A/N: This chapter is rather short. Sorry about that. Please review and tell me what ya think. Also I think there will only be TWO more chapters in this story, before it ends...so yeah.


Chapter 8

"This won't end well."

"What the hell are you talking about Kakuzu?"

"You and the girl, you know it won't end well."

"There's nothing there dumbass."

"Don't try to kid me. It's obvious to everyone, not only me, that the girl has grown attached to you. You and I both know what kind of person you are, going around, sleeping with prostitutes, drinking, sacrificing people, which you know she doesn't like no matter how much she tolerates it," He looks over to me and, noticing that I wasn't going to say anything, continues. "Leader-sama, wanted me to pass along the message: this girl's…affection for you won't benefit the organization, you need to end it."

I sneer at him, "I still don't know what you're talking about you fucking son of a bitch."

Kakuzu simply shrugs. "You can lie to me, but you can't lie to yourself. End it now, before it gets to out of hand." He leaves my room and so do I, to find Aiko.

She couldn't be that attached to me could she? I mean she likes the other members just as much…okay, maybe not Kakuzu as much. She gets along with Kisame though, and Deidara, Tobi, Itachi…but now that I think about it, she spends much of her time with me, if she isn't playing with Tobi that is. She always ate her meals with me, whenever I was here. She even hung out with me when I was praying in my room. She'd watch me pray as she lied on the bed and when I was done, she'd always say something like, "I really admire your devotion to your god" or "You're face looks rather peaceful when you pray".

"Aiko," I enter the living room to see Aiko lying on the floor with Tobi, playing a card game.

She looks up at the sound of my voice. "Hidan-sama!" She gets up and stands before me. "Did you need something Hidan-sama?"

Her eagerness to help me is killing me. "Yeah…we….need to talk."

"Talk? Okay, what would you like to talk about?"

"In private…" I add, glancing over at Tobi. She looks over at Tobi as well. "Okay. Tobi, I'll be back in a second. Hidan-sama needs to tell me something."

"No way! Tobi was playing with Ai-chan first!"

She smiles at the childish man. "Don't worry, I'll be back soon, okay?"

Dear Jashin, she just loves making this hard, doesn't she? Once we were out in the hallway, I turned to face her. "Alright…how the hell should I say this? Uhh…you know that everyone here, in the Akatsuki, are criminals right? Including me?"

She's silent for a moment. "Yes, I'm aware of that."

"Well….you see…you need to stop caring about us so much…"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm sort of the medic here aren't I? Caring about others is my job isn't it?"

"All you need to do is heal our wounds and shit. That's pretty much it."

She looks up at me, her lavender eyes showing obvious confusion. "I don't understand what you're trying to say."

"Ughhh…" I groan, pushing back my hair getting frustrated. "Look, you don't need to show us your caring nature or your feelings or whatever the fuck it is you do. None of us, at least I'm pretty sure that, none of us will ever treat you or care about you the same way." I finally say, a little harsher than I meant.

"But…didn't you care?"

"That's only because Leader-sama ordered me to," I said quickly, referring to the time I had to take care of her because she was sick. "And I was pretty sick at the time too. If I could, I would have taken care of myself before taking care of you."

"O-Okay, Hidan-sama. Is that it? Is that all you have to say?" She asked. I couldn't tell if she was sad or not; she was masking her emotions strangely well.

I look away. "Yeah...that's it."

She goes back to Tobi in the living room and before I go back to my room I heard Tobi say, "Is Ai-chan crying? Did Hidan say something mean to Ai-chan?" Aiko then mumbled something I couldn't hear, but it doesn't matter. Kakuzu is right; she shouldn't become attached to someone like me.


I don't understand why Leader-sama sent me on a mission with Tobi, Deidara and Hidan-sama. Deidara already doesn't like Tobi and I don't think Hidan-sama and Deidara really like each other…or at least Hidan-sama doesn't like Deidara. He made that very clear before we set off on our trip. And, to be honest, I don't think Hidan-sama really likes me. We haven't talked to each other in a while and if we did, it was only a few meaningless words. He had become a very good friend to me, during my time with the Akatsuki despite his…behavior, and I have feeling that he was perhaps something a little more than that…

Despite what Hidan-sama told me what he had to say, Tobi told me not to listen and told me that he loves me. Tobi is a very kind person and so are the rest of the Akatsuki, to an extent of course. Their behavior towards me didn't change at all, only Hidan-sama's did.

We had already reached our designated city, which was somewhere in the northern part of Fire country. The mission was an assassination job of some president of a big company. Apparently he was active in the underground. Deidara went to find out where the target lived and, to Deidara's dismay, so did Tobi. Hidan left to make another sacrifice. I asked him why it was so necessary to sacrifice so many people to his God. It seemed very purposeless. Of course he didn't answer me and told me to "Shut the hell up!" He's been very agitated lately, but maybe it's because he has to travel and work with Deidara and Tobi.

Anyways, I made my way to the convenience store to buy us dinner, orders from Deidara. After that I was to go back and wait in the very cheap hotel room; I think someone may be possessed by Kakuzu's spirit.

I bought 4 bento boxes, paid for them, and left the store. As I was leaving, I noticed a man standing right next to the entrance, reading an orange book. He had gray hair that was somehow able to defy gravity. For a brief moment, I wondered what he could possibly be doing there, but the thought was shoved out of my mind as I hurriedly made my way back to the hotel.

While I was walking, I had the strangest feeling that someone was following me. I looked back and saw many people behind me, going about their usual business. It didn't seem like anyone was following me, so I turned around, but nearly had a heart attack. The very same man who was standing outside the convenient store was standing right in front of me.

"Umm….excuse me, did you need something?"

"What's…your name?"

"My name?"

"Yeah, you seem very familiar…"

"Uh…" I didn't know what to say. How could this man possibly recognize me? I don't think I've ever seen him while I was in Ametsuchi, then again there were many people living in the city. It'd be hard to recognize one man. Could it be he's looking for me? Did Kiro-san send him to look for me? Even so, what should I do? A pang of guilt hit me in the stomach. If this man is looking for me to bring me back to Ametsuchi, then I should go with him. Ametsuchi…is where I belong after all. "I-I'm Aiko."

"Aiko. That's a pretty name. So, Aiko, what are you doing with all that food? I doubt a small girl like you can eat all that."

"This isn't all for me! I bought it for…" I trailed off. I didn't want Tobi, Deidara, or Hidan to get in trouble because of me, but I couldn't lie either.

"Who did you buy it for?"

"….my friends."

"And where are they now?"

"They're looking for someone."

"Who?"

"I don't know," I said truthfully. Neither Deidara nor Hidan bothered telling me what the mission was in full detail. The only reason I was there was to heal Hidan quickly, just in case he damaged himself too much practicing his religion.

"Well, you're coming with me. My name is Hatake Kakashi, a trusted Konoha ninja, and I'm going to take you back home alright?" I found myself nodding slowly. My brain told me to, but somewhere inside me was yelling at me to not go with this man, to not go back to Ametsuchi. Hatake took my hand and started leading me away through the crowd of people. "We'll need to find my students first. They're searching for you as well…"

"Right…" Was this really it? Was I really going to go back to Ametsuchi?"

"Aiko! Aiko you fucking bitch! Where the hell do you think you're going!" I looked back and an odd sense of joy surged through me. "Hidan-sama!" It was at that moment I knew I didn't want to go back to Ametsuchi. I wanted to stay with the Akatsuki, with Hidan-sama, even though he may not like me as much, I know that I really like him.


I was walking back to the hotel after making a grand sacrifice to my Lord Jashin. I had to push past people as I walked because this city was so damned crowed. In the distance I noticed a familiar head of white hair walking away from me. I moved closer and noticed that it was Aiko. "Aiko!" I shout out, but I don't think the deaf bitch heard me. "Aiko! Aiko you fucking bitch! Where the hell do you think you're going!"

She turned her beautifu…er, she turned her head around and I could see a smile on her face. "Hidan-sama!" I heard her shout back, but she didn't come running up to me, in fact it looked the exact opposite. "Hidan-sama!" Her cry sounding more urgent this time. "Hidan-sama!"

Shit…what the hell has she gotten herself into? Pushing past the people more roughly, I tried to make my way towards her, but suddenly she was swept off her feet by a man with gray hair. Looking more closely, I recognized the headband, covering his left eye, indicated that he was from Konoha. Damn it, why the hell did they have to show up here? And what the hell do they want with Aiko? Shit. "Will you people move out of my fucking way!"

"Yay! Tobi found Hidan!" Came a shout from behind me and I was attacked from behind.

"Tobi, you bastard, now is not the time. Aiko, she…" I turned back to see that AIko and the Konoha ninja had disappeared.

"There you are Hidan. Surprisingly enough, Tobi and I located our target and…"

"You stupid mother fuckers! Do you know where Aiko is right now!"

"…getting food, un."

"Not anymore! Some Konoha ninja took her away and now I lost sight of them thanks to you two dumb shits!"

Deidara was quiet for a moment, sinking in the new information. "We should…probably contact Leader-sama. Meanwhile, we really should finish our mission first."

"What the hell! Shouldn't we find her first!"

Deidara frowns. "You know the mission comes first. Besides, I'm sure we can last a day or two without her, un."

"What about her!"

"She's with Konoha ninja, plus she's a sweet and innocent girl, isn't she? I'm pretty sure they won't do anything bad to her; God, I didn't know you cared about her so much, Hidan, un," he replied with a knowing smirk. I swear, one day I'm going to rip his mouth from his face.