Fun fact: Shintaro Waita Banking I named after two of the most prominent ero guro mangakas in the world: Shintaro Kago and Waita Uziga.
For the record I don't claim ownership of anything Diamond Head ever wrote, recorded or performed. Lars Ulrich already rode the asses of Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker into the ground for Napster, I don't need him riding my ass for quoting a band he's not even a part of.
The Akatsuki or at least the other members besides Pain and Zetsu were all off duty for the time being. There was a a large living room area that was furnished with two long black sofas that were arranged in an L formation that were facing a large flatscreen television set. Situated in the middle of the room was a round coffee table. Who new Sasori and Konan made expert interior designers when it came to furniture and placement?
Everyone had to admit it was rather convienent. None of them had to get neck cramps from watching the TV. Deidara however wasn't using the comfortable seating provided since he just liked to stare straight into the TV. The blonde wasn't wearing his cloak at the moment and was dressed in his casual tank top and poofy blue pants with no shoes. He sat on the floor at the coffee table with a bowl of cereal in front of him.
He was watching a channel that focused on business related news. It was early morning and so far him, Kakuzu and Sasori were the only ones awake. Sasori however never slept. Sometimes however he wished he could just to pass by the mundane parts of the night.
The living area was connected to a small kitchen that had a folding table in the center. The table was currently occupied by Kakuzu who had an old calculator that printed off calculations as one put them in and and pulled the lever. Yeah it was old but Kakuzu didn't want to get an electric one since his fingers were already accustomed to the slightly heavy push of the number keys.
Alongside the calculator was the business section of today's paper and a cup of creamed coffee with no sugar.
Kakuzu was currently reading over the print out of the calculator, he too was not wearing his cloak and instead was wearing his black tanktop and a pair of grey sweatpants. Still wore his mask though.
Anyways he'd asked Deidara to watch the business news channel and listen in for a company called "Shintaro Waita Banking". Recently Kakuzu had taken on the business of buying shares and playing the market. He invested it into a private banking fund particularly because they invested into demanding industries and potential money makers. Kakuzu made money when the banking firm collects on their thriving investiments. Kakuzu lost money when the firm made a bad investiment.
Deidara watched the TV without blinking while he shoveled some cereal into his mouth. Suddenly the woman reporting the business news mentioned the banking firm. Deidara raised his hand but still had a mouthful of cereal, "Rickry! Is oh, hmm! (Quickly it's on, hmm)" he spoke over his food.
Kakuzu quickly went beside Deidara and focused. His eerie eyes locked on the screen and became wide as he listened to the news. He started dancing and smacked Deidara on his back causing him to spew out the chewed up cereal.
"Dude, un!" he shouted limiting his voice to prevent waking the others looking back at Kakuzu who was doing an arm pump. Deidara was slightly confused since he didn't have a clue as to how investing worked.
He looked back at the TV while at the same time looking at the mess Kakuzu made him make. Deidara rolled his eyes and went to get the roll of paper towels. While he cleaned up the mess he looked to Kakuzu who was rushing around putting on his shoes and wrapping his cloak around himself.
"What exactly's gotten you so amped, hmm?" Deidara raised a brow as the usually solitary Kakuzu appeared quite overjoyed without containment.
Kakuzu looked to Deidara smiling under his mask, "I just made a vast fortune with a very menial amount of money." he said stopping and regaining his composure, "I'm going off to Amegakure to sell my share and collect my divedend." he finished.
As he started to the entrance he looked to Deidara one last time, "Money never sleeps."
Deidara returned to his cold meal of cereal when Pain walked in from one of the halls.
"Deidara, I need Kakuzu and Hidan. Are they awake yet?"
Deidara turned from his position at the coffee table, "Hn, Kakuzu just left to do some business and Hidan is still asleep." he answered.
"Hmm...Well...Is Sasori available?"
"Pretty sure danna's not busy"
"Excellent, I have a need for both you and Sasori."
Deidara turned from his position with a pouting look, "A mission? But it's our days off!"
Pain raised his hand and closed his eyes, "Don't start complaining, Deidara. It's just a simple interview."
"An interview?"
Pain opened his eyes and straightened his form, "Yes, I've been looking for a new recruit since our main numbers are imbalanced."
"So who's this person we'll be 'interviewing', un?" Deidara raised his eyebrow slyly.
"A potential partner for Zetsu. We don't their name yet but that will be cleared up once we rendevous with Zetsu and the person he's been watching."
Deidara arose from his seated position and went through the hallway to Sasori's room. He knocked on the door repeatedly before the redhaired puppet master opened the the door in a jolt that caught Deidara off guard. His eyes were blank and glassy like usual but his eyebrows were narrowed at the blonde, "What?" he commanded an explaination.
Deidara suddenly felt scramble minded he pointed to the direction he came from, "Well uh...Danna...Leader wants to um...take us on a mission." the stuttered sentence fell from his mouth. Sasori looked at the blonde once more before shutting the door abruptly in his face. Deidara relaxed now that he was out of the agitated view of the scorpion of the red sands.
The door opened abruptly again and Hiruko stepped out in it's hunched form. Sasori controlling Hiruko from the inside, didn't even so much as pass another glance at Deidara. The blonde went to his room and put on his ninja shoes and his cloak. The two were standing in the presence of Pain. The leader passed one of his signature narrow eyed gazes at the two of them before walking off leaving a subtle hint for them to follow. Sasori in Hiruko, looked to Deidara before following the leader. Deidara soon followed suit.
The chocolate skinned teen with crimson hair had vacated Bear Country and was now temporarily residing in Sound Country's marshy forests. Zetsu had long since rejoined with his darker half and dispersed of his white clones which turned into a white sludge and were absorbed into the ground in a matter of hours leaving little trace of his existence in Bear Country. Nobody from any of the other nations dared to step into Sound Country because they would be killed on sight or captured and subjected to experimentation.
Zetsu continued to watch this female, if she indeed was one. She didn't change out of the bandages she had wrapped herself with after disposing of her Konoha nin disguise. She was contented leaning over a fire she'd built for herself with a freshly killed squirrel she'd been roasting over the fire with the kunai that rouge Hoshi nin had thrown into her arm now tied to a stick. Zetsu figured out she was a medical nin to some degree, she was able to heal the gash in her arm by focusing chakra to the affected area. If she becomes part of the Akatsuki then Sasori won't have to dig around the nations and kidnap a medical nin everytime someone got hurt.
Zetsu's thinking was interrupted when he heard a delightful singing voice. It was her's.
"My mother was a witch...She was burned alive...Thankless little bitch...For all the tears I've cried." the chocolate teen sang stopping for a moment to take the roasting squirrel from the fire and taking a bite of the skinned and cooked animal.
"Take her down now...Don't want to see her face...All blistered and burned...Can't hide my disgrace..."
Zetsu soon turned his attention overhead when a large eagle like bird flew over the area. That's not to subtle, his white half thought. He knew it was Deidara and quite possibly Pain riding along with him. Zetsu looked back to the girl who only passed a not so worried glance at the unnaturally large bird. Soon she returned to eating.
Deidara's bird landed some distance away to where Zetsu couldn't see. Zetsu just continued to watch the prize while Deidara and possibly Pain reached his location. At least they were discreet upon their approach on foot since he could see it didn't rouse the possible recruit. The spy turned to see not only Pain and Deidara but also Sasori outfitted in his usual Hiruko puppet armor.
Pain stepped forward and gazed at the teen Zetsu was watching. His eyes narrowed showing obvious disdain when he looked back to Zetsu, "Why are you not following the target" he asked in a tone that subtly told he was not pleased and was about to pulverize Zetsu if he didn't give a suitable answer.
"That is the target leader." the black side chimed confidently. Pain raised a brow. Zetsu took this as his cue to explain things. Pain seemed to grasp this fairly easily though in his mind he was still unsure as to who or what he was dealing with but this uncertainty could be comforted by his powers and the fact that anybody he's faced since the fall of the Sannin and Hanzo have died given the intent to kill them. Though sometimes he was a bit too rough and accidentally killed someone when he didn't mean to do so.
Sasori and Deidara just passed glances between each other listening to Zetsu's story. Sasori looked to Deidara in his hunch form to speak when Zetsu was finished, "I must express my uncertainty in this situation, Deidara. I have a feeling that this person could end being like Orochimaru."
Deidara gave a smirk, "A creepy sex deviant, danna?" he chuckled.
"That's cute, boy." he said in Hiruko's gruff voice emphasizing the word 'boy' as an insult to Deidara who seemed to grin it off.
"I mean the fact that if this...'thing' we are dealing with has already played 3 roles on equally different sides of the espionage game...Much like Orochimaru, what's there to make us believe any different that she's not going to be a quadruple agent and betray us as well?"
Deidara's eyes widened and his face turned solemn and serious before it went back to it's joking smirk. Deidara recalled almost every member of the Akatsuki telling him the betrayal of Orochimaru to the organization but since everyone seemed to acknowledge the event and go into detail, his wary was at a relaxed level compared to Sasori.
"Because, danna..." Deidara started before looking to his partner with a psychotic grin, "I don't believe we are stupid enough to make the same mistakes twice.", he finished.
Sasori let out an uncertain sigh at his partner's statement though in his mind he was comforted by it. He'd never admit to it though.
Pain took action. He poofed away in a cloud of smoke and appeared in the open, to the view of the girl. The crimson haired girl seemed to freeze upon his arrival but slowly stood up and stood sideways to the Akatsuki leader in a semi ready position to fight. She noticed the cloak he wore and the headband with the scratched out symbol.
"Who are you?", she said in an unnaturally calm tone.
Pain leveled his ringed eyes on the girl's eyes, which were a blood red color exactly the same as her hair.
"I'm the leader of the criminal organization, the Akatsuki. I am called Pain.", he said in monotone.
"From Amegakure, right?", she questioned recalling hearing about the organization's role in the Third Shinobi World War.
"Yes."
"What's an Amegakure criminal organization want with someone outside it's reach of influence?"
Pain straightened himself, crossed his arms and leaned his head slightly back.
"The Akatsuki is not limited to anyone village. We are everywhere and nobody should think they are safe from us just because of where they reside.", Pain explained narrowing his eyes. He always hated the questions but they had to be answered for anyone to begin to become willing, "I'm interested in making you a member.", he finished.
"To what do I have to gain from joining you?" she asked with some hinted hostile undertone.
"I can tell you that you won't be sleeping in the wilderness every night and you'll receive a steady paycheck for simply being a member."
This seemed to strike a cord with the girl as she remained silent for a few minutes. She looked back into the Rinnegan eyes in the sockets of the man who had them.
"What if I refuse?"
Pain uncrossed his arms and turned his back to the girl, "Then I suppose somebody in my organization could tip off 3 different nations to your real identity and the crimes you've commited."
"Oh really? Like what?" she became hostile once more.
"The assassination of the Hoshikage, and the murder of a Konoha nin. Hoshigakure probably has discovered that the Daimyo is missing and I'm assuming you killed him to take his identity.", Pain tested. He knew that she could just easily disappear with an ability like hers if he actually intended on blackmailing her.
"..." the girl remained silent. How did he know all these things? Had someone been watching her? She grew uneasy from this revelation. Pain sensed her discomfort at his words and turned around to face her once more. It was somewhat of a let down, "Do I have an answer?".
The girl lit up with a grin. If the Akatsuki was willing to keep her out of the rain for her services while paying her she could see no harm except if she wanted to leave.
"I'll disappear if you try to blackmail me but I assume you'd just kill me on the spot if I refuse. I've just one more question for you, Pain.", she said finally using his name, "What is your policy on people who wish to retire?"
"You either die in service or I kill you for insubordination." Pain replied coldly. His disappointment turned around from her realization and awareness of her own ability and the situation given, "However you can be taken off duty for various reasons but you'd still be under our watch."
This statement didn't seem to phase the crimson haired girl, "I will take your offer."
"I'm glad to hear it." Pain said still in monotone, "What is your name?"
The girl lowered her head and stood there with her fists balled. This was an odd display. Perhaps she was angry about her family name or just the name she was given. Pain soon figured out this wasn't the case after she broke another three minutes of silence.
"I don't have a name..." she said not raising her head. Pain raised a brow from a sneaking suspicion he had as to why she didn't have one.
"Just call me Henteko Nikutai."
Somewhat incomplete. Sorry if it's not as good as the others.