Welcome to the eleventh chapter of Connected rewrite! Sorry for the delay, but I was busy with Summer work. Working as a counselor for 4-5 year olds is hard as hell and tiring, too.
Last chapter, Hikari confessed that the girls hadn't told the Akatsuki everything that happened. So what's going to happen when the girls start talking about Akatsuki deaths?
Enjoy!
Hayden's POV
"We're only hiding one thing from you: your deaths," Hikari said looking at the floor in dismay.
"Our deaths, un?" Deidara asked confusedly.
"Tell us more," Sasori said in a demanding tone.
Shit, we're in big trouble. If this happens, it'll all lead down to Madara.
"W-well, Sasori, you know how you die. It's by Chiyo and S-Sakura," Hikari said.
He nodded. Rita turned to Hidan, "Well, luckily, you're not dead, but the stupid lazy Nara trapped you in a freaking cave and in the storyline you're supposed to be dying from lack of nutrition or some shit," she said.
"I should try that," Kakuzu muttered. Hidan shot a glare at him.
Eiko turned to Zetsu, "Well, you're one of the characters who don't die. Luckily," she said. "But most likely, you're going to have to die because you're all villains in Naruto," she said looking at the ground trying to sound as monotonous as possible, but failing.
Heather said, "You're alive, too." Tobi jumped up and down, waving his arms around and I flinched at this action.
"Tobi's alive! Tobi's alive!" he screamed.
"Shut up, Tobi!" Heather said. All eyes locked onto her. Did she just yell at Tobi? I never knew she had it in her. She had been hell bent on being nice to Tobi and now she yells at him?
"You're still alive, but didn't you hear? You're just going to die sooner or later!" she said. Protecting Madara? I raised an eyebrow. But it was true because Madara is the evilest of the evilest character in Naruto.
"Itachi, Sasuke's going to kill you," Sayuri said slowly. Itachi nodded in understanding, but no shock crossed his face. I already knew his reaction . . . happiness.
"Good, I knew that he was going to kill me," he said simply. Akatsuki looked at him like he was crazy.
"What? Itachi you can't be for real right?" Kisame asked with his eyes wide with shock. "That's basically suicide!"
"Kisame, you c-committed s-suicide," Tsuki said.
Kisame looked surprised. "Suicide? Me?"
"Yeah, you got captured and before the Konoha nins interrogated you, you broke free and trapped yourself in a water prison and let some sharks eat you," Tsuki said in a low voice.
Kisame looked grossed out.
"Don't be grossed out, at least you died in an honorable way. You did it to protect the Akatsuki," Rita said.
"D-Dei, you die by committing suicide, too. It was so fucking stupid!" Kyoko screamed. Hikari went to calm down the girl.
Deidara put an arm around her shoulders. "It's okay. Just tell me why, un," he said.
She nodded. "You were trying to kill Sasuke and self-destructed yourself. At the end, you thought that you killed him, but he escaped," she said.
I saw Itachi glare a little at Deidara, but then looked away.
"Oh, that's. . . Great, un," he not feeling so good. "But at least, I went out with a bang."
"Kakuzu," I said. He looked at me with his piercing eyes.
"What?" he asked.
"Naruto used Rasengan on you and then Kakashi killed you," I said without getting into many details.
He nodded. "Then, Pein and Konan?" he asked. I wondered if I should tell them. It wasn't a good story and there will be questions as to how Akatsuki is still alive and who the new leader is.
"Pein revived the people of Konoha and died," I said. "And Konan is also dead. She- I don't want to get into the details without permission," I muttered looking at Kyoko.
To be honest, after what I heard from Kyoko, Madara attacked her, so it won't be safe for me to tell them that Madara killed her because then it would be obvious that I know who Madara is.
"Was it too terrible?" Sasori asked blandly. He didn't seem to care, but he was confused. Konan was strong. And Pein committed suicide by helping the kyuubi?
I shook my head. "I can't tell. Can someone else?" I asked. I felt guilt at saying that because I know that someone was going to tell, and we'll all be in trouble. I clenched my fists until they turned white. I was scared.
I saw Heather stiffen out of the corner of my eye. I widened my eyes a little. She wasn't going to, right? She took a deep breath and I watched as she raised her hand to point at someone. She will also blow Tobi's cover. I felt a pang of guilt and I tried to stop her, but Eiko grabbed my arm and shook her head. I could only look at Heather.
Emi placed a hand on Heather's shoulder comfortingly as Heather was lifting her hand. She hadn't said anything in the whole conversation, but she was in as much pain as we were in.
Her finger stopped at Tobi. "You—you killed her," she said quietly. All of her previous energy was lost as she at the floor blankly.
Itachi and Zetsu's eyes widened. "Shit," the Zetsus muttered. The girls looked down as well as me, but Heather's finger was still pointing at Tobi. It was shaking.
"Tobi, you—" Deidara started.
"Tobi will never hurt Konan-chan!" Tobi said defensively. I saw his Sharingan blazing with anger. The tomoes were spinning rapidly and I wondered how he could keep up his Tobi persona while looking that menacing.
Anger boiled inside me. I knew that if I talked, I would get in trouble later, but I didn't care now. Heather was in trouble just because of me and my selfishness. "Shut up, Madara! You killed her, don't deny it!" I screamed. Heather looked in surprise at me, her hand falling to her side.
I didn't know what will happen next. Hopefully I wouldn't get killed by the wrath of Madara. Me and my big mouth!
"What's she talking about? Who's Madara?" Sasori asked confused.
Surprisingly enough, Tobi reached up for his mask . . . and took it off revealing his spiky black hair and Sharingan eyes.
Sasori, Kisame, Hidan, and Kakuzu looked surprised at 'Tobi's' face.
"I'm Madara," he said in his real low voice.
Deidara narrowed his eyes. He had already knew about Madara, but didn't think that it was that much important.
"Hey, you're being weird today, uh, Tobi," Kisame said, probably afraid of what the man would do as payback for hitting him on the head so many times.
"It's Madara," the Uchiha repeated.
"W-why did you blow your cover?" Hikari asked.
"Hm, so you know, too. Tsk Tsk Tsk. No wonder Pein told me to be careful," Madara said.
"I thought you didn't take any orders," Tsuki said getting in a defensive mode with her hand reaching for the fan strapped on her leg.
"I was merely taking his advice," Madara replied.
Rita pushed Hikari back and spread her arms to protect her. Her eyes were staring right into Madara's.
Sasori asked, "What's wrong?"
"He's the true leader of Akatsuki," Kyoko muttered taking out a scroll and taking out a sword.
Sayuri said, "I knew this would happen sooner or later."
"Of course," Madara said. "I wouldn't do anything to hurt you. I'll make it fast."
Itachi's Sharingan flashed as both Uchihas moved quickly. Itachi putting himself in front of Sayuri before Madara could strike her. It hit Itachi, instead on the stomach.
"Itachi!" Sayuri cried out and ran next to Itachi.
"Stop it, Madara," he muttered. "Sayuri, stay back." He coughed out some blood.
Sayuri shook her head and stayed where she was.
"You heard the girl, Itachi. I don't take orders," Madara said. Before I knew it, Rita was next to Madara and jabbed her knife at his head, but it went through.
"Shit!" she said as he moved behind her and stabbed her. She fell onto Hidan who gently placed her on the floor.
His angry violet eyes looked at Madara's Sharingan. "Why the fuck are you doing this, Madara or whoever the hell you are?"
"Since they know my secret, I don't think that they should live. They'll only ruin my plans," Madara said.
"Well," Sasori said moving in front of Madara, "If you wish to kill them, you have to go through us first."
"This is fucking unreasonable, Madara, un! They are going to join Akatsuki anyways, un. Why kill them, yeah?" Deidara asked.
Madara ignored Deidara and ran toward Tsuki while dodging Sasori's punch. Frowning, she got into battle stance and blocked and attacked Madara with her fan. Kisame took another sword from Kyoko and attacked Madara, who kicked Tsuki into the wall. Emi then started attacking with her limited taijutsu and was kicked back easily exactly where Tsuki was.
I ran to the wall where they were. Luckily, Tsuki was only unconscious and Emi was not badly hurt. Heather stood next to me shaking. "Heather," I said. She was shaking, but there was no fear on her face. Only anger and . . . sadness?
When Madara was about to stab Kyoko, Heather got in front and got stabbed instead. "H-Heather," Kyoko said. Madara's face showed some confusion while trying to pull the sword out, but Heather held it in place.
"G-guys, run away," Heather said coughing out blood. I was frozen. Heather just intercepted the blade.
"No, we can't run away! We're your friends!" Eiko said. "Nothing's going to stop us!"
"Why?" she asked.
"That's what friends are for," I said smling, getting over my shock.
Madara got the sword out of Heather, who didn't scream in agony, but bit her lip. He swung the sword at Eiko, but stopped when he heard Heather scream, "Stop it, Madara!"
Madara's POV
I stabbed Heather my eyes widened. She could have just let it pass through her, but she was willing to take the blade for a friend. And what was this feeling in my chest? This girl is interesting. After I pulled the sword out of the girl to stab the one with the blue extensions, I heard Heather scream, "Stop it, Madara!"
To my surprise, I actually stopped midway, my eyes wide open. Sweat dripped from my forehead. Why was I stopping? What was this girl doing to me?
I looked behind me to see her looking at me with an angered expression on her face, but I could see the hurt and pain in her eyes. For some reason, my heart felt like it was about to explode.
Stop it Madara, kill them! I turned my head around and swung at the girl again, but she sunk into the ground. And I felt a blow to my head.
I widened my eyes again. I let my guard down. I turned to see Heather about to punch me again, but I dodged.
"How do you still have strength to move?" I asked. Behind her, I saw the black-haired girl controlling her. I charged at that girl managing to dodge attacks from Heather because she was able to hurt me. If I managed to take out the black-haired girl, then Heather wouldn't be able to battle me anymore.
However, Heather punched me in the gut and to everyone's surprise, sent me hurtling into a wall. Struggling to get out, she walked up to me and grabbed me by the collar.
"Uchiha, I told you to fucking stop!" she said. I looked into her eyes and saw the Sharingan. So she got it, too?
"I don't listen to anybody. Not even you. You are very interesting, little girl. To stand up to me without feeling fear, it's interesting," I said.
"No," she said. "I am scared. But even though I am, I am able to stand up to you because you are hurting my friends," she said starting to shake.
I frowned. There was this feeling in my chest again. No, I can't be falling for this weak girl. I had the urge to hug her, but I didn't. The girl let me go and collapsed to the floor. I looked at the black-haired girl who was controlling her. Jumping over Heather, I swung my fist at the girl, but she was pulled across the room by Sasori. I narrowed my eyes and went for that Sayuri girl instead. Since Itachi was down, it would be easier for me to get her. However, she also had Sharingan and dodged my attacks. I passed by the brown-haired girl and attacked her instead.
She immediately flew back against a wall, much to Kakuzu's dislike and emerged out in black. "Daiton: Domu no Jutsu," she said. Kakuzu took a deep breath and did his Domu jutsu as well. Both took swings at me as I dodged. This made things harder. Not only are they faster and stronger, they have higher defense.
Actually, why am I even dodging? I sweatdropped as I stopped dodging and their attacks passed right through me. I still had two more minutes left until I am tangible. Then, I would bring the girl inside my world to ask her some questions.
Two minutes passed and I started dodging the attacks from the Akatsuki. Heather was in a fighting stance. I reached of and grabbed her arm, putting her and myself in my inner world.
"Where? Where in the world am I?" she asked and saw me and got in a fighting stance.
"You're in my world. I took you here," I said.
She frowned. "Why me?"
"Because I need to ask you a few questions," I said. "First of all, why are you so different from your other friends? Why did you point me out? You could have just stayed there and pretended that you didn't know my secret."
"That would be lying because I have touched you before and knew all about your past. I'm not any different from my friends. I protected them because I knew that they would do the same for me," she said. I nodded slowly.
"Did you think that was wise? You could have gotten yourself killed," I said shuddering a little at the image of her dead in my head.
Luckily, she didn't notice. "What, worried about me now? It's not like you care. You were going to kill me anyways," she said.
"No, I didn't plan on killing you. You are my apprentice, after all. If I was going to kill you, I would have done it when you were in your weakened state. You deserve to know my identity and I honestly don't think that you would agree to be the apprentice of someone like Tobi," I said lying. The truth is, I didn't want her to die. It was confusing. Maybe this girl was changing me.
"Yeah right, Madara," she said. "I just want to protect my friends like my father protected me." She looked at the floor.
"Your father?" I asked slowly.
She laughed. "I don't even know why I'm telling you all of this!" some tears flowed freely down her face. Her clouded blue eyes were covered by her hair. "I-I'll tell you anyways. Five years ago, my mother started hating me because of my powers. She thought I was a witch or something and started beating me, but my father protected me. After he died, she blamed it on me and I ran away this year because I couldn't take it anymore. I miss my father so much," she cried.
Without thinking, I hugged her frail body, pulling her to me. She gasped as I wiped away her tears. "Why are you helping me?" she asked. Her blue eyes were showing confusion. I was confused as well, but ignored it.
"I don't know, but it's okay. Your mother isn't here anymore. You ran away, right? It's time to go back now," I said getting up. "You're an interesting girl. I'm not going to hurt your friends as long as they keep my identity a secret in our world." She nodded and I held my hand out for her to grab. She took it and stood up. I performed some handsigns and grabbed her arm.
A second later, we were on earth with swords pointed at me. I didn't move. "Guys, he's not going to hurt you anymore as long as you guys don't reveal his identity in the Narutoverse," Heather said. "And you better not kill Konan, got it?"
I nodded slowly. "Good," she said. The others looked dumbfounded.
"Y-you got him to change his mind," Itachi muttered.
"Yep!" she said. She really is interesting. The way her behavior changes so fast.
"Whatever," I said.
"So, you're not going to have that mask on, now?" Sasori asked.
"I'm going to put my mask back on when we go back but I should stay like this longer. I've spent too much time acting like Tobi," Madara said.
Deidara said, "At least you're not going to be annoying me anytime soon." I twitched.
"I'm not going to do anything to you yet, Deidara-sempai," he sneered.
"Whatever, yeah," he said.
"Well, now that that's taken care of, we can go to the supermarket to get some food. We're running out of Pop Tarts and other food. We can't be ordering McDonald's everyday, ne?" Hikari said.
"Fine, let's get going then," I grumbled.
"I'm going to have to get used to this," Sasori said looking at me as we started walking to the door.
I didn't really like this chapter. The ending seemed anticlimatic and it sucked. Well, enjoy and review!
~Karin Taicho