Chapter 27 - Requests
"Oi." Kage grumbled as she made her way down the hallway, wanting to catch everyone's attention. Hidan had rejoined the group of Akatsuki in the common room, and everyone was present besides Pein.
Hidan's hair was fried, and as soon as she entered he stood. "Hey fix-"
"Shut up and sit down." She growled and pushed him down. It was obvious he wanted her to heal his head; but that idiot didn't understand that she was not a hairdresser. Even if she could easily fix the frizzy, fried strands back to smooth and soft, she wasn't in the mood for it. "I get your hair is horrible. You're lucky I picked this up for you." The blonde unrolled the scroll she carried and bit her finger. This was her personal sealing scroll. After smearing blood onto the parchment two more scrolls, three plastic bags and a large black box appeared. Kage dug through one of the plastic bags and threw a clear case full of bottles and a comb at Hidan.
"I knew how much you loved that weird silver hair of yours so I picked up some really good shampoo, conditioner and other hair products. I also got you this." She threw a black bottle at him. "It's called Shine. Polish your weapons with it. It'll sharpen the blades and make it shiny." The blonde then tossed identical bottles to the others.
The kunoichi passed around gifts she had gotten for the others; Candy and a mask strengthening polish for Tobi, colored detonating clay and coloring for Deidara along with hair care products, a beautifully crafted waist holster that was also a sealing holder for Konan that was able to store up to 3,000 paper bombs or weapons, a new set of kunai and shuriken for Itatchi, healing scrolls and a contract with a rare saw-nosed shark for Kisame.
Everyone thanked her and she walked off; there was no reason to be there anymore for now. The blonde was still upset from Pein's demand of her help in killing people.
The medical ninja sat on her bed and stared at the ceiling. After Cyn had read Kakuzu's memories she learned about the extraction ritual and how . Her blue gaze landed on the green ring on her finger. 'Stupid thing. Stupid Pein. Stupid P-'
Her thoughts interrupted her when a knock came from her door. She frowned and 'tch'ed. "What?"
"Can I come in, Hm?"
Kage's eyes widened at the tone he carried. Something was wrong, or off with him. "Yeah." Her tone was still slightly rough.
The blonde male entered and closed the door behind him. Even in the dark she could see his semi-depressed aura. "Turn on the light." Kage let out a heavy breath. There was no telling what was wrong with the explosion-user.
He followed her instructions wordlessly and waited. She sat up and patted on the space next to her on the bed. He silently sat down and stared at the floor. A long silence was kept between them for a while.
"Thanks, for the gifts, Hm."
"No problem." Something was definitely wrong with him. Usually Deidara was happy or at least anything but depressed.
"How did you pay? For the gifts I mean, Hm."
"I put my hand in my pocket, made a few little diamonds and asked if I could pay with those." She admitted easily with a shrug. "Diamonds are expensive and hard to find. It was an easy yes."
"Is that why you carry rarely any money with you?" He perked a brow and looked at her.
Kage nodded and looked to her ceiling. "Money was hard to come by growing up alone. I didn't know diamonds were so highly wanted and worth so much until a merchant passed by one day." She retold her memory to the artist. It wasn't anything important, and I sure wouldn't be such a big deal to explain to him. "I was sitting alone on the side of a trail when it was raining; hungry, thirsty and cold. Shaping a diamond into a heart when a man with a big cart passed by. He didn't see me, rather the small amount of light shining off of the gem from his lantern. He stopped, gave me a lot of food, water, and a blanket that was waterproof. Looking back on it I could have easily gotten the entire cart and even more but I didn't know how much things were worth back then." She explained with a huff. "He told me how rare they were. That's why money isn't important to me. I can give one small gem in return for a lot."
"But you do realize now and know now that if you put out too many of those the value will go down, Un." Deidara queried. He was intrigued by the short story, and made him slightly less depressed now that he was thinking of something else.
She nodded once again and frowned. "I sometimes had Storm make red diamonds. They are the rarest to find according to some of the citizens I talked to, so even a speck of them is worth something. That really helped a lot."
"So why didn't you buy a house that way instead of moving from cave to cave?"
"With people like you guys looking for me? Ha!" She mocked laughter and threw her head back. "Like that was a smart choice."
He chuckled and the two laughed together. Soon though Deidara's laughter died down, ad he stared at the floor once again. His depressing thoughts came back then. "Hey, Kage?"
She stopped laughing as well and looked at him. His tone made her frown and slightly worried about him. "Yeah?"
"I heard from Hidan what you did for Kakuzu."
Now his depression was spreading to her. She stared at the floor with fogged-over eyes and glanced at the ring on her finger. "Really? I guess that's what I get from telling that idiot."
"Well I actually wanted you to do something for me, Hm." Hope sparked through his depression. He straightened his posture and looked directly at her. Confidence was taking over now. "We are all going on missions soon, and I doubt you'd want to stay here alone with Hidan and Pein, Hm."
"Oh Kami no." She groaned. "What is it you want me to do?"
"Well it's my old partner, Sasori-"
"You mean the asshole that poisoned Kankuro?" She growled as the memories of the poor puppeteer close to death flooded her mind. That made the blonde male wince and move her from his direct vision.
Deidara frowned deeply when he remembered what he had done to her sister. He knew she wasn't saying anything about that on purpose. She obviously didn't want to upset him. "Yeah well, I was wondering if you could do the same for him like you did for Kakuzu, Hm." He straightened up once more and made eye contact with her again. "I know where his real body is and everything. I-"
"Real body?!" She questioned loudly. "What does that mean?!"
"The person you faced was just a shell. He made himself into a puppet, Hm." He told her as if it was nothing.
"Alright.." She sighed. "Just tell me where." Kage already understood now why he wanted this. If Sasori was a puppet user that would explain why he and Deidara were partners. They were the artistic couple of the Akatsuki. Deidara jumped from the bed with a huge smile. "Thanks, Un. I'll make it up to you sometime- I owe you big time!"
"Yeah, yeah. I'll go tomorrow. Hidan can suck it if he doesn't want to since I still have seven days of his use." She gained a chuckled at that.
"Thanks, Yeah!" The blonde scampered off.
Just when she thought she'd get some peace, Itatchi knocked on her opened door. She inwardly groaned. "Yeah? Come in."
"We need to talk." He said simply and closed the door behind him.
"You and Sasuke both." She growled under her breath. These Uchiha boys were going to be the end of her.
"What?" He perked a brow after locking the door behind him.
She shook her blonde head and motioned him to the chair next to her bed. Kage did not want to talk to him. It was so awkward to even look at him ever since the weird memory exchange. "What do you need to talk about?" She emphasized the word meaning himself. She didn't need to talk to him but for some reason she couldn't say no.
"For starters about last week. I can not deny what I saw ad you can not deny it either." He was interrogating her now. "Do you know what that was?"
She sighed and rubbed her temples. "It's never happened before but it does had something to do with the fact I'm a priestess."
His hard, cold red eyes stayed on her. They followed Kage's movements and studied her. A long, pregnant silence swept over them. "What did you see?"
"I could ask you the same thing." She quipped with speed.
"All I was able to view was your past. Up to the point of tomorrow." He informed truthfully and sharply. He only focused on what he needed to know. It grew quiet again.
Kage bit the insides of her cheeks; frowning. "Itatchi," her voice was laced with sadness. "I could help you."
His stoic facade did not visibly falter, though his head was swarming with questions. He ignored her last statement by force. "You're going to see Sasuke."
She froze. Kami how dumb she was. "And? What if I am?"
"I didn't see you enough to know what you talked about, but I do know the location." He stood and walked to her. "You know a lot about me. It worries me. You can't tell Sasuke."
She sighed. Her knuckles were white from clenching the blanket on her bed so hard. "I wasn't planning to. That's your business, not mine. Even if I think he should know." Kage looked to him then. "
"Things will be better if he doesn't find out, but thank you." Itatchi stood. "I already know why he's wanting to talk to you so badly. If you he does ask about me please tell him you do not know."
"Alright.." She said weakly.
"Thank you for the gifts, by the way." He stood and left. That was all he needed from her after all; confirmation that she wouldn't speak a word about him to his little brother.
Kage sighed and flopped back onto her bed. At least recovering Sasori's body will be an excuse to get out and talk to Sasuke. Thank Kami Deidara requested it. She huffed and turned over.
In the morning she would take a shower, tell Pein she was leaving and drag the Jashinist along.