Pein may have dismissed us, but I wasn't ready to give up on getting my scroll back so easily. As the others got up and left I climbed to my feet, moving out of the way. I stood by the wall, dragging my fingers through my brownish red hair as I waited for the last person to leave. Zoe sent me a questioning look before shutting the door behind her, leaving me alone with Pein, the formidable leader.
"Um…" Pein glared at me, not used to being disobeyed. Folding my arms I dug my fingernails into the skin on my arm, steeling myself for dealing with the orange haired man.
"I thought I told you to leave." I lowered my head, letting my hair fall in front of my eyes as I slowly approached him, taking tentative steps.
"You did but… I want my scroll back." Pein frowned; watching as I paused halfway across the room, will power wavering.
"I already told you that you can't have it back until I know what's inside it." His voice was annoyed but I could have sworn that I heard a hint of curiosity in it. Nodding I dropped my arms to my sides before looking up and meeting his eyes, determination blazing fiercely in my emerald eyes as I tried not to let Pein intimidate me.
"I can open it for you." The heavily pierced man stared at me, definitely annoyed now. He had basically already asked me to do that and I had refused, and now I was eating into his time after deciding that now was a good time.
"Why didn't you do it before?" He demanded, clearly showing the fact that he wasn't impressed with my behaviour. It took all of my willpower not to flinch at his tone.
"I'm showing you now so get over it!" I snapped at him, voice cold. He blinked, not having expected an outburst like that.
"Fine." He handed me my scroll, which I unrolled and lay down on the table, revealing three stored puppets and a summoning contract for a wolf. Nothing sparked when I touched the scroll, but when Pein reached out to touch it there was a spark and the scroll rolled itself up, almost as though it was shying away from him. Not believing what had just happened I rubbed my eyes before looking again, but nothing changed.
"That was weird." I whispered, unrolling it once more so that Pein could study it. It was because of the puppets that I hadn't wanted to open it during the meeting. Sasori probably would have scoffed at it. Chances were that I was going to have to show it to him eventually, but first I wanted to try and teach myself the puppetmaster jutsu. There was no reason to rely on others for everything.
"You should let Sasori take a look at those puppets."
"I'll keep that in mind." I assured him, mentally banging my head against a wall. That was the thing that I didn't want to do.
"You can leave now." He told me emotionlessly, walking away.
"Oh, ah, yes leader-sama." Glad that he wasn't trying to kill me for being insolent I quickly grabbed my scroll and high-tailed it out of the meeting room.
Wandering through the corridors I realised I was completely lost, so it really was a stroke of luck when I ran into Kisame just as I was about to try a random door.
"You don't want to go in there, that's Hidan and Kakuzu's room." I quickly backed away from the door, sending him a thankful look.
"Well I don't really know where I'm going… Do you think you can show me?" I asked hopefully, holding my scroll under one arm. He was silent for a moment, probably thinking about the pros and cons of letting me walk around by myself. I would most likely end up getting beaten up for going into someone's room.
"Sure." The blue man walked off down the corridor and I followed him, trying to memorise the way we were going even though I had no idea how I had gotten to Hidan's room in the first place. Eventually he stopped outside another remarkably plain door.
"This is your room." He informed me before leaving. I didn't even get a chance to thank him, but I just shrugged it off and stepped inside, immediately noting the sword lying abandoned on the floor.
"Double room I guess…" Making sure not to step on it I noted that the owner, Brooksey, was already asleep in one of the beds. That was just typical though really, so I sat down on the free bed, contemplating how we were going to be able to accomplish what we came here for.
Normal POV:
I sighed as I woke up, my sleep had been restless in the cold, pitch black darkness. I winced as the sunlight poured in through the thin slit of concrete wall. The covers had been somewhat itchy but they worked at keeping away the deathly cold that crept in at night time. I glanced over…so my roommate was Ty.
"Morning," I croaked at the scruffled black mass of hair that peered back at me.
"Hhhhhnnn." The form blinked twice, revealing coal-coloured eyes, before pulling back the covers and swinging her feet to the floor, staring at it for a minute.
I copied her actions, facing the girl as she dragged a brush through the thick, black mess. I gave my short violet hair a quick brush. "Let's go eat."
She nodded and we chucked on some clothes and heading through the winding corridors.
"Crap, where the heck are we?" I groaned as we passed the same pot-plant once again.
"We're lost. Of course." Ty shook her head, her eyes rolling ever so slightly. I growled and smashed my fist into the wall.
That is one thing I don't recommend.
It really hurts.
I yowled in pain and shook my fist, admiring the slight crack in the wall…which was made of concrete, may I add.
Ty stared, "You got enhanced strength!" I stared wide eyed and nodded, "I guess so."
"Hey, why don't you try it, we all might have it!" She stared at me like I had gone mad…"Okay!"
She shook her hand a couple of times before she punched the wall with all her strength. Both of us cringed. Ty's fist had cleared the wall and was now grasped by another hand…Pein's.
He glared through at the two of us, a tight grip on the raven-haired girl's fist. "If you don't mind, would you consider not breaking our base? Kakuzu has enough payments to make already," he hissed, releasing her hand.
She shook it, black eyes wide with shock and nodded quickly before taking off down the hallway, with myself quickly following, avoiding Pein's glare.
My stomach grumbled as I entered the kitchen. "Food!" I ran to the table and stuffed the nearest edible things into my mouth, I was starving! Possibly from the change from human to anime..? I dunno. Ty stared at me in shock until I realised what I had done.
"H-hello Hidan." I winced, staring into the violet eyes of the highly pissed off Jashinist whose food I had so recently consumed in a fit of hunger.
"What the fuck bitch?!" He yelled, spraying toasted spit in my face. "Sorry." He glared.
"Say it don't spray it…" I mumbled under my breath, sitting down with Ty and buttering some more toast hungrily.
Pein gave us as sharp glance as he entered and made some breakfast quickly.
He fiddled with a few things on the bench before leaving to eat in private.
Ty sighed in relief, "I swear he was going to kill me…if he hasn't changed his mind yet." She looked up with red tinged cheeks and Itachi entered the room silently and sat down.
I chuckled to myself, it was cute to see the boy-unfriendly Ty actually crushing on someone…it was so unlike her.
Then Deidara walked in, smiling to himself and I took back all of my thoughts as heat started creeping into my cheek. 'Stupid male species.' I growled internally.
I finished up my breakfast and nodded to the others before heading to the training room. If anyone was there I decided I wanted to spar with them...at least then I could try out the full extent of my anime induced gifts.
I slid the heavy metal door along with ease and slipped inside, there wasn't anyone inside yet that I could see so I went over to a few mannequin style target dummies and practiced throwing kunai. I missed most of the time and after several painstaking minutes I managed to clip the hip of one. I smiled proudly before a voice behind me snickered.
"You're doing it all wrong," The red-head chuckled and walked out of the shadows. 'Creepy bloody puppet,' I thought, shuddering…What Ashleigh saw in him I did not know.
He stalked up behind me and I shifted slightly, uncomfortable with the close proximity of the murderous artwork. He held my wrist surprisingly gently and whipped the kunai forward in several motions which my muscles remembered.
The knife embedded itself in the targets chest with a dull thud.
"Thanks for your help." I went back to throwing kunai and shuriken at the dummy, each time getting better and hitting the target on most occasions. Sasori left without saying a word and was gone when I next turned around.
"Whatever." I sighed and turned to the seat to have a break until someone arrived. I took a sip from my water flask, a silver object with a dark violet ribbon that attached in to my side, Shutting the metal clasp the metal door screeched across the concrete as someone entered.
"Zoe? What are you doing here, un?" The blond strolled into the pale grey room, a smile playing his lips.
"Practicing. With some success actually thanks to puppet-boy's help." I chuckled.
"Sasori?" The blond looked a bit …well… I couldn't explain it but his mood seemed to darken slightly.
I nodded questioningly. He made a slight grunting noise before facing the target dummies and sticking his hand in the clay pouch, concealed in his midnight cloak. I wondered what Sasori had done to put him in such a foul mood. That mood quickly changed and I watched in fascination as his mouth chewed at the pale substance before producing a small centipede. His hand shot forward, sending the clay bug flying as though it could crawl through air, growing in size and wrapping around the figure. His hands closed in a jutsu sign and his whispered, "Katsu!"
The dummy no longer existed, in its place was a spectacular array of colours, smoke and charred remnants. A blackened pole with strips of burned fabric dropped to the side of the room as the spontaneous rainbow of fire scattered away.
I stared. Kakuzu was not going to be pleased.
The bomber smirked and looked proudly at his work, feeding his hand into the pouch again and turning to the concrete version of the dummy. This time a number of birds fluttered out beautifully and as he clapped his hands together, first two index fingers raised and muttered his word, they bursts into clouds of flame and this time glowed bright white before fading away. I blinked a couple of times to regain my sight and looked at the now charcoal spotted stone figure.
Another proud beam of expression glinted from the blonds face and he puffed slightly before resting on the marble bench. I pondered how the money nin had afforded this marble stone bench…probably stole it, I figured.
I side-glanced Deidara…he was panting slightly, a smirk dancing on his mouth, his blue eyes looking out at the organised chaos he had ensued. I had to admit it was fairly impressive.
"My turn." I stood up with a confident smile. I was definitely ready to test out my abilities; I was in a show-off mood anyway. Especially with Blondie around.
First I pulled out my katana and started throwing and wielding it, slicing clean through one of the stone targets. I widened my eyes, that would be useful. After some time practicing with the targets another blade clashed with mine. I looked into the determined blue eyes in front of me.
"Dei, what the fuck?" He smirked, I wondered where the hell he had gotten the sword from in the first place. Then I noticed the stack of them at the side of the room, varying in different sizes. Oh.
"Can't let you have all the fun, un. Besides…I need some sword work."
He had chosen a katana similar to mine in shape and length and was now swinging at my throat. I jumped back acrobatically and flipped, disbanding the sword from touching me. I landed lightly, smug yet surprised. I was enjoying this new body, there was no way I would submit to going back to the world I used to live in. I would live here or be slain here, either future that lay ahead didn't matter, I was not going home.
I swung forward at the blond and he jumped back, our swords clashed again and this time my katana started to shimmer. Wait…shimmer? I stopped for a split second to look at it before Deidara attacked again, certain he would beat an amateur like me. I felt it in my bones that something was happening, it felt like a stream of energy was connecting my mind to the blade and draining from me slowly.
The thin, silver blade grew and thickened a blue hue of flame started to form around it and it swung of its own accord, at each of my opponent's vital points. Deidara dodged with surprise and tried to deflect it each time. The first attempt succeeded but the next time my blade pierced sharply through his feeble sword, splitting it lengthways before it slid into Dei's shoulder, grinding against his bone and sinew. I screamed in shock as I felt the gold symbol of the Jashin necklace burn against my chest until I pulled the blade away.
"Deidara!" I screeched, grabbing his uninjured shoulder to keep him upright and watched as he grimaced in pain, thin, crimson blood dripped from the wound, staining his black cloak a tinted wet colour.
With a loud, ear splitting noise an orange-haired figured stormed into the room followed by a few others. Kakuzu turned to Dei and asked if he was okay. With a pained nod he turned from him, "Good match, interesting…uh sword…you have there, un." He whispered the last part to avoid Leader-sama's scrutiny. Unfortunately Pein had already clicked by looking at the split katana and my still slightly radiant, blood-coated one and connecting the dots.
I picked it up quickly, wiping the blood off and sheathing it before he decided to confiscate it.
He didn't seem too pissed but his tone when he spoke scared me.
"Meeting, now."
He sounded…. Intrigued.
