Tobi

By Magewriter

Chapter 3: Kiyo

…Well, I've gotten one review so far (it's 7:32 on Monday, June 11, 2007) and so far there's a unanimous vote for Kiyo (haha, bad joke…)

Have a great, typo-free read!

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Sasori and Orochimaru were on a "mission" to visit Konoha.

We never expected the outcome.

"Kakuzu! Kiyo! Chedo! Rei! …We brought someone home with us!"

Sasori… he's really cute, even if he is a puppet. So, I ran down the stairs two at a time and stopped just before I reached the door. I heard Chedo behind me.

"Orochimaru! Sasori! We weren't expecting you home for a few more hours!" Suddenly, I noticed the object that he was holding. It was a boy, bleeding heavily on his left side. "Oh, my gosh! What did you do to that cute little boy?!"

Orochimaru glared at me. "If we had done this to him, do you think we would have let him live? He's going to be one of Sasori's experiments."

"Sasori? Are you going to hurt him, Sasori? …Because then I would have to hurt you."

"I'm going to give him a left eye and make any other necessary repairs. If things don't work out so well, who knows? If he dies, I could cut him up and test my poisons on him, but I doubt that he's going to die."

I whacked him with my staff. "If you can't honor the dead or the near-dead, I don't think you have the right to kill!" Killing is okay, but inflicting unnecessary pain is what I consider to be cruel and definitely much worse than killing quickly.

"It would be honoring him. He would be fulfilling his duty to me as an experiment piece and be useful even after he was alive."

"How can you be so heartless?!"

"I took it out when I made myself into a puppet and gave it to Kakuzu. Now I have rechargeable batteries."

He walked past me, holding the boy. I hoped, for the child's sake, that he wouldn't die and get cut up to use as a test subject.

.-..-..-.

Sasori was at dinner. We didn't talk too much about the boy he had brought home, though. Rei, as usual, came down to get dinner and went right back up to his attic room.

Sometimes I worry that he'll forget how to talk if he stays up in his room for too long.

After dinner, I went to my room. I worked on my genjutsu until I was exhausted (I'm hopeless at genjutsu, but I'm also stubborn enough to keep trying), which was about 10:23. Then I fell asleep.

I woke up to human screams.

The scream seemed to be coming from Sasori's room. I ran in to see what was wrong.

The boy was lying on Sasori's worktable cradling his left eye in his hand. I rushed to him, pushing Sasori out of my way as I did so.

I put my hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, luvvy, it's going to be okay. You're going to be alright. Don't worry, sweetness, don't worry…"

I could see Sasori in my mind, glaring at me. But the boy was in pain. He began to sob and I bent a bit closer.

After he had stopped crying so hard, I stroked the side of his face. There's something about being in contact with other human beings that just makes people comfortable… He looked at me through his right eye. It was a sharingan. He looked embarrassed, but I just kept smiling at him and murmuring pet names to him.

Finally, he stopped crying.

I looked up at Sasori. "He should be okay. Oro-san will probably be mad at you for waking everyone up at two in the morning. But the boy will be fine. Don't do anything else to him for awhile, though."

"Who's the expert again?" He glared at me. Can't Sasori ever take advice without getting mad?

"I know. But I'm talking about emotional stress, not physical. Don't mess with his mind, okay, Sasori?"

"I know, I know. His body needs time to adjust to something like that. What should I do next?"

"Maybe the face. He seems really sweet… I'd like to know what he's saying. Plus, if he screams again, maybe it won't hurt so much." I looked at the boy again. "Are you okay?"

He nodded slightly and smiled through the tears.

I stood up. "Okay. Trust me – you'll feel better soon. Sasori's synthetic parts are the best in existence. Maybe it would be better if you got some sleep now. Sasori? Can you give him something to knock him out for awhile?"

"No, I need his brain to function normally so that it can connect to his eye."

Why does he have to say it like I'm an idiot? "Just… Try to fall asleep, okay?"

"Mmh." I think he nodded.

"Okay. G'night, Sasori. I know you're not entirely human, but your consciousness needs to rest too, so you should sleep or turn off or whatever it is you do sometime soon. Little boy, just do your best… I hope you like it here." He smiled at me and I left. How would I ever get a decent amount of sleep…?

.-..-..-.

That morning, Oro threw a fit. He was mad about the kid waking him up. Sasori wasn't at breakfast until really late, so he missed Oro entirely. Kakuzu and Chedo kept calling him rude names and making mean suggestions about his past.

Chedone left. Awhile later, Sasori came. When Sasori was done, he went back to his room. He yelled at Chedo to get out of his room, so I assumed that the boy was awake and got some rice and a piece of fish for him.

I put on my cheerful face and opened Sasori's door holding the rice bowl, chopsticks, and a glass of water. "Hey, Sasori! I brought the kid some food and stuff. Can he sit up?"

"Anyone can sit up if they're propped up enough." Wow. Amazing, Sasori. Way to give the functional answer without considering the little boy's feelings.

I put the food and water down and squatted next to the little boy. "Sweetness, do you think you can eat or drink something?"

"Mmh!" His head bobbed up and down.

"Okay. If I'm hurting you, just tell me. I'm going to help you sit up."

I propped him up against the wall and poured some of the water into the side of his mouth that didn't have blood dried over it. He seemed to relax; I guess he hadn't had anything to drink since he got here.

I turned around to look at Sasori, smiling my sweetest smile. It doesn't tend to affect him, but at least I can try! "Sasori, you really should work on his face next. He's too cute to be left like this – you can tell from the left side of his face." I turned back around and smiled at the luvvy.

"Give his eye time to adjust. I'm not going to do anything else on his head for awhile, either."

"Okay... Hey, sweetness, do you think you can eat rice and fish?"

"Mmh." He tried to pick up his chopsticks with his left hand and failed miserably.

"Oh, no, don't do that. You can't even hold them right. Why not his arm, Sasori?"

"I'll see what needs to be done." I could feel him glaring at the back of my head.

"Okay. You'll have everything back soon, sweetness. Don't worry."

As I helped him eat the food I'd brought him, Sasori felt around the left side of his body, assumedly for breaks and sprains and stuff. When he was done eating, Sasori kicked me out of his room. I went out into the hall and worked on my genjutsu.

After not-too-long, I heard my name in their conversation.

"Kiyo. She gets demonic when she's mad and trust me, when she's mad, she will not hesitate to kick you."

"You mean…?"

"Yes. As I said, she's dangerous. Once, she –"

I flung open his door and smiled wickedly, looking straight at the boy. "Oh, you mean the time with Chedo? That was hilarious! I mean, he was writhing in pain, but the rest of you…! Oh, man, you should have seen their faces, luvvy, it was hilarious!"

"His name is Tobi now."

"Oh? It suits him. 'Tobi.' You sure that was his name before?"

"Close enough." He glared at me.

"Well, I'll tell everyone. They've been calling you some pretty nasty names out there, Tobi."

"I can imagine." It was the first time I'd heard his voice. It was a cute as the rest of him.

"Not unless you know us, you don't. Did you tell him about us, Sasori?"

"Not yet."

"Okay. Tobi, there's something you need to know. Every person in this house – apart from you, of course – is an S-rank villain. We kill, injure, all that stuff, to achieve our goal of someday ruling the world. We're the freaks and the emo-kids – heck, with Oro as our leader, how could we not be weird?"

"Who is Orochimaru? You haven't told me very much about him!"

I took on a more factual tone now. "Orochimaru is the leader of our organization – we call it the 'Akatsuki' – and he's part snake. He once did a forbidden jutsu, so now he can transfer his consciousness from one body to another. He's also sorta pervy – Chedo told me about some abuse he took once – so look out for him. And his tongue. It can stretch meters long and he has the ability to pick people up with it. And, I wouldn't argue with him if I were you because he's powerful enough to lead the Akatsuki."

"I'm afraid of this place now…"

"It's okay; he shouldn't be too interested in you. Unless he's one of those people who's into mismatched eyes… You shouldn't have any problems until your face heals, though."

"You don't have to be so mean…"

"I'm an S-class murderer, Tobi; I don't have to be nice."

"True."

"Kiyo, get out of my room. Who told you could come in in the first place?"

"No one. But I can tell when you're talking about me."

"No, you can't. That just means that you were practicing genjutsu in the hall and hoping that someone would help you with it because everyone knows you're hopeless with illusions and you happened to overhear us talking." Stupid Sasori… He knows me a little bit too well, if you ask me!

"Yeah. But it still means I was on this floor, which means that I knew something was going to happen up here."

"No, it means you wanted Chedo or Rei to help you because only Oro and Kakuzu are downstairs and Oro doesn't care about you because you're a woman."

"Shut up! At least I'm never going to be abused by him. You know women are better, anyway."

"It depends on your point of view. Now, get out of my room."

I glared at him and left. He closed the door because I didn't and he always has to have his door closed for some reason.

I continued working on my genjutsu.

.-..-..-.

Today, Tobi came to me with an interesting problem. You have to understand, at this point, that Tobi now wears a red and black mask, a shirt with long sleeves, and gloves. None of his skin is visible, except around his eyes.

"Kiyo-san? Can I talk to you?"

I was practicing with my staff, so I put it down. "Sure, Tobi-kun! Come on in!"

He did, closing the door behind him.

"Well, you saw my face when it was scabbed…"

"Sweetness, everyone saw your face when it was scabbed except for Rei-san. Everyone saw you when you were all bloody, too."

"Well, it's all healed…"

"Really? That's great!"

"No! It's healed, but I have all these hideous scars."

"It can't be that bad."

"Well, it is!"

"Really? Could I see your face then? Please?"

"Um… I don't want to."

I smiled at him. "If you're worried that I'll laugh or shrink back or make fun of you in any way, you're wrong. I wouldn't do that to someone. I'm not going to make you, but I really do want to see you."

"Why?"

"Because it's you. Before, you weren't the same person who you are now. It would be nice to know what the new Tobi looks like." And because at least one side of Tobi is adorable!

He paused for a moment, then reached up and took off his mask, exposing his face and neck. True, the right side of his face did look pretty bad, especially compared to the left side, but the scars also looked really cool.

"Now, do you want my opinion, Oro's opinion, or the general female population's opinion?"

"Which one is worst?"

"The women of the world."

"That one."

"You're ugly. You might be sort of cute, but the scars just… no. You want Oro next? That one's always important."

"Sure."

"I love the eyes, and you're cute, but the scars haven't gone away yet. Now do you want my opinion?"

"Okay."

"After hearing all that, our sweet little Tobi needs a hug." I like hugging people. It's fun! So I did. "Tobi will always be adorable. When you live with freaks for long enough, it starts to matter a little more who someone is rather than what they look like. I'll be there for you, Tobi."

"Thank you, Kiyo-san!"

We came out of the hug. "Now, to guess your age. You seem to be about… oh, twelve or thirteen. Which do you want to be?"

"I'll be twelve."

"Okay. Tobi is now twelve! You should probably go to Orochimaru soon – he's been waiting for you for half a month."

"But… You told me…"

"Do you honestly want him to be mad at you for avoiding him?" That would be worse…

"No, but I –"

"Then don't worry about it. He probably won't be attracted to someone wearing a mask anyway."

"Really?"

"Of course. Would you like a girl wearing a mask?"

"No…"

"Okay, then. I'll show you where his room is, okay? Follow me!"

He put his mask back on. I felt bad taking him to Orochimaru, but he had been here for two weeks, Sasori said that his eye was okay, and I would rather that I did something like this than someone like Sasori.

I knocked on the snake-man's door.

"Sky-sama, I have Tobi here. Should I bring him in?"

"Please."

I slid open the door. I had to push Tobi a bit to get him inside. The room smelled just as bad as always.

"Okay, Sky-sama, Tobi is yours now. Remember, he's not part snake like you. He can't stay in here for too long or his body overheats."

"Okay."

I left Tobi there then. Poor little Tobi… there wasn't really anything I could do, though.

.-..-..-.

This afternoon, we tested Tobi to see if he was Akatsuki material. He couldn't even best Chedone. Then, just for fun, I challenged Rei-san to a sparring match with customary Akatsuki rules. It ended when I threw him into the fence.

Never mess with a woman with a staff and a strong technique.

.-..-..-.

I have been entrusted with Tobi's training. I think they chose me because I'm the only Akatsuki member willing to put up with him for a long period of time.

Tobi is still chunin-level, so it's a bit mundane trying to teach him, but he's sweet and I don't mind his company. He hasn't even started using a personalized weapon yet… I'm not sure if he ever will at this rate. He seems to be having some trouble with ninjutsu, which is really too bad because ninjutsu are so much fun once you get used to them.

Chedo is teaching him genjutsu. Everyone knows that half of Chedo's flames are fake. It's figuring out which ones that will get you… And you have to avoid them before they hit you! I've been training with him for long enough that I know which ones are false. I wish someone would teach me genjutsu.

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…Well, this wrote up pretty quickly. I guess I already had everything there… Next is Oro.

Witcher Co sair to go into future events.

If I could do that, I wouldn't have asked if I should make this a oneshot. There really isn't too much to get into after Tobi becomes Zetsu-s servant. I mean, he could talk about getting the first three tails, but that doesn't really apply too much to him. We haven't even seen him fight yet!

Don't you just love Kiyo?