Chapter Two: Meeting The Akatsuki
I wake up to the gentle motion of being carried. I'm pretty groggy after being tortured through my sleep. I don't move a muscle; so afraid am I of being carried by Itachi. It takes me a bit to realize that Kakuzu is carrying me. I hear Hidan cursing at Kisame as they have a conversation on something. Itachi and Kakuzu are silent as usual.
"Hidan, it's your turn", Kakuzu says suddenly.
"No way, I'm not carrying the Little Bitch !" he protests.
I'm tossed through the air and I fear that Hidan isn't going to catch me. But he does (thank God). Of course, he doesn't carry me gently. But beggars can't be choosers. I let myself go back into a semiconscious state. Pretty soon I feel myself flying and I really want to yank my eyes open to see whom I'm going to. Please not Itachi, anybody but Itachi.
"She's as light as a feather", Kisame boasts, "And you think she's heavy?"
"No, just thought you'd like to", Kakuzu says.
"Yeah, we're not ' lightweights", Hidan adds.
Itachi says nothing.
Kisame isn't as rough as Hidan, but not as gentle as Kakuzu. His hands don't feel scaly like I thought they would. But they're definitely not soft. Once again, I let myself doze. But I never go any further then a doze and every time someone says something I listen closely. I figure that we've been walking for two hours and I also figure that I switch carriers every thirty minutes, which means…
"Hey, Itachi, you wanna carry her?" Kisame asks.
Oh My God… save me… let him say no… say no… please. And then I'm tossed through the air… to anyone but him, please. But new hands surround my waist and I know that my prayers have been denied. His touch is softer then Kakuzu's. It's like he thinks I'm a doll. But my torture/pleasure is short lived because I'm dumped on the ground about five minutes after his turn started.
"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR!" I scream.
Of course then everybody else turns around and looks at me.
"How long have you been awake?" Itachi asks.
"Well, Weasel, I've been awake for about two hours. Does that answer your question?"
"Yes".
I hear Kisame sniggering in the background.
"Aw, shut-up Fish Stick. You didn't even notice I was awake. Or did you just like holding me so much you didn't say anything?" I say.
Kisame blushes purple (blue skin + blush) and Hidan laughs.
"Same goes for you Princess Hidan", I say.
Then he blushes. The only two not blushing are Itachi and Kakuzu.
"I think that you can walk", Kakuzu says.
"And if I refuse?"
"We'll drag you".
"And if I try to run?"
"You don't want to know".
"That makes sense. I guess I'll walk".
With what little dignity I have I stand up and brush the dirt off of my clothes and reluctantly follow the Akatsukis. Of course, that doesn't mean I can't annoy them.
"Are we there yet?" I ask.
"For the millionth damn time, NO!" Hidan shouts.
"I'm hungry", I complain.
"So fuckin' what!"
"I'm tired, will you carry me Princess Hidan?"
" Hell no, Little Bitch".
My name is not Little Bitch. It's Mizuka Kohei, or Mizu or Zuka. NOT Little Bitch ".
"I don't give a fuck what your name is. You're our servant, we can call you what we want".
I stick my tongue out at him like the mature 15-year-old I am. He glares at me, and then gets an evil look in his eyes and I start to back away.
"No way", I say.
He comes toward me with the ferocity of a rabid cat and slaps me hard across the face. I don't cry. I don't even flinch. I just glare up at him with hatred, but not anger.
"All I did was stick my tongue out at you and you slap me?" I question.
"Just trying to prove a point. No one here is your friend, you belong to us", Hidan says.
"I don't need any friends; I've never had any", I say matter-of-factly.
Of course the entire group (minus Itachi) seems taken aback by that fact.
"You seem surprised. People are just going to die anyway, why get attached?"
"I think that you may almost be as psychotic as Itachi", Kisame stated.
"Well, isn't it like a shinobi rule that you don't show emotion? I think Itachi is a perfect example of this, he's as lifeless as a sock monkey".
Itachi didn't reply, he didn't even twitch a muscle. Of course after this comment, there were several snickers from the peanut gallery, but otherwise silence.
"Are we there yet?"
"Just a bit further", Kakuzu sighs.
"Are the other Akatsuki members as stupid as you or are they worse?"
No answer.
"You guys aren't any fun", I sigh.
"If you like fun, you'll love Tobi", Kisame
The others (minus Itachi) seemed to brighten up at the idea of me annoying Tobi.
"But Fish Stick, I love you", I whine.
He blushes purple (again) and Hidan laughs.
"I don't even think you're from the same species", he chuckles.
"But our love can overcome that. Right, Fish Stick?"
No answer from the blushing blue whale (shark). More laughter from Hidan. I decide to do something that may or may not get me killed. As stealthy as a panther I leap and give Fish Stick a gigantic hug. Of course, that's kind of hard to do what with his sword in the way. His face is bright, bright purple.
"Wow, Fish Stick, don't kill brain cells", I say.
Hidan is gasping for breath; he's laughing so hard.
"I know Kakuzu isn't that great at gambling, but he sure hit the jackpot on you!"
Did… Hidan… just give me a compliment? Without swearing?
"Um… thanks".
And then it starts to rain again. Once again, I notice that the Akatsuki cloaks work as perfect raincoats. I silently debate stealing Fish Sticks on the terms that he is a fish and fish need water, but he might kill me. Before I can plan any further, Kakuzu throws me a black clump of something. I unwrap the bundle and discover that it's a black Akatsuki cloak, minus the clouds.
"T-t-thanks", I chatter.
The cloak has a gigantic hood, which I put on. It's nice and cozy inside the slightly too large cloak.
After about six (one and a half) hours of walking, we apparently reach the Akatsuki hideout. Itachi goes up to a rock and it opens. We walk in, me in between Hidan and Kakuzu because they still don't trust me. We enter a dank, cold, slimy cave. Lovely, I must get the name of their decorator. But then Itachi dispels the Genjutsu and we're in a long hallway. The walls are black and red (wonder why?) and otherwise there is nothing. We pass doors and there is no distinction between one door and another. I don't even say anything, I'm slightly terrified.
I immediately can tell when we enter the living room because there's a wall sized T.V. and lots of leather sofas. There are three people in the room at the moment, but I only notice one because he's running (skipping?) toward us.
"Deidara, Sasori, look! They're back! And they brought someone with them!" the midget in the mask shouts.
The midget goes person-to-person attempting to give them hugs, but they move swiftly. Then he focuses his gaze on me.
"Can Tobi hug him?" the midget asks Hidan.
"Go right ahead", Hidan says gleefully.
Oh no. Tobi skips toward me and wraps me in a lung-bursting hug. During this hug, he someone manages to rip the cloak off and it falls to the ground in slow motion. My only protection… gone.
"Oh, Tobi found a girl! Tobi thought that she was a boy, but Tobi found a girl!"
I take this short amount of time to observe the other two. There's a blonde guy and I seriously would think he was a girl if he wasn't staring at my chest. Perv. The other guy has red hair and isn't even staring at me. He's watching the T.V. Actually, he's not even watching it, he's channel flipping. How is channel flipping better then me?
"Why did you bring a girl back with you", Mr. Red says, while not gazing away from the T.V.
"Kakuzu won her from her father. The stupid bastard gambled away everything", Hidan chuckles.
I whirl around and slap him as hard as I can. Really, really hard.
"My father may have been a dirty scumbag. But he's still my father and I won't have you speak of him that way. I still love him even though he lost me to you and before to the freak Oro-".
I stop myself before I go to far. Anger is my number one enemy and I only now realize that I'm angry. My eyes are glaring holes in Hidan. And I know that accidentally I've activated my stupid kekkai genkai. It doesn't have a name, but it's activated by anger. I can clearly see Hidan's chakra and I can also which element it is. Earth element; counter with lightning, my subconscious says. It only takes a second for me to deactivate the kekkai genkai. My blue eyes fade back to their normal gray. It appears that most people were distracted by Hidan's shocked face, then by my eyes. I glare around the room and the only eyes that meet mine are Itachi's and only for a second. Does he know my secret?
"You'll begin work tomorrow", Hidan says.
"I don't want to work for you", I say stubbornly.
"You don't have a fuckin' choice", says Hidan.
"Yes I do".
"No you don't".
"Do too".
"Do not".
"Shut up, you guys sound like an old married couple", Mr. Red says.
"We do not", Hidan and I say at the same time.
"Point proven", Mr. Red says.
"She's going to be working for us, yeah?" asks Mr. Perv.
"No-"
"Yes you are", says Kakuzu.
"Though you can torture me all you like, and you outnumber me, the answer will still be no", I say.
"Can I have her then?" Mr. Red asks.
"Have me? Fuck no!"
"She'd make a pretty puppet. I wonder how many jutsus she can do?" he asks.
"Like I'd tell you", I huff.
"Oh, we'll find out eventually", Mr. Red says.
"I might as well kill myself", I mutter.
"What was that?" Kakuzu says.
"Nothing, Master", I say sarcastically.
"We're all your Masters", Kakuzu says.
"You wish", I mutter.
"Rule #1: No muttering".
"Okay", I mutter.
I receive a hard slap on my face from Mr. Red.
"Yeah, yeah", I say loudly.
"Good. Rule #2: Do not go into our rooms unless you're ordered to".
"Whose room is that one?" I say, pointing to the door right across the hall.
"Itachi's" Kakuzu says.
"The one next to it?"
"Hidan's".
I walk right up to the door, open it, step inside, and step out. Then I stick my tongue out at Hidan. Another slap on the face.
"Rule #3: You'll cook and clean for us. Do not try to poison our food or try any funny stuff".
"Like this?" I say while holding Fish Stick's hand.
He's blushing the extreme shade of purple.
"Yes, like that", says Kakuzu.
Another slap from Hidan.
"Where's my room going to be?" I ask.
"We'll all show you", Kakuzu says.
Which translates into, "Don't try any funny stuff or we'll all kill you".
"Whatever", I mutter.
"Rule #1", Mr. Red reminds me.
"WHATEVER!" I yell in his ear.
"New rule. Rule #4: No yelling".
"Okay", I agree.
Yelling hurts my throat. We walk down the extremely long hallway. There are a lot of twists and turns. Then we walk down an extremely long staircase. Is everything here extreme? Extremely long halls, extremely huge TV's, extremely long stairs, extremely temperamental guys, extremely hot guys. Hot? Where the did that come from? These guys are not hot. They are far from hot. They're ugly. No, they're fugly.
Most of the guys are staring at me, and it's only then that I realize that we're standing in front of a door. More correctly; my door. Also, I've been staring at the door for about five minutes without saying or doing anything.
"Are you going to go in or not?" Kakuzu asks.
"Yeah, yeah", I say.
I push open the door and walk in. There is a plain twin bed with crimson comforter and black sheets. What's with the obsession with black and red? There also is a desk, dresser, and another door leading somewhere. I open it up and look inside. Bathroom. I sigh and run toward my bed and lay down.
"Can you guys leave now?" I ask.
"What are you going to do?" asks Mr. Red.
"What do you think? Sleep".
"But you slept almost all the way here", Kakuzu says.
"No I didn't. I was awake most of the time, but you didn't know it. Remember?"
"Whatever", Kakuzu says, "I'm going to go count my money".
The rest of the guys leave the room and go off in separate directions. I sigh and lay down on the bed. I have to admit that this bed is extremely (there we go again) comfortable. I close my eyes and drift off. And while I dream I come up with a plan. A plan to escape.