Jinchuuriki Gathering

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!
A/N: Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime gal! Send me a kiss by wire, baby my heart's on fire… if you refuse me, honey you'll lose me, then you'll be left alone~ oh baby, telephone, and tell me I'm your own!

:D Michigan J. Frog FTW.

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There was a chill in the air that all of them felt. Denying it was like denying the sky, it just didn't work. Denying it meant denying that Naruto and Kame were standing there at the opposite ends of the Akatsuki's security center (hey, even evil organizations need CCTV) glaring at each other with angry words between them.

"They're human," Naruto repeated for the umpteenth time, teeth gritted against the sentence that he'd thrust at her so many times already, "Human. They're you and me!"

"They're you and me after turning evil!" Kame yelled, not concerned with appearing the least bit calm, "They're you and me after killing, after killing and hurting and ruining lives, you total moron, can't you see? We've got to kill them before they can do any more harm!"

"I bet every civilian you've ever went on a mission against thinks the same thing! They're shinobi too—they're ninjas—"

"They're not working for anyone but their own selfish needs! I can't believe you're standing there backing them up! They took away your best friend, they shattered your team—"

"Kame," Nii said sharply, "Wait."

They thought it was the shell-shocked expression on Naruto's face at the mention of his friend, but it was the footsteps out the door.

Kisame poked his head in, looking extremely uncomfortable. "Listen," he said roughly, "I understand you're having some sort of power shift in here. But Zetsu's got everyone in the game room, and he says that if there's a time for action, this is it. No one suspects everything right now, but soon it'll be time for someone to feed you all, and if you're not in the cell to be fed…well, that'd be a bit hard to explain."

"He agrees too!" Kame said, "The time for action is at hand, Naruto, stop talking!"

"I'm not going to burst in there and kill a bunch of people that remind me of me and my friends," Naruto said stubbornly, crossing his arms. "I'm going to capture them and try to talk to them. Who's with me?"

Kisame looked at the jinchuuriki. Well, this was awkward. Sighing, he damned the bright idea of Zetsu's that put them all in the security center, and the two hours of observing the other Akatsuki members that put Naruto in this state of mind.

000

First it had been the artists.

"You with your puppets, danna, pretending they're art—art isn't just enduring for eternity, un, boring after a few glances—its in your mind! The breathtaking death of beauty—that is art, un!"

"You don't know what you're talking about, brat. Your explosions are smoke in the wind; they're forgettable. Who's going to remember art like that? Art stands forever, enduring, stunning, capturing the fancy of generations—"

They'd been sitting across a shogi board, that'd been the problem. Naruto had been reminded of a friend, a Nara boy-genius sitting across his sensei and debating back and forth on various topics. Not once had murder, extortion, pain—not once had those things entered the conversation. The pair had talked softly, passionately.

It had pissed Kame off.

"Who do they think they are?" she hissed, "Just…sitting there like they haven't done anything wrong! Sitting there like they deserve that happiness in their life!"

She whirled to Naruto. "Don't you think so? They don't deserve to be happy!"

But how could you really judge that?

Akemi had been braiding Nii's hair. She looked up and said, "Kame, are you just jealous because the blond pulls of the fringe better than you?"

Not a comment that went down well with the sandy haired Sanbi.

000

"Naruto, come look at this."

The blond leader had obliged Takashi, plodding over to the camera that showed Kisame and Itachi reclining in silence on two divans.

"Kisame?" the Uchiha said as Naruto got there.

"Yes, Itachi-san?"

"Why do you think my brother isn't chasing me anymore? Why do you think he went back to that village?"

They all saw the hesitation in Kisame's face. He glanced surreptitiously at the CCTV that he knew was watching him.

"I think, Itachi-san, that the kid really wanted him back."

"The nine-tails jinchuuriki, you mean."

"Yeah."

Itachi sat up and stared at his partner. "But my brother hates me."

Kisame sat up as well and bowed his head. "Maybe he loves the boy more, Itachi-san. From what little I know of friendship, I understand it's hard to let go."

Silence fell over the room, and silence reigned in the security console.

000

The whole world was just so damn frustrating. Naruto was just so damn frustrating. He'd told Zetsu and Kisame to plan it so all the Akatsuki would be in the same room, and now that they were he didn't want to kill them, and that didn't go down well at all with the jinchuuriki—why should it? Why would it? They'd signed up for murder, for death, for the chance to humiliate and kick and spit at the bastards that'd been so intent on taking away what little happiness they'd salvaged into their lives.

And now Naruto didn't want that.

"Who's with me?"

Gaara stood on Naruto's side. There was nothing for him here except Naruto. He didn't care enough about anything except the boy that'd woken up the human in him. As far as he was concerned, Naruto was his liege-lord and nothing was ever going to change that.

Akemi, by contrast, stood with Naruto, stood against Kame. She stood by her principles, by the fact that she never relished the thought of killing too much, by wanting the fighting to end and knowing Kame was more likely to back down than Naruto.

Takashi backed the girl.

"We have to defeat our enemies," he rumbled, "There's no other way."

Why couldn't there be another way?
Hisoka drifted in the middle, unsure. Nii stood with him, but the Bee was with Kame.

Katsutoshi made his way to Naruto's side.

"I'm not killing the orange-mask boy," he said. That decided it for Hisoka, who followed the bubble blower. Nii was torn. The Bee spoke out to her.

"Baby, come over here/ You can't be serious/ Remember that fear?/ Remember what they did to you."

But didn't hatred just spark more hatred?

Was this her chance to end the circle, or was it just the world trying to trick her out of revenge?

Kisame watched uneasily, knowing whatever was happening here was going to have a hand in his own future, and very pissed off that he couldn't do anything about it.

"Naruto," Kame said in a steely voice, "We're going to fight to kill. If you get in our way, if you make one move to protect them, we fight to kill you as well."

Her eyes glided over Akemi, who snorted. "Girl, you're insane. There are more of us than there are of you."

All eyes fell on Nii, dithering between them and unable to decide.

And then Zetsu rose from the ground, his musical half singing. "Marionette, teacher's pet! Marionette, sensei no pet!"

The other side glanced hatefully at the singer. "Kakuzu was walking by the prison and saw it empty. They're coming here. I can't stop them."

The time had come for action.

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-ponders- was that a bit of a u-turn, did it come off too abrupt? I'd been planning it, but…