Chapter 11: Meet the Akatsuki Arc - A Not-So Warm Welcome
Well, let's continue where we've left off. Tobi accidentally blew up a perfume bottle and turned the Akatsuki back into humans...what kind of impressions shall they make on the children that had been taking care of them?
Disclaimer: The OCs and the plot are mine. The Akatsuki and Naruto? Not so much...
Naoki's POV
"Onee-chan! What happened? Are you and nii-chan okay?"
As soon as I had heard the explosion, I had turned off my television show immediately, determining that it wasn't coming from the Star Wars movie that was playing. Now, I was speeding downstairs, trying to figure out what all the ruckus from down there was about.
"Onee-chan!" I called again after hearing no response from my sister or brother. "Hey! Is everything alright down there? Hello?"
"Naoki-nii-chan!" a voice called from upstairs. I stopped, realizing that my loud shouts had probably woken my imouto up from her slumber.
She seemed to read my mind, however. "You didn't wake me up, nii-chan. However, after some weird dream about unicorns and rainbows, I'm getting this strange feeling about the kittens. You know, I've been thinking that they're—"
Suddenly, we heard a scream, and my sister came running out of the bathroom door, her face white. A cloud of white smoke and lavender perfume followed her, but much more slowly.
I quickly called out to her. "Kaiya-chan! What's going on? Where did all of the cats go?"
Unable to speak, she answered my last question by pointing straight at the bathroom. I turned pale, realizing that inhalation of perfume can be deadly to animals.
"I'm going to rescue those kittens," I declared. "They'll die if they stay in the bathroom!"
But before I could dive headfirst into the bathroom, Kaiya ran up to me and grabbed my arm, restraining me.
"What are you doing, onee-chan?" I inquired, surprised. "You're not just going to leave the kittens in there, are you?"
She coughed, then finally found the words to speak again. "That's the thing, Naoki-chan. You see…the kittens…really aren't kittens."
And with that, she fainted.
"What the hell happened, un?" came a male voice from inside of the bathroom. Twitching at his use of language, I covered Kagami's ears immediately. "Where did Kaiya go, danna?"
"Brat," came the reply, "she left as soon as we turned back into humans. Any person would be surprised if their cats suddenly transformed into humans, wouldn't they?"
Hold on, I thought, my eyes widening by the second. That voice…no way...
I watched in horror as the figure of a man stepped out of the smoke-filled bathroom. He had short red hair, amber eyes, and was wearing a large black cloak with red clouds embroidered on it, confirming my theory. Slowly, my jaw dropped as more people with black cloaks began shuffling out of the bathroom.
"You're…" I started, but trailed off due to immense shock. I could feel my face turning paler by the minute, and Kagami looked as if she were ready to faint, but at the same time, didn't seem as surprised. Because at that moment, the entire situation registered in my mind, and I heard all the puzzle pieces clicking together.
Our cats were the Akatsuki all along! I realized with a jolt. That's why they were able to use those familiar powers and had weird patterns! It's all starting to make sense now!
"Sasori?" I asked, looking at the members as they filed out. "Kakuzu? Hidan? Deidara? Kisame? Itachi? What are you doing here?"
The red-haired boy looked at me and sighed. "Long story, brat. But first of all, we would like to know where we are and how we can get out of this world, since we can talk to you now."
I blinked. "Like I'd know something like that! Nobody expects the freaking Akatsuki, a group of S-rank criminals, to appear in their house and be prepared for what follows!"
Kagami decided to speak up. "Nii-chan, do you know these strange people?"
"Well," I said nervously, "it's...er, complicated. I mean, I know who they are, but they don't know who we are. I do know a little bit about their personality, but maybe it's best that—"
"Nii-chan!" interrupted Yukio, coming from the kitchen. "I prepared all of us instant ramen for lunch! What do y— holy mother of Alfalfa!"
His eyes looked as if they were ready to pop out of his sockets as he stared at the confused Akatsuki.
Then, he fainted as well.
I rolled my eyes. Just great…
"Are you going to kill us?" I asked plainly, trying to sound as calm as possible.
"Most likely not," muttered a female voice, who I quickly determined to be Konan. "You children may be our only hope in being able to get us back to the shinobi world."
I walked down the stairs to greet the Akatsuki members just as soon as their orange-haired leader walked out of the room.
"Naoki, I'm having this feeling that you know almost every single thing about us, even our deepest secrets," he muttered. "In order to test this theory, please tell us everything you know about Sasori."
I shrugged. "If you say so, Na—"
"Pein," he corrected quickly before I could say his real name. "You will refer to me as Pein, and nothing else. Do I make myself clear?"
Shivering, I quickly nodded. "Yes...Pein." Although he didn't exactly seem all that threatening when I had watched Naruto: Shippuden, I had to admit, he was much scarier up close. His Rinnegan eyes held a stern, unmoving gaze, and from my side, I heard Kagami yelp slightly.
"Okay," I began, "where do you want me to start? What his powers are or how he joined Akatsuki?"
"It doesn't matter," he grumbled. "Just spill."
Nodding, I continued, deciding on the first one. "Okay, so let's start with the basics. Sasori, you are a puppeteer from Sunagakure, but lost your parents to a man named Sakumo Hatake during a shinobi world war. This left you in your grandmother's care for the most of your childhood, who taught you puppeteering in order to cheer you up. But believing that nobody could make you feel parental love again, you defected in anger at the age of only sixteen and began committing acts of evil, such as using the corpses of your opponents to make long-lasting human puppets, calling it eternal beauty. As a result, you were dubbed with the nickname Sasori no Akasuna, for all the blood of your enemies that you spilled into the sand. You usually wear a battle armor puppet you named Hiruko, which gives you a scary impression as well as tools to fight with, such as an iron scorpion tail. In addition, you secretly kidnapped and killed the Sandaime Kazekage in order to make him into a human puppet that can control iron sand. As a result, your usual battle tactics are fighting with different human puppets, poisoning the enemy, and using the iron sand from the Sandaime puppet."
When I had finished, Sasori stared at me, shocked, but gave a curt nod afterward. "Impressive," he noted.
Deidara's eyes were wide. "What the...even I didn't know that much about Sasori-danna! How do you do it, un?"
"I have my ways," I muttered. Bending down towards my unconscious sister and brother, I took one look at the bowl of water in the kitchen, an idea forming in my head. It wasn't usually in my personality to be mischievous, but I couldn't help but snicker slightly as I dumped the entire bowl on their faces. Both of them jolted awake, surprised.
"Naoki-chan…" groaned my sister, rubbing her eyes. "What happened?"
However, Yukio had a different reaction, springing to his feet and tackling me to the ground.
"A simple 'Wake up, otouto' would have sufficed!" he growled at me, then quickly calmed down. "But anyway, aren't these people ninjas from your show, Naoki-nii-chan?"
I nodded. "Yes, remember? They're the Akatsuki from Naruto."
Kaiya eyed each member of the Akatsuki uneasily, and Kagami continued to shiver slightly by my side until she saw what her favorite kitten had turned into. She stared at Tobi with wide eyes, her hands over her mouth.
"Fuzzsticks?" she breathed, gasping at the masked man. "What happened to your ears and fluffy tail?"
Insert mental facepalm.
Tobi touched his head and look behind him, and for some reason, he was shocked to see that Kagami was correct. His tail and ears were now gone. "Oh no!" he cried, then latched onto Deidara. "Senpai! What happened to Tobi's ears and tail? Where did Tobi's fur go?"
"Idiot," growled Deidara, glaring daggers at the masked man. "You blew up that bottle of lavender perfume with your Fireball Jutsu, turning us all back into humans. I hate the scent of lavender, un!"
Tobi seemed to light up. "Does Deidara-senpai mean this jutsu?" He took a deep breath, as if he were readying an attack. Kaiya gasped, then shoved everybody out of the way.
"Not in the house, Tobi!" she pleaded, but Tobi had already fired the jutsu, shooting a beam of flame towards the window that Yukio had quickly opened. He ducked when he saw the flame come at him, and the jutsu flew out of the window before scattering into short-lived embers.
Kagami cheered, then walked up to Tobi with sparkling eyes. "Yay!" You've unlocked your power, Fuzzsticks! A beautiful one, too!"
Tobi bounced up and down like a little boy. "Tobi did unlock his power! Not Fuzzsticks, but Tobi!"
Rolling my eyes, I pulled my three siblings aside to have a quick chat about what in the world was going on.
"Listen," I explained. "We have to get the Akatsuki back to their world as quickly as possible. They have their own things to do in that world, and if they learn too much about themselves in our world, the plot of Naruto can alter greatly."
Kaiya simply shrugged. "How is that supposed to be a problem?"
"It's not just the show," I said. "There are tons of Akatsuki fans all over the world. If they find out that they are here in our house, then they will most likely try to get their hands on the real Akatsuki by any means necessary. I've been to an anime convention before, and the fangirls were really scary. I felt so bad for the people that had to cosplay as the Akatsuki…"
"Well," started Yukio. "If they really are S-rank criminals, how do we deal with them? We don't even know how to send them back to their own world!"
"But so far," remarked Kaiya, "they haven't caused chaos or harmed anybody yet."
Kagami clapped her hands, happy at the realization that nobody had been hurt yet. "Maybe they're nice people! They seem scary, but they don't seem like they would kill us. Naoki-nii-chan, maybe you should try and reason with them."
"But how?" I countered. "They're—"
"Not as evil as they look!" Kagami finished with a smile. "Naoki-nii-chan, give them a chance! Tobi didn't want to hurt anybody by using his jutsu in the house! He was only trying to impress everybody with it!"
Kaiya thought it over for a little while, then nodded. "She does have a point, Naoki-chan. Let's give them a chance to prove themselves as good folk to us."
I sighed, feeling that I would regret this decision later. "Very well, onee-chan. I guess we can try and help the Akatsuki, but how do we supply for them? Where are they going to sleep? What about food, school, and money?"
"We'll just think about the last three throughout the day," muttered Kaiya. "Each of us can just sleep in the same room as one or two members of the Akatsuki, and the rest can stay in the living room. After all, the couch can turn into a bed, so we should be able to fit them all in the house without anybody being too uncomfortable."
I nodded. "Sounds good, onee-chan. I'll take...well, Deidara and Sasori. I don't think that any of you want Hidan or Kakuzu, right?"
Yukio and Kaiya shook their heads no. Kagami spoke next. "Tobi can stay in my room! What about you, onee-chan?"
"The girl," she said. "And maybe the orange-haired guy, since he always seems to be around the girl."
"They're Konan and Pein," I told her quickly, pointing to them in order. "Pein is the leader, and Konan is his second-in-command. Are you sure you can handle them?"
She nodded. "I guess. They seem quite stoic and quiet, so they should be fine. Who are you going to take, Yukio-chan?"
"Itachi and Kisame," he said quickly. "They're the only ones I really know about."
"Perfect," I said. "So Hidan, Kakuzu, and Zetsu can sleep in the living room. Let's go tell the Akatsuki where they're going to sleep tonight, just in case chaos erupts over somebody being in the wrong room."
We all nodded, then rushed back to the Akatsuki to tell them their sleeping arrangements. Most of them were satisfied where they were...except for one foul-mouthed Jashinist.
"Why the f*** do I have to sleep with that b******?" Hidan protested, pointing to Kakuzu. "I don't give a—"
"Shut it!" growled Yukio, standing defensively in front of a wide-eyed Kagami. "My little sister is present! Do not use that kind of horrid language in front of her!"
Hidan merely scowled. "What are you going to do about that, you little s***?"
Yukio clenched his fists angrily. "This."
And with that, Yukio swiftly kicked Hidan between the legs.
"Ow!" exclaimed Hidan in pain as all the other members began to laugh uncontrollably. "What the f***?"
Kagami giggled, and my brother continued to send the man a threatening glare. "I swear, Hidan. If you say anything like that to my imouto, or if I find out that you harmed her in any way — mentally or physically — I will beat you with a club, cut you to pieces with my knife, and throw your remains in the ocean! Is that understood, half-wit?"
Hidan only smirked at him. "Please, as if you can kill—"
"Is that understood?" my brother growled loudly, making Hidan jump away. Yukio's eyes were burning with anger, and his teeth were bared, clamped together in fury. Fearing his wrath slightly, I backed away in case he decided to explode right then and there.
"Alright, fine!" Hidan yelled. "Just don't kick me again!"
"That is not guaranteed," Yukio countered darkly. "Every time you talk like that in front of Kagami-chan, you'll get it."
With that, he walked back towards the kitchen to eat his instant ramen before it got cold. Kaiya and Kagami followed him, and I was about to, but stopped when I realized the problem.
What are the Akatsuki going to eat? I thought. Considering the fact that they are no longer kittens, I doubt that they will be able to eat those pellets. Sasori shouldn't be a problem, but the rest...well, I guess they could just eat instant ramen.
I checked the kitchen, and sure enough, there were enough instant ramen cups for all of them, and Yukio was still boiling water on the stove. Grabbing the sizzling kettle with my right hand, I carefully opened each ramen cup with my left, careful enough not to drop anything. Quickly, I poured hot water into each cup, then put the pot down in order to seal each lid and set my kitchen timer for three minutes.
"Naoki-nii-chan!" called Kagami from the dining table. "Are you coming? Your noodles are going to get cold!"
"I'll be there in two minutes!" I replied, then ran off to gather the Akatsuki.
"Hey, guys!" I shouted, gathering all of their attention at once. "Who wants some instant ramen!"
However, the only excited reaction I got was from Tobi, who was bouncing up and down in joy. Pein seemed to be thinking about it for a while, then nodded.
"I guess it's fine to have instant ramen," he said. "We haven't had any for quite a while, but do you have enough?"
"Plenty," I responded. "We usually eat it at least once a week. None of you mind...right?"
They all nodded, and turning to Sasori, I said, "You're fine with not eating, right?"
"Puppets don't need to eat food," he remarked sternly. "But thanks for asking."
Suddenly, the kitchen timer went off, and I raced back to the kitchen, carefully taking each cup and setting it on the dining table, ready to eat. Next, I pulled a few stools and chairs from the kitchen, setting them by the dining table until there was enough to seat all of the Akatsuki. Then, I grabbed nine pairs of chopsticks, setting them down next to each cup of noodles. Finally, I sat down at the dining table, where Yukio handed me my cup of instant ramen.
"It's ready!" I called to the Akatsuki in the living room, and the members filed into the kitchen, taking their seats at the dining table. Tobi had taken his seat next to Kagami, of course, and was slurping his noodles, his mask raised only slightly.
Before I dug in, I observed the sight around the dining table. And that was when I realized it: I had let the Akatsuki, an S-rank criminal organization, eat instant ramen with my family. And somehow, nobody was getting hurt or killed, not even Hidan.
Picking up my chopsticks, I began to slurp the noodles, sighing as I watched the Akatsuki peacefully eat their lunch.
I swear, I must be dreaming…
A/N: Hooray! Thank you all for 1000+ reads! Woohoo! *throws random stuff into the air*
Thank you all for supporting me and my story, lovelies! Stay tuned for tomorrow's installment...I plan on introducing another character or two!
Question: On a scale of 1 to 10, what do you think is your level or sassiness? I'm probably a 9...
Peace out, folks!
— Tenshi —
