Chapter 2.

Money can't buy love

Chapter two: Myserious Encounters

"Hey, Kakuzu! Come look at what I found!" he said. His voice was deep, and had a familiar ring to it.

Just then, I saw a man whose face was completely covered by a mask.

"… What is your name?" said the masked one.

"My… my name?" I asked stupidly. I didn't care. I was in too much awe, wonder, and fright to care.

"That is what I asked you, isn't it?" he asked.

"My name…. My name is Yuki Benika." I said, a little hesitant to tell them who I was. "Now that I've told you who I am, who are you two?"

"I am known as Kakuzu." the masked one, Kakuzu, said, "And this is my brat of a partner, Hidan."

Those names sound awfully familiar. I thought. That was when I remembered what Naruto volume I was reading before I fell asleep. Volume __. At the part where two members of the Akatsuki were in Kumogakure, the village hidden in the clouds, to capture the two-tailed beast. The Niibi.

"Well? What do we do now?" Hidan asked, looking a little bored.

"Excuse me, but, um, would you mind telling me what you are on your way to go do?" I asked, very freaked out about where I was.

"We are going to Kumogakure to fetch the two-tailed Niibi." Kakuzu said.

"Hey! Why'd you tell her?" Hidan complained. "She could be working undercover for the Missing Ninja Tracking Unit!"

"She is no threat to us. We have the ability to rid her of our possession if we had the desire. But I am able to tell, by the way that you look at her, you wish that I do not, and I respect your thoughts, no matter how strange and harebrained they may be." Kakuzu explained.

Hidan looked violated. I felt immensely scared out of my wit's mind. They could kill me if they wanted to. And I from what I knew about Kakuzu, if he killed me, he would take my heart for himself. I didn't want that to happen, but then again, who would?

"So what do we do with her, then?" Hidan asked.

"I suppose we take her with us to Kumogakure to capture the Niibi." Kakuzu answered in a monotone. He looked at me, "And simply watch, and hope that the Niibi doesn't see her and kill her."

What?! Why?! Why would they want to take me?! I'm just a normal girl from America! What can I do? I thought, still very scared about what was going on. Well, this is probably just a dream. I'll wake up from it sooner or later. I may as well go with them. It's better than dying, I guess, even if it is a dream.

"Well?" Kakuzu asked.

"I'm sorry?" I had no idea what he had said minutes before. I was too lost in thought.

"I asked you what you're doing here." Kakuzu said, as if I was supposed to know that.

"Oh!" I said, shocked. "I…. I honestly have no idea. I fell asleep in my world, and woke up here. Then, you two showed up."

"Wow!" Hidan said, "So you come from another world? Cool!"

"Hidan! Keep it together, you idiot!" Kakuzu snapped. He turned to me, "So… you don't know how you got here, or where you are?"

"No, I don't." I said simply. "Not a clue."

Kakuzu thought for a minute, "Interesting. Hidan, I think we should keep her around. She may be of some use to us."

If I thought I was scared a minute ago, that was nothing. I was deathly afraid now. Two S-ranked criminals from the world of Naruto were going to 'keep me around' because I 'may be of some use' to them. I shuddered, and I was pretty sure they saw that, but ignored me.

"Um…" I said quietly. The two shinobi looked at me, "Just wondering aloud here, but, um… why are you, um, keeping me around, and not, uh, killing me?"

They looked at each other, "Well, uh, Kakuzu, why don't you tell her?" Hidan said.

Kakuzu sighed, "Fine. We are keeping you around because you may be useful to the Akatsuki."

My eyes got wide. The Akatsuki? Oh, crap.

"Hey, Kakuzu, where the heck is Kimiko? I haven't seen her since she went to scope out the area, leaving us to find her." Hidan said as he gestured to me. I felt myself blushing.

"She will be here in…" Kakuzu began. There was a rustling in the bushes, "Now."

"Hey, Hidan! Who the heck's this?"

"Uh…" I said, extremely confused and scared about all of this. I had no idea who she was, and why I hadn't seen her in the manga. She had long—very long—silverish hair that was pulled back into two ponytails in the back of her head. She had eyes as black as night, and looked at Hidan as if they were in love, or something. Then she ran over to Hidan and stood there hugging him for what had to have been five minutes or so. Kakuzu and I simply watched in astonishment, and on my part, longing and slight disgust.

"She is Yuki Benika. She says that she is not from around here." Kakuzu said, breaking the silence.

"Well, then, where's she from?" Kimiko asked, breaking away from Hidan, but he still had his arm around her waist.

"Well, Yuki, why don't you tell Kimiko your story?" Kakuzu asked. It sounded more like a demand than a question.

I gulped, afraid to tell them my whole story, "Well…. I'd gotten home after I went to the mall with my friends, and after I had a fight with my boyfriend. I ran up to my room, read some manga, then cried myself to sleep. After I dreamed for a while, I woke up here. That is all."

"Hey! The story you told Kakuzu and me was completely different!" Hidan said loudly. "What gives?!"

"Hidan. Relax." Kimiko said, "It's probably 'cause I'm a girl, and she probably feels a little more comfortable around those of her own gender. Is that true?"

I nodded my head. I was prepared to talk as little as possible now—as I did when I was either scared, shocked, feeling a little awkward, or all of the above; in this case, it was all of the above.

Kimiko broke away from Hidan, and came over to kneel next to where I was, careful to keep her distance. "A fight with your boyfriend? That's terrible! Would you tell me about it?"

I shook my head. I would have told her, but we were around other people, who were S-class criminals. It just didn't feel right. "Maybe later." I whispered, just quiet enough that only she would hear.

Kimiko giggled, and smiled. "Okay." she whispered back, just as quiet.

"Not talking now, are you?" Kakuzu asked, a little skeptical.

"Leave her alone, Kakuzu!" Kimiko said, a little loudly. She was the only person I knew, even though I didn't know her very well and aside from Hidan, that would stand up to Kakuzu.

I stared at him. I wasn't able to see his face, due to the mask covering his head, except his eyes, which were a strange shade of green—a slight neon. Despite that simple fact, he seemed… stressed. Like he had something very important to do, that I was keeping him from.

There was an awkward silence in the clearing we were in.

"So…" Hidan said, breaking the silence, "Now what, Kakuzu?"

"Now, we go to Kumogakure. And fetch the Niibi. The Two-tailed beast." Kakuzu answered.

"That part I get, but what are we supposed to do with her?" Hidan asked, as he pointed to me. I blushed a little.

"One of us must take her on our back. Kimiko is out of the question,"—Kimiko looked like she wanted to kill him—"so that leaves either you or myself. Chances are, you will try your hardest to get out of it, so I suppose that leaves me."

My eyes got wide upon hearing this, and I blushed a little harder. Oh no, oh no. I have to go piggy-back on an S-class criminal's back. The one that takes peoples' hearts, no less! Why me? Why why why?! I thought, as I finally realized what I had to do. I, a simple, small-town girl from the United States, had to ride on the back of one of the most lethal member of the Akatsuki, a band of the most lethal shinobi in the world.

Now, I was scared. More scared than I'd ever been in my entire life.

Sorry about the shortness. I had writer's block. So, yea, let me know what you think of it!~ =D