Recap: 'I... feel so... dizzy.'
My body sways, the effect of the poisons finally subduing my limbs. I stagger, getting to my feet and moving from the freshly simmering ashes of the rancid smelling corpse.
I fall on my face, nose suffocating into the dirt. I was about to die, and I knew it.
I at least avenged him, my brother.
"I'll always love you," I whisper to the winds, voice cracking and fading. "Always..."
"Ugh, am I dead?" my eyes flutter open, the pupils optical peering around the fuzzy room. "Where am I? This isn't my next life, is it?"
"You're finally awake," a voice snorts. I look over and squeal. A FISH was talking to me!
"What the heck are you man?!" I fall over the edge of whatever bed I was on, bashing my head on the floor. I scream in pain, my body sore and my every muscle on fire with pain. "Oh god, Ow"
"Foolish girl," he lumbers over, bending down and yanking me back on the bed. "I'm a shark if you must know, and my name is Kisame."
"Err, hi Kisame?" I laugh nervously. "Eh heh, heh, name's Aya Where am I? Seriously"
He smirks. "Welcome to Akatsuki, Aya."
My mouth gapes. "As in the evil organization that is... well... evil?!"
"What other Akatsuki is there?" he rolls his eyes. "Sasori and Deidara brought you here."
"Okay, now I'm definitely missing something here," I twitch. "Sasori and I have been at each others throats since we were kids."
"You knew Sasori as a kid? That means you're about twenty..." he trails off, questioning me.
"Twenty-seven," I tell him plainly. He laughs.
"Only a few years from me," he shakes his head. "Get up; we're going to go get you something to eat from the kitchen."
"Uh, I might need some help," I grin shakily, not liking the fact that neither was I dead, but I was in the evil organization known as Akatsuki.
He sighs. "Alright come on." Kisame grabs my arm, pulling me up. I put an arm on his lower arm, holding myself up. He pulls me out of the room and into another, this one tiled. A man sat there praying over a set of beads. "Hidan, Aya. Aya, Hidan."
"Hi," I quietly answer, coughing slightly as his tough gaze settles on me.
"Is she a new member?" he looks at the shark. "She doesn't seem strong enough to be here."
"This is Ito no Aya," he informs. Hidan nods. "She's obviously staying here for the time being."
"I've heard of you. Of Sunagakure and recently living in Konohagakure, the medic of threads, pretty popular, I've heard you're good at healing," he goes back to his praying.
"Uh, thanks?" I take the apple Kisame gives me, eyeing is suspiciously. I rub it over my dress, letting the threads feel it. They whisper to me, saying it wasn't poisoned, before I bite into it.
"Let's go girly; I'm sure the blonde psycho will be a bit happier to see you up. He even tried to flirt with you when you were unconscious."
"Eck," I stop, "how about I go back to bed and say I did?"
He laughs smugly. "I think that'd be a better idea."
I sigh happily. "Oh thank god. Can you help me back into the-"
"Aya!" Deidara bounces into the room. "You're finally up yeah!"
"No, I'm just an astral projection of myself. I'm really still in the room sleeping," I tell him flatly. He blinks, turning to go look in the room. "Is he an idiot?"
"No, he has a bit of ADD, and he's just slow sometimes," Kisame grabs my elbow, yanking me into the living room. "She's up."
Every member in the room turns to look at me. I try not to bite my lip in half, noticing two familiar faces. One was Sasori, as always, and the other was Sasuke's older brother, Uchiha Itachi, his eyes boring into mine. He knew who I was as well.
There were also some faces I'd never seen before. One was a guy with a large flytrap over his head and there was one that had odd eyes.
"Itachi," I glare. He glares back, turning away with a blank face.
"There's one more member of our team, but she's away on a mission," Kisame explains, helping me onto a chair next to Sasori.
There was an awkward silence in the room now. I didn't know if I'm the only one that felt it, but I knew I didn't like it. It was eerie, and in such a place it really didn't help. The setting was perfect for death. Quietly, I fumble with the clothing I had on, knowing if I needed to I could be out of here in second, using a web of threads as my backup.
Don't leave. They whisper roughly, ordering me. I sigh, knowing that if I did they'd hold a grudge against me forever. I didn't need that.
"You're not an astral projection yeah," Deidara comes back in, poking my arm. I roll my eyes at his stupidity, astounded that someone as brain dead as this blonde could be in Akatsuki.
'Of course, not many boys this guys age can mangle someone's face like he did to Yomi with only one little attack,' I shudder, remembering the fragments embedded in his eyes.
"How long are you staying here yeah?" Deidara sits in front of me, on the floor staring up at my face.
I shrug. "No idea. Hopefully not long"
Itachi lets his creepy gaze rest on me. "Is our hospitality not suitable for you, Aya-sama?"
I scowl deeply. "It's the fact I'm-"
Something makes my mouth shut before I can slit my own throat. I look over, seeing that Sasori had attached his putrid chakra strings to me, unbeknownst to the other members. They stare at me a long moment before turning away, back to their own business. Deidara shrugs, turning to watch television a bit. When Sasori releases me, I turn back and issue my words in a harsh whisper.
"What was that about?"
"It's wise to watch your words when you're only a visitor here," his eyes linger on mine, not releasing my orbs from his hold.
"And you saving me doesn't add up either," I continue to be quiet, just as he was.
He gives that ghostly smile before turning back to the others, paying mind to whatever was in his evil little red head.
How long would I really have to stay here at Akatsuki? Hopefully, like I said, not long.
"Deidara, settle down," I sigh unhappily, the blonde now being a complete hyperactive moron like always. It had been a whole month here at Akatsuki.
"I'm sorry Aya, yeah," he smiles, plopping down before giving off an evil smirk, "you're just so cute when you're mad."
"And you're oh-so adorable when you shut up," I snap back, evilly glaring. He grins even wider, still a wicked one, which even I had to admit, was hot.
"I am yeah?" he yawns suddenly, putting his head down.
Kisame walks in. "Aya, Sasori's looking for you I think."
"What does he want now?" I yawn too. "Deidara, you gave me the yawning disease now."
"Sorry," he lets out another loud one, "Aya, yeah."
"No problem," I get up, "but I better go look for him before he gets upset. I hate when he uses those strings on me."
"Agreed," says Kisame while sitting at the kitchen table in my old seat.
Quietly, I walk through the halls of the Akatsuki hideout, buried deep in the pit of some cave. I don't know why I haven't been banished yet, or killed, but whatever the leader says goes here. I think Deidara must have put some good words in about me.
I know on the puppet's door, tapping my foot. The door opens and Sasori glides out, taking my wrist in his hand, dragging me mercilessly behind him. I try and pull away. "Sasori, where are we going?"
He doesn't answer, but slings a black cloak over my head, like the Akatsuki cloak's, but without the clouds. I wasn't an actual member, so that meant I wasn't to wear the cloak they did, just the same color. I wasn't that evil anyways, though they were growing on me, the people here.
He rushes through the trees, the night swirling around us like a veil, stars lighting up the skies like luminescent guides.
"Where are we going, Puppet Boy?"
He looks back at me, that plain look as always in his droopy eyes. "Aya, stop calling me that, it's Sasori, be respectable enough to call me that. I don't call you something ridiculous like 'Thread Girl'"
I blush slightly, looking down. "No, you don't. Sorry," I mumble the last line incoherently, hoping he didn't hear, yet knowing full well that he probably did. He nods, lightening the grip on my wrist and continuing his fast pace. We arrive near Konoha in no time, running quickly against the outskirts so no one knows. My lips start to dry up, cracking as I think about the memories here.
"Why did you bring me here of all places" I hiss sadly, eyes narrowing as I glare at the red heads back.
He slows down, letting my wrist go. I yank my arm away, walking a few steps behind me but still allowing myself to follow.
I finally see where he was taking me. We slip past the tall wall, darting down a path with elegant grace. He turns to look at me, motioning that I should walk first. I head through the break in the trees, a smile coming to my somber face.
It was a cemetery, the one where my brother was buried. I had missed his funeral because I was stuck in a place with criminals against my will. Just seeing the grave made my heart swell though, the tombstone was huge, beautiful, and there were fresh flowers on the mound of dirt, still slightly adjacent from the ground.
I crouch down to his grave, running a hand across it. Something brushes my shoulder, and I gently take the flower from Sasori, setting it down after laying a sweet kiss on it. Sasori, who was standing right next to my crouched form, drops a lone flower onto the grave as well.
"Brother," I whisper softly, hand grazing over the name etched into the stone.
Shimoto Ryuu
Master of Threads, Ito no Ryuu
Loving Brother, Caring Friend
We'll always miss you; no matter you will forever watch over us. Your sister and friends will love and miss you, forever and for always.
"How sweet," I let a tear fall down my face, shaking my head. "Ryuu, I miss you so much Brother."
It takes a minute, the tears cascading down my face, but I regain my composure. Slowly standing, I stare at the stone, smiling sadly one last time.
"He wouldn't want you of all people to cry," he drawls out.
My bottom lip trembles, nodding. "I know, but... I just miss him. He was my best friend and my most precious person." The moments pass, filled with depressing silence. I take a deep, shuddering intake, hoping my voice was steady enough to speak. "Sasori, why did you bring me here?"
He eyes me. The red head points behind me. I turn, looking, yet seeing nothing but the darkness, the only light being the pale moonbeams streaming all across the cemetery. I turn back.
"I don't see any-"
Something hits my lips quickly, locking me in place. I gasp, trying to jump back but an arm stopped me. I peer, wide-eyed, into the eyes of Akasuna no Sasori, his lips planted on mine, not feeling of wood or some kind of puppet material like I thought since we all know, he's a living doll.
Memories of our childhood pass by, all negative, yet a resemblance was easy to distinguish. We were always near each other, more than Ryuu and he was, almost more than even Ryuu and me. I started most of the fights, but it was just to receive attention, though I'd never utter it aloud, and even though I'd never realized until this meager show of affection.
Timidly, I kiss back.
As soon as I do, Sasori deepens, and then draws back. We stare at one another a moment, his arms wrapped around my waist softly.
"Happy birthday, Aya," he smiles that ghostly one before it slowly fades away, though it was noticeable for more than a few seconds.
"Thank you Sasori-kun," I smile back, forehead against his.
He was the cotton, and I was the silk. As weird as this may sound, and as oblivious as I always was to this statement, how unlikely it was that I'd never speak these words were amazing...
'As a child, I believed that I hated you. What a strong word. I guess I love you, Akasuna no Sasori. I love you...'
