Chapter 38: Initiation
When I came to I was fully dressed again, laying on my side with Itachi behind, holding me in his arms protectively. He had redressed himself as well. My body felt a little stiff and I carefully shifted to look at him. His eyes slowly opened and he sat up, realizing that I was finally awake.
He gingerly took my hands and brought me up to him, then softly placed a hand on my cheek, peering straight into my soul. "Are you okay?"
His question was so serious that it caused me blush and a small giggle escaped me. "Yes, I'm okay." I moved his hand down and gave him a sweet smile. "Were you worried, Itachi-sama?"
He sighed, pulling me to him in a careful embrace. "I won't lose control that way again."
My eyes widened. "What do you mean by that?" I pulled back to give him a questioning stare.
"I won't hurt you...again." Itachi thought that he was being clear.
I tilted my head and looked to him sadly. "If I had been stronger...you wouldn't feel that way..." my eyes peered down at my lap and a small smile played over my lips. "It was really..." I looked into his eyes again, "...amazing." The blush returned and I tried to tilt my head away before he could see. He softly cupped my chin and brought my head up to give me a soft kiss. My heart melted.
"You're not weak...by any means..." He pulled away and stood from the bed. "It's time, Angel." He said with a light smile before pulling his coat from the dresser.
That's where he was hiding it... I peered at him, my blush deepening. I was ready for round two...
Itachi faced me with a smirk. He recognized the naughty look in my eyes. "There's no time to play, angel."
I sighed and left the bed to grab my shinobi outfit, then disappeared into the bathroom to change.
I could hear him murmer as I went, "It's not like I claimed you last night...or anything..."
I blushed and quickly readied myself. When I came back out he had put on his coat and eyed me curiously. "When we leave here...you will have to put on your game face, Angel."
I playfully moved my hand over my grin and then revealed a serous expression. "Game on."
His eyebrow raised slightly as he approached me. "Don't break character around them." What this really meant was not to show my sweeter side - they would view it as weakness - and to not act like a love-struck teenager.
I nodded before he gave me a final passionate kiss, then reached around me to open the hotel room's door.
He quickly broke the kiss and I turned to see what his attention was drawn to.
"Well...I guess I found you...and...this is...unexpected of you...Itachi." Kisame was standing outside the door with a rather shocked expression.
I had to bite down on my lips to keep myself from laughing. So much for staying in character...Itachi-sama. I sighed and rolled my eyes before exiting the room first and passed Kisame on my way. "I wasn't expecting an entourage..." I called back, keeping a good pace...despite how sore I truly felt...
The two followed behind me on our way to the meetup spot and Kisame was pestering Itachi the whole way with a slew of questions. He had never seen Itachi with more than a glare before, so catching us in the kiss was mind blowing for him.
"Who is she to you?"
Itachi sighed, "An old friend..."
"You mean a girlfriend?"
"No."
"I saw you two kissing."
"It's nothing...Kisame."
"It didn't look like 'nothing'."
My annoyance was raising and I flipped around with a death glare. "Mind your own business or I'll cut you down where you stand."
They stopped dead in their tracks and Kisame had an amused expression. "This isn't a great start to an alliance."
My glare became a cold stare. "Alliance or not, I will not listen to you pry into my private life. So shut it, or I'll leave you both behind." I turned back around and kept walking. I meant what I said.
"Huh...she's feisty." Kisame said before dropping the subject.
They kept following behind and I regained my composure, focusing on keeping myself in check. I had to do exactly what Itachi said and keep character.
We had finally reached the spot and I leaned against a tree, crossing my arms and watched Itachi and Kisame catch up.
"You're here..." Zetsu came up out of the ground like the creepy plant man he was and I stared at him with a blank expression. "Have you decided?" He asked.
"Yes, however I have some questions that must be answered before I go forth."
"Oh? What questions do you have?"
"What is the Akatsuki? Why do they want me? What purpose would I serve? What is the Akatsuki's goal?"
"We are an organization who pulls towards a similar goal. We want you to join us because you have skills that would be useful to our cause. You would be helping the others accomplish a similar goal, based on your skill set. Our goal is only to be revealed once you've taken your place as one of us."
I sighed. Most of his answers were very generalized and didn't really clear anything up for me. I glanced at Itachi's emotionless face and knew that I wasn't going to get anything from him either. I sighed quietly, with slight annoyance. "Fine...I'm in."
"Good, Itachi and Kisame will guide you to our hideout where you will be introduced to the others...and be initiated properly."
I gave a nod and watched as Zetsu creeped back to the ground where he came from. I turned to the pair who were watching me. Itachi blinked at me before he started walking in the direction we were to be heading, Kisame followed his lead and I stayed several paces behind.
Night was upon us and we had to camp out. Though I kept my cool, I was happy to help gather firewood and bring it over. Kisame was eyeing me again as I placed it down and returned to the tree that I perched by.
"You're a strange one." He said. Itachi stared into the fire without a reaction and I tilted my head.
"I can't deny that...however you're one to talk," I replied, slightly raising an eyebrow at him.
A smirk came over Kisame. "So you're really going to join the Akatsuki?"
"...Yes..."
"Why?" He asked. "It seems odd that a bounty hunter such as yourself, would."
I stood from my perch and walked over to warm myself by the fire, sitting across from Kisame and Itachi. "I guess...it's because I have no where else to go...now that I've been labeled as an S-Class criminal..." My eyes were drawn to the lapping flames. "I guess...in a sense...I'm no different from those I've hunted."
Kisame was looking at me curiously. "Any other reason?"
A smirk appeared over my lips. "And...because your comrade, there, asked nicely." I felt Itachi glaring at me, the smirk I had widened. I turned my attention to Kisame. "Why did you join, Swordsman?"
Kisame looked pleased that I knew who he was. "Something similar to you...and for my own gain, of course."
I peered back into the flames. "...Good enough reason as any..."
"So...how do you two know each other again?" Kisame was pushing for answers and I glanced over at Itachi who was eyeing me.
My eyes scanned back over to Kisame. "You ask a lot of questions..."
He had a sharky grin. "Just curious."
I blinked a few times before responding to his question. "Itachi was my mentor, growing up..." I then turned my gaze back to the flames, wrapping my arms around my knees.
"Huh...this explains some things..." Kisame saw that I wasn't going to be answering any more questions and thankfully just left it at that...for now.
We were moving again by the time the sun's rays peeked over the horizon. It took us nearly all day to finally reach the hideout and I was a little unimpressed. From the outside, it looked like a waterfall, but behind it was a cave entrance. I could feel myself getting more and more nervous as we entered and followed more closely behind Itachi as he trailed Kisame. The cave came into a huge cavern. There were already a few waiting and when Itachi and Kisame stopped, I came up between the two and eyed the others curiously. There was a blond guy with bangs over one eye, a redhead, Zetsu, one other female, a man with multiple piercings, Kakuzu and to my distaste, Hidan.
"This must be the new recruit..." said the guy with piercings. "Welcome to the Akatsuki, Shikara Yukina..."
I stepped forward and gave a slight nod. I wasn't sure what to say so I just stayed silent. Hidan was eyeing me in a way that was annoying but I kept my attention forwards.
The man with piercings continued to speak. "My name is Pain, I am the leader of this organization...this here..." he motioned to the only other female, "is Konan." I gave them both a nod. "The rest can introduce themselves..."
"It seems...we are the only two you haven't met..." said the redhead. "I'm Sasori, of the sand..."
"I'm Deidara." The blond simply stated.
I gave a slight nod, again not sure what to say. The leader, Pain, never took his strange eyes away from me. "Okay, then. We have one other member who you haven't met who won't be here today...you are our replacement for another." He looked around to the others. "The numbers will be uneven, for now, so we will have to put you with an existing team." He faced me again. "We will have to test your skills to see where you fit best, considering that we know little about you."
Hidan jumped in. "I'd be happy to oblige!"
I gave him a rather bored look. Of course he would...it had to be him. On the good side of things...at least I wouldn't accidentally kill this guy and face consequences for it. For whatever reason the guy was insanely durable.
I took a few more steps forward and moved my body into a relaxed defensive stance. "I'd be happy...to rip off your head..."
He had a huge grin on his face. "I'll make you bleed."
"Take this as a training exercise. No killing will be permitted." The leader commanded and everyone aside from Hidan and I jumped on top of a pair of large hands, taking their places on the fingers that were extended upwards.
A devilish grin spread across Hidan's lips and he murmured, "accidents happen."
My eyes narrowed and I couldn't help but to smirk. There was a strange excitement building inside me. Yes...accidents do happen.
Hidan was the first to charge. I already knew his fighting style, so it was easy for me to dodge, not that it was really an issue before but this time I wouldn't get distracted. Any time I had an opening I would land a hard blow and in turn he would laugh hysterically. After a short while he became annoyed with my illusiveness and started to take harder swings with his scythe. The first chance I had, I took hold of my own blade and used it to block his swings.
"You're starting to really piss me off." He growled at me, when our blades locked.
I smirked in response. "I suggest you give up, then. No one wants to witness a sore loser."
"Grahhh!" He yelled in frustration and I was starting to struggle against his strength.
I jumped back, then charged forward. Before taking a swing, I vanished from his sight just as he was taking a powerful swipe, I reappeared behind him, catching him off balance and shoved my sword deep into his back and through his chest cavity. My blade should have pierced his right lung and I pulled back and jumped away to take another defensive stance. I thought I had won but he started to laugh again. The sound echoing throughout the cavern was haunting and he turned to me with an evil gleam.
Again, he should have been dead, despite the orders given. My eyebrows creased, realizing that stabbing him through wasn't going to cause any real harm.
I replaced my blade in my back strap and prepared for a different kind of attack. "Ice-Style: Frozen Prison!" The sharp ice cycles came up from beneath and pierced him all over. His laughter became more psychotic as he was pinned there, each leg and arms were pierced through as well and three more through his abdomen. He couldn't move and he had to be experiencing insane amounts of pain...but there he was, laughing, enjoying it like it was a huge turn on for him.
I slowly approached, taking my blade back into hand and when I was just a few feet from him I scowled, pointing the blade at his face. "It's no fun...to face an opponent...who wont die." My eyes narrowed. "And you are particularly boring."
His face contorted in a violent rage. "Fuck you! Let me out so that I can show you real pain!"
I smirked again, dropping the blade downwards and then turned away from Hidan to look up at the leader. My expression became flat. I was truly disappointed, simply because I didn't even have the chance to use any of my other skills. It was probably better this way, the less they knew, the better, however I could hardly call that a fight.
"Hm...it seems that this fight is over..." Pain said, coming down from the hands and approached me. "You are quick and calculated...maybe putting you with Hidan and Kakuzu for now may be the best option."
"Oh hell, no!" Hidan yelled from his frozen, pierced status.
I bowed. "I don't wish to disrespect you in any way...however..." I straightened my posture to look Pain in the eyes, "I don't see myself teaming up with anyone, aside from Itachi-sama."
Pain eyed me. "Why the Uchiha...?"
I looked to the floor. "I know him...grew up with him...he was my mentor while I was training to be a shinobi." My gaze came back up to see Itachi way up there on the hands. "We work well together...and...he's the only one here who is capable of keeping my darkness at bay." My eyes returned to Pain's. "Anyone else may fall victim to my evil tendencies."
"Darkness?" Pain wanted more information.
"Yes. You see, it's not like a tailed beast that gets sealed away into a vessel...it's something that's haunted me my whole life and destroys anything in its path that may seem like a threat." I tried to explain the best I could.
"Is it a part of you, or separate?"
I blinked. "It can be both..."
Pain seemed a bit perplexed. "I appreciate your honesty...I will grant you your wish to remain with Itachi Uchiha...at least until I've learned more about...this darkness...you speak of."
I nodded. "Thank you, sir."
"Now...release Hidan."
My eyes never left Pain's as I raised a hand in Hidan's direction and did a small fluid motion with it. The ice piercing Hidan melted and he was free again, cursing and raging to himself.
The other members of the Akatsuki rejoined us, all looking just as bored as I felt about the fight.
Pain spoke again. "I will be appointing you a mission right away..." I looked to him curiously. "Before you can officially join us in our...ranks...you must retrieve a certain ring that belongs to us from a previous member."
The glances around the room showed me already that this first mission was screwed from the get-go. "Who must I retrieve the ring from?"
There were about three or four who muttered the name under their breath. "Orochimaru."
My eyes narrowed. The fight with Hidan was child's play. Retrieving a ring from someone like Orochimaru was going to be the real challenge of initiation. I peeked over at Itachi and despite the blank expression he wore, I could see in his eyes a small hint of worry.
...Shit...
