Hoshiko's Plight
Onyx and Ivory
A few days had passed for Hoshiko being in the Akatsuki hideout. She had kept to herself mostly, only ever venturing outside her room to bathe, and even then it was only after she knew that all members were locked away for the night in their own rooms. She was not going to have another repeat with Hidan in the hot springs. Hoshiko remembered something that Hidan had mentioned the other day too, that they were all being put into lockdown for a week because of her arrival, probably trying to see if they had been followed and if Hoshiko had been true to her word about have no allegiances.
Hoshiko flipped through the Icha-Icha book in her boredom. She had read a few chapters over the days, it was the only thing that was able to take away some of her boredom for a few hours. She was still grossed out by the plot and crude humor, but it reminded her of Jiraiya. He wrote like how he spoke, and it was a nice reminder that even through all the crazy, she still had some friends.
In these slow days, she hadn't seen Itachi again after their brief encounter upstairs. She was still confused as to why he helped her out in the spring, he could've just let her there to soak in embarrassment, but he decided to offer her a towel. She tried not to think on it too much, it hurt her head.
Deciding that she didn't want to hide away in her room anymore, Hoshiko decided to venture out. If she was going to be a part of this place, she had to get to know the people. She would soon be fighting alongside them, so she needed to be able to mesh with their fighting styles and abilities. She couldn't do that being holed up in her room all the time. Hoshiko secured her weapons pouch to her thigh and waist, and then tied her hair up. She ventured out of her safe room, looking left and right and seeing no one around. She didn't bother locking her door with a few traps, she had nothing valuable in there and if someone were going to kill her, they would've done it already.
Taking a left, Hoshiko ventured deeper into the compound. She could sense a few of the men around. None were together. It didn't surprise her, a bunch of criminals being social? That was unheard of. Hoshiko managed to find what appeared to be a training room. The room had a row of straw dummies at the back, a few logs which had grooves in, most likely from being used with shuriken. It had been a while since Hoshiko had actually been able to train. She had been travelling so much; the only time she ever got to hone her skills was when she was doing mercenary jobs around the world.
Hoshiko stepped up and positioned herself in front of the dummies; she took out a few kunai and started practicing her aim. She would throw them from different angles, making two or three fly off of each other but still managing to hit the dummies dead center.
Hoshiko held a kunai between her two fingers as she brought it up to be in line with her sight. In a millisecond, she turned and launched the kunai behind her. The weapon went slicing through the air and imbedded itself into the door behind the mans head. She had sensed him approaching a while back, but assumed he meant not harm to her. Kisame had been the only one who had been 'nice' to her since her arrival. Kisame grinned, flashing his razor sharp teeth.
"My, my—woke up on the wrong side of the bed?"
Hoshiko furrowed her brow at him. "Can't be too careful around here." She watched as Kisame retrieved the kunai from the door and twirled it around in his fingers.
"Surely you think that if we wanted you dead already, you would be by now?"
"You could just be biding you time, how should I know? I don't know any of you."
Kisame grinned again, "You seem to know Uchiha-san." Hoshiko's expression turned into a glare. Kisame chuckled and threw the kunai back to her. She caught it with ease. "So what? You knew each other back in Konoha?"
"Its none of your concern," Hoshiko hissed. She electrified the kunai and threw it at the dummy. It hit it in the center of its forehead as the straw caught alight. Kisame barked out a laugh, "Wow, you two really do know one another. That's exactly the same thing Uchiha-san told me when I asked him about you."
Hoshiko glared her mightiest glare at the blue man. She didn't want to talk about Itachi; she didn't even want to see the bastard.
"So let me take a wild guess," Kisame continued on, he folded his arms across his chest. "You two were friends? And when he decided to kill his clan you got pissed at him?" He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "But you really want to kill him, is that because he may have killed someone that you cared about?"
Shisui, Hoshiko thought bitterly. She could feel her anger reaching boiling point. Her knuckles started to turn white at how tightly she was clenching her fists together.
"Did you love them?" Kisame mused. Hoshiko's eyes shut, trying to drone out Kisame's annoying voice. "Did you see him do it? Did he rip their guts out? Slice their head off?"
"Enough!" Hoshiko roared. She threw herself at Kisame, her speed fast as she pulled her arm back and thrust it towards his jaw. Kisame hadn't been anticipating a direct attack, but he had been expecting something. He managed to twist his body so that his jaw didn't get the brunt of her attack but near his ear.
Hoshiko reeled back, her chest heaving. "You think you know me? Know him? You don't know half the shit I've been through in my life so don't pretend to act like you have even the slightest idea about what happened between us!"
Kisame laughed, throwing his head back. Hoshiko took a step back from him and readied herself for a fight. She had thrown the first punch; there was no doubt that Kisame wouldn't retaliate. Kisame locked gazes with her.
"So Itachi's your trigger."
Hoshiko fumbled, "W-what?"
Kisame approached her. Hoshiko was too confused and was trying to comprehend at what he meant to keep her guard up. "You loose your cool whenever he's brought up. Something you should work on around here. It's not good to show people like us weaknesses."
Hoshiko wanted to argue that Itachi was definitely not her weakness, when all of a sudden; Kisame kneed her in the stomach. Spit went flying out of her mouth as she gasped in air. Kisame moved back as Hoshiko fell on all fours, sucking in air but not quite it not making it to her lungs.
"That's for punching me, twerp."
Hoshiko watched Kisame as he left the training room, all the while she was holding onto her stomach as she tried to regulate her breathing once more. She was definitely in the shits now.
X
It took her a few minutes, but Hoshiko managed to push herself up onto her feet. Her abdomen was aching, Kisame definitely didn't hold back in his kick. She told herself that she would never get on his bad side, ever. He'd probably kill her with a punch to the head. Hoshiko didn't want to show anyone weakness as she walked through the halls, so before she left the training room she took a deep breath and straightened out her back.
Her body protested at the action but Hoshiko gritted her teeth and started marching. She needed to go and have a soak in the hot spring, something to help sooth her aching body. She walked along, trying to reduce the limp that she had. It still hurt to breathe. She was almost to the stairs when someone suddenly appeared in front of her. And it was someone who she really didn't want to see.
"What?" Hoshiko barked out, staring at the Uchiha's nose. She had noticed that he always seemed to have his Sharingan activated. She wasn't going to make the same mistake by looking him in the eye again.
"It's time," Itachi said, turning on his heel and walking down a different corridor. Hoshiko stared after him with an incredulous look on her face.
"Time for what?"
She waited to see if Itachi would stop and explain himself. Who was she kidding really; he wasn't going to explain himself. Even though her whole body was telling her to not follow after the Uchiha, she really didn't think she had a choice.
Holding a hand against her ribcage, Hoshiko followed after the man. She followed him into a room that she hadn't been in before. A few candles on the wall lit the room. In the center of the room was a table with a world map lain out, four chairs were placed around the table but Itachi had no use for one. He chose to stand stoically by the table.
Hoshiko approached the table; her eyes were drawn to Konoha on the map. She then glanced around Stone area, and in places where she assumed this hideout was. "Leader-sama would like the information you have on Orochimaru now." Itachi stated.
Hoshiko remembered, during the Akatsuki leaders terms, she was to give her information to the person who was tracking him. Apparently that person was Itachi, just her luck. She approached the table and reached over to point to a spot in the Fire country.
"There's one. So why did he try to take your eyes?" Hoshiko asked him. She watched his reaction. He furrowed his brows, turning his head to look over at her.
"How do you know about that?"
Hoshiko leaned against the table. "That's not what I asked."
"I am not obliged to answer any of your questions," he retorted. Hoshiko shrugged and crossed her arms.
"Fine, then no more information for you."
"And when I inform Leader-sama that you refuse to give up your information? I don't think I need to tell you what he'll do to you."
Hoshiko glared at Itachi's nose. She sure as hell wanted to just form a Raikiri and shove it through his stone cold heart. Swallowing her anger Hoshiko pointed to six other points on the map.
"There, hope your stupid Sharingan saw that because I'm not going to be showing you where they are again."
"What defenses are they equipped with? Seeing as you know where they are you should know what he holds within them."
Hoshiko crossed her arms. "Well, why don't you go visit them and find out? I'm pretty sure I was supposed to tell you where they were, not what was in them. Maybe if you answered some of my questions I'd tell you."
Itachi blatantly ignored her, instead choosing to mark the places on the map with a pen. Hoshiko bristled quietly.
"Can I go now?" She said through gritted teeth. Itachi's eyes scanned over the map, ignoring her. When he didn't answer her question Hoshiko took that as a sign that she could leave. She turned sharply on her heel and moved to the door. "How do I know what you've told me is true?" Itachi suddenly spoke.
Hoshiko paused, her hand outstretched for the door handle. "I have no reason to lie, unlike you." She didn't say anything else as she left the room.
Another few days passed uneventfully. Hoshiko didn't cross paths with Kisame or Itachi again. She had passed Hidan a few times in the hallways, and as always he would sprout off some repulsive comments about her. She brushed them off like she normally did. If it was the one thing that could keep her alive, Hoshiko was going to take Kisame's advice about not getting riled up to heart.
She trained for the most part, it was really the only thing she could do. She had figured out on her own, that the members of the Akatsuki had meetings in the morning everyday, talking about missions and what tasks they've been assigned to by the leader. Obviously because Hoshiko wasn't an official member, she didn't have anything to do. Training was the only thing she had to pass the time.
She had been walking the halls when she had overheard Hidan and Kakazu leaving on a mission. And it was three days later when they had returned, Hidan, bloodied and bruised.
Hoshiko had been sleeping in her bed when the loud and incessant swearing of Hidan had woken her. Her hand went to the kunai under her pillow automatically. She gripped the handle as she allowed herself to fully grasp on what was happening. No one was in her room, but with the volume of Hidan's voice, it sounded like he was.
"Aw shit man, you're getting blood everywhere!" She recognized that distinct voice of Kisame.
"Do I look like I give a fuck?" Hidan bellowed back.
Hoshiko rose out of her bed, clad in only a long black shirt that came to the middle of her thighs. She should have just stayed in bed and minded her own business, but the nosy part of her wanted to know what was happening. She left her kunai on her bed, she didn't really want to be caught holding it with Kisame and Hidan around, they might take it as an invitation.
"At least go take a bath or something!" Kisame continued on.
"What? I thought you liked the stench of blood, shark man?"
Hoshiko opened her door and poked her head out. What she saw had her jumping in shock. Hidan…he was missing his entire left arm, but he was holding it in his right hand. His body was also littered with gashes and holes, like someone had stuck kunai's repeatedly into his chest.
The sound of her door opening had drawn attention to her, both Hidan and Kisame looked over their shoulders at her. Hidan smirked widely as he took his left arm in his right hand and waved it above his head.
"Evening, midget bitch!"
Hoshiko's eyes went wide, her jaw dropping at the grotesque display. How was—his arm! He was acting like his arm wasn't even severed and he wasn't leaking pools of blood at his feet. Hidan and Kisame saw her reaction and both burst out into boisterous laughter. Hoshiko, reeling in her composure, slammed her door shut and leant against the wood. Her mouth moved into a grimace as she tilted her head back against the door. "Who the hell are these people?"
Hoshiko awoke the next morning. She palmed her eyes with her hands as she tried to bleach her mind of the memories of last night with Hidan in the hallway. She had never come across anyone like Hidan. Everyone in the Akatsuki gave her a migraine. Hoshiko swung her legs over the bed and sat up groggily. She quickly expanded her senses and found that most of the occupants were in their rooms still. She rubbed her eyes once more as she spotted something lying on the floor by her door. It looked like a small white piece of paper.
Hoshiko rose from her bed and walked barefoot to her door, reached down and plucked the card from the cold ground. Flipping it over Hoshiko saw a neat scrawl that she didn't recognize.
Dodge all the attacks.
Hoshiko furrowed her brows. She flipped the card over in her hand, maybe there was something else written there? Nope. She turned it back around and read the writing again. Dodge what exactly? Hoshiko flicked the card back onto the bed, as suddenly there was a knock on her door. She recognized the chakra signature as she opened up the door for him.
Kisame and Hoshiko had been on pretty good terms considering he had kicked the shit out of her the other week. To be honest, he was really the only one that she spoke to. "You're being summoned to the meeting chamber." Kisame said with a leering smirk.
Hoshiko kept his gaze. "And what will this meeting entail?" She questioned. His response was the flash his teeth and wink at her. Kisame turned and walked off, leaving Hoshiko to wonder about what the hell was going on right now. She shut her door, and then glanced over her shoulder at the card lying on her bed. She suddenly had a sneaking suspicion about what was about to happen.
She dressed quickly, pulling her sleeveless black top over her head. She then pulled on her black three quarter length pants and tied up her ankle sandals. She piled her long hair up into a ponytail and then quickly attached all her weapons. When she was ready she exited her room. She could sense all of the other members in the room already; apparently she was the guest of honor.
X
Hoshiko's stomach was in knots as she entered the dimly lit room. She hadn't been in here since she had tried to stab Itachi in the face. Speaking of the devil, he was standing in a line with the others as they all silently watched her walk up to them. She saw Pein as a projection flicker into the room as his purple ringed eyes settled on her. "Show us, Ginyoru Hoshiko, the power of your clan."
Before Hoshiko could even open her mouth to ask the leader what the hell he meant by that, she heard the shink of a weapon being drawn and then thrust towards her. Hoshiko spun, lifting and twisting her body as the familiar red scythe flew through the air and impaled itself into the ground a few feet away from her.
Hoshiko's silver eyes met Hidan's purple as he grinned maliciously from ear to ear and approached her slightly. "Now's my chance to finally get my revenge on you, bitch."
"That's if you can hit me." Hoshiko returned his smirk. As she spoke she suddenly realized what that note had been about. Someone here had been warning her beforehand about the fight. So she had to dodge all of Hidan's attacks? She'd hate to think about what would happen if she didn't.
Hidan growled at her. "I'm not just gonna hit you, I'm gonna fuck you up!" Hidan wrenched his scythe out of the ground and drew it back to him as Hoshiko readied herself. She remembered his style of fighting from the previous encounters. He liked to use his weapon as the main attraction. But it was bulky and heavy, more suited to long range then close, which is where she excelled in. And he seemed to have some sort of intolerance to pain, if last night was anything to go by. He had been waving around his severed arm like a flag. You wouldn't have been able to tell considering he was so well put together right now.
She quickly ran through some scenarios that might work against him, as she thought of a specific one—it might work…but it was also a long shot. She would have to make sure she was as quick as ever to not get hit by that hulking piece of metal.
"Get ready, bitch!" Hidan screeched. He suddenly leapt at her.
Hoshiko didn't expect this; she hadn't seen him engage in close combat before. Her eyes widened as Hidan came at her swinging. She dodged, jumping away from him and brandishing her wakizashi in her hand as Hidan came for her again. She blocked his scythe with her sword and pushed him away as Hidan swung at her legs. She leapt over him, her foot pushing down on his shoulder as she pushed off him as he swung around again. He nearly clipped her foot as Hoshiko landed and spun around and launched an electrified kunai at the scythe.
Hidan blocked it as the kunai bounced off it and landed on the ground. "This is such fucking child's play!" Hidan bellowed. He ran at her again as Hoshiko dodged him, twisting around his body and then ducking under his swipe. It caused Hidan to growl through his teeth at her as he swung his scythe around again but she kept tightly to his back so that he wouldn't hit her.
From the sidelines Kisame was practically grinning. It was entertaining to watch Hidan trying to hit the petite girl, but every time he came close she just danced just out of reach of him. "She's quick." Kisame commented. He leaned against Samehada.
"Aa."
Kisame jerked his head over to Itachi. To his surprise he was watching the fight, he never normally took interest in trivial things where Hidan was concerned. It caused Kisame's smile to broaden even more.
"I think she might even be quicker than you, Itachi-san." Kisame glanced at him again out of the corner of his eye.
"She never was." Itachi replied, his eyes never leaving the fight. And that was all the information Kisame needed about Hoshiko and Itachi.
Hoshiko flipped away from Hidan as he tossed his scythe towards her, his hand gripped the chain holding it and waved it, having his weapon sweep towards her again. She blocked it with her sword and then dodged another sweep. Hoshiko had come to realize that Hidan didn't know many, if any ninjutsu. He relied totally on his taijutsu and whatever would happen if she didn't dodge an attack. It had to have something to do with that he could have severed limbs and not bat an eye at it.
"Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu!" Hoshiko performed the seals as a large fireball erupted from her fingers and mouth. It was enormous, it almost touched the ceiling as Hidan laughed manically and let the fireball engulf him. The fire slammed into the back wall and slowly died down as Hoshiko watched as Hidan stood there with most of his hair singed and his robes on fire. He made no move to put out the fire as he lunged for her again.
Hoshiko readied herself for him, facing him head on. When Hidan was inches away from her, she formed a Raikiri in her right hand. Hidan's scythe was coming down on her but she sidestepped and plunged the Raikiri right into his chest. Hidan grinned down at her as blood pooled into his mouth and covered his teeth. It was a grim sight to behold.
"Pussy tricks like that won't work on me." He told her, blood spitting out of his mouth and splattering on her face. Hoshiko wrenched her hand out of his chest, but Hidan grabbed onto her wrist before she could jump out of the way.
Her eyes widened in fear and she suddenly released a burst of chakra from her body that was converted into electricity. It sent a shockwave through Hidan's body and into his nerve receptors in his brain. His grip slackened as she pulled away, but not before Hidan had his scythe and had swung it across his body. Hoshiko felt a pain in her arm as she skidded back. Her uninjured hand clamped onto her upper arm as she felt the warm and sticky blood coating the palm of her hand already.
She glanced at it quickly; it was a long and deep gash. The blood was already seeping out from in between her fingers as she glared over at Hidan. The man in question was beaming as he twirled his scythe around so that the three blades were at his face.
"You're done for now, bitch."
Hoshiko watched as her blood dripped off the scythe and onto the ground at his feet. Hidan's own blood from his wound also splattered onto the ground. The Jashin worshipper leaned forwards and examined her blood on the weapon.
"I'd rather be licking something else of yours, but I guess this will have to do," he remarked as his tongue flicked out and lapped up her blood from the blade. Hoshiko frowned at him. Whatever was happening next probably wasn't going to be good. She had to act now otherwise she had a feeling she was about to really be killed. The Akatsuki wouldn't save her. This wasn't some friendly spar.
Hidan, using his foot and his own blood that was dripping out of the hole in his chest started to draw a symbol on the ground. Hoshiko acted just before he could complete it. She drew her Wakizashi one more time and threw it, using her chakra-enhanced strength to have it soaring through the air at an almighty speed. It was aiming straight for Hidan as the man cackled and brought up his scythe to block it. The blade hit the weapon and ricocheted upwards.
Hoshiko cracked a smile, causing Hidan to quirk his eyebrows at her in confusion. Her silver eyes looked up to the blade as Hidan titled his head up. At that moment, the blade spinning in the air suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke and in its place was another Hoshiko. A Raikiri was already formed in the clones' hand as she was falling down, aiming for Hidan's head.
"You can't beat me, you stupid slut!" Hidan bellowed, bringing his scythe up to block his face.
"I'm not trying to beat you!" Hoshiko yelled back as his gaze went to her quickly. She had moved spots; she was now standing next to the kunai that she had thrown earlier at his weapon. It looked like she was holding something in her hand as she grinned and pulled hard on something. She winced from the pain in her arm.
Hidan saw the glint of something shiny going from her hands to the first prong of his blade, and then all of a sudden his scythe was away from his face and held out, towards where Hoshiko was standing.
Hoshiko's clone was almost at his head when she flipped, her feet hitting his shoulders as Hidan spluttered from the force of it. The clone then flipped off his body, her Raikiri extended as she came down to the ground, the next second her Raikiri had cut through the metal cable.
Hidan stumbled back from the force of his scythe being torn away from him. Once the weapon was free of it's master Hoshiko pulled on the wire, the scythe flying into her hands. Her clone leapt at Hidan, her arms locking around his neck as Hidan tried to pry her off of him. The clone then had her whole body become highly charged with electricity as it stunned Hidan. The Jashin worshipper paralyzed for a moment. But it was only a moment that Hoshiko needed. She wielded the scythe in her hands as she roared and brought it across his neck, effectively slicing his head off and killing her clone in the process.
Hidan's head rolled onto the ground as his body dropped in a crumpled mess. "You fucking bitch! I'm going to fucking kill you!"
Hoshiko crinkled up her face in disgust. She had assumed that taking his head off would've killed him, apparently not. She twirled the scythe in her hands and slammed it into the ground.
"With what, your severed head? Here's a tip; fight smarter, not harder."
"Kakuzu! Sew my head back on and then let me rip her apart!" Hidan spat, his purple eyes scanning the room for his partner.
"Better luck next time." Hoshiko smirked down at him and then turned her back on him. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small scroll. Rolling it open she placed her hand upon one of the seals and released it. She drew out chakra that she had siphoned and used it to heal the wound on her arm. It closed up remarkably fast, faster than any medical jutsu and left her chakra stores full. Hoshiko put the scroll back into her pocket and faced the projection of Pein.
"Well?" Hoshiko placed her hands on her hips.
Pein met her stare. "You have shown me all I needed to see, but it does not mean that you will be inaugurated into our organization just yet."
"What else do you want me to fucking do?" Hoshiko barked out. "Beat the fucking Uchiha?" Her hand extended out behind her as if to emphasize her point.
"I want a rematch you little bitch!" Hidan screeched at her.
"Just give it up, Hidan." Kisame sighed exasperatedly. "That little bitch won fair and square."
"Fuck you, Kisame!"
"Enough!" Pein ordered. The room went deadly silent. Hoshiko met his purple stare once again. "I will be in touch. Hidan and Kakuzu you both have another mission from tomorrow."
"Sure thing, Leader-fucking-sama." Hidan drawled sarcastically.
Pein's projection disappeared from the room. Kakuzu approached the bitching Hidan, kicking his head towards his body. Hoshiko took a deep breath and spun around on her heel. She avoided all the other members gazes as she marched from the room with her head held high.
Hoshiko sat in her room later that night; her long hair was down, cascading over her shoulders as she flicked through the pages of the Icha-Icha novel. She wasn't paying attention to the words on the page, lost in her own thoughts of what now scenarios. Her stomach grumbled hungrily as she sighed. She had been avoiding going upstairs to eat for a while now, mainly because she didn't want to cross paths with Hidan for a while. Hoshiko quickly expanded her senses and found that she couldn't locate Hidan or Kakuzu's chakra in the compound. She could however sense one person upstairs eating. She knew who it was and frankly, it was the only person she could actually tolerate in this kami-forsaken place.
Dropping the book onto the bed Hoshiko left her room. She adjusted the black shirt that was many sizes too big for her, as her sandals clicked against the wood flooring. She wore pants under the shirt; she wouldn't be caught dead in just her top out here, unless she was sleeping.
She approached the dining room as she slid open the shoji door and smirked when she saw Kisame sitting at the table eating. "No fish?" She commented with a smirk.
Kisame's beady eyes glanced up at her as she took a seat across from him. He scoffed. "Like I haven't heard that one before."
Hoshiko grabbed a selection of food and piled it onto her plate. "You must be used to all the water jokes by now, if not I'd suspect something fishy was going on." Kisame gave her a deadpan look that had Hoshiko chuckling into her cup of water.
"So tell me, how'd you beat him?" Kisame asked as he poured himself another cup of what appeared to be sake.
"My specialty is stealth, if you didn't already guess." Hoshiko said. "When I was in Root I was tasked with infiltration a lot of the time. Mostly because of my ability to completely mask my chakra for jutsu uses."
Kisame remained silent; he leaned back onto his hands as he listened to her. "Hidan himself isn't a very diverse Shinobi. He relies too heavily on his strength and speed, and for obvious reasons he's only worried about getting blood, for what I still have no idea."
"You don't want to know, it was clever of you to stop his ritual otherwise he really would've killed you," Kisame grinned.
"Point taken," Hoshiko said with a nod. "Anyway, the first kunai that I threw had a wire attached to it that connected with his scythe. I used the Katon as a distraction to create my clone and Henge into my wakizashi without him detecting it. I then wanted to see what would happen if Hidan managed to cut me so I deliberately let him injure me."
"You're a crazy bitch. No one's ever been able to cut Hidan's cable. It's the strongest metal in the world."
Hoshiko smirked, "Well it's no match for me."
"How'd you know that cutting his head off wouldn't kill him?" Kisame asked, scratching his head.
"I didn't." Hoshiko laughed, "I just really wanted to kill him."
"Don't we all." Kisame said with a roll of his eyes. He downed the rest of his drink and then stood up. "You're a lucky little girl for winning against him. But just saying, Hidan's probably the weakest out of all of us. Those little parlor tricks probably won't work on anyone else."
Hoshiko met his serious stare. Her mind suddenly flashed to the note in her room, the one that had warned her about Hidan. "Thank you." She said, catching Kisame before he exited the room. He turned to her. "For the note."
He frowned, "What note?"
Now it was her turn to look confused. Was Kisame just playing with her? Maybe he just didn't want to be revealed as being helpful. Who would want to tarnish their Akatsuki reputation? Kisame didn't say anything else as he strode from the room. Hoshiko watched him go. She was sure that it had been true confusion on his face.
But if Kisame didn't send her the note, then who did?
Almost two weeks had passed since Hoshiko had entered the Akatsuki hideout. It was a few days after her battle with Hidan, and thankfully the pair still hadn't returned. Hoshiko was in the training room sharpening her kunai and shuriken. She was dressed in new clothes that she had bought in town. Apparently she had been granted some small freedom of leaving the base for a couple of hours a day, but she still wasn't a member yet. She now wore a new black shirt that was long-sleeved. The torso had mesh that was see through at the top of her chest and underneath at her belly. Her breasts were covered. It was slightly provocative for her tastes but the shop really didn't have much variety. On the bottom she had bought a new pair of black shorts. The store hadn't stocked Shinobi sandals so she was still wearing her old ones.
Hoshiko drew the wet stone over the blade of her wakizashi just as the door to the training room opened. Her silver eyes lifted slightly. Itachi walked in.
"We're being summoned." He said simply. He then turned and left the room.
"We?" Hoshiko mumbled sourly. She had half a mind to sit right where she was, but then she thought against it. She didn't want to know what would happen if she disobeyed an order from the Leader. She sheathed her sword and then jogged to catch up with Itachi, who was very nearly at the meeting room already.
Hoshiko entered behind Itachi, her glare fixated to the back of his head. They both walked to the center of the room where Pein's projection was waiting for them. Hoshiko tore her gaze away from Itachi's head to scan the room, dread filling her stomach when she didn't see Kisame there too.
Itachi came to a stop and Hoshiko placed herself in line with him, but a good meter away from the Uchiha. "The time has come, Ginyoru Hoshiko to finally prove your worth."
Hoshiko cocked her hip and sighed. "So beheading Hidan wasn't enough for you?"
"You are to be sent on a mission," Pein continued as if Hoshiko had never said a word. Her humor was wasted on these people. "You are to go to the Land of Lightning, to Kumogakure where a Hidden Stone dignitary is visiting. He plans on informing the Raikage there of Stone's involvement with us. You are to locate and assassinate him before that can happen."
"Sounds easy enough," Hoshiko shrugged as she folded her arms across her chest.
"You and Itachi are to leave in the morning."
"What?" Hoshiko spat vehemently. She all but snapped her neck as she glared at Itachi then back at Pein. "I don't need him to come with me!"
"Itachi is there to monitor but also be your partner in this. You cannot be trusted to do this on your own."
"Then give me Kisame!" Hoshiko argued. "I'd much rather do this with him. If you send us together then there's a chance we just might kill each other."
Pein's eyes narrowed on her as a heavy air fell on Hoshiko. Her breath got stuck in her throat. "Do not forget that I can have him kill you in an instant if you prove to be of no use to us. Not following my orders will do that. I chose you and Itachi because you are both pivotal stealth Shinobi. If you do not accept the mission, then I see no use for you, child."
Pein left. Hoshiko sucked in a deep breath. She had never felt power like that before. It scared her. She heard Itachi's shoes shuffling on the floor as he turned and started to leave.
"And what do you have to say about all of this, Uchiha?" Hoshiko barked out bitterly. She heard him halt. She didn't turn to meet him.
"You seem to think that you are the only one who isn't happy with this predicament. I'll see you tomorrow, Ginyoru-san."
Hoshiko's brows knitted together at his statement. She heard him leave. She was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. It soon turned to a foreboding feeling when she realized that her and Itachi were to go on a mission tomorrow. It would be a miracle if they didn't kill each other.
That night, as Hoshiko lay in bed, just before she fell asleep she realized that what Itachi had said—she had heard him say those exact words to her before.
Waves from underneath a boulder!
Well hi, bet you thought you'd never see me again, huh? For a while there I did too tbh. I honestly couldn't believe how long it had been since I had last updated this story so I am here to grovel. This past year has been a whirlwind of emotions and for a while I just found myself with no motivation to do absolutely anything. I do apologise for all those who have been waiting!
I was going to have another chapter or so before I moved along with Hoshiko and Itachi's mission but I thought yeah nah let's just go and give the people what they want, and that's angst! hear me out, angst first, fluff later.
I do hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I promise you won't have to wait that long again for another one, pinky swear!
And a special shoutout to whoever recognises where the line Itachi said was! It is actually something he has said to her before and it shall open up a can of worms for the pair when theyre all alooooooneeee~~~