The Meeting
A/N: We apologize for lack of depth in the last chapter and hopefully this will make up for it. It might seem like we haven't given Deidara his speech impediment, but really he just hasn't said much yet. And technically we were supposed to post friday or saturday. So we're not that late.
8:00pm, April 18Deidara realized 3 things that night:
1) Charged Phone = Happy Leader
"My phone died on me last night!" Tobi watched as Deidara paced back and forth. Originally Tobi swore left and right that he packed Deidara's charger when getting his stuff. After eating lunch, Deidara checked but it was nowhere to be found. The blonde nearly lost it at that. He almost tore the place apart much to Tobi's amusement. "The idiot lost it, un." On the plus side, Tobi had a really nice phone.
2) Deidara had to get a grip
After the phone call, it began to dawn on him how much he actually cried. This was expected since it happened only yesterday. But after some hot chocolate (literally the dumbass put chocolate in the microwave and heated it) and a good shoulder to cry on (this was unexpected for both of them) he felt it was easier to talk about it. "Do you think he had any family members?" Except dumb questions like those. "I mean family members that know what happened." The question sank like an anchor to the bottom of the blonde's stomach. Deidara knew pretty much everything about him. They talked about all sorts of things; there was never a moment that awkward silence occupied. He took pride in knowing that he trusted him. "You're the only one I've ever told" Those words still made Deidara smile even to this very moment.
"He's only got one family member and that's his grandmother." Tears peaked from the corner of his eyes. "I don't think she knows." In this moment he realized the third thing.
3) He needed to say goodbye
"Tobi."
"Yeah?"
"Tomorrow we're going to get my charger."
6:00am, April 19Sakura stared up at the apartment. The duffel bag was making her arms ache. Her grip unconsciously tightened on the key that Tsunade gave to her. She was being moved to this apartment for her own safety. It would be good to make sure anyone potentially following her found her real home. Tsunade told her that they had already decorated the place to make sure that it seemed habitable to anyone that might break in. Sakura didn't really understand. What were the chances of anyone really showing up?
When she closed the door she had no trouble locating the bedroom. After dropping her bag, a yawn fought it's way through her mouth. She had stayed up all night researching everything there was to know about Sasori Akasuna. After practicing her 'Himitsu' and packing the clothes she deemed it ready to go. Unfortunately this meant she had zero sleep. She decided not to care and flopped on top of the bed. Maybe she would sleep and get started in an hour or two. She shot Naruto a quick text to come by for a rehearsal to see if everything went according to plan.
9:00am, April 19Sakura heard the door slam shut. That must be Naruto. She quickly slipped into her clothes and something hit her like a ton of bricks. Naruto didn't have a key and she didn't leave the door unlocked...did she? There were footsteps and some low voices mumbling. Two people? She looked for her gun. Why were they here? A cold feeling settled through her. She left her gun at home, She didn't know what weapons they had with them, and she was afraid. Footsteps began to approach the door. Sakura needed to act fast. She grabbed a book nearby and hid near the door frame. A sneak attack would buy her enough time to run out. Suddenly, the door was pushed open. One heartbeat went by before Sakura saw a mass of blonde hair. She whammed down with all her might. Naruto?! The head reeled back and a hand went up to hold where the impact was made. "Fuck." She saw it and her body froze in place. That ring… Icy blue eyes turned to here in an accusing glare. "Who the HELL are YOU, un?" Sakura was speechless. That ring was part of the Akastuki. What address did Tsunade assign her? She just hit a member of the Akatsuki. She just hit a member of the Akatsuki. "How did you get in here?" The ruckus caused someone else to appear. A masked man stood behind him. The angry blonde started walking towards her. "You wanna steal something, huh? Un"
"Uh," Himitsu! She had to be Himitsu!..what would Himitsu say? If I were his cousin... Suddenly all felt right in the world. She plastered the most cross face she could muster. "I should be asking YOU that. What are you doing here?"
"I LIVE HERE!" The masked man stood by the door almost frozen. In the world of this comedy a voice finally spoke.
"Who are you?" It came from the mask and it seemed so calm it distracted even the blonde.
"I'm Himitsu. Sasori's cousin and I want to find out what the hell happened to him." She was happy she practiced that line so many times at her apartment. The blonde stared at her directly in the eyes for the longest time. Sakura could see the sadness in his eyes. So the Akatsuki really cared for him.
"Liar. You don't look a thing like him." Sakura didn't know what to say.
"Are you stupid? He's adopted of course he wouldn't look like me!" Apparently she knew what to say. He didn't look convinced. "So...please," She made sure to avert her eyes to the ground and look as discouraged as possible, "help me find him."
"He's dead. How did you get in?" The voice was steady. Sakura knew he was dead already, but the voice from the mask said it so casually it still shocked her. The blonde turned around and seemed to communicate something because the masked man gave a shrug. "Whaaat? I just want to know!" The voice whined and Sakura was scared. Why is he acting like a child all of a sudden? Nonetheless the blonde turned back toward her.
"How'd you get in, un?" Deidara echoed Tobi.
"He can't be dead…" 'Himitsu' was 'distressed'.
"He is." The blonde's voice held no amount of sympathy. "I saw it myself. He's dead." The truth in that statement tasted wrong to Deidara. Then an idea struck Sakura.
"Who killed him?" She glared accusingly between the two of them.
"We don't know."
"Well," Sakura crossed her arms over her chest, "I'm not leaving until I find out." And there was something in her that made Tobi smile. He liked her.
5:40am, April 18Shizune was overwhelmed. She stood outside Tsunade's office holding the stack of the files for Topeng. Her arms were about to give out when someone opened the door. She quickly pushed passed them and slammed the stack on Tsunade's desk. The assistant turned around to thank who opened the door, but barely saw the pink hair before the body disappeared behind the corner. "What was Sakura doing in here?" She received no answer as Tsunade opened a random manila folder to examine the content.
"I was...giving instructions for her new assignment." Words failed to convey the disbelief and anger Shizune had.
"You put her in Akatsuki?" Her voice was barely above a whisper.
"I did."
"How could you?" Shizune stomped over to the front of the desk to face the merciless monster she called her boss. "After all of this?! Did you at least tell her about Sasori?"
"She could be killed if she knew that information." Tsunade spoke defensively.
"She's dead either way if Topeng finds her out!"
"...I know." Tsunade paused. "But isn't it worth a shot to stop all this madness?"
"With Sakura as the sacrifice?" Shizune huffed and there was a long silence. "Why didn't you send me out?" Didn't she qualify? Wasn't she good enough? "Couldn't you have, at the very least, told me?" Wasn't she her most trusted assistant? Her consultant?
"I didn't want to tell anyone. There are spies all around." Gee, that made Shizune feel just swell.
"Oh spare me the paranoid bullshit," Shizune felt the anger bubble up once more, "you didn't tell me because you knew I wouldn't ever agree with your choice to send her out." It surprised both how loud she spoke the word 'out'.
"Shizune-"
"And honestly," Shizune was going to say it. "I knew this would happen to Sasori. I told you not to and you-"
"You're dismissed," Tsunade practically yelled herself to disrupt Shizune mid sentence. It was firm. Tsunade didn't want anymore of Topeng to bother KPFI. Shizune left.
9:38am, April 19Pein answered a phone call from Tobi. He wasn't expecting to come face-to-face with a dead man's relative. He wasn't prepared for when said relative showed up with Deidara and Tobi demanding to seek 'revenge'. He didn't know about the guilt trip that Himitsu would put him through. This boy obviously cared a great ton about Sasori. But why show up now? Did he want revenge? Was he going to become a member?
3:52pm, April 19Pein found himself introducing Himitsu to all the members. Each member (mainly Itachi, Kisame, himself, and Shiro) wished their condolences. Tobi, one who never missed an opportunity to slack off, suggested that they all go out to get to know Himitsu and welcome him to Konoha. Pein was surprised that he agreed to that. So all 10 of them decided that they would head over to a local bar tonight. It was an unexpected day to say the least.