Enik slept soundly that morning. How couldn't you when the dream you were having was about sleeping. It was a good dream too. But as with most good dreams, you have to wake up eventually...and in this case violently.
Tobi slowly eased the old door open. It creaked terribly, but it only added to the anticipation of the hunt. Once the door was open a few inches and his prey was in clear sight a wide maniacal smile spread across his masked face as he realized she had yet to wake up. Excellent. Now commencing operation wake up call part four. With swift grace and precision Tobi soundlessly entered the room and pounced on top of Eniks sleeping body. In a sudden thrash of blankets and confusion Tobi found himself suffocating in a chokehold. Sasori happened to be walking past the room when he heard the loud blanket shuffling followed by the sounds of someone struggling to breathe. He stopped and leaned in the doorway, a hint of entertainment in his eyes as he watched the scene in front of him play out. Enik had started to sit up, but wasn't awake enough to process what had just happened or realize she had Tobi captive with her right arm. Tobi was clutching her arm trying not to flip the cot over and loosen her grip enough for him to breathe.
"Tobi this is the third day in a row you've divebombed her. She's not going to get used to you if you keep this up." Sasori stated.
The first morning Kazuma went to wake Enik up, she flinched and on reflex grabbed the wrist of the arm Kazuma tried to wake her with. It took a little while for Enik to wake up and calm down enough to realize what she was doing and release her. Every morning since then Tobi has cannon balled on top of her cot. His reasoning being that if he did this every morning eventually she would get used to it, stop lashing out when someone tries to wake her, and not be such a tense sleeper. Despite the fact that Peins tried explaining that not only would that kind of "sleep training" be incredibly gradual, but if he kept it up she wouldn't warm up to him in the slightest if he kept waking her so violently, Tobi's still convinced its the only way.
Enik blinking herself awake, and looked at the room around her. She first noticed Sasori in the doorway...which could only mean one thing. Without even looking she jerked her right arm open, which sent Tobi straight to the floor. She let out an exasperated growel, flopped back down on the cot and covered her face with her pillow, as Tobi coughed and gasped for air.
"Besides, as I'm sure someone already tried explaining." Sasori pinched the bridge of his nose as he said this.
"It would be a lot easier to just keep waking her by hand and get her used to that." He pointed out.
"Ahh! But if Tobi, keeps doing it this way she'll Get used to being woken up gently quicker." He countered. Enik ignoring the fact that she was being talked about like she wasn't in the room, just went with it and continued pretending like she wasn't in the room.
"...By that logic, it could also make her even more timid of a sleeper." Tobi fell silent from Sasori's words.
"But...Tobi is a good boy!" He whined as if that was supposed to change the outcome to be in his favor. Sasori simply rolled his eyes and exited the room. Tobi then turned to Enik with with the speed of someone on speed.
"That reminds me, Zumi made breakfast this morning. You better get yours while its hot." The only Movement Enik made was sticking her left arm straight into the air and give him a thumbs up before letting it collapse over the top of the pillow covering her face. Tobi instantly noticed something off about the skin on her hand, but it was only in sight for a second he hadn't expected. He cursed himself for not being prepared to take a good look, as it was out of sight now. Shrugging, Tobi left the room to go get his own breakfast. He'd catch sight of them eventually.
Enik removed the pillow when she felt Tobi was a good distance down the halls, then waited a few more seconds for good measure. She threw the pillow at the door, which closed it, and threw her blankets off revealing her bare legs. Since Pein still hadn't given Enik her spare clothes, and she hadn't really asked for them Enik had been wearing the same pair since day one. So when it came time for Enik to sleep, unfortunately she was sharing a room and had no pajamas. Which was fine because she usually just slept without pants anyways, but the real issue was how to do that without being seen. Getting them off was easy, she just kicked her pants off under the covers and let 'em fall on the floor. Putting them back on was a challenge. Kazuma usually got up earlier and left the room, but when Tobi woke her up every morning he usually stood there waiting for her to get up. Whether he knew she didn't have clothes on or not, it got difficult to shoo him away so she could cover herself. She got the feeling the he, more than anyone, wanted to know why she wore such covering clothing. The thought made her smirk as she did a final check to make sure all of her clothing was in place.
Feeling satisfied, She exited the room and started her trek to the kitchen. Okay...lets see if I still remember how to get over there… She thought as she contemplated between left's and right's. She tried to stick to the same route every day, but everything still wasn't concealed to memory. Enik still had to backtrack and turn around whenever she took a wrong turn from her destination. Everything in this damn place looked the same. she wondered how any of them even got used to living here to a point where they can find there way around. The more turns and door she came across the more she pondered if this place was a mansion or a maze. Back in the Island Her apartment only had two rooms. An upstairs and a downstairs...I better find a way out of here quick…
Though Konan drug herself through the mud and filth of the currently harsh environment, she hardly paid much notice to herself shivering. Considering her objective was to find information on the Village hidden in the islands, she figured her best shot was to head east towards the ocean and ask around the land of lightning, and the land of water. In the four days that had passed since she set out, two things had happened. She had made it through Kusagakure unscathed, and it had started raining. Konan was now approaching a small village somewhere between Kusagakure and Takigakure, and the rain had only gotten worse.
She'd passed through villages like this before. Small, rundown, and crawling with crooked rogue ninjas. The perfect place to find information on something less known. However it was also a dangerous place to be for a criminal of Konans rank. Someones bound to recognize her uniform. In a regular village, if anyone were to recognize the clouds, it would be a symbol of fear. In one like this finding a lone Akatsuki member would be an opportunity. If it isn't someone after a bounty, or revenge, its someone who thinks if they take down an Akatsuki member in a fight it'll boost their reputation to a god-like level. Yup… its not easy being an S class criminal.
Konan had decided the best places to look for this particular type of info would be the library. And if she again came up with nothing she'd ask around the bars. You never know what you'll hear in one. After about an hour of roaming the streets and passing more bars than seemed necessary, she came across a dank old building that seemed to be right in the heart of the small village. Near the door hung a rotting sign that read "library". Konans lip curled at the poor condition the building was in. This is a building of knowledge… she thought with distaste. The more she examined the near condemned structure the more she wondered how the public library, could have dropped to the same state as a public bathroom.
Inside the only worker she found was a frail old woman who seemed to be going senile. The old librarian didn't even look like she could see let alone read. As Konan passed her desk she gave a small nod of acknowledgment in case she was aware, and started in the geology section. Then the historic section, then the cultural section, heck, when she again came up with nothing, she even checked the mythology section.
Konan mentally groaned that she wasn't finding anything. She knew from the start finding solid facts were going to be hard, but she was more so frustrated with the fact that she felt she was wasting her time even trying. But with the way Pein and his "solid" reasoning had spelled it out, it was clear she shouldn't bother going back to the base without something. Though she was also frustrated with her selection of books. Most were in bad shape, hardly anything was where it was supposed to be and despite how little the amount of books she actually had to search through, she already felt like she had been in there far too long.
A little longer and she had, had enough, and decided to leave. One step outside, and even with how dark the clouds already made it konan could tell she had wasted about half the day just looking through that mess called a library. Heaving a sigh, she decided to look for the inn she had seen a few streets over. Might as well get a room there, and check out the bar for anything that might be useful.
Pein arrived in the kitchen for the usual mid morning brunch. The deal was Everyone eats breakfast together, fend for yourself for lunch, and you can have dinner where ever you want. These were the terms for Kazuma to agree to cook. The Kitchen was open to the living room, and everyone was present. Kakuzu was sitting at the table drinking a cup of coffee, next to Deidara, and Itachi, Hidan was sprawled out on the couch probably wishing he was still asleep, Sasori was sitting in one of the arm chairs looking bored and he could hear Kisame's crutches down the hall, so he'd be in shortly. Lastly Kazuma was preparing breakfast, Tobi was crowding her while trying to be helpful, and Zetsu was trying to steal some of the raw meat she was going to cook. Wait… Where was Enik? He looked the room over once more and not only was she not present, but no one seemed to have noticed.
"Where is Enik?" Pein asked.
"Who cares, un." Kazuma looked up from her cooking and looked around the room for the short Bounty hunter gave Zetsu the opportunity to take the bacon.
"Hasn't anyone seen her this morning?"
"Tobi strikes again!" Sasori supplied in an only slightly interested tone. Kazuma turned her attention to Tobi.
"I thought I told you to stop doing that!"
"But- but- but-!" he stuttered trying to come up with an answer.
"Well where is she?" Pein asked starting to doubt everyones competence.
"Tobi thought she was right behind him!" he said with his hands up in defense. "She's not a very heavy walker…"
"Okay...lets see here…" Enik said.
It didn't take long for her to get hopelessly lost, and confused. Going back the way she had come had only served to make things much worse. She stood staring at yet another left, or right dead end. Everything still looked the same, except that where ever she was it was a little unkept. There were plenty of spiderwebs and dirt, the floor didn't look like anyone had even taken a single step on it in months, and every light bulb was either out, broken, flickering, out dated, or dim enough to know it was on its last leg. Something in the corner of her eyes caught Eniks attention. Curious she walked over and picked up what appeared to be some type of old coin. She blew it off and feeling defeated by architecture, looked upwards.
"Okay! I give up! I'm leaving the rest up to fate now!" She then stood straight with a more determined air about her.
"Alright, Tails its left, Heads its right." She flipped the coin high into the air, caught it and flipped it over.
Pein gripped the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "So none of you know where she is?" No one gave any sign that said they knew or care too much. Pein growled to himself, and fixed his gaze on Itachi.
"What are the odds?" Itachi shrank a little. He finally got the images of Eniks memories out of his mind, but he still remembered a lot about her as if he had been told everything by a her herself. In other words he probably now knew her more than she did, and he knew exactly what odds Pein was asking about.
"Theres a pretty good chance she's trying to escape, if not, something similar."
"...Great."
"Wait, wait, hold on." Kazuma cut in. "She's still getting used to the base. And she's been getting turned around in the halls a few times a day, maybe she's just lost." She defended. Pein looked to the others.
"Is this true?" There were a few nods and shrugs from the group. A snore came from Hidan, which told Pein he's probably been asleep the whole time.
"Then why was she left alone to get lost?!" Again no one supplied an answer, but Pein could see Tobi was trying to hide himself in the kitchen. Oh right, that was his job...Whose bright idea was that? Pein let out an exasperated sigh.
"Alright, A few of you start searching, the last thing we need is another infiltrator fiasco."
"Now?" Deidara asked abruptly.
"What about breakfast?!" Tobi pitched in. I'm surrounded by idiots…
"Fine. After breakfast, I want a few of you to start searching understood?"
Kakuzu shrugged. "I can look around."
"Yeah, I've got nothing better to do." Sasori agreed.
"But, Danna, We've gotta prepare for the mission later today, un."
"...Like I said, I've got nothing better to do. Besides, I don't have to eat, so I can start looking right now." He said, then exited the room before Deidara could rebuff him. Deidara rolled his eyes and took another drink of his coffee.
"Tobi, will look!" Tobi called.
"I'll go too." Kisame offered. Deidara suddenly loudly choked on his coffee.
"Uh, I don't wanna be a ball buster Kisame, but I don't think thats a very good idea, un." Kisame's expression dropped.
"Why not?" Deidara looked to the side awkwardly.
"Uh…"
"Because its not a good idea for you to be isolated with Enik." Itachi cut in for Deidara.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well you're not exactly our strongest link right now." Kakuzu added.
"What? You think she'll attack me?" He was asking Itachi specifically.
"It's hard to say, From what I know she isn't one to attack someone in a weakened state, but she also hasn't been in this type of situation, so who knows."
"Pfffft, but its not like she'll be able to do anything, she's tiny!" He said rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, but like Kakuzu pointed out-"
"-Bluntly." Deidara interrupted.
"-You're not exactly at the peak of health." Kisame sent Itachi a dark glare that told him to shut his trap right then and there. "...and she's a little more resourceful in a fight than you'd think."
"Oh whatever!"
"Breakfast is ready!" Kazuma chimed in. One look at the nervous smile on her face as she started to lay out a breakfast buffet, told everyone she wanted all of them to drop it.
Kakuzu fixed himself a plate of sausage, bacon, eggs and fried potatoes, then dished up a small saucer of just bacon. Knowing his partner would be bitching to no end if he slept through breakfast, Kakuzu approached the couch where Hidan laid in a heap and placed the saucer under his nose. Once the scent wafted its way into the Jashinists nose his eyes blinked themselves open.
"hm...wha?... What's going on?" Hidan asked through drooping tired eyes. Then he saw the bacon and started to absentmindedly eat it.
"Breakfast is ready, and Eniks missing. Dish up." Hidan stopped mid chew and slowly smiled to himself.
The raining finally stopped sometime later, though the overcast kept everything unbelievably dark in the small village. It was still midday and no one but a few lushes really entered the bar during the day, so she had time to kill. She decided to wait in her room until nightfall, and dry off in the meantime. After taking off her sopping wet cloak and slinging it over the chair in the corner of the room, and placing her satchel on the small moth eaten bed, she felt as though she needed to sleep. Sasori had told her one of the drawbacks of her problem was not only would she become fatigued quickly, but her chakra would be reduced to less than half.
She sighed and looked out the window. Now that the rain had stopped there were some people out in the streets, probably wanting to get their errands done before it started raining again. A few kids were out running around and playing. Konan smiled a little. They'd probably been cooped up inside all day. She sighed. Right about now with how exhausted she felt from traveling she was actually thankful that she had such an easy mission. She grimaced and decided she should probably apologize to Pein for snapping about the mission.
A while later when her clothes were dry, Konan decided to go down to the bar to get something to eat and maybe take another look around. She wasn't sure if it was just because of her condition, but something felt off… None the less she decided against bringing her satchel down with her. What's the worst that could happen right? She thought as she went down the stairs. She didn't really plan on going outside so she left her still damp cloak in the room as well.
The bar like the rest of the town was run down, but not even close to the level that library was on. This inn actually seemed to be in one of the best conditions she had seen so far. Having both a bar and rooms to rent, it probably made more money than most places here. Konan went straight to the lady behind the counter to find something to eat.
"Excuse me, I'd like to order a meal please." She asked the greasy neanderthal looking woman. The woman looked at her with the cold eyes of someone who was surrounded by sketchy characters every day and night.
"What'll it be?" She croaked. Konan was taken aback by the rude undertone.
"Um, may I see a menu." The woman rose an eyebrow.
"What does this look like a B and B?" The woman chuckled. "You're in a bar hun, if you want anything, you had better know what it will be before you disturb my work." She said in a high and mighty tone. Konan couldn't help but notice that she was the only other person in the bar, and held back a sneer.
"My apologies...what do you recommend?" Konan asked in her usual emotionless tone. The last thing she wanted was for the cook to spit in her food.
"Heh, hun, I cook the food, It's all good." Konan bit back a remark. The woman wasn't helping her at all, and now Konan had a good feeling the grotesque woman would probably spit in her food anyways. Now she had to worry about getting kicked out of her room.
"Then I'll have the you're special." Konan said through her teeth. The woman seemed not to notice and gave a toothy smile that revealed she was missing a front tooth.
"Good choice. It'll be right out." She said and disappeared through a doorway behind the counter. Konan rubbed her temples and let out an exasperated sigh. Why did that have to be harder than it needed to be?
While that woman was in the back cooking, Konan went and sat at a small table far from the counter so she wouldn't have anymore reason to release the beast on her. Plus she had no idea if that woman would attempt small talk or not. God I hope not. Out of the corner of her eye Konan saw movement. Without turning, Konan darted her eyes to the side to get a look. Three large men had come into the bar. The biggest one in the middles arms were exposed revealing thick muscular arms with several pale knife scars, a tattoo of a fist with spiked brass knuckles on his shoulder and a large heavy looking sword was slung around his back. He reeked of trouble. Konan focused on the conversation between the three.
"...-You're sure she saw her go in here."
"What other Inn's are there on this street?"
"I'm just saying. It's not like it was a very credible source."
"How can we be sure it was an Akatsuki?" Konans eyes widened. They were after her.
"Black, full body cloak, red clouds, white trim. Unmistakable."
Just then that woman came out with whatever she had made for Konan. The three men instantly approached her and began asking questions about people she had seen, but Konan had ducked away to go back to her room. Once she was out of sight she soundlessly ran back to her room and grabbed her satchel. Leaving this upstairs was a mistake. Luckily leaving her cloak wasn't. Thinking quickly, Konan created a paper clone. The identical clone looked at her for a moment then nodded a silent understanding passed between the two, and It walked over and put on the akatsuki cloak and left as a diversion to lead the thugs off her trail. Konan in the mean time Gathered her satchel and made an escape through the window. Her skin shivered as her body basted itself with goose bumps. It had started raining again. Konan grit her teeth through the cold and sucked it up. Just the one clone took more of a toll than she had anticipated. If she gets caught in a fight she's as good as dead out here.
She waited on the roof until she Heard a clamour coming from ground level followed by the clone dashing off through the streets closely followed by the three thugs. She waited until they were far from sight before dashing off through the street in the opposite direction. but there was one thing she couldn't put her finger on. Who had tipped them off? The streets were empty from the rain when she had gone to the inn. Konans thoughts were cut short when she felt that familiar pull of release in her stomach that indicated a chakra link had ended. The clone had been defeated. Just as she felt the clone link destroyed she sped past a familiar building and an familiar face looking out a boarded up broken window. It was the librarian. She had been ratted out by that frail old woman.
Enik found herself further and further into unknown territory with every turn she took. What gave it away? The fact that every so often she had to turn on a set of hallway lights. Between the lights and the increasing number of cobwebs that may or may not have nothing left but skeletons of animals that possibly had gotten stuck in them, Enik felt the chances of finding her way back to familiar territory dwindling with every step. Well… somewhat familiar territory.
"Ugh…" Enik groaned. "How is this place even this huge...It's not like they're using all of this…" She grumbled to herself. It was obvious no one used of went to this part of the base, though the halls went on and on to no end.
"If I don't find my way outta here soon I'm gonna lose it…"
While in the abandoned maze Enik had found many rooms. Some contained nothing but bunk beds, some had been cleaned out and had nothing in them, a few had some fireplaces and remnants of rotted wood, some had old furniture, and some were stacked to the ceiling with boxed up storaged. Though, most of the doors were locked, the remaining 76% of the doors Enik found she didn't bother to open. Enik stopped. Her eyebrows furrowed. The doors were inconsistent. Through the halls the doors were spaced out, all over or most often, nowhere in sight. It was a little strange. Not impossible she supposed, but unheard of. At least to Enik it was, afterall she was in a land foreign to her. For all she knew this was the usual for strange windowless fortresses. It was probably best not to question it.
Normally, Enik assumed, people would probably feel a little panicked at how lost she was at this point. But, Enik wasn't exactly normal. What would frighten or panic most people, never really bothered her. It's not like she'd be lost forever. Enik strolled through the halls with the same demeanor of someone walking down the sidewalk of a place she had been before but didn't know as well as she could. In other words the only damn she gave about besting lost was that she missed breakfast and was starving. She was still using the old coin to decide what direction to take when needed, but she was also continually flipping it for the sake of keeping her sanity. It was the only thing giving her entertainment. Plus it gave her something to fidget her hands with, so bonus.
Ugh...So! Many! Hallways! If a time machine is ever invented and I miraculously get a chance to use it only once, I'm going to use my one freebee to go back and find the guy who first made hallways! And I'm gonna punch him in the face, and shove him down a well with just enough water and leeches to live off until I can completely reconstruct his house into the most elaborate maze of hallways, it'll make the labyrinth piss itself! Then once its all complete I'll grind his gerball up into burger, feed it to his cat, grind his cat into burger, feed it to his dog, grind his dog up, feed it to his kid, grind his kid up, feed it to his other kid, grind that kid up, feed it to his wife, grind his wife up into a burger, and place it in the middle of the maze! Then I'm gonna hoist his ass out of the well, punch him in the face again and seal him in the maze! Then in his weakened state from eating nothing but leeches for the past 5 years, his heightened senses will lead him to the burger like a lab rat looking for cheese and pounce on it like an animal! The second he demolishes the burger I'll punch him in the face again! Then I'll grind him up into burger, and eat him myself! Thus completing the circle of life. Only then will I be satisfied.
Enik stopped and replayed what she had just ranted in her mind, then started to laugh at herself for having such a weird thought. Her sudden hatred of hallways had combined with her deepening hunger, and turned into the atrocity that just occurred. Enik still chuckled to herself a little.
"Ahahahaha!...Oh God I'm fucked up…" She said as she flipped the coin again. "I'm really starting to lose it." She said light heartedly to herself. Then she flipped the coin again, only when Enik went to catch it again it bounced off the side of her hand and rolled under an old empty bookshelf, that was kind of just there randomly. It was the only thing she had passed in the hall for some time.
"Screw you coin." She said as she bent down to look for it.
She couldn't really see anything underneath the bookshelf. She tried to stick her arm underneath it, but could only fit it up to her wrist. Nothing past that. Groaning she stood back up, scratched the back of her head and decided to simply move the bookshelf. It didn't look to heavy. Enik grabbed onto one end of it and attempted to lift. Only it didn't go anywhere. After a few moments of lifting nothing, Enik stopped before she gave herself a hernia. She took a step back and stared at the bookshelf in disbelief. There's no way it can be that heavy. It was practically falling apart. Enik grabbed hold of it again from a different angle, and tried to lift it away from the wall. Enik gave one hard tug which was followed by a loud crack that echoed down the halls. Enik stopped what she was doing. It sounded like something that hadn't been opened in a long time. She then noticed that the bookshelf was now weightless in her hands.
Enik let go of the bookshelf to find it had definitely moved from the wall. She put her hand on it, barely pushed it and the whole thing moved like it was a door. Actually...Enik pulled it out more and looked behind it. It was a door. The whole bookshelf was a door to a some type of hidden room. Curiosity got the best of Enik, and she entered. The bookshelf door was about an average medium large bookshelf, but the actual entrance to the hidden room was a roughly 2½ by 3 foot hole in the wall. The drop to the floor was about four feet. Enik could only see a little bit through what light came through the hole. Enik knew the drill, she started to feel around the walls for a light switch. Bingo.
The switch was adjustable, which was handy, the room however appeared to be some type of disaster bunker. There was an old mattress in the corner, a sink, a mirror, a toilet, bathtub, a very old looking mini fridge, at least thats what she assumed it was, it looked like to be some type of food preserving box, a bunsen burner, several cans of gas to run them off of, and several crates all stacked up against the right wall. Enik pulled one down and, using a crowbar she found leaning in the corner of room, cracked one of them open to find it filled with preserved food and supplies. Enik looked around in astonishment at the small bunker she was in. All of those crates must have enough food and supplies for years, if not several months. Enik spent a few more minutes basking in the pure awesomeness of it before she decided to leave. She turned off the light, closed the bookshelf, and left it looking exactly how it did when she found it.
She decided not to say anything about the bunker. It's not like she really said anything to any of them any way, but still. For all she knew everyone probably already knew about the little room. But they didn't know she knew. This'll be her little secret.
Hidan as with a few others decided to look for the little nuisance. Search and rescue wasn't really his thing. But it also wasn't really what he had in mind. Pein had made it clear that they wanted to get Enik to trust them enough in the future so that she would willingly help them if needed. Which meant he wasn't allowed to kill or beat the runt to a pulp. To be honest, he was still pissed about day one. He'd been painfully incapacitated and Enik had not only been nowhere near when it happened but the runt barely lifted a finger. Actually Enik literally only used a finger. Hidan's ego wouldn't be so hurt if it hadn't of been so easy. Just the fact that it was a runt made things worse. The idea of being taken down so easily by someone of Eniks size and strength just because of some fancy tool just made him feel emasculated.
Basically, he'd been itching to get Enik alone. The best he could really do was a few small things in the hallways. Tripping, kicking, once he grabbed the little fuck by the hair and slammed Enik into the wall. Usually this would suffice in cooling Hidan's bloodlust and need to fight gradually, but besides it being fun, Enik didn't show signs of being scared, or shocked or any of that. Whenever Hidan did something he'd either get no response, or a passive aggressive glare that looked like Enik was holding back from exploding. It was starting to piss him off.
He would just fight then and there, but he knew none of the others felt what he felt. None of them felt the need to beat up Enik, and none of them had a good reason to. So far the few days she'd been here as a servant Enik hadn't done anything wrong, or crossed any of them to bad. But Hidan couldn't stand the runt. Part of the reason he wanted to beat Enik up so bad was because he knew he could. For him it would be a little piece of redemption. To show that he wasn't an easy kill, and put the runt in its place. Plus, it would get it out of his system.
Hidan was smirking just thinking about it. The only problem would be finding Enik before anyone else. A nice little bit of competition. But, he was hoping someone found Enik before there was another infiltrator fiasco. A while back, a few ninja managed to infiltrate the base. Everyone had caught and killed them all, but one had gotten away and tried to hide in the base. No one really noticed that one of them had gotten away. Apparently he had gotten really lost. We only noticed when the base started to reek of corpse...That-...That really sucked.
Suddenly Hidan Heard a cracking noise that echoed through the halls. It sounded pretty far off but definitely unusual. Hidan followed the noise through the base, until he started to find himself in the older part of the base. Hmmm. How convenient. After quite some time, Hidan could feel he was getting closer to where he assumed the sound had come from. As he got closer he heard a chiming noise. It was a coin being flipped through the air, and it was about to come around the corner.
Enik Barely came around a corner when she was struck on her left cheekbone. The blow was so hard it sent her spinning to the floor. Enik got herself on all fours and out her hand over her now sore cheek.
"Uh...What the hell…" She groaned. She collapsed to the ground again when she was suddenly kicked in the stomach. She lied there for a moment in pain curling into a half circle and clutching her stomach. Her eyes snapped open when she felt herself being picked up by her jacket.
"I've been fucking waiting for this…" Enik was thrown against the wall, and received another blow to her stomach. Pain surged through her core where the fist had struck, and she felt the air in her lungs being forced out. The sudden stress on her body made Enik a little disoriented. She tried to look at her attackers face, but found trouble actually lifting her head high enough to see. In front of her was a pale shirtless torso. Of course…
"What the fuck Hidan!" Enik choked out. She was still having trouble breathing from the gut shot. Hidan however chuckled menacingly to himself. He regretted not having brought any knives or his scythe, but using his fists was good enough. It felt great. Hidan dealt another punch to her mouth. Enik let out a gargled winch that told Hidan it was bleeding. Hidan grabbed a hold of the collar of Eniks jacket and lifted her higher against the wall with one hand. Enik tried feeling the walls for anything she could grab.
"Oh come on slave you're making this to easy." Hidan chortled. Enik winced when he used the word slave now regretting she ever said anything, and retaliated by spitting in Hidan's face. Now covered with bloody saliva Hidan slowly reached up with his free hand and wiped it away from his eye with two fingers. Eniks glare deepened even as she felt his fist clenching harder into her neck.
"...You're going to regret that." He said calmly then brought her away from the wall, just to slam her back into it again knocking the air from her lungs.
Enik grabbed a hold of the wrist that was holding her up and dug her nails into it as Hidan pulled his arm back and punched in the face again. He felt her body quiver from the impact, which brought on a feeling of satisfaction. When Enik recovered from the blow she could feel her head aching, and her left eye starting to swell. She tried to glare more but she knew it wasn't coming off very strong.
"...Was that all you've got?" She said after a while. Hidan Growled. He wasn't actually hitting as hard as he could, because he didn't want to knock Enik out. He took no pleasure in beating on people who weren't conscious enough to feel it. Still though, she was lasting longer than he expected her too. But now she was asking for it. Hidan took another swipe at Eniks face. Enik could feel the blow was much harder than the others and now had a feeling her cheekbone was fractured.
Okay, maybe aggravating the person currently kicking her ass wasn't the most logical thing to do, but she was out of options, and she wasn't about to start groveling...She didn't know much about Hidan, but she knew that it wouldn't work, and if it did it wouldn't end well for her. Besides, she'd been in this type of situation before, granted this was the first time she was ever unarmed, but the principle was the same. This still wasn't the first assailant she'd used this tactic on. Piss someone off enough and they lose their concentration. Hidan gave Enik another gut shot.
"Oh yeah you damned piece of shit?! Did you feel that one?" Hidan yelled in her face followed by a cackle.
"You hit like a bitch!" Enik spat. Hidan's lip curled as he pulled his arm back to smash her teeth in. Enik saw her opening and pivoted her body so she could kick Hidan in the face. It wasn't quite hard enough to do any really damage, but it was enough to knock Hidan out of the way and make him drop her. Enik slid to the floor and tried to catch her breath where Hidan's fist had burrowed into her neck, while Hidan, who was so caught off guard, was trying to get his wits about him. Enik got her wits back just as she realized that hidan was now standing in front of her about to make a grab for her again. Acting on instinct she pulled her arm back and punched him as hard as she could directly in his groin.
"Fuck!" Hidan hissed as he crumpled to the floor groaning in pain. Enik quickly stood up and delivered a windmill kick to his left temple. Hidan fell over and Enik stalled to see if he was knocked out, he was, before scurrying off down the halls. She didn't really want to be anywhere close to there when he woke up in fear he might actually kill her.
Enik paced herself as she ran through the halls until she felt she was a good ways away. Only then did she actually stop. Enik leaned against the wall trying to catch her breath. She could feel new bruises had formed over the ones Pein had left days ago, which hadn't really gone away yet. She Felt her cheek stung and placed her hand over it. The cut he left had reopened too. At least this time Hidan hadn't licked it off. She chuckled to herself realizing that this time she had spat blood back in his face. How the hell did I get myself into this mess. Never before had the saying "there's no place like home." Mean anything to Enik. All she wanted was to get the hell out of here. Enik realized she was still shaking, and whether it was from adrenaline of fear she wasn't sure, but she forced herself to stop. Enik finally looked up and realized she was back in familiar territory. She was now in a well lit area, vacant of spider webs, well kept and clean. Enik thrusted both fists into the air in triumph.
"Finally!" She said and again tried to find her way to somewhere she didn't think she could get lost in. Preferably one with someone who wouldn't assault her in it.
After a little longer of still trying to find something helpful Enik finally decided to open the next door she came across to try and get a better bearing on where she was. Enik went around another corner and spotted a door. Aha! She trotted up to it and reached for the handle. The second her skin made contact with the door knob, her hand started to shake again and she was overcome with a feeling of dread and apprehension. With a shaky breath breath she realized exactly what room it was, and retracted her equally shaky hand. Holly shit...I almost just went into Sasori's room… The red head himself didn't really frighten her much, but for some reason his room did. She really didn't want to find out what would happen if she opened that door.
Shaking it off Enik continued down the hall. She still didn't really know where she was going but, at least she somewhat knew where she was. Enik took out her coin and started to flip it again.
Sasori, opened the door to his room and looked out into the hallway.
"Weird…"
He could have sworn that he heard someone outside his room. He quickly lost interest and ducked back into his room. He had spent as much time as he could looking for Enik, but eventually decided preparing a few of his puppets was a better way to spend his time. He hadn't exactly put in very much effort into finding her. He was more so passing the time until he had to head out for his mission with Deidara. The mission itself was simple enough without Deidara constantly breathing down his neck about every detail. Ugh… He was not looking forward to this. Groaning, he crawled into Hiruko and exited his room having loaded it up with everything he would need. It was just a simple assassination in hidden sound village, so he'd only have to endure him for a few days. Around the base for whatever reason Deidara was fine to be around. Outside the base he was barely standable.
As Sasori made his way through the halls out of the corner of Hiruko's eye he saw something. Turning slightly he saw a very beaten looking Enik on the other end of the hall staring at the unfamiliar puppet like it was a clown strolling down the halls and waving at her like it wasn't weird. Sasori chuckled to himself, then just continued on his way to Deidara's room to get the blonde. I'd say sorry Enik, but I'm not. He thought as he left. He could have helped the girl out, but didn't particularly feel like it. He could hear foot steps back the way he had came, stall, then go off in some other direction. He chuckled to himself some more. Enik had attempted to follow him, but waited to long and lost track of him.
Eventually Sasori passed by Deidara's room and tapped Hiruko's tail on the door to signify he was ready to leave. No response. He tapped again. Still nothing.
"Deidara."
"Just a moment, un." Now Sasori could quite clearly hear the blonde moving things around in his room.
"Um, Deidara?"
"Hold on Danna, Un!" Sasori was about to open the door himself when the door was abruptly thrown open. "Yes, un?"
"What were you doing in there?" Sasori asked. Deidara rolled his eyes as if he was greatly annoyed by the question.
"Nothing, now what did you want, un?" Sasori was about to press the subject when he suddenly remembered he didn't care.
"Just came to inform you that I was prepared to leave." Deidara nodded.
"Okay, I'll be ready in a half an hour or less, I'll meet you by the base entrance, un." He concluded then shut the door to his room once more. Deidara looked at the poorly hidden bundle he had frantically attempted to hide. "That was close…" He breathed.
Sasori continued down the hall to find something to occupy his time with until they were to actually leave, completely oblivious to what had really just happened.
"Weird…"
Kakuzu traveled through the halls unenthusiastically. Breakfast had ended long ago and he was starting to wonder just how lost she had gotten. To be honest, if she didn't show up within the next few days, he didn't think anybody would even bother trying to look after that. Kakuzu was on his way back to his room from one of the unused areas when he heard a familiar chiming. One of his eyebrows raised. That was the sound of money. That was definitely the sound of money. Kakuzu went around the corner and saw a small figure clad in dark clothing.
"There you are." He said in an exasperated tone. Enik flinched and turned to look in Kakuzu's direction. Kakuzu noticed both the large flinch and the look of relief she hadn't bothered to cover up. Then she stalled on the other end of the hall before Kakuzu finally beckoned her over. Though she came over reluctantly, if not tentatively, Kakuzu could see in her eyes she was probably overjoyed to have found someone. As she came out he got a better look at her. Her face was purple and puffy, and she walked like it was a little hard her her to move. She looked completely battered.
"What happened to you?" Enik stared vacantly for a moment, then shook it off.
"Ughhh I took a few wrong turns this morning, and have been trying to find my way back all day." She said.
"No I mean what happened physically." "I-uh...was looking through one of the storage rooms and a bunch of junk that was stacked up fell on me…" She knew it was a bogus lie, but she wasn't prepared with anything better. On the spot it was fine. She must look worse than she thought though, she hadn't anticipated anyone to comment on it. Kakuzu knew it was a lie for several reasons, but decided it wasn't worth going into and dropped the subject. Kakuzu continued to walk towards his room, and flicked his wrist to signal for Enik to follow. Enik thought it over for a moment, then decided following was better than getting lost again. She wasn't sure about Kakuzu yet though.
As he walked he heard Enik trot up behind him. Tobi was right, she was really light on her feet. It was like being chased by a mouse. Then he could feel it. That familiar sensation followed by the long forgotten insecurities he was immune to that plagued so many in this world.
"Stop that." He said taking Enik by surprise.
"...Stop what?"
"You know what. Stop staring at me." He growled. Enik fell silent for a moment.
"...Sorry." That he hadn't expected. He expected her to deny it, or ask how he knew, but an apology was unusual. A few seconds later the ringing of a coin being flipped repeatedly started up again, and he was sure she had stopped staring and found a better way to occupy her time. As they passed another split hallway, Kakuzu heard what sounded like wooden shoes walking through it and stopped. Enik was in the middle of catching her coin when he had stopped and almost walked into him. She wondered why they had stopped but then she heard the clopping as well.
It got closer until Kisame emerged from the side hall. Kakuzu rolled his eyes. Apparently he decided to search the base anyways. Crutching as fast as he could, Kisame approached the two.
"Heeeey! You found her! Haha." He chuckled. "Where you been all morning?"
Enik provided a shug.
"Well, since you've been found, I guess the search can be called off. Where you off to now Kakuzu?"
"Figure out what to do with Enik, then go back to my room I suppose."
"Yeah, that sounds about right. Well, I've got nothing to do now, I'll do the same." He said, then turned to leave.
"Actually Kisame-?" Kisame looked back over his shoulder.
"Would you go inform Pein, that Enik's been found?" Kakuzu requested. Kisame flashed him a cheeky grin.
"Sure thing!" He said and hobbled off with more enthusiasm. Enik got the feeling Kisame just wanted something to do. Something to be useful for. She could relate to both. Kakuzu continued heading to his room with Enik in toe. He finally found his room, opened the door and sat as his desk to do what he usually does in his spare time, count up the money from recent missions, figure out the expenses, and just overall manage all of the money. He was just about to get started when he saw Enik was still standing in the doorway flipping the coin she had.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"Um...I still don't know where I'm supposed to go...What should I do?" It was fairly obvious Kakuzu hadn't intended on taking her to where she was actually supposed to go. Kakuzu rolled his eyes sighed.
"If you behave, you can stay in here. Dinner is in a few hours, if no one comes by to get you by then, I'll dump you on Kazuma when I go to get my dinner."
Enik caught her coin, and contemplated it. On one hand, she didn't know how to feel about waiting around in Kakuzu's room. Truthfully she wasn't quite sure if she accepted all the weird things that she had seen since she got there, and she held a little bit of contempt for a few of the Akatsuki members. Kakuzu being one of them for bringing her here in the first place, but other than that he seemed okay for the most part. Especially compared to Hidan… Though on the other hand if she stuck around in there until dinner, it only meant she didn't have to do any chores for the rest of the night. She glanced down the halls, figured she might get lost again, and laziness won her over. With a final flip she entered the room and took a seat on the trunk at the end of Kakuzu's bed while he calculated the months expenses. About forty five minutes passed before Enik couldn't contain her curiosity much longer.
"What is this place?" She asked breaking the silence. Kakuzu paused for a moment before responding.
"What?" He asked. Enik went on to describe all of the untouched hallways and rooms she had walked through, and inquired about why the place was so big if most of it wasn't in use.
"It's an abandoned military base from the first great ninja war." he said as if it was self explanatory.
"...What?"
"Ugh…" Kakuzu set down the stack of money he was counting and turned towards Enik. "The base we are currently living in is located in an underground abandoned military base. We only actually use one of the many abundant bunkers of the entire base, because that's all we need. As you could probably tell from all of the dust, the base was completely abandoned over eighty years ago, and before you ask- No, no one knows about it. It's well hidden, and most everyone has forgotten there was ever a military base anywhere around here."
"...Most everyone?"
"It's not completely out of everybody's memory, though those who do remember are smart enough to know that if something like that hasn't been inhabited for that longs it's either collapsed or dangerously condemned. Short answer, there isn't a chance anyone will come snooping around, and even if they do, they won't be able to get inside."
"...And if they did?"
"Then there's plenty of places to hide in deeper bunkers, and if it came to it any one of us, excluding Kazuma and yourself of course, could easily defend ourselves. Anymore questions?"
"Uhhh…..nope. I don't think so." Enik concluded as she tried to get everything straight in her head. Kakuzu turned back around to get back to his money but was stopped half way.
"Wait...What's this?" Enik showed Kakuzu the coin she had been flipping. He eyed it for a second, then reached his hand out for it. Enik placed it in his hand, and he brought it to his face.
"...Looks like a really old coin. Might be worth something, but I'm not sure. I don't recognize it, for all I can tell it might not've ever even actually been currency." He said then handed it back. Enik grimaced at the coin and shoved it in her pocket.
Konan stumbled through the rain and the muck, now almost completely unprotected from the elements. By the time she had reached the edge of the village the whole place was in an uproar looking for the Akatsuki member. Luckily they were all looking for Konans coat. Unfortunately the clone only bought her a small amount of time, but at least they weren't looking for her face. The clone she had cooked up was a freckle skinned red head. No one would suspect her. But as she shivered in the woods she still regretted her decision. It might've been a good idea at first, but now she was stranded in the woods, soaked to the bone in rain, without her jacket to help keep her dry and warm, and miles from the next village. She released a long shuddering sigh from her shivering.
"...How could I have been so rash…"
Head throbbing from being unconscious on the ground for so long, Hidan groaned and put a hand on the side of his head where he felt it the most. Oh...that's right… He thought as he started to remember everything up until he was knocked out. Huh...well played. Hidan felt himself getting another headache, and was once again annoyed the little runt had bested him again.
"...Jashin-dammit."
Ohhhhh myyyyyy wafffllllles! I am so sorry it took so long to write this, but you would not believe how many times I got writers block while trying to get this done...Also it turned out longer than I thought it would, which probably doesn't make it up to anyone who has actually been reading this up till now, but still I want you to know. I. Am. Sorry. Also I have more bad news, though I will be continuing this story, I will continue as an irregular updater. Yup, that's right, even I don't know how long it will be until this is updated again, but rest assured, I will keep on trucking.
I Own Nothing.
