Hello everyone! I hope you are enjoying the story so far! Thank you kwisy for reviewing the previous chapter! I'm glad I was able to provide more insight into how Kikyuu is feeling; I had hoped it would become clearer as the story progressed! Now, on with the chapter! Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters, just those of my own design.
Chapter 6
Kikyuu ran quickly across the rocky plains on the border of the Land of Earth. The dust that was being stirred up by both her and her pursers prevented her from identifying them visually but she knew they were not of Konoha. One of them appeared to have Suna chakra, but she couldn't be for sure for he was masking it extremely well. She spotted a tree line up ahead and knew that if she could just reach it, she could speed ahead and get these men off of her trail. However, she noticed a small white bird flying beside her. Suddenly, albeit too late, she realized that it was made of clay and when she saw this, she threw up her arms as the bird exploded.
The white haired girl went flying into the tree line and smacked into a tree. She shook her head quickly and tried to sit up but realized she was fading in and out of consciousness. Looking back towards where she had been attacked, she saw a green-ish smoke dissipating in the air and realized the clay bird bomb contained a poison. As her vision darkened, she saw the shadowy outlines of two figures hovering above her.
"Are you sure this is the one, Deidara?" A deep voice asked.
"Of course, hn. The one Leader-sama wants us to bring in," the man named Deidara replied as she slipped into the darkness.
Kikyuu felt the warmth of a fire heating the skin on her face. She slowly blinked as she awoke and looked around. The first thing she noticed was that her arms were bound behind her back and her ankles were bound as well. Second, she noticed that her cloak, scroll pouch, kunai pouch, and katana were piled a few feet from her. Finally, she noticed that only one of her captors was present and he was sitting near her and looking at her.
"Glad you woke up, hn. I was afraid Sasori-danna's sedative was going to kill you, hn," the long blonde haired man replied.
"Are you, Deidara?" She asked weakly.
The man blinked, "Yeah, hn. How'd you know?"
"Your partner… Sasori… called you such before I passed out," she replied before coughing slightly.
Deidara moved and helped her take a drink of water before nodding, "Strong one, you are, hn. I thought you were already out."
She chuckled softly, "I don't usually go down so easily," she looked him in the eyes, "Where are you two taking me?"
"Leader-sama," Deidara began, "is ordering all of us to move to the main Akatsuki headquarters in Amegakure."
Kikyuu nodded, "Ahh, Akatsuki. Interesting. What does he want with me?"
The Iwa ninja shrugged, "Beats me. You'll have to ask him yourself when you meet him."
She sighed and tested the strength of her bonds before giving up, "I'm not getting out of here, am I?"
"No, you're not," the gruff voice of Sasori answered.
Kikyuu looked in the direction of the voice as Sasori, in his typical puppet, emerged from the bushes.
The young woman smirked, "When Deidara said 'Sasori' I didn't know he meant 'Sasori of the Red Sand.' How interesting."
"Hmm," Sasori hummed, "You've heard of me?"
The girl shrugged, "Being in ANBU does privilege you to certain information. I realize now why I couldn't fully detect your chakra earlier."
Sasori nodded before looking at Deidara and stating, "Untie her legs. Now that she's awake, she can walk to Ame; we're nearly there and Kisame is supposed to meet us at the edge. Carry her stuff too."
"Geez, Sasori-danna, do I have to do everything, hn?" the blonde replied as he stood and cut the ropes binding her legs.
Seizing her moment, Kikyuu kicked upwards, knocking Deidara back as she heard something crack. She dashed towards Sasori, spinning out of the way of his spear-like tail before leaping up into the trees and speeding away from them. She looked back, pondering when she could return to collect her goods before looking forward and gasping when she witnessed a large, bandaged sword swinging down at her.
She didn't have time to dodge and cried out when it collided with her shoulder. She fell forward, unconscious, having the sword drain nearly all of her chakra. When she hit the ground, she created a small crater.
"She broke my nose!" Deidara exclaimed as he picked up her stuff and walked over to the girl with Sasori.
"Thank you, Kisame," Sasori stated, looking at the large, shark looking man as he leapt down after positioning Samehada on his back.
The blue man shrugged, "I figured you two needed help bringing her in. Let's go. Everyone else has arrived and Leader is in one hell of a mood already."
The tallest man present crouched down and scooped up Kikyuu before the three of them quickly headed to Ame.
When she awoke again she noticed that she was sitting in a chair in the middle of a dimly lit room. All of her possessions were on her again and her cloak was resting on the back of her chair. She sat up groggily and shook her head a few times to wake herself up. Kikyuu checked her chakra levels and was pleasantly surprised that they had returned to nearly half of her normal levels; however, it meant that she had been out for quite awhile.
Quickly, the door directly across from her opened and she sat up further as a man with stark orange hair and multiple piercings on his face entered the room. He stood across from her as she sat up and then leaned back slightly in the chair. Finally, she broke the silence when she stated:
"I assume you are their leader."
The man nodded once, "Yes. I am Pein. Leader of both the Akatsuki and Amegakure."
She nodded in returned, "Impressive. So, tell me, why was I so feverously pursued in the Land of Earth then captured and brought here?"
"Our numbers are small. We need new recruits, strong recruits," Pein replied.
Kikyuu chuckled and waved a finger back and forth in front of him, "Ah ah ah. You're lying."
Pein quirked an eyebrow before stating, "Fine. We need more recent intel on Konoha concerning the nine-tails and you would be the one to have that."
The girl chuckled again and repeated her previous actions, "Ah ah ah. Lying again."
Pein smirked, "Our intel did say you were a sensor ninja and you're a powerful one at that. Good. The true reason is that we need someone like you is in our mission to capture the jinchuriki. Too often will their villages hide them in such a way that it makes it near impossible to find them. However, a strong sensor ninja could very easily locate the jinchuriki for capture. That's why we need you."
"Hm," Kikyuu stated as she folded her arms and crossed her right leg over her left, "While you are telling the truth, it surprises me that in a group of S-ranked criminals, you don't have a sensor ninja amongst you already."
Pein sighed, "Yes, it is something that I have overlooked. The next question is mine, now. Would you join us?"
Kikyuu stood, pacing behind her chair as Pein continued:
"You will have food, shelter, all the money you need to survive. Basically, a home if you want to consider it that way."
She scoffed as she stood behind her chair, "Please… my home left a long time ago…"
Pein began walking towards her slowly, "You left Konoha, because there was nothing for you there. You had no purpose other than to slaughter and spy. Why not join us? Where you can work with us to bring peace to this world?"
"Peace?..." 'No more war… no more fighting… all I've ever known…' She looked back at Pein: "I'll join you. On one condition."
"Name it," the man replied.
The young woman sighed, "I do not want any village to know I work with you if it can be helped. If my involvement can remain under wraps, so to speak, then I would like it to remain as such. If I ever choose to reveal my association with this faction, I want to be the one to do it."
Pein pondered this request for a moment and decided against questioning it, "Agreed. Now, would you like to meet the others? They're in the main room."
Kikyuu sighed and slipped her cloak back on, "Sure. Why not? I'm going to have to get it over with eventually."
Pein stepped into the room first, leaving Kikyuu standing in the shadows where she couldn't see the Akatsuki members and they couldn't see her.
"Gentlemen," Pein began, "and lady," he nodded to Konan, "we have been most fortunate to have a new recruit. While she is not a full member since we have yet to recover Orochimaru's ring, she will be most helpful in capturing the jinchuriki for she is a sensor. Thank you, Deidara, Sasori, and Kisame for bringing her in. May I present, Kikyuu Shinri. Welcome her."
Kikyuu stepped out of the shadows and began scanning the small group with a flat stare when suddenly, her eyes landed on the last person she ever expected to see again.
"You…" She whispered softly as her eyes fell on Itachi before she flashed through hand signs and unsheathed her katana, which sent a slicing gust of air flying directly towards him.
Itachi deftly maneuvered out of the way as it crashed into the wall he was leaning against before beginning to dodge other gusts as she continued slicing the air with the katana. Finally, she hesitated for a moment and he sent a large fireball flying towards her. Rapidly, she sheathed her katana and flashed through hand signs before shouting:
"Water Release: Water Dragon!"
She thrust her palms forward and winced as water erupted from them, leaving the air much drier, and launched the beast at the fireball. It quickly engulfed it, leaving a massive amount of steam in the room. Kikyuu panted softly as she looked at Itachi, only a small amount of chakra left in her. Suddenly, she was scooped up off of the ground and pinned against a person and she looked back to see Kisame restraining her.
"Nice to see you again, Sharky," she muttered as she looked down at Pein.
"You too, Snowy," the man replied before Pein spoke.
"Rule One: you do not attack other members. Settle this quarrel with words."
Pein nodded to Konan and they both quickly left the room, leaving the other Akatsuki members confused about the new comer and the stoic Uchiha.
Interesting fact: While writing this story, I developed a chest cold. Anybody familiar with Itachi's fate will see the irony in this situation.