13: Remember How To Cry?
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto© or characters thereof. Naruto© was created by Masashi Kishimoto.
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"Hidan? I have a favor to ask of you…"
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Ten-Ten tried to ignore the breathing in her ears, but it wasn't working so well. Sasori, Deidara and Ten-Ten all stared at the computer screen while she searched "AKATSUKI". The search wasn't going so great, according to her brother and his boyfriend. The only thing that came remotely close to what they wanted was their gang symbol which was a red cloud outlined in blue. Ten-Ten didn't get it but Deidara told her to forget it. They'd been searching for over an hour and a half. They'd tried "AKATSUKI ARRESTS", "GANG RELATED DEATHS" (that one brought up several different gangs, but nothing about the Akatsuki), "SUSPICIOUS PEOPLE COULD BE IN GANG CALLED AKATSUKI", and more. None of them brought up what they needed.
"They're really good at covering, yeah. I can't…hang on. Type in 'Crazy Iwa Bomber', yeah," Deidara commanded, his hand hovering over Ten-Ten's shoulder as though he really wanted to type it in himself. Sasori gave him an odd look as Ten-Ten did as she was told. "Well…There were several news reports before I joined the Akatsuki that referred to me as that. I'm sure they still do, yeah."
Ten-Ten almost screamed in excitement. "Look, look! Look at how many references I got! There's even something on you joining a gang, Deidara!" She opened the page and started scanning through. "Oh my God! There's even a link to Japan's Most Wanted and look what's at the top of the list!"
"Click it!" Sasori demanded eagerly, pointing at the screen and almost jumping up and down in excitement. She clicked on the link and it brought up a page about a gang named Akasuki. "It's spelled wrong. Those dip-shits don't even know how to spell a name…" It showed ten different profiles. Three of them, Ten-Ten recognized immediately: Sasori, Deidara and Itachi. Itachi's said that he was currently in custody. There were four extra profiles as well but they had no pictures as no one knew who they were, only that two of them ran the gang and all of them had committed several crimes themselves under different identities.
"Sneaky," Ten-Ten murmured as she read through some of the profiles. There was Sasori, Deidara, Itachi, Kisame, Hidan, Kakuzu, Zetsu, Tobi, Unknown and Unknown. "Hey, if Zetsu and Tobi have used other people's identities to commit crimes, why do the cops know their names? And since they know their names, why don't they have pictures of them?"
Sasori sighed heavily and Deidara started explaining, "We usually take lots of precautions so we don't get caught, yeah. Obviously, as you can clearly see, only four of us have managed to keep our identities secret. But Tobi and Zetsu don't use other identities; the cops think they do, but they don't, yeah. They probably pulled up old files that Leader hasn't been able to erase yet. Tobi wears a mask constantly and Zetsu…well, he tattooed his body and dyed his hair green, yeah." Deidara chuckled softly. "I'll bet anything that the cops are scared shitless of Zetsu…"
"The point is, since Zetsu and Tobi don't use different identities when they commit crimes, the police have an easier time tracking them. But Tobi's always wearing a mask, so it's useless to try and take a picture of them because no one would be able to identify him while he's wearing a mask. And for Zetsu, well, we still can't figure out why they haven't taken a picture of him. They might not have pictures of them because they haven't been arrested once in their life," Sasori told his sister, picking up where Deidara left off. "Everyone else except them, Leader and his girlfriend have been arrested."
"I can see that," Ten-Ten muttered with a smug smile. Sasori lightly smacked her upside the head. "Well, do we have what we need?"
Deidara, who'd been reading through two of the profiles while Sasori had been talking, whispered, "Yeah…He was reported missing yesterday along with his partner…"
--
(Hours later)
Gaara waited patiently, his hand twitching as it hovered over the remote. She's fine, he told himself over and over again. She's probably at home watching TV or something… The commercials ended and the news anchors started on another story. It wasn't the one he was waiting for but he watched with lifeless eyes anyway. Three stories later and the commercials started again. He let out an annoyed sigh. He could go over to her house to see. He shook his head with frustration. He'd seem too desperate at that point. It would be the same if he called.
"Gaara?" Temari asked quietly as she walked into the room. He gave her no notice. "Gaara…maybe you should just go see her. What could it hurt?"
"Everything," Gaara growled defensively. "You should know that. You've been around longer than me, no?" The commercials ended again and a new story started up. "She's my only friend. If I go over to her house, I'm going to seem desperate. I can't call because I don't want to talk to her stupid sisters and it would be awkward. I'm not messing this up for myself." The story he'd been waiting for clicked on and he leaned over in anticipation. After going over what had happened, it said that Ten-Ten was fine. He gave a huge sigh and leaned back in his seat.
Temari stared at her brother sadly. He was right. The girl was the only friend he'd ever made. She was glad that he was so desperate to keep her. She turned around and went to find Kankuro.
--
(Hours before Gaara watched the news report)
Ten-Ten walked down the street quietly. She tried to ignore Deidara and Sasori's presence as they walked beside her. This time, it worked. She had so much on her mind. Deidara was a crazy pyromaniac and was dating her older brother; Hidan had just disappeared out of the prison yesterday; Kisame was Itachi's loyal partner so Sasori was saying that he'd get the Uchiha out of jail in no time…Her heart felt like it was being crushed. She was scared. This was real life, not some story in a wonderfully written book. This was really happening and she was in the middle of it.
"Hey…" Sasori tapped Ten-Ten's shoulder and she looked up at him, startled. "You alright?" His maroon eyes shone in the dark from the moon that hung in the starless sky. She nodded, turning her head to watch her feet move. Sasori sighed irritably and turned to talk to Deidara again. She listened to them whisper and listened to their footsteps, counting out the seconds before each step suddenly became in synch. Then she heard those extra footsteps. She stopped, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. Sasori and Deidara looked at her curiously before she spun.
"I was right, you owe me ten bucks, Kakuzu!" a voice behind them cried. Deidara and Sasori turned around, eyes wide. A silver-haired man stood there, wearing a black jacket that was unbuttoned to reveal his chest. He wore deep blue jeans and black tennis shoes. The man next to him had his face covered in a mask and the only thing that showed was his green eyes that somehow managed to reflect red. The mask he wore was attached to a tightly fitted shirt and he wore a red vest over it. His jeans were black along with his shoes.
"I owe you nothing, since I never agreed to such a bet," the man with green eyes replied calmly, his eyes fixed on Ten-Ten whose heart was thumping rapidly, not that she thought he could hear that. She felt paralyzed.
Something in the silver-haired man's hand glinted as he shifted both his hand and gaze. His eyes were a deep blue that bordered on purple. He grinned. "Well, the point is…She is Sasori's little sister. You can totally see it – even in the dark!" Kakuzu hmphed. Sasori was about to step forward when the man raised his arm, gun pointed at Ten-Ten's head. Everything froze. The only sound you could hear was five people breathing heavily into the cool night. "Ah-ah, Sasori. Itachi doesn't want me to shoot you yet. He's waiting for that moment. Nah, the little girl here must've pissed him off real bad." Ten-Ten's knees shook and she heard the click as he set the gun, ready to shoot now. "Move slightly and this is gunna be a hella mess to clean up."
Ten-Ten could practically hear Sasori screaming in his head for her to run. It could have been her imagination; after all, she was no superhuman freak. But out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sasori's eyes flick to her. They held such desperation and urgency. How could that be her imagination? She carefully slid her foot back, much to the man's dismay. He shot the ground next to her and she jumped out of its range. With that leap as momentum, she spun and took off down the street. The thudding of her feet on the asphalt was so loud.
But the gunshot was louder.
"Ten-Ten!"
--
Kiba stared at the note taped to his front door with a thudding heart, a heavy heart. With the porch light on, he could clearly see the words scrawled on it and they almost brought tears to his eyes. But tears never came. He knew this was going to happen. Those idiots always messed things up for him. There was no way he could have ever won. He wasn't a prince; he wasn't some knight in shining armor or even a peasant that the princess would ever bother to mess with. He'd been a substitute and he'd known it all along. Hinata had been sucked into that trap and nothing he did would ever save her.
He ripped the note off the door and went inside, furious. He crumpled the paper up and threw it against the wall with the garbage under it. "YOU WIN, YOU JACK-ASS!" he screamed at nothing. He was glad no one else but Akamaru was home. "You win. Are you satisfied yet…?" He dropped to his knees and cried. Akamaru waddled up to him and licked his hand. Kiba forced an unconvincing smile onto his face. He ached, every part of him ached. He shakily got up and went into his room with his puppy hurrying after him. Hinata had never, wasn't, and would never be his. She'd always been Naruto's and that's the way it had to be.
~Kiba,
I'm sorry. I was wrong.
Hinata~
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A/N: I feel so bad for Kiba…Ah, but now there's room for Naruto to come into Hinata's existence.
Sorry this is so very painfully short. I tried to extend it but the idea for Ten-Ten's part wouldn't leave my head and it was taking too much space up so I couldn't come up with anything else to write. Sorry!
To my awesome reviewers:
From: Artic Fox7856
YOUR MEAN BUT I LOVE BOTH SHAKUKU AND KYUUBI SINCE THEY ARE BOTH DEMONS BUT I
AM NOT GAY
To: Artic Fox7856
Um…Okay… (coughcoughSPAZZcoughcough). Whew! Sorry about that. I have a killer cold. (Actually, I really do…It sucks balls…)
From: Maki-Zushi
Awesome hurry with the next !
To: Maki-Zushi
Hey! Someone got creative and made up a new way to say "update"! How awesome is that?!
From: Apple Bubblegum
ne c'est pas = is it not?
Kiba's an ass.
UGH. Only the freaks are left in Akatsuki. Well, they were kind of all freaks in the first place, but Deidei, Sasori, Itachi and Hidan were awesomee.
ITACHI IS LOVE.
To: Apple Bubblegum
Sweet! I know something in…uh…what language is that?
No. Kiba's awesome! He has a really good opinion that no one seems to care about…
Yeah, it's sad. But Pein is so fucking hot…I'll need to post that chapter in 'Stuff 'n Things' soon…
Itachi sucks balls!! Sorry. No, no – your opinion counts. I just don't like him all that much. It has nothing to do with his past that I have – apparently – not seen all the way through. I just don't like him for some reason…
From: X ANTI NARUxSAKU X
okay why aren't Naruto and Hinata together! The only reason I wanted you to continue was because of NARUxHINA! now it's going downhill. Why does Hinata even LOVE kiba ion the first place. Well if you wanna continue get on with the naruxhina lol. And if your not then do what you want but if Kiba ends up with Hinata it should be kibaxhina but I hate them so I probably would stop reading lol. This is a very crazy and confusing review lol. U know i say lol alot. Lol
To: X ANTI NARUxSAKU X
…
I value your opinion. Did you know, though, that a good story actually progresses and doesn't just skip to all the love crap? In dreams, you can do whatever you want. But in a good story, it takes awhile. …And I'm still trying to figure out how to get them together without making it all sappy…
And it's not going downhill. In fact, it's going uphill as far as I'm concerned. It's just a really high hill…
I said it was NaruxHina for a reason. It's not suddenly going to change. Lol.
From: TStar14
Heck yeah, you BETTER update, cause if you don't, I'm a be MAD!
To: TStar14
I'm a tired of this story. I'm a tired of the word "update". See if that word escapes my lips anytime soon.
From: NeonAlchemist
sorry your getting kinda bored with this story. but hey i still like it =D still can't wait until the next chapter!
To: NeonAlchemist
And that's why this story is still going: Because you care. Also, because I said – way back when – that I'd actually finish this story. That tortures me inside. (jk)
Glad you still like it! And yet another wonderfully creative way to tell me to get the next chapter out!
From: Tentenperson-Kshikamarugal
WE! This is good! HYPER! -does the hyper dance- :P can't wait!
To: Tentenperson-Kshikamarugal
Are you constantly hyper?? Thanks for being creative in telling me to work on the next chapter!
Thanks, peeps!
I'm going to promote a new story real quick. I'll probably post it…on the 20th or the 23rd. It's called: "His Last Christmas Wish". It's a TobiXZetsu Xmas story. It's…um, actually pretty sad. But I made the ending happy…er. So keep an eye out for it around those dates if you like that pairing. Thanks so much!
Also, please check out my poll if it's showing up on my profile yet. I'd really appreciate it if you vote. X3
Don't forget to drop a review if you'd like! It makes me want to work harder.