Chapter Nineteen - Dionaea Muscipula
"Kill it," Kakuzu commanded.
Tobi squeaked.
The crinkle of paper filled the room as the puppeteer box was deconstructed, becoming deadly ammunition for Aiko as she crafted paper shuriken, some of the paper being sourced from herself, distinguished by their dull grey colour. With a flick of her wrist, she launched the shuriken in Tobi's direction. Tobi's arms flew around like windmills, his body curving like a crescent moon in different directions as he let out an 'eep' with each dodge before he fell flat on his face. The many paper shuriken hit the walls, with the grey ones amongst them being sharp enough to go through the wall.
"Wahhhh," Tobi cried, lifting his head back as several tear drops flew out from his mask's singular eye hole.
"Time to take this outside," Aiko grinned, eyes flicking to Deidara who nodded in confirmation.
The paper reformed once more, circling the man in the orange mask and Aiko both. Like a wave, the paper crashed under Aiko's feet, creating a river of paper that supported her weight as she slammed a hand down to guide it towards Tobi.
"Katsu!" Deidara shouted, a mighty explosion bringing down the back wall of the base.
It was through this newly created opening that Tobi found himself carried out of, as if trapped within a paper tsunami, looking left, looking right, before realising he was hovered above an expansive landscape, high within the clouds.
"Weeeeeeeeeeeee," he screeched gleefully, lifting his arms high in the air as if riding a rollercoaster.
"Is this guy serious?" Aiko sweat-dropped, her crouched form similarly suspended in mid-air by layered paper whilst Deidara observed Tobi from his clay bird.
"He won't be when we turn him into art, un," Deidara scowled, furiously shaping his clay into a multitude of birds.
Aiko smirked, creating her own paper butterflies, watching as they intertwined themselves amongst the birds making Tobi clap as they surrounded him, pawing at one as if he were a playful kitten.
"KATSU!" the duo screamed, a fiery explosion reflected in their eyes from the intermingling of Deidara's clay birds and Aiko's explosive butterflies.
Deidara almost burned out his retina's as he attempted to watch the fleeting moment of art, Aiko rolling her own as she held up a hand to shadow her face, feeling the intense heat fill the air with humidity. As the embers died down and the smoke began to clear, both of them revelled in the sight of a figure falling from the sight of the explosion.
"Deidara…"
"Is he…"
Aiko twisted a finger in her ear, removing it with a 'pop' to confirm that what was supposed to be a charred corpse was currently emitting a scream which got quieter the closer it got to the ground. Eventually, Tobi face-planted the dirt, skimming across it like a stone across a water's surface, leaving ever-smaller plumes of dust and comical face-imprints in his wake. Aiko clenched her jaw, directing her paper chariot to the ground where Kakuzu stood atop a rock surface, green eyes narrowed as he watched Hidan's attempt to confront Tobi (since he had been so confident he could deal with the intruder himself).
"What the fuck," Hidan swiped at the masked figure with his scythe, "would you just," he blinked as Tobi disappeared, reappearing by a nearby rock-face to peek out his orange mask and make the Jashinist charge at him once again, "die!"
"But Tobi doesn't want to die!" Tobi wailed, phasing through another swipe of the three-pronged scythe. "Tobi just wants the pretty girl to tell him more stories!"
Tobi's single visible eye flashed with a bright yellow star, causing Aiko to rub the back of her neck.
"Oh, well," she blushed before realising this man had just broken into the headquarters of their TOP SECRET criminal organisation, "I mean, err… that gives you no right to break into our base!"
"Tobi would never break your vase! Tobi is a good boy!" came a chirp from behind the orange mask before Tobi pointed in the direction of Deidara who was dismounting his clay bird. "That's the bad girl that broke your vase."
Deidara's eyebrow twitched before he was perfectly placed to wrap his legs around Tobi's neck, bringing him to the ground and causing him to let out dopey grunts as his windpipe was threatened to be crushed between Deidara's thighs. Aiko loomed over the man like a Shinigami, calling 'Kirie' into the palm of her hand.
"Any last words?" the girl inquired with a smirk, wielding her paper sword like an executioner.
"This is fun!" Tobi beamed, his single eye scrunching behind his mask.
With a grunt, Aiko lowered the blade to Tobi's neck, leaving her to squint at the spot that not only lacked a disembodied head, or pools of crimson blood, but now also lacked a Tobi.
"Tobi had so much fun playing with you!" Tobi called out from across the plain, cupping his fists together as he sparkled, "Tobi will come play again, 'cus Tobi is a-ahh, a bunny!"
Aiko called on her paper chariot to rush after the masked man, landing behind the rock structure he had disappeared behind to blink in disbelief. Tobi was gone, and all that was left behind to capture was the 'so-called' bunny… that was actually a tumbleweed. Aiko stomped on the tumbleweed with fury, head snapping up as Deidara, Hidan and Kakuzu rushed over to arrive at the same conclusion she had. Tobi had gotten away. The four of them exchanged looks between themselves, Aiko only being able to think about the blank look of disappointment on her oji-san's face when she next faced him…
"This never happened," she growled at them, slowly lifting a roll of ryo up to Kakuzu, who pocketed it without saying a word.
Deidara and Hidan exchanged looks, both of them also considering the 'look' that their Leader would give them when he found out someone had not only infiltrated their base, but had gotten away with it. Said 'look' included a meteorite preparing to turn them into a blood smear that, in Deidara's case, would be too fleeting to be called art, and in Hidan's, would hurt like a bitch and be very difficult to piece back together again. With a mutual understanding reached, there was only one thing left to say;
"Agreed."
Kisame whistled as he strolled along the corridor of the Akatsuki base, teeth barred as he thought about the training session he would put Aiko through today. It seemed her time with the infamous 'Green Beast' had left her under the impression Kisame wasn't up to traumatizing her in the same way the taijutsu specialist had, but there it wasn't possible that anyone could put her through her paces more than him.
"I'm not here to play dress up - I want to help!"
"You help enough!"
"I do nothing! I don't even have a partner. You're just humouring me!"
Kisame promptly turned around - training could wait.
"You are assigned to infiltration and intelligence, along with Zetsu, Aiko," Konan lifted her voice, a tone that thoroughly claimed the end of the discussion.
"Lucky me, I'm as useful as the foliage," Aiko dead-panned, folding her arms in front of her chest. "You assigned Deidara to capture the Five Tails! Why can't you see that I'm strong enough to do the same?"
"That mission has been assigned to Sasori," Konan clarified, eyes narrowed on her insolent child, "and you're right. You are an Akatsuki member, which means that I am your superior and you will follow my orders."
Blue eyes bore into grey ones, waves of killing intent unknowingly clashing between mother and daughter before Aiko had to look away with a muttered 'fine'. The girl stomped away, disappearing in a flurry of paper before appearing in front of a certain member of the zombie duo. The girl threw down a roll of paper ryo in front of him, watching as he unrolled the stack and began counting it out before meeting her gaze.
"How can I be of assistance?" Kakuzu inquired, tucking the money into his cloak.
Aiko narrowed her blue eyes on the man, a fiery determination growing within them.
"Tell me everything you know about Takigakure, and the Seven Tailed Beast."
(Note: Deidara and Sasori POV, Aiko POV.)
Deidara narrowed his eyes on the giant of a shinobi, his body adorned in red armour with a furnace strapped to his back. Even from this distance, as he soared the skies of the Land of Earth, the air was stagnant with hot steam which poured off the Five Tails as he charged like a bull towards Hiruko. The puppet countered with a barrage of poisoned senbon, a burst of hot steam leaking from every pore of their enemies body to deflect the senbon away.
Blue eyes set their sights on the mighty tree that signified Takigakure, the sound of rushing water, the source of which the Village was named for, making itself known.
"What'cha looking at, ssu?"
Aiko blinked at the tan girl with mint green hair making herself known as she tilted her head with a closed-eye smile pointed in her direction.
The Five Tails jumped into close range, his strong jabs of taijutsu countered by Hiruko's scorpion tail, which darted about to match the speed of Han's assault. It was at that moment that the tail won in an act of speed, the Five Tail host barely managing to whip back his head to avoid being beheaded by the scorpion's sting.
"It's beautiful," Aiko smiled, looking towards Fu to find her studying her with caution. "You're so lucky that you get to live here."
Together the two kunoichi looked over the top of the waterfall, having to shout to hear themselves over the roaring waters.
"I guess, but what's the point if no-one will enjoy it with you?" Fu claimed, looking pensive over the falls, a hand clasped around her bare arm.
Deidara's eyes gleamed as he dropped his clay explosives to the ground, admiring the fleeting mushroom clouds left over from his art, cutting the steam user from the landscape up ahead that contained natural steam vents. However, the Five Tails was intent on reaching the landscape that would work to his advantage, sending up his own torrent of steam that earnt Deidara a stinging scold to his side as he dodged just a little too late.
"What do you mean?" Aiko's eyes gleamed, resting a hand on the shoulder of the Seven Tails. "I'm here, aren't I?"
"You… you'd want to be my friend?" Fu inquired, orange eyes gleaming when the girl with the lavender hair nodded with a bright smile. "Then, come on!"
Aiko witnessed her newly-made friend run to the peak of the waterfall, throwing herself off the edge before reappearing with a beaming smile and two orange wings fluttering upon her back.
On the ground, Hiruko reprimanded his partner for almost blowing him up, using his enemies distraction to strike with his tail from the front before disappearing in a flurry of sand as he appeared at the Five Tail's back. Hiruko stabbed him through the chest with his poisoned appendage.
"Weeeeee," Fu shrieked in a child-like manner, zipping down the falls at top speeds before pulling up at the last minute to loop-de-loop back into the air.
Behind her, Aiko knelt upon her paper steed, similarly shrieking with delight before crashing into the waters in which the falls emptied. Fu called out in panic before a tidal wave of paper rose from the pool, Aiko emerging from within with a cheeky grin plastered on her face.
Han smirked, bubbling and malicious chakra surrounding his chest wound as he grabbed onto the scorpion tail and yanked it towards him, throwing it upward before slamming it to the ground with all the force he could muster, fiery steam escaping from his bulging muscles.
Aiko and Fu intertwined mid-air before heading out to the open stretch of sky, Aiko overtaking the winged girl to jump from her paper steed as they arrived at the nearest town. She continued to run alongside the Seven Tails with her chakra-cloaked feet keeping her tethered to the side of the building.
Hiruko lay in pieces on the floor, his face shield, scorpion tail, and body parts scattered amongst the terrain, having been assaulted by the Five Tail's brutal blow. Panting, Han watched as a red-haired boy crawled from the scattered remains.
"It seems I have underestimated you," he declared, throwing a scroll between them and connecting chakra strings to the smoky haze in a blink of an eye.
Before him, Han's eyes narrowed as he beheld the Third Kazekage himself.
"This tea is amazing!" Fu exclaimed, staring wide eyed into the steaming cup before her.
"If you think that's good, you should try the dango!" Aiko laughed, offering up one of the sticks of coloured dango in her extended hand.
Black sand encompassed the Five Tails limbs, forcing him to slam his captured limbs to the ground to free himself of the shavings. A mighty blow delivered at the hand of the Third Kazekage's puppet sent him across the terrain, the ground assaulting his body as he drowned in black sand.
"Oh my Jashin, you're kidding?" Aiko giggled into her hand. "I know someone that I would love to stick to the side of a building. Many, actually."
Aiko rubbed her chin, a devilish glint appearing in her eye.
"Then let's do it! Do you think they'd want to be friends with me too?" Fu asked eagerly, her hands clasped into fists that rested just below her chin.
"Absolutely."
BOOM! Black sand rained down on the ground, a chakra-cloaked figure emerging as if reborn, resting on all fours like the beast he was known to be. With animal-like instinct, the Tailed Beast charged onto his enemy without fear, the very earth shuddering and collapsing under his feet as it gave way to extend the natural landscape of steam vents.
"Wow, you really are a shark!" Fu gasped, causing Kisame to blink as the girl chattered on to Aiko without a care in the world.
"Like you can talk, jitterbug," Aiko laughed, wrapping her arm around the girl's shoulder before winking to Kisame. "Now, who wants ice cream?"
Deidara cursed, plummeting to the ground from the steam melting his clay bird's wing. On the ground, Sasori moulded the iron sand into an abundance of projectiles from which there was no escape. With a twitch of a chakra string, the thousands of projectiles barrelled into the ground, a mighty explosion forming as they were met with a Tailed Beast bomb. The explosion itself could be seen for miles if anyone had been around to witness it.
"This is amazing," Fu proclaimed, eyes shimmering at the ice cold and creamy dessert that made her taste buds sing with glee.
"Don't tell me you've never had ice cream before."
Han panted on the ground, the last of his chakra having been put towards his Tailed Beast bomb and the regeneration of where the iron sand had penetrated his skin. As the blood poured from his skin and dribbled down his mouth, his neck snapped to the figure in the distant skies, watching as it slowly moved closer to his position.
"If we did not have another use for you, you would have made a useful puppet."
Han's neck snapped the other way, pushing himself up on his feet as he charged, head bowed to the red-haired boy who should have been dead if his charred and still-flaming limbs were anything to go by.
"Ahhh, brain freeze!" Fu winced, scrunching up her eyes, completely oblivious to the figure looming behind her, sword in hand.
However, all he met was the black sand of the Kazekage puppet, a single up-stretched hand the last thing to be seen before the sand swallowed him whole.
"Well done," Pain offered, looking down at the unconscious form of the Five Tails that had been placed before him.
Then he turned his attention to the two Akatsuki members that had presented the Beast. Hiruko had several indents and cracks in his face. His weaponized arm and shield clutched in his arms. Pain suspected he was currently missing a leg, but couldn't be sure through the tattered remains of his charred Akatsuki cloak. His scorpion's tail dragged behind him, leaving tracks in the ground that led to the place where they were to seal the Beast.
Beside him, Deidara sported a burn which was red and blistered up the side of his face, but was more likely to have fried nerve endings and exposed bone on his neck. It had also not escaped the Leader's notice how he had limped in, wincing all the while, most likely hiding a multitude of other injuries beneath his own cloaked form. It was at this moment that Aiko appeared in a flurry of white paper, proceeding to dump another unconscious form next to the Five Tails. Pain blinked.
"Who is this, Aiko?" her oji-san inquired.
"Seven Tails," she shrugged, looking bored.
Deidara's mouth dropped open, causing him to wince as he overstretched his delicate skin so that several blisters cracked.
"You caught a Tailed Beast, un?" the boy questioned in disbelief.
"What, like it's hard?" she smirked, before blinking at the red welt on his face. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Deidara muttered, glaring at the ground.
"Dei, you're hurt," the girl said softly, lifting her hand to his injured face.
"I'm not hurt," the boy countered stubbornly, turning his head away from Aiko's outstretched fingertips.
"But… your face."
"I'm not hurt," Deidara parroted with narrowed eyes, "it's like you said, un. Capturing a Tailed Beast is easy."
And with that highly false statement, Deidara puffed out his chest and went to prepare himself for extraction, trying to hide his awkward gait as he shuffled away.
A/N: I'm sorry it's late - my laptop battery gave up on life, but to make up for it you will get a double update this week (today and Saturday)!
Lots of action scenes this week (which are always a pain to write), but hopefully you like how Aiko has developed as a shinobi? Also I hope you enjoy the contrasting accounts of capturing a Tailed Beast - it made me laugh that Deidara would go in all guns blazing, but Aiko just strolls in like 'yeah, I caught one - wasn't hard', then it gets kinda dark. Sorry Fu - you are adorable, but you had to die.