Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.
Chapter 2: Rain
Please, please forgive me,
But I won't be home again.
I know what you do to yourself,
I breathe deep and cry out,
Isn't something missing?
Isn't someone missing me?
Evanescence - Missing
Unable to go full speed the trip for Dana seemed infinite .If she could have stated her identity, it would have taken less time so instead of half a day, it took 2 days. Even longer than it was to get to Tea Country! She was tired and frustrated, hungry and thirsty and anything in between. But finally they were there. Itachi and Kisame went inside first. She followed going into the main meeting room where the leader was waiting .
"Welcome back Itachi, Kisame. I do hope your trip to Fire Country was relaxing." said the man sitting at one end of the large table. In a distant corner another person could be seen. Who, Dana did not know. "You are dismissed. I wish to talk to her alone ." the man then added .
Upon leaving the room Itachi thought to himself that Dana wouldn't last in the organization a day. Oh, how wrong he was!
"Dana Yoshiko , am I correct ?" asked the man once the other 2 members left.
"Yes. I would like to know why exactly am I here and may I take a seat? My knee is killing me!" she complained.
"Fair enough, do as you wish .My name is Pein, I am the leader of Akatsuki , as you have probably deduced by now." the man, Pein, explained.
He had medium length, spiky orange hair and gray-purple-ish eyes. The Rinnegan, Dana acknowledged. He was quite handsome in fact, but something about him seemed distant and cold .So sad, even a little abandoned. She took a look in his memories.
There she found the Second Great Shinobi War, where his parents were murdered by two Konoha shinobi, but something else was bothering her, the child's name,in the memory, was Nagato and he looked so different from Pein so she searched deeper .
Memories about two other children came to her. A young girl with short blue hair and amber eyes and a young boy who looked like the Leader, save the Rinnegan. Instead he had brown eyes. His name was Yahiko. The Ame Orphans the three were called. The death of Yahiko unleashed the Six Paths of Pain where Yahiko's body was incorporated as the Deva Path. Dana suddenly pulled back, a headache slowly beginning. One thing left her puzzled though, she couldn't find the girl's name which normally meant she was important. Who was she? Dana frowned. Her eyes return to normal and she realizes she was in tears, Pein however seemed unimpressed.
"Do not do that again." he said emotionlessly. "What are you ?" he continued.
"I'm a vampire and before you say anything, no, I don't require much blood, nor do I need to drink very often. I have a few interesting characteristics though." Dana replied.
"I see… what is it?"
"Oh!Ah ... who is that woman over there?" Dana answered/asked, pointing to the opposite wall .
"So you sensed me. Very well. Not many can." responded the mysterious woman, whom Dana recognized as Nagato's old childhood friend .
"You're her, the woman I've seen in Pein's memories ! What's your name?" said Dana suddenly very happy, a smile forming on her face.
"My name is Konan... Anyway how often do you need blood and how much?" she asks, not sure what to say to the hyper teen, Pein, himself, wanting to hear Dana's answer .
"Well once in two months and only half a liter .Why?" Dana is confused while asking this, her eyes sparkling in anticipation.
"Hidan may help you with the blood." said Pein.
"Hidan? No, I won't drink blood from another member. I refuse!" she said.
"No, you don't understand. Hidan is a jashinist." Konan replied.
"Oh jashinist, so he's from Yugakure, nice! Anyway, I have a doujutsu similar to the Sharingan, only it's not a Sharingan. My eyes turn red when detecting a person's chakra network, basically finding or tracking a person, then red with black when reading a person's next moves, black with red design when copying a technique and just black is my version of the Mangekyo I suppose, only it's at least ten times worse then Itachi's " explained the vampire shrugging.
"Interesting. Now go meet the other members." replied Pein.
"Hidan will take care of you. He should be here any second now. See you around Dana." replied Konan when Pein left the chamber .
With that Dana left to meet the jashinist. A disaster in the making!
"Took you fucking long enough. What the fuck were you doing? I've been waiting for a hour." said a silver haired man. He didn't look much older than a 24 years old.
"You're Hidan?" asks Dana confused .
"No, I'm the fucking Tooth Fairy , who else would I fucking be ?" says the jashinist sarcastically .
"Why do you swear so much?"she grins. She already loves him!
"None of your damn business. What, you don't swear?" he rises an eyebrow.
"Of course not,I never swore in my life!" says Dana indignantly, though her simile told otherwise.
"Tsk, says the girl who cursed me for messing her hair when we were 10." replies Itachi with no expression on his face.
"Well it took me 5 hours to get it right and it took you 5 seconds to destroy it. Of course I was mad. Don't forget it was for our team photo too." Dana defends herself all the while mentally cursing her ex-team-mate.
"Hey, I didn't know you two fucking knew each other ." Hidan points out , enraged for being left out .
"Oh, but we do, ever since we were little. Then the bastard over here goes on a killing spree and knocks me out, leaving me in the middle of the street." Says Dana remembering the night Itachi left. "Anyway let's meet the rest of the members. Oh and can you spare some blood from your rituals? Not much, just half a liter every two months." Continues the girl having calmed down, if only for a little while.
"Yeah, sure. Okay, the idiot over there is Tobi, the pansy is Deidara, you know Kisame, the red head is Sasori, Deidara's partner. The plant is Zetsu, he has a split personality, and the last one is my partner, he's a money whore named Kakuzu. Then there's Leader and Konan which no one knows all that much about." Hidan explains while Deidara screams a "Hey, un!", Tobi says "Tobi is a good boy", Zetsu argues with himself and Kakuzu asks Dana for money to which she doesn't reply.
Dana's day goes by slowly talking, having spars with the members. In the end she goes to her room and falls asleep, but not before healing herself, she did fight two S-ranked missing-nins after all the cause of her many bruises.
...
"I hate this damn weather .I hate it so much !And to make things worse I'm stuck with weasel-teme" thought Dana irritated.
She and Itachi were on their way 'home' from a assassination mission when it started pouring .Yes, they were close to the border so no enemies and yes it would take them only 2 hours to get to a village or town, but fatigue and cold were taking their toll on both shinobi. To make it even worse Dana was wearing so very scarce clothing …
A week earlier
Dear diary,
You're probably wondering who I am and why I'm writing this . We'll start with the introductions. My name is Dana Yoshiko, 15 and 3 quarters years old...Today is 14th of February.
I've been in the Akatsuki for a little over a month and so far I haven't discovered anything significant to the village. I mean really, how would Kisame's drinking contests or the fact that Dei snores help Konoha defeat them? With nothing that's what I think...
Talking about drinking...me and Hidan normally take part in those contests(though he really can't hold his liquor), this brings me to the point of this entry: WHY WON'T LEADER GIVE ME A GODDANM MISSION? I am bored to death staying cooped up here, not to mention starving to death as well seeing how Deidara's cooking sucks(he puts clay in anything) and Sasori just plain doesn't cook (being a puppet and all).
I haven't seen Konan since 2 days ago when I mention her being Leaders girlfriend, she just gave me a glare that rivaled Itachi's and stormed off somewhere muttering about killing someone(I heard my mane so I didn't even think about finding her).
Another thing that's bothering me is the weather. Normally I wouldn't mind a bit of rain, but it's pouring everyday here and my joints can't take anymore of it. Ever since I can Remember (which is not that long) I've had a problem with them especially my knees and now, cuz' of the cold I can't even walk without taking painkillers first and even then I afraid I'll brake my leg thus I train inside to keep warm...I'm getting worried because it's not normal for something like this to happen...I'm a VAMPIRE for God's sake!
I just glanced out the window and saw Itachi (shudder) come back from his solo mission, why can't I have a mission, doesn't have to be solo...? :(( I'll even agree to go with Weasel-teme if I get out of this building.
I know what you must be thinking now: Why do I hate Itachi if he was my teammate, right? Well, I don't hate him per say but I stopped caring the moment he decided it' s ok to kill your family and leave only Sasu (his younger bro) alive, not to mention he knocked me unconscious when I met up with him as he was escaping. I had just arrived in the village after my first B-rank mission and I saw him running toward the gate so I followed, he noticed me immediately and told me to keep going but I couldn't... I told him what I hadn't even admitted to myself: that I loved him, yes I do mean past tense, cuz' I don't anymore...that much...ok, fine, I do,but this info doesn't leave the room!
"Dana, Pein is looking for you, he told me to tell you to meet him in his office" Deidara yells from down the corridor.
"Coming" the teen replies.
Gotta go diary, Leader asks to see me, Maybe I'll get that mission after all, huh?
Bye ,
Dana Y.
Dana closes the journal, placing it on a shelf in the cabinet above the desk and rubbed her knees to ease the stinging. Sitting up she can't help wincing as a jolt of pain travels through her body, she shouldn't have gone outside earlier, and bends to get the cloak.
The maze of hallways make her slightly dizzy and Dana thinks she must have overdone it with the painkillers this morning, green eyes focus on the mahogany wooden door that is Pein's office. She steps inside only to bump into another person, The Uchiha. Stumbling backward she lets out a yelp as her left knee give a loud protest on the extra weight put on it. Itachi catches her when she's about to fall relieving some of the pressure. Once this is over, Dana takes a sit in front of the Leader while Itachi leans casually on the wall on her left.
Some sort of window to your right
As he goes left and you stay right
Between the lines of fear and blame
And you begin to wonder why you came
Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life
Let him know that you know best
Cause after all you do know best
Try to slip past his defense
Without granting innocence
Lay down a list of what is wrong
The things you've told him all along
And pray to God, he …
Dana shakes her head slightly to stop the song that's invading her mind, knowing that she's already lost a lot of what has been said, she'll have to ask Itachi later for the details...
"You understand your mission?" Leader finally asks to which they reply yes.
Though Dana heard the main objectives and that the mission was a assassination/seduction mission, that Itachi was to accompany her through it, though it would be fun to make him seduce the target 'I've got to tell Hidan this idea when I get home!' and that Sasori would show her all she needed to know, a crash course on seduction since they have only a week to prepare for it.
After the assassination
"Itachi , we have to hurry , the storm is getting worse and I'm soaked and cold and I'm fucking pissed and I'm stuck with YOU! So MOVE your freaking ass you dumbo." yelled Dana getting more irritated by the minute, her joints would start acting up soon enough too.
"Hn." was the only reply from her companion.
"Fuck you!" she than screamed.
They continued on the same pace until a cave came into view which was not that far either, only a couple of feet ahead.
"Finally! Thank you ,God!" said the drenched girl.
"Just take those off or you'll catch pneumonia or worse." replied an equally wet Uchiha.
Several hours later found the two Akatsuki members trying to make a fire. Dana's chattering teeth and the occasional sparks were the only things that could be heard through the death-like silence . Dana was wrapped in a towel thus freezing to death .She thought she was turning into an iceberg soon enough and the silence was deafening.
"Y-y-you k-kno-know ,i-it's-s re-rea-lly c-c-cold he-here-r-r-r" she stuttered wrapping the blanket more tightly around herself.
"I know, but until I manage to start this fire, it can't be helped." replied Itachi.
"Y-ye-yeah. I-I know."
A few minutes later the fire had been created...
"Ohh, this feels soooo good. I thought I was turning into an ice cube .Have I ever told you how much I love you…?" rambled Dana unconsciously. "Oh, shit, sorry ,I … it's not…" she trailed of, unable to say what she wanted, truly mortified.
"I know what you mean. It's ok .Really." he responded.
"Right, how come you talk a hell lot more to me than with anybody else, maybe except Kisame, I have no idea what you guys do when you're alone and...that came out wrong...?" she asked, scraching the back of her neck sheepishly, trying to change the subject .
"Because I've known you for longer and am closer to you than any of the others" he trailed off, not sure what else to say, another un-Itachi-like thing.
"Shit, it burns!" yelled Dana when a spark from the fire fell on her hand.
"When did you start to swear so much?"he said, an amused twinkle in his crimson eyes.
"Too much time with Hidan, I guess." shrugged Dana, looking into the fire. "Do you think the rain s-stopped?" she shivered and stretched her knee out rubbing it to ease the pain.
"No, it's gotten worse. Why? Do you not enjoy my company?" teased the weasel, a fake pout on his face, it reminded Dana of the old times with Mina-sensei and Shisui. Thinking of them saddened her, before she registered what the Uchiha said
"NO!" Dana burst out, before correcting herself "I mean no. I like being here with you. I enjoy you presence , plus I … I missed you." said Dana flushing red.
"Why are you blushing? And didn't you say you hated me?" questioned Itachi
"Yes, I do hate you! But to hate a person you have to love 'em first ." she whispered as the blush intensified and she continued staring at the fire. "After you left I became really cold towards others, kinda like you were I suppose." She answered truthfully. "People used to say that, exactly that, to me. 'You're turning into him' or 'You're so distant now, after...' ." She continued."I got very mad at that and I denied it, but the more I was denying it, the more I was becoming exactly what they said I was, closing myself from the rest of the world." tears gathered in her eyes, but she wouldn't let him see her cry. "I … I was afraid I'd do what you did. That I'd hurt people … And look where I am now and whom I'm talking to? Ha, it's rather ironic , don't you think?" she chocked. "What have I done?" he asks himself. One tear rolled down her face followed by another and another til she was crying.
Itachi leaned closer and put his arms around her, letting her cry onto his cloak. The two stayed like this for a couple of minutes until Dana regained her composure , looking up, they stared into each others eyes unconsciously moving closer. Ultimately, their lips touched and they were back home where it was safe and they were loved. Withdrawing, Dana nervously tried to avoid his scrutiny and occupied herself by preparing for bed, however he wasn't fooled. He caught her wrist and made her face him, then leaned down, searching her eyes. What he found the was fear and anxiety and ...love so he kissed her again. Dana was surprised, initially unresponsive, but then she began kissing back. They spent the rest of the night cuddling, as much as an Uchiha can cuddle until they eventually fell asleep in each others arms.
I'll believe
All your lies
Just pretend you love me
Make believe
Close your eyes
I'll be anything for you
Evanescence "Anything for you"
She was running .She has been running for over 3 hours now but couldn't stop because stopping meant death.'Don't find me , please don't let him find me.'she kept thinking.
Earlier that day...
Dana... that woman is such an idiot for holding on for so long .Anybody else would've left, screaming and kicking, done something to stop the pain years ago when it first started , anyone but her. She loved him, she'd been in love with him for so long, seeing him in meetings or on the streets of the town, from her window in his garden.
She fantasized on how his lips would touch hears , how his hands would feel on her body and then... then her father decided that she were to marry as fast as possible .She was terrified when she learned about his wish .She has always been free, independent and most of all stubborn, not the perfect wife at all .Wife's were supposed to be obedient and mild and everything she was known not to be.
Her father knew it, the whole damn vampiric society knew it ,so how in seven hells would her father ... father , he wasn't even a relative of hers! ,... think he could marry her to someone she didn't even know! Especially after the parade last week that she oh-so-sweetly ruined by "playing" with the circuits .
I mean, who the hell knew that by adding a little water the circuits will turn into fireworks , well apparently everyone but her hehehe,... a panther was more obedient that she is! .But then she found out who the man she was suppose to marry was...he was the same person she has given her heart to, the same man she's fantasized about.
Years of being happy together with Steve, for that is his name, were ruined by the beatings and abuses he delivered. She has had far to many close encounters with the Grim Reaper not to want freedom and she wasn't going to wait any longer for Steve to come to his senses or even to kill her.
Freedom, oh it sounded so sweet right now.
Back in present time
'Shit , he's close by ...' she thought. 'So close ..., but were ?' she searched and searched and...'There!I can sense something.'
Suddenly a creature jumped on her .Initially she thought it was one of the rabid vamps that roamed the border, but thankfully it was just rabbit. When it jumped upon her, Dana , in her paranoid state of mind,ran faster into the woods, her dislocated knee, from this morning's beating, aching.
Being in the middle of winter, her already cold persona turned colder, the thick layer of snow almost burying her alive. Finally she managed to get out,but she finds herself surrounded by four unknown vampires. The first, the leader, caught her arms from behind, while the other three tried to immobilize her, one catching her legs, the last two holding her upper body .Dana was once again paralyzed with fear when the malicious presence she felt earlier suddenly reviled itself .'It was Steve all along and I haven't even noticed. Damn fear for clouding my mind' Inwardly she was crying out for help, although she knew nobody would come, but outwardly her facade was perfect, betraying no emotions.
With a gesture of his hand ,Steve dismisses the four deformed vampires and takes hold of her .Even if she wants to keep struggling she can't because in a fraction of a second she is rendered useless .He's kissing her and it's not that which scares her, it's the way he does it, so gentle like he used to when they first got married, but it suddenly changes, like his heart loses control over the body and the poisoned mind is reinstated .
Dana's back collides with the tree bark and she winces in pain, pain from being smashed into a tree and pain from the unhealed whip marks, his mouth is back on hers in a bruising kiss now, just like the others from the past 3 years. Realizing that her legs are somewhat free she kicks him using her pain-filled knee directly in the groin.
He staggers a bit , but then pins her down with his body .His fingers suddenly transform themselves into four inch talons and rips her clothes one by one. Starting from her cheek and making it's way down to her jaw, neck, in-between her breasts, along her flat stomach, her shirt barely covering her now, until he gets to her navel. There he hesitates a second and then...
...Dana wakes up sweating and breathing hard, her sharp claws deeply imbedded in Itachi's arms, that are bleeding profoundly.
Itachi POV
Dana's been turning in her sleep and it's getting bothersome. As I move near her I notice that her nails, long as they were already, now look more like claws. She seams terrified by something in her dream, no, nightmare, I correct to myself. Moving even closer, I see that her teeth turned into fangs, vampire fangs?, and she's clawing at my arms . She's turning and screaming again, or was that me?... I don't know anymore .
Then her mesmerizing emerald orbs open and I can't believe how scared and vulnerable she looks right now .What's happened to the strong independent Dana I knew?
Normal POV
Dana and Itachi stare at each other, with her claws still embedded in Itachi's skin, for five minutes, before she starts apologizing and healing the damage dealt to his arms. Before she can even start looking at his injuries however, he grabs her wrist and demands to know what exactly happened to her in the dream and why she has claws. She explains how she's a vampire and that she had a memory-dream, a scary one and that she'd rather not remember it now, the fact she remembered something is stressful enough, but this memory is worse considering what it is about.
"It is too traumatizing." her voice breaks, tears flowing once again. Dana thinks of herself as failure. Next morning they keep silent on the way home, both deep in thought as hours pass and they don't even realize it .
Dear diary,
I've just come back from my mission and I'm terrified by my past, cuz' all there is , is this black never-ending abyss and it keeps pulling me in. To make things worse , it seems my actual memory isn't any better after what I saw last night in a dream.
I was running from this guy, Steve, whom I've been married to for about 5 years , he was ...abusing me I guess, I can't really remember,but I can assure you, diary, that my dream self knew how much of a danger he was. She could feel his mere presence and was frightening as hell.
When he caught me, and he did catch me pretty fast, he had other vamps helping(I don't even know if they were vamps...they were about 6 foot tall with their body twisted in weird angles, I shudder just thinking about it, and their hands were literally weapons, one of them had a sword-like arm from what I remember. ), but he dismissed them the second he got there, dunno why though cuz' they could've stopped me from struggling and escaping...
Drip! And tear falls onto the page staining the writing, blinking Dana only now realizes what happened and what she was writing. Wiping the salty water and making sure the word is still understandable she resumes where she left off, the subject had to be changed though.
Anyway, onto the good side of yesterday... the assassination was a success, but I kinda ruined the costume when Itachi and me got caught in the rain. It was a beautiful one too, red with black lace around the edges, don't really know how to describe it. The rain wasn't a bad thing either. We got stuck in a cave and talked and talked and I realize it's still him, you know? He hasn't changed that much, sure he's more closed off now, but that can be remedied right, I shouldn't get my hopes up, should I, diary?
Well, it's late and I should say goodnight so ...Goodnight!
See ya,
Dana Y.
"Hey, D. , you still up?" peeking his head through the space between the door, Why did I leave it open anyway? , Hidan smiles up at Dana who turned and fell off her chair in surprise.
"Writing" she answers once she gets herself back up, with his help of course. "Why?"
"Cuz' … What the fuck are you writing?" lifts the journal and tries to look through it. Dana doesn't let him and takes it back forcefully.
"It's just a draft, plus I don't like to show people a story before it's done, alright?" she explains, knowing it's not a lie, but not the truth either. Yawning, Dana stretches her muscles and Hidan tells her to go to sleep.
"G'night Hi-chan. " she sticks her tongue out, smiling happily as he growls in annoyance, but responds in a similar way nonetheless. It's a dreamless sleep and for that she has only Hidan to thank because Dana is sure that, had he not been there, she would've woken up terrified once again, his voice calmed her and so she's grateful.