Wolf Thief

Chapter 14: Plots

The food Konan gave her was enough to keep her satisfied until Hidan and Kakuzu arrived with more. Mingan rested his head on her leg, revealing in her ear rub as she discussed small things such as the weather and the fact that the caves were freezing with Konan. To Aiyana, it seemed as if the woman simply wanted another someone else to talk to.

"Konan-senpai, are you the only woman in Akatsuki?" Aiyana asked.

"Yes, though Hidan sometimes jokes that Deidara is a girl as well." Deidara was the blond she had a met in the kitchen. Now that she thought about it, if she saw Deidara from a distance, she would think the man was girl. "Have you met everyone in Akatsuki yet?"

"How many are there?"

"Nine."

Aiyana momentarily stopped her ear rub to use her fingers to count. "Well, let's see." Itachi and Kisame were the ones who kidnapped her. There was Pain, often referred to as Leader-sama. Konan, Hidan, Kakuzu, and Deidara she had met that morning. "Um, Adrik and that man Tobi aren't really members, are they?"

"How did you hear about them?" Konan asked, surprised. Since Aiyana had stopped giving him an ear rub, Mingan had switched to the other girl and was happily receiving a scratch under his snout. "And, no, they aren't members."

"Uh, Itachi-san momentarily mentioned a man named Tobi who works with Zetsu." Her fingers dropped down to her lap. "And Adrik is, well, he is…" Why was it so difficult for her to say the damn word? Her tongue felt like it sudden thickened and refused to make the sounds that made the word.

"Oh, that's right! Pain told me that Adrik is your father."

"Yeah, apparently he is," Aiyana agreed, relieved she didn't have to admit it herself. "In any case, I've met everyone but two."

The conversation easily shifted from her father to the other Akatsuki members. The only members she had left to meet were Zetsu, whom according to Konan she should try to avoid meeting, and Sasori, Deidara's partner. Through Konan, Aiyana figured out exactly how Akatsuki functioned. There were pairs that did field work with the exception of Zetsu. Apparently he was cannibalistic and most anyone who was partnered with him died.

Then there were the subordinates such as Adrik and Tobi. Adrik turned out to be Sasori's subordinate and most of his time was spent at the base, mixing concoctions. Tobi worked under Zetsu and the only reason Zetsu claimed not to want to eat him was because Tobi was too stupid. He might be infected with the stupidity if he ate the man. Pain acted as the director and could be seen in the cave systems or rainy Amegakure.

It was their goal that surprised Aiyana the most. The ultimate peace through a united world and to achieve that ultimate peace they would use the strength of the bijuus. Aiyana kept her skeptical opinions to herself and wondered how many members were on board because of the organizations goal or because of the war it would bring. The latter reason probably had more supporters.

Sighing, Aiyana switched the topic to Mingan and his care. Konan was given exact instructions on how to care for him and she found amusement in the woman's eyes. Mingan seemed calm in Konan's presence, so perhaps she wasn't as bad as some of the other people around. At least they could hold a conversation without lapsing into an awkward silence or threatening each other. After the instructions, Aiyana decided it was time to check the kitchen again.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" Aiyana asked hesitantly as she untangled her fingers from Mingan's fur.

Konan smiled at her before nodding. "Of course."

The thief sighed in relief, said one final good bye to the large canine and slipped through the door. The cave system was less confusing now that she had accidently stumbled through half the paths, so she only found herself making a wrong turn once. Of course, that wrong turn found her bumping into a very bizarre looking pair.

One was large and bulky, the high collar of the Akatsuki cloak unable to hide the strange cage-like leaf structure that encased his head, which stranger yet was evenly divided between black and white. The person beside him was lacking an Akatsuki cloak, but wore all black with the exception of his orange and black swirled mask.

She wasn't planning on talking to them, but the man with the mask was insistent on talking with her. "Oi!" The greeting was rather long and drawn out, grating on her sensitive ears. His voice was also obnoxiously perky. "Who are you? Are you that thief everyone keeps talking about?"

"I suppose," Aiyana muttered trying to walk past them. "Look, I'm just trying to find the kitchen. So, if you don't mind, then I'll just be on my way."

She tried to walk around them but the masked guy stuck out his arm, blocking her path. "Don't be silly! The kitchen isn't that way! Here, Tobi will take you there!" Tobi? Aiyana stared at the man and could tell by his voice that he was rather flamboyant and, well, young. Plus, he referred to himself in the third person. That was just plain unusual. "Tobi will be back, Master Zetsu!"

Zetsu didn't say anything and walked down the path she came while Tobi eagerly dragged her up to the fork and took her in the other direction. Aiyana yanked her arm out of his grasp. "Uh, I think I can find it from here. Thanks, Tobi."

Of course, Tobi didn't get the hint that she wanted him gone. "Did Master Zetsu scare you?"

The question was so sudden and spontaneous that she wasn't quite sure how to respond. When the hell did she mention that she was scared of that unusual man? She was more scared of the slightly hyper-active mask-wearing man who had intertwined his arm with hers and was happily dragging her down the hall.

"It's okay! Master Zetsu scares a lot of people, but he is really nice. At least to me, he's really nice! You don't have to worry about him. Hey, hey, are you really a famous thief? Do you think you can teach me a few tricks? I think it would be useful to know how to steal things! Speaking of stealing things, one of my books has gone missing." Tobi swung her around and grabber her shoulder, looking her in the eye with his one barely visible one. His voice became lower, serious, and normal. "You didn't steal it, did you, Ai-chan?"

Aiyana stared at him, shocked enough that her mouth had gone dry. What was this man? Was he bipolar or on drugs or something? Before she had a chance to deny his claim, he burst out laughing in an unusually high pitch and patted her shoulder. "I was just kidding! Ai-chan would never steal from Tobi, now, would she?"

"My name is Aiyana," she said stiffly, her mind running in circles. Something was wrong with this man. Something was very, very wrong with him and she had no idea what. "And I didn't steal your book. I doubt you even have the capacity to read."

"Ai-chan is a funny girl!" Tobi chirped, rustling even more of her feathers as he grabbed her hand and pulled her down the hallway. "Why is Ai-chan at Akatsuki? Did she steal something from us?"

Aiyana froze and Tobi tugged her hand and turned when he felt that she was resistant to the movement. She had, in fact, stolen something from Akatsuki; it was how they found her in the first place. And maybe that one object could answer everything for her. If she could get Pain-sama to agree to let her steal the scroll back, then maybe, just maybe, she could use the opportunity to escape or bargain or anything! She just wanted out!

"Ai-chan?" Tobi waved a hand in front of her face, whistling like a canary. She blinked and shook her head of her absurd thoughts. They sprung back into her head like they were attached to a bungee cord. "Oh good! I thought you had turned into stone! Come on, let's get you to the kitchen."

"Kitchen, right," she muttered and followed him.

Of course, the kitchen didn't pose any relief for her working mind. It was fully stocked now by Kakuzu and Hidan, who had disappeared off the face of the earth. And exploiting the newly stock kitchen was a hermit who had crawled out of his shell. Adrik gave her a blank stare as she wandered into the room with Tobi as an extra, unwanted appendage.

"Stay."

Haka's order was sharp in her mind, commanding like an owner would command their unruly dog. Aiyana grimaced but reigned in the desire to turn and leave. Instead, she looked up at Tobi, smiling with a lack of light in her eyes. "Thanks for showing me the way, Tobi-chan."

To her surprise, Tobi saluted, nodded, and marched out of the kitchen without saying another word. Curious as to why he was marching, she stuck her head out of the natural doorway but saw that he had vanished entirely. Well, that was certainly something unusual.

"You should be careful around him; he's not exactly stable."

Aiyana whirled around to see that Adrik was watching her carefully. She didn't want to admit that she agreed with his observation, so instead she shrugged. "He seems nice, strange though." Her eyes wandered past him to the counter where a bag of oranges lay. Without hesitation she found a knife and cut into it, grabbing an orange for herself. "May I ask why I'm being allowed to wander around the base so freely?"

"Uchiha-san has informed us that you are unable to walk on water or swim, therefore, unless you can fly like Deidara-san, you have no escape." Adrik smiled cruelly at her. "You can't fly, can you?"

She glared at him, her finger digging too far past the peel of the orange and spraying juice on the ground. "Don't be ridiculous," she growled. It was the first time she showed her true personality to that bastard and he smiled as if he had known all along it was a joke. "How long do you plan on keeping me here?"

"Until the other two pieces are collected."

She raised a brow as her orange was slowly mutilated, soaking her hand in sticky juice. "Other two pieces?"

"The Kyuubi and the scroll," Adrik added absently before pushing himself off the counter. "You'll be sleeping in my room until then. Keep your hands off my things; I don't care if you do place them back in the same place, simply do not touch them."

The orange was such a mess that she didn't feel like eating it anymore. That bastard was acting like an eight-year boy! He was being over-possessive about vials of goop! Only a child acted like that when their favorite toy was touched by another, scream and crying and whining as if the world had collapsed on them. That half-assed, make believe scientist of nothing; she hoped one of his experiments would explode on him! Before she escaped, she'd find a way to subtly destroy his experiments; maybe mixing chemicals would do. Or switching the labels of the beakers around. Yes, that would probably be successful. Successful and extremely petty. And here she was calling Adrik a child.

The rest of her day was spent trying to come up with two different plans: one for escape and one for revenge.

Cat's Notes

I actually don't have much to say for this chapter. Adrik is a jerk...and Tobi does play a role in this story, as you can guess. Oh, Konan telling Aiyana about Akatsuki's goals! I figured that in Konan's mind Akatsuki's goals are noble; they're trying to create world peace in their twisted way, after all. So she doesn't mind telling others if she thinks it can convince them to support their organization. Plus Aiyana isn't supposed to be going anywhere.

I think that's it.

:) Till next week!