Faze Four:

It was the next morning.

Kaida was up early and was ready for the day, she even had enough time to fly around in the skies to stretch her wings, which she knew would be important if she were to stay on her guard around her mother and the strange man.

It was only when she saw Pein and her mother appear down below on the statue that she flew down to them, and landed in front of them.

They were both poised and ready for the day, and Kaida almost felt like sticking her tongue out at them in a childish manner to prove that she didn't care for them hardly at all.

"Good morning, today I am to see your techniques and what you've learned so far."

Pein stated in a tone that meant she was definitely not allowed to back out of it and she frowned slightly.

"But of course I'm too powerful to fight you, and I'd kill you within a minute, so I've went to the trouble to ask one of the members to help out in your…'initiation'." He continued, feeling rather proud about his decision in having her fight against Deidara.

Deidara was a long-range fighter, a worthy adversary indeed, a challenge, but judging by Kaida's huge axe, Pein got the impression she was a close-range fighter, or perhaps both?

Maybe she could adjust to whatever range her opponents fighting range was?

Kaida nodded slowly and asked calmly "Who am I fighting?"

Pein smirked, he was even more than eager to see her skills when she had no objection, she was about to face one of the Akatsuki, one of the elite criminals, wanted in every country and in the Bingo book, there she was standing there calmly asking whom her opponent was.

He had to admire her sense of control and determination, but he wondered what her reaction would be once she'd face Deidara in an actual battle.


Deidara was waiting in a forest on the border of the Rain village, it's taken him most of yesterday and the whole night to get here, but Pein had explicitly stated that he needed a long range fighter, and knew that Sasori was out of the question.

Sasori was ruthless, and despite that being needed in the battle, the problem there was when Sasori fought, he intended to kill.

Whether Kaida was Konan's daughter or Pein's daughter, Sasori wouldn't hesitate in killing her, and that, Pein knew couldn't be allowed, Madara would personally kill Sasori, Pein and Konan for allowing such things to occur, though no one barely knew of Madara's existence.

Deidara sighed, he was sure annoyed that at the last minute he had to be called to test out the little girls' skills.

"Itachi seemed interested, hmm, why not him, hmm?" Deidara muttered to himself, bored with the waiting.

He'd been sat there for seven hours, two of which he'd had a snooze, needing to regain some of his sleep and strength, he had a feeling that this was going to be a waste of his time.

He fiddled with more clay, adding more and more to the mouths on his hands, making them work almost overtime by making little birds and spiders, ready for the battle, after all, there was nothing wrong with pre-battle materials.

He was just getting ready, he certainly wasn't cheating, cheating was when you kicked the opponent between the legs, or when you bitch-slapped them.

Deidara smirked, and began chuckling to himself when he remembered the time when he fought against Itachi Uchiha and kicked him between the legs.

Despite Deidara still losing in the battle, it did work to his advantage for a short amount of time.

Deidara sat up straight, his face turned serious when he felt three presences of chakra approaching himself, he knew who they belonged too, and sat there on the rock, leaning his left elbow over his left leg, staring into the forest with a bored expression.

The first to appear was Konan, she looked unemotional as usual, next was Pein, naturally he looked stern and unsympathetic, and last but not least, the young 'girl' he had been confused with, now looked liked a proper, young, beautiful lady that so happened to be an Angel.

He gawked at her shining white wings, at first envy rushed through him, but then admiration and excitement bubbled up within him, and he smirked loudly at how childish he felt.

He, himself loved flying, he'd never dare to ask Konan to fly with him, because she was too stern and much older than he was to want to have a race to see which was better-paper or clay.

But now he had a younger, more relaxed girl whom was the real thing, and he had a feeling, just by looking at the yellow goggles upon her head, that she loved flying as much as he did, possibly more.

"About time, yeah! I was getting hungry, hmm." Deidara stated finally feeling the strain he'd put on his body just to get here in time and wait for them to arrive, he hadn't eaten since yesterday morning and was feeling the usual rumble that signified he needed food.

Konan let out a impatient sigh, whilst Kaida just stared at him, a little smile forming upon her face, he was the joker and the cocky one she could tell, and she was really looking forward to sparring with him.

Instead Pein stated "You can have something to eat afterwards, Deidara, right now I want you to fight Kaida and test her skills, and please don't kill her." Pein stated, before pushing Kaida forward with one hand placed on her back, he looked at Konan, they both nodded towards each other and disappeared in smoke.

Kaida looked round to where they were, she felt helpless, and didn't really understand what she was supposed to do, the least they could've done was introduced them to each other.

Would they come back for her? Or would she have to find her way back again?

This was getting too confusing.

She heard Deidara sigh in boredom from in front of her and he muttered "This is a waste of time, hmm…"

She sent a small glare at him as she turned round to face him and said "It's like I hardly want to be here myself!"

That caught his attention, and he smirked again, looking at her properly this time, she looked no older than…seventeen perhaps?

And she was spirited, he'd certainly have fun with her.

"So you're the famous Kaida that is a real Angel and the one that Itachi is interested in, hmm, okay, I believe the Angel part, yeah, but I just can't believe Itachi liking a creature like you, hmm." Deidara stated as if it were a true fact.

"I don't even know who this Itachi is, and I certainly don't really care at the moment. And what is wrong with 'a creature like me'?" Kaida felt the unusual rush of anger flare up within her, it seemed that the stress of her being forced to join the stupid Akatsuki, even as a subordinate made her stomach turn and her immunity to annoying people fall considerably.

"There's nothing wrong with you, hmm, you're beautiful, yeah, just exactly like an Angel should be, un." Deidara answered on a small sigh, as he knew what he said was really true, and that was what surprised him the most.

Kaida blushed lightly, she'd never received any types of compliments from men before, and although she liked it, she didn't want to form any attachments to the criminals in the organization "That's not true. I don't see why everyone feels they should call me an Angel. I'm not, if I didn't have the wings then I wouldn't be considered anything but human."

"But you're not human, hmm, you have something very rare, something no one else has, yeah, you are special, hmm." The sound in his voice, made her look back at him, and she felt that she could detect a bit of envy in it, but decided to ignore it and re-focus on the 'fight' they were supposed to be having.

She unhooked her huge axe from her back-having already settled down in an apartment next door to Pein's office, she'd left her backpack behind and was now free to carry her axe by itself.

She dropped it onto the ground carelessly, as it made contact with the ground a huge shudder ran through the earth, Deidara felt the tremor from where he was sat, and once the dust cleared from the axe he could see it'd left a huge hole in the ground.

Kaida smiled sweetly at him, which almost made him forget for a moment of what he really was there for, until she asked "Are you ready?"

He snapped wide awake, when she lowered herself, and swooped the axe up in her hand with little ease, and came at him through the air, just a little off the ground.

She came at him in such speed, he almost got hit by the axe as it swooped past him, almost a couple of centimetres from his face.

Deidara retreated backwards instantly, deeper into the forest, as she swung her axe at him, her speed and strength surprising him all the more as she was still carrying the axe.

It was only when his back hit against an oak tree that Kaida lifted the axe, aiming to cut him from his right shoulder and across, he ducked to the side, her axe went into the tree, and was stuck there for a moment.

She looked at him as he quickly pulled a small bird from his pouch at his side where all his clay was kept, dropping it as he jumped high into the air, it turned into a huge bird, taking off the ground, Deidara landed on it as he fell down.

The bird flew up into the sky, way above the trees, Kaida stared in amazement, a smile breaking out onto her face for real, at least he was speaking her language, she found it much more easier to fight in the air and she definitely liked how he'd adjusted to fighting in the air without real wings to carry him.

She ripped the axe from the tree as Deidara circled above in the air, Kaida launched up into the air in such great speed that she appeared just like a blur, Deidara smirked loudly as she floated opposite him, holding the axe in her right hand.

"You're quite skilled, hmm, especially in close combat, would never have guessed that with the wings, yeah, but the axe is a dead give-away, hmm." Deidara exclaimed, as he pulled out his hands from his pouches at his sides, from there four small, clay birds flew over at Kaida, quickly she put the axe on her back and pulled her yellow goggles over her eyes, as her wings flapped down and she shot up higher into the air, the little birds were fast, but couldn't keep up with her.

She swooped around in the air a little, keeping her distance until suddenly her wings stopped working, she fell through the sky fast, Deidara panicked a little, he wondered if something had gone wrong and whether he should intervene, for Pein had stated that he didn't want her dead.

But when he saw her head face towards the oncoming birds, he knew she was okay and was doing it deliberately.

Deidara readied for them to explode, and just as she went through the birds he made the hand-sign quickly and called out "Katsu!"

But to his surprise her wings had collided with them, whilst she went to the ground the broken birds exploded behind her, forcing her closer to the ground from the intense heat of the explosion.

Deidara hissed in annoyance, but had to admit that was a clever trick she pulled in order to make it seem like she was injured to fool her enemy, but it was certainly very risky, for without the right time and precision, she could've been fried by now.

Kaida swooped from the ground and went up into the air, she drew three kunai and quickly attached explosive tags onto them, as she flew through the air, she aimed and threw them into Deidara's bird, and before he could react the tags exploded, Kaida smiled in triumph, thinking she'd won, but her mood swiftly changed when she saw that the three small explosions had caused his own huge bird to explode.

A massive explosion of multi-colours lightened the sky, Kaida was blown away by the sheer force of the huge explosion and almost fell into the trees below had she not remembered how to flap her wings.

When she looked up in dismay, the smoke came afterwards, and she then began to panic thinking that she'd actually killed him unintentionally, no one could survive that explosion.

Whilst Kaida was caught in the middle of her thoughts of sadness and worry, she faintly heard something moving through air from behind herself, looking over her shoulder she saw Deidara flying towards her upon his bird once more, unharmed, and had kunai drawn ready to attack her.

She sighed in relief but quickly did hand-signs, it was a Genjutsu, and Deidara noticed at once what it was, he saw the pearl feathers fall slowly from the sky, surrounding him on his bird, and he knew that if he didn't do something quick, he'd end up falling asleep.

Deidara made the easy hand-sign he'd learned back at his academy, and muttered "Release."

The Genjutsu dispelled and no longer worked on him, which hardly surprised Kaida, for she was expecting as much from a highly skilled opponent.

She circled around him as he followed her, she frowned, he smirked, and still the chase continued.

That was until she stopped dead-still in the air, doing quick hand-signs, she muttered "Air-Style; Hurricane jutsu!"

Kaida took a deep breath, and as Deidara flew head on to meet her, she exhaled her breath, whilst doing this a massive force of wind smacked against him and his bird, it knocked the breath out of him, it was just as powerful as a hurricane, and was so powerful that Deidara knew he either had to pull back or accept that he would fall off.

Deciding that he didn't want the latter, he retreated and allowed the wind to push his bird backwards as far as possible.

This led to a high disadvantage for the both of them, for now Deidara couldn't fight her without blowing her to pieces and Kaida couldn't cut him in half with her axe.

It amazed him and yet didn't to know that she was a wind-type chakra user, for one, Konan didn't have wind-type chakra, and for another wind-type chakra users are very rare, though it was hardly surprising since she could fly.

Kaida sighed but quickly flapped her wings and shot up into the air, Deidara's bird followed quickly after her, not seeming to give her any time to form anymore hand signs or hide.

She swooped around in circles, before flying higher, then flew straight down and landed onto Deidara's bird, he hesitated for a moment, barely accepting that she'd just managed to get onto his bird so easily.

He ground his teeth together, and jumped at her with his kunai, aiming to cut her, Kaida grabbed her axe and both metal clashed in-between them, it was a battle against strength, both of them glared at each other in determination, both not wanting to back down.

Instead he got one hand and went to punch her in the shoulder, when Kaida also let one hand go from the small handle of her axe and grabbed his clenched fist within hers.

They both dropped their weapons onto the continuous flying bird, this time, in reverse, Kaida went to punch Deidara with her now free hand, but he managed to grab her hand in his as well.

They tried pushing each other seeing who would fall, but they both wouldn't budge, instead as a last resort, she jumped up and head-butted him with her own forehead, causing them both to shout out in pain, and some blood came from both of them as they both fell down into two heaps next to each other upon the bird.

"Fuck! W-what the hell was t-that for?!" Deidara exclaimed through the pain, his voice stuttering, he gripped his head tight between his hands.

Kaida did the same and answered in frustration "When you're against the enemy you have to improvise b-best you can!"

Deidara groaned from the pain, and quickly sat up, instead he leaned over Kaida, grabbing her wrists he held them above her head with one hand, his other hand got out a kunai and held it to her throat, he stated simply "You're dead."

She stared at him with her vision fuzzy, and she sighed in defeat, nodding reluctantly, but felt hardly like giving up, she just couldn't be bothered to continue, especially through the excruciating pain throbbing through her head.

"You know I would've won if It weren't for the head butt." She stated stubbornly, Deidara frowned, getting off her he sat down with crossed legs and stated "The head butt was your idea, yeah, so don't go on the 'what ifs' you chose to do that move, hmm, if you were in a real battle, you'd have been dead by now, hmm."

Kaida sighed and answered "Perhaps, but like I said, when you're against the enemy you have to improvise, I think I may have hit your head a little harder than I expected…"

"Oh, you think, hmm?" Deidara said sarcastically, pulling a face, as he looked over the side of his bird and saw that they were coming close to the ground.

Kaida sat up and replaced the axe upon her back, where it belonged, before turning to Deidara she muttered "Thanks for the fight, you're very good."

His head shot up and he stared at her long and hard for a couple of minutes, seeing nothing but general kindness in her eyes, he nodded, feeling his cheeks warm slightly, he answered "No worries, yeah."

She smiled, but almost screamed when she saw him attempt to stand and he fell off the side of the bird and to the ground.

Kaida jumped up to look over the side of the bird and found that luckily the bird had landed on the ground already, and he was lying on the ground, clutching his stomach faintly as she heard it growling.

She glared at him and jumping off, she pulled him up by his cloak and shook him slightly whilst snapping "Don't you ever do that to me again! I thought you'd fallen to your death!"

"S-sorry…u-un!" Deidara exclaimed dizzily, she noticed that he was rather pale and felt a little worried and that it was partly her fault for the way he was.

"Let's go and get something to eat." She stated on a helpless sigh, and at that the mere mention of food, had him snap awake, he smirked at how close they were, leaning more close he muttered huskily "Aw, you care, hmm."

Kaida blushed lightly, and rolled her eyes, dropping him to the floor, she turned away from him, walking off in the other direction she answered "That'd be the day, now let's go and get you something before you pass out and then Pein will be onto me, thinking that it was my fault."

Deidara smirked to himself, he really liked this girl, and knew they'd become good friends and sparring buddies, and he knew it was more than Leader shouting at her that made her concerned about him, for she'd stated earlier that she hardly wanted to be here.

He got up, the giant bird next to him disappeared in a puff of smoke and returned to it's original size, picking it up from the floor, he followed swiftly behind her, smiling at her back all the while.