Anko and Deidara had managed to keep from killing each other for a good few minutes. The being that was still following them had remained contempt to an extent. They kept their gazes forward and their hands near their weapon compartments just in case of any sudden attacks.
"Sempais'!"
They stopped and backed up as Tobi landed from the trees above in front of them. He had leaves and broken twigs in his hair and was panting. "I've…been look…ing for you everywhere!" he half panted.
"Same with you." Anko said "Where's Sasori?"
"OOH you are not going to believe what he's doing right now!" he exclaimed.
Deidara and Anko glanced at each other "Orochimaru?" they asked in illusion.
Tobi drooped slightly "How did you guess?"
"Either the real Orochimaru or someone else has been following Anko and now me for about ten minutes now." He glanced back; his life form had concealed himself in the shadows of the trees and was ease dropping on their conversation. Why wasn't he fighting them anyway? "We can't lose him." Deidara explained.
"He must stick to you like the glue you have to make your sculptors out of huh Deidara?" Tobi burst out laughing at his own joke; Deidara just stared at him in pure murder "NOW WAIT A MINUTE…."
Anko thought for a moment. She could stay behind and distract the person and find out who he really is while Tobi and Deidara went to assist Sasori….but neither one of them would agree to that.
"I can take him."
Tobi and Deidara looked up from their spat and eyed her questionably "Who him?"
Anko moved in closer to them so that she could whisper "If he won't fight us now, maybe if I just keep him occupied while you guys go help out Sasori-"
"I thought you caught on by now!" Deidara scolded
"Keep your voice down." Anko hissed, Deidara lowered his voice but his tone remained the same "Sasori wanted me to look after you and I will be damned if I have to get my ass kicked because you don't know how to follow orders!"
"I know how to follow orders," she leaned back some "just not stupid ones."
Deidara closed the distance between them "I don't care whether you die or not but I do not want to join you in the afterlife after Sasori kills me for disobey an order from-"
"STOP IT!" Tobi shouted jumping in between them, almost knocking them over "This quarreling is tearing us apart!"
Anko frowned and stared straight at Deidara "Please."
He glared at her intensely, shaking in anger. He growled finally "Fine, have fun getting killed."
She glared at him but as he began walking away and then teleported away she kept her cool.
Tobi gave her the 'okay' sign "Good luck Sempai." He head motioned to the shadowed man "And be careful, this fool's weird." He then teleported away, leaving Anko to face the demon alone. 'You're weird.'
She slowly turned to see that the person had revealed himself. She growled and stood her ground "Who are you exactly?"
She was answered with a mocking chuckle "You are so naïve Anko dear." He sounded exactly like Orochimaru but Anko couldn't be so sure.
"Who's fighting Sasori if you're here then?"
The cloak over his face lifted slightly, showing her the bottom portion of his face. "Still me."
She clenched her teeth "You're not making any-"
She gasped when he suddenly flashed in front of her and cover her mouth. "Think." He said, he hot breath pouring onto her lips "Look into my eyes and figure it out." His hand fell from her mouth and he grinned at her heavy breathing and her wide, fear stricken eyes.
Anko tried to grasp onto what he was talking about. Figure what out?
'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.
He stated laughing, the second Orochimaru.
Sasori only glared as his banter increased and his head changed for its bent position and he was staring at him again. There were three gashes on his face from where Sasori had clawed him. Instead of blood like there should have been, under the whiteness of Orochimaru's flesh was light brown skin.
"Kabuto I presume?"
'Orochimaru' lifted a hand to his face and grasped the gashes, ripping the face off. It was indeed Kabuto.
"I thought I recognized that repulsive chakra." He grumbled
"Hmmm," Kabuto laughed "Not too happy to see me I see." He jeered. There was a puff of smoke and then Kabuto reappeared in his usual attire. The only thing out of place was the small red scratches on his face that were already healing.
"The last time I check you were under complete hypnosis. Orochimaru must have broken it since then, still, judging on the way you've acted in the last couple of weeks, it makes me wonder if you really are loyal to him. Whose side are you on?"
He put his glasses back on and answered "I didn't exactly volunteer to help you back then you know."
"But you wanted to." Sasori drawled, digging deeper for a weakness.
"Heh…..you won't have to worry about that anymore."
"What are talking about?"
"…..I'm through with Anko."
Sasori's expression didn't change but his thoughts were swimming out.
Kabuto's gaze fell to the ground. "I realize now that she is only a burden to me….and you if you keep her around long enough. She a magnet for death."
"Why are you here?" Sasori was getting irritated and slightly wary. Where was Tobi with Deidara and Anko?
Kabuto laughed darkly in response. "Why…..to kill you of course!"
Sasori held back a gasp as dark green snakes suddenly wrapped themselves around his hunched puppet form. The serpents pressed past the puppet armor, a tepid fire spread to his organs. The blood vessels in his eyes started bulging as oxygen slowly drained from his lungs. His gaze never left Kabuto.
"Sorry it has to end this way." Kabuto snickered "But the less Akatsuki there are, the easier it will be to finish Anko off."
Sasori choked out something that Kabuto didn't hear.
"Like I said, she's a magnet for death."
He paused as he felt a sudden wave of chakra coming his way. He grimaced and swore "Dammit." He fled into the dense forest, leaving Sasori to die.
Just as Sasori was falling into the blackness, a blurry figure crouched down beside him and the snakes were gone. Sasori took in a large gulp of air but it wasn't enough to keep him conscious.
"Deidara-san!" Tobi shouted "Sasori-Sempai is dead!"
Deidara jumped down from his clay dragon and darted to Tobi and his partner. He gasped as he hurriedly checked for a pulse.
Tobi stared wide eyed at Deidara's terrified slightly sweaty face. "Is he…"
Deidara sighed heavily, a slight scowl replacing his fear "He's not dead you idiot." He grumbled.
"HURRAY!" Tobi shouted out with glee. "You sound disappointed-"
"Don't ever scare me like that again!" he shouted, both to Tobi and Sasori's passed out form. He stood and walked away from them "Get Sasori, we have to track down Orochimaru."
"Okay…" Tobi grunted as he dragged Sasori to Deidara's clay dragon.
"Will you hurry up!" Deidara growled with annoyance.
"I'm…sorry Sempai…." Tobi panted "But he's….really heavy…."
Deidara rolled his eyes "I rather be with Anko right now."
"Maybe….you could…help Tobi?" Tobi asked carefully.
"You're kidding right!"
Tobi flinched and got quiet.
Deidara roared and jumped down to help Tobi. Sasori was heavy.
"Lift him Tobi!"
"I'm a tri'en!"
They growled and swore as the two ninja tried to get Sasori on the dragons back. "Maybe we should undress him a little." Tobi squeakingly suggested.
"Pervert!" Deidara shouted, he would have smacked Tobi is his hands weren't full.
"No Sempai I mean…" he looked around to make sure no one outside their little circle could hear. He leaned in so that he was face to face to Deidara "Get him out of the puppet." He leaned back.
Deidara's eye twitched "That is suicide."
Tobi jumped back causing all of Sasori's weight to fall on Deidara. Deidara choked and fell against the dragon; he glared dangerously at Tobi who was proposing excitedly "That's no problem, all we have to do is knock him out if he wakes up again-"
"TOBI!"
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Anko blinked and suddenly she was dizzy. After thinking for God knows how long, she had reached somewhat of a breakthrough. "Where are Sasuke and Kabuto right now."
Orochimaru's grin widened slightly. "I honestly don't see how that is relevant to anything."
She blinked slowly. Something was happening to her. Her mind, something inside her was starting to slip away.
"Um,"
Orochimaru watched her head lag to the side and one of her hands creep to her face. "They…. Kabuto…." She tried to focus on Orochimaru but he was vanishing in a haze 'What's happening to me.'
"Umm…" she held her head in her hand and tried to resist the dizziness that was taking over her.
Orochimaru laughed "Something the matter Anko."
Anko gritted her teeth and stood up straight. She eyed Orochimaru dangerously and stated with a little wariness "Answer me, where are Sasuke and Kabuto right now?"
He shrugged "I'm not entirely sure where Kabuto is right now," he stared directly into Anko's eyes "he was told to greet your….comrades, or whatever you prefer them as. Sasuke was unable to make I'm afraid."
"Is he hurt." She asked groggily
"No…not physically anyway. He's just having some complications adjusting to Karins' death."
Anko gasped 'Karin's….dead? That red headed bimbo is gone?'
Orochimaru continued studying her "Don't act so surprise; it was one of the Akatsuki who did it."
She gulped involuntarily; she'd have to question her comrades later, if there was a later for her. "What do you want!" she practically screamed. She had to focus on the mission, the reason why she was in front of the man right now.
"I just wanted to see how you were coming along." His cold voice drawled "you seem so distant…"
"Ah…" she couldn't form words.
A slight burn formed at her wrist and spread up arm and shoulder; She grabbed her hand and saw that the forgotten snake seal on her arm was glowing. She didn't have time to adjust to that pain when the curse seal on her shoulder started searing under the seal. She dropped to her knees, her hands clutching the sand under her since they were completely useless anywhere else.
"What's happening to me?" she screamed as the pain took over. Orochimaru seemed to be the only one who could hear her. Before she could make another move, Anko felt Orochimaru's cold fingers trace the burning piece of paper on her shoulder. He leveled his pale face with hers and grinned "I'm guessing Itachi is trying to keep me away from you." He chuckled "Good attempt…but he doesn't know too much about what's happening to you, does he?"
Anko eased back "Mind giving me a definition?"
His fingers switched to her cheek "The seal you are wearing right now is one similarly used to sealing Bujii. It keeps the demon from getting out because, if the demon hasn't completely emerged, the seal will keep the chakra in on account that the demon remains inside of the subject. But in your case…" he leaned into her, whispering seductively in her ear "I'm your demon."
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"Do you see her!" Tobi shouted from his and Sasori's clay bird. The wind was blowing hard and his voice was to call out in a normal tone.
Deidara rolled his eye[s] and shouted back "Not yet."
Tobi sighed and looked back to Sasori's new form. He seemed so different without the puppet body weighing him down. His breathing was fairly normal again but he refused to wake up.
"I'm all alone here." Tobi mumbled "I miss Anko-Sempai."
Deidara heard Tobi's mumbles but chose not to acknowledge them or him. He had to stay focused on finding that annoying nut job Anko…..man he dislike that girl! But as he thought about her, his mind only registered the…small, nice things about her.
She was bold for one, only Hindan had had the gall to insult their leader openly which that itself was suicide. She was able to manipulate Itachi better than anyone that he knew of, maybe it was because she knew him…
And, despite how he tried not to think about it, she was very beautiful.
The image of her lying on his bed caused his eyes to roll back in illusion. The way her hair had loosened from her spiky tail and spread out on his pillow, the way her chest rose and fell each time she breathed, just the way she looked and behaved was completely mesmerizing….
"Deidara pay attention we just passed something!"
"Gah!" Deidara exclaimed. He started to lower his clay birds into a tree infested area below them, no use turning around.
As soon as they landed, he helped Tobi get Sasori down, he was much lighter now. "Do you think he was injected by the snakes poison?" Tobi asked.
"Naw," Deidara answered "He'd be dead by now."
There was the sound of a muffled scream dead ahead which caused Deidara and Tobi to look towards the direction it came from. "Anko-Sempai!" Tobi gasped; Deidara grabbed him "We'll get to her in a- Tobi!"
The orange masked ninja left a large cloud of dust in Deidara's face as he ran to his aiding Sempai.
"Dammit Tobi!" Deidara cursed.
"Calm down Deidara."
Deidara turned back to Sasori who was trying to stand up. His voice was lighter, not as dark as it usually was. His body was clothed by another Akatsuki garb, but Deidara knew what was really under it.
"You alright?"
Sasori nodded weakly and showed Deidara his wrist. There were two dark puncture wounds dried with old blood "Tobi stopped the snakes before the real damage could be done but there was still some poison injected inside of me."
Deidara approached his partner "You should stay here."
"No, Anko may need us all; I highly doubt Tobi's going to be enough for her."
Deidara chuckled and shifted one of Sasori's arms over his neck "Anko's gutsy above anything else, I'm sure she'll be just fine."
Not so much Dei-de
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Anko coughed out a small amount of blood as she dodged another hit from Orochimaru. He was going easy on her for the time being which she was thankful for. Trying to control the curse seal and the snake seal took most of her fighting spirit out of her. Each time she tried to form a jutsu or throw a punch back at him, he would just stop her or dodge her, all of which was getting very annoying.
She resisted Orochimaru over and over again but he just kept coming back. "You're losing." He commented.
"Shut up!" she yelled. She made a final swing at his face but was caught off guard by a sickening pain to her stomach. She was thrown back and she curled up on her side to adjust to the pain which only got worse. Her bloodied hands searched her abdominal and found the source of her misery, Orochimaru's Kusanagi sword. "Shit…" she gasped. She tried pulling it out but her hands were shaking so bad that she only made the blade cut deeper.
Suddenly Orochimaru grabbed the hem of the sword and shoved it deeper into her. A wet gasp was all Anko could release to express her pain.
"This is where the baby would have been isn't it?" he asked, twisting the sword to emphasize what he meant.
'Those words…..where have I heard them?'
"You want to know something?" Orochimaru's hot breath whistled in her ear "I don't really know whose child you were bearing."
Anko shook.
"To tell you the truth, I hadn't really cared what the experiment would do to you. It was just an excuse to get a needle inside you; a punishment for you walking away all those years ago."
She leaned her head down and despite how much she just wanted to die, but she wanted to know the truth. What happened twelve years ago?
She grabbed his wrist, squeezing it tightly. Amazingly, she didn't feel as much pain anymore.
"Cut the patronizing bull shit and tell me what the Hell you're talking about."
He just shook his head "There are just some secrets that I will take to my grave-"
"!"
Anko glanced to her right and smirked "Speaking of grave-"
She grabbed hold to the sword and leaped back just in time for Deidara to sweep Orochimaru away. She grinned and fell back.
Orochimaru hit the ground with Tobi on top of him. Just when he opened his eyes, the orange masked shinobi pressed a….. stick to his neck.
"HA HA, This is what happens when you man handle my-"
A glaring Orochimaru grabbed Tobi's wrist and showed him his big mistake.
"OH." Tobi mused.
Orochimaru glared at him and kicked him away.
Tobi squealed and crawl away from the angry viper.
Orochimaru gnashed his teeth and turned his gaze back on the bloody Anko "Poor choice of a partner if you ask me."
"She didn't ask you nothing!" Tobi yelled from behind a tree.
Orochimaru ignored him and continued his advance to Anko. She was still trying to get that damn sword out to little avail, she would be dead soon.
"Would you like to kill your partner so that he want have to watch you die?" Orochimaru asked scornfully "He has such innocent eyes…"
"TOBI!" Blood oozed through her teeth, she was losing this fight.
"Sempai!" Tobi yelled from his hiding spot "Anko hold on!"
Her head hit the ground, the soft, warm grass. The black dots in the corners of her eyes began blocking out the sight of Orochimaru and Tobi. In a way, it was a relief.
"Oh man oh man oh man…." Tobi repeated over and over "Deidara-Sempai where are you!"
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I am a total screw up
DEIDARA GET YOU ASS OUT THERE NOW!
This is all I have for now. I'll be getting the laptop soon!