Sorry it took a while. I was having a bit of writters block and couldn't decide on what direction to take these next few chapters. Hopefully things will move a bit more smoothly now for a while.
As we walked into a room along the innermost hallway I had to blink a few times to let my eyes adjust to the dimness of the room. All that illuminated it were statues twice the size of a normal person, holding bowls filled with fire, that lined both sides of the room. The atmosphere was dark and creepy giving more of the feeling I'd expect from a cave than the rest of the base did. I followed Kakuzu into the center of the room, keeping a good 7 or 8 feet behind him just in case.
Just as we reached the middle her threw his cloak and hood off too the side and turned towards me. My feet shifted automatically as he moved towards me and I managed to dodge to the side as he punched at my face. Twisting as I moved I positioned a foot behind his legs and pushed off on it, sending me back a few feet as he swung his elbow back. Something is clearly on his mind... he usually holds back more than this. Perhaps Hidan did something stupid, or worse- I was jolted out of my thoughts as I was sent to the ground with a hard smack.
The area around me faded for a second before coming back into focus just as I hit the ground. I let out a small grunt as I caught the hand he swung down at me and pulled him down onto my foot, swinging both back and sending him tumbling behind me. It gave me enough time to move onto my feet before Kakuza was coming at me again, an evil glint shining in his eyes that I hadn't seen since he found us in the woods that first day. My muscles strained as I continued to dodge him, never getting the chance to lash back. How is he so fast for someone so large?
Since my body couldn't fight back I did some fast hand signs and lashed my chakra at him, catching him by surprise. Once it touched him his thoughts flooded into my mind. Since when did she learn that? What even was that? I smirked as I realized Pein hadn't told anyone else about our private training and blocked my thoughts off from him. What I felt from him wasn't exactly like hearing from him, more like a feeling, but his every choice was obvious in my head before he even started to move. I dodged him easily and started to get small chances to attack back. As soon as I got a full opening I spun quickly and kicked Kakuzu in the stomach, causing him to slide back a foot.
Oh I get it now. My eyes widened at that and Kakuzu smirked. It's rude to read ones' thoughts girl. But I have to hand it to you, this is impressive. "You should see what else I can do." His smirk turned into a full on grin as I responded. I could feel a semi familiar chakra flare up from along the wall and both Kakuzu and I looked over at it.
"That's enough." My blood froze as Pein looked at my with his strange, unnerving, eyes. "I have enough information for a decision. You may go now Kakuzu." Kakuzu let out a gruff noise and bowed before walking over to collect his things and leave. Another time then Cass. The corner of my mouth twitched slightly at the thought sent to me and I pulled my chakra back. That's the first time he actually treated me like I wasn't a complete fool. My expression changed to one of seriousness as I looked up at Pein, braving actually looking him in the eyes.
"Yes Sir, was there something you needed of me?" I tensed up my body to keep from shaking and continued to look him in the eyes. His terrifying, emotionless eyes.
"That fight was fairly impressive. Especially for someone who's been trained so little."
"Thank you Sir. I've been working hard so that I would not be a burden or a waste of time."
"I knew from the start that you would likely not be a waste of time. At the very least you would help in keeping the men here from fighting so much."
"I... don't understand how I could help with that Sir."
"You have an unnatural air around you. One that makes even the most violent of people wish to protect you." I blinked and thought of Zetsu. Sure he acted differently than I expected but... Maybe that's why he was able to stop himself from killing me before. I'm surprised most of the men here hadn't killed either of us.
"But how could this be useful to you?"
"If the men here didn't kill you on sight what do you think those Konoha ninja would do for you?" My eyes widened at the thought of that. Kakuza and Hidan, two obviously capable and murderous men, who no matter how you think about it should have killed us when they found out we were threats actually let us live. And Pein who should have done the same let us stay here. If someone like Lady Tsunade were to meet me I wonder how she would treat me.
Flattening my expression I looked back up at him and squared my shoulders. "I still don't know what it is you want of me though Leader..."
"That fight was a test to see if you would be staying with us." My whole body froze as I looked at him. "You will find a full uniform on your bed. You have the rest of the day for yourself. Tomorrow come to my office to get details on your first mission."
I finally broke out of my shock and a smile spread across my face. I bowed low. "Thank you very much Sir! I will do my best to be of use to you!" I straightened back up and looked at Pein as he walked out of the room. "Yes! Yes! I did it!" I jumped into the air a few times and threw my hands up in the air, smiling like an idiot. "Oh, I wonder if Bre also got tested today. Or maybe they're waiting until she gets the same amount of training before they test her." I quickly pulled myself together before rushing over to our room. As I opened the door I looked in to see Bre checking out her own uniform in our tall mirror.
She looked over at me and gave me a genuine smile. "Konan dropped off your clothes a minute ago. It looks like we're official now huh?"
"I didn't think Konan was here."
"She got back from her meeting just in time to see Hidan and I training." Her eyes faded slightly as she looked back into the mirror. "It's weird. I honestly didn't think this would happen. I really thought we would have been dead by now."
"But we're not and that's all that matters. But starting tomorrow our new worry is making sure that other ninja don't kill us. But at least we're no longer alone in this." Bre smiled slightly at me and I returned it before heading into the bathroom for a quick shower.
Bre's POV [an hour ago]
I looked around us as Hidan took me to a strange room. "Hey you head inside Bitch. I have to go grab something." I nodded, and walked into the room. I really wish he would stop calling me that. But I'm worried he'll hurt me if I bring it up. He doesn't seem like the type to enjoy being corrected. Looking around the room I scrunched up my nose.
"Jesus, it smells horrible in here. Like something died."
"Oh trust me, a lot of things have died in here." A shiver ran up my spine as I turned back around to look at Hidan. He had something in his hands that I couldn't recognize at first but as my eyes adjusted more to the dim lighting I realized it was like a training scythe. He probably had it made so we could train without someone losing an arm. That's shockingly thoughtful of him.
"So is this where you do your sacrifices then?"
"Yeah. I needed privacy and no one else wanted a fucking mess." My eyebrows furrowed and I looked around at the room, finally able to see the stains of blood around the room. At least he's decent enough to take the dead bodies out of here. "Alright Bitch, you ready?"
"Please don't call me that." I saw a hint of surprise cross Hidan's face before it was quickly replaced by cockiness.
"How about a bet then? I win I can call you whatever the hell I want, but if you win I have to call you by your name." I thought it over for a second before looking back up at him, suddenly serious.
"Fine then. But I won't hold back." I brushed a straggling strands of my hair behind my ear, even more glad that I had asked Cass to put it up into a bun. My expression turned serious as I moved into a balanced stance, moving my hands into fists in front of my chest. I winced slightly at the twinge in my hand but refused to let the cut bother me too much. A smirk spread across Hidan's face as he moved towards me.
His makeshift weapon flew out at me and I dodged to the side without the blades, charging towards him. He tried to pull it back towards me but I moved faster than he expected and grabbed his arm, pulling him into a grapple that left him with out arms to move the scythe out of the way. Before it could hit him he kicked up, nearly sending me onto my back and knocking the weapon to the ground. With me still off balance he grabbed onto where I was holding his arms and flipped forward, throwing me over him and onto my back with a thud.
Gasping in air I winced and had to roll fast to keep from being kicked in the face by Hidan. Rolling onto my feet I tried to do some quick hand signs only to get kicked in the side hard. I stumbled off balance and gritted my teeth, redoing the signs and looking Hidan in the eyes as I finished. I felt my chakra surge out and his eyes widened as my jutsu succeeded. I wasn't exactly sure how it worked but from what Itachi had told me if felt like a sensory overload. "Like looking into pure light, burning alive and hearing the loudest most horrifying roar." He had told me and now I was using it on Hidan.
His whole body tensed and he let out a gasp before slumping onto his knees. I pulled back and blinked a few times, breathing heavier from the use of it. I watched as Hidan caught his breath and slowly stood up. We both stopped as Konan walked out of the shadows of the room. "Well done. I'm impressed. Itachi told me that you had a very interesting jutsu but I didn't know it was actually that powerful."
"Th-thank you." I moved my stance to a more relaxed one, a hand gently resting over my bruising side. "May I help you Ma'am."
"I was simply observing to decide."
"Decide what?"
"If you would be staying." My body tensed and Hidan moved onto the ground, sitting down.
"And... have you come to a decision?"
"Yes. You will receive your uniform soon. And tomorrow come to Pein's office to receive your first mission." I froze, just staring at her. I couldn't believe it. I did it. I actually did it. Oh my god. "And also, Hidan, I do believe that she was victorious." I small smirk graced her normally harsh expression as she walked out.
Hidan let out a long groan and flopped onto his back as I looked over at him, finally coming to my senses. "Whatever. A bet's a bet. So I guess I'll call you Bre." I smiled over at him, causing in to blink in surprise before grumbling and looking away. Is he blushing? "Go on then. I'm guessing you have the rest of the day off so get the fuck out of my room." I laughed slightly and walked around him. "Also... I don't know what the fuck you did to me... but it was pretty bad ass."
"Oh... um, thank you. I'll see you for dinner." I looked back at him and blushed slightly in surprise as our eyes met.
"Yeah. See ya Bre." I swallowed the lump in my throat and waved before walking out of his room. Soon I was walking into my room. A cloak, hat, along with the rest of a uniform were sitting out on my bed. I ran my fingers along the fabric of the cloak, a bit shocked by the good quality. Looking over at our mirror I finally noticed that I was covered in old gross blood.
"Ew! Oh my god." My nose scrunched up and I scooped up my clothes before heading into the bathroom to get all the blood off of me. I took what felt like forever but soon I was clean again and dressed in my new clothes. I walked out in front of the mirror and started to look at myself. Wow. I actually look a little threatening. Just then Cass walked in looking giddy.
I looked over at her and smiled. " Konan dropped off your clothes a minute ago. It looks like we're official now huh?"
Cass' face changed to one of mild confusion as she closed our door behind her. "I didn't think Konan was here."
"She got back from her meeting just in time to see Hidan and I training." I looked away from her, letting my eyes change focus and my mind drifted slightly. "It's weird. I honestly didn't think this would happen. I really thought we would have been dead by now."
"But we're not and that's all that matters. But starting tomorrow our new worry is making sure that other ninja don't kill us. But atleast we're no longer alone in this." I smiled back over at her slightly and watched as she walked into the bathroom with a change of clothes. I turned back to the mirror and let out a deep sigh.
"I hope we can survive."