Promises Not Yet Kept Chapter Ten
"Leader-sama." A man with fiery red hair growled. "Just because the girl escaped and went back with a traitor doe not mean that the rest of us are not loyal to your or to this organization. All of us are loyal and none of us would even think about abandoning you or Akatsuki." He promised. Pein glowered over at him and Kisame sighed heavily, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest.
You are wrong, Sasori. I am not staying in this organization one more day. Itachi told me that he, Eneko, and Deidara are all waiting for me to get out of the evils these people cause. I'm taking him up on it and getting to Konoha as soon as I get the chance. The shark-like man thought fiercely to himself. During this chat, Pein had been glaring at each of the members left in turn. Kisame looked around the meeting table as well. All that were left were Sasori, Zetsu, Hidan, Kakuzu, Tobi, Pein, and himself. Deidara, Itachi, and Orochimaru had all abandoned the organization and Konan had been killed on her last mission. In all of their hearts, they knew that the Akatsuki was not to last, but all of them but one held on to the hope that they could find strong members to replace the traitorous ones. Pein let out an exasperated growl and slammed his hands on the table, causing some of the members to jump slightly before regaining their cool demeanor.
"It doesn't matter that the rest of you are loyal," Pein spat around the table, "what matters it that we desperately need more members. Strong members." He glared ferociously at the chairs that were now empty. "Akatsuki is falling apart." He admitted with a sigh."
"Tobi will find new members for you, Leader-sama! Tobi is a good boy and will do what Leader-sama tells him to!" The orange-spiral masked man shouted enthusiastically. Everyone else at the table groaned while Pein threw a kunai at the masked man. Tobi automatically shut his mouth and kept it shut.
"Tobi, be a good boy and don't annoy the leader again." Kakuzu advised him. Tobi nodded, this time being smart enough not to add voice to his agreement. Sasori sighed and shook his head, tired and Pein glared. Kisame looked up from his spot at the table.
"Maybe we should actually try recruiting a jinchuuriki. They have power enough for our causes and then, either once we've gotten new members or the jinchuuriki proves their worth enough to bore us, we can take their bijuu." He suggested calmly. Pein paused for a moment, considering the new prospect. Finally, he nodded in approval and everyone visibly relaxed.
"I think that's for the best. Hidan, Kakuzu, you two will find a suitable jinchuuriki on your next mission. You leave tomorrow. Sasori and Tobi will go and find out if anyone knows were any more jinchuuriki are than that of those we don't know about. Have I been understood?" He asked. Everyone nodded. "Good. Meeting dismissed. Good thinking, Kisame. And let everyone now know that we are the new Akatsuki and we will not fall to anyone or anything ever again. " The orange-haired man promised with a sadistic grin. He turned and praised the shark-man with a pat on the back before leaving. Kisame nodded and walked quickly back to his quarters where he had already begun packing up his most precious possessions for a quick journey. As soon as he had stored the small pack into his cloak, he grabbed his samehada and left the room behind, knowing he would never see it again.
He opened the door to leave and took a long breath of fresh air before setting out, his hat over his head. Kisame was surprised nobody had questioned him leaving the building, but then again, everyone else was getting ready for missions while he was getting ready to run away. Unfortunately, the silence was not to last and he ran into Zetsu nearly at the border of the perimeter that they guarded so that no one found their base other than those that they wanted to find it. The plant man stopped him and Kisame nearly cursed his bad fortune and tried formulating a new plan to get himself out of this mess.
"Where are you going, Kisame?" The bi-colored man asked the blue-skinned man with confusion. "I didn't hear Leader-sama give you any mission instructions during the meeting. You know that we're not supposed to leave the grounds without permission, Kisame…where are you going?" The man stared at him suspiciously and Kisame stared right back at him, trying to make this as convincing as humanly possible.
"Leader-sama brought me into his quarters after the meeting and gave me a private mission that I will be carrying out alone. You do remember that Konan's remains were never found after her last mission, do you not?" The shark-man asked accusingly. Zetsu recoiled, stunned and offended.
"I didn't realize that Leader-sama had entrusted you with such an important mission, Kisame. Please, forgive me and continue on. I wouldn't want to disobey one of Leader-sama's personal plans." He apologized and motioned him on his way. Kisame grunted and gave a swift nod before heading back out. As soon as he knew that he was out of the plant-man's eyesight, he began to run. Said physical activity was rather difficult with Samehada strapped onto his back, but he kept going.
For a while, he thought that he would make it without the Akatsuki even realizing that he had left, but as the walls of Konoha came into the distance, he heard footsteps falling behind him. The Akatsuki was coming to kill him and he knew it well. He had been on the other side when Deidara had tried to run back to Iwa before turning his course to Konoha. He ran with more urgency now than he had before, though he knew his time was quickly approaching.
He wondered briefly if this was how Deidara had felt when they had come to kill him. The feeling of knowing that you were being hunted as you ran, like prey to a predator. The protective walls of the leaf village were getting closer and closer and Kisame had a short-lived hope that he would make it, but it would not be so. He was suddenly attacked from all sides and gave back ten times what he was dealt. The shark-man left behind a few gashes that would defiantly leave scars. That was how they would remember him; Hoshigaki Kisame always went down fighting.
Pein came up behind him as he blocked an attack from Hidan's scythe and stabbed him, right beside his heart. It hurt, but it wasn't enough to kill and Kisame knew that Pein would make him suffer before his demise.
"You will be the first victim of the new revolution that is Akatsuki, Kisame. You were the one I trusted the most and you turned and threw the trust I had in you right back into my face. Feel privileged that I give you the honor of being killed by myself instead of one of your old teammates. And something else to think about…" He paused and put his mouth right beside Kisame's ear, chuckling cruelly. "Unlike our execution of the traitor Deidara, I will make sure that you will not be alive for anyone to find and heal you…You…are…dead…" He whispered before twisting the kunai within Kisame's body. The shark-man let out a cry of pain and suddenly, Pein sliced his whole chest open and tossed him on the ground.
Kisame felt the blood rush out of him like river in a stream and he felt the blood trickling out the side of his mouth and he smiled. He was glad that he could die now, a free man, instead of in battle, bound by the ways of the Akatsuki. He was glad to die knowing he was at least someone that had enough courage to turn their backs on an organization that caused as much pain as this one had. Kisame allowed the darkness to crawl into his vision and he knew the breaths he was taking were his very last and he savored them.
"Pein…" he wheezed. "You will die by Uchiha Eneko's hands…and when you do…I will laugh at you from the other world…" And with those final words, the shark-like man fell eternally silent. Pein threw down the kunai that he had used to kill him and spit at his corpse before leaving him there, on the edge of the road. The red clouded cloaked organization members were heading back to base to plan for the future of Akatsuki, though they now fell one more member short.
Eneko hummed a soft tune to herself as she walked down a peaceful forest road. It was the first mission that she had been allowed on since being injured at Akatsuki. Her team members, Deidara and Itachi, had gone on ahead to scout out the area so that she could have a little time to herself outside of the city. She smiled softly to herself as she remembered both of their reactions when they had been told they would be escorting her on her mission. Both of them had immediately fallen overly protective of her, fussing at every little thing she did until she had used her wind jutsu to give herself some space, laughing.
She fingered the necklace that Kisame had given her with Itachi's organization ring and smiled, thanking him mentally for giving her hope through all of the dark times inside the cell walls of Akatsuki. She looked up to see if she could see her teammates anywhere close, wondering if she should run to catch up with them. The wind user saw Itachi and Deidara up ahead, examining something on the side of the road. She stopped dead in her tracks as she realized that the something was a dead corpse.
She sighed softly and ran her fingers through her hair, figuring that the body belonged to a villager or traveler that had been caught at the wrong place at the wrong time. It was right after this thought that she saw the Akatsuki cloak and the bandaged sword laying beside the body, forgotten in the dust. Her eyes widen and it seemed as if the breath had just decided to leave her body. Suddenly, she found the will to move and rushed forward as fast as her legs would carry her. Deidara and Itachi both looked up quickly as she approached and the blonde man stood up to block her path. She ran straight into him and held her back tightly within his arms. Eneko sobbed heavily as she saw how badly they had ravaged her friend's body.
"Kisame!" She screamed in pure agony. "Please don't let it be true! Kisame! No! Kisame!" She screamed, sobbing. Deidara held her back as gently as he could and she began to tremble heavily with the shock of finding his body like that. Itachi stood up and had Kisame's pack of belongings in his hand. He walked over to Eneko and she broke free of Deidara and began to cry into his strong chest as his strong arms encircled her. Deidara and Itachi shared a heartrending look before Itachi began rubbing Eneko's back gently.
"It looks as if he had been trying to get to us when he was killed…" He whispered to her as gently as he could. Eneko let out another sob and broke free of his grasp and kneeled down beside Kisame's cold body. She brushed the dirt off of his face tenderly and a single tear traveled down her face as the wind blew her hair.
"Good bye…my friend…rest in peace…"