Hey everyone... First off I just wanted to apologize for taking so long to update this, and thank you all for still being my loyal readers.
Thank you for your reviews, especially Akatsuki210, who beeged me to update, Earwen Telrunya, and Yuko. I did as you guys suggested, and had some interesting stuff happen in the plot- though obviously Mai still isn't to the point of joining Akatsuki. The problem that causes that to occur ultimately won't even happen until next chapter or the one after that. I'll give you all a hint that it has to do with her sister, but isn't exactly what you'd think from the manga. I also took your tips on having Akatsuki make cameos in the plot again... for this chapter though, it wasn't exactly a mysterious or interesting one. It's more funny than anything, but it probably comes off as stupid.
Oh, and I didn't upload 2 chapters, sorry. Chapter 4 just got screwed up was all, and I had to redo it. Sorry!!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any of the characters in the Naruto series, including any of the Akatsuki members, who will be playing a major role in later chapters of this story. Masashi Kishimoto does. I do however own rights to my made-up characters the Hoshikori family, as well as the original plot of this story(well, except the parts later on where Akatsuki captures the Nibi- that's not mine, but I don't wanna stray completely from the manga, so I'm going with that.) :)
Dusk and Daybreak
Chapter 5: The Mission
When they arrived back in Kumogakure early the next morning, despite their complete lack of sleep Mai and Yugito bolted out of the yacht like it was the end of the world. They ran up the steep hill overlooking the sea to the house, then quickly ran inside to find their old Jounin clothes and change. All they could think about was getting to the Raikage's office to report in.
Their mother and father had barely even gotten off of the yacht with the other children when they realized, to their horror, that the clothes were extremely dirty from lying in a heap in the basement for over a year, and besides that didn't fit them.
Mai and Yugito wasted no time in hurrying back outside with energy that would make babies jealous, rushing down to their parents still walking up the path. The girls surrounded their mother and father, talking all at once, Yugito hopping up and down too.
"Girls, girls… Please, your father and I can't understand a word you're saying. Wait until we get inside, and then one at a time please.." Midori said, stopping to pick up Taikimaru. Mai quieted down respectfully, but Yugito quickly blurted out, "Our Jounin outfits!! They're dirty and don't fit!!! What'll we do?!..." She looked ready to cry. Mai's mother held Yugito's arm comfortingly and said, "When we get settled in the house, we'll go out shopping for new outfits for you two. Later today. Don't worry Yugito.." Yugito looked up and smiled, then walked off to the house as though nothing had ever been wrong, and as though world peace had just been achieved thanks to her or something.
Mai and Yugito were led quietly into the office, sparkling in their new uniforms. As they were led to their seats in front of the Raikage's desk, they stared around themselves in awe at the new décor of the office.
The place no longer looked professional and business-like as it had under the previous Raikage- instead it looked like a posh New York City night club. Lights were strung along the windows and there was a flashy disco ball in one corner. Pop music was playing from speakers in hidden locations all around the room. An expensive looking bar area had been set up on the far wall next to the door, with five stools, and a bartender standing behind it even as Mai and Yugito looked around the room. The two girls quickly looked away in embarrassment and stared at their laps until the Raikage was ready to speak with them.
Meanwhile, his huge leather lounge chair was turned away from them, and they could overhear bits of a phone conversation over the music. "Uh, yeah, lemme get back to ya on that.. I've got some clients here… Yeah.. Okay, just make sure the shipment is delivered. 'Chao."
The Raikage spun his chair around and quickly hung up the phone, turning to Mai and Yugito and leaning forwards on the desk. "So, what can I do you girls for?.. Oh, oh, you're the Hoshikori girls, right? Okay, hold on a sec." He glanced up and called, "Hey, Hideki, get over here. I need the paperwork for the missions." Glancing back, Mai saw the jounin who had led them in bow quickly and hurry out of the room, supposedly to get this 'paperwork'.
"Anyway, while we're waitin', tell me, how's your father been? I haven't seen him for years, not since I went away to school." Yugito began talking animatedly, a simpering look on her face, and Mai just sat there listening to it all in disgust. She already didn't like this Raikage; he seemed so laid-back and unprofessional. And she certainly couldn't see how Yugito could have a crush on a man 36 years her elder, even if he did act all foreign and sophisticated.
Luckily for Mai, the jounin came back quickly, and placed the stack of papers he was holding on the Raikage's desk. The Raikage glared at him for a moment, then shooed him away, continuing his conversation with Yugito. Finally, Mai had had enough and was getting anxious wondering what her assignment was, and spoke up, "Um, Raikage-sama sir, I don't mean to be rude, but is there a particular mission that my sister and I have been assigned to?.."
The Raikage looked at her as though it had dawned on him for the first time that she was even in the room, and picked up the stack of papers, drawing them in front of him. "Ah well, you can fill me in on the rest later then Yugito. Duty first… Anyway, you haven't been assigned any particular missions as of yet. You will be assigned to squads, and will perform whatever missions they carry out. Mai, you're on ANBU squad 3, with Akima Taiki, Kiramoto Eiji, and Isao Isamu as the squad leader. Yugito will be with Okabe Yuko, Arakawa Shizuka, and Kuroki Ryosuke as squad leader."
Both Mai and Yugito jumped up from their seats and squealed, "Really?! We're with our old squads?! Oh my gosh!! I thought we'd been replaced!!", then hugged each other tightly while continuing to squeal. Mai quickly regained her composure though, embarrassed at this uncharacteristic behavior in front of the Raikage himself.
She sat down, leaving Yugito still jumping around for joy, not even caring about how stupid she looked, and said quietly, "I'm sorry for that Raikage-sama sir. I don't know what came over me- excitement to see my old team again I suppose. So….when are my sister and I to start our assignments?.." "Oh, effective immediately. You need to go to ANBU Headquarters once we're done here, and Yugito's squad was told to wait for her at the training grounds. So.. here," he handed Mai two yellow slips of paper, "are your okay's to return to active service, and you're ready to go. See ya soon. 'Chao'." Mai really didn't like the guy, but she got up, thanking him, and respectfully bowed, dragging Yugito out of the office behind her.
Mai walked carefully along a small precipice, putting a continuous chakra flow into her feet, while she held onto the wall behind the roof of the first story with her hands. Isamu-san waved her on, Eiji-san following behind her around the corner of the house. Pulling out their katanas, the two men jumped down onto the ground, Mai remaining on the roof and waiting for the signal from Taiki to enter the house. There was a sudden lightning flash, and Mai jumped off the roof as Isamu-san and Eiji ran to flank the other sides of the building. Guards ran out of the nearby guardhouse to see what the commotion was, as was expected on a clear night like this one; but Eiji, their tactical specialist had expected and prepared for this. They were only guards anyway after all- he was to make clones and handle them, while Mai went ahead into the house, to try to help Taiki and complete the assassination. If they ran into any trouble, since it was a well known fact that the leaders behind the puppet government had placed a minimum of five elite jounin with the 'puppet' feudal lord at all times, they would signal for Isamu-san to come to their aid.
The Raikage had sent them to kill the feudal lord who was 'running' the government of The Land of Water. In truth, it was just a puppet government, and he had been placed in the position for appearances only, while the government was being run from behind the scenes, by a few ninja and money-hungry feudal lords who opposed Kumogakure and their interests. As long as the puppet government remained, war was imminent. Once the ANBU squad assassinated the feudal lord, they were to kill two of the ninja in the group running the show, before returning home.
Mai walked quietly into the house, not sensing any chakra signatures. She continued to wend her way through the house until she came upon what seemed to be the master bedroom; the door to the room was open, the room lit by a small reading lamp in the corner, and a roaring fireplace. She walked into the room, glancing around and seeing no one. 'Damn, they must've known we were coming somehow and moved him. Or maybe when Taiki sent up the jutsu to let us know it was all clear- where the hell is he anyway?', Mai suddenly realized. She hadn't seen Taiki so far anywhere in the house.
As she left the bedroom and walked down the hall, Mai began to feel faint chakra signatures- what seemed like 3 of them- coming from the room on the far left at the end of the hall. She took out a kunai, and quietly opened the door. Inside were two beds on the far wall, with a ninja apparently sleeping on one; it was rather hard to see though, since the only light in the room came from the moonlight streaming through a heavily curtained window. As she looked around, she saw Taiki standing by the window. She waved at Taiki, and walked over to him. "Hey, Taiki-san. I've been looking for you forever! Isamu-san is going to get ticked if we don't finish the mission soon!..", she whispered to him. "Well… I've been here the whole time! I don't know why you couldn't find me. I already took one of them out", he whispered, motioning with his foot at the floor, where Mai could make out the silhouette of a heavily injured and unconscious ninja, bound and gagged, "but I figured we should interrogate the other if we could, to find out where the hell this guy is. Good thing the other one was sleeping, and this guy wasn't even looking when I came in the window and got him with the senbon, or we'd be screwed. Anyways, I'll wait by the door in case anyone else comes-you can take that one if you need to, right?" "Yeah… yeah, I can. But just watch, okay. I don't wanna deal with anyone else too."
Mai walked over to the sleeping ninja, quickly performing handseals. Taiki watched her for a moment, then walked over to the door, closing it and locking it, then leaning his weight against it. Meanwhile, just as Mai was about to perform a jutsu, the ninja in the bed shot up, grabbing her by the neck, and slamming her against the wall. Her mask fell off and clattered to the floor, making Mai cringe. His fist wrapped around her entire neck, and she dangled there in his grasp, at least a foot off the ground. "Heh, I guess we should make this slow and painful, right?", the man laughed gruffly.
Taiki walked towards the two, smiling a bit as Mai looked at him, pleading with her eyes. "Yeah, as slow as you can. After what that other one did, I think it's time for some payback." Taiki made a few quick handseals, and his appearance suddenly transformed to that of a stocky older man, with shoulder length hair. "Guess you weren't expecting this one, were you missy?... Yeah, neither was your little friend there. But after he took out one of our guys, I killed him in one shot. Too easy. And let me just say, it was a pleasure, as will be your death. Anyway, Jian, feel free to have some fun with her before you kill her." Mai's eyes widened and she tried kicking this 'Jian', but he only clutched her neck tighter. She fell limp and stared at Taiki's body defeatedly as the man continued, "I wasn't expecting a pretty little girl like this on an ANBU squad. The quality of Kumogakure's ninja has certainly gone down. I'll be outside, dealing with the other two." With that, the man turned and left, leaving a dangling and suffocating Mai as her attacker's pleased laughter filled the room.
"It's so hot here..un!! How can you just keep walking? I don't care what you say Sasori-danna, I need a rest!! Look what your stupid country is dong to my hair…un! And my poor art-" Sasori had been doing his best to ignore Deidara's complaining for the last 2 hours, but he'd finally had enough. Besides, Deidara didn't look very capable of handling all the sun and heat for much longer anyway. "Fine. There's a little oasis just ahead. We'll stop there. Though we're wasting time."
Deidara looked up ahead, and would have jumped up and down in excitement, but was too exhausted from the desert heat. "Well, good, I'm glad you finally decided to stop..un! Did you see what happened to my bird? I mean, you're crazy making us keep walking for 6 hours, you know that…un?" "Is it my fault that you're so unfit Deidara? And I wish you would stop going on about that pathetic excuse for art. I personally think you got what you deserved for once, defaming art like you do with you stupid ideas." Sasori replied in a bored tone.
They'd finally reached the oasis, and Sasori went and sat down by the little lake just beyond its borders. Deidara still stood frozen in place at the edge of the oasis though, glaring incredulously at Sasori. "What do you mean…un?! It blew up- with me on it!! And you just stood there while I fell..un! All because this stupid desert is so damn hot!! You said it would be fine..un! You said-" "I said nothing of the sort Deidara. I said 'bring plenty of water for two days, and be prepared for once in your life, and everything should be fine'." Sasori answered disinterestedly, working on a puppet he had taken out of one of his scrolls. "I'd recommend that you get some water though, since we still have a day ahead of us before we can get to Sunagakure." Deidara hesitated, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of being right, but finally walked over to the water and did as Sasori said. "And this is the stupidest assignment ever too…un! I mean, I'm not even allowed to use any artistic expression. Why the hell do we have to just go and look at this kid?.. I thought that's what Zetsu is for. We should just get him now, while we're here. I don't wanna come back..un." "I'd rather not either, but regardless of whether Zetsu assessed the situation or not, it's important that we do the same, so that we can plan our course of action for his capture. I really shouldn't need to explain that to you. And you know why you can't go blowing things up. Anyway, it's getting late. Did you at least pack a blanket as I suggested?" "Oh, yeah, a blanket in the desert..un! What do you think, I'm stupid?!" Needless to say, Deidara didn't have a very pleasant night, or pleasant stay in The Land of Wind.
Yeah, well... sorry, I just couldn't think of any really dark and sinister things for Akatsuki to be doing right now. They need to go and scout out Sunagakure, before going back when they capture Gaara later; just like what Itachi and Kisame were doing with Naruto even though they still haven't gotten him. I mean, Mai kinda needs to join before Gaara is captured- before the Nibi is captured. I thought about how to manage that, and figured out a way. Anyways, sorry for the short chapter- my shortest ever. Sorry for the cliffhanger; and for the crappy Akatsuki cameo. I just wanted to get this chapter up already, ya know?..
Oh, and I decided that from now on, at the end of every chapter, I'm going to post one of Mai's bloodline limit jutsus. It'l help so that way it's explained here ahead of time, and I don't have to explain it in the story itself, which will be boring and ruin the story. So, we'll start with the basics.. I'll explain the bloodline limit itself, then the first jutsu- her only Taijutsu, which sucks.
Bloodline Limit/Fighting Style: Mai's family bloodline limit took the general jutsus of Kumogakure one step further. Instead of their jutsus dealing with lightning(electricity), her bloodline limit allows her to utilize jutsus dealing with electromagnetic energy(light energy, though not just visible light, but all wavelengths).
Taijutsu Radio Waves/ Microwaves- Raiton: Rajio Shuuha no Bangai Riki (Lighting Release: Radio Waves Enhanced Strength)
Mai uses chakra and focused radio waves to enhance and speed up punches, kicks, etc. All in all though, it's a very weak jutsu(Mai's weakest, since she's really weak in taijutsu overall), but is the only taijutsu she really knows.