Chapter Nine
Author's Note:
Holy cow!
I never imagined that one of my stories would get over a hundred reviews!
You guys are so awesome! Thank you!
:D
When the blindfolds were removed they were stunned by what they saw. There stood an effeminate white-skinned person, with golden eyes and long, black hair. There was something distinctly snake-like about the stranger and Eric O'Malley wondered if the Dark Lord had family that even he did know about. Hell! He wasn't even sure if this was a man or a woman!
Lucius Malfoy couldn't quite hold back a shudder when the man licked his lips with an abnormally long tongue. When he finally spoke, the voice was deep and smooth, erasing the Death Eater's doubts of the person's gender.
"Ryouga tells me that you wish to hire some of my shinobi."
The man sounded highly amused and Eric shot a warning glance at his traveling companion to keep his mouth shut and let him do the talking.
"Our Master, Lord Voldemort needs help in taking out an organization that is detrimental to his plans."
The man frowned and whispered something to one of his guards.
"You are clearly not from around here." He said.
"What's it to you if we are or not! Are you freaks going to accept our job or are you too cowardly to do so?" Lucius snarled and both of the Death Eaters took several nervous steps back when he approached them, realizing that this was a far more dangerous man to cross then Lord Voldemort ever was.
The man studied him with keen, intelligent eyes for a long moment. He had only heard the strange, lilting accent once before when he and his teammates had been hired to aid some foreigners from Ireland who had been captured by a nukenin.
He also recalled that they had many amazing abilities, though they were lazy and practically worthless in a fight. He had been intrigued by what they could do then and he saw no reason why he couldn't discreetly squeeze more out of this bargain then the fools realized.
"Come now. There is no reason for hostilities, Kabuto will go over the contracts for you and select the appropriate team."
He nodded towards a white haired, bespectacled man who bowed slightly and led them towards his office.
Two hours later they began their return trip with a team of highly skilled shinobi from Otogakure.
Voldemort was pleased. Things were progressing more smoothly now. They had intended to ask Iwagakure for assistance but this Otogakure with it's intriguing leader was proving to be the better choice.
In the meantime, Konan was busy buying her colleagues drinks and explaining their current living situation. As she predicted, Hidan was absolutely furious and she was having a difficult time maintaining her composure, but then she always had difficulties where Hidan was concerned. Specifically since neither Madara or Nagato were there to prevent her from shoving a kunai into his brain and shutting him up permanently.
The only thing that kept her from doing so was the fact that somehow, in the recesses of his twisted, little mind, he had decided to come looking for her of his volition and for that she was grateful.
"What?! How the fuck is this hospitality? We've been doing just fine without you!" He snarled as he jumped up in one of his little tantrums.
She sighed in aggravation, she could feel a headache coming on.
"For one thing, it's only temporary until you either decide to go home or better accomodations are made." She explained with a very patient air. Though she was gritting her teeth.
"Two, you will all be getting your own rooms." That was out of necessity though. She knew that if they did not have their own places to stay, there'd be at least one less Akatsuki residing in Scotland.
Apparently, all was forgiven because Hidan jumped up yet again and screamed happily.
"My own room? I could just fucking kiss you Blue!"
"That won't be necessary." Konan said testily.
Kisame snorted with amusement. He would be glad to get his own room away from the bitchy priest and while he was friends with Zetsu, he did occasionally wonder if his fellow half demon was curious to know if he tasted like sushi or not. Information he could definitely live without.
Albus had had two important meetings that day. The first was with Professor Binns, who refreshed his memory about their ancestors who had risked their lives, their family's lives and their integrity to break off from the Shinobi world with textbook accuracy.
The next meeting he'd had was with the retired Auror Alastor Moody. The man had been in awe of the Shinobi's skills as Albus showed him the memories of their newest teacher's battle.
"This is amazing! I aint never seen nuthin like it! The kid's dead though, aint no doubt about that. She's killed before, I can tell by the look of her. They both meant business anyway. It was either one or the other that had to go and he wasn't strong enough to finish her off though he certainly gave her hell! And she's a Shinobi to boot! I always figured they was just a footnote in our history. That they'd all killed each other off and that's why no one really paid em much mind."
Mad-Eye shook his head in disbelief. The little woman didn't look it, but she was clearly a force to be reckoned with, even his magical eye had only just managed to keep up with their movements and sense the magic surrounding some of their attacks.
"It's just in time too. I don't know how you manage to do it. But somehow you always find just the right people." His voice had suddenly become grim as he turned to look his old comrade in the eyes.
Albus waited expectantly for him to continue, for though he would never say so to his old friend, the man seemed to have a penchant for delivering bad news in a melodramatic fashion similar to that of Sibyl Trelawney.
"The Death Eaters are mobilizing against The Order. They were spotted with some foreigners. Weird-looking bunch. And they had head gear similar to what your Foreign Language teacher wears. It all makes sense now, with her and her friends and that portkey! You-Know-Who's followers musta set up that portkey and grabbed themselves a bunch of shinobi. Probably to murder us all in our beds."
There was a long silence as Moody pulled another swig from his canteen.
"Your damned lucky you found her before they did. See if you can't get her and her friends to help us out." He suggested.
"I will do that but first we must call a full order meeting to discuss these matters."
Minerva and Hagrid had followed Konan out after school had finished. She seemed to be looking forward to sparring with these people and that left both of them nervous since she had not finished recovering from her injuries fully.
"Please see sense Shiori! Poppy will have our heads!" Minerva pleaded.
The woman turned and looked at her.
"I am perfectly capable of assessing my own physical limitations." She informed them. "I would also advise you to keep your remarks about their appearances to yourselves."
Minerva gasped when she saw them, she'd never seen anyone like them and she had thought that Shiori's appearance was highly unusual. The handsome white haired man made a rude gesture and spoke in an irritated tone of voice.
"Who the fuck are they?" Hidan demanded.
"Hagrid-san is one of my fellow teachers who insisted on following me here despite my warnings." Konan responded with a nearly indiscernible smile.
The three of them looked confused and curious.
"Minerva-san can perform a translation jutsu which will allow you to be fluent in their language with no effort at all."
Konan's eyes drifted towards Hidan and Zetsu when she said that. With the foul mouthed priest and Zetsu's twin personalities, it would cause untold amounts of trouble for the kunoichi.
Minerva looked towards Konan questioningly.
"This is Zetsu." The plant man gave them a hungry look as he inclined his head in a polite bow.
"Hidan." The man with the scythe sneered at them.
"And Kisame Hoshigaki." The shark man grinned maliciously as he bowed, he was going to have fun messing with these peoples' heads.
The trio looked suspicious as Minerva walked up nervously while Shiori explained how the spell worked. Then beckoned for one of them to step up.
Hidan did not want to look like a pussy in front of the others and there was no way he could spread the word about Jashin when these pasty-faced heathens couldn't even understand him. So he stood in front of her, eyes promising a painful death if he didn't like what she did.
Minerva noticed that beside her Shiori was tense and alert.
"Speak into the wand Hidan-san." Konan urged.
"What the fuck should I say?" He muttered.
Konan shrugged in response.
"Heathen." Hidan refrained from flinching as the chakra enveloped his head.
"Pfft! That was it?" He asked Konan.
Seeing that no harm had come to Hidan, Kisame, drove Samehada in the ground and spoke his name into the wand.
"You spoke your own name?" Hidan scoffed. "How lame is that?"
Kisame growled at the man.
Zetsu went last and said, "Shut up Hidan or we'll eat you."
Hidan snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you've been threatening to eat me for the last how many years?"
Hagrid and Minerva flinched and at a discreet glance from Shiori they decided to take their leave.
"Well I have some paperwork that needs tending too." Minerva said and walked away.
Something on the lake caught Kisame's attention.
"What was that?" He asked. "It looked like a person with a fishtail."
"Oh that'd be the merpeople." Said Hagrid.
"You mean they actually exist?" He asked astounded.
"Hey Sharky! It looks like you finally found someone to make little fish babies with!" Hidan said.
"Piss off Hidan." Said Kisame offhandedly, pale eyes scanning the lake in interest as Hagrid offered to introduce them, chatting animatedly about the merpeople to the equally intrigued former Kiri nin.
He and the mermaid looked at each other, a huge smile on his face, a curious look on hers.
When she opened her mouth a horrible screeching noise filled the air and Kisame's cringed.
Hagrid chuckled.
"You gotta dip your head under the water to understand em proper."
"Really?" Said Kisame and before Hagrid could stop him he dove into the lake.
"Wait! The merpeople might not take kindly to that! And there's Grindylows and a giant squid down there ya fool!" Hagrid wailed.
Upon hearing that, Kisame only became more intrigued. His eyes closed with pleasure as he listened to the silvery voices surrounding him.
"Hey babes!" Hidan called.
Konan made a scoffing noise at that.
"Let's say we do a little sparring. I haven't had a chance to since I've been traveling with these shitheads!"
Konan looked up at him. She had discovered a long time ago that the trick to beating Hidan was outsmarting him, it would make for a good sparring session, especially since Hidan aimed to kill.
Hidan backed up a little, a sadistic smile on his face.
"Maybe you'll become an angel after all." He leered.
Konan frowned, he was too close to the Whomping Willow.
"Wait Hidan not there-" Konan began.
Hidan was sent flying.
"What the fuck hit me?!" He snarled.
"The tree." Zetsu said, his golden eyes had gotten bigger.
"Get real. The tree can't move! Look see, it's just a stupid tree." With that the Yuu nin hacked off a branch with his scythe and was sent soaring over their heads by the enraged tree.
Kisame had surfaced just in time to see Hidan get whacked by the furious tree.
"Only you would be so obnoxious that a tree would force itself to hit you." He snickered.
Konan hid a small smile at her their antics behind the high collar.
Hidan flipped him off.
"That is the Whomping Willow. It's said to make a useful guardian." She explained.
Zetsu was itching to study the tree more closely.
"Aww fuck! It broke my neck!" Hidan whined as he picked himself up for the second time and began readjusting it.
"Then perhaps you should refrain from agitating it Hidan."
She said as she used one of the few healing paper jutsu she had developed to help hold his neck in place till it healed.
Hidan scoffed at her.
Zetsu gave her a strange look. Was that…amusement in her voice? Konan had been one of the most stoic kunoichi he knew, she seldom ever showed her feelings to anyone, especially not the outer ring of the Akatsuki. She had changed.
After several rounds of sparring with her comrades Konan escorted them to the hotel and went back to Hogwarts. The weekend was only a day away and Konan was looking forward to devoting more of her time towards-catching up with them, for lack of a better term.
Author's Note:
I figured the Akatsuki needed to have a little fun.
I know this is supposed to be a somber fic but humor is always appreciated.
especially when it comes at our favorite Priest's expense. XD
