When The Psychotic Wolf Howls
This is a One-shot fan-fic I wrote for my friend, Amber.
In return she crafted a picture of a character in my own original story.
My goal had been ten pages but it ended up being thirty-eight.
So I've divided this into three parts.
This is part three of three.
I only posted it so my technique is displayed in case I decide to accept commission work in the future.
The main character is Amber's OC, "Yuki Ookami." She is a mentally unstable woman of 17 with many, many odd manners and issues. I worked with what she'd given me, haha.
Enjoy, y'all!
Yuki's eyes opened slowly. She didn't know how long she'd been out, but flashes of what had happened entered her mind. She shivered just remembering the shadows, how disoriented she had felt. It was best described as unbearable vertigo.
And Deidara had been there, watching, clearly not able to see what she saw. She sat up, sweeping her eyes across the shadowed room quickly, making sure nothing dark was moving when it should not have been. Everything was quiet and still. A sigh of relief was replaced by a smile.
"I must've looked like such an idiot," Yuki said, joking with herself, trying to stay positive.
She looked to her left, and saw her clothes sitting folded on the nightstand beside the bed. Atop the clothing she saw a band of white cloth. "For my eye," she thought aloud, and wrapped it around her head so her half-blind orb was concealed in all of its blood red mystery.
She looked down and noticed that she was still wearing the towel, and that her cloak had been placed over her as a sort of blanket.
Deidara must've- Her thought was cut short as the door opened, the sudden click making her jump.
Deidara walked in and near smiled at her. "You're awake, hm."
"How long have I been-"
"Several hours." He made his way to the bed, handing her a glass of orange juice. He looked as though he didn't really want to be there, standing beside her as he was.
Yuki gulped down half the glass and paused to look up at him, wondering why he was avoiding looking at her.
"What is it?" she asked quietly.
Deidara shook his head with barely enough motion to see. "Nothing, Yuki. Just finish your juice and head to the kitchen. It's the middle of the night, and though you've already had dinner, I suggest you eat something to build your strength back up for tomorrow's mission. You're picking up a jonin-in-training from the leaf village."
"Oh, okay," Yuki said, sounding a bit put out. "I understand."
Deidara hesitated, as if he wanted to say something, but refrained. "I have a few things to do outside the base. You're to sleep on the floor. Got that?"
"Yeah," Yuki said, finished her orange juice. "Thanks for the juice," she added, handing him the glass.
Deidara took it and rolled his eyes, though only one was actually showing. He noticed she'd used the bandage he'd left for her, but didn't like that she covered her red eye. It added to her unique charm.
"It wasn't a problem." He left the room, then, giving her space to get dressed. He was out on reconnaissance and didn't feel like drawing out the time he was close to the woman in such little clothing.
"Did I do something wrong?" Yuki said, causing him to pause in the doorway, light flooding into the room.
Deidara turned. "No, don't worry about it." He took another step and added, "Tobi will be here for the remainder of the night and tomorrow. If you get bored, just call for him."
Then he shut the door.
Yuki stared at the emptiness of the space he had previously occupied and a small frown crept onto her face. For my next assignment he won't be coming with me, she thought, almost sadly, and began to get dressed.
"Here's your next victim," Yuki said flatly, dragging the leaf ninja, who was unconscious, into the kitchen. Kisame, Tobi, and Kakuzu were there, looking at her strangely. She'd done a number on him already, it appeared. Without another word she left the doomed man on the tiled floor and walked out of the room back to her own.
The floor in Deidara's room had not been comfortable at all. It was carpeted, which was surprising to her, because the base they currently occupied was underground. And it seemed like a temporary establishment, so there wasn't much of a point in paying that much mind to the flooring. They probably traveled a lot, she guessed, but maybe they called this place home more than a few times, and for that reason had tended to some degree of detail.
Now in her own room, she turned on the lights and sighed. Deidara was back from his earlier mission, though she hadn't come across him yet. Tobi had incessantly tried to cheer her up the night before but to no avail. She fell asleep on the floor of Deidara's room to the sound of the man's voice.
And when she awoke, she had to go out and find a man she knew was going to die. And it was her fault. She'd played a part in two murders, now. Of course, there was no guilt.
There never was.
But it didn't stop there. No, it wouldn't have been that easy. A knock on her door ended the peaceful silence, and only added to her stress.
"Yuki?" Tobi called.
"What?" she replied, not bothering to go to the door.
"Kisame says we're out of food pills and that Yuki has to go get them."
Yuki sighed and walked to the door, opening it. "Why?"
Tobi shrugged. "Kisame just said that Yuki should be the one to get them so that Yuki doesn't have to mope around the base while Deidara is trying to keep himself busy."
"I agreed to kidnap people, not to do your shopping."
Tobi just stood there, waiting. Expecting.
Waiting. Silently.
"Fine," Yuki mumbled, brushing past him in her walk down the hall from the doorway. Tobi called after her, "Does Yuki want Tobi to-"
"I'll go by myself!" she yelled, and turned a corner.
-----------------
In a transformation jutsu, Yuki, currently a tall blond woman dressed in a blue skirt and white tank top, was walking down the street of a nearby village. It wasn't a shinobi village, but carried supplies, despite its small area on the map.
She'd brought a small amount of money with her. She was sure that any of the Akatsuki would've just stolen the pills, which would have been cake with the skills they had. But she had more moral fiber than they did. It was barely there, sure, but still weaved brightly into her life.
She left the shop with a small white bag loaded with food pills. She wasn't sure how much Kisame had wanted her to buy, so she bought five bottles and hoped that was enough.
"Next thing I know they're going to have me doing their laundry, too," she mumbled, walking down the path out of the tiny village. There were barely any people around, so she didn't bother worrying about being followed. When she was far enough out from the roads she changed back to her normal self. Portraying the bimbo had been making her sick, and she felt relieved to be just regular Yuki again.
When she was about half a mile from the base, though, she sensed a presence in the forest somewhere nearby. It was another ninja, for sure.
She walked through the trees, scanning the upcoming area. And then she saw him. Zetsu.
He seemed to be just walking, though she wondered as to his purpose outside. He wasn't fighting anyone. Not anymore.
"Hey Zetsu," Yuki greeted, stopping when she was a few feet away. His plant-like exterior didn't intimidate her. It merely reminded her of the trees she so often practiced her taijutsu against.
"Hello," he said plainly, not seeming too interested in her. Well, at first glance he didn't. Then he did. He seemed really interested.
And a moment later, he was back to not caring two figs about her.
It wasn't so much a change in expression as it was the look in the man's eyes. It went from normal, to hungry, to something Yuki couldn't place, then back to normal.
"What's your fucking problem?" Yuki bluntly asked, noticing his disinterest. She didn't care that he wasn't paying her any mind. She did want to know what was occupying his attention, though. Being the young woman she was, she often sought the answers to questions any sane person would know to avoid.
Having no prior knowledge of Zetsu's "ways," she didn't take the hint to leave. That hint was the hunger in his eyes, that look provoked from his darker half that just screamed, "I'm going to enjoy devouring you."
"I have no quarrel with you," he said, turning to leave the area. He clearly had better things to do.
Yuki, on the other hand, didn't.
She was free to waste the time of the organization for however long she wanted, she would've argued, because they were the ones causing her to assist in murder in the first place. She didn't object because of its immorality. Hell, that was last on the list.
Put simply, it was extremely boring.
"Don't walk away from me!" she exclaimed, angry, now. Yet another emotional flair. This time, however, she was unknowingly messing with the worst person.
Zetsu turned slowly to face her, his eyes gleaming again. "Would you prefer I walk towards you, then?"
Yuki's eyes narrowed. Was he just fucking with her, now, or what? "You want to turn this into a fight?" she asked, watching him warily as he took a step forward.
"Well I can't say how technique-oriented it would be, but I guarantee it would be somewhat of a struggle," he said lowly, eying her.
Yuki dropped the bag of food pills to the ground next to her feet. A sinister smile crept onto her young, pale face, and her green, uncovered eye gleamed something mischievous.
"It's on, plant man."
A very incensed Zetsu walked through the kitchen doorway, which the blond and blue-skinned men in the room did not fail to notice.
"What's your deal?" Deidara asked, drinking some hot tea, sitting at the table.
Kisame regarded the cannibal with a minimal level of interest, giving him the faintest glance of curiosity.
Zetsu hesitated before replying, choosing to take a bite from one of the rice balls arranged on a plate on the counter next to him. After swallowing he thought for a moment, finally saying in an almost astonished tone, "She bit me."
Deidara set his tea cup (a standard cup, nothing feminine about it) on the table and raised an eyebrow, confused. "Who bit you?"
"That girl Pein brought here, Yuki." The darker half added, "She fucking BIT me. ME!"
Kisame chuckled. "What'd you do to piss her off?"
"It wasn't even my doing. I wanted nothing to do with her."
Ten Minutes Previous-
"It's on, plant man," Yuki challenged, stepping forward, readying herself. Zetsu sighed inaudibly. He'd just finished a meal, for God's sake. He didn't feel like fending off some crazy woman just because her temper flared a tad too easily.
"You're making a problem of nothing," he reasoned, hoping she would let him get back to his other errands. At the top of the list was returning to the base for a moment or two of rest, then heading out again. There was yet another potentially-threatening holder/sharer of information that needed to be "eliminated."
"For a kunoichi, you're pretty...".
"Pretty what?" she demanded.
"Dense," he finished flatly, stepping to his right just barely. Two kunai flew by him, the edges of the knives not succeeding in damaging the plant-like appendage.
In a flash Yuki was before him, throwing a punch straight at his face. The Akatsuki member caught her arm, though, looking at her with an expression similar to that of a parent's when scolding a child.
"You can't-"
He was going to say "win," but stopped when he looked up, away from her suddenly smirking face. Above the two ninja were dozens of spikes made of ice, all several feet in length and several inches in width. In the light of the sun they looked sharp, like knives.
"Still think I'm stupid?" she asked. Zetsu didn't answer. But suddenly, the presence in front of her, it felt...empty.
She snapped her fingers and one of the spikes shot down from the sky above. Its cold surface barely caressed her hair as it slid past her face, gracefully cutting the bandage that concealed her left eye. Her red orb revealed, she now saw the chakra that composed the clone before her.
The cloaked man vanished in a burst of water, which puddled on the ground for a moment before being soaked into the earth.
Then she sensed it. Someone behind her, near a tree, maybe? No, inside it? That's what it felt like. Sensitive to chakra in many forms, Yuki didn't want to doubt what she thought her eyes and ninja senses were telling her, but she didn't have a clue as to the full range of abilities of the white and black wonder.
"Got you!" she shouted, spinning on her heel and throwing down all of the spikes at once, aimed for the tree ten yards away. Her eyes, her blood, they'd locked onto him now, and she knew exactly where he was hiding.
At the last second Zetsu separated from the giant oak, barely evading the spikes with the speed she'd sent them down.
"The more you fight, the tastier you look," the darker half said.
Yuki was gone in a flash, though. The man looked in all directions but could not spot her place of hiding. Silence echoed loudly in the surrounding forest for several moments. And that's when she struck.
A sharp, stinging pain told the Akatsuki member where the woman had gone. Having hidden from above, she'd launched herself downward from a perch he hadn't known existed, and latched onto the left side of the lengthy plant extension that protected his face.
Yuki chose this spot because it was large and easy to aim for. And easy to sink her teeth into. Her jaws shut like a steel trap around the strange, green body part. Oh, right, plant-part.
"What the hell?" Zetsu said, more surprised than pained. He leaned forward a bit and tried to shake the woman off, but she wouldn't budge. Her lithe, honed form swung in the air almost playfully.
"Let go!" he growled, spinning in a tight circle, now.
"Taak eet ack!" her muffled voice shouted.
"What?"
"TAAK EET ACK, ASHHOLE!" she yelled again.
Realization dawned on the man as he pieced together what she'd said- take it back...asshole.
"No!" he replied, getting angry. He wanted to finish his errands and she was making it impossible.
"Mmf chu falk rech nuush!!" she shouted, her voice completely butchered from the side-to-side motion she was being swung in. Zetsu was surprised at her jaw strength. It was unnatural. Then he got an idea. He'd heard from Tobi (unfortunately) that she had been hanging out with bomb boy pretty frequently.
"What're you doing out here, Deidara?" he asked, making sure he was loud enough so that Yuki would hear him over the sound of her own muffled cursing.
Almost instantly her jaw opened and she dropped like a stone to the ground, landing painfully on her side. "WHERE?!" she asked, frantically searching the surrounding area.
There was no one.
And in the blink of an eye, Zetsu was gone, too.
"Fuck," she mumbled, rubbing her cheeks as the ache began to set in. She headed back to the base, food pill bag in tow, wanting to wash the strange taste out of her mouth.
Present-
Kisame chuckled. "She's probably back here by now. I hope she remembered the pills."
Deidara sighed in amusement. "Where is she now, hm?"
Zetsu shrugged. "I don't know."
"And I don't care," the dark half chimed.
"Don't get too upset about it," Kisame said casually. "She's crazy, but she's got a sense of humor."
"She seemed so entertained by the thought of fighting me. Of course, she was angry the entire time, for whatever reason, but I swear she would've been laughing had her mouth not been so full of...me," he finished awkwardly, thinking over the sentence.
Deidara and Kisame snickered loudly, holding in laughter.
Zetsu ignored them and grabbed another rice ball from the counter. There was a long silence when no one said anything. Not that anything needed to be said. Yuki was...Yuki.
After a few minutes, though, the blond man stood from the table, finished with his tea, and went to leave the room.
"Going to go find her, aren't you?" Kisame teased, not hiding his smirk.
Deidara only glanced at him with an "I'll get you later" look, and swiftly exited the kitchen, heading down the hall towards the living room.
There the woman sat, cross-legged on the orange couch. He sometimes wondered why it was there. Orange didn't match anything in the base except for Tobi's mask, and quite frankly he stuck out enough as it was.
Come to think of it, there was a couch just like that one in the last several bases, as well, he thought, finding a strange familiarity in the fact.
Hidan had commented on it only once, saying, or rather, shouting angrily, "Why the fuck is there always a god-damned orange couch where ever we go? Every fucking place there's a random as hell ORANGE couch. Who ever is doing this, I'm seriously going to rip their windpipe from their throat and kill them three times over!"
The other members in the room at the time had just ignored him, dispersing upon entry to the new hideout even as the masochistic man began to shred the piece of furniture with his scythe. And yet, here was the exact same couch.
On it sat Yuki.
She was looking content in the dim room, sipping from a clear glass what he assumed was juice of some kind.
With silent steps he made his way to the black leather sofa opposite the couch she was in, and sat down.
Yuki only looked at him, expecting something. Anything, really.
Deidara glanced at the bag next to her on one of the cushions. The food pills.
"I heard about your confrontation with Zetsu," he said, watching her for a reaction.
"Mhm," she mumbled, drinking more of the red liquid.
"You actually bit him?"
"Mhm."
"What are you drinking, hm?"
Yuki moved her mouth away from the glass and smiled. "Cherry juice."
The blond man raised an eyebrow, noticing that despite her left eye's odd appearance, it still seemed to light up when she was happy.
"Why cherry juice? I tried some of that and it's extremely sweet."
"I want to rid my tongue of the taste of Zetsu," she replied, seeming to shudder at the words.
"And what exactly might that be?" he asked, keeping himself from smiling at the second context.
"It's like...a mix of steel, honey, tree sap, and birch bark," she explained, thinking, and took another sip.
Deidara didn't want to know how Yuki knew what that combination tasted like. Somehow it didn't surprise him, though.
"So you have another pick up, tomorrow," he reminded, wanting her to keep her duties with the organization in mind.
"Mhm," she replied again, seeming distracted.
"What are you thinking ab-"
"Why were you being so mean before?" Yuki asked suddenly. "Acting as if I'd done something wrong."
Deidara rolled his eyes. "Tobi was-"
"It wasn't Tobi's fault. You told me to talk to him if I got bored. What's the real reason?"
"Well, let's put it this way. Living with all men is frustrating if you are NOT homosexual. There are no women, with the exception of Konan, who we never see. Pein doesn't regularly bring women 'home,' so to speak, so suddenly having you around put me a little on edge."
Yuki set her glass down on the end table beside the couch and stood, taking a step forward to lean down teasingly in front of the man. "Aw, do I bother your male mind THAT much, Deidara?" she bantered.
Deidara thought for only an instant that he'd be able to rip the black and red cloak from her body before she knew what hit her, but the idea was pushed back. Way back. Still visible, though. Like a star. A very bright one.
Hell, it was the fucking sun.
He smirked, and grabbed the collar of it, instead, pulling her face down to level with his, inches away. "I could ask you something similar," he whispered.
The man's purr of a voice caused Yuki to blush. Whatever tone he was using, she was willing to bet he'd practiced it to a good degree.
Why don't you do anything?
Kiss him, Yuki.
Should I?
He might get upset.
No he wouldn't.
He obviously wants you.
He's just so cute.
I can't-
"Shut up," she commanded, quieting the voices.
Deidara's eyes narrowed. "What?"
Yuki's blush deepened. "Oh, um, I wasn't talking to you!" she explained quickly.
Deidara was going to inquire, "Then who were you talking to? Yourself?" But he already knew the answer to that one.
"Yuki, you are strange, hm. But I like you for it. It's what makes you so...cute," he admitted quietly, hoping he'd chosen the right words without making himself sound stupid.
He was also hoping no one would walk in on them during their current "moment." He didn't want to have to kill anyone today.
Yuki seemed surprised by what he'd said, evident by her eyes. Then, slowly, she smiled.
That smile turned into a wickedly happy grin, and she lunged forward in a tight embrace, knocking the blond man back onto the leather sofa. She nuzzled her face against his chest, being shorter than him. Deidara had to grab the backrest of the sofa to steady both himself and Yuki, who was now laying on top of him. He never thought her random nature would actually turn him on.
It was so unexpected. Then again, so were half the things Yuki did and said.
"I like you, too!" she exclaimed happily, as if she'd been holding in the news for months. For it having only been several days, she'd somehow formed an attraction to him.
Though, who wouldn't? I am one handsome son of a bitch. Take that, Hidan. Your ritual slave wants me, and you'll never have her.
He smirked at the thought, knowing how badly the masochist had wanted to sacrifice her for his own pleasure.
"Why are you smiling like that?" Yuki asked, sitting up now, positioned over his stomach. Deidara chuckled and lifted her up and off him, then stood. "I was just thinking, hm."
"Of?" she tilted her head, and one of the lights lit up the red streaks in her hair. The bangs over her left eye shifted against her cheek, and he wanted nothing more than to assault her with kisses for being so damned cute.
"Would you be willing to stay here with us? Would you keep kidnapping by Pein's order?" he asked, serious.
Yuki swung her legs side-to-side for a moment or two, thinking. Her eyes roamed the dim room, and then lingered on something that caught her eye. In the furthest, darkest corner stood a wolf. It was a shadow, a cursed creation of her mind, which was slowly losing order, slowly slipping away from her.
Its eyes lit up red upon being spotted, and in an extremely slow gesture it bared its teeth in a sickening smile. The shadow wolf's fur stood on end, and it looked as though it would lunge out of the cover of the darkness at any moment.
Yuki's heart-rate sped up only slightly. Deidara was with her, standing there, waiting for an answer. Would she stay?
It's not as if she had anywhere else to go. She didn't plan to return home, either. She missed Kaji, her sister with an affinity for shadows, but it was probably best she didn't show her face for a while longer, at the least.
Deidara noticed Yuki staring off into space in the direction of a corner behind him, and turned to follow her gaze. He saw nothing. Something told him that she really was seeing something that he couldn't. This time, though, she wasn't hyperventilating or in a panic of any sort, so he let it slide.
Turning back to the woman sitting in front of him, he looked down at her expectantly. "Well?"
Yuki gazed into his exposed blue eye for a long moment, then glanced at the wolf. It was growling in warning, now. But upon thinking of the man before her, the wolf's image began to fade in and out of focus. It was as if her thoughts of him...weakened it.
With a sly smile she turned back to Deidara. "I'll stay," she agreed. Deidara grinned, which was a strange thing to see on the face of a terrorist.
Yuki turned back to the shadow again, and saw it was fading away now, sitting with its tail between its legs. Fuck you, she thought triumphantly, and stood from the sofa.
"Let's go get something to eat," the blond suggested, realizing he was hungry. The tea he'd drank in the kitchen had not been all that filling.
Yuki nodded, not hiding her excitement. Her being with the Akatsuki was no longer just about kidnapping their weaker targets to keep herself alive. Now it was kidnapping their weaker targets to stay with Deidara. She didn't have much of an opinion on the others, though. Hidan was the sadistic bastard, Tobi was the hyperactive spaz, Deidara was the hot one, Zetsu was a fucking shrub, and the rest she had yet to get to know. Next on her list was Kisame. His blue skin tone intrigued her.
Immensely.
"You want ice-cream?" Deidara offered, thinking it was more of a celebration meal than anything else.
Yuki broke from her thoughts and nearly jumped with joy. "YES!!" she shouted.
Deidara rolled his eyes with a playful expression and began walking, knowing she'd follow him.
Once they were in the hallway, Yuki, walking on his left side with a cheerful spring in her step, asked, "So...since we're leaving the base anyway, mind if I pick up something?"
Deidara kept his eyes on the approaching door at the end of the hall. "What is it?"
"Well, I was hoping to maybe buy a coat or something warm, because your bedroom floor isn't the coziest place to sleep, and when winter gets here-"
Her words were replaced by a small gasp of surprise when she was slammed against the wall beside her. The blond man firmly placed his hands on the wall to each side of her face, and locked eyes with her in an almost predatory fashion. "Yuki," he purred, sounding slightly annoyed.
"Um...yes?" she said quietly, not able to look away from him, from his handsome face, looking all the more attractive up-close.
Deidara leaned forward without hesitation and kissed her then and there, not seeming to care anymore if any of the other members saw them. Unlike the gentle kiss he'd given her out of the blue while in the bathroom before, this one was deep and lustful. Hungry, full of desire. But controlled.
Yuki kissed back this time, though still inwardly surprised. Oh my god oh my god oh my god, she thought excitedly, her teenage mind in a frenzy of joy and attraction.
With slow grace he pulled back barely an inch, taking a moment to run his tongue along her bottom lip. He smirked seductively and straightened up, moving away from her, freeing her from the prison that had been his arms beside her. "Cherry," he noted, and chuckled at seeing her blush.
Yuki couldn't help but smile. She was about to say something, but he put his index finger to her lips.
"Now that I've got your attention, I want you to know something," he said, serious again. It was starting to freak Yuki out, how fast he went from one mood to the next. One second clever and funny, the next stern and solid like a rock.
A hot rock.
"What?" she asked.
"You aren't to sleep on the floor anymore."
Yuki's eyes brightened. "Really? Does that mean I can have the couch?" she questioned, loving the idea of being up and off the chilly floor.
Deidara rolled his eyes. "No, I've got a much more comfortable place in mind for you."
Yuki raised an eyebrow in confusion, studying him. "Where?"
Deidara did a mental face-palm. "Yuki. You'll be with me. In bed. Every night. Understand?"
Yuki giggled. "Yea!" She wrapped her arms around his cloaked arm and grinned. "Now, ice-cream time! Yay!"
Deidara continued walking, an amused expression on his face. "You're more excited about the damn ice-cream than sleeping with me," he said suspiciously.
Yuki laughed at this, but made no reply. Deidara dismissed her reaction, realizing that with the way her mind worked (if one could claim it even functioned properly half the time, that is), the fact probably hadn't sunk in yet. But it would, later on. He would make sure of that.
As they walked down the remainder of the hall to leave the base, many logical (yes, logical) thoughts flew about in her mind. The most prominent was that she was extremely happy to be able to stay with Deidara.
Despite the organization's affiliation with murder and criminal acts, she felt oddly at home with the Akatsuki. They all seemed to have something strange about them, whether it was Hidan's immortality, Kisame's skin color, or Deidara's extra (and conveniently located) mouths. She wasn't exactly sane and had retained the power of water and ice manipulation without it diminishing, which was exceedingly rare in her clan. She was also haunted by the presence of the shadows.
The all-consuming presence of the Shadow of Progression had been haunting her all her life. But here, when she was with Deidara, she felt as if those shadows weakened, lost a bit of their power. Her inner strength grew when she thought of him, and for some reason it was a repellent to the forms that were slowly eating away her mind.
She guessed it was because she was resisting them, their corruption. If she were to just lie down and allow them to engulf her, the battle would already be over. But she was living and fighting for a damn good reason, and that reason's name was Deidara.
At the least, her living with him would slow the shadow's progress. Yes, it would slow considerably. And for the time being, her far-off future of complete and utter insanity to the point of no return did not matter to her. For the time being, her world consisted of a hot as hell blond and cookie dough ice-cream.
For Yuki Ookami, the day was good.
And the night would be even better.
FIN!