The Akatsukis Agenda
Chapter 4: The Reason
Kisame pushed open the door to the Leaders office
"I've brought Ame to you"
"Send her in"
Kisame pushed the door open even further so that she could enter.
"You'll be fine" he whispered as she cautiously stepped into the room. The office was large and filled with scrolls, books and papers reminding her strongly of the rector's office at her old school only much messier and disorganised. She approached the desk and stopped behind one of the chairs.
"Sit down" He looked at her for a moment as if sizing her up and when he looked in her eyes , she felt as if he were somehow reading her thoughts, making her incredibly nervous.
"I suppose you want to know why we brought you are here"
"Yes" she replied quietly
"You have experience of working in administration and of cataloguing a library and you are apparently a quick learner" He stopped and seemed to sense the questions buzzing around in her head.
"At 24 you are not the most experienced in these fields and that there are those whose abilities surpass your own, however, your circumstances are convenient for us" This confused her somewhat. For the past 6 months she had been working from home as a dressmaker but wondered how this would benefit them, then it occurred to her, she had no colleagues as such and her family lived in different parts of the country. In short she would not be missed. This is what she supposed he had meant yet felt that this seemed a little bit odd and she suspected that if the Leader wasn't lying to her, he certainly wasn't telling her everything. Whilst this was her suspicion she decided against pressing him for more information.
"You are now a subordinate of the Akatsuki. You will be answerable to Konan on a daily basis and if you are required to assist anyone else, to them as well. Konan will explain your duties to you" There was a knock on the door before Konan entered.
"You're in time, Ame is just being briefed" He turned back to Ame "It is unusual for a subordinate to live on base and under the circumstances I must insist that you do not attempt to leave without the permission of Konan or myself and when you do leave you are escorted at all times. Do you understand?"
"Yes"
"Any questions?"
"Uh…Yes. When will I be able to return home?" She asked, fearing the answer.
"Not for some time. There is nothing for you to worry about and everything has been taken care of" He said effectively cutting off any more questions about home.
"Okay…" She suddenly felt trapped here.
"Anything else?"
"No"
"Good. Familiarise yourself with your surroundings and prepare to start work on Monday"
"Okay"
"I will no doubt see you later on. Konan will explain everything you need to know for now" He said before turning back to the papers on his desk. Konan touched her shoulder and indicated to her to follow her out of the room.
"How are you settling in?" Konan asked
"Fine, Kisame showed me around earlier so I should vaguely remember where everything is but this place is massive!"
"Yes, I imagine it must be quite daunting but you'll soon get used to it after all, this is your home now"
"This is your home now" those words echoed in her head as it dawned on her that her stay here was rather more permanent than she initially thought. Her silence and change in expression were not lost on the observant Konan.
"Ame, I realise that this is difficult for you, it would be for anyone, but you'll settle into life here and it will hopefully start to feel like home soon. It just takes time" She said with a weak smile
"I'm sure you're probably right"
"Well for the most part everyone gets along and were not as monstrous as were made out to be in those comics in your world" Ame noticed that she sounded a little annoyed at this.
"You've seen them?"
"Yes, they're clearly written by someone who's very pro Konoha. I suppose to you and others in you're world Akatsuki must seem…well, evil and our aims must seem so too. Some of our members are a bit damaged, you might say but not evil" She sighed "You'll learn this for yourself"
"So far everyone has basically been very nice" she conceded "Hidan freaks me out a bit though"
"Ah, yes if he gets too bad remember that even immortals can feel pain"
"I thought he liked pain" She said with a laugh
"Well there is one thing he can't stand that even someone with no ninja abilities can do" she smirked. "No man can withstand it" she said raising her knee.
"Ouch!" She laughed upon realising what Konan meant
They walked into another office and Konan set about explaining this to her about her new job and new life with the Akatsuki. She was surprised at how ordinary it all sounded. They chatted for a while and it occurred to Ame that it was probably just as well that there was another woman on base as being around so many men all the time was likely to drive her mad, despite having grown up with 5 brothers.
Of all of the Akatsuki, Konan was probably the one whose nature was least explored in the fiction yet in reality, she seemed to be the one who ensured that everything ran smoothly and she seemed to be held in high regard by her colleagues. She appeared to have spent most of her life with the Leader, at least since the time they were orphaned as children and it didn't seem that they'd been apart since then. It was clear that he trusted her and Ame realised that aside from the Leader himself, Konan was the one she should ensure at all costs she did not piss off otherwise her life could become very unpleasant, if not much shorter. Luckily, she found that Konan was easy to talk to and she seemed to be fairly perceptive and quite compassionate. The bad reputation of the Akatsuki clearly bothered her, this annoyance and disbelief had gone someway to reassuring Ame that the Akatsuki weren't as bad as they were made out to be.
Around 7pm Ame went back to the kitchen to help with dinner. As she reached the kitchen door she was feeling quite dizzy but dismissing it as hunger she went to the fridge and took out a can and took a long drink, while leaning against the kitchen counter hoping that it would help to quell the dizziness she felt increasing with every second. When she finished the can and straightened up she realised that Kakuzu was talking to her. She stepped away from the counter and started to respond when the dizziness hit her like a tsunami and she collapsed to the floor unconscious.