I Wanted a Game, Not Cats
Adri frowned when she saw the lot of kittens in the box. And they were really... Odd looking. Hell, one of the kittens were huge and blue with weird gill looking markings on its face. "Why'd you even buy these things? They look like they've undergone an experiment... and became disabled along the way."
Chapter Eight
We're Sorry, Masashi Kishimoto
Adrianna stared down at her partner in crime for the time being. Obito looked so calm when he was sleeping, not that he got much of it. And that was saying a lot seeing how he looked like two-face's cousin. Adrianna was actually relieved that the evildoer was finally sound asleep. It's been a few days since they've been in Nagi and this has been the first time she saw him fast asleep. It wasn't like her to worry so much but a person can only go so long without sleep. She knew of it first hand.
They've been working so hard, especially Obito. They've just about covered the entire town searching for this Masashi Kishimoto. If this was his world, Obito knew he would have been able to find him in less than twenty-four hours. This little mission of their would have gone a lot more smoother if it wasn't for Lauren and Zetsu. They're little mission to go to Shueisha always ended up empty handed. The first day, they couldn't even get in. The second day, Zetsu was able to slip in and use henge but it didn't last long as he got caught. The third day was a lot more successful, but they weren't able to get their hands on any of Kishimoto's old work. It was disappointing to say in the least.
Since they weren't getting anywhere, Adrianna thought she could go back home to help out Itachi with his illness and Nagato as well with his malnutrition. She could go to a free clinic so she won't risk getting caught housing illegal foreigners. She mulled it over for another minute or two and decided to let Obito sleep for another hour or two before asking him to take her back.
Before the first hour even passed, Obito stirred awake, no surprise. Out of bad childhood habits, he wiped the edge of his mouth just in case he drooled. "Good morni-afternoon," Adrianna greeted Obito from the foot of the bed.
Obito blinked, staring back at the girl. Onyx eyes met soft, hazel ones. He almost thought he was lost. He hadn't slept since he came to this weird place so waking up seemed like dream, almost euphoric. "How long was I asleep?" He rubbed the sleep from his lone eye and pushed his hair back in slight embarrassment. He felt naked. His mask was off and some girl was watching him sleep.
Adrianna only shrugged, his expression not going unnoticed. "I was shocked to find out you could even sleep," she jested. "When I woke up, you were knocked out."
"And you didn't think to wake me up?" Obito all but growled at her. They had work to do. Sleep was the last thing on his mind.
"No, you were exhausted." Adrianna shook her head. "You actually needed it. I'm glad you actually got some sleep. Compared to you, sleep for me is a luxury."
Obito paused for a second to glance at the girl sitting at the end of the bed. He thought it was refreshing to have someone care about him even though she knew all of his flaws. Literally all of his flaws. Not that he'd ever admit that. He had an image to uphold. It's not like the feeling was mutual anyway. Even Adrianna's knew that. Obito didn't give a damn about her. She didn't care; she didn't expect anything from the Akatsuki.
"I have a favor to ask you," she swung her feet over the ledge of the bed and kicked them a little. Before he had the chance to open his mouth to say no, she continued speaking. "I was wondering if you could take me back home. I want to see if I could get Itachi and Nagato some help from a clinic. Don't worry, it's free and they won't risk getting caught."
"Why?" He couldn't help but ask.
"They're sick. We have advanced technology here and that includes medical practices. If I can help them while they're here, I want to do that." Adrianna said, with a frown on her face. She knew she wouldn't get an automatic yes, but it was annoying that he wouldn't let her help.
He swung his feet over the edge of the bed as well and started putting on his westernized shoes. There was a suggestive pause whilst he was tying his shoes. He only sighed. "They don't deserve it." Obito said quietly. "We... don't deserve it. Whatever you're trying to do, stop."
"It's sad that when anyone is trying to be nice, we're suddenly up to something. Sure, don't trust everyone you meet even if they do seem nice but I haven't tried to do anything bad since you guys been here. Even since you guys were fucking cats, I was genuine the entire time. I wish you'd just give me a chance to show you that I'm on your side," Adrianna argued, hopping off the bed. "There are nice people in the world, Obito."
Not where I'm from… Obito stood up and sighed inaudibly. Without another word, he grabbed Adrianna's wrist and used his spacetime jutsu to take her back to her house. They appeared right in the middle of the living room.
It was six in the morning and by default, Adrianna yawned. She turned around to the maskless man and his face was as expressionless as a cardboard box. "Thank you." He didn't respond. He just stared at her for a quick second and warped back to Japan.
Everyone was asleep but Hidan. He just got back from performing his ritual for Jashin and fortunately for him, his timing was perfect. He just finished showering and was sure to leave no bloody tracks behind. He blinked a few times, staring at the young-adult in the middle of the living room. "When the fuck did you get here?" It was hard to notice any of these weird people due to their lack of chakra.
"I got back just now," Adrianna responded, staring at the shirtless albino, completely unphased. "Why're you up? You don't seem like the type to be up at 6AM." His personality just didn't match waking up at 6AM.
Hidan shrugged inconspicuously. "Couldn't sleep." He shifted his weight and sized the girl up. "Why're you here?"
"Well this is my house," she said blankly. "But if you must know, I'm going to take Itachi and Nagato to the doctor to make them a lot more healthier. It'll help in the long run."
"Can I go too?" Truth be told, Hidan was starting to get bored. His attention span wasn't very large. The game was fun, but he wasn't very good at many of them so he didn't want to sit there and play a losing game. Teasing the other members was a lot of fun but not when they turned the tables.
Adrianna gave him an indescribable look. "No way. You're just going to wreck havoc." The 'H' in havoc definitely stood for Hidan. Adrianna was sure of it. Hidan was loud and hardly ever said a sentence without decorative obscenities. She didn't want to take the zealot anywhere with her in public.
Hidan crossed his arms. "What else did you expect?" It was joke… but it also wasn't a joke. There was honestly no telling with him.
"Well that's exactly why you can't come," she dismissed him and began walking down the hallway, headed straight for her room. She knocked before coming inside and found Kisame asleep on the floor with a palette way too small for him. Itachi was laying down staring at the ceiling with a vacuous mien. It seemed like all Uchiha looked the exact same.
"Morning," she said, making sure not to step on the sleeping shark.
"Good morning, Adrianna." Itachi sat up in the bed, acknowledging her presence. "I'm assuming you're here because of the plans?"
Adrianna shook her head. "Not exactly. I'm actually here to take you and Nagato to the clinic. Remember when I said I would?" She looked at the raven haired young-adult expectedly.
"I do." Itachi stood up. "I just didn't know how soon."
"I-I can come back another time if this is too earlier," Adrianna said realizing she might have interrupted his alone time. If he considered being with a sleeping giant alone time.
"It's fine," grabbed the few clothes that Adrianna and him went shopping for the other day. Adrianna took the hint and gave him some privacy. The next place she went was Nagato's room.
She did the same thing as before and knocked before entering. Hidan answered with an obnoxious, "Who the hell is it? Deidara if it's you again I swear—"
"If Deidara was asleep just a moment ago, I'm pretty sure he's not going to be up bothering you. Especially not at 6AM." Adrianna didn't know Deidara very well aside from what wikipedia told her, but that basically goes for anyone: 6AM is too early to do anything.
"You have a really fucking smart mouth, you know that?" Hidan frowned, opening the door for the young adult. He was only one year older than Adrianna but it seemed like such a gap. There was a clear difference between the two maturities'.
Adrianna decided not to respond to that; if she did, she knew something else smart was going to fly out of her mouth and she wanted to avoid getting on Hidan's bad side. If anything, she was hoping to get along with him. Aside from his rated R personality, he seemed like a lot of fun. Underneath his hard shell, she was sure there was something more to him besides cursing and extremism.
"Morning, Nagato," Adrianna greeted to the man who was lying in bed, reading a book that Itachi suggested. She tilted her head at the cover of it. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. "You should really read the first book, Sorcerer's Stone. I'm not a big fan of Harry Potter, but my mom is."
"They are good books. I can see why she likes them." Nagato agreed, flipping to the next page. If Adrianna didn't know any better, she would have thought that he was ignoring her. "Any particular reason why you're here? I sensed Madara earlier."
"No change in our plans," Adrianna sighed. "We're working on it. It's not a bad plan, we just need a little bit more time."
"Understandable," he nodded. It's just like back at their world: everything doesn't always run smoothly therefore you have to give it more time.
"However, I've came to take you and Itachi to the clinic," she looked over Nagato's frail body. He obviously avoided any sign of nutrition. She was sure the word 'nutrition' wasn't even in his vocabulary. She sighed at her rude thoughts. "If you can get dressed, that'll be great."
"Alright, thank you, Adri," Nagato thanked her with a soft smile. She grinned back at her; he used her nickname. Nagato would never admit it aloud, but he was starting to get accustomed to Adrianna. Her presence was like a breath of fresh air compared to their usual lifestyle. She was innocent. It was hard to find that back where he came from, unless the person was under eleven.
While walking out the door, Adrianna noticed a sulking Hidan. He was leaning against the wall, arms folded across his toned chest with a small pout on his lips. He wanted to go. Lucky for him, she gave in but not without an eyeroll. "Fine," she concluded with a sigh. "You can come too, but you have to be good."
He scoffed at the short girl. "Good is my middle name." Hidan jabbed his thumb in the middle of his chest.
If only that were true, she thought, walking out the door.
The car ride there was filled with conversations about the simplest things, thanks to Hidan. He was amazed by everything he saw; they all were but Itachi was a little less amazed considering he's seen a handful of things on the car ride to Walmart. Adrianna didn't mind how much he talked. She actually thought it was cute. Nagato would chime in every now and then and ask a few questions, but that was only when his curiosity needed to be scratched.
It took about forty minutes to get to the clinic. She lived in the city, so she wanted to go to one far out and desolated. There was a lower chance of her getting caught if she did get caught. The most important note was that it took forty minutes. That included forty minutes of nonstop talking. It ended eventually, however.
They were sitting in the waiting room with three other small families. Considering it was barely seven, there weren't going to be many people here until noon. Adrianna picked a nice corner to sit at along with three other Akatsuki members, hoping nobody would bother them. "There are some magazines there on the coffee table." She noticed how they had nothing to do and besides Hidan, they weren't the most talkative. Reading a magazine wasn't fun, but it was a lot better than just staring at nothing.
Adrianna whipped out her phone to play a few games to pass the time. She was sure it wouldn't be long. No longer than ten minutes, a little girl walked up to the bunch. She looked no older than six. She cocked her tiny head at Hidan who stared back with a frown. "What." He scowled.
"Why are your eyes pink? Is that why you're here?" The little girl asked, stepping on her tippy toes to get a closer look.
"They aren't pink, they're purple dammit. And no, I'm here for moral support." Hidan leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. Adrianna snickered hearing him. "Besides, you're that old and don't even know your colors?"
"I'm only five," she complained with a disgusting sounding cough. It made Adrianna cringe. That must have hurt her throat.
"F-Five?" He scoffed. "When I was your age, I was training!" Unbeknownst to him, this world was a lot different. The average five year old didn't train to become a killing machine. Instead, they played with toys and went to school to learn shaped and the like.
"Training? Training for what?" The little girl crawled into the seat next to Hidan as he blabbed about when he was a kid. Adrianna looked on with a small smile. Maybe he had a thing for children; he certainly cursed a lot less when he was talking to her.
"Does this cartoon show this side of our members?" Nagato asked, noticing the smile on Adrianna's face.
"To be fair, I didn't even know Hidan was like this," Itachi chimed in.
She shook her head. "I didn't know Hidan was like this around kids. If he lived long enough, maybe he would have had a few of his own," she said the latter sadly. "Hopefully when you guys get back, you all will live longer and achieve things other than, you know, world domination."
"We'll see," Nagato chuckled.
"On a serious note, there is more to life, for all of you. I assure you," she tried to convince. She turned to Itachi specifically. She thought about how he snapped at her a few days ago for getting in his family business, but she thought this was necessary. "I'm not sure how far along you have gotten in the Akatsuki yet, but this whole hatred thing isn't a good lesson to teach Sasuke. You're teaching a thirteen year old boy that his only reason to live is to kill you. I know you're just trying to help him in the long run, but think about the things he has to sacrifice—"
"Adri—"
"Wait, I'm not finished," she snapped. "I know it's kinda stupid to suddenly care about people who… who aren't even real but if you knew how happy Sasuke was with Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura and his friends, you'd realize that it's not worth it. It's not worth seeing all his happiness being drained from him as he gets older. It's not worth seeing his good will slowly fade. Sasuke is a good kid... I wish you just thought of something better."
Itachi stared at her as she finished her rant. He watched as she let a single tear roll down her face. He didn't know what to say. She was right, but at the same time, she had no clue of what it's like to actually live there. It's one thing to actually watch others struggle, but for someone to sit within the struggle is a different story. She would never understand.
"I wish I thought of something better too," Itachi said, quickly looking away as Adrianna made eye contact with him. "I love my little brother. He's the only reason why I'm living."
"I wish you showed it…"
Itachi opened his mouth to respond but ultimately closed it. She probably hates me now, he thought. He hated being here. He hated how vulnerable it made him feel. He couldn't be his old, stoic, impassive self. He didn't feel like the ninja he once was just a week or so ago. He felt more… human.
"I don't want to butcher this, so please correct me if I'm wrong, but… Eye-tachi?" A short lady came out from the back room with a sheepish smile.
"Ee-tachi," he corrected her as he stood a good 5'7 feet. "I'm Itachi."
"You have such a cute name," the nurse said as they disappeared to the back.
Obito stood outside a nice sized house. It took about half a day to find it, but he got some help from both Zetsu and Lauren, and some random stranger he had quick conversation with. Zetsu and Lauren were finally able to come across some of Kishimoto's work from a little over a decade ago. Lucky for them, it still had his scent; it was very faint, but it was his nonetheless. Obito and Zetsu were able to use that to track him. He got a lot done without Adrianna's help.
"Go get the girl," Zetsu said as he began to sink through the ground. "We'll leave the rest to you! Good luck, Obito!" He signed off with a salute.
He didn't see why he needed her but it wouldn't harm anyone to get her. With an inaudible sigh, he went back to Lauren's house to get her daughter. Adrianna was in her room with her half of the Akatsuki. They were all watching Hidan and Adrianna play COD. He stood there for a quick moment watching the pair. It was a weird game, but nothing he wasn't use to in his version of the real world. The only difference was that they used ninja stars and ninjutsu instead of guns.
After another five minutes, their team won, no surprise there. Adrianna was a god at any game she played and Hidan was climbing up the same ladder. He was a natural when it came to games. "GG," Hidan said with a relieved sigh. "Fuck that was a good game! Did you see when I almost died but—"
"Fun's over," Obito interrupted. He had his mask on. He wasn't ready to reveal who he was just yet. For now, the alias Madara would just have to suffice. "Adrianna, come on."
"I'm really starting to hate this shitty group," Hidan said as he wasn't too shocked about 'Madara.' Deidara seconded him. The other three already knew about Madara so their expressions remained unchanged. "Just who the hell are you?"
"We can go through all of that later," Obito said, nearly rolling his eyes. Adrianna stood, sensing his impatience and they quickly warped back to Japan.
"Is this his house?" Adrianna asked Obito as he took off his mask.
"It is. I'm going to inform Konan since it might take a little longer for Zetsu to get there. You can either sit out here and wait for me, or go inside. Either is fine with me." He said before leaving again, not giving her a chance to give him a definite answer.
Adrianna rolled her eyes. But hey, what did she expect from Obito Uchiha? Without another thought, she went ahead and went inside. Surprisingly, the door wasn't locked. Maybe this was a safe town. She didn't know. She did think it was pretty stupid, however. She assumed everyone was asleep seeing how it was 4AM. It felt weird entering someone's house uninvited, but this was dire. Fictional beings were in there world and she needed help ASAP.
She made her way to a light switch but not before hitting a vase and making it fall to its death. She winced as she hurt herself by the glass. Adrianna didn't know how, but the glass from the vase managed to scrape her leg. A long streak of blood ran down her leg and onto the wooden floors. She mumbled a string of curse words as she heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
I should have waited outside, she thought.
Adrianna frowned in hopelessness as she saw Kishimoto come downstairs and speak Japanese quite frantically. In his defense, a stranger broke inside his home. Obviously, he's going to think the worst. "I come in-what the fuck!" She yelled as he pulled out a knife from behind him. "D-DON'T! PEACE! I COME IN PEACE!"
He didn't do anything but wave the knife around in her face and yell in Japanese.
"I-I-I NEED YOUR HELP! HELP! DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH? EVEN A LITTLE?!"
If an outsider looking in were to witness, they would honestly probably laugh. However for Kishimoto and Adrianna, they felt as if their lives were threatened… more so Adrianna since she was weaponless.
With perfect timing, Obito came back to the house and heard the commotion. With swiftness, he knocked the knife out of Kishimoto's hand and held him in a headlock. He glanced at the blood running down Adrianna's leg. He frowned. "Did he do that?"
She shook her head, slowly falling to the ground. Her breathing was hectic. She was really glad he came when he did. "I… I cut myself on the vase. Thank you for coming when you did."
"Not like I knew you were in danger," Obito said, brushing off her thank you. Deep down, he appreciated it. He looked down at the man who was caught in a headlock. "This old man makes cartoons?" He accidentally said aloud.
"He's good at it," Adrianna said, finally catching her breath. She looked the worried man in the eyes and persuaded him to calm down. "Do you speak English?"
"L-Little. Yes, little." He answered her.
She smiled, looking generally relieved. "Good, that's good," Adrianna nodded. "We won't hurt you. We will not hurt you. We need your help. Help us." She explained with hand gestures. She kept her sentences short so he wouldn't have a hard time understanding her. He nodded, but Obito was sure to not let him go just yet. "This is my friend. His name is Obito. He's not from here. He's from Naruto."
"No." Kishimoto said. "Get out." The pair seemed crazy according to him, but they were telling the truth.
"Obito do a small jutsu. Use your sharingan." And on cue, Obito used his sharingan to merely change shapes. He went from one ring to three, then used his mangekyo.
With a blank expression, he nodded. "Okay, I help you."
I almost wrote 4,000 words, guys. So much… I'm so tired )-: I was going to continue this chapter but I wanted to get this out to guys as soon as I could and at a good stopping point.
Two concerns:
I know some of the characters may seem out of character this chapter but I did that on purpose. I wanted to give them human like qualities other than killing machines. This way, Adrianna and the Akatsuki can bond more and actually build relationships and the audience can relate more (-:
Another concern (this more like me struggling lol) I hate keeping up with time zones. I might get them wrong here and there but oigjpigjsigs it's just a minor detail. Just know Adrianna and Lauren are always opposite of each other (-:
I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Sorry it took so long!
