Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by its rightful writers. I am not any of them. I only own the characters I create during the story.
Note to readers: .
Rating: T
When Fantasy and Reality Collide
Ten
Death on the hang man's head…
Kakuzu pauses, eyes scanning the settling village he and his comrades escaped earlier in the day. He stands, encased in a black cloak, in the shadows of the older buildings. Sasori, who is now standing at his side, has a frown on his face but, besides that, he is calm.
"Your thoughts, Puppet Master?" Kakuzu asks, voice low and raspy.
"She is strong but, like you, I could not sense any chakra in her. Her attacks must be fueled by some kind of illusion or mind trick…"
"Mind trick my ass! That little heathen bitch cannot use an illusion to chuck us through buildings! It ain't fucking possible!" Hidan snarls as he lands next to them.
Kakuzu doesn't spare him a glance as he eyes the girl so far below them. A girl who is talking to the Nine Tail demon's host. A girl who is assuring them that she'll be fine and that they can return to their jobs.
Idiotic.
Kakuzu slowly sinks to sit with his back against the wall. He eyes the city, the girl traveling the streets, and frowns beneath his mask.
She…is unusual. She has escaped them time and again. She has weaved her way out of their clutches more than once.
They need…a different approach. Their usual methods will not work.
"Have you informed Leader-sama of this problem?"
"I have not. I want to make sure she is worth it. Wasting money is not needed if she is not an actual threat." He ignores Hidan's ranting about him being blasted through walls and being burned by her.
Instead, he watches. He forms strategies in his mind, playing them over, replaying prior events. He thinks of every possible way that can help give them a hand over her.
Distorted. Pain, lights swirling, and an agonizing headache. In the background he can hear Hidan yelling at him, panic laced in his voice.
Then it stops. He collides with something soft, flips it, his partner not far behind…
Or did he land on the floor?
He struggles to raise, the wooden surface pressed against his palms…
Kakuzu shakes his head as the dream resurfaces. That one dream, always over and over and over, and he cannot rid himself of it.
It felt so real.
It felt as if it happened.
But, when he awoke, he was back in the woods. And, not long after, they ran into that girl again. A girl whose name he does not know. A girl who he cannot find in any record book from any nation. It might be possible she is a nomad.
Then he sees her. Sees her walking through the crowd, sees her stopping to speak with the locals and laughing at the things they say. The blond, Uzumaki, is with her still.
"It appears they do not wish to let her go just yet." Sasori settles down next to him, one arm resting over his knee, and they sit in silence.
Hidan mutters something unintelligent under his breath before leaping off the building, heading to where Deidara and Tobi wait.
"We met her last night. She came into the tavern we were in." the red-head finally says and Kakuzu casts a glance at him.
"And?"
"She spoke a bit to us. Tobi and Deidara mainly. Tobi wanted to taste her drink." He snorts, as if amused by the memory of it, and Kakuzu only sighs.
"A waste of money."
Sasori says nothing to debate this. He turns his attention back to the girl, the one Kakuzu himself watches, and Sasori murmurs, "She would make a good puppet."
"I thought as much."
The two trade a glance, but they say nothing.
After so long, Kakuzu stands.
"It is time we head out."
OoOoO
Dead? How the hell is Mr. Red Head with blue chakra string thingies supposed to be dead? Last she saw he was more than alive. He was breathing, fighting, and taking her mental attacks like a pro.
Until she blasted him through a wall right after Tobi.
He wasn't expecting that, she is sure. Instead, she ambles through the village, reluctant to leave it behind just yet. Kakashi and his team left after she persuaded them to leave. A little mental tinkering was used but it was worth it.
She knows those men will come after her again. They hold grudges worse than a landlord does and they are not shy of chasing. They seem to get a thrill out of it.
She finds a cute stall at the end of the street and slips inside. She wanders through the aisles, looking but not really seeing.
Instead, her thoughts turn to the Akatsuki. The group of highly skilled assassins who are wanted criminals across the nations of this world. That was information she managed to pry from Kakashi without any of them really noticing.
She bids the shopkeeper a nice night and leaves. By now the sky is darkening, the days trouble fading and nothing but news to the people. Without a look back, she slips out of the village and into the flowing hills around it.
And as she walks, she casts a look over her shoulder at the village.
"I don't reckon I'll return there." She mutters to herself as she thinks of the events that transpired there that morning.
"Bastard busted down my door…"
Yeah, if she sees him again, she'll show him that immortality has its faults.
He best run because it is soon to come.
And she grins.
She is looking forward to it.
Another chapter!
Review, please.
CideanForever