Everytime he dug into her head, she would see her parents faces and refuse to push them out of her head. Itachi grew tired with her and forced pictures into her head she had never wanted to see again.
"Mommy! Daddy! Please no!" she pushed hard with her thoughts. All the good images of her parents pushed the bad ones out and she was able to force Itachi out.
"Better." Was all he said. Ari got up and left quickly gathering her shoes on her way.
She took her fourth shower of the day, crying the whole time.
