Hey. I know I've been lax on updating, I'm really sorry guys. I had actually planned on updating far earlier, but I encountered some issues. I had gotten pretty far with the update to Gaara and Mika, but due to life getting in the way, I had to stop for a while. Then, when I went to finish, I found that the life on the story had expired. The story wasn't saved on my computer, so I had to re-type the entire thing. Sucks for me.... But, now I'm back! Yay! Thank you Aster Uchiha, Crying blue Rose (aka ZzgeniuszZ), and Night's Second Moon (aka Twi Tsi) for reviewing the story. Disclaimer please!
All: ...
K: Anyone...?
All: .....
K: Someone just say the damned thing!
Madara: Katie does not own Naruto.
K: (gasp) Madara-sama! (glomps Madara) ((is obsessed with))
Madara: Don't. Touch. Me. (glares with the sharingan)
K: (lets go and backs away) Fine, sheesh! Man. I think I like you better as Tobi. (throws mask at Madara's head)
Madara: (mask hits head and falls to floor with a clack sound) You're dead.... (glaring with murderous intent)
K: Oh sh- (dodges a kunai and runs)
(A note from the author)
Hello, as many of you probably now hate me for, I havn't been updating. I truely am sorry everyone. Life lately has been extremely difficult. Because of this, I developed extreme writer's block.
Another note is that though I used to have a beta read this before I updated, I really don't know if she even knows I exist anymore. So therefore, if there are any errors, please feel free to tell me.
And finally, while reading the chapters that I'm currently publishing, it almost seems like a giant mood swing. It starts out rather hyper and bubbly, but moves on to a far more serious tone. I'm sorry for this. Please try to push past this.
Begin
Ami picked up a stick of dango and bit a piece happily. The Uchiha had paid for both of them. He said something about it being his idea, so he should pay for them. Normally she didn't really let people pay for her, but since the Uchiha was technically trying to take her on a date, she let him.
She looked rather childish as she sat on a bench and ate. Especially since her legs were swinging back and forth. Sasuke watched her quietly as he ate some of his own. Though she knew that her current appearance probably made her far less frightening, she didn't care. She ignored him and continued eating. It was only after she had ate a second piece that she payed attention to him.
"So pretty boy, what's with the random invitation to eat? And even the stalker-ness in general." She looked at him like she was genuinely curious, even though she already knew.
"....."
Ami sighed. "If you're going to play the silent game then I'll just leave. I don't see a point in talking to someone who isn't going to talk back. Not that I'm really a talker to begin with. At least acknowledge that I'm speaking for Kami's sake."
"Hn."
She growled. "And I swear, if you say 'hn' one more time, I'm going to beat your head in."
He raised his eyebrows. "You said to acknowledge you. I am."
She twitched. This guy could really get on her nerves. She stopped herself from hurting him by focusing her attention on eating the dango.
Sasuke smirked. "Now look who's playing the silent treatment."
"Look at who's been avoiding my first question."
He shut his mouth immediately, the smirk fading. It was her turn to smirk. He was too stubborn to admit anything to her. She would just have to taunt him until he did. Or until she decided to tell him she already knew. Not that it made a difference.
"So... Pretty boy, I heard you were at Naruto's earlier. What did you two talk about...?"
"Old times." He answered, being extremely vague.
"Really? Well, that's nice. You guys talk about new times?"
"New times?" He looked at her curiously.
"Yeah. New times. What it's been like to be back, anything interesting lately... You know."
"Yeah, I guess."
"You guys talk about girls...?"
"No." He said, not really looking at her, his voice almost defensive.
She almost laughed. "Not at all? Surely, pretty boy would talk about at least one of his little obsessed fangirls."
"...."
She snickered. "Back to the silent game I see. I wonder, why would pretty boy want to avoid the subject?"
"...."
A full smirk formed on her face. "Perhaps I should just give up and just tell you what you two talked about."
He looked at her curiously. Then became furious. "I swear I'm going to kill that dobe." He stood up about to leave, but she pulled his shoulder, forcing him to sit back down.
"Don't go blaming Naruto. It's your fault that you're apparently a terrible shinobi. I was there the entire time."
"What?"
"Yeah. I was hiding out in the bathroom the entire time. I mean, I wasmasking my chakra, but a good enough shinobi should've noticed it anyway. Apparently you didn't get enough training after you left Konoha."
"You heard everything....?"
"Well, I did say I was there for the entire time didn't I? Not only do you suck as a shinobi, you apparently don't listen much." She knew she was being a bit cruel, but she was enjoying herself. The Uchiha had a big ego. He could deal with it being damaged. She smirked and bit into another piece of dango. "Not to mention you're a coward. Either that, or just plain creepy. You decided to become a stalker, just so you could ask me on a date." She paused. "Not that I'm complaining about getting some dango."
"Some free dango."
She snickered. "Yes. Some free dango." She bit off another piece. There was only one left now. "So, now that we've established your reasoning for taking me on a date, now what?"
He looked at her with a mildly confused look on his face. She rolled her eyes. "What are you going to do now pretty boy? Though it is rather amusing that you tried to hide it, I'm not sure what to think about your, not-so-likable-methods of trying to ask me out. Though, it is rather lucky that you're a crap shinobi. Other-wise, I would've eventually kicked your ass all the way back to Otogakure. That might've been fun... I haven't actually had a good fight in a while..." She smirked. "I seem to be getting off topic... So, as I was saying, What now?"
"How about I take you on another date?" For some reason, the Uchiha seemed to have gained back his cocky attitude. "I mean, this one wasn't exactly what you would call romantic."
She snickered. "I wasn't aware that Uchihas were anywhere near romantic. But a better date might be nice."
"So I'll take that as a yes?"
She rolled her eyes and chuckled, taking a few seconds before speaking to eat the last piece of dango. "Yeah pretty boy... It's a yes."
Endflashback
Ami woke up rather early to the smell of burning. She looked at the clock, and saw it was only 4:00. Though she wanted to ignore the smell and go back to sleep, being a shinobi, it would be irresponsible. Especially if the base was under attack.
Jumping out of bed, she ran to the source, which happened to be the kitchen. There, she was shocked to find, Leader-samahimself, in the middle of a sad attempt to make breakfast. The stove was on, and there was a frying pan on top. Inside, was what looked like eggs, but she couldn't be sure because they were too badly burned. He tried to remove the burnt eggs with a spatula, but they stuck to the pan. After trying furiously to remove the eggs, he ended up dropping a majority of it on the floor and stove. The stove nearly set on fire.
She nearly laughed at him, but refrained from doing so in fear of his wrath. Instead, she opted on trying to help him. She ran to the stove, and switched it off to prevent their apparently terrible chef of a leader from burning up the base.
He looked at her with what almost looked like a child's pout after not getting what they wanted. "Why did you turn the stove off?"
She raised her eyebrows. "Because you were going to set the entire kitchen on fire." She carefully removed the rest of the burnt egg from the pan and put it in the garbage. Then, after cleaning up the mess, she grabbed two new eggs, and cracked them open in a dish. Pein stared at her.
"What are you doing?"
"Cooking, as it seems you can't. How in the world did you get eggs to stick that badly? I mean, did you forget to put some butter on the pan?"
"I'm supposed to put butter?"
She stared at him. "You don't cook very often, do you...?
"No."
"Well, that explains it." She turned on the stove and put a tiny bit of butter in the pan. Then, she scrambled the eggs and cooked them. After putting them on a plate she handed them to him.
"Thanks..."
"Welcome. Next time, ask one of the others members or me to do it. Konan should know how to cook right? Why didn't you ask her?"
He muttered something under his breath.
"What?"
"I said she's sick. These are for her... Normally, I don't cook. She does." She couldn't help but smirk at him, to which he glared. "It isn't funny."
She chuckled. "I'm sorry to say Leader-sama, but I'm afraid it is... Tell Konan to feel better. That is, if you don't mind."
"I will..."
"See you Leader-sama..."
"..."
She smirked. "You don't have to be all cranky because you can't cook..."
He glared at her, resulting in her darting out of the room. Pissing people off was fun, but pissing off a man who could probably kill her with ease was just plain stupid. Then again, she did have her stupid points.
Pein took the food to Konan. Seeing it, she smiled. "Since when can you cook?"
"I still can't..." He muttered.
Konan smirked. "Well then, who did you force to cook for you?"
"No one. Ami woke up and practically took over the stove. Then, actually made fun of my poor cooking ability. Hmph..."
She laughed at him. "See what I mean about her? She isn't going back to the other side. You really think a spy would actually risk their entire mission to give cooking tips to the leader of the Akatsuki?"
"I see your point. By the way, I decided to give the order after all."
"I'm not worried. Nothing will happen."
" So assured... Oh, by the way, she said to feel better..."
For some odd reason Ami couldn't fall back asleep. At 5:30, she gave up, and decided to go find something to do elsewhere. Finally, she settled on irritating Deidara. After properly getting ready for the day, she quietly snuck to his room. She could hear him snoring softly and held back a laugh. Opening the door quietly, she walked over to the bed, took a deep breath, and yelled loudly by his head. The result was hilarious.
He sat up swiftly and immediatly tried to jump out of bed. The only problem was he was tangled in the bedsheets, and the result was him falling on the floor. She broke into laughter.
"Wow Deidara...! I wasn't sure you would fall for that, but man! That was funny!"
His face was irritated. It was obvious he hadn't wanted to wake up any time soon. Not that she blamed him. She didn't particularly like getting up early either. He glared at her angrily.
"Any reason why that you woke me...? yeah..."
She let out an evil giggle. "Nope!"
He cursed under his breath.
"Hey! Watch your mouth!" She threw a pen at him that she had found on the table next to her. It hit him on the head. She was about to start laughing, when she noticed a clay insect right in front of her face. Deidara was looking at her with a thoroughly furious look on his face, that almost seemed maniacal. She held up her hands defensively. "Hey Deidara...! Come on! I was kidding...! You know, kidding..."
"And I was sleeping... yeah."
"Oh shit..." Quickly, she formed a protective layer of chakra around herself. As it turns out, just in time, for he yelled 'katsu' and the insect exploded. It wasn't one of the more powerful explosions, so the room was intact. Though, she wouldn't have been if it wasn't for her chakra. Her chakra didn't protect her ears however, and they hurt from the loud bang. She was sure the rest of the base was now awake. They were going to be so angry at her for causing Deidara to wake them.
When the smoke cleared, she found that she was now surrounded by even more clay insects. She cursed loudly before darting from the room. A furious Deidara followed. She ran past Sasori who was free from his puppet Hiroku. He looked like he was about to ask what happened, but then Deidara stormed past him as well. No longer really caring, he walked back to his room. The next she passed was a rather cranky Kisame. Apparently he wasn't much of a morning person either.
"What the hell is going on?" He asked.
"Can't talk right now! Running for my life!"
Still curious, he ran along with her. "Your life?"
"Well you see... I kinda woke Deidara up. He's not really the type of person you want to piss off in the morning."
"You're the one who woke him up?!" He now looked pissed at her as well.
"Crap!" She ran faster, now being chased by not only one, but two S-ranked criminals. Kisame held the samehada in his hand, ready to rip her to shreads with it. "At least you're getting excercise."An irritating little voice in the back of her head rang. She ignored it. She continued to run, fearing either the angry blue man or the clay bomber would reach her. Little by little, she found the distance between them growing. She grinned then formed a net of chakra. She threw it back at them, snaring Kisame. She smirked seeing him fall to the ground, the Samehada useless at his side. It had come to her realization that she would not be able to rid herself of Deidara so easily. She skidded to a stop and formed a solid sphere of chakra in her hand. She then tossed it quickly into the air before doing the same once more. She repeated herself many times until the amount of spheres equaled the amount of insects. She then sent them forward. She barely made it in time as he had reached her. Each sphere surrounded an insect just as the word 'katsu' could be heard. The insects exploded inside of the spheres causing them to expand slightly. The explosions remained contained however. She was glad the bombs were only C1. If he had been insane enough to use something more powerful, she wouldn't have been able to stop the blast. She laughed at Deidara's irritated face, but then her own became wary. His irritated look became a grin. To her surprise the shadow-like form of Pein appeared next to her. "Very good job defending yourself from Deidara's attack."
She stared at the shadow. "What are you talking about?"
Deidara laughed. "Do you really think that I'm THAT bad of a morning person? Leader had assigned for me to have a bit of a practice match with you today. I hadn't planned on doing it until later, but you made for such a perfect opportunity. Yeah. I hadn't expected for Kisame-san to join in though."
Realization hit her. She gave him a dirty look while he continued to laugh. The shadowy figure of Pein sighed before vanishing, muttering something about childish behavior.
Ami looked thoroughly pissed. She glared at Deidara who was still laughing. She slapped her hand over his mouth, effectively sealing it like she had done the day earlier. He tried to get her to take it off but was unsuccessful.
The ending result was him walking around for hours until Pein ordered her to take it off, as well as threatening to kill her if she did it again. The actual chance of the threat happening wasn't likely though. He was beyond killing members for such ridiculous reasons. She was sure he would find some other way to torment her.
Even later on in the day Pein called her, as well as Deidara and Sasori to come see him. It was another mission assignment. This one was an assassination. A small shinobi-less nation had hired the members to assasinate a corrupt lord. The citizens had pooled a large amount of money together for the people responsible of the kill. They were also to bring the body back. According to Kakuzu, it would fetch a fine price on the black market. She had almost asked why Kakuzu didn't get the mission, but didn't have to as Pein explained the reasoning anyway. Apparently he had a bounty to collect in another nation. They had a day to prepare and would leave the following morning. She sighed as she walked from the office. At least she was getting more interesting missions then when she was when she was back at Konoha. After leaving, Sasori went back to his room and Deidara went to go relax. As she walked back to her own room, she wondered why they were sending Deidara. Sure Sasori would work, but Deidara's justu was loud. An assassination required stealth. She sighed, pondering her leader's reasoning.
The rest of the day was uneventful. No pranks, no 'training' exercises, and no surprises. She woke a bit later then usual the next morning. She knew for a fact that the following day she would have to get up early, so she allowed herself the extra time. She dressed in comfortable training clothing before leaving her room. After eating her usually small breakfast, she decided to get some training sat down on a chair in the kitchen. After thinking for a moment, she decided to ask one of the members to train with her. Back in Konoha, training with others was simply irritating. But in the Akatsuki things were different. She could expect a challenge. One question remained though. Who?
Her mind ran through the members. Itachi was out instantly. She didn't want to deal with the mangekyo, and genjustu wouldn't help her improve physically. Kisame was most likely still angry at her from yesterday so he was out as well. Zetsu was interesting, but he was out collecting information. That and there was also the fact that he might eat her. She didn't find the thought too pleasant. Her mind crossed the violent zombie twins. After mere seconds, they were out as well. She was still mildly irritated at Hidan, but his odd ritual fighting made her defense useless once he got ahold of her blood. It might be an interesting battle for a while, but she knew that his odd sadism would start to piss her off after a while. She recalled the fact that both Hidan and Kakuzu had their own mission to do soon. Kakuzu was also out merely for the fact that he would kill her regardless of the fact that it was a training exercise, which reminded her of the reason why Hidan and Kakuzu were partners in the first place. Kakuzu had a habit of killing his partners in the past, but since Hidan was an immortal, Kakuzu wouldn't have the choice to. She smirked recalling the various times Kakuzu promised to end Hidan's life one day.
Her mind ran through the remaining members. Excluding Pein and Konan, there were Tobi, Sasori and Deidara. Tobi was too hyper for her to deal with so she knocked him off the list. Now she was down to Sasori and Deidara. She would have picked Deidara, but he was probably resting up for the mission. Training for him today was out of the question. That left Sasori. Since he was technically no longer fully human, he didn't need to rest as much as Deidara would. It would also be a plus on endurance training. A puppet body wouldn't get as tired as a human's would.
She smiled slightly before standing and walking from the kitchen. She was rather glad her memory had allowed her to remember where the rooms were. The base, despite being extremely well hidden, was extremely large and complex. Still, it was nothing like the abandoned hideouts that had been left behind by the traitorous snake Orochimaru. She had once been assigned to help search an abandoned hideout. On If she hadn't kept track of where she was going she would have been lost within a minute.
She stopped in front of Sasori's door. She rapped her knuckles against the door gently. Inside, she heard some movement and after a moment, the door opened. Sasori peered out, his puppet Hiroku against the wall. Behind him, she saw a puppet lying on a work table. She had apparently disturbed his work.
He looked at her emotionlessly. "Is there anything you need, Ami-san?"
She nodded. "I was wondering if you would care to train with me."
His face did not change. Not that it had a wide range of expressions in the first place. "Hrm... Perhaps a bit later. I'm a bit busy at the time. Return later. Unless that is, you would like to assist me."
She pondered the idea momentarily. She wasn't exactly good with puppets. Then again, if she came back later, that would leave her with nothing to do in the meantime. "I think I'll stay and help."
Sasori gave a small nod before stepping back and opening the door wider, allowing her room to enter. There were bits of puppet strewn about the room. As a habit, Sasori tended to not bother cleaning up until he was finished with his work. That way, he didn't delay the completion of his work. There were also jars and pieces placed on shelves. The jars contained various herbs and liquids. There was one main shelf devoted to jars of a purple substance.
As she walked, she was careful not to step on anything, even if it looked like scrap. She made her way over to the table where he was working. There she found a variety of tools, some that appeared like average tools for carving, but others seeming like tools for medicinal use.
The puppet that he was in fact working on was opened in several places. It was face up on the bench. Its hands were placed to the side, its chest cavity completely opened. There were various compartments inside, some empty, others containing sebon or the purple substance that was in the jars. Upon further observation she found that the sebon were covered in purple as well.
"My special poison."
His speech nearly made her jump. As she had been looking at the puppet, he had already begun to work, fixing a chamber that was set in the lower arm and wrist. He placed a few spheres inside, before re-attaching the hand. The fingers were opened. He placed sebon inside of those. He looked up at her.
"Please do the same to the other one."
She nodded slightly and picked up the equipment from the table and began putting them in the other arm. She felt mildly honored that he was letting her help him. His puppets were what made him the ninja he was. She finished re-assembling the hand and waited for further instruction.
Next the worked on the legs, and after, the torso. Little by little, the puppet was re-assembled. By the time they were finished over an hour had passed. There were a few scratches and cuts on her fingers. Luckily, it hadn't been caused by any of the poisoned weaponry. If it had she wasn't exactly sure if Sasori would've even given her the antidote. She healed them quickly after, not wanting the poison to get into the open cuts.
Once finished, Sasori brought out a scroll and sealed it inside of it. More then likely, he wouldn't have need for it. Most of the time, he only used Hiroku. Not that he needed to use anything else. Hiroku usually brought the battle to an end quickly.
Sasori then opened a compartment in his own chest, placing the scroll inside. This only reminded her how he had distorted the once human form. He looked up at her, his expression blank as it normally was. "Are you ready to train?"
She nodded, smiling slightly to thank him.
"Then we will go to the training area." He walked over to a shelf and picked up another scroll. This one was far smaller then the one he had hidden away. Not bothering to put it away, he held it in his hand and walked to the door, waiting for her to leave before walking out behind her. He seemed to be against leaving her alone in the room, even for a few seconds. She didn't really blame him. He shut the door then walked ahead of her, following the path the the training room. Once they arrived, he walked inside and walked to the center of the large room. He opened the scroll and formed a seal. Three puppets appeared before him. They had a simple exterior and looked worn, as if they had taken a beating a few times.
"These are simply for training." He stated. "At times, our Leader has asked if I may allow the members to practice. Since these aren't members and they are unable to die, it was requested that they be used for such."
She nodded, understanding completely. Though, the fact that Sasori would be willing to tolerate the other members for any amount of time made her want to laugh. She knew how impatient he could be, but she knew that not listening to Pein would result in far worse then mild irritation at other members.
She was snapped from her thoughts when about ten sebon flew in her direction. A shield of chakra formed in front of her just in time to prevent them from hitting her.
"You asked me here to train, not so you could daydream, Ami-san." He said, looking at her with his emotionless stare. She saw his finger flick, and a second later, at least twenty more sebon flew at her. She dodged to the right and formed about thirty small spheres of chakra around her. At her will, about five of them changed shape into an almost crystalline needle. They shot at the the middle puppet, the one that had been firing the sebon. At the same time, the puppet to the right opened up and moved in front of both of the others. The chakra needles impaled themselves in the wooden shield. Moments later, they vanished, leaving shallow holes where they had hit. She frowned, knowing that the defensive puppet would make things more difficult for her. She was about to move forward when she felt something behind her. Her eyes widened.
The shield she formed was almost too late. The third puppet had struck at her with a blade. The blade ended up half inside of the chakra barrier, almost touching her skin. She found herself needed to exert even more chakra to maintain the barrier due to the fact that the puppet was still pushing through the shield. She darted away before releasing the barrier. Since the puppet had continued to push against the barrier, once it was released it flew forward, slamming into the ground. It lifted off of the ground moments after. As it did, she noticed a small crack on the head from the impact. She changed a few more the of the chakra spears to needles and shot them forward, aiming at the head. The puppet was able to move away from one, but the rest hit, one hitting directly at the crack. The chakra moved through the head and it shattered. She began to smile, but moments later it faded. The pieces of the head came back together, influeched by chakra strings from Sasori. She was about to fire more, when she heard a trigger release.
She jumped back, just barely missing the many sebon released from the other puppet. A spilt secon later, the other puppet flew at her again, forcing her to dodge to the left. Her eyes widened, realizing how close to the wall she had become. She knew that she would be surrounded in a moment, so she formed an entire barrier around herself and charged forward. Sebon and the blade from the other puppet clashed against the shield. She kept it strong however and pushed past. The number of chakra spheres that surrounded her grew less. She turned quickly, the shield around her fading. She looked back at the two puppets in front of her. The last one was more to her right. It didn't move, as it was currently not needed. She ignored it for now, focusing on the two ahead of her.
The puppet that carried a blade opened. A compartment opened on it's chest and she suddenly found kunai flying in her direction. Only a split second later, the other one began to open as well, but a few moments later, the compartment in its chest was sealed. The spheres of chakra she had left behind plugged up the mechanism. As she dodged the kunai, the mass of solid chakra broke up inside of the puppet, the various bits of solid chakra preventing it from working. Sasori made no comment, but released the puppet, letting it fall to the ground by a wall. Now there were two.
She looked at both of the puppets. The one that had earlier shielded the others moved closer to the one with the blades. She watched them, waiting for the next move. It didn't come.
She jumped slightly when the shadowy figure of Pein appeared before them. It ignored her, facing Sasori. "You are to report to my office immediately for an important solo mission. Ami and Deidara can handle the assasination mission alone." Without another word, he vanished.
Sasori turned to her. "I'm afraid I have to cut this little session short." With a flick of chakra strings the puppets returned to him. They were away within moments. "Goodbye, Ami-san." He said quietly before exiting the training room.
She watched him go, then she sighed, once again having nothing to do. "At least that knocked off a few hours of the day..." She then walked from the room in boredom. "Now to find a way to occupy the rest of it."
End
