Greetings everyone! *glomps the muses Asuma, Kushina, Zetsu_Akatsuki, Uchiha_Curse, and Konan*
Sorry about any delays! I had midterms last week and this week I have to plan my next quarter's college courses *grumbles*
I do not own Naruto or "I See Right Through To You" by DJ Encore
Chapter
26: Effort Paid OffSong of the Chapter:
I See Right Through To You – DJ Encore
Reason: Loving someone, you are bound to know their slightest mood changes and how every action is subconsciously for you
Sumiko rubbed her head in irritation as she dashed towards the Akatsuki base. She was not used to the intense draining sensation that demon extraction left her with and going through two in a row definitely was not healthy for her. She tripped over a stump and cursed. Should have just gone with Hidan and Kakuzu on that bounty hunting tirade to the Leaf Village to dig up the body of that bounty… what was his name again? But no… I had to go try to return to the base. Now where is that damn place? She glanced at her Akatsuki robes with a scowl. Perhaps I best find sustenance and a place to sleep before continuing… She walked around and hearing a sound, her hand flew instantly to a kunai she kept hidden in her sleeve and she jumped into the trees to try to observe the sound. Four figures moved in a fluid pattern and she tensed, cloaked her already depleted chakra, and followed them.
"Hey Kakashi-sensei, do you think we will find those two Akatsuki ninjas Hidan and Kakuzu?" the shinobi with spiky hair in a ponytail asked Kakashi. Sumiko tensed seeing the familiar ninja and decided following them was for the better if perhaps she assisted Hidan and Kakuzu in whatever fight they most likely were going to involve themselves in.
Deidara shifted uneasily in Pein's office. Sasori was bored and his fingers twitched in irritation as he longed to forcibly restrain Deidara's restless movement but he felt that Tobi's in place bouncing was starting to take up priority. "I called you three to retrieve Sumiko… she is lost."
Sasori's eyebrow twitched. "I am… surprised… My sister still cannot navigate herself from the Lightning Country back to base? Or even the Rain Village?" Deidara was amused but still nervous for his love.
"And she has sent me communication that she is following a party of Leaf Shinobi intent on claiming revenge on Hidan and Kakuzu. Find her immediately and provide assistance as well as escorting her back. Losing her is something unaffordable to our goals." Once out of the office, Deidara turned to Sasori.
"How the hell did you think Sumiko-chan get lost, un?" Sasori massaged his temples and looked at his partner.
"She has a terrible sense of navigation." Deidara sweatdropped and was slightly unnerved at Sasori's expression. "She will be fine but we best retrieve her before she causes some sort of international incident; she has proven to have exceptional skills at that too…"
So much for a normal life. "How did she get along before, un?"
"If I wasn't with her, Mamoru or his fox form was because she never bothered with directions." Deidara felt something in his heart sting for a moment before residing.
Sumiko's brow furrowed listening to more of the plan. The Leaf shinobi had this very planned out and could even possibly figure out Kakuzu's ability; I cannot let that happen! Biting her lip, Sumiko flew through a flurry of handsigns and watched as vines began to creep towards the shinobi. Kakashi's tensed and for a moment, the vines ceased their movements.
Ino noticed Kakashi's distracted behavior. "Kakashi-sensei, what's the matter?" Kakashi shook his head but his hand lifted up his headband to reveal the Sharingan. Sumiko cursed as the Copy Ninja's eyes widened.
"Get away from those vines!" The four shinobi just managed to avoid the vines that attempted to grasp them. Sumiko bit her lip and had her chakra strings drop the shrubbery to opt for snagging the ninja directly. She smirks catching Shikamaru's foot but when her chakra strings sliced through a log, her eyes narrowed.
"Be careful everyone; she can make her strings solid and razor sharp." Sumiko noted how they tried to scan for her chakra signature and she gave a grim smile.
They cannot find what no longer exists… Sumiko gave a grimace seeing her chakra strings erode into nothingness. Well shit… Sumiko put her hand in her pocket and withdrew a small pill, half being white while the other half was black. She thought about Zetsu for a fleeting second and wondered what he would do if he knew that she had her hands on this drug. Without further hesitation, she popped the pill in her mouth and felt her mind slip away.
Now the Leaf shinobi felt a mass of power and Chouji frowned. "I just smelt something that is similar to how those specialized soldier pills I had smelt like." Ino raised a blond eyebrow.
"How would you…?" A glare from Shikamaru shut her up.
"This chakra though… it feels a lot more dangerous than mine did that day. The effects of this pill I can't imagine but I know this power is not from those Akatsuki members we faced."
Kakashi ran through some handsigns and summoned the pack of ninja hounds. "No… this power is Sumiko; Akatsuki member formally of the Sand Village and twin sister to Sasori." As if on cue, Sumiko jumped down to the ground and landed gracefully.
Her eyes snapped to them and Kakashi felt unfettered killing intent assault his every one of his senses while the ninja hounds whimpered in discomfort. Shikamaru looked at Kakashi. "According to Kazekage-sama, this is not how she usually is correct?"
"According to him, she is contained and in a way, almost cold. This behavior could be due to the unusual soldier pill she consumed." Sumiko's hazy eyes caught Kakashi's attention. "We cannot assume that her past or personality will tell us anything if whatever she consumed is altering her mind and/or body." Sumiko blinked as she began to cough and after a few seconds, she coughed up some blood. The kunoichi wiped her mouth and looked at the blood on her hand as if trying to figure out what just happened. She bent down to wipe the blood on the ground after which she glanced at the Leaf shinobi. "Be prepared for anything." Sumiko gave a deranged smirk before charging forward.
Chouji used his body expansion jutsu and caught her fist but was pushed back slightly. "Kakashi-sensei! She consumed the War Drug, Henran!" Kakashi groaned as he faced her.
"Negotiation is out of the question. Thanks to Henran, her brain functions are essentially cut in order to numb it in preservation to overload her body with chakra. This is a very dangerous and outlawed drug but thankfully she cannot use her handsigns because that requires some form of thought process and if you noticed, she cannot speak because of Henran." Sumiko charged again but her fists only collided with a log, yet another substitution of Kakashi's.
Hidan and Kakuzu were both a little disgruntled but for different reasons. Kakuzu wanted to go retrieve Asuma's body for the bounty while Hidan wanted to continue his fight with the 'Leaf Village brats', but Pein ordered them to help Sumiko against the foes she was currently fighting and with a rapidly fluctuating chakra that they were barely able to identify as her own, they figured it should only be a few moments before they arrived. "Oi Kakuzu, why do you think Sumiko-san is fighting those Leaf bastards?"
Kakuzu shrugged as they continued heading towards the chakra source. "Sasori said his sister usually had a planned course of action but to blatantly release such enormous sources of chakra is not the most intelligent thing. I wonder why she would do this; honestly, any ninja within twenty kilometers could feel this."
"Damn… even I know that every ANBU would be swarming or running depending which pansy assed village they are from. What the fuck is she on to do something this stupid?"
Tobi stiffened but on the inside smirked feeling that intense chakra come forth. Indeed he made an excellent choice keeping Sumiko and he smirked behind his mask upon feeling the fear of the Leaf ninja. Sasori glanced at Deidara. "Hurry brat; I have never felt this killer intent come off my twin and it could be dangerous."
Deidara's visible eye widened. This power is Sumiko's?
Ino was healing some of Chouji's wounds while Shikamaru was attempting to catch the drugged Sumiko. Chouji grabbed her arm and her eyes widened. "That hit you said gave my heart an odd beat but trust me; if Kakashi-sensei or Shikamaru get hit…" Ino's eyes widened as she caught sight of Sumiko scarcely dodging Kakashi's Raikiri.
Kakashi was panting and Shikamaru was exhausted from trying to catch the former Sand kunoichi with his shadows. Unfortunately, she merely glanced at them before charging again but thankfully Chouji picked that moment to hit the ground. Sumiko's eyes widened as she fell forward to project a shadow. Shikamaru's thin shadow darted forth but before it could catch Sumiko's, an explosion rocked the landscape and Shikamaru fell backwards as the ground split. "Sumiko-chan, un!"
Kakashi barely dodged a blood red, three bladed scythe that soared towards him. Ino and Chouji managed to avoid Kakuzu's hands as they soared out. Everyone was speechless as the blond bomber jumped down from his flying craft and shook the woman in his arms. Sasori calmly descended and looked at his sister as he took note of her symptoms. "She ingested Henran." His eyes narrowed as he unzipped her Akatsuki robe and Deidara took note of a pouch she wore at her hip. Sasori flipped the snap on the pouch and he flipped the pouch upside down so that the contents spilled onto the ground. At least a dozen more Henran pills spilled and Kakashi tensed.
Oh shit… a small army of well trained shinobi could use that and… "That must have cost a small fortune."
"Hn." Sasori picked up a pill and noted Sumiko's eyes following it. "It will take a moment to create something to counteract the effects the Henran is having on her brain. They won't go away naturally unless she rids herself of this unnatural chakra and having no access to ninjutsu limits this. Brat watch her and make certain she does nothing stupid. Thankfully she appears to recognize us." Deidara nodded as he clutched Sumiko.
The red headed kunoichi did not know why the blond was holding her, but she felt something inside of her body even if she did not fully comprehend the feeling at the time. She wove her hands into Deidara's blond hair and tugged not quite so gently. Deidara's face turned to her and before he could complain, she pressed her lips to his. The fighting momentarily stopped to observe the lapse in Sumiko's aggression. Deidara's left arm wrapped around her waist while his right hand supported the back of her neck. Instead of attempting to fight, the sound kunoichi deepened the kiss and pressed her body against Deidara's, an action that forced him into a tree. Sasori frowned seeing the behavior while the Leaf ninja were perfectly glad to use the action as a break. Kakuzu raised an eyebrow seeing the action. "Looks like her behavior has reverted to almost animalistic, instinctive behavior."
Hidan chuckled as he observed Sumiko attempting to pry Deidara's mouth open with her tongue. "So basically, without a fucking brain cell to tell her to watch her behavior, she pretty much is acting on lust for the blond?" Kakuzu shrugged an action that Hidan took as confirmation.
Sumiko stopped and threw a couple of kunai behind her back to counter some shuriken that Kakashi had thrown. "Well… looks like she maintained some ninja instinct," the Copy Ninja intoned without humor. Sumiko detached herself from Deidara for a moment and walked towards Kakashi only to stop and pick up the projectiles. She looked at the kunai curiously before tossing it over shoulder and reaching for the shuriken. Deidara shrieked indignantly as the blade was tossed towards him.
"Oi! Watch it, un!" Sumiko picked up at the little throwing star and stared at Deidara with confusion in her eyes as she stuck out her lower lip in an unconscious pout. Deidara's eyes softened while Sasori cursed his twin's mentally incapable state. "Aww… come here Sumiko-chan." She cocked her head while Kakuzu snorted.
"She's not a fucking dog." Taking advantage of the Leaf ninja's currently distracted state; he kicked Kakashi in the side sending him flying into a tree.
"Fuck this shit; if we aren't going to kill these pussies, let's grade Sumiko-san and leave already!" Kakashi and the other Leaf ninja tensed at Hidan's scathing words.
Sasori prepared something and placed it in a syringe. "Brat, hold her down while I give her this. She needs to be distracted or she might see it as a threat…" Deidara walked towards her and as Sumiko blinked as she walked towards him.
"I won't ever hurt you Sumiko-chan, un." She walked up to him and when he enclosed her in his arms, she nuzzled his neck. He gasped as her eyes looked at him, the drug induced haze still hung over them but there was a slight spark of recognition. Deidara cupped her face as he gently kissed her. This game Sasori the distraction he needed to jam the syringe into Sumiko's arm. She gasped and Deidara did not hesitate to invade her mouth with his tongue. After the antidote to the mysterious drug flowed into her body, he groaned feeling her kiss him with vigor. He released her and saw her eyes, still foggy, but clearing up as she collapsed into his arms.
"Dei…dara-kun" He smiled and kissed her forehead as he scooped her into his arms. Holding her tightly to his chest, he jumped as a smaller clay bird swooped. The larger bird that they had ridden there was now being used by Sasori, Tobi, Kakuzu, and Hidan as they did not flee, but did a tactical retreat.
Ino watched the scene and felt something tug at her heart; a feeling of mutuality and knowing that one you loved actually loved you back instead of ignoring you. That sense, the sense of someone loving you, really could change what could have been another bunch of Leaf ninja being killed and their bounties taken. Kakashi composed himself and stepped to where they were earlier and frowned. "Those Henran pills are gone… That was a small fortune. The fact that so many of those are remaining…"
Chouji frowned in worry. "My dad told me about those pills. Apparently they are so addicting that your body craves them even though your mind attempts to resist. The mind will literally fall apart at the seams. The fact that Sumiko recognized her boyfriend…"
Shikamaru stood by them as he watched the quickly disappearing dots that were the Akatsuki members. "I heard that the purest form of these pills brings out your emotions and animalistic instincts in a way that is almost painful to endure.
Two hours later…
Sumiko was sleeping in Deidara's arms as they flew back to the base and the bomber thanked every god that existed that they were only a couple minutes away; he could not stand the overprotective glare that Sasori was giving him. Luckily, he had the two birds flying apart at enough of a distance that he could not hear Sasori's growls or Hidan's complaining about Kakuzu counting money too loudly. He smiled hearing the occasional sleepy murmur, "Deidara…" and she nuzzled closer to him.
The blond smiled as he brushed away a couple of stray crimson locks and kissed the top of her head. She leaned into his touch and he whispered so quietly that he doubted anyone could hear him. "Sumiko-chan… being married to you would be the best thing to happen to me if you would be my wife, un."
He looked away to pay attention to the flight route and did not notice the corner of Sumiko's lips curl up.
