A/N: I realized something that made me sad…. Deidara doesn't join until he is 14 … And he is 2 years younger than both Itachi and Kari so he can't join till I get them to be 16.… and Hidan joins after that so I can't have all of the Akatsuki I want in until Kari is at least 17 and that's around the time Naruto plotline starts. T-T I guess there's going to be a couple of time breaks soon. Hehe well sorry this took so long but the end of my senior year in high school is being a little bitch.
Oh and just incase this was never mentioned… the Akatsuki have their cloud cloaks…. I don't think I ever mentioned it, but if I did please tell me and if not, please do the same so I can be sure I have it mentioned somewhere else.
Oh and as to the reviews I don't know who I responded to or not, bt thanks for all and OH! You won't get to find out what Madara thought about Kari's dancing until later.
"But you know… human beings are delicate creatures. The slightest bump and we expire"
- Agent Lang from Milles Edgeworth Ace Attorney Investigations
~oOo~
Kari was startled to see Madara and Itachi standing guard by her door, kunai drawn and Sharingan exposed. Kari quickly grabbed a kunai from the pouch next to her bed and asked, "What's going on Madara-sama?"
Said man looked at her and said, "It seems people want you."
Kari looked at him with a raised brow and asked, "Why?"
"It seems we're about to find out," Itachi stated with a glance to Madara, and in a split second both Uchiha were crouched in front of Kari and the door panel fell forward as a plethora masked shinobi entered the room.
No one moved for about a couple of seconds until the shinobi in front demanded, "Give us the girl."
Kari growled and all of the shinobi looked at her, and the people drew back. She smirked as she got to all fours, bending her legs so she wasn't sticking her bottom in the air. Madara looked at the young girl with a hidden raised brow but he heard from caught whispers that Kari was going to use her kekkei genkai. Koumori then appeared and wrapped her wings around the girl's back saying, "I wish you would reconsider Kari. You are recovering."
Kari shook her head and asked, "May I demonstrate my skill I've been draining myself over sir?" Kari looked at Madara who nodded and stepped aside, Itachi following step right after. Kari smiled in a feral manner, her inner beast wanting to be let out after all this time, "Ready Koumori?" The bat bit the girl in response only a wince was heard from her. Soon Kari's kekkei genkai over took her entire eye and her chakra wrapped around her body, covering all in its wake, and Koumori seemed to expand over Kari and fuse with the young girl.
The enemy shinobi stepped back and fled but Kari's beast didn't want them to. She followed them with her skin reforming and a membrane was attaching her arm to her side, forming bat like wings. Her fingers extended as did her face, all her features were becoming bat like and soon she was a werebat; a perfect combination of the two species. Kari let out a supersonic screech on the direction of her new prey and several fell to the ground, stunned from the shock. However, Kari still chased her fleeing prey until they stopped some ways away from the hotel and when she landed in the center of a large training field she found herself surrounded and her instinctual beast took over completely. She growled at being cornered and she really didn't like the feeling; she wanted out. They moved closer and she crouched in on herself more.
As soon as they were only a little space away from her, Kari jumped into the air, flapped her new wings, and screeched at the remaining shinobi. Kari let out a screech and landed on the ground to inspect her victims. She was about to fly away to a nice dark cave, but she felt two more presences walking towards her. She growled and went on the defensive again and she spotted two familiar faces, but couldn't tell if they were familiar if they were friends or foe. She snarled once more at them, but they remained unfazed.
Kari started to back away and just as she was about to fly in the air to get away the one in the mask grabbed her and hit a soft spot on her neck, causing instant unconsciousness. Immediately Koumori defused from Kari and the girl fell into Madara's arms.
Koumori looked at the girl and shook her head saying, "I knew she wasn't ready for it yet. She hasn't even found out her animal!"
Madara looked at the bat and asked, intrigued, "What would happen if she did find out her animal."
"For one her powers would be officially matured and two she would have more control over her animal instincts." Koumori said, "But this requires the animal she fuses with to take quite a bit of blood and from the looks of things I was glad she was mostly recovered or this battle may have killed her."
Madara nodded and then moved Kari so he was carrying her bridal style. Itachi walked over to the trio and asked, "Madara-sama, I suggest we get back before we cause any more suspicion."
Madara nodded and said, "You are right. Koumori," the bat turned her attention to him, "take her back to head quarters. I don't want anymore people trying to take her, and Ame is always the safest place to hide something."
Koumori nodded and expanded to her complete size, "You're lucky it's still somewhat dark or I'd have to fly too high." Koumori used her teeth to pick up the young girl and placed Kari safely upon her back. Koumori then sighed and said, "I'll be sure she heals soon too so she can start training again quickly." With a stroke of her wings, Koumori was in the air leaving the two Uchiha alone.
Itachi turned to Madara and asked, "Is her clan weak Madara-sama? Those people they sent after her could easily be taken care of by the lowest of Genin. And Kari didn't kill the ones she attacked."
Madara thought about it for a minute but didn't know, but didn't want the protégé next to him to know that fact, "I suppose those without the kekkei genkai are weak, and those with have to be in full control of their powers." Madara headed back in the direction of their room and thought he'd have to talk to Haru before the gypsy tribe left.
First, he would have to kill all of Kari's victims.
~oOo~
Kari awoke to see that she was back at the Akatsuki base and that her back killed her from Koumori's bite. Kari knew that from the pain she was feeling, her animal instincts got the better of her, causing more blood to be taken. Kari flopped back down on the bed and she knew that Koumori was concerned so much over her safety that her bat mother was mostly not going to show up due to anger. Madara also probably thought that Itachi was more important right now than taking care of a weak young girl. Kari curled into a ball and wondered if she wasn't able to summon the Demon King if he would even bother keeping her alive. Kari shivered at the thought of disappointing him, but the 'what ifs' in life always made her depressed.
Kari didn't know how but her mind came to the subject as to how long she had been unconscious. She got up slowly, looked into the mirror, and noticed that her kekkei genkai was gone from her eyes, which meant she was most likely under for at most three days… Kari wondered if Madara and Itachi were back yet. Didn't Madara say at dinner that Itachi was in ANBU? How long before they got suspicious.
Kari shrugged and was about to leave her room, but her door opened and she nearly fell into Kisame's chest. She glared up at him and he only smirked saying, "I see you're finally ready to train again."
Kari sighed and said, "Lead the way Kisame-san."
Kisame laughed and slapped the girl on the back, lightly mind, but it still hurt enough for her to wince. Kisame, curious asked, "What do you have on your back Kari-chan?"
Kari looked up at him and shrugged, trying to make no big deal of it, "Just over did a technique I've been trying to be perfecting." Kisame raised a brow and she sighed, "I had to have Koumori bite me so we could fuse."
Kisame nodded and said, "Kind of like Samehada and I. If you ever see me in that form, you know I'm dead serious."
Kari let a small shiver overtake her and asked, "So onto training Kisame-san?" The blue man nodded and they walked off to their training for the day.
Nevertheless, as they were about to leave Sasori stopped her in the hallway and said, "I need to see your back Kari-chan."
Kari nodded and lifted up the back of her shirt to reveal the wound. Kisame whistled and let out a chuckle saying, "That bat sure did a number on you." Kari shrugged and felt soothed when Sasori rubbed the ointment onto her wound. She was glad that she wasn't on the puppet's bad side or he would make it ten times worse.
When he was done he said, "It should be dry."
"Thank you Sasori-san." she said lowering down her shirt. The male nodded and then headed off to work on his puppets.
Kisame and Kari were only stopped once more and that was to direct Ri where he could possibly find Kakuzu, but they gave him an answer he already checked and headed off a bit dejected. Kisame smirked and said, "It seems that no one wants us to get you trained."
Kari smiled and said, "We are almost there." Kari couldn't feel her back at this point so she was feeling a bit more chipper.
Kisame nodded and said, "Glad to see you have your priorities straight." and he chuckled along with Kari.
Once they got to the field, Kari immediately took up her defensive pose and dashed away right in time to be only slightly knocked by Samehada.
She winced when she landed but ignored it, drew out a couple of kunai, and threw it at the man, only to have them blocked. Kari dashed at him, weaving speedy hand signs, and just as she was about to touch him, like he anticipated she dashed in between his legs and went to slice him with a kunai, but her hand was caught by Samehada and she jumped back, cradling her injured hand to her chest.
He kekkei genkai was activated to make sure her blood clotted properly and reproduced enough, but the pain was still there due to having her hand nearly shredded to the bone. She made sure that she had jumped far enough away to mend her hand with a rip of her shirt, but as soon as she was done he kicked her to the side and said, "Healing wounds properly is for after the battle.
She spit out a small bit of blood and made the final seal she didn't before and she shot him with a supersonic air ball which he dodged easily enough, but what he didn't expect was for her to follow after it and send a blow to his face which made him stagger back a bit before he grabbed her wrist and held Samehada to her throat. He smirked, but raised a brow when she did the same, and impaled herself on the blade. Smoke clouded his vision as he mentally cursed himself for falling for such a trick and saw that Kari was now standing a few paces away from him with a properly covered hand.
He smirked and chuckled saying, "Well played Kari-chan."
Kari smiled he raised a brow as he saw a bomb tag near his foot. When did she put that there? He jumped back just in time to dodge, but he dodged towards her, which surprised her so that she was frozen for a second. However, that second was all he needed to insure his win and he grabbed the back of her neck and held it a finger's length from the blade. He smirked and said, "You're learning Kari-chan, but you still have a ways to beat me."
She sighed and noticed that Ri had entered the room. She waved to him and asked, "Did you find Kakuzu-san?"
Ri shook his head and replied, "But as I was walking by I noticed that you were doing excellent Kari-chan."
Kari was about to be proud for herself, but as Kisame let her go her ruffled her hair and said, "But not good enough Kari-chan."
She pouted and glared at him saying, "Well you've had years more practice than me Kisame-san."
He chuckled and turned to Ri saying, "I'll go look for Kakuzu-san, you just take Kari-chan here to the kitchen before she faints from three days hunger."
Kari's stomach then growled and she blushed as the two men smiled at her. Kisame left and Ri extended his hand, she took it, and they walked to the kitchen.
She sat down in one of the chairs as Ri made her a meal and tilted her head to the side and stared at him and wondered exactly why he was recruited. Sure, she had trained with him before, but it wasn't much to reveal his powers. She was curious and heard Ri chuckle. She raised a brow as he sat down, placed a bowl of some mysterious concoction, and asked, "What do you want to ask me?"
She widened her eyes and asked, "How did you know that?"
He chuckled again and said, "I'm an empath as well as a sympath so I was able to read and feel your curiosity."
"Is that why you were being recruited by the Akatsuki?" Kari stated more for herself. It would make sense to have a member like Ri to be Kakuzu's partner.
"Yes and for the fact that I can also influence a person's feelings, like so," Ri said and put his hand to his chin and Kari felt really happy, and then with a twitch of his finger she felt deathly depressed and then when he removed his hand she was back to her confused state.
"Well that would be useful." Kari said thinking of Kakuzu's situation.
Ri nodded and said, "I was able to tell when Kakuzu attacked me for the first time ahead of when he actually did because of it. I can also make a person tired when they're full of energy or full of energy when they should be tired. Saves me in plenty of battles over the years."
Kari nodded and took a bite of her food and widened her eyes at how good it tasted. She looked back up at him and asked, "What is this?" she stuffed more into her mouth.
Ri laughed and said, "It's something I had as a child. Kakuzu requires I make it for him a lot because of how little it costs and how much it can replenish your energy. Should I teach it to you?"
Kari nodded, not letting the food leave her lips causing Ri to laugh again."
When she was done, she felt sleepy and noticed that Ri had his hand on his chin again, "No fair Ri-san."
Ri shook his head and said, "I'm to make sure you recover before you go on your next mission, and Kisame is to make sure you are still on top of your game."
Kari yawned and got up from her chair and asked, "How long do you plan to hold your chin?"
"Oh if I keep it there for about a minute I can keep you feeling like this for as long as I see fit, or until you body actually believes what it's feeling." Ri stated.
Kari's eyes couldn't stay open any longer and she fell into Ri as he carried her back to her room and made her rest for the upcoming days.
~oOo~
The next week was just a blur of sleep, training with both Konan and Kisame and she was getting better. She didn't know if it was because she was approaching the time where her powers were maturing or from constant training and plenty of rest, but she was beginning to feel happier. Her doubts about her powers brought on by Itachi were quickly disappearing. Though she did wonder why Madara found him to be so special she had no doubt that she was still special to Madara's plans.
Though after a month of training and sleeping Kari was finally given a mission by Pein and Kari realized that she could prove herself to Madara even more, further pushing Itachi to the back of her mind. Though she didn't like what she had to do on this mission, she had another assassination and this time it was to be just her. She packed her things and slipped on her Akatsuki cloak she had received during her first weeks in the Akatsuki and realized she needed it to be enlarged; she had been going through a growth spurt.
When Kari finally deemed herself ready she exited her room and secured on her kasa with the cloth pieces to secure her identity. She moved through the empty streets of Ame and wondered just what she would look like if someone would exit their houses… she wondered though why the streets were emptied even more… they were never empty. Maybe a holiday?
That had to be it because Pein and Konan made it a habit not to let her out into the streets if something dangerous was to occur.
However, she was soon walking the path and was heading to Cha no Kuni. She had no idea why this person defected from the power of Akatsuki, but she being forced to deal with him, and his followers… she didn't know if she could take his followers, but the leader was just a figurehead that had a lot of charisma. Though according to Zetsu's reports there was a tournament that was occurring and all of is followers would be involved… maybe if she could take them on one-on-one, she could beat them.
She had also been trained by Sasori when Kisame was a little late on how poisons work, so she could make sure that it made it seem like they died from complications after the battle. It would be better if it was a fight to the death, then she could easily use some poison she had acquired from the puppet man.
She shivered and felt as if someone was watching her… she couldn't feel Zetsu, but she wasn't trying. She widened her range of sensing and noticed that his faint bloody earth scent was just inside of her range. She smiled and was glad her partner was nearby, but she couldn't relax. This was a test and one she would pass without any help.
Though looking at the sky she realized that she would have to set up camp soon. She looked around and noticed that she was near an Akatsuki base. It wasn't in use but she could use it. That and she could get a safe rest because no one knew where it was.
Kari quickly made it through the space and then stood in front of the giant rock and was relieved it opened when she made the right hand seals; she almost thought that she forgotten the order.
She stepped inside and as soon as it shut behind her, lights on the large open cavern's walls opened up and she took a deep breath of the stale air. She shook her head when she realized that no one had used this one in a long while but she didn't care. It gave her a place to rest. Koumori then appeared and said, "Finally! A place I can rest away from home!"
Kari laughed and said, "I'm pretty sure I'll have to go and find some food, but I have my rations with me. Will you be okay for food Koumori?"
Just then a moth flew towards one of the torches and the bat smirked saying, "I'm sure." and she fly after the insect.
Kari shook her head and moved further in to where a secret tunnel opened to under the cavern. She traveled down and even further back from the entrance and was glad when Pein had told her about this place. She didn't think she would want to spend the night on a cold stone floor.
When she reached the first door, she entered and noticed, besides a bed, the room was empty. She didn't care either way, but wished that she could have a bit more to do here. She didn't want to get bored but she had traveled quite a bit that day without even realizing it and would need to rest or she would be too exhausted for the tournament.
She fell back onto the bed and looked as the ceiling as she pulled her sleeves of her cloak… it still fit but it was getting a little too short. Soon Koumori entered her room and asked, "Do you want me to stick to the front cavern?"
Kari nodded and said, "That would be very much appreciated."
Koumori laughed and said, "You just don't want to stay alert."
Kari laughed and then bat flew back to where her food source was as Kari pulled out a plum. After she was done with that, she fell back on the bed and sneezed as some dust flew into her nose. She then fell asleep after she beat the bed a bit and didn't wake up until her Koumori told her it was morning.
~oOo~
Kari arrived in the town she was supposed to after three days, two of which were on a boat that was waiting for a storm to pass. She was glad she got the chance to go on a boat, but she wished the storm hadn't affected her way because she was one more day short on her food money, and that just made her wish to win this tournament even stronger; she would definitely have Alum fly her back home.
Though one thing about getting the boat was that she got to hide her Akatsuki uniform and that meant that she was cooler under the beating sun and she could be more incognito… especially since she didn't have anything to indicate her as a ninja. This also caused the person she signed up with look at her strangely that a young girl would join a fight to the death.
Koumori clung onto her shoulder the whole time they waited in the waiting room and she would talk to the bat in the language of bats. Kari was glad for her kekkei genkai or this would never be possible. Kari was given strange looks from more of the stronger looking men, but she didn't care because she had acquired her targets and noticed they were all standing in one group. It wasn't long until each of them were called out with an opponent and came back, missing their opponent. Kari was a little nervous, but she kept her mask of no emotion up, which unsettled all who looked her way as the day wore on.
Finally the last battle of the day was about to take place and Kari took her place on the field. Kari secured her shoulder length hair, in a horsetail and Koumori flew to hang from her main targets booth. The man was about to complain, but one emotionless look from Kari shut him up and let the bat stay.
Kari looked at her opponent and noticed that he was huge and the biggest of her traitorous group… they really wanted her out of the completion early.
He laughed and said, "Couldn't have given me a stronger opponent to fight? What are you doing here little girl? If you're trying to prove you're not a little girl then I have to say you're going to die." Kari didn't answer, just kept her face blank, which seemed to anger the man more, "Say something!"
Kari didn't as she took up her first stance and he laughed, "You think you can fight me? I'll have you know this won't take even more than a second."
The bell rang and the man charged at her and she smirked as she charged him as well. He was caught off guard at the strength of her punch, and so was Kari as he hit the back wall and slumped to the ground. How hard had she been training lately?
The man growled and got back up saying, "Little girls shouldn't be that strong."
"You can never underestimate your opponent." Kari heard Koumori screech in her tongue and Kari smirked as she ran at the man with increased speed and kicked him to the other wall.
The crowd went silent as the man hit his head and didn't get back up. Kari put on a blank face and held her arm up for Koumori, but on the inside, she was panicking. She hadn't meant to kill him, but hadn't this been a fight to the death? She also didn't know that it would be so easy. Was this group just a bunch of civilians? She thought they were shinobi and all the shinobi she faced were those in the Akatsuki and she could never beat them. Just what kind of assignment was this?
She was announced the victor, and was relieved to hear that his death had been instantaneous, but she still killed him all too easily… maybe the rest were shinobi, and they wouldn't underestimate her… maybe that's why he had been so easy… yeah that had to be it.
Then she remembered as she rented a hotel room and laid in her bed, she was doing this for Madara's plan. She did it for Madara and that's all that should matter… right? She went to sleep with a lot on her mind, but she was aware making sure she couldn't be taken away from her duty to Madara.