The Ultimate Temptation
When I wake up there is a tray of food on my desk. I wander over and look at it. Ramen and some dango. There also is a cup of steaming tea. I dump the food down the toilet and flush. Then I lie back down and sleep. When I wake up the tray is gone and there is a jug of water on the desk in case I get thirsty. I ignore it and turn over and go back to sleep.
In the morning, my hair is a mess. I lazily yawn and pad over to the bathroom. I turn the shower's heat to high and jump (not literally) into the sauna. The water immediately burns my back, but I ignore the pain. I just turn the water higher. And when the water goes cold, I just stand there.
The water was cold there too.
The table was cold too.
So was the knife.
Cold, everything was cold.
But his smile was the coldest thing I'd ever seen.
I slam my head against the desk over and over again when I get out of the shower. Why was I thinking about him? What brought this on? I sigh (what's with the sighing?) and lay down on the bed. Sleep doesn't come easy.
"Little Bitch, you need to fix breakfast. We're starving", Hidan says.
"Like I said, my name's Mizuka. And no, I will not fix your breakfast", I sigh.
"What was that?"
"You heard me".
He picks me up by the neck and slams me into the wall. He squeezes my neck hard and I don't try to breathe.
I glare at him squarely in the eyes and say, "You're such a bitch, Hidan".
He bashes my head into the wall over and over again and then slaps me over and over in the face. Then he pulls out a kunai and starts scratching something on my arm. He slams me onto the floor and walks toward the door.
"Now you really belong to me, Mizuka", he spits.
I start to get up, but fall back down. I silently groan and try again to get up. This cycle of trying to get up and falling down continues. I finally get up and walk into the bathroom. I stare in astonishment in the mirror. What the did he do to me? There are angry red welts on my face and I have a huge bump on the back of my head. But the worst thing is what's scratched on my arm. Hidan. The wrote his name on me. His name. Now you really belong to me, Mizuka. Grrr. I could kill him right now. I hate him, I'm… I'm angry. I glare into the mirror and observe the dark blue eyes staring back at me. My eye technique is accessing myself. I have no precise chakra type, so my eyes are confused. But if I focus on one I can see it precisely. I have more water-type chakra then any other. Then I have earth, fire, lightning, and then wind. Maybe that's why he chose me. The fact that my chakra is very versatile is a useful thing. That and having an immense amount of chakra to go along with it.
I don't bother cleaning up the bloodstains on my body I just go lay down on the floor and close my eyes. I feel the minor wounds start to heal as I concentrate on them. I don't have enough energy to heal the others so I drift off into happy dreams.
"Mizu is hurt! Mizu is hurt! Tobi must get help! But whom should Tobi tell? Tobi will tell Kakuzu! Yes, Tobi will. Tobi is such a good boy to help Mizu!"
. Now Tobi is going to go tell someone. And that will make Hidan mad. Yay, more getting the crap beat out of me. Minutes later, Tobi and someone else enter the room.
"Tobi came in to give breakfast to Mizu and she was on the floor. Tobi didn't see who did it, but Tobi is very mad at whoever did it!"
Tobi mad? Impossible. Tobi couldn't hurt a fly. How could he hurt Hidan?
I feel someone's hands lift me up gently. Kakuzu's hands. Ow, it hurts so much. Kakuzu's hands gently probe my head and assess the damage there.
"Looks like she healed the minor wounds before she passed out", he says, "And I don't even need to guess who did this. He wrote his name on her", Kakuzu hisses.
"Who did it? Tobi wants to know!"
"Can't you read Tobi? Hidan scratched his name on her arm. He gets so easily pissed off".
"Oh, Tobi will go tell Hidan that Tobi is mad at him. And Tobi will make Hidan say sorry to Mizu. Bad Hidan, bad", Tobi says.
"Tobi I don't think that's a good idea", Kakuzu says.
But Kakuzu is too late. Tobi has already skipped (it's impossible for Tobi to stomp) out the door and gone searching for Hidan. From the living room we hear:
"Tobi doesn't like you Hidan. You hurt Mizu. Bad Hidan. You need to say sorry", Tobi commands.
"Shut the up Tobi. She disobeyed me, so I punished her", Hidan snarls.
Do I detect a hint of glee in his voice? Yep, that's glee all right. Die, Hidan, die.
"But you hurt her really bad. She can't get up", Tobi whines.
"Good, that means I taught her a lesson", Hidan says.
"What'd you do this time?" I hear Mr. Red say.
"Hidan hurt Mizu. Hidan is such a bad boy", Tobi explains.
"He hurt her?" Mr. Red asks.
"He hurt her head and he wrote his name on her".
"You can read?" Mr. Red asks.
"No, Kakuzu told Tobi. But he did write his name on her".
"Kakuzu's with her?" Hidan asks.
"Tobi was a good boy and went to get him".
"Fuck you Tobi, you don't need to get anyone else involved", Hidan curses.
"But everyone has already heard you screaming about it", Tobi says.
I'm imagining Hidan slapping his hand to his face in stupidity. Way to go, Tobi!
Kakuzu picks me up and lays me down on the bed.
"He can be a real pain at times", Kakuzu murmurs.
Kakuzu leaves me to my own thoughts. I drift into rocky dreams.
About a week had passed since the Hidan accident and my plan has been successful. I just have to get beat up so that I don't have to work. I also haven't been eating, but I gave up on flushing it. I just leave it sitting there. Of course Tobi notices this and tells people. But I'm pretending to be asleep when he comes, so they think I'm just sleeping through everything.
Another week's passed and nothing new to report.
I wake up and stretch, eyes closed. I look at the ramen bowl and dango on my tray with distaste. It's been the same thing since day one. I sigh and lazily run my fingers through my now super long hair (another extreme!) and pad to the bathroom for my shower. When I come out someone's in the room.
"Shit", I curse.
"So you haven't been sleeping, you've been avoiding", Itachi observes.
"What's it to you?" I ask.
"And you've been getting yourself beat up by Hidan on purpose".
"So?"
"You're just avoiding work. Why?"
"Why does it matter? I already told you I wouldn't work for you".
"Because it doesn't matter what you think, we haven't told you to think".
His emotionless face is pissing me off. Grrr.
"I don't need you to tell me what to think", I say.
"I can see that. You still refuse to eat?"
"Yes".
"I don't want to force feed you, but I will if I have to".
"Fine, I'll eat".
I pick up the tray and curl up in the corner of my bed (furthest place from Itachi) and eat. Itachi's eyes never leave me for a second. He's making sure I eat it all. When the bowl and plate is clean and the tea has been drunk, I shove it at him.
"There, happy?"
"For now", he says.
He picks up the tray and leaves the room. I hurry into the bathroom and puke up all of the food. Did he think I'd let him win that easily? Foolish Little Weasel.
Throughout the day, Itachi brings me food, I eat it as he watches, he leaves, and I puke it up. What a happy cycle! Days pass like this and I'm getting bored of this room. I hear a knock on the door and know that it's him. He walks into the room when I don't answer, gives me the tray, and sits down on his usual chair.
"What's been going on?" I ask, "Sitting here in this room doesn't give me much information".
"Nothing a servant needs to know".
"I was wrong about you Itachi, you're not a sock puppet. You're much worse. You're an enigma. A question that cannot be answered".
Itachi says nothing. I eat the food unhappily, give the tray to Itachi, and puke the food up. I wish there was something to do besides eat and sleep. Not that I'm thinking about working for the Akatsuckers. I sigh and sit down on my bed, gazing at the floor. Then it hits me. I can draw! I pull out a kunai knife I stole from Tobi (why they would let him have knives, I'll never know) and start to draw.
Minutes pass, then hours, and then days. I've been drawing a picture under the bed so that the Akatsuckers won't see it. I've been drawing a flower for each element. And I spend about a day on each flower, making sure that they are perfect.
I was working on the fire flower, scratching the shading onto each petal flame when I heard the door open. !
"So this is what you've been hiding", Itachi says smugly.
"What're you talking about?" I lie.
"Those drawings hidden under your bed".
"What drawings?"
"Move", he commands.
I sit down on the bed.
"I said move".
"I did move".
"Move away from the bed".
"Whatever".
He pushes the bed away from the wall and gazes at the flowers. I hadn't finished the fire flower, so it was partially unfinished.
"Finish it", he commands.
I sigh and get down on my hands and knees. I pick up my kunai brush and start finishing it up.
"So how'd you know?" I ask, trying to make small talk.
"Your eyes".
"My eyes?"
"There was something in them. A secret sort of glee".
"That probably gave it away".
He nodded his head curtly and I continued sketching. When I was done, I stood up, brushed my hands on my pants, and observed my work. It was possibly the best thing I had done yet.
"I'll be back", Itachi says suddenly.
Moments later, I hear arguing in the hall.
"Art is something that is everlasting", I hear Mr. Red argue.
"No, art is something that lasts only a second", Perv says.
"Will you two shut up?" Itachi sighs.
Why's he bringing them here? All three of them enter my room. The room immediately feels smaller. I back into the farthest corner I can get in like the timid rabbit I am. Mr. Red and Perv spend hours looking at my sketching. Then they start arguing again.
"Shut up!" Itachi and I say at the same time.
Mr. Red and Perv turn towards me.
"What do you believe art is?" Mr. Red asks me.
"Huh?" I say.
"What do you think art is, un?" Perv says.
"Um… pictures, sculptures, stuff like that", I answer timidly.
"No, do you think it lasts a long time-" Mr. Red says.
"Or that it disappears in a second? Perv finishes.
"Um, both?"
"Both?" they say in unison.
"Yeah, um, if art lasts a long time then more people can appreciate it. But if art lasts only a second then it's more valuable. Everlasting art is less valuable and short lived art is less appreciated", I explain quickly.
They both stare at my face with questionable looks on their faces. Itachi's doing his enigma thing.
"You are the first person to say that", Mr. Red says.
"I am? I thought the answer was pretty obvious".
They both look at each other with a questionable look on their faces.
"Thanks", Mr. Red says, "That is a really good sketch".
"Yeah, it really is, un", Perv says, "And thanks, un".
"Your welcome?"
They walk out the room quieter then when they came in. Itachi sits down in his usual chair and points to the tray of food he brought in when he first got here.
"Eat", he commands.
"What are their names again?" I ask.
"The red-haired one is Sasori and the blonde one that looks like a girl is Deidara".
"I think that he looks like a girl too. Maybe we should cut his hair". Evil grin
Itachi doesn't say anything. I eat the rest of my food quietly and repeat the procedures. When I come out of the bathroom, I put my bed back and go to sleep.
Another week passes like this and I realize that I've been here for a month. I find out (from yelling outside my door) that the Leader has forbidden Hidan from coming in my room. Yeah!
When I come out of the bathroom a couple of days later, I walk into someone. I slowly lift my head up to look in his eyes and I shudder at their crimson depths.
"How long have you been doing this?" Itachi asks.
"Since you started making me eat", I answer.
"Smart, but I figured you were doing something".
"You always figure something about me".
"Why don't you just give up?"
"Because I don't like being a caged bird. And that's what I feel like here".
"I'll be back tomorrow. And I'll make sure you eat it all".
"Whatever", I sigh.
there goes my plan. But as I drift to sleep, my mind comes up with another plan. And this one goes into effect soon…
I wake up all jazzed and ready for action. When Itachi comes with breakfast I just think he's going to watch me eat more closely. But no, he force-feeds me. Great. He stays for about an hour after I've eaten, probably to make sure I digest the food.
This continues on for four more days. Then when he comes with lunch, my plan hatches. He moves close to me and starts to force-feed me. As he goes back to refill the chopsticks, I summon my chakra to my fist. When he turns back toward me, I punch him in the stomach. Huffing slightly, I jump off of my bed and run out of the room. I create a Shadow Clone and make her run in the opposite direction of where I'm going. I run up the long staircase, down the long hallway, and stop. ! At the end of the hallway, Hidan is glaring at me.
"Trying to escape, ?!" Hidan says.
I ignore him and run into the living room. Unfortunately, who should be there but Sasori, Deidara, Kisame, and Kakuzu?
"Shit!" I yell running to the entrance to the cave.
And there… at the end of my almost escape… is Itachi.
"Fuck!" I curse, "Move it, you Weasel!"
Itachi says nothing, but moves his finger pointing behind me. And then I'm trapped. I'm surrounded by Itachi's. Shadow Clones or a Genjutsu? And if it's a Genjutsu how do I get out of it? I make the ultimate decision.
I summon all of my anger at Akatsuki to my eyes. And activate my kekkai genkai. Yes, it's a Genjutsu. If I have to burn the Akatsuki's base to get out of it, I will.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
A giant fireball forms and I launch it at a group of Itachi's. They all poof.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"
I launch these at another group of Itachi's. More poofs.
My eyes are burning at the smoke from the building and because I've never used them this much. I force my eyes open and stare at each group of clones. I can't tell them apart, the chakra is distributed evenly.
I gather up my chakra to my chakra points. I'm going to do this.
"Fire Style: Fire Rotation Jutsu!"
I spin around and transform the chakra coming off my body into fire. All of the clones disappear. There's only one problem. There's nobody else around.
Where could he be? Above, behind, or under me? Or is he invisible? No, he's not. I'd be able to see him with my kekkai genkai.
"Katsu!"
Something blows up near my face and I fly into a wall. Not a wall. Someone's arms. More precisely, Kisame's arms.
"Don't make me kill you Kisame", I growl.
"I don't think you can", he says smugly.
"I can try. Fire Style: Fire Rotation Jutsu!"
"Not again!"
I spin in his arms and fire emits from my skin. Burning, everything is on fire.
"Katsu!" Deidara yells.
I escape the exploding thing this time and back into a corner. I'm trapped. Like a bird in a cage. I see Kisame on the ground and Deidara huffing not to far from me. Itachi is nowhere to be seen.
"I don't want to hurt you too", I whisper to Deidara.
"Then stop fighting".
"Then let me escape", I reply.
"Can't", he says.
He reaches into a pouch on his thigh and pulls out some clay. He sculpts two birds and sends them at me. I dodge the first, but the second gets a little too close for comfort.
"Katsu!"
My eyes access Deidara and I come up with my counter-attack.
"Lightning Rotation Jutsu!"
This time bolts of electricity come off my body as I spin. I direct the attack on Deidara and he falls easily. As Deidara falls, I barely escape an attack from Hidan. His gigantic scythe barely misses my shoulder by centimeters.
"Little Bitch , you're a pretty good fighter".
"And all you have is that pathetic scythe".
He growls at me and I easily dodge the scythe. As he lunges forward, I duck under his attacking arm and stab his chest, right where his heart should be.
"Chakra Scalpel!" I say, slashing my hand across his heart.
He spits blood and some of it lands on my face.
"Fool", he spits.
I feel something stab me in the back, pinning me onto Hidan. We seem to fall to the ground in slow motion. I grab at the thing stuck in my back and painfully pull it out. It's a katana and I look around for whoever stabbed me. I spy Kakuzu standing about six feet away from me. I ignore him and turn back to Hidan. I slice his head off of his shoulders and pick it up. I then throw it away from me and face Kakuzu.
"He's immortal", Kakuzu says.
"Doesn't matter, it makes me feel better", I growl.
He sighs and takes off his cloak in a flurry. His body is covered with stitches. He carefully removes one and holds it loosely in his hand. What is he up to? He throws the thread at me and I dodge it quickly. The thread then somehow follows me and wraps around my body. I feel a slicing pain and I realize that the thread is cutting me up. I start to spin once again.
"Wind Rotation Jutsu!"
The threads are cut to ribbons and I stare at Kakuzu calmly.
"What now?" I ask him.
He loosens another thread and sends it at me. I weave in and out while dodging the thread as I make my way toward Kakuzu.
"Chakra Scalpel!" I say while slicing his arm.
He should loose all capability of moving his arm and he does. I slice up his other arm and steal some kunai from his own pouch and slice him up with those too. By now I'm drenched in blood and Kakuzu is incapable of moving. I step away from his body and I hear a chattering behind me. I turn around to see what's chattering and I see a puppet moving toward me at an incredible speed. I barely dodge the puppet and it launches an attack of senbon at me. I see Sasori in the distance controlling the puppet with chakra strings. The puppet moves toward me and I dodge once again.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
The fireball hits the puppet and it goes up in flames. I move stealthily toward Sasori and then I can't move. He's controlling me with chakra strings. I force myself to amp up my chakra and I move toward him. It takes slightly longer then I would have liked to get close to him. I pick the katana I had been stabbed with off of the floor and slash Sasori with it. He dodges the attack easily and stabs my arm with something. I fall to the ground.
"This kunai has been poisoned with my own special poison. If you manage to escape you'll die soon enough".
I stab him through the head. He's made of wood. He made himself into a puppet. I pick up the bloody katana and start moving toward the entrance. And then I feel an incredible amount of chakra enter the room. Itachi or another Akatsuki? I keep moving toward the entrance, ignoring the massive chakra wielder.
"From what I know, you're our servant", a not-familiar voice says.
"I'm nobody's servant".
"That may be, but you've injured my men. And I think you owe me".
"I don't owe you anything", I state.
"But you still belong to Kakuzu, seeing as how he's not dead. And Kakuzu belongs to the Akatsuki-"
"I've heard this already", I complain.
"And the Akatsuki belongs to me", the voice states.
This voice is the Leader? This person is in charge of the Akatsuki? I slowly turn around to look at the Leader of the Akatsuki. He's wearing the traditional Akatsuki cloak; he has orange-ish hair, weird circled eyes, and his face is covered in piercings. He's hot, like the rest of the Akatsuki guys. His chakra feels immense and I shudder at the feeling of it.
"Just let me go, I won't tell anyone about you", I whisper.
"You belong to us, and either you work for us or you die. And I don't think you would like it if you had to die".
"Who are you?"
"As I already said, I am the leader of the Akatsuki. I am known as Leader or simply as Rei".
"Fine then Rei, I won't leave. But I won't be your servant forever. Seven years at the most".
"Fine, but I can dismiss you at any moment. And for you that means death".
"Deal", I agree.
What am I doing? I just bargained myself back into slavery. But there's something about Rei that just makes you want to agree with whatever he says.
"Now, your first duty as Akatsuki's servant is to clean up the mess and heal the members. Itachi, you can come out now".
Itachi melts out of the shadows, smirks at me, and asks, "Yes, Leader?"
"Walk with me", Rei commands.
Rei nods his head at me and then walks off with Itachi. Why that little Weasel- GRRR! I release my kekkai genkai and I suddenly become very tired. I heal my most life threatening wounds. I put out the flames with water jutsus and then go to take care of the Akatsuker members. I heal Kakuzu first because his wounds are the easiest. Then I go take care of Sasori, Deidara, and Kisame. I don't really want to heal Hidan, but I don't have to. Kakuzu is sewing his head back on and is listening to his cursing.
"Little Bitch , do you realize how annoying it is to have your head cut off?"
"No, seeing as how I've never had my head cut off".
"Would you like to try?" he asks gleefully.
"No thanks", I sigh.
I go looking for Deidara and I find him lying down on the couch. I sit down on the floor next to the couch and lay my head down on his chest. And then I can't help it; I start crying.
"I'm so sorry, Deidara. I just lost it. I went berserk. I shouldn't have used the stupid kekkai genkai. I shouldn't have fought. I shouldn't-"
He raises his hand and lays it on top of my hair. He starts running his fingers through my hair.
"Shhh, it's okay. You did what you had to to escape, yeah", he says.
I silently sob into his cloak as he rubs his hands through my hair.
"That feels nice", I say, "My mother used to do this when I was little".
"What happened to her?" Deidara asks.
"My father also lost her in the same bet he lost me in the first time. She, however, didn't survive".
"I'm sorry, yeah".
"Why do you do that?"
"Do what, un?"
"That. You always add yeah or un at the end of your sentences".
"I do?"
I nod my head and then I started to get up. But I fall back down.
"I think I overdid it", I sigh.
"You were pretty intense, yeah. I think even Itachi was scared".
"Itachi, scared? You're crazy".
"No, I'm serious. You were very scary, yeah. The minutes Kisame went down we all sort of freaked out, un. And then I went down, and the bodies kept piling up", he grins, "That was some amazing fighting, yeah. The way you switched techniques so quickly. You weren't even using hand seals, were you?"
"No, that's part of my stupid kekkai genkai".
"Doesn't your kekkai genkai have a name?"
"No. It's not even a real kekkai genkai. It's a fake one I guess. It was sort of implanted into my body when I was seven".
"Implanted?"
"The first guy I was lost to was insane. He preformed all these experiments on me because my chakra is versatile. He was trying to see if kekkai genkais could be created and then passed on from generation to generation. I was a success, but he doesn't know that. My father bought me back before the results sunk in".
"Didn't you tell your father this, un?"
"No, he was traumatized already about my mother's death. I told him that she had committed suicide. It was happier then what really happened. Like I'd tell him she was abused, raped while I was watching, and sadistically tortured?"
"That guy sounds pretty messed up".
"He is", I say.
Suddenly my body starts burning and twitching. I gasp and curl up into a little ball on the floor.
"Mizuka, what's wrong?" Deidara says.
"Sasori…poison", I mutter before I black out.