A/N: Well, good thing that I've finished this earlier than expected. Enjoy reading!

Whatever It Is…

Chapter III:

The Substance and the Shadow

This is the moment of truth, Tobi would use his mysterious Sharingan—the Uchiha clan's bloodline limit—to know the secret of Ren's whereabouts. He instantly transported to Ren's mind. He looked around the dark, misty place but he saw no one. He walked cautiously through the foreign area. He can hear now clashing of weapons. Tobi knows that Ren could be in trouble so he ran according to the direction of the sound that he heard earlier. Tobi at last saw Ren—the Ren that he had known in the past, not the mad, vengeful ANBU.

"Ren-san, you're alive!" Tobi cried joyfully as he ran towards his former comrade.

Ren was surprised to see him there. "Tobi, how come you could get inside my head?"

Tobi shook his head sadly, "Gomen, Tobi could not tell you how." He said gravely.

"Is that so?" said Ren sadly. She looked behind Tobi and she saw a speckle of light behind him, "Tobi, duck!" she shrieked as she pulled Tobi down.

Just in time, the light come spinning past Tobi's head. It landed on the floor with a big noise. Tobi got up to see what almost hit them—it was the silver bladed boomerang that the Ren look-alike uses. Ren got up after Tobi and pulled out a kunai on her bag. She instructed Tobi not to go far from her. Her voice seemed to be strong, but mixed with fear. Tobi, even though confused at what's happening, came close to her without any questions.

"I thought you realized what you have been doing lately." A voice boomed out, "I was wrong."

"I almost gave the full control of this body if you just hadn't hurt my friends!" Ren called out angrily.

"If they just co-operate with me, this wouldn't happen." The voice countered.

"Liar, you really wanted to kill them to make sure I would follow YOUR orders closely." Ren retorted.

"I am doing that because you had abused my kindness before and that wrong move destroyed all my dreams!" The voice fumed, "Now, I have to go back. This madness must end once and forever! We must accept the fact that we don't belong in this time!"

"No!" Ren stressed, "I know I was wrong when I did that. But can't you see that this is a good chance to start all over again."

"There's no hope for our kind. You've already know that." The voice answered sternly, "Actually, our only hope came when an icicle struck our heart and almost killed us. Our death would have set us free. If were just not for your selfish desires to make an accomplishment in your worthless life!"

Ren's eyes flamed as she spoke, "You're the one who's selfish, sis! You wanted to go to the after life because you'd discovered that he's dead. Next, you've learned that we are dying. That situation put again a light on your hopes that someday, you can say to him how much you love him—the thing you couldn't say while you're in front of his face when he's alive!"

A gust of wind suddenly blew strongly towards Ren and Tobi. Ren stood bravely on her ground while Tobi, because of the very strong wind, almost got caught in the gales and flew away. Luckily, Ren caught him and put him safely on the ground. Tobi sat on the ground as he looked around to find some traces where the speaker could be hiding. The voice boomed again much angrier than before.

"You speak as if you know everything." It cried furiously, "But in reality, you are just a mere…shadow!"

A figure came out in the shadows. She is indeed a Ren look-alike if weren't for her blood red hair. Like the usual, she tugged again the boomerang back to her hand. Her eyes were raven black with silver, vertical lines surrounding the steel gray pupil. She just stood there for awhile looking sharply at Ren. Tobi went behind Ren as they resume their hot conversation. Suddenly, the other Ren took notice of Tobi's presence there.

"Ah, you're the boy who boosted up her morale." She said bitterly, "I congratulate you for witnessing the great battle between the two, identical persons."

Ren suddenly butted in, "Don't even dare lay a finger on my friend, Akane!"

The Ren look-alike, who was called Akane, suddenly widened her eyes, "Akane? That's enough disrespect for the person who's your only friend and 'sister' in the past, ingrate! It's about time to teach you some manners and tell you again what your status here is!"

Ren braced herself, "You are still my 'sis' but everything's changed now. I'm not alone anymore and you're not the only one that is important to me now."

"Not alone, eh?" Akane mocked, "You're jesting. We are always alone, always forsaken. Everyone whom we had loved had flown away. They left us alone when we feel safe and secure around them. How sure are you that they are not going to do that to you again?"

Ren glanced at Tobi tenderly before answering, "I know they won't do it. I can feel it."

"Hmph, is that so?" Akane said gravely, "Then it's really the time to take over that place!"

"Kisame," asked the worried Deidara to his dark blue-haired Akatsuki member who was currently playing around with a large fishbowl filled with water then making tiny sharks inside the fishbowl, "have you seen Tobi lately, un?"

Kisame paused his activity for awhile then answered the blonde haired Deidara with a confused looked, "No, I didn't see him. It's kinda strange for him not to dope around."

"Well, he hadn't slept on his bed last night, where could he be, un?" He asked while looking around

"Maybe he's beside Ren-chan." Kisame said helpfully, "He's really worried about her condition."

"Oh well," Deidara sighed as he looked keenly at Ren's room, "maybe I should check in there. Thanks, un"

"No prob." Kisame said while resuming back to his 'work.'

BOOM! Ren smashed again onto one of the invisible walls of her small world. Akane seemed to be much, much more experienced into fighting than she is—that gave Akane an edge into this fight. Even in pain, Ren tried slowly to stand up still and pull again a kunai form her bag. Akane seemed to be enjoying this 'challenge less' fight as she leisurely dodge Ren's moves without any effort taken. She laughed loudly as Ren was gathering her strength back.

"I told you, my little shadow." Akane said as if to ridicule Ren's efforts, "I'm extremely stronger than you are."

Ren wiped off the blood smears on her cheeks while she looked sharply at Akane. Her eyes were not filled with hate as Akane was suspecting but it was filled with utter determination to protect the ones whom she loves and prove to her the opinions that she have was right. Ren looked exhausted but she didn't give up. She threw her a kunai which Akane quickly evaded but suddenly, the kunai multiplied in mid-air and spread away like a fan that one of the kunai scratched Akane's left cheek.

"Damn you!" Akane roared as she holds her injured cheek. She retaliated by throwing her huge boomerang towards her. But it wasn't just an ordinary attack. The boomerang released an unknown gas while spinning which only Ren got affected; making her terribly weak then she fainted. As the gas spreads throughout Ren's system, Akane walked towards her, grabbed her by the neck and pinned her against the invisible wall.

"Oh, don't call that foul play." Akane said coolly, "I've researched that for years just to find our weakness. And, there it is."

Tobi suddenly rushed in. He held on Ren and miraculously they phased through Akane's hand. They rolled again to the other side and Tobi put Ren safely into one corner and faced the surprised Akane.

"I won't let you hurt her." Tobi said in a deep voice.

Akane smiled as she tugged again the boomerang back to her, "Ah, you're just not a stupid stuff toy after all. What you did surprised me. Now—!" she suddenly stopped as she saw something strange on Tobi's eyehole. She snickered, "An Uchiha, eh, I'd seen that thing last time when I…" then she cut her sentence short, "It's a huge honor for me to fight an Uchiha in a battle."

"Good for you." Tobi said seriously as he readies himself to fight.

"T-Tobi-kun?" Ren stammered and immediately the Sharingan faded into the dark eyehole of Tobi's mask as he hurriedly went to her side.

"Ren-san!" Tobi said in his usual childish tone, "Are you alright?"

Ren held her forehead, "I-I guess so. What happened?"

"Akane-san released something then Ren-san fainted." Tobi reported.

"Oh." Ren murmured as she looked at Akane then something strange feeling fell upon her as she looked into her eyes. She just stared at Akane for a moment, making Tobi worried again.

"Is there something wrong, Ren-san?" Tobi asked

"Yes there is." Ren said while standing up, "It's surprising I haven't realized it sooner."

"What do you mean?" Tobi asked, baffled.

"It's closed, but why, un?" Deidara asked as he pushed the door of Ren's room. Then he got some of his clay and molded it into a spider he placed it in front of the door and went far from it, "Heh. heh, this would do the trick."

"What are you doing?" Itachi's voice came behind him.

Deidara wheeled to see Itachi behind him. A sign of disappointment has been shown on Deidara's face. "I'm checking if Tobi's in here, un." He replied tartly.

"I saw him come in there so don't worry about it." Itachi replied, "We've got something that'll surprise the whole Akatsuki. Is leader-sama in here?"

"Yeah, I think so, un." Deidara replied in a confused tone.

Itachi went ahead and called on Pein who was currently finding a way to save Konan. Soon, Zetsu entered the hideout, carrying a huge, black bag. He carried it gently and placed it on top of the couch. Deidara walked towards Zetsu as he opens the zipper slowly. He saw someone quite familiar into him that he stepped backwards a few feet away form the bundle. Pein came into the picture and looked at the bundle. He is too, surprised at what he had seen and asked where they found it.

"It was only Zetsu who had found it." Itachi confessed, "He just told me his discovery."

"I found it floating around the lake nearby." Zetsu told them, "Well, she's still breathing very weakly but I think she'll live. I brought her here because she looks like..."

"Ren, un." Deidara continued, "But she has blood red hair—like the one who attacked me."

"Ren-san, what's happening?" Tobi asked as Ren looked keenly at Akane.

"She's not sis!" Ren said finally.

A/N: Hope ya like it! Reviews are always and forever welcome.