Chapter ten!
Whoa…chapter ten already? ^_^
Umineko and Naruto do not belong to me!
Tenten, Neji and Hanabi walked through the upstairs' corridor, their footsteps sinking into time with ticking of the clocks.
"And so…all the people we so far suspected…turned out to be innocent…" Tenten said quietly as they walked. The light outside the windows was dimming, as night approached. Neji sighed and closed his eyes wearily.
"You really don't want to suspect any of us, do you, Neji? After all, the Akatsuki wouldn't murder their own leader."
"It seems…implausible…for any Konaha shinobi to kill their comrades in that way." He said, his voice devoid of its usual certainty.
"Then Beatrice has given you proof!" Hanabi said, looking up at her cousin, her face alight with a smile.
"Only a witch could have killed Pein and Konan in that locked room, don't you think?"
"Will you shut up?" Snapped Neji, making Tenten jump. His calm demeanour had vanished.
"Neji," Tenten said, tugging the sleeve of her team-mate, as the walked past the remains of the door to Pein's room, "What is that?"
A small piece of paper was poking out from under own of the shattered pieces of timber. Neji bent down and picked it up. It was another letter, like the one Hanabi had 'been given' in the rose garden. He opened the envelope and took out a pale cream piece of paper.
"The letter's from Beatrice! What does it say? What does it say?" Hanabi said excitedly.
Neji read it to himself, and turned the piece of paper over several times o check there was nothing else. He closed his eyes and said:
"It can open any door no matter how it's locked."
Meanwhile, Deidara and Sasori were picking their way down the stone steps that lead into the boiler room under the great old house. Their footsteps echoed with every step they took. Deidara had his hand held over his face, as he was seriously starting to worry about being sick due the disgusting smell all around him. The reached the bottom, and looked around. The naked light bulb above their heads flickered, and died. Suddenly, the sound of more footsteps sounded ahead of them.
"There's a path that leads outside from here!" Sasori exclaimed, and sprinted forwards, following the footsteps.
"Deidara, stay here." He called back, and with that, he disappeared into the darkness.
"Danna!" Yelled Deidara. He stayed put however; he for once did what Sasori told him.
Sasori's face was twisted into a snarl as he ran down the narrow corridor, various tanks and pipes lining the walls. The whole place stank, but that didn't really affect him like it did for other, more human, people. He stopped, listening out for the sound of the footsteps he had been following, but all was quiet.
Suddenly, a small yellow light appeared in the darkness. A golden butterfly fluttered around him, its paper thin wings beating the air silently. Another appeared, and another, until they filled the narrow corridor with their yellow light. A noise like softly whistling wind accompanied them as they glowed all around him.
He narrowed his eyes, and shrugged off his Akatsuki cloak. He then drew himself to his full height, his puppet body thrown into grotesque relief by the golden light. The pair of wing-like sets of blades hand limply at his sides, as did the stinger that filled the cavity where his stomach should have been. He grasped the base of one of the metal propeller shape blades, and broke it off, with a snap that cut the air.. He raised the sharp edged object to his face, and sneered.
"I know you are there." He said, his voice low and deadly.
The butterflies continued to wheel and circle around him, their light dancing off of the metallic elements of his body.
"Ever since I arrived here, I know someone else was on the island. More than the others, I could feel you draining my chakra away like a leach. Ever since we came, I have been becoming weaker, less able to control my body. Without my chakra I can barely move this form. Even as it is, only my will power has kept me going this long. But now that Pein is dead, I hardly find that I will be any match for you, therefore, I must acknowledge your existence. But hear me…witch, or whoever you are, I will kill you right here!"
He swung the broken blade above his head, his eyes wide and staring, at the same time at the light intensified all around him.
"Now die! BEATRICE!"
At the same moment, Deidara was sprinting through the halls and corridors of the old house. He knew that Danna was in danger, but he also knew that without his chakra, he was hardly able to defend him. He finally found the rest of the remaining ninja, Kakashi, Tenten, Neji, Hanabi, Shikamaru, Hidan and Kakuzu. They were all in the dining room, discussing the situation.
"What's wrong?" Asked Tenten, jumping up first, and running over to Deidara.
Deidara took a moment to catch his breath, before he looked up at the people around him, his face full of urgency.
"We…found where….the smell's….coming from…." He said in-between gasps for air. "Sasori…I think he's in danger."
The others looked at each other, nodded, and followed Deidara quickly.
With a few minutes, Deidara was leading them down the steps to the basement and boiler room. Nearly all of them had their hands clapped over their noses. Kakashi flipped the light switch, and it illuminated the darkened underground room.
"DANNA!" Came Deidara's strangled yell as his gaze fell on a crumpled object lying on the floor at the foot of the stairs.
Sasori's arms and legs were twisted at odd angles, and from his mouth trickled a strange purple fluid. Deidara knelt down at his side and rolled him over onto his back. His eyes were wide and frozen in a look of mild surprise. Deidara stared at the broken body silently. Sticking out of the cylinder that contained his organic heart, was another one of the strange, twisted metallic stakes. His front was covered in more of the purple liquid. Sure, Sasori had been a pain in the neck, with his grotesque art ideas, and imperious tone, but the older ninja had gotten Deidara out of more scrapes than he could count, and was one of the few in the Akatsuki who would put up with Deidara sometimes, even if he gave him death-threats afterwards.
Tenten stepped quietly towards Deidara's hunched form, and sat down beside him. After all, he had been there when she was at her weakest moment, it didn't matter whether he had wanted to be there or not; his presence was comforting, so she hoped that hers would be too. She shyly placed her pale hand over his. He didn't show any confirmation that he had even noticed. Hidan ignored them, and crossed the small room, his nose wrinkled in disgust.
"It smells like that stench is coming from in here…" He looked a metal container full of wood and coal, which was placed next to the furnace that heated the boiler system. Hidan scowled at the burning heat that the furnace was radiating, but put up with it, to peer into the container.
He suddenly shouted one of the loudest profanities he had ever made. Out of the rectangular storage box, he pulled a corpse, blackened, almost fleshless, and covered in soot from the furnace.