/
"Why didn't he hand you over the sword for a moment? You could have cured yourself alone with it."
"You really think that knucklehead would let me close to his precious weapon after what happened?"
That was pretty much the whole conversation between Kakuzu and Liv inside her room, as the shinobi healed her wounds. The phrases that were mentioned repeatedly for the following hour were just "Keep still, idiot" from the emerald-eyed man, and "It hurts" protests from the hazel-eyed kunoichi.
When he was finished, he walked out of the room without a single word, not giving her a chance to say anything herself.
"Thank you?" she thought, as the room's door was closed. At least she was feeling better. She could have blamed Kisame for depriving her from a good source of energy, but truth be told, she didn't know how severe the wound could get if he hadn't carried her for while on their way back.
She laid in the bed for a couple of seconds. She probably looked like a fiasco in her first mission, didn't she? It wasn't truly her fault: Her body's flaw was its very low chakra production; so she couldn't have recovered fully since she arrived to the base for the first time, and she hadn't been able to obtain any from other sources either. It's not like it was her favorite thing to go kissing random strangers, but, thanks to Samehada, it was the absorption technique that worked most efficiently for her, and more importantly, the one that could be done the fastest.
"But I'm not like the old Fūka..." she mumbled. Liv actually respected her former teacher; after all, she had taken care of her when she ran away, even though she was a member of a gang that had to rob in order to survive everyday. But the chocolate-haired woman couldn't deny the fact that the auburn-haired woman acted like a cynical vixen. Nevertheless, she had to give credit to the woman: at least she wasn't a hypocrite who pretended to be a saint.
Liv wondered if Fūka was still alive... it had been about 11 years since then... She could barely believe how fast the time passed.
"No, it didn't..." She had suffered inhuman amounts of pain with Orochimaru everyday, mostly because of her stubborn behavior. It she hadn't overheard that conversation between him and that man, the fact of being still alive would be a mystery for her.
Speaking of conversations, she wondered if it would be a good idea to have one with Itachi, she was not sure if he had completely done it because of his motives or expected some payback, but he still helped her after all. But which were his motives exactly? That thought held her back. He was most likely connected to that man, wasn't he?
Until she figured it out or was forced to talk to the crimson-eyed boy, she'd just have to keep pretending not to remember a thing about Orochimaru... nor him.
/
"What do you mean?" asked the blue-skinned man.
"The leader didn't give me many details I could share with you." replied Itachi. "But he specified I have to do this mission alone."
Kisame kept quiet for a couple of seconds. It was very rare for an Akatsuki member to g on a solo mission; but the shark man had assignments of this kind once or twice, so it didn't really surprise him.
"Oh? I wonder what could Pein be so secretive about." he said. "I only hope he doesn't make me stay here without doing a thing while you're having fun somewhere else."
"I don't think he will. It won't be long before we begin to seal the Bijūs, therefore, we'll have much activity around." replied the Uchiha. "Besides, he still has some of his attention on her..."
"Ah, yes..." Kisame hadn't thought much about the girl since they arrived to the base; in fact, he hadn't thought about anything at all. He felt tired, but he wasn't aware of why. He hadn't done anything unusual, and doubted the few extra weight on he carried on their way back influenced on him at all.
Perhaps it would be better to rest for a while.
Itachi informed him he was leaving, and Kisame headed towards his room.
On his way, he saw that Liv's door was half-opened, revealing the sleeping girl inside. He wasn't the only exhausted one after all. The blue-skinned man wondered if Kakuzu took much to heal her... Kisame would have been just as pissed as the old man when he found he had to cure the damn kid, if he was in his place.
He arrived to his room and laid on the bed, becoming fast asleep.
[...]
He disregarded the discrete knock on the door, trying to gain a few more minutes if sleep. Nothing could be so important to make him rise so early.
Another knock on the door. Kisame just turned a proceeded to ignore the sound.
"Excuse me" said a female voice, as he heard the doorknob turn.
The blue-skinned man mentally groaned. "What the hell do you want?"
"My, you're definitely not a morning person." replied Liv in an upbeat tone. "I'm sorry I had to wake you up, but the leader wants to see us."
"Us?" repeated the shinobi. The girl just shrugged.
"That's what Konan said. Anyway, I'll be getting ahead. We'll wait for you."
She closed the door once again.
"Don't tell me Pein wants me to go on a mission with her." thought Kisame as he got dressed. That would be something he wouldn't forgive the Akatsuki leader for in a long time.
As soon as he was presentable, he exited the room.
/
Hidan wasn't precisely the person she would've liked to encounter so early, yet there he was, lying down, covered in blood beside the stairs. "What on earth is he doing?" she thought. There was too much blood to be his own; if it was, he'd be more than dead, but she preferred not to ask, no matter what he was supposed to be doing on the ground. Luckily, he was too distracted with his prayers to notice her pass through... or so she thought.
"Don't you dare place a fucking foot in there." he warned, just as she was about to go past him.
"In case you haven't noticed, you're in the middle of the way." She replied, rising an eyebrow.
"Does it look like I give a shit?"
"Certainly not. But why did you choose this particular place?"
"I didn't"
"What?"
"I have to do a ritual every day at this hour. Doesn't matter where I am."
Ritual?
Until now, she hadn't paid attention to the necklace he was wearing. "Oh, great. A jashinist." she unconsciously muttered her thoughts.
"You got a fucking problem with that, bitch?" he said in a murderous tone. To be honest, Liv didn't feel like dealing with the albino. He was just… too loud most of the time; she was aware that she could be somewhat loud herself, but this man's temper was explosive, and his choice of vocabulary got irritating once in a while. "Kakuzu at least takes a grip of his impulses..." thought the woman to herself.
"I wouldn't have a problem with it if I didn't have to use the stairs."
"Well you're going to wait until I'm finished, so you can either stand there like an idiot or get the fuck off." he replied nonchalantly.
"I don't have time for this." she said, walking ahead.
"Just what do you think you're doing, cunt?" The younger man quickly stood up and grabbed her arm. What came after was equally surprising for both of them; Liv felt a warmth in her arm that she hadn't felt in long time, as her skin engrossed the man's chakra. It was a matter of seconds before the jashinist let her go.
"What the hell was that?" he hissed, glaring at the kunoichi.
Liv was completely estranged for a moment. That wasn't supposed to happen. Why now? How?
"Answer me, bi…"
"Would you please be quiet for a damn second?"
The sudden concern in her voice seemed to make the shinobi hesitate before saying anything else.
The hazel-eyed girl closed her eyes.
"Where is it...?"
No matter how hard she tried, she wasn't able to find the seal inside of her.
"Where the hell is it?"
"What's with you two? I thought Pein wanted to see us ASAP, kid." said Kisame's voice, bringing her back to the outer world.
"It's gone!"
Both shinobis looked at her as if she was the strangest creature alive. "What the fuck/hell are you talking about?" they asked in unison.
"Where is Itachi?"
Kisame raised an eyebrow, staring right at her. "He just left for a mission." Liv let out a groan. "I have something to do. Tell the leader I'll be there in a moment."
With that, she started running towards the passages.
/
When Kisame arrived to the foot of the stairs, his eyes met Hidan and Liv, apparently in the middle of an argument. The former was lying on the floor, covered in blood; and the latter stood in front of him visibly annoyed by the jashinist's habits.
"I wouldn't have a problem with it if I didn't have to use the stairs." "Well you're going to wait until I'm finished, so you can either stand there like an idiot or get the fuck off." "I don't have time for this."
The girl started walking past him, and he quickly rose to his feet to stop her. "Just what do you think you're doing, cunt?" Hidan grabbed her arm, but retired it after a couple of seconds and yelled again. "What the hell was that?" No reply. "Answer me, bi.." "Would you please be quiet for a damn second?" She said, with a worried expression on her face.
"Pair of lunatics." thought the blue-skinned man, as he decided to approach them.
"What's with you two? I thought Pein wanted to see us ASAP, kid."
"It's gone!" She half yelled.
"This kid went crazier than she already was." thought the blue-skinned man. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Where's Itachi?" he raised an eyebrow. Why would she want to know that? Every time he was around, she would flinch and walk away as fast as she could. There must have been something between them; Itachi wouldn't have defended her if it wasn't the case, but as far as he could see, she was intimidated, or even scared of the younger shinobi. "He just left for a mission." the girl groaned. "I have something to do. Tell the leader I'll be there in a moment." Before he could say anything else, she ran away.
"That bitch is going nuts." remarked Hidan.
"Yeah."
Kisame left the jashinist alone with his rituals and headed upstairs.
"Where is she?" asked the Akatsuki leader, noticing Liv's absence.
"She was downstairs, the panicked about something being gone and walked away."
Pein stared at him, waiting for a better explanation. The shark man's mouth twitched slightly.
"She said she'd be here in a minute." he said, trying to brush off the amethyst-eyed man's expression. "What did you want from us?"
Pein leaned his forearms over the stone table, holding his hands in front of him. "I have a request for you, Kisame."
/
Liv rushed towards the rooms as fast as she could. If she only knew which one was Kakuzu's... She kept looking for his chakra, until he arrived to the door at the left of her room. She smacked her lips in annoyance: if she had known that was his room before, she would have started looking at that side of the corridor first. Why was she looking for him, anyway? Itachi had been the one who placed the mind-blocks over her. But he could know something about it, couldn't he? He was in there that night too... She had overheard Konan and Kisame speaking after they all came back from their missions, and for what they said Liv could assume they had known each other for a while... "It's not right no make conjectures about comments" she mumbled, brushing the thought off. At last, she concluded that she was looking for him because he was the "less dangerous" ninja that she could turn to at the moment. Of course, she still risked herself to get her head torn apart from her body; but Hidan probably didn't know a thing about mind seals, Kisame hated her more than anyone and she feared she could let something inconvenient slip to Konan or Pein. And Zetsu... he probably was the one she should have been most afraid of. The kunoichi wondered if she only saw the emerald-eyed shinobi as a viable alternative because he had been the one who kept curing her injuries. "Probably... but I'm already here..."
She quickly knocked on the door, but Kakuzu didn't answer.
"At least they could say 'go away' or something..." she thought. "One day I'll have an unpleasant surprise when opening their doors."
"Kakuzu" she called, as she turned the doorknob. The shinobi was sitting on his bed with his mask off, reading a book. He didn't even bother on looking up.
"What do you want? You should learn to knock a damn the door, kid." he said in a lightly irritated tone.
"I did knock" She protested. "How many times do I have to say I'm not a kid?"
"Hn. Stop acting like one, then."
"Honestly, this guy..." thought Liv to herself. He didn't seem to be much older than she was either, so why did they insist on calling her like that?
"If you're just going to stand there, you might as well get out of here."
She could have sworn she heard him let out a sigh as she entered and closed the door behind her. She had noticed, the emerald-eyed man avoided her as much as he could, but she guessed it was the normal thing to do, but he did bother a lot avoiding her. The chocolate-haired girl stared at him for a moment. He didn't seem to have that imposing aura around him... It was as if she had captured his image in an extremely rare moment, when his features unwillingly relaxed a little.
"I was wondering what happened that time..."
"I'd appreciate if you were more specific."
Liv kept quiet for a couple of seconds. She wouldn't be telling him much if she talked about the seal, would she? It would have been easier if Itachi was around... he must have known about the seal already anyway.
"Listen, I don't feel the slightest desire to speak to you. If you're just going to ask pointless questions, get the hell out; I am tired."
In that moment, she had a little mind click.
"You were in my mind that night."
"Hm?"
"The night I woke up here..."
"What about it?"
"What did you do in my mind that night?"
"I believe that's not hard to figure out, is it? I woke you up" he said, turning the page of the book. It was more than evident, that he disliked her presence; but since he knew she wouldn't simply walked away, he chose to ignore her as much as possible.
"But how?"
"Why are you so interested all of a sudden?"
"You did something chakra-control prevention seal."
"Wow, your assumption skills are fucking impressive. You truly are aware of the condition of you body" he said sarcastically, making her frown.
"I was startled, ok? And I think you need to spend some time away from Hidan. You're starting to sound like him."
Kakuzu didn't reply, but Liv could tell by his eyes, that he agreed.
"What did you do to it?"
"I removed it." he replied, probably wondering if she would ever go away.
This caught her by surprise; she hadn't noticed it, but then again, she had only had some kind of physical contact with Kakuzu and Kisame, and she couldn't have noticed it under the circumstances.
"Do you know how to place it back again by any chance?"
Kakuzu turned the pages of his book again. "No."
Liv groaned once again. This was no good.
"Well, shit..."
"Do you depend on it that much?"
"Yes! And I don't know any way to place it back on. If you had only deactivated it..."
"I'm not an expert in seals, kid. I only know how to remove them. If you yell again, I'll sew your mouth with your vocal chords. Do you understand?"
Liv could only let out a sigh. "Does Itachi know about mind seals?"
"Only about psychological ones, as far as I know."
"There you are." A voice at the door interrupted them. Liv turned around to find Kisame, standing just outside the room.
"When did he open the door?" she thought.
"The leader wants me to train you." He said, slightly drawling in an annoyed tone. "Let's go outside and finish this quick."
Liv didn't say a thing. Kakuzu must have seen distress on her face, because he let out a small, irritated sigh and turned to her.
"Sasori might know how to help you. Talk to him once he comes back."
"Thank you." she muttered, before following Kisame away from the room.
"Who the hell is Sasori?" she thought. "Guess I'll have to ask Kisame later..." The shark man didn't say a thing, but she could feel his curious gaze upon her. It worried her to know there was a chance he could have heard more than enough, but she would figure how to cover it of necessary... hopefully.