A/N: Hola :)

You guys are great~ I've decided to post every three days instead of a week. That keeps you waiting for far too long than you deserve.

I want to get as far as possible in this story before band camp starts ^_^u, I'll be pretty busy then...

Warning: Language, violence, gore...

Pein patiently leaned against the front guest on the main level of the shop, looking out the door for any sign of Itachi and their convict. "He probably went down a busy road…"

"Probably," a voice agreed.

Pein inwardly jumped, coolly glancing sideways at the pale teen with golden eyes and cropped green hair. "Zetsu. I didn't hear you."

"You looked lost in thought," Zetsu gave a small shrug. He wore a shirt that split white and black down the middle, dark jeans and an earring in his left ear. "I just got back from scouting out that old factory we thought Orochimaru was making into his base."

"Oh? Anything of interest?" Pein shifted to stare at him.

"A nice stack of suspicious crates and some pretty heavily bolted metal case," Zetsu answered.

Pein thoughtfully looked down, thinking. "I see… Was there anyone in there?"

Zetsu cocked his head to the side. "A few unimportant workers and a college sophmore named 'Kabuto'," he said. "The kid was checking things off on a clipboard and had a hefty envelope filled with cash in his coat pocket." "A stupid-ass place to put it if you ask me." "But I didn't. Stay inside will you?" Zetsu scolded himself as his other personality came out momentarily.

Pein ignored it, the personality change and self-conversations a normal occurrence. "Thank you for your work Zetsu. I know I can trust you on anything," he said.

"But of course," Zetsu inclined his head slightly.

At that moment, the front door jingled open, and a haggard looking raven stumbled in, holding a nice amount of plastic bags smelling of grease and deliciousness. Zetsu moved to help, earning a grunt of thanks before Itachi turned on his heel to get the blonde teen out of his car who had woken to the smell of food.

Zetsu glanced to Pein. "I'll take these downstairs. I assume you'll wait here for Itachi and our captured target."

"You assume correctly," Pein smirked, waving a hand. "See you in a few minutes."

Itachi walked in a moment later with a scowling blonde whose hands were locked behind his back and his elbow intertwined with one of Itachi's. "I brought Deidara," he unnecessarily said.

Pein lifted a brow. "I can see that."

Itachi smirked and held the squirming blonde in before his leader. "I know. What do you plan on doing with him?"

Deidara glared at the orange-haired man who seemed to be the head honcho of this obviously underground police force. He had been to a jail before, and it was nothing like this one. "What do you want with me yeah?"

Pein smiled at the burning fire in the teen's eye. "If you agree to follow me without struggle then I'll gladly fill you in."

Saying Deidara gave him a suspicious look would be an major understatement.

Pein chuckled, motioning for Itachi to released the blonde. "Deidara," he said as Itachi un-clicked the handcuffs and let the teen rub his sore wrists. "As you have no doubt realized, this is not an ordinary police station."

Deidara scoffed under his breath and looked around at all the antiques. "Tell me about it…"

"We are an underground police force that specializes in catching and putting down black market organizations and dealings in this city," Pein said as Deidara wandered from here-to-there, checking out anything that looked interesting in the shop. "We're on a completely different branch of protection than the normal officers you'd see walking the streets in the middle of the day and have a higher ranking than them. The authorities value our services more, I guess you could say. Although the other forces out there are just as important in keeping the peace in such a shady place such as Rain City."

Deidara picked up the glass sculpture of a blue dove, holding it up to one of the decorated lamps and studying the way the light created pixel rainbows on its surface. "I know Rain City has one of the highest rates of secret criminal activity un. And I also know that most people in this place have no idea what even happens on the streets at night." He looked at Pein and Itachi with his bright blue eye, holding the dove beside it as he said, "I know this because I'm out every night adding to the mayhem that is Rain City at night. The city that rains blood hmm. So I think the question I have for you," he placed the dove back where he got it from, looking at a collection of snow globes, "is why did you bring me here? Why not let the normal forces lock me up for a few years un?"

Itachi and Pein exchanged a glance and miniscule smile.

"Smart one, aren't you?" Itachi answered.

Deidara frowned and pointed to the raven, a snow globe in his other hand. "You piss me off Uchiha Itachi. I have a nice welt on the back of my head because of you un."

Itachi gave a helpless shrug. "I had no choice. It was like restraining a flailing chicken."

"I am not a chicken," Deidara said in an offended tone.

Itachi shook his head, amused. "No, you are most definitely not," he said.

Pein cleared his throat to get the attention back on him for the moment. "If the regular forces were to 'lock you up' as you say, you'd be out in no time creating fires as if you had never served time. And we can't have that."

"So you want to keep me detained here yeah?" Deidara didn't look up, enamored with shaking the snow globe in his possession and watching the fake flakes swirl around a mini metropolis version that was Rain City. "If you lock me up, I'll just blow my way out."

"Our walls are specially made to prevent that from happening," Itachi said.

Deidara raised a brow in his direction, putting the globe down. "Well that's new un," he said.

"Even if you tried to escape," Pein nonchalantly said, "our base's defenses are practically impregnable."

"Really un?"

"Let's just say…that we've had our trial and error runs," Pein murmured. "But no. I don't wish to keep you cooped up in a cell for the rest of your life. Goodness knows what would happen if we did that."

Deidara faced the two with the stature of a defiant lion. "Then what do you want with me?"

Pein smirked, haughtily lifting his chin. "You have street smarts and know what goes on at night in this city. I also know you have connections with some of the men and woman we're after. That's pretty valuable information right there. But not only that, you have a mechanical genius in you and a fighting style that would give anyone a bit of trouble from what I hear. You're book smart and dangerous with weapons. You've got a nice array of abilities that would be of much use to us."

Deidara remained unmoving.

Pein beckoned to him with a hand. "Forget your life of a stunt artist who no one takes significant notice of and join us. You'll have enough money to have an easy life and pay off whatever college tuition you didn't pay for with your scholarships. There are rooms in our base here and the other necessities people find they need to live with. We'll let you see a whole other side of Rain City, complete with the thrill of danger, blood, and the rest that comes with this city's kind of crime-fighting." He stared into the blonde's eyes, even the one that was hidden beneath his hair. "What do you say about that? Iwa Deidara?"

The teen placed his hands in the back of his leather pants and raised his eyes to the ceiling, causing Itachi to go on alert and place a hand at his waist where he kept a hidden blade. Pein motioned for him to be at ease as Deidara glanced back down at them and asked, "What happens if I refuse your offer?"

Pein smirked. "Then you can spend the rest of your days floating at the bottom of the Ame river," he said.

"Gee, what a choice," Deidara sarcastically muttered.

"Well you can't expect for us to just let you free after telling you about our special force," Pein informed him. "Normally someone like you would be sent to the higher authorities."

"Ha?" The blonde gazed at him. "And what would happen then?"

Pein shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I only know the man who runs the entire police force, but he wouldn't reveal his plans to me."

"So basically," Deidara took his hands out his pockets, along with his phone, sliding it open and beginning to text, "you're saying that this head boss guy let's you guys fight crime and do all his dirty work while he sits and watches from above, so to speak un?"

Pein bobbed his head. "Sounds about right. Not that I'm complaining. Nothing's happened to us yet."

Deidara nodded back. "True enough." He shut his phone and put it back away, rolling his eye at the look Itachi was giving him. "I was just texting a buddy about tonight's homework. Is that okay with you, Uchiha Itachi?"

"I wouldn't know that," Itachi tensely replied.

Deidara sighed in exasperation. "Check my phone if you want hmm. Actually- don't. I don't want you touching my precious baby un. And I have a life you know. One that I go about like a normal school student during the day."

"I thought your bike was your baby," Itachi skeptically said.

Deidara's mouth opened and shut several times before he realized he had left his precious Ninja in the middle of the parking lot, unlocked and ready for stealing.

Itachi's lip curled up. "I wouldn't worry if I were you. I had the decency to send a buddy to pick it up. It's in our garage," he said.

"If you're lying," Deidara said with a glare, "I won't hesitate to bash your skull in-"

"Everyone here has a so-called normal life as you say Deidara," Pein cut in. "We all go about our daily lives as fronts until night falls and we receive news of trouble. Then we step in. Like I said before, our job is to prevent criminals of the night world from disrupting the peace of regular civilians."

Deidara gave him an intense look. "And if dawn is about to break?"

Pein stared back just as hard. "Then we do whatever it takes."

"…I see…" Deidara absently looked away, gazing at the untouched and obsolete items stacked all around the shop. A feeling of nostalgia rose up briefly in the back of his mind, telling him that he should be remembering something. But he couldn't place the feeling, no matter how hard he tried to think about it. I feel so sick, he thought to himself. But I know I need to be here, to figure out this feeling. To feel this way everyday; as if I'm missing a part of my past that needs to be found. His gaze idly wandered back to Pein and Itachi who were giving him expectant looks. What is it…about this place? How did I even get involved in the night city? Oh yeah… Little sister… His eyes clouded over.

Itachi gently cleared his throat to break the thick silence that had settled over them. "Is everything alright?"

Deidara blankly stared ahead.

Pein eyed the teen. "Deidara…?"

"I'll do it," Deidara said so suddenly that it caught them both off guard.

"What?" Pein questioned, wondering if his ears deceived him.

"I said I'll do it," the teen repeated. His gaze had become focused once more. "I'll join your special force and help you catch your bad guys yeah."

Pein scratched the back of his neck. "Easier than I expected, getting you to cooperate that is."

"But!" Deidara held up a finger, lips pursed. "I want full possession of my Ninja. And I don't want you guys following me everywhere I go un. A-And I hope everything here is as free as you say it is or else I'm out," he said with a red face.

"No need to be embarrassed," Pein smiled. "I happen to know of your previous living arrangements and think ours is much better."

Deidara scowled. "Have you been stalking me or what?"

"Don't get angry," Pein chuckled. He waved for the blonde to stand before him and said as he walked over, "I needed to collect data on you to see if you were a worthy asset to our force."

"So am I worthy?" Deidara skeptically asked.

Pein reached into the front of his work apron he had never took off, pulling out a silver ring with a stone set in the middle. "You are…most definitely worthy, Iwa Deidara." He placed the piece of jewelry into the baffled blonde's hands and his smile grew. "You already have your nails painted. How lovely. Now you won't have to do it until it starts chipping."

"Um…" Deidara looked at the ring at then to the hands belonging to the two in front of him, noticing that their nails were painted respectively. "What's with-?"

"To show our unity as a group," Itachi answered. "There is strength in numbers after all."

"And you felt the need to interrupt me, why?" Deidara snapped, sliding the ring on.

Itachi rolled his eyes.

Pein clapped them both on the shoulder. "Come now, you're both comrades in this squad now. We don't need another pair like Hidan and Kakuzu."

"Well that's true," Itachi muttered.

Deidara's face showed confusion. "Hidan and Kakuzu un?"

"Two of our other members," Pein said, steering them towards the back stairwell. "All of our members should be downstairs, hopefully not tearing apart the food you brought here for us Itachi. Deidara, I'll get you introduced and inducted into the police force and then you're free to do whatever you want for the rest of the night." If you wake up.

"In…ducted?" Deidara didn't know why, but he got sharp chills running up his spine.

"Just wear something loose," Itachi mumbled, looking like he was reliving something traumatizing at the mention of the word.

If it's got this guy acting like this, then I better just do as he says, Deidara thought with a shudder. "Hey I just remembered. Tomorrow morning is Thursday. Do I just go to school like normal and then come straight back here hmm? Or do I get to lounge around the city with my friends afterwards?"

"Good question," Pein said as they began walking down the stairs. He lead the way in front, with Deidara behind him, and Itachi after him. "Go to school as you usually would, hang out with your buddies as you usually would too. Remember, we're an underground force. No one can know about us except for those who take part in the chaos of the night city. If a problem arises, we have several means of which to contact you with."

"Hmm…" Deidara mumbled something intelligible to show that he understood, choosing to stare at the large amount of rooms and high-tech gear as they passed by. "I'm guessing you're rich un?"

Pein smirked even though no one could see. "Only the richest in the city."

"Way to be modest," Deidara said back as they made a descent further under the ground. He didn't know what he was getting into, agreeing so easily to be a part of this special force. But he knew two things for sure.

One: He'd have a blast getting into blood-pumping fights with some of the strongest criminals of the night city.

And two: He didn't really fancy lying at the bottom of a river for the rest of his life.

A/N: Expect the next chapter soon :)