Another chapter I wrote a loooong time ago and never published. This takes place after Good Intent I & II.
Itachi, Asaya, Kisame, Sasori, and Deidara entered a large town uneventfully in the mid-morning. There were no guards at the gate or any form of check-in station. Fitting for a town dominated by yakuza. In fact, only a few blocks into town stood a quaint, two story bar with kitschy, old-fashioned interior decorations and bright red curtains drawn shut on every window of the second floor.
This was a classy establishment, Asaya decided. So classy that they did not enter through the front and instead snuck around to the back where a man in a black suit opened a splintered door to reveal a surprisingly wide staircase leading down to the basement. Kisame, Itachi, Sasori, and Deidara shuffled down the stairs with Asaya behind them. The basement reeked with decades' worth of tobacco build up. A polished, hardwood minibar stood against the far wall and tasteless, gaudy images of legendary warriors and monsters hung mixed with posters of pinup girls in varying shades of naked. Classy indeed.
Most of the men in the room wore black suits like the man at the rear entrance, but some wore crisply new tracksuits. Nearly all of them had tattoos peeking out from their collars and sleeves: blue waves, speckles of pink petals, and green or orange scales of koi or dragons. There were a few women present, too, just as clothed as their counterparts the wall.
In the center of the room was a dark leather couch and some chairs arranged around a baize table covered in playing cards, ashtrays, and short glasses filled with amber liquor and ice. Sitting centrally on the couch was an ugly, middle aged man with a luridly embellished woman on each side. He took a drag of his cigar and said, "So, you the Akatsuki?" while scrutanizing them head to toe.
"What do you think?" Kisame answered.
"I was expecting two men, not four." He tapped his cigar into a glass ashtray. "An' a broad." He added when he spotted Asaya hiding behind them. "Lucky for me to get such special service. I'm Hasegawa, by the way. The man who called for you."
"And what did you call us for?" Asked Sasori, curtly.
"Some of my men were busted by the central government a few days back. Right now they're being held in the prison on the other end of town, but I need 'em snuffed out before they're transported to the capitol for interrogation and the cover's blown on the rest of my operations." Hasegawa explained while snaking a hand around to grab the ass of one of the women sitting next to him. "Normally, I'd have my men do it, but they recently hired some shinobi for guards so we're a little outclassed. Think you can handle it?" His grubby palm squeezed the woman's ass a few times before crawling up her waist.
"If we didn't, we wouldn't be here." Kisame said.
Asaya paid no attention to the conversation and instead glared from the corner of her eye at a man standing a few feet to the left of the entrance. He eyed her vulgarly from behind while lighting a cigarette and taking an excessively long drag.
The exchange had not gone unnoticed by Itachi. A moment later, the man stumbled back in terror, as if a monster from a painting on the wall had sprung to life just to devour him.
"Well, I guess not." Hasegawa picked up a few photographs from the table and handed them to the woman on his right. "These are the men I need offed. I don't know where they are inside the prison, so you're just gonna have to find 'em yourselves."
The woman took the photos and brought them over to Kisame, who did not waste the opportunity to examine her assets.
"It won't be a problem." Itachi said indifferently as the other three made to leave. "If you have nothing else for us, we will be going now." As he turned and passed Asaya, she whispered a nearly silent "Thank you." to him before following.
"You still listen to the Yoru Tani radio drama, huh?" Deidara asked Asaya.
"Yeah, Tsuta and I love it." She said brightly. "I really want the narrator's boyfriend to escape the alternate dimension and…"
Kisame tapped his finger on his lukewarm teacup for the millionth time while Deidara and Asaya babbled on and on about Iwa and other stupid shit. Itachi had decided that he and Sasori should complete this mission while Kisame would stay behind with Deidara to watch Asaya. This idea worked because the mission did not require four people and they obviously couldn't take her with them. Deidara was too destructive so someone had to stay behind with him to watch her. And since Deidara and Itachi didn't get along, Kisame ended up with the short stick babysitting the two at a small teahouse two blocks down from the yakuza bar. It wouldn't have been so bad if Deidara and the girl weren't obnoxious, insufferable twits.
"I don't know, my cat's kind of disgusting. He's too fat and lazy to groom himself, so he gets pretty matted and grimy if I don't give him baths." Asaya said.
Kisame needed to escape this. He finished his remaining drink with a single big gulp and stood up. "Deidara, keep an eye on her. I'll be back."
"Hey, where are you going, hm?" Deidara asked suspiciously.
"Where do you think?" He said while walking away.
Asaya curled her lip as he turned left towards the yakuza bar. "What a sleazebag."
"Yeah," Deidara responded passively.
"Ugh, at least he's gone. I'm so sick of looking at his stupid fish face." She muttered.
"Don't like him, hm?" Deidara couldn't blame her, but he still found her disdain funny.
"He's a stupid, misogynistic thug. I hope he gets an STI." She said bitterly while taking a sip of green tea.
Deidara chuckled while taking a bite of one of his snacks. "Hm, so what's it been like being stuck with them?"
"Well, I guess as far as hostage situations go it's not too bad. I mean, so far that asshole has only given me a couple of bruises." She scratched her chin. "That sounds weird now that I've said it…"
Shrugging, Deidara said "Yeah, sounds like something an abused housewife would say, hm. How many bruises has Itachi given you?" He was, in some small way, concerned for his friend. Or former friend.
"None." Asaya never had the impression that Itachi would raise a hand to her. Ever. Pinching her brows, Asaya thought for a moment then finally said, "I don't think he even cares. Most of the time he just treats me like I'm invisible. And then when he does speak to me, half the time it's like he's not really there." Although, he would make dry comments as if he were trying to be sympathetic in an awkward way. At first, she didn't realize what he was doing, but thinking back he actually said them rather frequently. She found herself thinking fondly of it. "I don't really understand him."
"He's a sociopath. It's not that hard to figure out, yeah." Deidara said.
"Oh, and you're not?" She accused him.
"Not the kind who tortures small animals, hm."
Asaya vacantly stared to the side while picking dirt from her nails. That didn't seem right to her, at all. "Maybe. I don't know." She said ambiguously.
"He likes to torture people with those illusions of his, un." Deidara stated in contempt. "You should avoid making eye contact."
"Maybe." She simply repeated. Sure, just earlier that day Itachi had used an illusion to intimidate the man who was leering at her. Or maybe terrorize? Either way, his action was a kindness on her behalf and didn't seem like just an excuse to torture someone. In her experience, Itachi was even more indifferent towards violence than he was to anything else. "Maybe he's just an anti-authoritarian anarchist like you." She smirked.
"Don't compare me to that hack, hn!" Deidara pounded his fist on the table.
Struck a nerve? "You're right, he's way less obnoxious."
"Shut up." He said tersely.
"Ok, ok," She said softly while biting her inner lip. "Why do you hate him? Aren't you colleagues or something?" Not that Deidara was particularly congenial himself.
Slumping back in his seat, Deidara said, "It's nothing. He just gets on my nerves sometimes, un."
Resting her chin in her hand, Asaya knew better than to ask and instead opted to change the subject. "How long do you think Kisame will be gone?"
"I don't know, un. A little over an hour, yeah?"
"Oh, is that how long a typical prostitution venture lasts?"
"Well, probably, considering-" Irritated, narrow blue eyes glared her down. "Why do you think I would know that, hmm?"
Asaya offered a sweet, toothy grin. "No particular reason."
"Hey, unlike some people, I don't need to pay for services, hm!"
"Relax, I get it." She had forgotten how fragile his ego was. "I'm just kidding."
Deidara crossed his arms.
"Fine. You are the most irresistible jackass on the face of the earth." She got up from her seat to sit next to him. He leaned away from her, eyes razor thin. She batted her eyelashes a few times before nabbing a jam-filled cookie from his plate and eating it in one bite.
"You jerk. You just wanted to steal my food, hm." He nudged her with his elbow in jest.
"Well, you were taking your time so I assumed you didn't want it." She smirked while chewing and reached an arm to rest across his shoulders. "We're still friends, right DD-kun? Don't friends share?" He responded by mistrustfully inching his plate to the left.
"Don't be like that…" Snaking her fingers around his neck, she pinched a nerve and he slumped forward and his head fell to the now plateless spot on the table with a distinctively unconscious thud. Asaya rolled her eyes. Sorry.
Walking furtively down the street, Asaya supposed she should have stopped sooner to ask directions, but she had wanted to put as much space between her and the unconscious Deidara as possible before either he woke up or Kisame returned. Unfortunately, this meant she was lost somewhere on the other side of town. Although, it may not have been the worst possible situation, as hiding in a crowd was often easier than in the wilderness. Like a tree in a forest, as they say. Maybe she should even stay a night or two in a hotel before leaving town with some merchants just to shake them off her trail.
Asaya passed by a shop window with relatively nice, casual clothing displayed on headless, plastic mannequins. Getting a new change of clothes would be a good Idea, too. One time, she had escaped simply by changing clothes with a waitress. A new dress, a few hairclips, and some makeup and she walked right past them. Men are simple creatures. Stepping back from the window, she accidentally bumped into someone.
"Oh, I'm sorry." She said automatically.
A man in a dated, white suit with a gold chain necklace and greasy hair looked down at her. Two other men were with him, one wearing an equally dated black leather jacket and the other a blue and white stripped track suit. It wasn't hard to guess they were members of the same yakuza gang that ran the brothel.
"You should watch your step, little lady." The white suit said.
Asaya gave a small, fake smile and stepped left to walk away, but the man cut her off. "I said 'I'm sorry.'" She stepped to the right, but he trapped her with an arm against the window.
"Now, what's the rush?" His slimy voice offensively crawled into her ears.
"Excuse me." She said and stepped back only to feel the man in the leather jacket place a grimy hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off forcefully.
"Don't look so angry, little lady. It ruins your pretty face." The white suit stepped towards her and the other two chuckled.
This ended now. Asaya struck the white suit's jaw with a strong uppercut and he fell backwards on the ground with a whimper. "You little bitch!" The man in the blue tracksuit tried to punch her, but instead she easily grabbed his arm and twisted it till it popped out of the socket and he howled in pain. Wasting no time, she then jabbed the leather jacket three times in the stomach before sweeping his legs out from under him by the ankles. Glaring over the three whimpering men crippled by pain, she was about to verbally assault them when she heard someone in the street exclaim "Look, did you see that?" Asaya glanced up to meet the wide-eyed stares of nearly every pedestrian nearby. "Who is that girl?" Another one said.
Crap. Panicking, she ran down the street like a jackrabbit.
"You little cunt!" One of the men yelled behind her as she ran.
Eventually, Asaya arrived at a different edge of town than the one where she had entered. One with an actual checkpoint for legitimate travelers and merchants to pass through. Something needed to keep up the appearance that this town wasn't completely corrupt.
Off to the side and a bit away from the checkpoint was a caravan loading various goods onto large wagons. Asaya spotted a man checking each wagon with a clipboard and occasionally shouting orders. Assuming him to be the foreman, she approached.
"Um, excuse me, sir." She addressed him.
"Yeah?" The man said, visibly annoyed at being interrupted.
"Sorry to bother, but I'm traveling out of town this evening. I'm by myself so I was hoping to join a group. If you have room I promise not to be a bother."
"Depends, where are you headed?" He said with scrutiny through a thick, scruffy moustache and beard.
"Kanoya." She read from an address on a nearby shipping container. "I was in town visiting my grandmother and am headed back home." She lied.
His dubious expression did not change, but luckily he was too busy to care. "Can you lift 50 pounds?" He pointed to a large stack of crates next to an empty wagon some meters away. "Tell you what, if you can load those crates onto that wagon there before we leave I'll give you a free ride."
"Ok, it's a deal. How do you want them stacked?" She said.
The foreman mildly raised an eyebrow. He clearly thought she would not have taken the offer. "Doesn't matter as long as they all fit."
"Alright. Thanks, sir." She rolled up her sleeves and headed towards the crates.
Wishing she had a hairband, Asaya pulled her hair up off her neck to let the cool air waft over it. She had finished loading the last crate and while she wasn't necessarily tired, she had produced a bit sweat under the sun. She sat back to rest against a crate with a thud.
"Well, I'll be." The foreman whistled. "Didn't think you'd actually do it."
"It wasn't too bad." Asaya huffed.
"You can wait by the break table over there for the time being. The woman there, Kyaku Harue, will give you something to drink if you'd like." He said.
"Thanks." She stood up and dusted off her pants. "When do you leave?"
"About twenty minutes."
Excellent, she thought. "Alright. Thank you."
"Hello, young lady." A short woman with a round face and a few streaks of grey in otherwise black hair greeted her as she approached the empty table next to the workers' break stand.
"Hello. Are you Kyaku Harue?" Asaya asked while taking a seat.
"I am. You must be the young lady they've told me about. What's your name?"
"Call me 'Aki.'" Asaya said. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, too." The woman smiled warmly. "You must be tired. Would you like something to drink?"
"Oh, I'm fine, thank you. I'm just waiting until it's time to leave." She said politely.
"Nonsense. I'll make you some tea." Harue ducked behind the counter for a moment before pulling out a paper cup from behind the stand. She filled it with hot water, steeped a teabag for a minute, and then added some cream and sugar. "Here you are, sweetie."
Asaya did not like cream and sugar in her tea, but it was rude to reject the hospitality. "Thank you." The beverage wasn't too hot so she took a large drink. The taste was just a bit too sweet and left a weirdly acidic aftertaste as it swirled over her tongue. "It's lovely." Sugar really didn't mix well with tea.
"So, where are you headed?" Harue asked.
"Kanoya." Hopefully she wouldn't ask about anything too specific.
"That's quite a distance. And you're going by yourself, I hear? That's very brave of you." Harue spoke in a way reminiscent of an aunt speaking to her young niece or nephew.
"I've traveled alone before though, so I'm used to it." Asaya said after taking another drink.
"You know, I have some family over there myself. My brother is a fisherman- just like every other man in this country. He…" Harue spoke at length about her extended family. It may not have been particularly interesting, but it was polite conversation and it did pass the time. She didn't mention much of anything about herself though, like a husband or children- or her work.
Only a few millimeters of cold liquid remained at the bottom of Asaya's paper cup. "Well, thank you for the tea. It was lovely meeting you, but I must be going now." She stood up from the table, but the whole world shifted sideways, rocking like a boat. Overwhelmed by a sudden vertigo, she slammed both hands on the table. What…? she thought while a fever-like sensation washed over her.
"Are you feeling alright, dearie?" Harue asked in an excessively sweet tone- a disingenuously sweet tone.
Panting, Asaya looked at the empty paper cup while the perimeters of her vision swirled and blurred, then looked accusingly at Harue.
"You seem tired. Why don't you sit back down and relax?" Harue smiled.
"You-" Asaya hissed through gritted teeth before passing out.
"So, how do I know you actually killed them?" Hasegawa drew a red-backed poker card from a deck on the table and indifferently looked at his fat, gold watch.
Itachi threw a brown sack onto the table. It landed with a definite thud, causing many of the chip stacks to clatter and topple.
It didn't take a genius to figure out wat was in the bag. "Well-" Hasegawa began, but was interrupted by the door slamming open and someone clunkishly trampling down the stairs. A short, thin man came down while exclaiming "Hey Boss, auntie Harue nabbed another one for us!" Behind him followed a much larger man effortlessly carrying an unconscious woman over one shoulder. "Apparently, this one's here alone from outta town. Perfect, right?" the short man elaborated.
Hasegawa slammed his glass on the baize card table. "Can't you see I'm in the middle of business here?!" he shouted and gestured towards his two Akatsuki guests.
The short man visibly winced and glanced nervously at the black-robbed figures. "I'm sorry, sir, I just thought you'd want to-"
"I don't care." Hasegawa dismissively ashed his cigar. "Just take her to the back and I'll see to it later."
"Yes, sir." The two men shuffled towards the back door.
As they passed, Itachi glanced at the unconscious woman. His eyes flared from behind his high collar. "Stop." He commanded.
The two men halted and turned around, clearly taken aback.
"That woman is with us." Itachi said.
Asaya awoke in a cold, clammy sweat. Every muscle in her body painfully tremored, her stomach threatened to prolapse, and her head throbbed as if her brain were trying to escape her shrinking skull by rupturing through her temples. She opened her eyes briefly to find a dark room of shadows cast by a dim light from some feet behind her. Suddenly, a fever flashed over her and she cast the blanket aside. The air rushed over her sticky skin and into the damp crevasses of her joints with a soothing coolness as it evaporated her sweat. She enjoyed the relief for only a few minutes before she became too cold and covered herself with the blanket.
"How are you feeling?" Asked a familiar, monotone voice.
Fucking damn it… Asaya thought as she remembered the events of the last twenty-four hours- or what she assumed were the last twenty-four hours. Unfortunately, she didn't really have the emotional energy to process it all. She just knew she somehow ended up back in the custody of the Akatsuki. Taking quite a few moments to speak, she finally wheezed, "You know, I've heard that the guys who specialize in poisons-" she took a deep breath- "regularly ingest small amounts to build up an immunity." She coughed twice and added, "I'm thinking of trying it."
A small thud came from somewhere behind her, like something was not-so-gently dropped onto a table. "You're really lucky, you know that?" She could tell by his inflection that he was angry. The disappointed kind of angry.
"I'll buy some lottery tickets." She said flatly.
Faux-leather upholstery and metal springs squeaked as Itachi adjusted his seat. "Do you have any idea what would have happened if we hadn't found you?" Before she said something flippant he added "To you specifically."
Not disappointed… distressed? Asaya uncovered herself again as another hot flash came over her. She did not appreciate being patronized even if it was out of concern. "Sure." She puffed out.
"Then what-"
"I don't know-" She massaged her temple in small circles a few times, trying to disperse the pain. Her efforts only made it worse. "I don't know what you are going to do to me." Her voice diminished as she spoke.
Itachi said nothing.
He watched her etiolated form pant and squirm uncomfortably as it worked whatever drug out of her system. Shivering, she rolled onto her side facing away from him and curled her knees up before covering herself with the blanket again.
Itachi had been furious that this had happened- that his colleagues had failed, that the yakuza had drugged and abducted her, and that he had only found her by sheer luck. A part of him resented that she had run away again, although the better part of him knew he had no right. Asaya had only been acting in her own best interest.
Tilting his head forward, he reached back to untie his hitai-ate. The lamplight glinted off of its defaced surface as he set it down on the table next to him. Perhaps what he truly resented was being trapped in this precarious situation. Although, if he had decided to stay back instead this would not have happened. Itachi rested his bare forehead against his right palm as his mind spiraled into conflict, repeatedly flexing his left hand into and out of a fist while staring at the wretched object on the table. For the moment, there was nothing he could do except wait.