Tigara's Tale

Tigara's Tale

An Offshoot of Nari's Story

By Dawn Loge

Disclaimer:

Sadly, I don't own Naruto, I do, however, own Tigara and Ari and my sister owns Nari and several other original characters. Please have the consideration to not use them; I don't use your characters, so don't use mine or my sister's.

I have my sister's permission to use her characters, since she is also helping me with this story, otherwise, this would be rather boring.

Author's note: Sorry it took so long, had a major case of writers block and needed Nari's help on some shit, but here it is, enjoy…Please review!

Chapter 7

Bad Company

A month after Orochimaru left, Pein announced at breakfast, "Uchiha, I have a mission for you. There's an assassin I want recruited, and I think you're about the only one, other than Baby Bird, who can beat him. Kisame, Sasori, you'll be accompanying him."

Itachi nodded and went back to his food. Tigara asked, "Why can't we both go?"

Pein said, "I'm not entirely certain, but I think you might have a history with this one."

Tigara scowled, "I don't like the sound of that. What kind of history?"

Pein said, "I'm not gonna get into it at breakfast, and I don't answer to you, young lady. Drop it, now."

Tigara slammed her fork down and got up, storming out and up the stairs. Itachi finished his breakfast and went to find her. He found her fuming in her room. He asked, "What's wrong? Why are you so pissed?"

"Pein always tells me why he won't send me on a mission, or at least give me a decent reason why he won't tell me. This isn't like him. Unless…"

"Unless, what, Tig?"

"You've never seen my scar, have you?"

"What scar? I didn't know you had one."

She went behind her screen, coming back out wrapped in an oversized towel. She lowered the towel on her left side, revealing a scar about four inches long and shaped like a fish hook. "I got this on the way home after the second phase of the Chunin Exams. My team and I were attacked and the others were killed. I was hit by a piece of exploding clay. I never got a good look at the guy, but since this was all I ended up with, the medics deemed me fit to continue with the exams. And, as you know, it didn't affect my performance."

"Shouldn't that have gone into your medical records?"

"It should have, but it didn't. Don't ask me why, because I don't know. But, if Pein doesn't want to tell me anything, it might be the same guy. Just promise me you'll be careful."

He kissed her forehead and hugged her, saying, "I promise. I'll be back in one piece."

He released her and got ready to go. The three guys left after lunch.

Tigara fretted and watched for the three days that they were gone; not sleeping and only eating when her sugar dropped. When they got back, she ran and hugged all three of them, but wouldn't let go of Itachi. She looked suspiciously at the new arrival. She said, "Lunch is ready."

The five of them went in to lunch in silence. Pein noticed Tigara's looks of unease and said, "Well, I guess we need to do introductions. The one shooting daggers with her eyes is Akimoto Tigara, the other woman is Konan. I'm Pein, I'm guessing that you know the three that brought you in, the 'gentleman' to your right is Zetsu, across from him is Hidan, and next to him is Kakuzu. You are Koshigawa Deidara. Welcome to the Akatsuki."

Deidara said, "Akimoto, I did a job for a clan by that name a while back. Are you from Kiri?"

Tigara clutched her fork and growled. Itachi anticipated her move and jumped up at the same time she did, holding her back. She screamed, "YOU KILLED MY TEAM, YOU SON OF A BITCH!!"

"Tigara, calm down," Itachi whispered in her ear.

"I'm gonna rip his heart out and feed it to him!"

"Come!" Itachi grabbed her shoulders and directed her from the room and up the stairs

"NO! Gimme one shot at that bastard and he'll regret ever hearing the name Akimoto."

Pein stood up and gave the girl a glare, "Go, Tigara, I will not tolerate that kind of behavior."

She glared back as best she could, considering she was being forced through the doorway.

Deidara looked around at the others, who all had looks of shock, amazement, or some combination of both on their faces. Konan mouthed to Pein, "That wasn't in her file."

Itachi forced Tigara up to their shared bathroom and into the tub, where he turned the shower on full blast cold. Tigara gasped and said, "I'm gonna flatten you, Uchiha Itachi!"

He threw her on her bed and lit two cigarettes from her pack, saying, "Smoke that and change, we're going up to train. Someone else can fix supper tonight."

"I don't wanna train, I wanna kill somebody. And no amount of training is going to change that."

"I'm aware of that, but killing him won't bring your friends back."

"I know that, but it might make me feel better about their deaths."

"No, it won't, trust me on that one. Come on. Let's work off some of this energy."

"Fine, but I'm warning you now, you're going to see some shit hit the fan."

"I am aware of that." They headed up to the training level, and, much to both of their chagrin, it had started raining. "Oh, well, we need practice in all sorts of conditions. Let's get started."

They trained hard for several hours, both of them throwing and dodging jutsus that could easily have killed had they connected. When Pein came up to find them, what he saw shocked him. Both of them were soaked in sweat and rain, shivering and still throwing jutsus around that had full power. Pein clapped his hands and said, "Alright you two, go inside. I'll have Konan bring you each some supper. I want each of you to soak in a hot bath for at least an hour so you don't get sick. Uchiha, you take one of the empty bathrooms."

The two of them headed to their rooms, Itachi grabbing his nightclothes and heading toward the staircase to the roof. After he had finished his soak and meal, he dressed and went to find Tigara. Apparently, she had also just finished, because she had tucked herself in and was in the process of lighting a cigarette. "Feeling better?" Itachi asked.

"Eh. A little, I still wanna kill him, but it can wait till tomorrow."

There was a soft knocking on the door

Tigara shouted, "What?!"

"Can I come in, un?" Deidara's voice sounded through the closed door.

Itachi answered, "Not a great idea at the moment, but since I'm in here, come on."

"Good, un," Deidara pushed the door open and walked in, but stayed next to the closed portal.

Tigara asked, "What do you want, bastard?"

"Listen, un," he fidgeted nervously, "it was just a job, un. Nothing personal."

"It was still my team, they were the only friends I had."

He just shrugged, "There's nothing I can do to bring them back, un."

"An apology on your part might be a start towards getting off my shitlist though."

"I'm not gonna apologize for a job, un," he crossed his arms stubbornly.

"Was nearly killing me part of the job?"

"No, un, that was an accident," he leaned back against the door.

"Huh?"

"If you remember correctly, un," he shook his head, "you hit me and I dropped my bird, which I was planning to throw behind you to cut off your route back to the others."

"Oh, so hurting me at all wasn't part of the plan?"

"Nope, un, I was supposed to lead you away from the fight and back to the village, possibly unconscious but not injured, un."

"But who hired you?"

"As I said earlier, un," he shrugged again, "the Akimotos."

"My family?! Why would they do that?"

"I don't ask questions, un," he shook his head. "I just take the money, makes things easier, un. Unlike most ninja, un, as a mercenary I get paid in advance."

Itachi said, "So, in other words, he didn't mean to hurt you, and in a way, it was your fault. Which means, since neither of you are technically apologizing, a truce needs to be arranged."

"I'd be willing, un," Deidara looked up, his one visible eye holding Tigara's.

"I guess I can refrain from killing him. But that doesn't mean he's off my shitlist by a long shot."

"Whatever, un," he turned to leave, but opened the door to a very surprised Pein.

Pein said, "Well, I wasn't exactly expecting this, but stay, I actually need to talk to both of you. Tigara, why do you hate Deidara so much?"

"It was a bit of a misunderstanding and misdirected anger on my part. I'm sorry, Pein."

"That doesn't answer my question and you know it."

"My team and I were walking back through the Forest of Death, after the second phase of the Chunin Exams. I saw him move away and was about to say something to the other two, when three others jumped down on them. Since I was the only one who saw Dei, I went after him, so we wouldn't be caught off-guard again. I hit him and he dropped the bomb he had just made. I got hit with a piece of it and when I came around, I was in Konoha hospital and my teammates were dead. Since he was the only one I got a good look at, I naturally blamed him."

Deidara piped up, "I can put in a few details that she was unaware of at the time, un. My team had been hired, by her family, to kill her team, but she wasn't to be seriously injured. We figured the best way to do that was for me to distract her and draw her away. That's where things kinda strayed from the plan, un. I had made the bomb to throw behind her to block her route back to her team, but she hit me in the head before I got the chance to use it like I wanted. By the way, un, this girl has one mean right cross."

Itachi put in, "I have negotiated a truce between the two of them. As long as the past isn't brought up again, and Tig's bad memories along with it, she has graciously consented not to kill him or pick a fight with him. And Deidara has agreed not to provoke her temper, although I don't think he did it on purpose this time."

Pein said, "Well, I guess I was correct about a history. And I'm glad that an arrangement has been reached. Well, night all. Get some sleep, all of you. Deidara, come with me, I'll show you your room."