"Please tell me you're not serious! We'll be eaten alive if we go in there!" I cried incredulously, staring with unrestricted horror at the building we now knew they were holding Tobi and Tsukai in. It was nothing fancy – not much in this backwater town could claim that title – but it was surrounded by mean looking villagers with pitchforks and other makeshift weaponry. I know, I know; a tad cliché but that's the way it was.
Normally such basic defences would be no problem for even a Genin. Unfortunately, unlike your average Genin neither Deidara nor I were in possession of any weapons of our own. Mr Cool over there had his blown to smithereens and mine had been left at Old Miagi's place on the night of my kidnap. So the assets at our disposal to carry out this rescue were: me, a Shinobi who was useless at everything except basic water Jutsu, traps, barriers and escaping (supposedly, though I was beginning to doubt that since I still hadn't escaped Akatsuki yet) and Deidara, a bomb-less bomber with not much else going for him as far as I was aware. So in summary form; we were dead.
"We don't have a choice, un. That's where they are, so that's where we have to go." Deidara replied, examining the stronghold (which was really the chief's house) with a decidedly unenthusiastic frown. He knew as well as I did that we were up the creek without a boat never mind a paddle. He had a fair point though; we had to get Tsukai and Tobi out of there and we had to do it before dawn. We were their only chance of rescue – weren't they lucky!
"Humph. So what's the plan Mon Capitan? Storm the castle, all guns blazing?" I asked scathingly, folding my arms unhappily and plopping down to sit in the roots of the tree we were using for cover. Knowing Deidara that was exactly what the plan was; I'd learned the hard way that subtly wasn't among his strongest suits.
"I know that was a dig at my methods, un." he retorted, looking down at me in admonishment. "So I blew the hotel up; big deal! It was better than waiting for Jeeves to drag us off to some dungeon or other, un."
"Spare me, fruit loop." I scowled, cheesed off by the fact that I actually agreed with him. Being out here was definitely preferable to being in there. The problem was that that was where we were headed anyway – we'd just taken a round-about way of getting there. "So seriously, what's the plan?"
"To be honest, I don't have one yet." Deidara frowned, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. G-r-e-a-t! "There's too many of them for us to take barehanded without them raising the alarm, un. And we don't want them to know we're here or they might decide to kill Tobi and Tsukai right away. We'll have to do some re-con and find a less obvious way in."
"You don't say!" I cried in mock admiration. I'd figured that much out myself. The question was how? We couldn't traipse over there and wander around looking for a way in – I doubted that would go down well. How could we search without getting caught?
"That attitude isn't helping, un!"
"You're the one stating the obvious! Talk about stu-,"
I stopped, an idea blossoming before my very eyes. With a triumphant grin I got to my feet and marched right over to one of the patrolling guards, raising my hands above my head. I could feel Deidara's eyes on my back, his bewilderment as substantial as my own hand – he probably thought I'd lost it. Maybe I had; only time would tell. But I had a feeling my plan would work. Watch and learn, Dei. Watch and learn.
"Hey there! Excuse me?" The contingent of men turned to face me, outraged glares trying to slaughter me where I stood. Several of them – the smarter ones – narrowed their eyes suspiciously at me. I was suddenly kicking myself for not thinking this through properly; what if they decided to kill me right away? What if they didn't believe what I was about to say? It was too late to back out now but let's face it – by the time I registered the problems with a plan it was usually too late. I'd have to keep going and hope for the best.
"Hi there! I... um... that is we... my accomplice and I surrender." I announced. The intelligent members of the brood snorted in disbelief and for a moment I thought I'd have to resort to Plan B: Run The Hell Away. Behind me Deidara gasped at my statement, whispering a warning to me in a voice harsh with panic and rage.
"What?! Mizuko you psychopath, un! What're you doing?!"
I ignored him and watched as the villagers began to mutter amongst themselves, discussing what they should do with us. A few here and there clearly thought I was up to something; rightly so as well. But the majority seemed overjoyed at our seeming 'no-strings-attached' surrender. Deciding to capitalise on their disarray, I cleared my throat and seized their attention once again.
"There's one condition; we want to be taken to our friends. Do that and we'll come willingly. Otherwise..." I shrugged, feigning a fearlessness I did not feel. "Well then we'll just have to see how many of you we can take down before your numbers overwhelm us."
It was a huge leap of faith on my part – I was assuming they'd be reluctant to sacrifice any men in their bid to capture us. There was always the chance they'd see the danger of putting us together and choose to pay that price anyway but these were just simple village folk. Their biggest problem from year to year was making sure they had enough man power to work the farms. Apart from that, they weren't the greatest example of a military unit – they probably wouldn't have the forward planning necessary to foresee the risk.
"Tell your friend back there to come out with his hands where we can see them; we accept your terms." a balding man near the front of the rabble called back. He signalled to two younger men on his left and they disappeared inside the run-down house, exiting a few seconds later with lengths of thick rope. I turned to the tree behind me where Deidara stood frozen in shock, gesturing for him to come out. He shot me a look that said 'Are you crazy?!' but otherwise didn't move.
"Well?" the old man demanded, his beady eyes studying me carefully for any sign that I was about to run for it. One of the younger guys was right in front of me now, roughly tying my hands together without a thought for my comfort – I had to bite my tongue to keep myself from delivering a few choice phrases about proper etiquette towards a lady. "Is he coming or not?"
"He's coming old geezer. Geez, un." Deidara grumbled, coming to stand next to me. From the corner of my eye I could see he was furious. He sent a contemptuous look my way and whispered low enough so that only I could hear. "You'd better have a good explanation for this."
"Will you just trust me for once? I know what I'm doing."
/\
"'Will you just trust me for once?' you said, un. 'I know what I'm doing.' you said. Tell me at which point in time in a hostage situation it's a good idea to surrender, hm? Share your wisdom with me, un."
"Are you still bitching at me, Deidara? I told you, I've got this! Now quit your grippin' and help me get these off!" I snapped, shuffling uncomfortably as Deidara's hand-mouths gnawed at the ropes around my wrists. I thanked the Lord that the villagers hadn't thought to tie our arms behind our backs – that would have made this escapade a lot harder.
"As much as I hate to agree with him, Mizuko, he's right; what were you thinking? What good does it do us if we're all in here?" Tsukai piped up shyly, her attention divided between the still comatose Tobi who was lying on the floor, and mine and Deidara's complex attempt to free me of my bonds. I'd been so happy to see them both when we were first brought to the dungeon (that's right; dungeon. What kind of village has a dungeon in their chief's basement? I ask you!). However to my dismay, Tobi was still out of it. Tsukai assured me he'd be fine by morning – to which Deidara laughed sarcastically about him being just in time to enjoy his demise – but that was only part of my problem. To pull off what I had in mind Tobi would have to be carried. That meant that if it came to combat, we'd be down a pair of hands...
"A little support here, Tsukai?" I grumbled, flinching as Deidara 'accidentally' bit my wrist again. I swear I'm gonna pulverise him if he does that again! "I thought it would be obvious by now. As you must know I'm an Escape specialist – I find it easier to break out of a place than to break in. The method of getting in here was irrelevant because I knew I'd be able to get out again... Or at least I hope I can."
Deidara wrinkled his nose at my vague confidence. "How inspiring, un. I feel much better knowing we're in good hands."
"Shut up and keep chewing rat-boy!" I commanded, receiving another nip for my impudence. "Ow! Do that again and I'll stuff those hands of yours down your throat!"
"I'm shaking, un!"
"Guys! Tobi's trying to rest." Tsukai interrupted looking distressed. We were immediately subdued. Deidara continued his work on my bindings in solitude and I examined Tobi's limp form uneasily, praying he'd wake up soon. It was then that I caught a peculiar gleam in Tsukai's eyes – she was smiling. Or her eyes were at any rate. But it wasn't just any smile. It was a smile that told me she knew something I didn't. Something that made her very happy... And for reasons beyond my comprehension, made me very nervous.
"There, un. Finished." Deidara murmured, his hand-mouths spitting out clumps of chewed up rope. I reluctantly faced him, my head still full of Tsukai's strange behaviour, and rubbed my reddened wrists – there were angry red welts where the ropes had been. The first thing I wanted to do with my free hands was slap Deidara right in the kisser but, as delightful an activity as that appeared, my better side won out and I started untying him instead. We didn't have time to get into a fight just now; but mark me, I was gonna get him and get him good as soon as we were safe!
"I should have listened to my mother." I muttered as I worked on the thick bonds holding Deidara's hands in place. "She said I should be a baker, but oh-no! I had to be a Shinobi; I wanted to be like Gramps. This is what you get when you ignore parental authority."
When I'd successfully undone Deidara's ropes I moved on to Tsukai's – Tobi didn't have any seeing as he was out cold. They'd taken less care tying Tsukai up they had with Deidara and me; instead of the thick, heavy-duty rope we'd had, Tsukai had enjoyed the luxury of simple clothesline rope. It was as good as silk compared to the rough itchy stuff I'd had to put up with! As I tossed the thin cords aside I noticed something that surprised me greatly.
"Tsukai!" I exclaimed. "You have a tattoo!"
Sure enough, through a tear in her baggy black jacket – probably the result of an angered villager's attack during her capture – I could see a swirl of black ink. It was high up on the right of her chest (yes, that's right – on her breast) and from what I could see was of a fairly intricate design. Of course the net shirt and black vest top she wore underneath obstructed my view a bit but there was no mistaking it.
Tsukai smiled indulgently at me, as if I were a child who knew little about anything and needed to be taught. But beneath that there was a sadness so deep, I felt I was being crushed by the weight of it. As I watched in confusion she began to remove her jacket, undoing the zip and pulling it off her shoulder so I could see. Lifting her top to reveal her mark, I gasped as I realised – too late – what it was. The design was familiar to me; I'd come across it countless times in my studies and, truth be told, it was one of the things that had drawn me to my area of expertise.
"Oh, Tsukai..." I whispered sympathetically. I met her gaze and saw the sheen of suppressed tears. Her agony threatened to choke me and I found myself trying not to cry too. Who would do this to her? Who could possibly violate her this way? Her; Tsukai. Probably the kindest person I'd ever met (and ever would meet given my rather short life expectancy).
I spun to look at Deidara but found that he wasn't paying attention; he was staring hard at the ground, shame written all over his face. My eyes widened in disbelief. He had something to do with this, I just knew it! How could he? His own sister! I opened my mouth to... I don't know. I wanted to do something, to say something but no words would come – this was beyond sickening. Whatever respect I'd had for Deidara, grudging or otherwise, had been permanently erased.
You're probably wondering what had me so worked up, right? Well I'll tell you. The 'tattoo' on Tsukai's chest wasn't actually a tattoo at all. It was a Subservience Seal. I know that phrase means little to you but trust me, a Subservience Seal is not good. It was... hm. Well in my opinion it was worse than the Curse Seal of Orochimaru. At least with a Curse Seal you had options. With a Subservience Seal you had no choice but total obedience to the one who placed it on you; it robbed you of your will at your 'Master's' bidding, so if you were given an order you would carry it out. No matter what. Attempting to fight it brought unimaginable pain but often times the memory of what your Master made you do was just as unbearable afterwards.
"C'mon." Tsukai said morosely, re-clothing herself and hoisting Tobi onto her back. "We should get out of here quickly."
I nodded, making a hand sign in front of me and approaching the door. I was far from done with this topic. I wanted to know everything; how she got it, who gave it to her... I shot a sideways glance at Deidara, so swift that I doubted if anyone noticed it. If my suspicions are right... I'll kill him. And the frightening thing was, I wasn't even joking.
"Black Mist Jutsu!" I cried. Instantly my physical body dissolved into a hazy black mist, allowing me to seep through the cracks around the door to our prison. I'd unlock the door from the outside and we'd be out of here before the villagers noticed anything was afoot. Easy-peasy.
/\
Remember how I said we'd be out of here in no time? Yeah, not so much. Turns out the basement was a lot bigger than your average two-bit town Chief's basement. Within seconds we were lost and that wasn't even the worst of it. Big Gob back there managed to get us caught three times – three! Naturally, we dealt with the unfortunates who found us in the only logical way (a task I saw necessary but unforgivable; they were only villagers after all) but now the whole place was after us. Anxious shouts dogged our every step, asking if anyone had spotted 'those filthy vermin' yet, and the echoes of running feet against stone made us jump more often than a Jack-in the-box.
"See? Now maybe you'll listen when I tell you to zip it, huh?!" I hissed at Deidara. We were walking side by side, leading the way down the corridor (which for the record, looked exactly like every other corridor we'd been in) and scouting for stray villagers who might fancy their chances. It had only been about ten minutes but I was seriously loosing the little patience I had left.
The basement was made of concrete, a difficult material to work my techniques on but not impossible – it was the earth on the other side that posed a problem. Yet another miscalculation on my part. Long story short; we needed to get to the main house before we could get out. But what, with the patrols roaming the place looking for us, getting there was proving to be an onerous task.
"You started it, un! 'The right way is left you pathetic excuse for a human being!'. Sound familiar, un?" Deidara retorted, his hands deep in the pockets of his Akatsuki cloak. "And look where you got us; lost!"
"We're only lost 'cause we had to take a detour from the patrol you brought down on us!"
"Me?!"
"Yes, you! You and your stupid voice! If you'd taken time to master the art of silence we wouldn't be in this mess!"
"Well maybe if you'd mastered the art of obedience, un, we could have been back before this started!"
"I knew you'd throw that in my face! Excuse me for not wanting to be Akatsuki's plaything."
"That's not why you ran away this time and you know it, un."
"I don't know anything of the sort!"
"Guys?" Tsukai attempted to intervene. We'd stopped in the middle of nowhere now, Deidara and I having what could be called 'all out war'. I know it was a tad childish but, try as I might, I couldn't forget the Subservience Seal. I had a feeling Deidara was the one who put it on her and because of that I was extra sensitive to his presence. As such we were arguing more aggressively than usual. And that's saying something seeing as I hadn't thought it could get any worse.
"What happened to your oh-so-fantastic escape Jutsu, un?"
"They don't work on thin air, jackass!"
"Guys?" Tsukai tried again, more insistent this time. She'd have been as well talking to Tobi for all the response she got. At least he might've grunted or something.
"I'm beginning to think they don't work at all, un!"
"Yeah? Well... Your face!" Oh yes, I went there! Ultimate comeback!
"YOU GUYS!" Tsukai yelled, losing her cool.
"What?!" we both shouted back, heads turning at exactly the same moment to glare at her.
She needn't have said anything; we saw right away what was up. Tsukai said it anyway and as she did I felt a certain sickness in the pit of my stomach. Oh snap.
"We have company." she mumbled, indicating the horde of fork-wielding crazies that had somehow managed to encircle us during mine and Dei's skirmish. They were everywhere; just how many people lived in this town?! Oh well... I thought indifferently, slipping into a combat position almost lazily. At least I'll be able to die with a shred of dignity this way.
Anyone who's been in a battle before will know the feeling of absolute calm that descends before the fighting begins. It's a period of mental tranquillity in which everything slows to a near standstill, every tiny detail becoming as sharp and focussed as the tip of a sword. Unfortunately, no one taught this to the villagers. Their onslaught was immediate and impressive in it's ferocity considering they were untrained farm hands. We – that is Deidara and I – wasted no time jumping into the thick of the fight and taking down our first few opponents, by some miracle receiving no damage in the process. But this was not to last.
The fight was a blur, a great heaving mass of bodies with Deidara and I continually flooring villager after villager in quick succession. Some, inevitably, died, vital organs being ruptured or major bones broken too severely for survival to be a remote possibility. Scissor punch here, low swing kick there, lightning jab to the left... It went on and on. But the more I took down, the more there seemed to be and I could feel myself growing weary.
I dispatched an older guy with a well placed, yet somewhat sloppy, spinning kick to the upper ribcage, effectively winding him. Another man attacked from my right, charging at me and roaring like a ferocious animal. I quickly silenced him with a flat hand uppercut in his abdomen. I then spun to deal with a fast approaching young teenager with a pitchfork but just as I landed a painful punch to his jaw which sent him flying, I was stabbed in the back. Literally.
Pitching forward, I spat up blood as I choked and gasped on my own shock. A combination of pain and lack of air made me fall to my knees – not a very defensible position to be in. Warm crimson liquid trickled from the corners of my lips, dripping to the floor and spotting like some horrific abstract painting. Ironic really, seeing as I'd always wanted to learn to paint. I barely had a chance to recover before someone (the same person who stabbed me I assume) brought their foot crashing down on my lower back. The blood caught in my throat and, though I tried with all my might, I couldn't get it up. Gurgling helplessly, my vision started to fog; I could hear a ringing in my ears. I wanted to get up. I wanted to fight on like Gramps would've wanted me to. But I couldn't. I just couldn't. My limbs were too weak to support me and I could feel a warm sensation spreading across my stomach... more blood. Had they stabbed me again? Who could say...
My eyes were closing, drooping under the sheer bulk of my exhaustion. This was it for me, I knew; this was how it was going to end. I knew it in my heart as it struggled to work, each beat taking longer to complete. Such a piteous demise... killed by mere commoners. But... at least it wasn't by Akatsuki's hand. I hadn't done anything to endanger the lives of my people... I was satisfied with that. I could die peacefully knowing that.
"Deidara!" Tsukai cried. Her voice was distorted, sounding slow and deep to my ears. It was a shame we couldn't have spent more time together... I liked Tsukai. She was a friend in my new, otherwise isolated world. Tobi too. They'd been a comfort I didn't deserve in a fate I hadn't wanted.
"Crap!" Deidara this time. How I'd've liked to put him in his place one last time. So many things I still hadn't had the chance to call him yet; so many things I hadn't said...
Like white noise in the background of my fading consciousness there was the sound of shattering wood and stone... But my mind was too tired to dwell on it. Screams, shouting, slicing, crunching... so many sounds... But they were vanishing like everything else... And fast...
"F***in' hell! Can't you guys do anythin' right?!"
"Just grab the girl Hidan."
"F**k you, Kakuzu! I know what I'm doin'."
I listened faintly to the new arrivals but I failed to understand their speech. They were little more than muffled hums to my ears. The noises of the battlefield disappeared completely... and with them, my awareness of the realm of the living.
Now, wouldn't you just hate it if I decided not to write anymore? Lol! Fear not! I wouldn't do that to you! Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Review me and all that...
