Thank you to everyone who reviewed, as always, and a special/creepy 'OMFG I LOVE YOU' to Kitsuneforlife and FrankenWheezy (obligatory for all new people XD)

OH! A warning! EVERYONE in this chapter is like... SUPER OOC. Run away while you can XD


~~||~~||~~ 3rd Person ~~||~~||~~

"Idiot. Stupid. Baka." Deidara leaned uncomfortably against the door, not bothering to tell Sasori that all three words meant the same thing. Sasori's wooden face masked the anger emanating from him, as Deidara's ears reddened.

"It's not a big deal, un." He protested weakly, the only reward being a particularly scathing glare from Sasori.

"Deidara. Must I spell it out for you?" He obviously didn't want an answer. "Test Number 37 is going to be disposed of. You cannot grow attached to her."

"Her name is Kuni, yeah."

"My point exactly, brat. We're leaving."


"Y-you're leaving." It wasn't a question, but rather a deadpan, gloomy statement.

"Yeah, I've got to go, un." Deidara's reply was accompanied with a non-committal shrug as he hefted his packs up. 37 – sorry, Kuni – felt a vaguely panicky feeling bubble up inside her chest, and fought it down. "Y-you're d-ditching me, aren't you?" She knew how stupid that sounded, but really, at this point, she was feeling a whole lot worse than she ought to.

Deidara looked up in mild surprise. "Oh, no, idiot! Don't be like that! I'm coming back in two weeks, I promise, un." He didn't know why he had to promise her anything, really – the words just popped out. "And stop stuttering, Kuni. Count up to fourteen – anyway, I'd have to be back – you'd have used up all the food by then, un!" He grinned good-naturedly, but Kuni felt a bitter self-loathing rise up inside her at the mention of food. She did eat a lot. Too much – why was it that the thing she loved most in life was the thing that made her so ugly? A sickening, huge feeling welled up and left a sour taste in her mouth and tears pricking the backs of her eyes. It was all her fault that she was fat.

Fat, fat, fat, ugly.

"Oh – okay." Her cheeks went red (honestly, they did that far too often these days). "Well, bye then, Deidara-sama. Good luck, and stay safe, please." She didn't know why she said those last few words, as she quickly walked away, disappearing in the shadow of the tunnels.

"Bye, Kuni." Deidara said, mostly to himself. Good luck, and stay safe, please. Did all girls have this innate ability to bring out your conscience? Or just weird, naïve ones like Kuni?

~~||~~||~~ Kuni's PoV ~~||~~||~~

Five bowls of mixed rice – enough for Konan-san, Itachi-sama, Sasori, and that strange blue man I had only seen once before – and myself. I really did need to find out how many people were here. I sighed, picking up the tray of food, hoping they would like it.

Konan-san first.

I retraced my steps from before, until I stopped in front of her room. Balancing the tray on one arm, I knocked on the door.

"Oh, hello, Kuni." She smiled that quiet smile of hers, as I wondered how she knew my name. Kuni. The very thought of it sent delighted shivers down my spine, and I felt courage warming me up from the inside out.

"I've brought you some food." I offered her a bowl, which she took with another smile.

"Thank you – it smells wonderful. Would you like to come in?" I contemplated this for a moment – should I try some more origami?

Hell no.

"No thank you – I have to give these to everyone. Bye, Konan-san."

There was something altogether too knowing in her grin, as I stared at my paper cuts ruefully.

As I meandered my way over to Sasori's room – it was closest – I wondered exactly what is was that made him so… creepy. So unnatural. I had never seen a teenage boy with a face so utterly cold and devoid of emotion. It was disturbing.

Colours.

Colours greeted me as I knocked on his door. At least twenty different hues blossomed in my mind's eye – like there were twenty different living things behind his door, maybe animals, and humans even. But there was no bright orange behind that door – I realised, even as I knocked on the door, that Sasori was gone.

Thank god.

Okay. Two down, two to go. Who next? Ah – I 'smelt' peaches. Itachi was close.

You know, there was something strange about Itachi. He had smiled a lot when we first met… but underneath that, I sensed that he wasn't at all used to smiling. Rather the opposite, actually – there was death hanging around him. Death. And yet… he didn't scare me. Out of all the people, this menacing man clothed entirely in black didn't scare me.

Even so, I was buzzing with nerves as he opened the door.

"Yes? Kuni?" Again – how did everybody find out my name so fast?

"I – ah, m-made you some lunch, I-Itachi-sama." I hesitantly held out a bowl. He looked at it blankly for a minute, like his thoughts had wandered or he was completely weirded out. I started to draw my hand back in, cheeks bright red, but he spoke again.

"Thank you, Kuni."

"I-I-It's n-no problem. I hope y-you like it." Oh god. Pleasepleasepleaseplease like it.

He reached for the door as I moved out of the doorway – and then something made me stop. And stare. And feel complete, utter shock.

"What is it?"

"Oh – n-nothing! Sorry!"


Okay. Konan-san and Itachi-sama and Sasori – done. I had the strange urge to go back and check who was in Sasori's room, but I didn't, squashing down that little bit of dangerous rebellion until it was tinier than Murasaki's waist. I didn't like to think of Sasori's reaction if he found me snooping around in his room. Besides, I had more… pressing matters to think about. Like finding a very large, very blue man who looked as if he could eat me.

I worked my fingers against my temples, trying to remember his aura, or to find a new one lurking around. This was the way that I always worked – but this time, it looked like I would have to look for people the old-fashioned way.

But wait – what was that, very faint, down to the south-east tunnels? I moved that way, resting the tray against my hip, my heart sinking as I realised there was more than one person there.

Oh, god, no. There were three of them – two of them obnoxiously tall, the other vaguely arrogant. They stopped as one about three feet away from me, and I felt a tremor run down my spine – it was that shorter, blond one that scared me the most. He smelt of blood.

"Hello, Kuni. I don't think I introduced myself the other day. My name is Kisame." The enormous blue man said quietly, impeccably polite, and I bobbed my head in greeting, scared shitless and morbidly curious about his skin (it was blue! BLUE!)

"H-H-Hello… Kisame-sama." Hi, I've just met you and all, but here's some rice!

"Is that shit for me?" The blond man suddenly interrupted, pointing at my tray. Kisame-sama, and the other man who hadn't spoken yet looked at the blonde in annoyance, but honestly, I was happy someone had brought up the topic of food. My hands were starting to hurt.

"Y-yes, they are –"

"Then why the heck are there only three bowls?"

"Because I didn't know that a loudmouthed arsehole like you hadn't been killed yet." I muttered to myself, suddenly pissed off at this man – who could only be a few years older than me, at the most. I didn't know what had changed, these last few days, but I was starting to find something new within myself. Guts.

The blonde apparently hadn't heard – but the quiet man obviously had, because he looked up and smiled fleetingly at me. I realised with a shock that his pupils were green, and his sclera completely red. "I'm Kakuzu."

"And I'm Hidan!" The blonde shouted, inflating with self-importance. Great. This one obviously wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer.

"Kisame-sama, Kakuzu-sama and Hidan…-sama." I nodded to each of them, committing their names and auras to memory. Kisame-sama's was silver, and smelt like glue. Kakuzu-sama's brown and potatoes. Hidan's – blood. The colour and smell.

"Anyway, onto the freakin' food! I'm starving here!" Hidan grabbed a bowl off me. I handed the next bowl to Kisame-sama.

There was one bowl left. I looked down at my stomach – it was round and ugly and fleshy. I was fat. I was ugly.

All these thoughts flitted through my mind in less than a second.

In less than a second's hesitation, I gave the last bowl to Kakuzu-sama.

I was going to be thin, whatever it took.

I was going to be beautiful, whatever it took.


Aah, you're probably getting REALLY pissed off at all the colours and aura and whatever. Sorry, darlings XD Please do review though, even if its just biting my head off!

P.S What do you think Kuni saw in Itachi's room? And no, contrary to popular belief, it's not a picture of Sasuke XD (Over thirteen people guessed that last time XD)

XX Tutti