A/N: okay, the last one was a sudden cut off but it was natural. He'd lost so much blood and he was slightly weak already. His thoughts were elsewhere and he just kept moving and re-scratching the cuts. Any who's, in this chapter I make Pein appear in a rather creepy mode, and he changes the Akatsuki partners. Who goes with whom? Maybe, just maybe, I'll let Deidara find out about what Becci is. It'd be cool.
Becci's POV: Changes in the front line?!
Itachi and I fought hard, sweat pouring from both of us, making us skid and slid around as we dodged attacks and mental breakdowns. I had hit him three times. Once on the neck (he coughed up a glob of blood), once on the ankles (he went skidding) and once in the stomach (he went sprawling). I had been hit once by him, on the temple, which made my sight waver and my chakra fade. I had shadow guards around my eyes, protecting my mind from the horrid sharingan and still being able to see.
"Jesus, I think you've grown way stronger. I'm losing!" Itachi gasped out as we took a break. Every hit was a point, and it was first to five. I had used up most of human chakra and I didn't want to go all goddess-y on him. "How much left?" Itachi knew I was not totally human but he accepted me, much to my surprise.
"I don't know. I'm buggered though, a bad sign. I think I got one more hit in me. But if I start to... yeah, stop me. Use sharingan, punch me. I don't care! Just stop me." Itachi nodded and we got back on our feet. "Bring it, old man!" The Uchiha tried to tackle me but I side stepped him, hitting the back of his legs with my foot. "Four-one. One more hit and the Shadow-girl wins!" I exclaimed in my best commentator voice, laughing. Itachi grinned and launched himself at me again. He flew by me, circling me like a vulture looking for its prey.
We battled on; he got in two more hits before I could even blink. I started to switch on again, nothing but the game was in my mind. I felt my chakra returning slowly, and I tried to stop the fight but the other side of me was in control now. I tried to stop Itachi and let him win but I was unable to control my moves. Shadows shined around my fingers and Itachi dodged my attacks, swearing and turning on his sharingan and attempting to restrain me. I just flicked my fingers and he was entwined in a shadowed lasso and slowly getting strangled.
Mel, what the hell do you think you are doing?! We're mock fighting! Free him! I demanded as Itachi's face went blue.
He attacked us! Whether it was play fighting or real fighting, he still attacked! She answered back.
FREE HIM NOW, YOU BLOODY BAKA! ITACHI'S FREAKING DYING! I yelled mentally, scaring the wits out of the goddess. She was only quietened as I shoved her from my mind. I was a mix of three. Human, demon and goddess. The demon was Melissa, the human was my meek little shy-as-a-church-mouse girl, and my goddess is me. The way I was in a fight was in goddess mode. I was a fighter, not a lover, but I love to fight.
"Wow, I've never been so scared in my life." Itachi stated once he got his breath back, massaging his throat and arms where my shadowed lasso had seized him. "That was the closest I want to come to Melissa and the furthest I've ever been from human Becci and goddess Shade." Shade was the name of me in this mode. I was merciless but I was merciful, don't ask me how that works. I'm kind yet I'm cruel, I'm evil and I'm good. It was the legend of Shade, the only thing I really was sure about when it came to what I was supposed to be like. "Hell; that was painful."
"No duh. It's the closest I want you to go and the furthest away you should go. Shade is me, I'm Shade." Just letting him know who was controlling me. "When are we due back?"
"Erm..." Itachi looked at the sun. "About an hour ago... oh shit! Pein's going to kill me, we have got to go!"
We sprinted to the lair in desperation, my goddess practically teleporting me there. I shivered as I felt the darkness in auras in the lair. There was no anger, only fear, sadness and a little guilt. I couldn't sense Pein but I sharpened my perspective, searching for the practically invisible aura of a Nagato clone. Hah, in the blonde's room. Wait, the blonde's aura was full of pain and fear. Pein was worried and I could sense almost every other member in the little room. I motioned to Itachi, worried about the blond baka even though he'd made me cry earlier. I made the guy follow me, the dread and gloom so thick in the air I could almost taste it.
"When will Itachi and Sha... Becci be back?" I almost forgot that I'd told Pein who I was. It was good he'd stopped himself from saying Shade. "Didn't I say to them they could fight for two hours, not three and a half?" I rolled my eyes and turned to Itachi.
"Hey, where is everyone? For the last half hour we've been here, it's been dead quiet. Itachi, was there a death or something?" I spoke with a normal toned voice, but I layered the hidden meanings.
"Hn? A death? Um... I was kind of concentrating on stopping you. If I was summoned back I'd be clueless. Stupid fights. You're matching me and exceeding me in everything." He made a face and stuck his tongue out at me.
"We're in here." I heard a voice I'd know anywhere, but it was layered with an emotion I'd never seen on his face or heard in his voice. "Deidara's hurt." Kisame's voice was filled with guilt.
"What?! He's hurt? When... what... how? Gah! I don't like this!" Itachi kneaded his temples with his knuckles, his eyes flashing in anger. "How was he hurt?"
"It doesn't matter how! All that matters is that he's okay! Is he okay, Pein...-sama? I'm worried." I spoke with a death-quiet voice but I knew that they could all hear me. I was shaking and Itachi held my shoulders, trying to stop the quakes. "Is he okay?" I repeated the question, just to make sure they heard me.
"Um... it's not too clear. He's good, then he's bad, then he's good, then he's bad again. It's on and off." Kisame answered, fear thick in his voice. I could guess that it was an accident and it was Kisame who had hurt the blonde, and so I knew I had done the right thing with my outburst. "He's got a real bad temperature right now."
"Let me in. I can help. Ask Pein." I muttered through the door. But it wasn't Pein who clarified.
"Well, she did act as team doctor when we got sick. She's skilled. But she likes to work with no one watching. Kana's watched once. That's all." Samantha answered, her tone telling the guys to get their asses out of the room. She walked out too, hand-in-hand with Hidan.
"Itachi? Will you come in with me? I'll need physical assistance." I looked at the raven-haired man, not expecting his nod. "Um... let's go."
The first thing I saw in that room was the walls, the yucky baby vomit yellow. I shivered and looked at the bed. Holy hell, he looked bad. The scratches all over his shoulders still had bits of bark in them, causing extra pain and chance for infection. His face was pale, bar the red marks on his cheeks and the bloodstains on his face. I carefully tried to pull out one large piece of bark, but it was stuck really well in his flesh above his armpit. I tugged on it a little harder, really worried about the bark. Itachi got the hint and took out the surface deep bits. I got the big bit out with a sickening, vomit-inducing squelch. I looked at the blood pouring from his arm and closed my eyes. The blonde didn't look like a blonde anymore with the hair bloodied and ragged. It looked more like a Sasori with long hair style. We got all of the bloodied wood out quickly and carefully. I watched as his face turned a bright red colour.
"'Tachi?" I looked at the Uchiha, inclining my head towards the blonde... erm, the injured man. "A glass of water would help him. Oh, and a wet towel. Please?"
The raven-haired man walked off to do my bidding, leaving me with the scraped shoulders and bloodied hair of Deidara. I put my hands on the ripped up skin, bloodied flash and torn muscles of his shoulders. My hands glowed with the shadows of my power, sewing up the torn muscles, fixing the torn flesh and adding new layers of skin.
The healing took power out of me, Melissa and Shade. I was totally drained. It was all worth it when the blonde's cerulean eye flicked open, his surprise at finding me standing over him so obvious I felt like throwing myself at him and kissing him straight on the lips. It was just as well that Itachi walked in when he did, he blinked in surprise at Deidara's newly healed shoulders and handed me the towels and the glass of water. I handed the glass to Deidara, who stared at it dumbly.
"Drink up. You'll be thankful later." He did as told and I sighed as I thought of what would happen when his Chakra fought off mine. It was a painful experience. "I needed the towels to clean his hair, 'Tachi, so can you grab more water? More as in enough to rinse the towels."
Itachi left and I set to work on the gorgeous blonde hair in front of me. The hair was so hard to clean. The tangles required a comb and until his Chakra and mine had 'agreed' and 'decided' to help him he wasn't allowed to move. I grabbed the brush I found near the bed, dragging it as kindly as I could through his long hair. Deidara winced a few times as I worked the knots out, but he didn't complain. I wasn't surprised when all of the blood slid out like a thread in loosely woven silk. It reminded me of the story Pein had told me when I'd spoken to him. Yahiko, his previous name, had been killed by Nagato to save Konan... I thought it was so cute. It was like the threads of his life were pulled slowly from the loosely woven destiny of the whole Akatsuki.
Eventually all of the blood was rinsed and combed out of his hair and the Chakra war had started with a painful hiss escaping his mouths... and I mean all four. Itachi walked in and saw my eyes drooping as the sun began to set and the room's aura darkened. In the distance Pein was calling on me, and he was walking around the base, calling me with several forms. Chakra, verbal and mental calls reached my ears and I sighed as I stood up. My knees clicked and I watched as Deidara writhed in pain.
"He'll be okay... I'm watching over him... go and see what Pein-sama wants... it'd be urgent." Itachi grinned and put a wet towel on the poor blonde's head.
"Shade, are you okay with this? I know I should be asking Kana but when I asked, she said to ask you, after all, you're the goddess." Pein was asking about the Stars that were here to join the Akatsuki. I wasn't sure, I mean, Pein's nice and all, but we were good and these people were evil. "I will even let you chose who your girls get paired with!"
"Fine. Sam's with Hidan, I'm in a three with Itachi and Kisame, Kana and Kakuzu, Reahn, Deidara and Sasori. Itachi and Kisame are the only ones I really know, Deidara and Sasori have been partners since you abducted Deidara however many years ago. It's only fair I don't split them up. Ask Kana, and see if she's okay with my pairings." I nodded as Pein grinned.
"Thank you, Shade. Just a question... who knows about the three you's? Itachi, me, Kana... well and you obviously." I looked at him with curiosity.
"That's all. I'm rather have kept it a secret. Wait Samantha and Reahn are the same. They know because they are all goddess containers too." I grinned and walked out, pleased with his reaction. He'd just gaped.
When I got back to Itachi and Deidara, I slumped on the ground and fell asleep.