Chapter 20: Kagami's Heart Arc - Incidents

I had a huge adrenaline rush while writing this chapter...I even stayed up until midnight just to write it. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the Akatsuki!


Kaiya's POV

We continued walking in silence, aside from one annoying, cursing man.

Ever since we had left the school, Hidan would not stop cursing about it and how boring most of the lessons were, proving that he had somehow managed to hide his true feelings about all of the classes aside from History. I was pretty sure that History was the only subject Hidan could enjoy, but at the same time, he openly disliked it whenever the teacher was not talking about wars and fighting. What made him even angrier was the fact that most of these conflicts ended in peaceful solutions rather than a huge sacrifice.

As we approached our house, I decided that I had enough of his swearing for one day. A few seconds later, when he cursed the school again, I clenched my hand into a fist and slammed it into his smirking face.

"B****," he growled, rubbing his head angrily, "What the f*** was that for? Can't I just go a f****** day without getting punched for d*** profanity?"

I punched him again. "Serves you right for even using such a thing in our household. Aren't you even the least bit worried about your actions in front of my innocent imouto?"

He shook his head, grinning. "Like I give a s***! She'll end up hearing it everywhere, anyway. It doesn't f****** matter, b****."

Quickly, I aimed another one straight at his fuming face.

"The f***?" he growled, totally ignoring the fact that Deidara was laughing his head off behind him. "What in the name of Jashin-sama did I do to earn that?"

I glared at him, but my brother, who had been trailing behind us stealthily, beat me to the retort.

"First of all," he began, "do not refer to my sister as the b-word. I find it pretty offensive and disrespectful, especially since she was the one who saved you from freezing in the rain last week. Second, my otouto and I are not little pieces of trash. Although you may think we can be annoying, keep it to yourself and your loud mouth. Nobody wants to be called the s-word, either. And third—" Naoki grabbed Hidan by the shirt collar— "be more respectful to my seven-year-old sister. She may not be my biological sister, but she is still my imouto regardless. So knock it off, half-wit!"

Hidan was about to retort back at him, but he sighed, letting it go. From his facial expression, I could clearly tell that he was ticked off. He walked in silence with the rest of us while gritting his teeth angrily.

Suddenly, a call from our house made all of our eyes widen.

"Onee-chan! Nii-chan!" cried Yukio, who was sticking his head out of a window while frantically waving his arms. "Come into the house now! We need your help!"

Upon hearing his frightened voice, all of us rushed towards the front door, which Yukio immediately opened to let us all in. As soon as we were inside, all of us and the rest of the Akatsuki assembled together in the living room. Silently, I wondered what Yukio was so worried about while I scanned the room for any signs of destruction. To my relief, nothing was broken, battered, burning, or decimated into shreds.

However, the moment I realized that nothing was damaged was also the moment I realized that Tobi seemed to be missing. Although the other nine Akatsuki were standing around the living room, the hyperactive masked man was nowhere to be seen.

"Um," I started, wanting to address the problem, "Yukio, what happened to Tobi? I don't see him."

Pein took a deep breath, and sighed. Konan placed a gentle hand on his shoulder as he muttered, "That kid…even Zetsu, Yukio, and I couldn't—"

He trailed off suddenly, and my eyes widened at what he seemed to be implying.

"What happened to him, Pein?" I asked him, beginning to panic when he did not tell us about where Tobi was immediately. Pein sighed again, sitting on the floor and rubbing his head, making me panic even more.

"I believe Tobi went missing half an hour ago."


Kagami's POV

"Students, does anybody know what ten times three equals?" asked my teacher, Kojiro-san. My hand quickly shot up into the air like a rocket.

"Thirty!" I exclaimed, and Kojiro-san nodded.

"That is correct, Kagami," he said. "Can you explain to us how you got your answer?"

I nodded. "If you add ten to itself three times — in the form ten plus ten plus ten — then you will be able to get thirty."

"Excellent!" he remarked. "Let's try a—"

Suddenly, the bell rang, cutting Kojiro-san off and signaling the end of a day at Glory Meadows Elementary. Excitedly, my classmates rushed out of the door, shouting, "Freedom!"

It was kind of ironic, honestly. Although we lived in a free country, second graders like me couldn't always do what we wanted to do. We had rules to obey — not that I wanted to break them or anything — and there was still sufferings. It didn't always feel like a free country, especially with all of that conflict still going on in other parts of the world. But nevertheless, all I could do was shake my head. After all, what exactly did people expect from us?

As I was about to start walking home from school, somebody tapped me on my shoulder. Immediately, I spun around, and upon realizing who it was, I gasped.

"T-T-Tobi-chan?" I stuttered, shocked out of my wits. "W-What are you doing here?"

He bounced up and down, the sunlight reflecting off of his lollipop-shaped mask. "Tobi came to pick up Kagami-chan from—"

"Shh," I whispered, then quickly pulled him over to a nearby thick bush, where nobody could see us. "Tobi-chan, why and how did you even find me here? None of the other Akatsuki knew where my school was, so how did you find out? Plus, it's dangerous out here! What if the people start recognizing you as one of the characters from Naruto?"

He shrugged. "Tobi has his ways. And don't worry, Tobi is very careful. But at home, nobody wanted to play with Tobi, so Tobi decided to take Kagami-chan to see something colorful after school! When Tobi followed Kagami-chan to school, Tobi saw something fun and noisy where there were lots of little girls and boys!"

Although the last line tempted me, I couldn't help but point an accusing finger at him and whisper-yell, "Stalker!"

Tobi waved his arms around, backing away slightly. "N-No, Kagami-chan! Tobi isn't a stalker! But please follow Tobi to that colorful place where all the little children are!"

Suddenly, he picked me up with his arms and took off running at a speed I could not determine. If it had been somebody else, I would have screamed as loud as I could, but I trusted Tobi...slightly. I mean, I probably still would have screamed had it not been for the speed we were going at.

Tobi kept on running and running, leaping through trees and even on top of rooftops, which I had originally deemed to be impossible. Initially, I had thought that was only a superhero or Jedi thing to leap from small buildings.

But then again, I thought, just having the Akatsuki in our world can prove that anything is possible now. For instance, the impossible speed that Tobi is going right now. It's almost as if we are teleporting, but there were no special effects.

Finally, he stopped to rest at the top of a tree, allowing me to take a breath and speak.

"Wow," I managed, impressed by how fast we were going. "How did you travel so fast, Tobi-chan? Where are we anyway?"

"Tobi doesn't exactly know," he admitted sheepishly, then pointed towards the direction behind me. "But Kagami-chan, look!"

When I turned around, I gasped upon seeing it. It was a carnival, with a large Ferris wheel and a couple of roller coasters on either side of the carnival. A large number of tents were set up, each row of tents with different colors on the tarp. And down on the ground, laughing and having fun, were indeed children, most of them seeming to be around my age.

"You saw...this?" I breathed, rubbing my eyes to see if the carnival was just a mirage.

Tobi nodded. "Kagami-chan liked colors, so Tobi saw this colorful place and thought of Kagami-chan!" Suddenly, his tone seems to grow sad. "Does Kagami-chan not like it?"

I shook my head quickly, then hugged him. "No, Tobi-chan! I absolutely love it! I've always wanted to go to a carnival, especially since all the other kids go to play there! Thank you, Tobi-chan! Thank you!"

He seemed to be taken aback by the sudden embrace, but hugged back and began jumping up and down. "Yay! Kagami-chan likes the carnival!"

I blinked, remembering that I had a few dollars left in my pocket and backpack. "Tobi-chan, can we go down there and play? It looks like fun!"

He thought for a moment, then lifted me in his arms again. "Yeah! Tobi wants to play there, too!" Before I knew what was happening, Tobi leaped from the top of the tree and jumped to the ground below, racing towards the entrance to the carnival.

"Welcome," the clerk that seemed to be letting everyone in greeted us. "Do you have twenty dollars? We're holding a carnival for little kids, where another family member can go with you free!"

I clapped and cheered, making myself act like a little girl as much as possible. "I have twenty dollars! Can my nii-chan and I go in?"

The man smiled at me as I handed him the folded dollar bill that was in my pocket. "Of course! Please go on inside, kids!"

Squealing, we both entered the carnival, but before I could run over to one of the tents, Tobi stopped me.

"Kagami-chan," he said in a protesting manner, "Tobi is not Kagami-chan's older brother..."

At that, I giggled playfully. "It's just an act, Tobi! We're not actually siblings, but I did that so that we could both get in!"

He nodded in understanding, bouncing up and down. "Tobi sees now! Let's play some games, Kagami-chan!"

I smiled in agreement, and we walked down the various tent rows, searching for a game or prize that caught our eyes. Finally, after minutes of searching, my eyes fell upon a large stuffed rabbit. It looked a lot like Usagi, but just a bigger version of it. It seemed to be calling my name from the shelf where it sat, above the dartboard game.

"Ooh!" I cried, pulling Tobi's hand and pointing towards the giant rabbit. "Look, Tobi-chan! Isn't that guy cute?"

He nodded in agreement. "Does Kagami-chan want to play that game?"

I clapped, then dug through my pocket for a dollar bill. Handing it to the man running the dartboard game, I excitedly grabbed the three darts from his hand.

"Do you know how this game works?" he asked me, and I nodded.

"I read about it online," I told him. "You just try to throw these darts into the center of the target, right?"

The man nodded, then ducked underneath his table. "Right. But make sure that nobody is in the way when you throw the darts. Now try and hit the bullseye!"

Grinning, I immediately chucked the first dart with all of my might. Unfortunately, the whole thing proved to be much harder than it looked, especially when I watched my dart ricochet off of the dartboard and fall to the ground, without even sticking to the target.

This time, I decided to take a few seconds to aim the second dart towards the target, then threw it again more softly. However, I had thrown it too soft, and the dart didn't even graze the target before falling to the ground.

"Ugh," I growled in protest. "This is much harder than it looks!"

Tobi decided to step in, grabbing the last dart from my hands. "Kagami-chan, can Tobi give it a try? Tobi wants to throw the dart!"

I nodded, stepping out of the way. "Of course, Tobi-chan! But remember, you're aiming for the center of the target—"

Before I could finish, Tobi had already thrown the dart at the board. I heard the sound of the dart sticking to something, and I turned around, gasping at where Tobi had managed to land it.

"Amazing," I breathed. "Tobi-chan, how did you get the bullseye with your first shot?"

He shrugged, jumping up and down as the man handed him the giant white bunny. Tobi handed the giant stuffed toy to me, and I squealed, even though I already had so many other stuffed animals back at home.

"Thank you so much, Tobi-chan!" I thanked the masked man. Suddenly, my gaze flickered over to the colorful Ferris wheel, which also seemed to have a short line. "Can we go over to the giant Ferris wheel next? Please?"

He nodded, bouncing. "Yay! Let's go to the Ferris wheel!"

Hugging the white bunny, I quickly decided on a name for it. "I'm going to call him Shiroyuki, for his snow-white fur!" I announced, stroking the soft fur of the stuffed animal.

Before Tobi could respond, something shiny floated in front of us — blown by the gentle breeze — and I snatched it out of the air, gasping as I saw exactly what it was.

"A Ferris wheel ticket?" I said, recognizing the familiar pattern on the slip of paper. Then, realizing that we had just landed a free ride, I squealed. "Awesome! Come on, Tobi-chan! We can get on the Ferris wheel for free now!"

Clapping his hands, we walked over to the Ferris wheel line excitedly. I immediately thought of the joy of finally being able to be lifted off of the ground by the popular attraction, and silently hoped the operator would stop the Ferris wheel while we were at the very top.

But before I could get in line, some random boy shoved me back out. He then proceeded to grab Shiroyuki out of my hands.

"Where do you think you're going with that rabbit?" he growled at me.

I simply blinked, attempted to grab the stuffed animal that Tobi had won for me. "I don't know who you are, but give me back my bunny!"

I reached and grabbed Shiroyuki and tugged back, and the boy scowled, pulling away poor Shiroyuki again. He hid it behind his back, denying me from even being able to touch it again.

Off to the side, Tobi watched in horror as I vainly tried to grab my stuffed rabbit back from the random kid who had stolen it for no reason.

"Tobi wants the boy to stop!" Tobi called, directing the boy's attention to him. "Tobi doesn't want to see Kagami-chan hurt…"

The random boy scoffed. "Well, if you don't want to see your precious little Kagami-chan get hurt, then make her let go of her stupid little rabbit. She probably has more stuffed animals at home, anyway."

Tobi quickly shook his head, approaching us, but staying far enough away at the same time. "Tobi wants the boy to stop bullying Kagami-chan!"

He only smirked, pulling Shiroyuki away from me again. "I'm not bullying your little friend at all. I'm just putting her in her in her place for stealing my Ferris wheel ticket!"

I blinked, then took the brass-colored ticket out of my pocket. "We didn't steal your ticket. I-I just picked it up off of the ground when the wind blew it right in front of us. I swear, we didn't steal it!"

"Liar!" the boy growled, pointing an accusing finger in my face. "I saw everything, and your actions showed no intention of giving the ticket back to its owner."

"But we didn't know!" I pleaded. "But why do you have to take it so serious—"

"Shut up!" he roared, shoving me back. Tripping over myself, I fell to the ground as the boy began to walk away with my prized rabbit friend. But before he could walk away, Tobi decided that he had seen enough and confronted the boy.

"Give Kagami-chan back her rabbit!" he begged, but the boy just shook his head. "Tobi wants Kagami-chan's toy back!"

"What are you going to do about it?" the boy teased, still holding Shiroyuki. "I bet that you're just as idiotic as she is—"

"I said, give back the rabbit!"

Violently, Tobi snatched both the rabbit and the ticket away from the boy, slapping the boy in the process. Eyes wide, the boy turned and fled in fear of him.

I watched the entire scene unfold, aghast. I could absolutely not believe what I had just seen, especially since I was about eighty percent certain that the man that had just spoken was not Tobi.

His voice was so deep, I realized, backing away from Tobi even more. He sounded almost...unreal. Even more, that's the first time he's ever referred to himself using the first person. What in the name of the heavens just happened?

Tobi turned to me, looking slightly guilty for what he had done. Pitifully, he returned Shiroyuki to me, but held the brass-colored ticket in his hand.

"Tobi overreacted a little," he tried to reassure me in his normal voice, but I looked at him in slight fear. Nevertheless, he grabbed my hand and dragged me over to the now empty Ferris wheel line.

He handed the man running it the ticket, and walked me over to one of the carriages. Reluctantly, I sat down with him as the man began to operate the ride again. I peered down at the ground, watching as we were lifted further and further up from the ground.

Sure, it was an amazing feeling, but at the same time, I was beginning to feel slightly uncomfortable around Tobi. He was looking at me sorrowfully from the other side of the carriage as I held Shiroyuki tightly. Even though he was one of my best friends, that voice couldn't have been him...it couldn't…

Suddenly, I felt something underneath me, and grabbed it, revealing a small silver necklace.

Why in the world did I keep on finding these things left and right? I wondered to myself. Noticing the shiny object, Tobi turned his attention to the necklace.

"Where did Kagami-chan get that necklace?" he asked, his voice sounding much more curious and less serious than before.

I shrugged. "I just sat on it. I don't know why people keep leaving these things around here or why I keep finding things, but do you want it?"

Tobi nodded. "Tobi has seen that necklace before! Thanks, Kagami-chan!"

Trembling, I put the necklace around his neck, watching it sparkle in the sunlight. It gleamed, but Tobi was more curious about its simplistic pattern, as well as the fact that it had a small dove-shaped bead right in the middle.

Maybe he's thinking of Mitsukai, I thought. He does seem to like that stuffed dove a lot.

Tobi and I just sat there in silence as the carriage continued to lift us around and around. Unfortunately, the operator did not stop the ride while we were at the very top, and proceed to let us go around five times before stopping the ride while we were at the bottom.

Trying to lighten the mood a little, I giggled and jumped up and down, trying to bring a smile to Tobi. Surprisingly, it worked, and we continued bouncing and giggling as we headed towards another ride.

Eventually, the sun began to set, darkness beginning to blanket the sky in darkness. Tobi and I walked out of the carnival smiling, with Shiroyuki and a couple more stuffed animals in my arms and the silver necklace around Tobi's neck. But only at that moment did the problem strike me.

"Uh...Tobi-chan?" I inquired, tilting my head to the side, "do you have any idea how to get back home?"

He seemed to realize it too, then shrugged. "Tobi might be able to find a way home. Perhaps—"

"Kagami-chan!" called a few nearby voices. "Where are you? Imouto, please hear us!"

Suddenly, I realized with a jolt that those voices belonged to my siblings and some of the Akatsuki members. Turning around, Tobi and I both saw them immediately, and with smiles on our faces, rushed over to them.

"Onee-chan!" I cried happily, rushing over to my older sister. "We thought we weren't going to make it back home! Have you been looking for us?"

Instead of hugging me, Kaiya glared at me, then grabbed me by the arm and smiled. Naoki did the same for Tobi.

"You're going to sleep early tonight, you naughty kids," she told us, and we laughed nervously. "We were so worried about you! We nearly called the police, but thank goodness that Zetsu was able to track down your chakra!"

I fake-groaned. "Aww, no fair, onee-chan!"

Kaiya just shook her head, still giggling. "But still, all that matters is that we were able to find you. Come on, you two. Let's head home before it gets too dark."

As she walked both of us home, I couldn't keep my mind off of Tobi and what had happened at the Ferris wheel. The way he acted in such a situation...it was just not like him. Based on his personality, he would have probably tried to annoy the boy into dropping me, instead of taking physical action like he had.

Suddenly, I heard a small, unfamiliar sparkling noise from behind me. I turned to my sister and the Akatsuki to see if they had heard it, but nobody else seemed to be hearing the sound. Spinning around quickly, I identified the strange object — a tiny, glowing fragment that looked like a crystal — and snatched it out of the air. Swiftly pocketing the fragment of what I assumed to be part of a scintillating orb, I turned around to check if anybody had seen me.

Not a single person had noticed the fragment or me pocketing it away. I was unsure whether I wanted to sigh in relief or not, since the Akatsuki were the ones that needed the scintillating orb and not me. But then again, it was hard to even notice the small shard, since it was about half the size of a pumpkin seed.

When we made it home, Kaiya immediately took both me and Tobi upstairs in order to tuck us both in. Well, she dragged me upstairs by the arm, and Tobi just followed us, bouncing up the stairs happily.

"We had so much fun today," I said, turning to Tobi. "Didn't we, Tobi-chan?"

The masked boy nodded as we walked into my room. "Yeah! Tobi and Kagami-chan had a lot of fun today at the colorful carnival!"

"Go to sleep, you two!" chuckled Kaiya, turning off the lights. "Get some rest, and next time, please don't leave the house without telling us first, okay?"

I nodded, climbing into my sleeping bag. "Okay, onee-chan!" I replied just as Kaiya closed my bedroom door. Although I had a slight urge to grab my journal from the desk and write in it, I did not feel like it. Too many strange things had happened at the carnival, and to make matters worse, all of it happened at one time, when Tobi used a different voice than usual.

Tobi gently patted me on the head before climbing onto the bed, draping the covers over himself. He hugged Mitsukai, as if he was just an innocent, playful boy who wanted to take a nap. "Sleep well, Kagami-chan," he whispered, his voice the same as usual.

"Goodnight, Tobi-chan," I told him, shutting my tired eyes and falling into an uncomfortable slumber.

Opening my eyes again, I smiled, finding myself in the Pure Land again.

I wonder what Rin wants to talk to me about this time, I wondered as I walked around the endless realm. Maybe I can talk to her about my adventure with Tobi today, and how he acted differently when I was being shoved around in the Ferris wheel line. There was definitely something about his tone, voice, and word usage that made him seem much different than usual.

As I was about to venture into the realm to find Rin, a sparkling trail of stars playfully tapped me on the nose, making me let out a giggle. Immediately, I knew who the culprit was, and I smirked.

"Kagami-chan!" cried the voice of Rin from above me. "Close your eyes as tightly as possible! I'm going to turn back into a human right now!"

"On it!" I squeezed my eyes shut and covered them with my hands, just as soon as a huge burst of bright light exploded in front of me. This time, I wasn't blinded at all, since I was fully prepared for the moment.

At least she warned me on time this time.

I opened my eyes again and looked at Rin, glad that both of us remembered to close our eyes when she shapeshifted back into a human.

"Rin-chan," I began, "something strange was happening with my friend today. I could feel it."

She gave me a curious look. "Are you talking about Tobi?"

I nodded. "Something about his voice...it sounded much different than usual. It was much deeper than his usual high-pitched voice, and for once, he didn't refer to himself in the third person."

Rin scratched her head, as if she was trying to find the right words to tell me.

"Did he act differently in any way?" she inquired, and I shook my head.

"I'm pretty sure he just blurted it out in the heat of the moment," I remarked, but deep down, I knew something was completely off about Tobi. That definitely wasn't his voice that I had heard when he had first spoken to me.

"Maybe it's about time that I should tell you about myself," Rin suggested quickly in an attempt to change the subject. "I've been putting it off for so long, after all. We've got about fifteen minutes, so would you like to hear it?"

I nodded quickly. "Yes, please. Take as much time as you need."

She took a deep breath, then sighed, her smile fading. Immediately, I could tell that Rin had most likely experienced a rather tragic life. It was one of my unique traits: it was easy for me to distinguish one's feelings and thoughts just by observing their actions. I didn't exactly know why or how, but there was a reason behind everything. There was definitely a reason why Rin was not smiling all of a sudden, and there probably was also a reason why Tobi had spoken differently. Nevertheless, I turned my full attention to Rin as she began to tell me her backstory.

"Well," she began, "it all started in the once-peaceful village known as Konohagakure…"


A/N: Looks like Kagami has just found out about something she shouldn't have...but I hope you enjoyed this extra-long special chapter! Don't worry, there will be plenty more to come, as this fanfiction is nowhere near halfway done yet.

Question: Favorite ice cream flavor? I love vanilla, birthday cake, and rainbow sherbet!

Peace out, lovelies!

— Tenshi —