I don't own Naruto!
Chapter II
It seemed as if an eternity had passed before anyone even bothered to remember them. All four of the girls were curled up where they had pooled all the mats. Centered in the room with all the mats together, more heat could be generated.
Hotaru's ear twitched in annoyance before she cringed away as the door opened, revealing none other than Pein. Hotaru was afraid, her ears laid back. Everyone else woke up as soon as she cringed away from the door and were staring wide eyed at the orange haired man who had been killing Raiden.
"I have some…conditions to explain." Pein said in an even tone. "What conditions? We're freaking chained to walls!" "If you don't want to remain chained to a wall, you'll silence yourselves and listen to what I have to say." Needless to say that shut them all up.
"If you want to live, you will become slaves. You will start with one person. You will stay with them for a maximum of two weeks. If they choose to give you up before then, you move on to the next person. You will obey any command they give you without question or else drastic measures will be taken to keep you in line. They will treat you as they wish and punish you when and how they see fit. Are there any objections so far?"
All the girls nodded their heads no.
"Since you will be slaves, you will dress differently from the members. Black long-sleeved shirts and black pants will be provided as will bandages to wrap your feet in for some protection. You cannot leave the grounds. You may walk about outside and such but there will be a point where you will not continue. You will come to a room on the first floor to sleep unless told otherwise by your masters. You will make your way around the organization before you get a bit of a…freedom. You will get to pick who your permanent master is unless you have not been satisfactory for every one of your masters. Do you agree to the terms and will you become slaves?"
The girls nodded yes to signify both that they would be slaves and that they agreed to the terms. "I'll return in a moment then."
As soon as the door closed, the conversation began.
"Shit. This is bad." "Yeah but there isn't much we can do about it." "Well what could we really do about it to begin with?" "Nothing." "Right so nobody is at fault. Hey we've been through worse before right? We can get through this!" "Shhhh! Here he comes!"
"How do you know?" The door creaked open. "Oh…."
Pein walked back through the door with clothes in hand for the girls with an extra article in each pile. In Hotaru's pile of clothes there was a silver sash, Mizuki had a blue sash, Kiku had a deep green sash, and Yusa had a dark red sash. They looked over at Pein quizzically before getting the reply, "These sashes signify your elements in a basic form. You must be wearing them somewhere visible at all times."
Hotaru tied her sash at her hips, Mizuki tied hers on her left arm, Kiku tied hers around her thigh, and Yusa wore hers like a village headband. Pein nodded his approval before taking out a small clipboard and pointing at each of the girls individually; "Yusa, you will serve Kisame. Mizuki, you will serve Hidan. Kiku, serve Sasori. Hotaru, you're serving Kakuzu." Since they all had looks on their faces like, "Pardon my French but who the fuck are you talking about?" He sighed before saying, "Follow me then…."
They had gone up many flights of stairs before Hotaru was dropped off. In fact she was the last one to be dropped off. "Here." He knocked on the door. When Hotaru heard a thump on the other side of the door, she almost laughed. Almost.
A man with stitches all over and black hair answered the door. "Here's a slave. You know the drill, you get maximum two weeks." "Hai Pein-sama" When Pein walked away, Kakuzu stared at Hotaru for a minute before saying, "You want in?" "Um…Sure."
When she got in she found the room surprisingly clean, no bed but there was a hammock like thing over in one corner with a window next to it, a bookcase, a desk in a far corner, and some of the necessities. "So…are you sleeping here?" "Only if you say so." "You like books?" "Yes." "There's a library of sorts on the first floor. Want to go?" "Sure."
When they made it down to the library, Hotaru was pleasantly shocked. The library was a big room at the back end of the house with large windows giving a view of the forest and a small pond with a big oak tree next to it. The bookcases reached the ceiling and were absolutely jam packed with books and scrolls.
Hotaru made her way over to a shelf full of scrolls and hardbacks and after much digging had a respectable stack of four books and two scrolls ready to go. After making their way back upstairs, Kakuzu went to his books and sat in the hammock-like thing to read.
Hotaru walked over close to where Kakuzu was sitting but sat on the floor in the spot of sunlight that the window left. She picked up the first hardback which was a large horror novel.
-When the sun started going down-
She looked wistfully out the window, watching as the sun's glow finally left the world in darkness. Kakuzu stretched and got up out of the hammock, "Want food?" "Okay."
As they went into the kitchen, they saw the rest of the Akatsuki members in there, but none of Hotaru's friends. Kakuzu kind of pushed her behind him as he towed her over to the fridge and after grabbing some food went back out, but not before catching it from the other members.
"Hey Kakuzu, is it staying with you tonight?" "Yeah, tell us how she is in bed!" "Hah, maybe he's gone soft on it." "Already? It's only been one day!"
He just pushed his way out of the kitchen leaving the noises of the kitchen behind him. When they got out and rounded a corner, he stopped and gave her the food. "Kakuzu-san?" "Huh?" "What were they talking about?"
"Usually, when slaves come here, if they're new the members prefer to 'break' them using sexual and other abusive ways. I don't give a flying fuck as long as they aren't annoying and bugging me all day. You were fine, quiet, stayed out of the way, didn't ask for anything much." "Thanks." "Okay. Get to your quarters now."
"Hai Kakuzu-san" Hotaru quickly scampered off to the 'slaves quarters' as Pein had termed it when he had been taking them to their rooms. She looked over what Kakuzu had snatched out of the fridge. It was some water and a thick slice of a meat of some sort. Maybe ham?
When she finally got to the room all of her friends were there. The room was reasonably sized, it had a bathroom off to one side, a closet full of the black shirts, pants , sashes, and bandages. A window with a seat that overlooked the backyard pond, and four medical cots that would serve for beds. She shared the food with them. It was ham.
Kiku had thin cuts on her arms from Sasori, apparently she had refused him something and he cut her with wire. Yusa was apparently clean of marks but she didn't really complain of anything. Mizuki had a large bruise on the left side of her face where she had been back-handed.
"OH!" Hotaru wasn't hesitant to share the information Kakuzu had told her about his behavioral expectations. "So, he likes them quiet, non-demanding, and out-of -the-way?" "Yep." "Neat. Hidan was just really…ugh…weird." "What? Isn't weird good?"
"Not this weird he's like a sadist and masochist combined. Guess how he spent most of the day? He took a girl out of his closet dragged her (and me) out into the backyard, cut her, drank some of her blood, killed her without touching her after he drew a weird circle triangle thingy on the ground, then he lay down and stabbed himself. He said it was praying…"
"Freaky." "Yeah." "How did you spend your day Yusa?" "…" "Yusa?" "…zzzzzz…" "Oh my god she fell asleep!" "We should let her sleep." "Yeah." "How did you spend your day-"
This went on for a while longer before Kiku suggested they all go to sleep. After a while the sounds of deep sleep breathing was all one could hear. Hotaru couldn't sleep. She got up and sat at the window seat, tucking her knees up to her chest and looking out at the pond.
The still water reflected the night sky perfectly, they were so far from anybody out here, that there were stars literally dusting the sky. It was the perfect scene. The moon was a crescent and not a cloud in the sky.
She finally felt tired so she just fell asleep on the window seat.
One week and six days later
"Get up." She felt someone shaking her shoulder, she jumped and tried to back away but she forgot she was in the window seat and just pressed into the window. She finally slid her eyes open, adjusting slowly to the now brighter light.
She hadn't been able to sleep well since her first night being a slave here. She had been able to sleep once she got into the window seat though. She guessed today was different though, it wasn't Kakuzu agitatedly poking her to wake her up, It was Pein.
"It's time for you four to get new masters. I was pleasantly surprised to find that your masters were so pleased with you, that they kept you for the whole two weeks." Hotaru's stomach dropped, two weeks? Was that really how long they had been here?
"Since you did so well, I'm posting the list here in your room so you are responsible for getting to your own new masters when the time comes. A calendar has also been provided so you can keep track.
He left after that. There was a calendar like you would see on a desk attached to the wall with a pen hanging off of it by a string. "Well, we should mark the two week marks…"
Kiku had Deidara, Mizuki had Pein, Hotaru had Hidan, and Yusa had Itachi. "Aw fuck, I have Pein this week?" "It would appear so." 'Ha ha Hotaru you have Hidan!" "Oh, shut up Mizuki!" "Who's Deidara?" "The hell if I know." "…Itachi…"
They figured the best spot to find them would be in the kitchen, so they headed down there. When they got there they didn't really want to go into the kitchen so they made Hotaru go first. "Why the hell do I have to go first?" "Um….'cause you're brave and stuff?"
Hotaru opened the door slightly and when nothing fell out of the sky to kill her she walked in, the rest of the girls following behind her. Next thing they knew, something white, round and flat flew over their heads, shattering on the wall behind them. They all scampered back towards the door to get away from the noise. "God-damn it stay out of here!" A voice yelled from behind them as the door swung shut.
"What the hell was that?" "That…" Yusa said, speaking up for the first time in a while. "Was Kisame. He's probably hung over…Again. He would leave for long periods of the day, locking me in his living area until he got back. When he got back, he would be in a bad mood, and when he's in a bad mood, he drinks, which gets him in an even worse mood, so he drinks some more. Then when he's done drinking he beats you." She lifted up her shirt to show her bruise covered stomach. The girls gasped.
Well they eventually got to their new masters for a while and the first thing Hotaru did was go outside with Hidan and some other woman. "He-Help me…" The woman pleaded. Hotaru just shrugged.
When they got out into the middle of the back area, Hidan used a jutsu that paralyzed the woman temporarily. He then took some of her blood, and began his ritual. Hotaru watched with morbid fascination while his skin changed to be black outlining bones.
He inflicted wounds on himself and the woman acquired the same wounds he had. Finally he stabbed himself right through the heart, and them woman died. He lay out on the ground and after stabbing himself again, began his prayers.
This was like a horror novel, it was great! Hotaru couldn't imagine what problem Mizuki would find with the ritual.
Later that night, after she had eaten a few scraps that Hidan threw her way, she headed over to the library. When she entered she heard quiet crying from somewhere in the room. She turned away from the religion section of the bookcase, and looked about the room, seeing nothing she decided it must be traveling through a vent.
She walked back over to the religion section, but someone was there. It was Kakuzu putting something back on the shelf. He turned around and saw her standing there, "What? Don't spy on me." "What religion does Hidan practice?" "Oh god not another one!" "No, no, I don't want to join I want to read about it." "Why?" "It fascinates me."
Kakuzu gave her a weird look before turning back to the shelf and plucking a book from a few shelves up. "Here." "Thank you Kakuzu-sama" "Mhmm" He said before leaving the library. Hotaru looked at the title. Jashinism -the history and rituals-
She hurried back to the room to find the others already asleep. A new master was probably a change of pace… She carefully set her knees at an angle that she could set the dusty book on before settling into her reading. She fell asleep in the middle of chapter five.
