Chapter 6- The Reasons Why

Here it is, please review.

All characters belong to Kishimoto, save for my three OC's, although I'm willing to pay Kishimoto for Hidan. He shall be mine, and I'll also buy Deidara for my friend. You know who you are, friend! … HI FRIEND!!! waves stupidly

There's a little bit of drama in this one, but I hope you like it anyway. There's humor later in the chapter.

Here we go:

Deidara and Kitsune had been sitting in their cave for a few hours, drifting in and out of sleep as the rain continued to pound outside and lightning cracked in the sky. Deidara was currently awake and looking at Kitsune, whose head was resting on his shoulder. Since she had arrived at Akatuski, there had been a question that had been bothering him. He didn't ask on the day she arrived because she was probably tired from her journey and wouldn't want to talk. He didn't ask the next day because they were preoccupied with being stuck together and working on a solution and whatnot. He didn't ask this morning because they had been busy collecting various herbs and such. But now, they were stuck in this cave with nothing to do, and Kitsune was beginning to stir.

"Hey, sis, you awake, un?" Deidara whispered, in case she wasn't.

"Y- Yeah, I am." Kitsune said, lifting her head and shaking it to rid herself of any weariness.

"Ok then, um, can I ask you something, un?"

"Yeah, sure, what is it?"

"Well, un, I was just wondering, why did you become a rogue ninja in the first place, un?" Deidara asked, but when seeing the surprised face on Kitsune, quickly added, "But, you don't have to answer if you don't want to. I was just wondering, un."

Kitsune put her head back down on Deidara's shoulder, and closed her eyes. She was silent for several minutes, and Deidara thought that she wasn't going to answer at all. The quiet continued for several more minutes, when suddenly she spoke up, making Deidara jump.

"Do you remember Yokoshima?" Kitsune said with a flat voice.

Deidara ground his teeth together and clenched his fists.

"Yeah, yeah I remember him alright, un. How could I forget that traitorous bastard? He caused me a lot of trouble about four years back. I don't think that I could ever forget him, un. But what does you becoming a rogue ninja have to do with him?" He asked, tilting his head to the left and furrowing his eyebrows.

"He came back. He finally came back to Iwa." Kitsune said, still keeping her voice flat and dull.

"He What? N-no way, I can't believe it. I swear to God, if I ever see that traitorous bastard again, I swear I'll kill him slowly and painfully, un. I mean, really, after what he pulled-!"

"There's no need to. I already killed him. He's dead." Kitsune said resting her chin on her knees and narrowing her eyes.

"R-really, you finished him off, un?" Deidara said, surprised. "After four years enduring the pain he caused our family he's finally dead." Deidara said, with a wide smile on his face.

"Yeah, but you know, it's not a very happy story. Even after he came back, the village refused to believe that he was guilty, just because he was a trusted advisor to our Kage. Even our best friends would rather call us liars than doubt the Kage's judgment. Even when there was proof of what Yokoshima did, they didn't believe us. There was proof that he killed her, that he killed… our little sister." Kitsune choked out, tears of rage and tears of sadness spilling out of her eyes. "He did it for no reason. She was in his way of trying to escape from stealing from the Kage. Since she was a new genin, it only made sense that she was overconfident, and tried to stop the traitor. She was the only one that witnessed the robbery, and took matters into her own hands. She was only ten, but she was skilled for a genin, and yet, it wasn't nearly enough to stop him." Kitsune buried her head in her available arm, unable to go on with her recap of the story.

"And then I found her, un. Shizukesa was nearly dead and lying in an ally." Deidara jumped in, knowing this part of the story. "I carried her home and called a medic. She told me about Yokoshima and his robbery. She was… so worried that we wouldn't catch him, and almost went back out to find him, despite her condition. I told her that she needed to relax and that she needed to wait for the medic to arrive, un. Not that it mattered, since she… she died… from blood loss before she arrived, un." Deidara continued, stroking his still sobbing sister's hair, and started blinking, trying to hold back the tears. "I was so upset, that I went to find the murderer myself. I was only sixteen, and a new jounin, un. I didn't care what happened to me, as long as that bastard was dead." Deidara said, tears starting to well up in his own eyes. "I-I tracked him and found him. We fought for a long time, but in the end he knocked me unconscious, un. He quickly came back to the village and claimed that I was the one responsible for killing Shizukesa and robbing the Kage." Deidara clenched his jaw and had to restrain himself from punching a hole in the wall in his rage. "I was forced to leave, but not before I told you what had happened. Soon after, Yokoshima said he had to leave on business, but really it was so he wouldn't be found out, un." Deidara choked out, finally letting his emotion get the best of him, and let the tears flow freely down his face. "I tried to find him, but he wasn't anywhere to be found, and then I got roped into Akatsuki, and was forced to stop, un." Deidara paused, not knowing what came next in the tragic tale.

"Th-then, four y-years later, he came back, hoping the incident had been f-forgotten. But it wasn't, was it? I was still there, waiting for my chance for revenge." Kitsune told, grief leaving her face, only to be replaced with rage. "When I saw him, Nenriki, Damu, and I all went to him and killed him together. They were the only two to ever believe us. We knew that we'd be caught, put in jail, or even killed when the village found out about what we'd done. I said that I'd take the blame, but they wouldn't hear of it. They said that they were my best friends, and they loved Shizukesa too, and we escaped together." Kitsune finished, taking a deep breath and finally calming down.

Deidara felt a surge of gratefulness, for all three of them, even Nenriki. Even if his name wasn't cleared, at least he wasn't alone anymore.

They sat in silence for several more minutes, Deidara still stroking Kitsune's hair.

"Hey, look." Deidara said looking outside. "The rain finally stopped, un."

"Yeah, so it has." Kitsune said drying her eyes.

"Let's go finish gathering your ingredients for the solution, un." Deidara said, starting to stand up, but he stopped when he noticed that Kitsune wasn't making an effort to move.

"Hey, Dei, do you- do you think that you could stay with me for a while, just for a few minutes?" Kitsune asked with a pleading look in her eyes.

"Yeah, sure, why not? I mean, if you're staying here, then I don't have much choice, then, do I, un?

"Hehe, yeah, that's true." Kitsune said, wiping the tears from her face.

Deidara sat down next to Kitsune, and she rested her head on his shoulder. Deidara began stroking her hair and she scooted closer to him.

"Hey, Kitsune, un?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks, un."

"Welcome."

BACK AT THE HIDEOUT

"Holy Jashin! Those who aren't immortal are going to die! Ahhhhhh!" Hidan yelled with him and the others running helter skelter down the hallway. He was worrying more about Nenriki's safety than his own.

"Tobi told you that the ghost was real! But Hidan and Nenriki didn't believe us! Now we're going to be puppets!" Tobi shouted, dragging Damu behind him.

"Ok, Ok! We're sorry we didn't believe you! Jeez, but I mean c'mon, Sasori's ghost? I mean, what are the odds?!" Nenriki shouted over her shoulder at Tobi and Damu.

"Whatever, it's fine! But now we need to worry about not dying!" Damu exclaimed. "Here let's hide in this closet, maybe we'll be safer in there."

They all veered to the left and squeezed into the annoyingly small closet. They all took a minute to catch their breath.

"OUCH! Dude, you're on my foot!"

"No, you're under mine!"

"Wha-? Hey, is it just me, or is it getting really chilly in here?"

"It's always you, Damu."

"Shut up!"

"Hey, don't fuckin' talk to Nenriki-san like that!"

"Tobi thinks that Damu-kun is right, it is getting really cold in here."

"Yeah, watch this." Damu exhaled and his breath turned into a pale fog.

"Ok, so it's a bit nippy in here." Nenriki admitted, clenching her jaw and snuggling closer to Hidan. Hidan willing wrapped his free arm around her.

"You don't think that Sasori could find us in here, do you? We're pretty well hidden."

Try again, Tobi-kun. Wherever you are, I WILL find you. There is no escape. There is no hope.

There were many screams and much shuffling as they rushed out of the closet and ran wherever their feet took them. The place their feet took them happened to be right into Kisame and Konan, who had just returned from their "potty break." Konan was looking at the floor with her fists clenched and Kisame was blushing furiously. They ran past them quickly, bumping their shoulders.

"Run for your lives! The puppet man is going to kill us all." Tobi shouted over his shoulder, continuing to run down the hallway.

"What the hell was that all about?" Kisame asked, clearly confused.

"I don't know and I don't care. No talking to me." Konan blurted out.

"Whatever." Kisame mumbled, rolling his eyes.

Meanwhile, the others continued running down the hallway, desperate to get as far away from the haunted closet as possible. They saw Itachi and Kakuzu, and much the same thing happened that happened with Kisame and Konan.

Kakuzu was rubbing his temples with his fingers, while Itachi was crossing his arms and shutting his eyes. His face was red with the blood in his head and embarrassment. His hair was damp with a suspicious liquid that was emitting a strange odor.

Kakuzu sighed and shook his head. "I still can't believe you actually missed. I mean, you are supposed to be an S-ranked criminal aren't you. You can hit anything with a kunai, and yet you don't have control over your own damn dick." Kakuzu said, suppressing a laugh.

"Hey, have you ever tried to piss upside-down? I don't think so, so I don't want to hear it!"

"Whatever."

Those who were being pursued by a ghost continued sprinting down the winding hallways of the Akatsuki hideout. After thinking that they had gotten far enough away, they stopped to catch their breath.

"This…this… can't continue. Something… has to be… done." Hidan said, speaking in between pants.

"Totally… we have…we have to… get rid of Sasori's ghost." Nenriki said, leaning against Hidan for support.

They all knew it was true. They had to stop the ghost, or be stopped themselves, and by stopped, that means turned into puppets. They would not appreciate that. Not one bit.

"We can't do this alone, we need some help. The help of a true genius."

KITSUNE'S ROOM

Deidara and Kitsune were hard at work, quickly measuring and adding ingredients and throwing them into the potion.

"Hey Deidara, pass me the owl's feather, will you?"

"Sure, un.

Kitsune added this ingredient and stirred it with a stick. The concoction turned a pale blue color and started to lightly bubble.

"Ok, I think it's almost done. We just need to wait for it to start bubbling before we can test it out." Kitsune said excitedly.

They waited in silence for several minutes, watching the bubbles slowly stop to bubble. When they did, Kitsune picked up the bottle and poured a few drops on their connected hands.

"Deidara, try to pull your hand off of mine."

"Ok, un."

"One, two, three, PULL!" They pulled, but nothing happened.

"Damn, I really thought that it would work this time. I don't know what else to try." Kitsune said, hanging her head.

"It's fine, we'll get it next time, un. I really think that we can do it, un." Deidara said optimistically.

"Yeah… yeah, you're right. I shouldn't give up so easily. This is just so hard, and there's the ever present danger that I'll blow something up again."

"There's nothing wrong with blowing things up. I think it's a beautiful form of art, un."

"Yeah, you always did have a strange taste in art. Not the safest, but I can respect it." Kitsune said with a shrug and a smile

"You know, you're the one that got me hooked on explosions in the first place, un. I really found your little mishaps quite interesting. In fact, I never would be as good of a shinobi as I am today if you hadn't 'sparked,' so to speak, my interest in explosions, un."

"Really, well… I'm flattered. I guess that some good came from my failures after all, despite the fact I had to re-grow my eyebrows more times than I care to count." Kitsune said, laughing and shaking her head.

"Oh yeah, I remember that, un. Anyway, shouldn't we start making a new solution, since we do have a time limit, un?" Deidara asked.

"Yeah, hey, wait a second. I think I know what I did wrong before!" Kitsune said, very excited. "I just need to add this… and this… ooh! And some of this!" Kitsune began adding ingredients to the old potion like crazy.

Just then, the door opened to reveal Leader and Zetsu walking back to back.

"Hello Kitsune, Deidara. Just checking up on you to make sure that you're on task and haven't forgotten our agreement. Are you almost finished?" Pein asked, a maniacal smile on his face just daring them to say no.

"Uh…oh, Pein-sama! Yeah, just adding some final ingredients!" Kitsune said, grabbing some random ingredients and throwing them into the potion to emphasize her point, desperate not to invoke the Leader's wrath.

"Good, then, I'll be back to check on you later. Remember, one week." Leader said and turned around to leave.

"She looks…delicious." Zetsu's black half said, licking his lips.

"She sure does." Zetsu's white half said.

They then departed, leaving Kitsune and Deidara both looking very pale.

"Anyway, back to wor… oh crap!" Kitsune said, slapping her forehead.

"What? What is it, un?"

"I have no idea what ingredients I just added. This potion is totally useless now. It's too dangerous to try out if I don't know what I put in it." Kitsune said. She sighed and continued. "Let's just go throw it out, but now we have to start from scratch. Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT!" Kitsune yelled, stomping her foot hard on the ground.

"It's ok sis. Really, we still have five days left to come up with a new solution, un. We're going to be fine, un." Deidara said, trying to calm his sister down.

Kitsune took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "You're right let's just get rid of this one, so it's not in our way." Kitsune said, her eyes still closed and getting up with the useless potion.

Unfortunately, just then, Tobi, Damu, Nenriki, and Hidan all came running into the room and crashed into Kitsune and Deidara, who was still holding the concoction.

"Kitsune, we know you're busy, but we could really use your help to catch Sasori's- oh, sorry!" Damu shouted, seeing that he had smashed the glass container holding Kitsune's potion, knocking her and Deidara to the ground, making the now purple liquid spill all over them.

"Damu, you idiot! Who knows what this potion could to us? We could start to break out, or it could have burned the flesh off our bones!" Kitsune said, getting up and cracking her knuckles. She saw Deidara who was still lying on the ground and staring at his hands, mouths and all. "Dei, what are…you…doing?" Kitsune trailed of and staring at her hands that she had just cracked. "Or, it could have actually worked! Damu, you're a genius!"

"Really, I mean, genius? Well… I do have my moments of brilliance." Damu said, not willing to give up one of the few moments that he wasn't being insulted for being dumb, even though he really didn't do anything.

"So, this means that we can get unstuck?" Hidan asked, though not completely excited, with him not exactly hating being attached to Nenriki.

"This is so great! We can finally get unstuck and go back to doing normal things?" Nenriki asked, all thoughts of the ghost once again forgotten.

Damn. I guess she doesn't really enjoy being attached to me as I enjoy being attached to her. Whatever. Hidan thought, looking at the floor in disappointment.

"Well… not exactly. I think all of the solution was spilled onto us, and I don't know what I put into it. I was just going to throw it out, and I don't know how to re-make it. It might take a while." Kitsune mumbled, looking at the floor in shame.

"You've got to be kidding me. Don't tell me that you were thinking of pancakes again. Cause' if you were, I swear, I will end you, and sacrifice you to Jashin." Nenriki said, pointing her finger at her friend.

"NO, this time I was being intimidated by the Leader! He distracted me, leavemealone!" Kitsune blurted, covering her head with her now free hands.

"Bloody Hell! How are we supposed to get unstuck then?"

"I'll try to re-create the solution as quick as I can. But, what were you guys doing in here in the first place? Kitsune asked.

"Oh yeah. Sasori's ghost is going to kill us all! Ahhhhhh!" Damu yelled, remembering the situation at hand.

"Oh jeez, not that again, un. I thought we were all clear on the fact that Sasori's dead. There's no such thing as ghosts, un." Deidara said.

"That's what we thought. But then he wrote messages on the wall, and he moved stuff, and then talked to us and told us that there was no escape!" Hidan exclaimed.

"Kitsune, you've been my friend for many years, so you've got to believe me when I tell you that we're not joking around with this. Sasori's ghost is real, and I think we're in real trouble here." Nenriki said, subconsciously gripping Hidan's hand tightly, making him blush.

Kitsune sighed. "Ok, ok, I believe you. But, I don't know what to do, and even if I did, I'm a bit preoccupied here. I'm trying not to get killed by the Leader, remember?" Kitsune replied.

"I know, but we could really use your help. We can't do this on our own. Besides, I think we could all be in danger. Sasori's clearly pissed about something, and we need to do something about it." Nenriki asked, a pleading look in her eyes.

"Fine, fine, I'll help, but I don't know what I can do. But if my friends need my help, I'm obligated to help them." Kitsune said, shrugging her shoulders and smiling. "Let's go look for clues."

"Actually, we found some of his stuff. Maybe we should start there. They might lead to something."

"Sounds like a good idea to me, un."

They all got up and headed toward Deidara's and Tobi's room to examine the stuff Sasori left behind.

"Hey wait a minute!" Damu suddenly shouted, pausing in his gait. "How come Kitsune believed that whole 'friendship' and 'trust' thing when you said it Nenriki, but you didn't believe me when I said it?" Damu said grabbing Nenriki's arm.

"Because you don't matter. You're not smart enough to matter."

"HEY THAT- awwww, you're right. Crap." Damu mumbled.

"S'right bitch."

So sorry that this chapter took a while to update. It's longer and swim team and school been a bitch. Plus I've been lazy. PLEASE REVIEW! You don't know how much it means to and author and I would greatly appreciate it.

Hope you enjoyed.