I didn't fall asleep while we made our journey back to headquarters but I did lose myself in thought. It surprised me when I could no longer feel the steady rhythm of Itachi's footsteps. I looked around, but soon realized the pointlessness of it when I remembered the blindfold. I felt the deep rumble of Itachi's chuckle as he set me down lightly on my feet and removed the blindfold. We were in the main room of the headquarters and he motioned for me to follow him. I walked after him, gazing at the building in which I now lived. Itachi led me past several doors but gave no clue as to where they went. I was beginning to wonder when we would stop when I saw the end of the hallway. Itachi stopped two doors before the end and opened it, letting me in. The room looked as though it was already occupied and the only new piece seemed to be a bed shoved into the room.
"You will be sharing my room as we have no other rooms available and you are my responsibility." Itachi informed me in a monotone. It seemed that he never spoke with any emotion or inflection.
"Okay." I said, looking around the room once more. In the far right corner, there was a desk with several books stacked on it and papers strewn about. In the left corner, there was a King-sized bed and about five feet from that bed, there was another one of the same size .Opposite the bed, there was a large dresser with half of the space free from clothes. As I surveyed the room, Itachi had started hanging up my new clothes in the empty half of the dresser. I walked over and started helping him while he explained to me a little bit more about the Akatsuki and their goals. He told me that the door next to the desk led to a full bathroom that he and I would have to share. We got all of my things set up and then he led down the hallway again and into the kitchen where I saw another Akatsuki member attempting to cook something. I wasn't sure what it was he was trying to cook because it was burned beyond recognition. I stifled a laugh as I saw him struggle with his mystery meal.
"Tobi. What are you attempting to cook?" Itachi asked the man in the orange mask.
"Tobi is a good boy! The food doesn't like Tobi!" The poor man wailed. I stepped forward and took the frying pan off the burner and dumped its contents into a nearby trash bin. I then went to the fridge and took out vegetables, meat, and noodles to make stir-fry. I brought out a new pan and chopped the veggies and meat before putting the oil in the pan and frying them. I put the noodles in a pot of water to boil. I added seasonings to the stir-fry and then mixed it all together before turning to put it all on one huge plate and bringing it to the table.
"There." I said, "Dinner's ready. And you can tell what it is." Tobi looked at the food in the middle of the table almost lovingly. He ran to sit and then ate like he hadn't eaten in months. The rest of Akatsuki eventually filed in and started eating my stir-fry. Itachi went to join them and I made my way back to the kitchen so that I could make a second pan, knowing that there wouldn't be nearly enough. When that was finished, I brought it out and started doing dishes. When I was done, I ate some of the leftover vegetable. Itachi walked back in and looked at me curiously.
"Why aren't you eating the dinner that you made?" He asked me.
"I don't really like stir-fry." I explained, munching on a carrot.
"Then why did you make it?" He asked, leaning against the counter with his arms crossed.
"It was the first thing I could think of that didn't take too terribly long to make." I said and hopped off the counter, wiping my hands on a towel and turning to leave the kitchen to get the plates off the dining table.
"Don't." Itachi said, "Deidara will get those, it's his turn for dishes." I looked at him skeptically,
"Will he really do them?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Probably not, but that's his problem if Leader yells at him. You shouldn't worry about it."
"I don't mind it." I said, grabbing all the plates and walking back to the kitchen. Itachi heaved a great sigh and followed me. When I had the sink full of water, he grabbed a dish towel and started drying all the dishes that I washed. "You know, you don't have to help me just because I'm your responsibility." I told him.
"But if I don't help you, no one will and that honestly isn't fair to you." He said looking at me.
"Well honestly, I don't think anyone here really cares if something is fair to me. Look at Hidan." I felt Itachi stiffen and looked over at him. He had his head down and he mumbled something quietly that sounded a lot like, "I care if it's fair to you." I looked at him questioningly but he avoided my gaze and continued drying. Half an hour later, we finished and he led me back down the twisting hallways back to his room, although I suppose now it's our room. I went to the bed he had told me was mine and fell into a deep sleep free from nightmares. And for that, I was grateful. I needed a restorative sleep.
It looked to be about mid-morning when I woke up; judging from the way the sunlight was streaming in through the window. I rolled over and saw Itachi writing furiously on some papers at the desk. I yawned, stretched, and sat up. He looked up at me as I got out of bed. I grinned sleepily at him and waved. He almost smiled back and turned back to his papers. I went over to the dresser, and took out an outfit to wear for the day. A simple black tank top and mid-calf length pants. I went to the bathroom and turned on the shower to warm up before I started to un-wrap my bandages. After showering, I got dressed then went into the room to ask Itachi to help me re-bandage my stomach. When I walked out, Deidara was in the room, looking very angry and Tobi was next to him, almost cowering in the corner. Itachi looked to me as I re-entered the room. Suddenly, all focus was on me. I put my head down and walked to the dresser again as I put my clothes away. Tobi ran over and hid behind me. He was there so quickly that I was startled and jumped. I looked back at him with wide eyes, silently asking what he was doing there.
"Dei-kun is mad at Tobi." He explained, and when Deidara started to head towards us, quickly added, "Tobi is a good boy!" before resuming his spot behind my back. I moved as though to protect him should Deidara come closer. I wasn't sure what Tobi had done but I wasn't going to let Deidara kill him.
"Tobi went into Deidara's room this morning and took all of his exploding clay." Itachi explained, once again monotonous. I looked between Tobi and Deidara, wondering what the big deal about that was. Itachi must have guessed what I was thinking because I saw a grin for a fraction of a second. I sighed and rolled my eyes at the two of them. Turning to Itachi, I said,
"I need help applying the medicine and re-doing my bandages." Itachi nodded and motioned for Deidara and Tobi to leave. I sat down and waited for Itachi. When he finished, I stood up and gingerly stretched, making sure everything was as it should be. When I didn't feel any pain, I smiled and looked to Itachi for further instruction. He opened the door and motioned for me to go out first. He led me back down to the kitchen where he proceeded to take out eggs, toast, and a frying pan. He started cooking and I vaguely wondered where he had learned it. We ate breakfast and he took me outside so I could practice training. For the next few weeks, my schedule went much like this. Sometimes I would train with Deidara and Tobi though, whenever Itachi and Kisame were required for a mission. At the end of my fourth week I was told that I would be accompanying Itachi and Kisame on their next mission.
I packed according to what I was told, glad to be getting out. I had healed almost completely during the last weeks and was proud of that fact. The past two weeks, Itachi and Kisame had been absent from headquarters the majority of the time.
The night before we left, I was haunted by terrifying premonitions. I couldn't decipher what they foretold, but I did wake up screaming twice. The second time, Itachi had to shake me hard to get me to stop. For the rest of the night, I barely slept; for fear of nightmares coming back and telling me things I didn't want to know. When morning finally came, I was a nervous wreck and horribly jumpy. Something bad, very bad, was going to happen on this mission and I did not want to know what it was.
I still wasn't trusted to see where headquarters was. As a result, I was blindfolded yet again and carried. When we were far enough away, Itachi put me down and removed the blindfold. After a little while I noticed Kisame staring at me.
"What?" I snapped at him. He seemed taken aback for a moment, I wasn't usually cranky.
"Oh nothing, I was just wondering what was up with you last night." He smirked and said, "I mean; I know it can't have been anything you and Itachi were doing." I stopped abruptly at his innuendo. I whirled around and unleashed a glare that should've fried him on the spot. He merely laughed as he whizzed by me. He quickly came back and stood right behind me. "Why do you seem so offended?" He whispered, cackling in my ear.
"I'm offended by the fact that you think me so easy, or that you would suggest that I'd "hook up" with one of you." I told him scathingly. He started to respond before Itachi appeared in front of us and with a single look silenced whatever Kisame had intended to say. I didn't wait for anything else, I jumped up to a tree and continued running from there. I didn't get very far before I was stopped in my tracks. Kisame nearly ran into me because I stopped so suddenly. Itachi stopped as well, giving me a questioning look. Neither of them could see yet what I could feel. "Wraiths," I whispered, "They're coming." Kisame and Itachi exchanged confused looks as my eyes widened in fear.
Wraiths? Whaaa? Yeah, that's right. They're comin' for ya.