Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, just my OC Hikari.
Chapter IX: Defense Training and the Cookie Jar
Hikari hummed to herself as she lay sprawled on Itachi's bed, staring up at the ceiling and thinking of nothing in particular. The Uchiha was reading a scroll, completely unfazed by the fact that the black haired woman was taking up space on his bed. He tried concentrating on what he was reading, but her humming often distracted him and caused him to lose his place. At first he was going to call her off on it, but on second thought, he actually liked her humming. It was oddly….soothing to the young man.
'I'm letting myself be affected by her again. Why can't I just brush it off?' He thought, frowning slightly as he did not dare let his eyes drift over to where she was, or else he might not look away afterward. This idea had bothered him for a good while now, how he just let her get to him so easily. As a coldblooded Uchiha, responsible for the death of his entire clan minus his little brother, he was not supposed to have any kind of weaknesses or falters. But no matter what, when Hikari was around he just couldn't be fully uncaring and cold with her, he just couldn't…in a way she reminded him of the young Sasuke.
'Stop thinking about such things Itachi, it won't do you any good.' He mentally told himself, giving a slight shake of his head before giving an inaudible sigh. She might as well be the death of him…
"Itachi-san, what time is it?" Hikari asked in a half murmur, interrupting his thinking process. He looked over to her from his desk.
"Should be close to noon." He answered as plain as he possibly could, and almost jumped when she suddenly sat up with a gasp.
"Oh no, I'm late!" She said before scrambling to her feet and running out the door.
"Late for wha-" He paused as she had already left the room, leaving him a bit confused and staring at the door.
Hikari swerved at every corner she got to and zoomed past many halls of the hideout before finally getting down to the main entrance, gasping for breath. The sound of laughter soon ensued when she arrived in that state.
"Seems like someone lost track of time, un." Said Deidara in a cheery tone, though it had a small edge of apprehension since his partner was not in the least bit sharing his humor.
"S-Sorry Sasori and Deidara senpai. I really just…forgot." She said with a sweatdrop before hanging her head in shame. Sasori made a 'tch' noise before shaking his head.
"Don't let this happen again, this is your first and last warning Hikari." He warned her, and the black haired girl looked up and nodded.
"Of course." The redhead then turned around and headed off, with his partner in toe and Hikari close behind them. They reached their usual training area at a clearing in the middle of the forest.
"Well then, we'll pick up from where we left off. Pein-sama wants you to work on your defense as much as possible." Sasori stated as he stared at the young woman whose full attention was on him now.
"You will have a one on one combat fight with me, and then Deidara. In addition, we have placed a few traps-some mines involved too- so you better beware on where you step or you might come out of this training exercise without a limb…or two." Maybe he was going a bit too far, but he felt he needed to be plain and somewhat harsh on the girl so she wouldn't take this lightly and more so be prepared for anything in the future. Part of being in Akatsuki was fending for yourself and being prepared for the risks and dangers that lay ahead of you; Hikari would have no exemption from experiencing such moments.
"I didn't want to overdo it, so my mine bombs were made from the lowest rank possible so the explosion won't be too severe, hm." Deidara added in, because unlike Sasori he felt that it wasn't fair for a young rookie like Hikari, who just started training with them a little over a month ago with no prior knowledge, to be placed under such rash and harmful circumstances just yet. He just hoped Sasori's little traps did not meet his intimidating words fully or else she'd be in trouble.
"I'll do my best." Was her response to that. Sasori, huffing a little at Deidara's sensitivity toward her, stared at her with clear authority.
"You will have exactly 20 minutes to go up against us, and after that we will move to something else. Are you ready?" She nodded, giving him a thumbs up.
"Very well, you may begin…now!" The minute he said that, Hikari made hand signs and created five clones as they then dashed across the field. Two clones had already activated a mine or two, so now it was down to three clones and the real Hikari. She sped up, and made some more clones as she moved so they could activate the other mines that lay ahead of her, basically taking the hit in her place and making a clear path for her.
"You gotta admit dana, that was pretty clever of her, hm." The blond muttered to his partner as he watched Hikari move along, her clones continuing to get caught by the traps.
"Yes well, let's see how long that lasts." He said in turn, as he slowly brought up his hand and gave a twitch from one of his fingers.
Hikari was nearly halfway to them when she suddenly stopped as the earth cracked in front of her and out came one of Sasori's puppets. It threw a few senbon needles at her, to which she ducked to dodge it. It attempted to make a grab for her, its wooden arms having blades embedded along the lengths. She did a back flip and made some quick hand signs, parts of her hair turning into blades that she then charged at the puppet and sliced right through it. The sections that had been cut fell limp to the floor, and she advanced.
'I'm nearly there.' She thought, now ¾ of a way, but she had accidentally stepped into a trap –luckily not a mine- and had to think fast, flipping herself into the air and just over the bear trap that came up from the ground, its sharp teeth almost piercing one of her legs. She had no time to recover from that as she used some of her chakra, channeling it to her feet so she could run even faster. The clones she kept making had pretty much set off all of Deidara's mines, leaving the way free. Hikari did not underestimate Sasori's trap though, because she knew the puppet master was more 'inventive' and challenging about it.
'I can do this, I'll prove to them I can make it.' She thought with determination. Finally coming in close range of them, she aimed one of her hair blades at Sasori, who instantly jumped back to avoid it. Deidara stepped out of the way to let them battle out before his turn came. She had a bit of a hard time with Sasori, because he had suddenly jumped into his puppet Hiruko which he had summoned out while she was distracted by the traps before. Now, this puppet was one of his favorites for a reason, and though it looked heavy anyone who had underestimated it before ended up dead. Sasori swished Hiruko's sharp tail at her, one she almost wasn't able to avoid because he had been so fast with striking it.
'That tail is a problem, either I avoid it or cut it off…which probably would piss Sasori senpai…' She mulled over that thought as she continued to just dodge and parry his tail with her hair blades, before finally coming to the conclusion that she had to treat this as if it was a real fight, so as far as she knew, all was fair…except killing, she hoped.
'This is getting too predictable; I have to push her a little.' The redhead thought as he made a motion of his hand inside his puppet, and Hiruko's jaw went down to shoot needles at her. Her eyes widened a bit and she did a couple of somersaults, most barely nicking her skin, but a few had managed to scratch at her arm and leg.
'It's a good thing I chose against using poison.' He thought as he launched his scorpion tail at her again. She stopped the tail with her hair blades and then made it so they held it in place.
'Alright, here goes nothing.' She thought. Making quick hand signs and extending the length of her hair, she managed to flip over the tail being held by the blades before releasing them and aiming at the base. Yes, Sasori's tail was made of very durable material, but by adding some chakra to her blades she managed to make a clean cut through it. The tail fell with a thump that caused some debris from the ground to rise from the impact.
"Tch." Sasori was indeed not pleased about that, but at least she was able to break through one of his puppet's defenses, which was a plus.
"Fine, I'm done here. Deidara?" He called out, the blond smirking and already having made a few clay bombs.
"Already on it, un." Hikari turned her attention to the blond now seeing as Sasori appeared to have 'surrendered'. Deidara then threw those clay bombs at her and made hand signs. They came to life and the tiny clay birds launched themselves at Hikari. She had little time to do anything but dodge them as they collided on the ground near her and exploded. She tried to put as much distance between her and Dei as possible for the meantime.
'Okay, if I keep it like this Deidara-senpai has the advantage. So, I have to get close to him somehow while avoiding those clay birds of his.' She figured, trying to calculate her steps on this, but she didn't yet have a pro's skills to strategize completely. Right now she went with her plan of just trying to get close enough to the blond to get a clear hit.
"Come on Hikari-chan, don't keep me waiting here, un!" He urged with a smirk. He might've sounded a little mocking saying that, but he wanted to take off the tense edge of this training; he was the complete polar opposite of Sasori, more playful in other words.
Hikari decided on making three clones of herself and have them go at him as she followed behind; at least this way she could have them deal with some of the clay birds charging while she attempted to get at Deidara. It was fast, but it worked. She jumped over one clone just before it poofed away and aimed a punch at Deidara's face. He caught her fist just in time and he brought his own to strike her, but she twisted her body, using the support of his hand holding tight to her fist to launch herself up over him, but it didn't stop there. She wrapped her legs around his head and bent her body back. With her hands on the ground, she summoned enough strength to haul him off the ground and slam him right back on it on the opposite side. Her legs gave out as she now straddled his waist with a kunai held up to his neck. He blinked a few times, trying to register what just happened.
"Damn, you really outdid yourself didn't you, un?" He said as he grinned up at her. She grinned back, but it was wiped off when he suddenly poofed away; it was just a clone. She stood up straight then and looked over to the side where the real Deidara was, and his grin was there still.
"Good job, un! That was a pretty nice move you did there, Hikari-chan." He praised nonetheless, so she smiled and nodded. Sasori, no longer in his puppet came over and gave a nod of approval himself.
"Yes, you seem to be improving your skills." He admitted and then looked up at the burning sun.
"Hm, I was going to add another part to this training, but I think you've earned the rest of the day off." Hearing that she gasped and came over, hugging him in excitement.
"Thank you senpai!" Deidara couldn't help but laugh as Sasori's expression showed a mixture of shock and irritation. He pulled away from her and cleared his throat.
"Don't make me regret doing this, brat." He grumbled before shaking his head.
"Anyway, I have to fix my puppet's tail that someone cut." He added in, narrowing his eyes a bit at her. She blinked before giving one of her famous pouts, frowning a bit.
"M'sorry senpai, it was the only thing I was able to think of at that moment." He waved his hand dismissively.
"Forget it, at least you're advancing. Now let's head back before I regret giving you so much liberty." He said as he started walking back. Deidara and Hikari looked at each other before exchanging grins and walking after him.
"Hikari-chan! How was training?" Asked Tobi as he came bouncing up to her when she and the two artists arrived back inside the lair. Deidara instantly narrowed his eyes at the orange masked boy.
"Quit jumping around like a hyper brat Tobi, hm!" He scolded while Sasori ignored them and went off to his room to make repairs to his puppet.
"It was fine Tobi-chan, I did good, didn't I?" She looked to Deidara who nodded in confirmation.
"Yay! Maybe soon you can become a subordinate like me!" Tobi said in all his cheeriness. Deidara tried not to frown at that thought. Sure, he knew that was probably the next step for Hikari after she advanced enough on her training, but still the thought of having her be put through actual danger, or any danger at all didn't sit well with him.
'God, why am I being so touchy about this? It's not like she'll be in as much risk as the rest of us. At least as a subordinate the chances of getting killed is less, hm.' He thought, reassuring himself that way for the time being.
"Ah, Hikari-chan, how about we bake some cookies to celebrate your awesome butt-kicking of Deidara-senpai?" Tobi suggested. That comment caused a laugh from her, but a glare from the blond.
"I swear you better get out of my sight now before I stuff my fist down your throat, un!" Deidara threatened. To that, Tobi blew a muffled raspberry at Deidara behind his mask. The blond made to launch at him, but Tobi yelped and hid behind Hikari.
"Hey, don't use her as a shield, take it like a man!" He huffed. Hikari sweatdropped before turning and urging Tobi along.
"Alright then, let's go make those cookies Tobi, before Deidara-senpai really does kill you." He made no objections and went off with the young woman. Deidara stood there watching them go off, still glaring at the back of the hyper boy's head even after they disappeared into the hall.
'That damn bastard, I swear he has as much contact with Hikari as any of us! Ugh, why do I feel so irritated about that?' The blond heaved a sigh and went off to his room to take a shower, hoping it would help him cool his head off.
"According to Sasori, Hikari's progress seems to be coming along well. The girl does have a knack for taijutsu." Zetsu said as he had morphed into Pein's office. The leader nodded and for a moment stayed motionless in thought.
'Perhaps soon she'll be ready to take on missions.' He then looked back to the plant man.
"Good, after she's done perfecting her skills, she'll be able to aid the organization." He said and straightened up a bit more on his chair. He was eager to test her in the outside world, especially after he heard about her unique ability of changing her hair into blades from Itachi and Kisame; that was something he thought would come off as very useful in the future. However, he had enough patience to wait until she was fully prepared, or else he might send her to an early grave at this point.
"What about her relationship with those two? Do you think Sasori and Deidara will keep indifferent to their…favorable attitude towards her?" The black Zetsu asked him. Now that was a subject Pein did not want to hear about, and he hoped he had made himself clear enough to the two artists that he didn't want any special bondage between them and the girl that could lead to trouble later on.
"For now I'll give them the benefit of a doubt. They should be competent enough not to let their emotions get the best of them." He said and then gave curt nod in Zetsu's direction.
"That is all, you may go." Without a word, the plant man morphed away through the wall, leaving Pein to his thoughts once again.
'If the worst happens, I'll have no choice but to take matters into my own hands.' He stared at the stack of papers in front of him and almost gave a comical sigh to break the serious mood he was taking on with this.
'I feel like a hypocrite, but I know how to control myself. Hikari just recently ventured into adulthood –by accident- and knows nothing of the world and how harsh it can be…no, I have to keep her from exploring too far.' Decidedly, the leader of the Akatsuki then set to work on filling out the papers that lay before him, a small tinge of annoyance striking as he already felt his hand start to cramp again.
"It's ready!" Tobi announce as he heard a ding from the timer on the stove. Hikari walked over and opened the oven, both of them peering inside at the cookies they had just baked. The smell it was giving off was so pleasant, that it was safe to assume it tasted just as good.
"Alright, let's take these out then." She said as she put on some oven mitts and grabbed the hot metal plate, pulling it out and then setting it on the counter.
"Mmm, smells so good Hikari-chan! This might be our best batch yet." He said gleefully. Hikari smiled and nodded.
"I think so too Tobi-chan. Let's let it cool down for a few minutes now." She said and the two sat down at the table. Tobi hummed for a few seconds before looking straight at her.
"Hikari-chan, I have a question." She blinked and raised an eyebrow.
"Well, what is it?" He fumbled with the hem of the cream colored apron he was wearing, before finally spitting it out.
"Do you like Deidara-senpai, or Sasori-senpai?" It didn't take too long for her to answer that.
"Of course I do! Just as I like you, Tobi-chan." He sighed, almost in frustration as he shook his head at her.
"No no, I mean LIKE like, y'know?" Hikari cocked her head to the side, then her eyes widened and her face flushed a little when she realized what he meant.
"O-Oh well…I don't know about that Tobi-chan." She said, looking elsewhere. She had before thought that she might feel that way about Deidara, but after the lecture she got from Sasori and the conversation she shared with Itachi she wasn't so sure. She read Konan's erotic book, but among so much smutt going on she couldn't distinguish any genuine description of how it felt like to fall in love.
"Oh come on, you can tell me; I won't say it to anyone I promise!" He said, edging her on to confide in him, but the girl shook her head.
"I told you Tobi, I'm not sure about these things." She said. The orange-masked boy made a sound that was almost manageable to envision him pouting as well, and before he could open his mouth to say something, Hidan came right in.
"What's this smell?" He asked, before his eyes landed on the cookies at the counter, and he got a wide grin on his face.
"Damn straight, cookies!" He made to grab for them, but before he even reached it, Hikari had crossed his path and wagged her finger right at his face.
"Not so fast Hidan-san. They're still hot and you might burn your tongue." She said. For a moment the Jashinist just stood there, staring at her with a skeptical look, but then he rolled his eyes.
"Fuck that, I'm fucking hungry!" He said and made a grab for it under her arm.
"Wait Hida-" It was too late. The slick haired man barely registered the hot feeling of the cookie in his hand on time before he had already stuffed it into his mouth. With his mouth full, he gave her a smug look, but it didn't last more than a second before his eyes widened and his face got red.
"Gah, hoth!" He gasped out and quickly attacked the fridge for something cool to drink. He grabbed the first liquid thing he saw and downed it down. It helped cool off the heat, but he was left with a sodden, half chewed cookie in his mouth and beneath it a burnt tongue. He panted and looked at Tobi who had burst into a fit of laughter, while Hikari tried hard to keep hers in.
"Shuth upth Futhing Thobi!" He grumbled, before chewing the rest of the cookie and swallowing it. Tobi ignored him completely as he was now rolling on the floor, holding his sides.
"I said shut up, damnit!" Hidan growled and made to get some hits at the boy, before he suddenly froze. His face started turning a pale green color, and he felt nauseous.
"W-What the hell?" He groaned before looking at the content from which he drank from. It would've been an ordinary carton of milk, had it not been for the fact that it had been expired for more than two weeks now. Dropping it, his eyes widened and he quickly covered up his mouth before running off. Hikari really couldn't help it this time and let herself get in a couple of laughs after he bolted to spill his guts out.
"O-Oh god my s-sides!" Tobi said, then settled down and tried to catch his breath. Hikari shook her head and got out a mop to clean up the puddle of expired milk on the floor. Once done with that, she got out a jar and began to place the cookies inside once she felt they had cooled enough.
"There, we can eat these after supper." She said, hearing a groan from Tobi.
"Naw, but I wanted one now~" He whined and Hikari shook her head.
"You can wait a few hours, come on." She untied her apron and placed it on the hanger at the wall; Tobi did the same in a solemn pose. She turned him and lightly pushed him out of the kitchen as she also exited. Tobi kept protesting, but he finally stopped after he saw she wasn't going to give in.
"Oh fine, but Hikari-chan you have to play with me then!" He said, to which she smiled and nodded.
"Okay, I'll play with you for a bit." That put him in a jolly mood again, and so the two ventured off to engage in some major hide and seek around the hideout.
"I don't get it…who ate all the cookies?" Hikari mumbled after coming back an hour later to find the jar completely empty.
"Who ate what?" Kisame asked as he came in. She looked over to him and pointed to the jar.
"I had just baked a bunch of cookies a while ago, but now they're gone." She said. The shark man could not help but chuckle.
"I guess that saying 'who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?' really fits right now, huh?" She gave a slight pout before crossing her arms.
"Maybe it was Tobi, he was so eager to eat them I think he might've come after playing hide and seek with me…or during it." She mumbled as she thought about it.
"Don't hang around him too much or you might just catch his disease." He told her, earning a questioning look from the girl.
"What disease?" She asked now, and he flashed her a grin, showing his extremely sharp teeth.
"The disease of stupidity and childishness, of course." He laughed a bit and then grabbed some water for himself. Hikari shook her head before heading out to find Tobi. She came up to his room and knocked.
"Tobi-chan? Are you in there?" There was no response. She sighed and continued to search for him around the hideout, but there was no sign of him anywhere.
'Well, that sure adds to him being the likely culprit.' She thought, almost certain of it. She decided to wait until supper to see if he'd show up, and then she'd ask him about it.
Supper was fairly simple, made by Hikari with occasional help from Konan. The members that were in the hideout at that time came down to eat the prepared stew, accompanied by some rice balls and tofu. It was rare to have a meal prepared for everyone; usually it was up to each member to get his own food. However, Hikari wanted to break that little tradition and asked Konan to give her a hand on it. So, when the members were called down to eat, they were of course surprised, but nonetheless grateful to not have to go out or try their hands at cooking; most of them were not so good at it.
"Hm, Tobi didn't come." Hikari mumbled. She had hoped that her friend would show up so she could question him about the cookies.
"Well then, makes him all the more guilty doesn't it?" Kisame said from beside her. She gave a shrug, but it was likely so.
"What about that brat?" Sasori asked, feeling his curiosity pique a little.
"Well, earlier today I made cookies with Tobi, but later when I came back to check they were all gone." She explained after taking a sip of her tea. Sasori shook his head.
"I don't doubt it was him, that kid likes to steal things sometimes." He said, a hint of bitterness in his tone. Deidara, who would always find any opportunity to criticize the subordinate member, didn't say anything about it as he ate his food.
"Oh well, I guess I'll just ask him whenever I see him again." She figured. At that, Deidara finally looked up.
"I'd be glad if that bastard shoved himself in some place he can't get out of. At least it'll give me some time of peace for once, un." Hikari looked over at him.
"Why do you hate Tobi so much, senpai?" He gave her an incredulous look.
"And you have to ask? He's annoying as hell, hm! And I'm not the only one who thinks that either, I'm sure of it." Some, if not all the members could totally vouch for that.
"Well, he's nice to me…a little hyper, but still." Sasori gave a sigh at her.
"You're too gullible Hikari. I'm surprised someone like Tobi even managed to last this long in Akatsuki, with the way he is…he has a gift for getting himself into trouble here...imagine out there." She had no counterargument to offer to that.
After everyone was done with their meal, they returned to their rooms or whatever business they were doing before. Konan went to take a tray up to Pein's office, seeing as he hadn't showed up, while Hikari stayed back to clean. Itachi had surprisingly cleaned his own dishes before he left, so that was a little less work for her.
'I almost seem like a housewife or something.' She thought humorously. She then spent a short amount of time contemplating on how silly and naïve she had been before, when she first turned from a baby into a full grown woman; at least she hoped she wasn't as naïve as before. After being done with cleaning, she headed off to her room.
Deidara got up to his room and relaxed in his bed after having supper.
'If Hikari decides to make a habit out of this I won't complain one bit, hm.' He thought, closing his eyes before reaching under his pillow and pulling out a small bag. He put it on top of his stomach and a smile crept to his face as he took out a cookie from inside it.
'It's a good thing she thinks Tobi stole them all, makes me less guilty of having snatched them for myself, hm.' He took a bite out of it and savored the taste.
"Mmm, she could be a great baker, that's for sure." He mumbled, taking another bite and chewing on it. Then, a bang came from somewhere in the room.
"Senpai, please let me out!" Tobi called out, more bangs following after from the closet. Smirking, Deidara ignored the boy's plea for him to let him out.
"Heh, that's what you get for making that smartass comment earlier, hm." He said, all smug as he continued to eat the batch of cookies while the poor orange masked boy pounded against the closet door, to no avail.