A/N: Here's where thing's really begin to perk up. With all the character intros out of the way, we can truly get this party started. Please enjoy! And to Rosebud130, I will never be able to thank you enough for all your kind contributions. Thanks!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the Akatsuki or any of the OCs except Kyo. Karin belongs to my sissy Miss89. Hirota, Kiyoshi, Illia and the soon to join us Zero and Yami all belong to Rosebud130.
Chapter Five: It's all About Teamwork
Pein led the children following him into the meeting hall of the Akatsuki, where the children first met their fathers. He motioned for them to stand in the middle of the circle as he took his place.
All of the kids lined up, looking around the circle at their parents and other team members of the Akatsuki before their eyes rested back on Pein.
"I would say that I hope you all have used your time wisely and have gotten to know each other a bit, but as I can see that would be a bit...vague." he said his eyes passing over Sora, Illia, and Karin. "At any rate, the time to lie around is past spent. As children of the Akatsuki, you are our successors; meaning that once we can no longer carry out the mission of our clan, you will take up our stride. But you must be put to the test to see if it's something that you can truly handle. This test is not something to be taken lightly. It will determine who your partner will be and what missions you will be assigned. It is up to whether or not you choose to work with someone on this test mission, but don't get comfortable with that person because they will most likely not be your partner. The members of the Akatsuki will be following you, watching you and taking notes to bring them back to me. From there I'll decide who to put together. With all that being said, here's your test."
Kiyoshi wondered why his father was putting so much time into this generation of the Akatsuki. He knew that he hadn't done this type of thing with the guys working for him now. He just put the newbies somewhere, no matter if their partner hated them or if they weren't very compatible with each other. It didn't matter to him. So why now? And a test mission as well. Something was up.
There was a meow then another and another from within the darkness surrounding the Akatsuki. All of the kids blinked looking to where the noise came from. Five kittens came prancing out of the darkness and everyone blinked. You're kidding… was the first thing that came their minds.
"These cats will run just about anywhere, and by anywhere I do mean anywhere. They can leave from here and travel within the Hidden Leaf Village if they like, and you are to catch them." Pein said matter of factly.
"You can't..." Kyo started, "be serious." Karin finished.
"Oh but I am. I am very serious and like I said before it's not anything to be taken lightly."
Sighing Kyo looked at him. "There are eight of us, and five cats...what's the catch?"
Though his face was hidden a smirk was evident in his voice, "You're very attentive. As to be expected from a child of Itachi. You can figure it out."
Kyo bit her tongue to keep from sighing again and just narrowed her eyes slightly.
"So much like your father..." Pein said as if talking to himself. "Now enough talking, get to it. Catch the cats as fast as you possibly can and bring them back to me. And hurry at it, there are two others that you haven't had a chance to meet yet and I have a feeling they will be here waiting for you when you get back."
Everyone nodded and watched as the Akatsuki disappeared and the cats pranced past them and out into the hall. Karin raised an eyebrow as they followed them all the way outside. "And this shouldn't be taken lightly why?" she asked as she put a hand on her hip. "Okay, here I go."
She advanced for the kitty in the center. It was the one with the brightest fur. A fluorescent orange with turquoise spots. It's back right paw was white and it had a white star painted on its left eye. It looked back at her and meowed. "Aww hey precious," Karin cooed, "we'll call you star. You like that name?"
Just as her fingers were preparing to touch the cat, it struck out. Karin blinked pulling back with four well defined red marks stretching from her eye to her neck. "It's scratched me!" Kyo covered her mouth to keep from snickering. "You little-"
In a blink of an eye the cat was on the highest branch of a tree before her. All the kids looked in awe as the other four joined it. Their little kitten muzzles gave of smirks as they vanished, running off in five different directions as blurs of color.
This is not something to take lightly. Pein's words rang through all of their heads.
The kids looked at each other and in a flash they split, going after a different cat.
Pein smirked from where he watched in the window with Konan at his side. "Now it has only begun." His face turned to a grim one as he looked at her. "And so has our research."
With a nod Konan followed Pein back to his study.
Kyo's pov
Kyo trailed behind the orange and turquoise cat with flawless speed. She was practically toe to toe with it. "Karin, go that way and let's corner it." She pointed to the right of her, talking to her sister.
She looked as her twin disappeared to ground level and rounded to the right. Now let's time this perfectly...
Right. she heard Karin think back at her.
Kyo counted to 3 as she made it even closer to the cat. Now! She made a big leap forward and knocked foreheads with Kiyoshi.
"Argh..." she groaned pulling back to pause and rubbed the center of her forehead. She looked over to Kiyoshi seeing he was doing the same. The cat! She looked to her left hearing a faint meow. The cat was perched on a tree top, did its kitten smirk again, and was gone in a flash.
She sighed looking at Kiyoshi. "Sorry, I didn't mean to run into you like that. I thought you were the cat."
Kyo shook her head. "It's mostly my fault. But let's go and catch it so we can head back to the base."
Kiyoshi nodded and zipped through the air with her. It was a mutual understanding between them to work together. Kyo knew that Kiyoshi understood the meaning of the mission so she wouldn't have to waist her time with explanations.
She just wondered how long this mission would truly last.
Karin's pov
Karin nodded and dropped down to ground level, dashing off to the right. Now let's time this perfectly... Kyo's voice rang out clearly in her head.
Right. came her response.
Now!
Karin then concentrated her chakra to her soles and ran up the side of the tree. Got ya! she thought launching forward with her arms out. She had her eyes locked on the bright red blur flashing forward. What she thought was a cat...turned out to be Hirota.
They blinked as they butted heads at an awkward angle: Hirota facing forward, eyes wide open; Karin running into the right of his body, arms open around him, one eye closed and smushed against the side of his face.
"Oh boy..." he said as they tipped over and fell downward.
Detangling themselves before they hit the ground, a tree branch, Hirota landed on the side of a tree before Karin who landed on a tree branch. "You got in my way kid! I had a perfect shot straight at the little booger and you blocked me!"
Hirota just stared at her with a blank glare. "You got in my way. I was right at the thing's tail when you knocked into the side of me."
She grumbled. "Whatever, where's Kyo." She jumped up from tree branch to tree branch to get to the top of the tree looking around. She saw a small figure of black and blue dashing over the tree tops in the distance. "Kyo!" she called but her twin didn't seem to hear.
She huffed. "Maybe if I reach out to her in her mind..."
Hirota was now standing on a tree top before her, look incredibly bored. "Look, the whole point of this test is to see how well we can work together. You just lost your original partner, and I just lost mine. The quicker we work together to get that stupid fur ball the faster we can get home and find out why Pein gave us this stupid test."
Karin looked at the boy. He raised a good point. She nodded, "Fine. Let's get a move on then."
Hirota nodded and they both hopped away chasing the crimson and white striped cat that disappeared around the bend.
Illia's pov
Illia's eyes narrowed in concentration as she tailed the all white cat with Shouta on her heels. They were running behind the cat when they heard voices coming towards them, one angry and a little pissed off, and the other childish like. She sighed knowing what to expect to see soon.
Emerging from the woods were Sora and Scarlett. Scarlett was yammering on and on about playing fun games and hoping they would stay as partners, while Sora was just pleading for her to go away.
Illia tried to steer clear of them but it was to no avail. Scarlett pointed them out and ran over. Illia noticed Shouta looking around for a way of escape, only she didn't see him actually leave because her sight was blocked by Scarlett. "Hi there! Would you like to join us in a game while we chase the cats?"
"No." came her answer flatly. She turned looking to Shouta but he was gone. So was Sora. Illia pinched the bridge of her nose and looked at Scarlett. "My dad did say we didn't have to work together right?" she asked and didn't wait for an answer. She just faced away. "Happy hunting on your own." And with that, she was gone.
Sora's pov
Sora sighed. She was grateful for Scarlett going to bug Illia for a moment; she was able to get away. Yeah she felt bad that Illia was now stuck with that but hey, she was off her back.
Then he remembered Shouta was with her too and she felt worse about leaving them with her now. She almost went back...almost!
Sighing she turned the corner around a tree and blinked seeing Shouta. "Hey, how'd you get separated from Illia?"
He blinked and looked over to her with his one visible eye and shrugged. "I bailed when I saw that weirdo coming my way. I figured Illia would too but I guess she didn't have enough time."
"Oh..." Sora said softly. "Well I'm sure either she left the freak by herself or got her to leave by now somehow so you can go and find her so you can continue searching together."
Shouta shook his head. "No, the Illia I know would just go on ahead without me and catch up with me later. And besides, this exercise is all about teamwork right? So maybe Illia decided to just ignore Scarlett and her weirdness and just get the job done with."
Sora blinked. He did make a point. "Okay...so if it's about teamwork and our partners just became partners, possibly, then that makes us..." she left the sentence hanging in the air for him to finish.
Shouta rolled his one visible blue eye. "Partners, duh."
