Jinchuuriki Gathering
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!
x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Having planted their bugs, Naruto and Gaara sat back to wait for the signal from the others that meant that everyone had accomplished their mission. Unfortunately, their toe rings, instead of turning cool and blue, turned a virulent red—the color code for trouble. Naruto rubbed his ring, and it deepened into the thickest shade of crimson…the color designated to Kame.
"She's been captured," Gaara murmured, and Naruto groaned. He pushed a strain of chakra into the brass band, and got back three jabs of silver. The other teams were ready. He twisted, and their phantoms coalesced on the feet.
"Kame's been captured, hasn't she?" Nii asked immediately. The kyuubi vessel nodded grimly, and a collective, desolate sighed echoed in the cavern.
"What do we do now, oh righteous leader?" Katsutoshi spat.
"Well, since Akemi's not here, I have to assume she's been captured too," Naruto frowned, "Which means the Akatsuki found two jinchuuriki tracking them, which means they'll almost certainly know we've banded up in our own group. In a nutshell, we're in deep shit."
Takeshi spoke in his serrated yet soothing baritone. "I think we should pull our bodies out. Meet somewhere in person as soon as possible. We can decide on a course of action then."
"That makes sense," Hisoka said, but everyone was looking at Naruto for approval. The blond cocked his head and gave a nod. "Right. We can't let anymore of us fall into their hands. Akemi and Kame are kids, and we gotta rescue them. You guys be extremely careful. I'm talking, like, paranoia here."
"Before we go/ I wanted to know/ we got a name or what/ cuz Anti-Akatsuki sucks yo."
"A name?" Gaara asked, sounding surprised.
"Aside from the abysmal timing," Nii glared at her partner, "It does kind of make sense. They have a cool name. We should have one too."
"Um," Naruto said, "How about the Toe Guild?"
There was a silence that screamed, Hell no. The blond tried again. "Order of the Feet?"
"Maybe," Tobi suggested, "We is to discuss the naming of the organization after the girls have been rescued."
"Faggot's got a point/ let's jump this joint."
000000000000000000000000000000
Akemi groaned loudly as she came to her senses. The world swam in swarthy sheaves around her, and she was unsurprised to note that she was trussed up like a pig headed for the slaughterhouse. The plant man watched her with hungry eyes, and she jerked back out of instinct.
"This one's awake, Orochimaru." Strangely, when he spoke, only the black side of his face seemed to move. Akemi remembered what Naruto had told her—this one had two facets to his personality.
The one he was talking to, the snaky one, batted his eyes at her from behind the green's shoulder. He was sprawled on an overstuffed armchair (Akemi didn't think much of the fact that it was leather, but it had to be more comfortable than kneeling on the floor, tied), a hand toying with a leash that was attached to Kame's neck. He quirked his eyebrow and rolled his eyes as if to say, yes, doofus, I can see that.
Despite it all, Akemi had to laugh.
"Why does she laugh?" the white side of the plant asked, confusion riddling its voice. Orochimaru tutted. "Why don't you ask her, Zetsu?"
"Why do you laugh, girl?"
"If she wakes up," Akemi grinned, "And finds herself on a leash, on a leash in his hand…hah. I was wondering if she'd kick his ass, or squeal like a lovelorn little girl."
Zetsu shot his partner a confused look, but Orochimaru seemed amused. "And what is your friend's name, if I may ask?"
Akemi's laughter faded quickly. "No, you may not. I'm not stupid, and I'm definitely not giving you our names."
"Perhaps you can tell us why you were stalking us, then?" the Sannin continued smoothly.
"We weren't stalking you," Akemi said haughtily, "We were just passing by. You attacked us."
"This one is waking too. Shall I knock the other out?"
"Yes," Orochimaru said, "Go on."
The tendril twined around her, and sunk its sharp little spines into her flesh. As darkness claimed Akemi once more, she realized that it only made sense for one prisoner to wake without the support of the other's consciousness. Clever bastards.
When Kame came to her senses, she started praying to every god that came to mind, and then some, for Akemi to be alive. If another partner had died…if being with her had caused yet another life to be taken…she could never face anyone again. She'd throw herself off a cliff, and that would be the end of that. It took her about a minute to realize she really didn't believe in gods, and she stopped praying and just lay there for a while until a voice broke through her stupor.
"I know you're awake, little one. Open your eyes; let me see that pretty lavender color again."
Wanting to purr with pleasure and shiver with revulsion at the same time at the tender tenor, she let her eyelids slide open. Golden eyes looked into hers, and a dry chuckle escaped pale lips.
"It is a pretty color, isn't it Zetsu? She'll grow to be a heartbreaker."
"If she lives long enough to grow."
"True," Orochimaru agreed, "If she lives long enough."
"It's hardly like she will," the white half of the plant thing put in with an almost concerned expression, "Leader-sama is in a hurry to extract the bijuu, and says he doesn't have time to leave them alive—"
"Shut up, you idiot. Why don't you just tell her the rest of the plan while you're at it?"
Kame's heart picked up its pace. So it wasn't just some stupid vendetta against the jinchuuriki. These people had a plan. Well, they'd expected that. Imagine the ten or so most powerful S-rank criminals all having a grudge against demon vessels. Coincidence of the century? No, it turned out, convenient business arrangement.
Orochimaru curled his finger in the fringe of her hair. "Here's the thing. You can talk without me having to resort to drastic measures. Or I can leave you to the tender mercies of my associate."
"Pick the second option, kid. Come on. I'm hungry."
"What do you want to hear?" Kame asked warily. Akemi's body was visible on the opposite side of the room—and she was alive, that much was clear. They wouldn't be leaving a dead body around.
Well, she hoped they wouldn't be leaving a dead body around.
"What I want to hear," Orochimaru, "Doesn't really matter. What I want to know does. I want to know your names. I want to know who sent you. I want to know how two jinchuuriki were coerced into working together. I want to know what your plan was, and how you were going to execute it."
At least he didn't know that their plan had already been carried out. Kame just had to sit tight and play for time until her rescue team showed up. Naruto wouldn't leave them to die. Again, that's what she hoped.
The wide eyed act began, but subtly. The head drooped, the lips parted to make way for a small sigh, and toes and fingers flexed in discomfort. "I suppose…no. But…" a nervous look towards Zetsu, who bared his teeth at her for effect. A carefully controlled shudder took her body, and perplexed lilac eyes looked into excited amber ones.
"I'm…I'm Delilah."
"Delilah," Orochimaru purred, "What a lovely name."
"And she's Mione," Kame said, biting her lip immediately as though regretting it. She kept her eyes wary, as though still suspicious of the man.
"Mione and Delilah. Such pretty names for such pretty girls. Tell me, Delilah," the Sannin shifted so that instead of squatting in front of her, he was casually reclining next to her. She noted with a jolt of anger the leash for the first time, and bit back the urge to rip his head off. Taunts danced through her head from a life not so long ago.
Demon vessel! Slowpoke tortoise! If I tie this rope around your neck, will you move any faster with me dragging you?
Let's try it, Roku! Aw, look, the little tortoise is crying!
A vicious kick to her face, blood spurting everywhere. The shame, the shame, she was a member of a well regarded shinobi family too, just like her cruel cousins, and yet she was the tortured one, she was the hurt one. Why?
Sanbi always had the answer.
They hate you.
"Tell me. Who is your leader?"
"I…don't know."
The Sannin leaned in conspiratorially. "I know Zetsu scared you," he whispered, "But the process of removing a bijuu is neither painful nor life-threatening. Look at Gaara of the Desert—he got rid of his bijuu. He's now Kazekage, happy and loved…and very much alive." A warm smile graced his features, like the last lick of chocolate fudge, and Kame let her eyes show that she was convinced.
"A woman named Kohana. She hired Akemi and I to hunt you down. We were supposed to spy on you and tell her where Akatsuki convened, and when. She said she had a…" the girl let hesitancy creep into her voice again, and Orochimaru tutted.
"You must be feeling tethered in this leash. Let me take it off," he said. She gave him a small, grateful grin. He slipped an arm around her shoulder, and she was sorely tempted to bite it. He settled around her like he was in a café for a long chat, and she began to concoct a flawless lie and hoped that Akemi wouldn't wake before the rescue team got here.
00000000000000000000000000
"So they managed to plant the bugs before capture," Naruto was saying, "Which means Akatsuki might or might not know about our plan."
"I don't think they know," Takeshi said, "The bugs would've been destroyed if they knew."
"Unless the mofos want to play dirty and low/ and it's all a trap and when we go/ to save the hoes/ we get screwed by our foes/"
"I thought I had it bad with the huggle monster," Katsutoshi muttered to Nii, "But I think I pity you by far."
And she wasn't really going to argue with something that was so reasonable, even if did come from such an insufferable brat.
"I vote we all sneak up from different directions and take out any guards guarding their location, burst in, kick ass, grab the girls, and get the hell out," Naruto said bluntly, putting a stop to the discussions that had burst forth around him.
"I second the motion," Gaara said, "It may not be my style, but it often works in films."
"I suppose I'm in then," Hisoka nodded.
"Tobi likes the plan!!"
"Tobi likes everything," Takeshi muttered.
"Not true. Tobi rather dislikes his sempai," the orange masked fiend said in a carrying stage whisper, "But Tobi is too polite to say so, because…"
"Tobi is a GOOD boy," the whole organization chorused, and burst into peals of laughter.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x
And…voila?