Hours had passed since her run in with the leaf shinobi; it gave her plenty of time to think as she jumped through the trees. She really didn't want to be apart of the Akatsuki anymore, it appeared to be a losing fight.
"What a nuisance this is..." She sighed, stopping for the time being, "Kakuzu, Hidan, probaby Tobi and Deidara..." Miko counted off on her fingers, her stomach twisting at Deidara's name, "Who knows who might die ne-"
"Wah! Ms. Miko you're alive!" She was knocked off the branch she was on by Tobi from, who had his arms and legs clamped around her as they fell to the ground. "I'm so glad you survived the blast too!" He cried as they hit the ground hard.
Miko struggled against his grip, not happy that he knocked her down to the ground, "Let me go, you idiot!" it took a few moments of struggling before she was freed from him, "You didn't have to tackle me!" She was rightfully angry, "I've told you time and time again to not do that!"
Tobi covered his head, cowering almost, "I'm sorry! When I found out Deidara had died I was worried that you did!"
"I got away before he detonated, where the hell have you been?"
"Deep underground! It was the safest place to be when I saw the blast coming!"
Something about that explanation didn't seem right; it felt... off.
Miko picked herself up and patted herself down, "If you could see the blast, you should have been dead or missing a chunk of your body Tobi, your excuse is bullshit."
"I swear I'm telling the truth! I'm not a liar!" Tobi got up and panicked, his hands waving around frantically as he tried to defend himself, "I'm a pro-escape artist! So it's not unheard of for me to be able to get out of bad situations!"
"Bullshit! That explosions lasted several seconds and left a crater, how the hell did you survive Tobi?" She grabbed his collar, pulling him down to her eye level. The moment she made eye contact with his semi visible eye through the hole in his mask she immediately back off, stepping away.
"What the hell was that?" Miko swore for half a moment she saw a Sharingan, "Explain that!"
The aura around Tobi immediately changed, it went from his usual light-hearted feel to intimidating and cold. "You should have just accepted my answer." His voice was completely different; it sent a chill down her spine. He took a step towards her, she took a step back. "Four people now know my secret; three of which I can trust. You know, the number four is a bad luck number. Maybe I should get rid of you to make sure you don't cause me any bad luck in the future."
This was bad, really bad. This wasn't the Tobi she knew; the guy was an absolute idiot. Whoever this was; they were bad news. Miko has experienced killing intent but this was beyond what she's ever experienced.
"I knew something was off when you were brought in-. You we too laid back and incompetent-." Miko narrowed her eyes, ready for him to make the first move. "Just who the hell are you?"
Tobi only continued to walk towards her as she backed away before suddenly disappearing. Miko broke out into a cold sweat, kunai in hand now for the attack. She didn't like this feeling at all. It wasn't until seconds later she knew where he was but it was too late, Tobi's foot connected to her back and sent her flying through a tree. The force of the kick and impact disoriented her long enough for Tobi to get another kick in, sending her flying up into the air next. Miko felt she was going to vomit but gathered her bearings enough mid air to block his punch; getting in a kick of her own to his chest.
Miko landed hard on her side but was quick to get up to block the sword aimed for her side, looking up for a swift moment to parry his sword away. She used one hand to perform a set of hand sign, inhaling deeply before exhaling ice senbon needles at him. Each senbon went through him as if he was a genjutsu.
"What the hell-." She kicked him away, or tried to as her foot went through him. She didn't waste any time flipping back out of the way to get away from him. Miko needed to get out of this fight fast or she wasn't going to make it out alive. All she could do for now is run and block any attacks her way. She let out a loud cough, a metallic taste filling her mouth as he ran.
Fear coursed through her as Tobi kept coming after her, he was hellbent on killing Miko no matter what.
"Whats wrong Miko? Why aren't you fighting back?" He called out, "It's funny to think you assumed you could take me on!" Tobi began to throw out a barrage of kunai and shuriken as he chased after her
Miko dodged the best she could, the weapons slicing through her cloak and whipping past her face. Eventually she shed her cloak, using it as a diversion to swing around a massive tree to throw Tobi off. She held her breath when she heard him pass, only letting it out when she was sure that he was far enough, immediately turning to run in the other direction. However, she was wrong, dead wrong as she saw him; a sharp feeling shooting through her abdomen. A rough cough tore through her as she looked down; he'd impaled her on a rod.
"That was almost cute, you're terrible with concealing your chakra you know?" Tobi twisted the rod harshly, ripping another cough from her as blood dripped out of her mouth.
A faint grin spread over her face, "C-cute that you assumed I was trying to-." it was quickly revealed that it was an ice shadow clone.
Tobi sucked his teeth before ripping the rod from the ice, "So she's not completely stupid." he turned his head at the moment the real Miko's foot came crashing into his mask, breaking a chunk of it off before disappearing once more.
"Don't underestimate your opponent! First rule you should have learned in the academy!" Miko's voice could be heard.
Soon the air temperature quickly dropped and snow began to fall quickly around him, it was her blizzard jutsu once again. He's seen this song and dance before; he wasn't phased in the slightest as he walked through the storm, searching for Miko. Stop the user, stop the jutsu; his only issue was he couldn't see past all the chakra filled snow whirling around him.
"Now now, you can't honestly believe I will fall for this?" Tobi raised his hands up and gave a faint laugh, "you're so predictable."
"You haven't even seen phase two of this!" Before Tobi could react, a flash of black and blue went past him, the sleeve of his cloak tearing.
"Oh?"
The flash of black and blue continued, the cuts becoming deeper and deeper. However Tobi began to pick up a pattern with her attacks and it wasn't long before he managed to grab her by the hair and slam her down into the ground, but that was also a snow substitution.
"Keeping your distance and making clones I see, how many can you make while keeping this jutsu up?" Each time there was a flash, he would immediately destroy the clone. However it was exactly what Miko wanted.
Her snow acted in two ways, it gave her the ability to move as fast as she wanted, but it could also deplete an enemy's chakra supply the longer they stayed in the storm. Miko just needed to keep it up long enough to disorient him so she could make a proper escape, but if only that's how things went.
"I'm tired of entertaining this game of yours."
"Who said I was playing?!"
Tobi had vanished from inside of the storm, which put Miko on high alert once more. She felt pain shooting through her body; immobilizing her. Miko looked behind her and there Tobi was standing over her with two black rods going through her body. She was over eight meters away from him, how did he pinpoint her location so fast? She was hidden in very thick shrubbery, there was no way he could have seen her at such a distance. Within moments her jutsu disintegrated and one of her arms tried to keep herself standing.
"H-How did you-" Miko covered her mouth as blood oozed past her lips, falling to her knees.
A dark chuckle left Tobi, "As I said before, you're terrible at chakra suppression." He twisted one of the rods in his hand; earning a pain cry from Miko's mouth. "You should have listened, maybe you could have avoided such a death at my hands."
"You know, it's funny really, you had a lot of potential, just like Deidara but you are too brash." he ripped both rods from her body, letting it collapse, "You're pretty resilient, I have to admit. However, this is the end for yo-"
Right as he raised one of the rods in his hand, a kunai knocked it out of his hand before a flurry of them came flying at him; only for them to go right through him.
"Oh?" He looked towards the direction of where they came from; right when he did; Miko was dragged underground immediately with his attention off of her. Things were definitely getting interesting now; just who came to her rescue?
"Put her down quickly!"
"I can't believe someone apart of the same organization as her could do such a thing... Do you think you can save her?"
"If you give me space I can! With what limited supplies I have right now it doesn't look good for her, he ruptured several of her organs with whatever he used on her and she's suffered heavy blood loss."
An array of voices swirled around Miko; she couldn't tell who was talking as she felt a flow of chakra go through her body. It took so much effort to open her eyes enough to see colors and shapes; pink hair and orange clothes. It seemed familiar yet at the same time her mind was too fuzzy to truly think straight enough put the pieces together.
"Its not right that he just tried to take her out like that Sakura! Sure she's the enemy but it was obvious she was at a big disadvantage!"
"I just said I'll do my best! Naruto you need to get out my tent right now and send in Hinata, I need her eyes."
"Right! On it!"
The Konoha shinobi were helping her? What a laugh, they'll probably interrogate her once she's healed up and held prisoner. Dying like this didn't scare her, they were ninjas, their kind died every day over petty squabbles or in things they couldn't control. And yet... she wanted to live, she wanted to get back at Tobi for what he just did to her, even if it meant aligning herself with the enemy.
"Hinata, can you keep an eye on her chakra network while I work?"
"Y-yes, I can do that!"
Miko started to feel sleepy, everything felt heavy as she began to lose consciousness; despite everything she felt warm. She didn't know if it was due to Sakura healing her but it felt... nice. Everything started to slow down for her; rewatching all of her best and worst moments as her mind became more blurry. As the events in her head continued to play, a familiar long haired blonde filled her vision. Laughter, arguments, fighting together, and with each other; all of it put a weak smile on her face before an explosion filled her mind, then a tear went down her cheek.
Maybe, just maybe, she'll see Deidara in the afterlife or meet him in another life. That wouldn't be so bad, would it?
"How's it looking Sakura?" Kakashi was waiting outside of her tent. He noticed the snowstorm in the forest before the others did when it had started; something just didn't feel right.
It started then ended too abruptly; Naruto ended up running towards the source of it all and saw one Akatsuki with a broken orange mask standing over the other member with the killing blow ready. Kakashi had followed after him, unprepared for the sight before him.
Luckily for Miko, Kakashi was a quick thinker and had Naruto create a distraction while he saved the dying Akatsuki.
Sakura made a face, sighing faintly, "She's stable but, we need to get her to a hospital; my field kits can only do so much. Isn't there one not too far away from here? If we hurry I can definitely save her, Kakashi-sensei."
"Can we move her? I have no doubt in your abilities but her injuries were life threatening."
"More reason to get her to proper facilities, if you really want me to save her, we need to move as quickly as possible. Sensei, we both know time is valuable. Send Shino with me as backup while you an Captain Yamato head further on."
Kakashi didn't like the idea of losing two members of their party; however, the closest hospital was roughly two kilometers away. It was a hard decision.
"Alright, we'll meet at the upcoming canyon river in two days; that should give you enough time, right?"
Sakura gave him a firm nod, "It'll leave me tight on time but once I know she's in the clear, I'll head to where you were going."
"I'll tell Shino the plan, get packed up and her ready to be moved."
"Yes Kakashi-Sensei!"
"I'll kill him! I can't believe he did that to her, hm!"
"Now you know why I chose you as part of my plan. Kisame is too devoted to the organization, Zetsu is also, Pein and Konan are pawns also. You are the only one left who has no direct ties to any of this."
"I just, why couldn't we tell her? She would have understood the situation! Right now she's in the Leaf's hands, hm!"
"Not with Tobi so close to you, he would have known you were aware. We'll retrieve her when she's in the clear, for now we stick to the plan."
A disgruntled noise came from the other, "Fine, only because I don't plan on letting them keep her, hm."
Beep... Beep...Beep
A weak groan left Miko's lips, her head throbbing at the sound to her left. She wasn't dead, that's a surprise; whether it was good or bad, would be decided when she found out where she was.
Beep... Beep...Beep...
She didn't know what was worse, the bitter taste in her mouth or the beeping. Either way, she wanted it to stop. Miko moved to raise her hand, only for it to get caught partially on the way up. She didn't like the clang she heard with it. Eventually she opened her eyes, wincing at the bright artificial lights. There were a number of tubes connected to her body, a heart monitor and an oxygen tank. The room was sterile looking and smelling; Miko hated it.
"Where..." She mumbled, she tried to force herself to sit up, hissing loudly as the surge of pain flooding her system. Soon Miko realized both of her hands were restrained, much to her dismay.
"You shouldn't be moving. You might open your stitches."
"Where am I? Why can't I move?" the taste in her mouth made her cringe at each word she spoke.
"A hospital. We have you restrained for a reason."
Miko finally looked over to the side, pink hair. The other wasn't in her clothes she was in when they met, instead she was in her hospital uniform, "The medic nin... Why did you...?"
"Not right now." Sakura shook her head, "we need you to tell us what happened."
"And what if I don't?"
"I'm not interrogating you, I'm asking as a medical professional." Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose, "How about I release one of your hands and let you sit up for the time being?"
It was a tempting offer, she didn't want to be laying on her back anymore, "...Fine, I agree."
"Good." Sakura wasn't an idiot, she had noticed which hand Miko had originally lifted was more than likely her dominate hand so she went for the other, much to Miko's dismay. "Now talk."
"Gee, thanks." Miko used her now freed hand to force herself into a sitting position, "How long have I been out?"
"A week and a half, we had you transported to Konoha after two days in another hospital. Some...very interesting things had happened... We got word of Itachi Uchiha's death just a few days ago as well.."
Miko's face twisted at the news, obviously not happy with being in enemy territory, even more unhappy with yet another death of who she considered a friend, "The man with the orange mask, Tobi, wasn't who I assumed he was. He isn't this bumbling moron most of us in the Akatsuki thought he was. When he realized I found out what he was, he was set on terminating me. That's basically it, the last thing I fully remember was having a set of rods through my stomach then being pulled underground." She closed her eyes, "Once I'm healed up, I'll be held prisoner won't I?"
"Yes you will." The door to the room suddenly slammed open; revealing Tsunade, Ibiki and Inoichi, "Sakura, you are dismissed." Tsunade stated as she walked in.
"But milady-."
"I said you are dismissed Sakura."
"R-Right-." Sakura flinched at her tone, quickly leaving the room as Tsunade's eyes landed on Miko.
"Never thought I'd see the day a kage would grace me with their presence." Miko pulled at her restraint, openly scowling at Tsunade, "And you brought in the Interrogation and torture force, yippee."
"You can hand over the information we want the easy way or the hard way." Tsunade took a step forward towards the bed, completely stone faced.
"You and your entire village can go to hell. If it's about the plans that the Akatsuki has; I don't know, we are just given missions to do. I'm fairly new so I really don't know anything. If you are so hell bent on knowing, have the Yamanaka check the last eight or so months." Miko spat, "I have no ties to that organization anymore, you might as well just ship me back to Yuki after all of this."
"How do you know we won't just execute you after this?"
"Simple, I am the most wanted kunoichi from the Yukigakure; they want my head, I haven't done anything to Konoha, hell, I hate this place. It's too hot, too sunny, too bright. The shadows is where I belong the best."
"Inoichi." Tsunade started, giving him a knowing look as he gave a nod as he walked over to the other side of the hospital bed.
Before he could even raise his hands to her head she grabbed one of his arms with her free hand, " Only the last nine months ." She hissed, "I will know when you tamper too deep." she shoved his hand away before sitting still.
Inoichi was taken aback at her reaction, raising his hands once more to perform the needed hand seals then placing his hands over her head; closing his eyes in the process. He saw what she had gone through just a week ago; when she saw the sharingan in Tobi's eye, him trying to kill her then the blurry vision she had. He saw her placing flowers where Deidara had died. Then her trying to help him fight Sasuke. He saw their makeup in the snow, then their fight the months prior. He delved deeper, seeing her fighting Kakuzu and Itachi, and losing, when she was to be recruited into the Akatsuki.
He had started to delve even further skipping years to when before she left her home village. Inoichi knew he had his own mission to find out why she had defected, what made her turn.
"Ge_he h_way! You a_ur daug_r! We re_et eve_ helpi_te you!"
' _ko. _ppe_. Can be_sed_aga_mai_nd Jin_riki-'
'Host is showing signs of recovery; she will soon take ANBU test for admittance; much to the Daimyo's pleasure. She will still be under heavy watch for the time bei_.'
'Test of mission was a success, the Host[Miko] has remained in full control of the beast. Signs are showing positive results. The host however is currently under therapy over teammates deaths; their deaths were not in vain for these results'
'..- Miko Hirokei [previously Shiyuko] was a successful host for the snow beast; she has full control over the chakra of it and a high immunity to the cold. Soon we will start testing her stability over it with a false mission that will cause the death of both her teammates; Saiya Daiko and Yukiko Tsuyakuro.'
'Sealing the beast so far has been a success; the host[Miko Shiyuko] shows no signs of rejecting nor does the beast. We will keep a close eye on the host's upbringing to prevent the same mistake the mainland has done with their tailed beast hosts. Tasks; find suitable shinobi willing to raise her as their own while knowing what she is, keep a sealing corps member always near her, consistently test strength of the sealing jutsu to ensure they can not be separated.'
The words flashed over Inoichi's vision before he felt his arms freeze, ripping him straight out of the jutsu.
When he opened his eyes the pale blue lines around Miko's eyes were more pronounced; creating pseudo cracked ice lines over her cheeks. His hands were stuck in ice as it filled the now freezing room. There were large ice shards around said kunoichi; protective almost as she wheezed heavily. She looked sick, her bedding had what looked like blood and stomach bile mixed staining the blanket.
" I told you to not go past it !" She turned, her voice uneven as she ripped her hand from now frozen over cuffs. "You didn't listen!" Despite how sick she felt, anger overrode any pain and nausea she was feeling. Her heart was racing as she saw not only Tsunade but Ibiki launch at her.
She wasn't going to let herself be caught. Miko knew her fight or flight was unneeded but; she wasn't going to let any more secrets be seen. She started to yank tubes and needles out before she looked frantically around the room. In a split moment she jumped out of a open window, quickly making her way out of the hospital.
Soon the whole village was on high alert, notifying all available shinobi to track down and capture Miko. However she wasn't easy to capture; her personal special was stealth; she knew how to hide without an issue. Though it was hard for her when the ANBU stepped in and began searching for her; which started to make her more desperate to make her escape out of the village. Miko had never officially been inside the walls of Konoha, she knew nothing of the layout.
Soon she was back into a dead end, two ANBU at the other end of the path walking towards her. Miko wasn't having it as she leapt into the air, a rock cutting into her foot as she went from rooftop to rooftop. Her foot quickly froze over to prevent herself from leaving a trail, not needing for the leaf to be able to capture her so easily. She saw a way out; the five hokage monument. If what Itachi had told her months prior; behind the monument was an exit only he knew about that went underground. She just had to look for his marker; whatever it was.
It wasn't long before she had a group of shinobi on her tail, some getting too close to comfort.
" HA !" A loud explosion went off behind Miko, stalling her in her tracks as a flash of blonde and white grabbed onto her, scooping her up into their arms and flying off with her.
Miko was too much in shock too say anything as she looked up at the man holding her. What the hell was going on-.
"Did you miss me, hm?" Deidara grinned down at her; in the flesh!
Oh, she was going to kill this man once she got her answers out of him but for now she clung to Deidara like her life depended on it,
i forgot about this and am late posting the earlier chapters lmao
I hope you all like!