Hi! I like this chapter. It's very important. *wink wink* I'll try to update as soon as I can...

Warning: Hidan curses. Well, I'm sure you all know that. I kind of minimized the cursing, though. It is rated T, after all. I'm saving all the cursing for my next story (rated M). Teehee. ;)

Thanks for the reviews! I really liked reading them... And yes, I will take all ideas into consideration.

Enjoy! :D

Chapter 10

My mind went totally blank.

Join. The Akatsuki.

Asdfghjkl.

No way. The Akatsuki captured Jinchuriki and extracted the tailed beats from within them, killing the Jinchuriki in the process. And for what? Power. The organization was sick and corrupted and evil and, and, and…

Once I gained the ability to speak again, I couldn't think of anything to say. "What…?" I started out. "Why would I- after what you did- is this a joke-… No!"

Pain's Rinnegan stare continued to pierce my soul. Even though it was a little difficult (okay… really difficult) to maintain eye contact with him, my gaze didn't drop or waver. After about a minute, Pain spoke again.

His expression remained emotionless. "We need you," he repeated. "If you refuse, I will destroy the Leaf Village."

My resolve faltered. This was not good. All of my friends… and Naruto… They would be gone.

This time, I lowered my eyes, a pained expression most likely showing on my face. I gritted my teeth in anger. Why did this have to happen? I surely wouldn't be able to stop the leader of the Akatsuki from demolishing the Leaf Village… And even if I did, which was very unlikely, I would probably have to fight the other members as well. The chances of me succeeding were very low.

Painfully, I looked back up at the leader. "…Very well," I said. My voice sounded hollow. Anything for the Leaf Village, for their kindness.

Pain still didn't show any emotion. "Good," he said. He turned to Deidara. "We don't have a room for her, so she'll stay with you. Don't get too carried away."

My eyes narrowed slightly. What did Pain mean by that? Whatever it was, Deidara smiled at the thought. "No promises," he said.

"You are dismissed," said Pain.

Deidara led me back through the twisting labyrinth of hallways. "You'll know your way soon enough," he said to me. "Hmm."

Like I cared. How was I going to get back to Naruto? I was still stiff because of his arm around my waist. "You can let go, now," I pointedly stated. "I'm not going to run away."

Deidara kept his arm where it was. "I'm not going to let a girl who appreciates my art out of my sight, hmm. Those don't come around very often." He was still creeping me out.

When we came to what looked like the living room area, I spotted another Akatsuki member sitting on the white couch watching TV. He had silver hair slicked back and purple eyes. His cloak was halfway unzipped, showing his chest. For an Akatsuki member, he seemed sort of… careless.

"Huh? You actually completed a mission, Deidara?" he questioned sarcastically.

Deidara ignored him as we walked past. "Pay no attention to Hidan. He's drunk most of the time."

Hidan glared. "Not true!" he exclaimed. "If I wasn't so tired right now, I'd go over there and kick your ass." His gaze lingered to me, and his tone merged into a seductive one. "Hey, there. I'm Hidan. Come visit my room sometime."

I jerked my head away from him. This place was just getting creepier and creepier. Why didn't I just stay with Naruto? I mentally chastised myself for walking in a deserted part of the village without anyone else.

After a few more minutes of walking, we came across a surprisingly ordinary-looking door. Almost cautiously, he opened it and nudged me inside.

There was a queen-sized bed in the right bottom corner of the room (it had the Akatsuki cloud design on the sheets… big surprise), and there were a few desks pushed up against the wall with clay and books scattered all over them. A closet stood to the left, but what really caught my attention were the tiny clay sculptures hanging from the ceiling. My eyes were so transfixed on them that I didn't notice Deidara standing a few inches away from my face. When he came into focus, I tried to step back, but instead I backed up into the wall.

"Don't act so scared. Hmm," said Deidara. His mouth curled up into a smirk. "You'll be living here from now on. There's only one bed, so we'll have to sleep together."

My mind processed that idea. Me… in the same bed as an Akatsuki member. Well, technically I was one, now. That didn't matter. I would never think of myself as a real Akatsuki member.

I shook my head. "I would rather sleep on the floor."

Deidara's tone remained light and carefree. "Oh, that's harsh. But you can't sleep on the floor, un. I'll make sleeping in the bed fun."

What was he doing? Trying to seduce me? Sure, his words made me want to shiver, but that was so not an option right now.

If possible, he stepped even closer to me. Our bodies were almost touching, so I held my breath and hoped he would step away. Of course, he didn't. His eye glazed over my body and then met mine.

"Well, well," murmured Deidara. "You have a pretty artistic figure." What was it with him and art? While I stood frozen, pressing myself against the wall as hard as I could, he leaned in.

Our lips barely touched when the door flung open and an Akatsuki member with an orange, swirly mask on flailed inside. When he saw us, he gasped. "Oooh! Deidara-Senpai! You're kissing a girl!" his voice sounded high and squeaky.

Deidara paused, then pulled back away from my face. I let out my breath I was holding. "You idiot!" he exclaimed. "She's a new member of the Akatsuki, now, and she's mine. She actually appreciates my art. Hm!"

Tobi leaned towards me. "Hello," he said. "I'm Tobi. What's your name?"

Still shocked from earlier, I barely muttered my name. "…Savanna…" I trailed off.

"Oh!" said Tobi. "I don't know any Savannas. Uhh… Until now, of course. Why were you kissing Deidara-Senpai?"

My face flushed pink. "I didn't choose to. He cornered me!" I pointedly glared at Deidara.

Deidara laughed. "Hm. I couldn't resist. When Savanna thought I was Naruto, the kiss she gave me was pretty nice…"

Just him mentioning Naruto's name sent a jolt of pain through my heart. What would Naruto think when he found out that I left the village? What would he do? I certainly hoped he wouldn't come looking for me… He was surely bound to get hurt.

"You get a kiss, Deidara-Senpai?!" cried Tobi. "Leader Pain won't be happy!"

"I'm not stupid, Tobi," muttered Deidara. "He said not to get too carried away, un. I'm not carried away."

"But-"

"Ugh! Shut up!" Deidara's face showed a lot of irritation. Quickly, while Tobi tried to convey a message to him, Deidara pushed him out of the door and locked it.

"Sorry about that," he said. "Tobi can be annoying sometimes. Actually, he's annoying all of the time. Hm."

By then, I was barely paying attention to him. What was I going to do? Pain only said that I had to agree to join the Akatsuki for him not to destroy the Leaf Village, but if I disobeyed him, he would most likely follow through with that threat, anyway. Feeling confused, I lowered myself onto the bed and put my face in my hands.

Of course, a few seconds later, I felt Deidara sit next to me. "You'll get used to it," he said.

Yeah, right. Like he would know. I stayed silent.

Deidara sighed. "I didn't want to join the Akatsuki either but Itachi Uchiha forced me to. Hm."

That statement sparked my interest, so I glanced up. Sasuke's brother? All I could see was his screen of blonde hair covering the left side of his face.

He kept on going. "Itachi challenged me. If he won, I would join the Akatsuki. Hm. Well, you can see what happened. It was his stupid Sharingan…"

At this point, I was sitting up and openly staring at him even though he couldn't see me. "You actually know how this feels?" I inquired. He might have known a little, but I was fairly positive that he wasn't torn away from someone he loved.

"Yeah, un," said Deidara. He turned his head, a smirk on his face. I turned mine away once I met his eye. "But there are good things. Lots of powerful people will hunt you down. Hm."

"What's the good in that…?"

"It gives you an opportunity to show off your art, yeah. Or your skills. Whatever. I call it art."

I observed him for a moment, but all he did was smirk at me. The only thing that made him mad, it seemed, was Tobi. That smirk… I couldn't look him in the eye whenever he did that for some reason. It made me feel… I don't know. Tingly. Stupid hormones.

"Oh," said Deidara. "You have an Akatsuki robe and a ring waiting for you in the closet."

Slowly, I stood up and walked over to the closet, sliding open the door. The only thing in it was a black robe with red clouds embroidered on it, so I took it out and put it on over my clothes. It made me feel different. I wasn't so sure if it was a good or a bad feeling yet. I also picked up a ring with the kanji "value" embedded on it: 価.

Deidara chuckled. "It suits you. Hm."

I shook my head and started to head for the door, but Deidara walked over to me and put his warm arm around my waist. "Wait," he said. "Get a load of this. Hm." He reached in his robe and put his hand in a satchel around his waist. When he took it out, a mouth on his hand (again, I had to make sure I wasn't dreaming) spit out clay. Deidara closed his fist, and when he opened it, a small, white spider sat in the palm of his hand.

"Uh… Cool…" I trailed off.

Deidara chuckled again. "That's not all there is to my art." Deidara threw the spider in the air. When it was airborne, he made a hand sign and it exploded into a million, bright colors. Unfortunately, the beauty faded away in a few seconds.

How could this guy create something so pristine, yet deadly? I felt a sudden urge to touch his blonde hair, but I resisted. Where did that come from? That was weird…

"Wow," I breathed in awe.

…Did I say that out loud again?

Ugh. Mentally, I groaned. I couldn't let my feelings show around the Akatsuki; the consequences that resulted wouldn't be good.

He seemed to perk up almost instantly. "You are an angel bestowed to me from heaven," Deidara expressed. "You're perfect. You obviously know what beauty is. An on top of that, you're a beauty, too…"

Something fluttered inside of me. Huh? I shouldn't have felt that way. No… Deidara was an Akatsuki member. I shouldn't have been feeling that way…

In order to hide my feelings, I averted my eyes to the ground and didn't answer. Deidara stepped towards me, causing me to raise my guard. Instead, he gave me a knowing smile.

Not wanting to be anywhere near him, I quickly opened the door and started exploring the vicinity.