Through the streets, my long black hair flowing in the wind. The dark black and purple locks flying into my eyes, blocking my vision. I brushed them out of the way; and the first thing I saw was the people of Konoha staring at me; none of them were attacking as none of them must have been shinobi. They recognised my existence for I still donned my Akatsuki robe, they were too fearful of my power if they were, in fact, shinobi. Deidara and I had long since split up; we felt that searching for the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki would be easier if we were in two separate parties. But I only agreed with him to avoid conflict. I wanted to be with Deidara, but I wanted to stay on his good side even more.

The Jinchuuriki was elusive prey; I had seen him several times but every time he had disappeared in a puff of smoke, much to my disappointment. I had to capture him; to impress Deidara and prove my worth to the rest of Akatsuki.

My hair had been over my right eye; now my cousin had insisted that I cut it so not only did I have full visibility but the scar from all those years ago when I had tried to gouge my eye out to kill myself was fully visible. I never wanted Deidara to see that. But he had, and he seemed genuinely concerned about me. It would, however, stay there forever. Another little souvenir of my oddness and uniqueness.

A sudden ringing emanated from my pocket; the mobile that Kairi had insisted I bring was the obvious culprit. I sighed, and pulled it out in frustration. What could she want, now of all times? Pressing the "Call" button, I said regretfully: 'Hi, Kairi. What?'

'You could be a little more pleased to hear me. Anyway, is Kutsuu with you? He left this fucking note saying he was gonna follow you. He'd better be with you, or I am going to fucking-'

'What do you mean he was going to follow us?!' My voice filled with panic. If he'd been caught...then...

'Exactly that. That little retard, he is sooo fucking dead, I swear I will-'

'I'm going to try and find him. You search the base, make sure if he isn't still there.'

'I'm not at the base, remember?! I'm with Tobi, we're trying to get Naruto's old medical records. I only know about it because Sasori called me to tell me. That little fuck-'

I pressed the "end call" button, cutting Kairi off mid-swear. Kutsuu....how could he? He could get hurt. I moved quickly through the street, calling out to Kutsuu in despair. How could he do this to me? 'Kutsuu! Where are you?' I called; but so softly that he might not have heard me anyway. 'Kutsuu! Are you there?' I tried again desperately.

'Joy-chan?' The voice cut through everything; not just because it was calling my name but because it was familiar, and it wasn't Kutsuu, Deidara, Tobi or Kairi. I hadn't heard that voice for years; but it was impossible. Was I hearing things...? 'It is you.'

Fear filled my body, paralysing me, but I managed to work up the courage to turn around. What I saw filled me with both fear and happiness, but it just wasn't possible. 'Ahh....ahh....n-no...' I stepped backwards, fear taking a greater hold of me. 'But it is you.....Joy!' The boy that stood before me was perhaps a year older than myself, his eyes bore into mine and I could feel myself slowly, freezing up. Not possible. His thin black hair showed his eyes clearly, the sharingan that was a trait of his clan filled them. These same eyes had made him try to kill me....

'It's not.....you can't.....' I couldn't bring myself to finish a single sentence. I could see him moving forwards, towards me, but everything around us was unreal and seemed fake; my tears were blurring my vision yet I could see him perfectly.....

He grabbed my hand and I would've pulled away but I couldn't. He grabbed my waist and pulled me closer, I felt like I couldn't breathe and I knew I was blushing, but I didn't care about any of that. What I cared about was that my friend, my old best friend, who was supposed to be dead, wasn't and was here.

Suddenly, he kissed me, soft and warm lips pressed against mine, I flinched but didn't try to pull away. Because, deep down, I knew I was enjoying it. No-one had ever kissed me before. No-one had ever wanted to kiss me before. Who would want to kiss a little, crying, blood obsessed emo kid? Finally I managed to pull away, tears building up again. I knew I should be happy, but I wasn't. 'N-no....' I whispered. 'Why.....Minami....'

I turned around, twisting on my foot and fled up the road, salty tears spilling out onto my cheeks.