So I spent the rest of the agonizingly long day playing with a cooing Nato. It was full of games that I never played in my childhood, like hide and seek, chasey… all because I had no one. In a way, I could describe my experience with the child a 'fun' and 'new'. But I couldn't linger on emotions as it would only affect my career as a Akatsuki member. I needed to remain a heartless, silent assassin with no feelings of joy and innocence that would make me unable to eliminate an enemy. This was the path I chose and I would stick to it, no matter how hard it was.
"My, my. If I didn't know better I could have sworn that you were Mio!" the granny exclaimed as I rested on a slightly broken chair.
"Really? Well what was the dangerous mission that Mio went on?" I asked out of curiosity as I munched on a biscuit.
"I don't know much but it was something to do with the Jinchuuriki, had to take it somewhere," the old lady explained, a little sad at the mention. This reminded me of my own mission, I decide to probe in some more, and then Kakuzu couldn't scold me on wasting time…
"So, where did the Jinchuriki reside?" I urged casually.
"I think it was in the castle, but I'm not sure,"
"Do you know what it looked like?"
"Well, it had black hair and an evil aura around it,"
"Really?" I continued but then Nato dragged me outside to play, great.
The night was silent, as I analyzed the information I gained in the morning while sitting on a branch of a large tree as snow try to drift through to me. The sun had just sunk down, leaving a shimmering pink on the horizon, casting strange shadows over the white horizon. So, we should go to the castle and formulate a plan to break in. Search the floors for a black haired girl with an evil aura… That wasn't really good; hopefully Hidan and Kakuzu would know more about our target. But what was really distracting me were these 'visions', every time I close my eyes, I imagine a dark place shrouded on mystery and dark fog. But when I try to go deeper and see through the barrier, I lose it and get thrown back into reality.
Suddenly a rustle of fabric and leaves caught my attention; I swiftly flicked my head in the direction of the disturbance.
"Hey Aaki, so how was your stay? Was playing hide and seek with that brat fun?" Hidan teased with a smirk on his face.
"Shut up Hidan if you want some information on the eight tails," I argued with a growl, standing up with a bit of trouble as the branch started to sway.
"What information?" Kakuzu cut in, seriously.
"Well, I managed to find out that the Jinchuuriki is probably in the castle, it has black hair and an 'evil' aura. Though I'm not sure about the last bit, it's probably a superstition," I reply
"So did you formulate a plan while you were at it?" Hidan sneered, although it was really half hearted and more of a joke.
"And let your lazy ass relax?" I retorted with a smirk. "I doubt it,"
"So, you think the Jinchuuriki is in the castle?" Kakuzu asked.
"Yeah, at least someone should know where it is if it isn't in the castle,"
"So how about a plan?" Hidan once again jokes.
"Well, how about we sneak in as far as we can to the king, then pry the location from him?" I suggested out of the top of my mind randomly "The Jinchuuriki may come and try to save the old guy, and everything falls into place,"
"So when are we gonna infiltrate them and kill some f***ing people?" Hidan asked eagerly, already impatient.
"You do know we're trying to cause as little disturbance as possible?" I replied, wondering if Hidan did understand.
"We'll go today, since it's going to be a new moon," Kakuzu declared dominantly and quickly sprang from the branch.
Ii was hard to keep up with Hidan and Kakuzu when they were leaping agilely through the frost bitten trees. I was utterly surprised when Hidan jumped swiftly from a branch to another with the heavy scythe on his back. While I had to give everything I had and go almost full speed to catch them. But maybe my night of endless thinking and superbly 'wonderful' day had dulled my usual senses. I kinda relaxed too much at the child's home, knowing it would never be my home.
They stopped abruptly behind some bushes as I skidded to a halt. Both of them gave me a glare under the dull light of the stars.
"So 'genius', how do we get in?" Hidan asked ironically, being the idiot he was. But I didn't have to answer and Kakuzu promptly lead the way behind bushes, scrubs and assorted things until we were at the back to the castle. I finally got a good look at it to find it was made out of grayish stones, blurring it with the snowy background.
Slowly, tiny flecks of snow drifted down onto us, and I was sure I heard Hidan complaining about hurrying inside.
"Listen girl, we'll jump on the balcony over at the right, then when the guards come which is 1 seconds after we land, we jump to the left to the private balcony over there. We'll enter the building from there, and Hidan, don't go around randomly killing or screaming things," Kakuzu warned, accenting the last bit threateningly.
"Fine, just expect a 30 minute ritual when we get back!" Hidan argued and sighed, preparing to leap onto the banister at Kakuzu's count.
I was a tiny bit behind them as they jumped for the hiding spot and with perfect timing they landed on the balcony. They were already jumping onto the next block when I reached the first. Slightly panicking when I saw lights illuminate the floor very close to me, I didn't plan for the jump so I just awkwardly leapt in the general direction.
I didn't surprise me when I missed them by a meter or so.
"Oh shit," I murmured when I looked down to find a group of soldiers standing guard. What fun would it be if I landed right in the centre of their search… I could feel myself closing in on the descent down to the solid ground. But then did I really expect to complete this agility course with perfection? Agility was one of my strong points but I guess precision in the air wasn't an ally of mine. I was fast on the ground, but hopeless off it.
"What the f*** was that bitch?" Hidan growled quietly as I felt something latch onto my wrist, stopping me from falling into the group of soldiers. I opened my mouth to reply Hidan's comment, but he only gave me a glare, telling me to shut up if I didn't want to be discovered by the soldiers.
Just as Hidan predicted a group of guards appeared from the corner, carelessly checking the area before walking off. And as soon as their footsteps on the concrete faded off into the distance Hidan harshly hauled me up to the balcony.
"You really suck," Hidan sneered as he dropped me on the hard rock.
"Shut up if you want to stay as one piece!" I whispered threateningly, groggily standing up from my dangerous experience.
Kakuzu who had been ignoring our argument simply moved on, checking the paths in front as we moved on into the center of the huge castle. But suddenly behind us we all hear someone's footstep approaching. Without think Hidan slammed open the closest and shoved us all in harshly. I was forcefully pushed into a random direction as the door closed, enveloping us all in darkness.
I was really cramped in the tiny thing, so cramped that I had to squish next to Hidan. I could hear and feel his heart beat under my hands as I breathed quietly hoping that the person would just leave quickly. I felt my face heat up randomly as I impatiently urged the slow person to move the heck out of here. The silence was driving me to the edge of madness as I felt Hidan warm puffs of breaths at the back of my neck as the closet was too short so he had to bend over me. My cheeks were now a scarlet color as I felt the heat rise; it's probably the humidity in the closet though.
I let out a sigh as Hidan introduced light back into the world again when finally the person past.
"Jeeze Aaki didn't know you were so scared of the dark, you're bright red!" Hidan teased as we walked out from the little dark room.
"S-shut up!" I whispered but my voice was crackling and tight. Not very convincing.
I concentrated to sense anyone coming close to us as we made our way deeper into the castle. I followed Kakuzu closely as I rubbed my burning cheeks to ease the heat. I nearly bumped into him when he stopped abruptly in front of a grand door.
"In here," he mumbled as he tried the door to find it swung open easily. But the bad news was that on the other side there wasn't just the king, but also a bunch of fully armed guards. Looked like they were expecting us after all. And something told me that they weren't going to be much of a push over.
