Chapter 10

"Ow, that hurts!" I squirmed away from Konan's surprisingly less than gentle hands. I sent a dirty look towards the cotton ball drenched in antiseptic she was trying to clean my cut with.

"If you would just stay still…" Konan sighed exasperated as she came at me again with a third evil stinging ball of drenched fluff. The first two had dissolved as soon as they touched the wound sending jabs of pain up and down my arm. I jumped from the examining table one hand still clenched to my wound and circled around it away from Konan.

"I would stay still if it didn't hurt so damn much." I exclaimed circling the table with Konan following suit.

"Your wound is deep and I need to clean it before it gets infected."

"Now what's wrong?" Kakuzu stepped into the infirmary and sighed at the two of us.

"Kakuzu-san!" I cheered and rushed towards him. I sidled behind him to block Konan's advances on me with the cotton ball of death. "Help me, Kakuzu-san. She's trying to drown me in antiseptic." He eyed me over his broad shoulder and tiredly shook his head. I thought I heard him mumble 'I'm too old for this' under his breath as he tossed the large burlap sack he was carrying in to one corner of the room. It landed with a dull thud.

"Konan." He held out his hand for the cotton ball. She handed it over as I sidled away from the both of them. "Sit." He commanded motioning to the examining table. I made a face but did as I was told.

Kakuzu pulled up a chair and sat down, holding the cotton ball in one hand, taking my wounded appendage in the other. He pressed the ball to the cut and I hissed. Once again the cotton ball disintegrated.

"Hmm." Kakuzu prodded the edges of the wound with his fingers.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Sasori stated from the doorway. Kakuzu turned to him releasing me completely.

"What did you find out?" Kakuzu asked. Sasori gave a slight knowing smile. "You were right." With that Kakuzu nodded and pulled open a drawer at the base of the table I was sitting on. He pulled out a spool of thick black thread and a big red needle. I mean a BIG needle. It was probably six inches long.

"Jesus, is that a needle or a sword?" I asked horrorstruck at the sight of the sharp implement. I got a thing about needles. The pair ignored me.

"I assume all tests were positive?" Kakuzu asked as he threaded the big ass needle.

"The last test is still processing, but yes." Answered Sasori matter-of-factly. "The reactions were much more… violent than I had anticipated as well."

"That is not surprising considering her natures." The masked man replied.

"What the hell are you two talking about?" I butted in. They were making no sense. "Would anyone care to fill me in?"

Sasori smirked. "What do you think caused Kisame's sword to scream like it did?"

"I don't know. I know it absorbed some of my chakra from the attack I threw." Sasori shook his head. "You're pretty dense aren't you? Why do you think I've been doing blood tests on you? Why do you think your entire clan had the same trait? It's all about your blood."

"W-what about my- Ow, shit!" I looked from Sasori to Kakuzu. He stabbed me with the big ass needle and began sewing up my cut. No warning, no anesthetic. His free hand remained firmly around my bicep to keep me still while he worked. Knowing glaring or complaining would do no good I went back to Sasori.

"What about my, ow, blood?"

"Inside your body, your blood seems to act like a cure all for poisons and diseases. From my observations, when you are fighting off a poison your blood begins to boil. Hence the burning you felt during each experiment. Once it hits the air, it acts like an acid. It will eat away and dissolve anything it comes in contact with."

"So… why, ah, isn't it burning through my, geez, hand then?" I held up the blood-stained hand that had been grasping the wound and waved it at the puppet. "And what about this, ouch, damn needle? If what you say is true, Jesus!, why hasn't it dissolved?" He merely shrugged.

"The needle is made of a special chakra infused minerals to prevent rust, corosion, et cetera. Similar with the thread. I imagine, since it's your blood, your body built up a tolerance to the high acidity. Of course only so much can be done to fight back an acid this potent."

"Sasori. Enough." Stated Kakuzu. He released my arm and tied the stitches closed.

"There's always a side effect to any kekkei genkai." Sasori continued.

"Sasori."

"She's going to have to deal with it sooner or later."

"You don't have all the information yet, runt. Wait till after the test is finished."

"No." I butted into their conversation again. "Stop talking about me like I'm not sitting right here. I got enough of that shit at home. So my blood has a high acidity level, so what?" I'm tired of them making no sense. If there's something I need to know, then Jashin-dammit tell me. Kakuzu gave me a sideways glance before looking at Sasori and nodding in defeat. Sasori came farther into the room leaving his post at the doorway and leaned down ever so slightly so our faces were only inches from each other.

"Did you notice at all that when I spoke of the Mananako clan, it was always in the past tense?"

Come to think of it I did…

"Yeah, I meant to ask you about that." I replied. Sasori gave me a smug smile.

"Sure you did. Well, like I said, every kekkei genkai has a side effect. A fatal flaw." He stood up and crossed his arms across his chest. "For example, with the sharingan there is the progressive blindness. Deidara's explosion release is highly volatile and dangerous to use. I see the brat dying young, immersed in his so called 'art'." At this I fought back a laugh. Sasori was right but he didn't know that he would actually go before any of the others.

"So what is my blood's drawback?" We could go on listing every kekkei genkai there is and the problems of each but then we'd be here for the next week.

"I speak of the Mananako clan in past tense because they are no more. They are said to have died out over fifty years ago. Imagine my surprise when I heard you shared the same name."

A feeling of dread and fear gripped and twisted at my stomach. "And how did they-?"

"Their blood burns them from the inside out as they get older." Kakuzu stated. "It is important that we confirmed your chakra natures early so we could determine how to proceed with you."

"Kakuzu has had many dealings with the Mananako Clan seeing as how they both hail from the same village. He has had the most experience on dealing with people in your situation." Sasori added.

"And what does my chakra natures have to do with my blood?" I asked hesitantly.

"In their compound when they resided in Takigakure, the family was split into two branches. Only those of Water and Fire chakra natures could live in the main house, for they lived longer than those of the Water and Lightning members. Significantly longer." Explained Kakuzu.

I felt the blood drain from my face. "So I'm-" I stopped and bit my lip.

"I said to wait for a reason." Kakuzu sighed and shook his head. "The potency of your blood may not be that severe since this is not your world, so you claim. Only Sasori's tests can confirm for us."

I sat silently, staring at my knees. I clenched the sides of the metal table. The other two in the room remained silent as well, a tension building up in the room.

"So the bitch is gonna die?" The silence was shattered unexpectedly. I jumped at Hidan's voice. The guy still scared the shit out of me whenever I saw him. I'm waiting for the day he sticks a knife in my back. I looked all around the room in an attempt to locate Hidan. Kakuzu pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily.

"Dammit. I thought he was going to stay out for a while longer." Suddenly, the bag Kakuzu had chucked into a corner began to move. "Yeah well fuck you shit head." Replied Hidan. "Now put me back together."

Sorry for the lack of updates recently, guys. A lot of stupid shit has been going down lately. I wrote this as quick as I could so I could give you something to read and I hope you enjoyed. I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible. Also, I love the feedback I've been getting from a bunch of you guys! Although I may not respond to all of them, I do read them all so thank you all for your support!

I do not own and Naruto characters.