"Do I know you?"
"My name's Illia," I said as I held out my hand for her to shake, "By the way, I'm a girl."
"Okay... ... Rori?!"
"Shush, not so loud," I laughed.
"You look pretty good as a girl. Kinda weird with makeup on though."
"Ha, thanks. You look really good too. Did you come with anyone?"
"Kind of. I came here with Suigetsu and Jugo. Suigetsu's dancing with some girls over there, and I'm not even sure where Jugo went off to," Karin said as she looked around, "What about you?"
"Well, Itachi invited me."
"The Akatsuki are here?" Karin asked in a concerned tone.
"Yeah, but they won't do anything weird, okay? Promise. So just enjoy your night."
Karin stared at me for a moment before replying, "If you say so."
"Thanks Karin. Anyway, I'll see you later."
"Later."
"Rori."
"Naruto? What are you doing?"
"I don't think we'll be able to do the plan."
"What? Why?"
"Sasuke left already. I caught him leaving school just before I got here. He said he didn't want to deal with Itachi."
"Lame... Okay, well, you can go home then, I guess. Thanks. Unless you're staying?"
"Yeah, I'm gonna stay for a little bit," he confessed with a sheepish smile. A hunch told me it was because of the Akatuki's presence, but who knows? It was a pretty sick dance, after all. I finally noticed Pain and Konan come in after a bit. I approached them, and they gave me a curious look since I appeared a bit different.
"Wow Konan! I love your dress. It really suits you."
She was wearing a strapless dark purple dress that was short in the front and long in the back. Konan continued to stare at me with the same expression while she exchanged looks with Pein. It took a moment, but I think Pain finally recognized me.
"R-Rori?"
"Hi Pain."
"Rori?! You're a girl?!"
I shushed her while trying to calm her down a bit.
"You look rather nice tonight. It would be more pleasant if you dressed that way more often."
"Well, yeah it looks nice, but it's such a pain. And pretty uncomfortable."
We headed toward the rest of the Akatsuki and talked for a bit as I relayed all the information to Konan. The rest of the night during the party was pretty fun although uneventful. Once it was all over, Itachi took me home and hugged me goodnight as I thanked him. The others had gone home, but Kisame came along since Itachi was planning on spending the night with him. I opened my door as he was walking away and...
I think it finally hit me. I had barely clicked the door open before my vision blurred, and I swayed to my left. The tips of my fingers slowly left the door before I heard a loud thud and blacked out.
"Urngh..."
I woke up in a dark bedroom, which I immediately assumed was my room for some reason. I looked around and saw a light in the hall that illuminated the room a bit. I was, in fact, in my room, but... How did I get here? Itachi and Kisame must have alerted someone inside to come get me since they hadn't left yet.
"Rori."
My whole body shuddered at the unexpected voice as I jumped out of startlement.
"Oh... Shit. ... What the hell Kisame?! You scared the shit out of me," I whispered fervently.
"Sorry," he chuckled before gesturing near the foot of my bed, "They fell asleep. We wanted to make sure you were alright."
"Really?" I asked before checking my phone for the time, "Wow, it's three in the morning... Thanks Kisame, and... Well, I know what the two of you are doing here, but what's Naruto doing here? He wasn't with us."
"He left a bit earlier than we did and decided to walk home. He must have just gotten there and saw you collapse. He came running over and started yelling at us, but I guess that was expected. We are part of the Akatsuki."
"Oh... Sorry. I guess my body was exhausted from the fight with-"
Wait, they don't know about that.
"It's okay. After the maids came to take you, we finally managed to calm down Naruto and told him what happened with you. He told us about your fight with Neji. Way to go kid," Kisame congratulated as he ruffled my hair, "Akatsuki or not, that guys was a little bitch to everyone."
That made me laugh. It also explains why my face feels fresher and I'm out of my dress. Cherry and Lilah must have cleaned me up and changed my clothes. Man, I feel bad for them. I'm not that overweight or anything, but I'm still pretty heavy for them. Unless they asked Gilroy for help, but I'll ask about that another time.
"Do you live near here Kisame?"
"Yeah, I live up where the Hyuga live."
"Oh, okay. I'll walk Naruto out. You can wake up Itachi and you guys can go. Thanks for staying with me though. It was really sweet of you guys."
"Well, you're the first outside of the Akatsuki to accept us. So, you're kind of like a friend to us, and we'll be concerned about you just like we would for any other member."
I couldn't help but blush. Thank goodness we were in dim lighting.
"Oh, um, thanks... Kisame."
He smiled at me and I went to wake up Naruto who pretty much attacked me.
"Rori, are you okay?! Did you overexert yourself?!"
"Naruto! Shh! Other people might be sleeping! I'm fine! Come on, I'll walk you home," I scolded as I began whispering again. I walked him out after I put a coat on. I led him to the edge of the sidewalk and watched as he walked over to his house where his parents were waiting inside the door to scold him. Kisame and Itachi finally walked out also, and headed to Kisame's car. Itachi must have moved Mikoto's car while I was knocked out. I told them goodnight and went back inside. ... I finally reached my room and washed my face to make it feel a bit better, then looked in the mirror for a bit. ...
I brought my hand just under my neck. My magatama... Cherry must have put them somewhere while I was asleep. My eyes began to get droopy and my legs grew weak. ... I must have really overdone it with that technique. I'm gonna need more sleep if I want to properly recover. ... I sighed before fully recovering my posture, turned off all the lights, and went back to bed. I don't think I ever fell asleep so quickly.
I woke up with a dry mouth and burning eyes. I thought I felt my phone vibrate underneath my pillow earlier, so I searched for it with only my hand. I noticed that there were a few missed calls about an hour ago from a number I didn't recognize. Just before I was about to put it back down, the same number called. I groaned in annoyance and let my head drop down for a short moment before answering.
"...Hello?" came my scratchy inquiry.
"Rori. It's Karin. Where are you?"