Aimi was feeling guilty, finally. The boy she loved, she was supposed to…kill. Because that was the plan. "What did I get myself into?" she asked aloud.
"The Akatsuki," a familiar voice sounded. "Hi, Itachi," Aimi said, with a small sigh. He was silent for a moment before saying, "You don't want to, do you?" Aimi shook her head. "Not at all. I mean…I love him," she said quietly. Then, a thought struck her. A horrifying thought. She looked at Itachi. "It's all your fault," she said, in an angry, terrified voice.
He blinked, then seemed to realize. "Aimi-" She cut him off. "You brought me here! You tempted me to come! You-you LIED to me!" she yelled. He struggled to keep control over himself. "Aimi. Stop this. You made this choice, now you have to carry it out! Nothing, no one made you come here. You chose to come here on your free will. You cant just let the first thing that goes wrong, or doesn't seem right to you get in the way! Why do you think I'M here still?"
Aimi looked down. "S-sorry."
"I wouldn't be here at all, I would've never came here, if I hadn't made that choice- and I DID make that choice. And if I didn't know that I had to stick to my choices and commitments, I would've been out of here a long, long time ago."
Aimi began to cry a little. "O-okay."
()()()()()()()()
A few days later, after everyone else finding out that Ichirou had let Aimi out, they got prepared to go and find her again. They went to the same spot, and as they were trying to get past there, they heard Aimi's voice: "I thought you'd come again."
"Aimi?!" Sasuke yelled out. "Yes?" she asked, her voice coming from another direction now. They turned in that direction. "I'm not over there, I'm over here," her voice said, coming from a different direction again. "Over HERE, not THERE," Aimi said, her voice coming from yet another direction, a faint giggle in her voice. "We don't have time for games, Aimi…" Ichirou said.
Aimi appeared in front of them. "You are no fun."
"Take off your hood," Sasuke ordered. "Why?" Aimi asked, countering him. He didn't really know what to say. "I-I just don't like it," he said stupidly. "Well, you don't mean anything to me, now do you?" she asked, her voice not wavering, even though tears were forming in her eyes under the hood. He didn't say anything. "Aimi…" he whispered faintly.
The rest of the Akatsuki arose from the shadows. Aimi took off her hood.
"Aimi…why?"
"Stop asking me that."
"I want to know! I want to know what made you leave me- us!"
"I was tricked!"
There was an odd silence from the Akatsuki, like, she blew it. This was not the plan. Not at all.
Aimi fell down, and cried for the first time in a while. Tears, falling out of her eyes. Not stopping. Sasuke, his love taking over, ran to her side. He lifted her chin up in his hands, although he was vaguely rough and uncomfortable. Or…very…
"You don't remember," Aimi said, through her tears, "you don't know, you don't know anything!"
Sasuke looked at her. "Don't remember what?" he asked. When she didn't answer, he repeated, more angrily, "Don't remember what?!" She slapped his hands off of her. "Go away, just go! What are you doing here, anyway? Because of me? I chose to be here, and I have to stay here!" she yelled. Itachi looked at her. Those words. Now that he thought about it, no. That really was not what it was supposed to mean, now that he heard it from her right then.
Sasuke backed off a bit, staring at her angrily, sadly, betrayed. "I don't care what you want, I don't really care what you think. You are coming back with us, weather you want to or not!" he said, grabbing her arm. She shook him off. "No, no, NO!"
As a last resort, she called her tigers. They leapt onto Sasuke and pinned him to the ground, despite his loud cursing and yelling. Aimi had obviously gotten out of his grasp and was now standing there, watching her tigers keep Sasuke on the ground. "Okay, you two. Get off him," she said emotionlessly. They got off him, but kept on circling him suspiciously.
"Make them go away," Sasuke said darkly. Aimi shook her head. "I cant trust you," she said, controlling her tears. "Yes you can," Ichirou said quietly. Aimi turned and looked at him, a little surprised he spoke. "What?"
"You can trust him. You know you can. Just fight past this-this thing you are, and find Aimi. I know she's there. And I know she trusts him," Ichirou said. Aimi looked down. She knew he was right. But she loved her brothers. She had loyalty to them. "Then what am I supposed to do?" Aimi asked.