Welcome to Chapter 4! Hehe, remember last time when I thought one month was a long wait time. *guilty finger pokes* sorry?
Thanks to the followers, reviewers, favoriters, and all my readers despite my long absence. Y'all are the best.
This chapter took forever for me to figure out I swear, I only just got it, but I hope you enjoy it.
Thoughts are in italics
Memories/flashbacks are in bold italics
Bold if not for emphasis, is for my beginning/endnotes
Disclaimer: So I was gone for like three months on a long mission to try and infiltrate Kishimoto's life in order to claim Naruto as my own, but I was found out and thrown in jail I just got out on good behavior. Needless to say, still don't own Naruto.
Domino Effect
Just as the two figures shook hands under the canopy of a large cedar, the earth trembled just slightly, wood shooting from the ground between them and forcing their separation. Though it gave chase to both, one masterfully disappeared, and the other was successfully herded into a clearing despite their best efforts.
She knew a moment too late as she twisted away from the rapidly branching wood she'd walked right into an ambush. Hinata attempted a gentle fist strike to her right while Naruto threw a punch to her left, and though she leaned out of Hinata's attack and threw a perfect counterstrike to Naruto's clone, the dissipating smoke was combined perfectly with a smoke bomb that point blank threw her off enough to stumble right into the hold of the wood.
She sucked in a pained breath as the wood tightened just past the point of uncomfortable and glowered at the culprit through the wisps of fading smoke. The still unnamed Jounin didn't revel too much in his victory, looking fairly guarded despite the fact that he'd caught her, especially the way in which he prevented Naruto from stalking forward.
"Miyako, I take it?"
The piercing purple eyes behind that wild mane of dark curls squinted in pain at the splinters digging into her sides, mouth twisting down into a frown, but otherwise refusing to answer.
Impatient, Naruto lurched into the Jounin's arm meant to block him from coming any closer. "Miyako, just—" he huffed, words seeming to fail him, "come back with us, this doesn't have to be a fight."
A disbelieving quirk of her eyebrow and a twitch of her head between the tense Jounin and the glaring Hinata was enough of an answer for Naruto it seemed—she knew as well as Naruto did that no one present was eager to keep her alive if she couldn't prove to be useful.
Just as he was gearing up to protest, the Jounin opened his mouth to interrupt. "Naruto, whatever information she has takes precedence right now." Translation: I'm going to hold her for as long as possible and extract what I can before I execute her.
Naruto snapped his mouth shut as the unknown man stepped forward with a hard glare.
"Were you meeting up with Kabuto because the Akatsuki is collecting on Orochimaru's old debts—or because you worked for Orochimaru himself and want to pledge allegiance to Kabuto now because of Orochimaru's death?"
She gave a little smirk and a wince as she shifted her weight and the wooden trap squeezed even tighter around her ribcage. "That's a lot of information to reveal in hopes that I'll answer one question."
The man was unruffled. "You're a spy working for one of the two most notorious criminal syndicates across the 5 nations—plus you don't seem all that surprised."
How could she have been? She knew days ago, nearly immediately after it happened—it was the same day she'd come to the realization she could no longer be passively observant.
O/M
10 Days Earlier
Miyako wasn't privy to most of the Akatsuki meetings unless they happened to be in the hideout when it was occurring, so needless to say watching two men sit silently and vulnerably with their eyes closed for an extended amount of time just gave her murderous ideas.
Miyako was supposed to be keeping lookout, after all she had worked very hard to ensure the Three-Tails ended up in their hands and not Orochimaru's or Konoha's, and she didn't need anything happening just hours from them reaching the hideout. So when "Tobi" sprung from his sitting position and eagerly tugged her away into a cluster of trees away from Deidara, she knew it couldn't be anything good.
"Orochimaru is dead, Sasuke killed him." Obito rushed out gruffly. Miyako's face warped between visible, surprise, elation and worry. She surely looked constipated.
"Sasuke is putting together quite a group to hunt down Itachi, and the Leaf no doubt won't be far behind to hunt down Sasuke." Obito's grip on Miyako's arm tightened just minutely enough to have her inching closer to ease the pressure, bringing them too close to each other's breathing space. She just bit back the urge to shiver as her skin crawled, gazing into that piercing ever-red eye.
"Deidara has made it clear that he wants Sasuke's head, chiefly for revenge because of some fanciful notion that he was to be the one to kill Orochimaru, but no matter the reason we will use his fool thinking and Itachi's self-sacrificial nature to set a trap." He grabbed her chin with two fingers and held her face steady. "And your part is arguably the most important, because I need you to give an assessment on whomever you find first—Naruto and the Leaf ninja, or Sasuke and his new team."
While it wasn't the worst thing to be asked of her—it didn't bode well. There's no telling what Obito would do with this assessment, who would be told, what circumstances would be out of her hands once she gave up the information—but what choice did she have? If it wasn't her it would be her master himself, and she would like to prolong that meeting for as long as possible, at least until she had a better idea of his plan and where all this was going so she could come up with countermeasures—
Fingers smoothing down her frown lines had her jolting backwards; though the grip on her chin just tightened in response. "You're thinking too hard. It's simple, whoever Deidara doesn't find first, you will assess for me." He didn't release her until she'd given a short nod even in the confines of his grip. He stepped back only slightly, murmuring under his breath that she should also pretend as if it was Deidara's idea for his ego, just as the loud bomber materialized with a shout of Tobi's name.
"There you are." He looked suspiciously between the pair, the child-like man showing the deadpanned woman a leaf he had found on the ground. His face was squished to the side of hers as he loudly insisted that it was in the shape of a canoe.
"Oi, Tobi!" The blond huffed and separated the two in spite of Tobi's whine.
"Thank me later, un." He looked pointedly with a sneer to the still dispassionate gaze of Miyako. "We have to head back to base now, hm. Before Sasuke and Konoha move."
"Ah, ah, Deidara-senpai, I thought you were going to leave Tobi and Miyako-chan out of your schemes!" The wag of his finger accompanied with the "tsk"ing noises set Deidara off enough to deliver a firm knock to his noggin.
"Shut up Tobi, hm!" Deidara's mouth hands spat out two birds that enlarged to suitable riding sizes. At Miyako's cock of the head, he explained while simultaneously rushing them to mount the creatures.
"There's no time for discreet travel." He huffed, and Miyako pulled Tobi onto the bird, wary of his radiating waves of impatience.
Not good indeed.
G/K/T
Even with the support of Konoha behind them, finding Miyako had become no easier. It's almost as if she had fallen off the face of the earth—impressive when countries far and wide knew of her existence and had for years. Now nearly a month after she left behind more questions than answers for Suna, he'd seen no trace of her. Well, not in reality at least.
All of his dreams seem to center around her, the ones he could recall anyway, and if it wasn't a long gone childhood memory, it was a bittersweet reminder of the last two years she'd been acting as Raccoon. Of long talks in the mornings, long walks around the villages in the midday suns, or endless nights bent over paperwork. And if he wasn't seeing her behind his eyelids, he was being reminded of her in everyday objects or places—hell he couldn't even drink his favorite tea anymore without comparing it to hers.
Everything was about her, and even if he didn't believe the situation surrounding his former ANBU black ops to be so black and white as her putting on an elaborate act all to lure him into being killed; he wasn't overly thrilled about having such a visceral bias, especially since it was bleeding into his work.
"You need to pick a new Right Hand."
This for instance. It wasn't the first time his hotheaded sister stood in front of him to demand that he choose a new jounin to serve as his Right Hand. His siblings hadn't pushed the first two weeks, easily picking up the slack to allow him to both recover from the missing Shukaku and Miyako's duplicitous acts. But shortly after learning of Yugito Ni's death of Kumo, and believing strongly in Miyako's involvement with the Akatsuki, they came before him with a stack of papers of Jounin they personally trusted and vetted and asked that he give them a short list in 48 hours.
"What is this?" He'd asked, idiotically his siblings would argue.
"Candidates for your new Right Hand position."
Logically he knew this was the best course of action. Temari and Kankuro had made their own places in the village separate of him, and even though they were gung-ho to support him in anyway, they weren't suited for the more…tedious aspects of the position. It wouldn't be fair of him to ask them to drop what they had created for themselves just to tend to his needs as Kazekage. While well-versed at this point in the diplomatic necessities for this job, and more than willing to protect Gaara, it was, well, boring as far as any young ninja in their prime was concerned.
Still. "You want to trust me to another person so quickly?"
At their combined flinch, Gaara felt a tad bad—not enough to take back his admittedly underhanded guilt trip tactic, but bad all the same.
Temari was too flustered to speak up right away, but Kankuro stepped in easily. "We can't allow what Miyako has done to unravel our system Gaara—and further to circulate mistrust amongst our troops and our people." Sage though it sounded, Gaara wasn't moving even slightly to look at the profiles in front of him.
"All of the Jounin before you have been vetted by the Cypher core, who has looked through every high ranking official in Suna for every form of Genjutsu and control form in known existence." She huffed at his further unimpressed state. "Their backgrounds have also been thoroughly checked for validity and we only picked senior ranking officials instated before Miyako was said to have come back to Suna."
The twist of displeasure on Gaara's face couldn't be masked fast enough, eliciting a twin groan from the two. Gaara couldn't deny that he wasn't too fond of…elders. He personally had nothing against them, they just tended to be immovable in opinion and particularly haughty and demeaning if anyone varied from tradition or their way of life.
"We promise that those chosen aren't much older than 40, if that. They're not looking to continue in combat, and have plenty of experience in varied situations necessary for the role. And having someone a little older will do you some good, the experience could provide insight Raccoon never could."
Gaara instinctively opened his mouth to lash out in defense, words pushing at the front of his skull to make it clear that Miyako had been more than insightful, that she had been overly qualified for the job; that these Jounin probably paled in comparison, but he managed to catch himself at Temari and Kankuro's looks of wary anticipation.
He yanked the first profile towards him with a short grunt, burying himself in learning more about, um, Watanabe Jirou?
Seeing it as a win, the siblings had left Gaara to go over the extensive reports and make his decision, but what they hadn't anticipated was his unintentionally difficult ranking process eliminating 80% of the candidates.
And now here they were, two weeks later, really no closer to choosing a Right Hand because Gaara kept stubbornly saying "no". The siblings had tried to be patient with him, knowing he was going through a hard enough time adjusting after years of having things a certain way, but when they'd gotten to the bottom of the pile and the last "no" was said, they figured patience was no longer going to cut it.
"You're being unreasonable." Temari, presently, groused after Gaara required a new batch of candidates, even though they'd pulled every Jounin that had fit his ridiculously stringent criteria.
"What are they missing?" The two had asked, prompting Gaara to give out a laundry list of reasons that became more outlandish the longer he went on, though he couldn't quite hear that, not if his signature straight face was anything to go by.
It was one thing to not be communicative enough. Fine. Another thing to have a personality Gaara felt caused too much friction with his own. Okay. But not making tea with the exact amount of sugars, and a dollop of honey he required? Absurd.
"No one is going to be Miyako." Kankuro finally let spill out into the atmosphere, thickening the tension, at least within Gaara, exponentially.
"Don't accuse me of trying to replace her." Gaara finally got out around the lump in his throat, but even he didn't know what he was really trying to say.
"Well then stop looking for her everywhere." Temari begged lowly, eyes solemn as she stared Gaara down. "We can't help you if you don't want to be helped, Gaara."
He wanted to say that he did, so badly, he wanted to be able to see what everyone else saw in her, he wanted to be able to detach himself from the search for her and look at it as objectively as he had come to look at everything else. But if these dreams were anything to go by, emotions were intertwined with everything that had to do with Miyako, and he couldn't find who he normally was in anything that had to do with her.
A knock saved him, or betrayed him, from speaking. The three had a beat where they just stared down the other party with intent. Gaara knew this wasn't over.
"Come in." He called brusquely, clearing his throat of moisture and raising his eye to the Chuunin in the same moment. Very intimidating indeed.
"Erm, sorry to interrupt." He cowered just slightly, but Temari's impatient eyebrow raise added to his own had the Chuunin squeaking his business quickly.
"We've just received intelligence from Konoha, some very interesting developments…about Miyako."
Gaara controlled his rise from his seat, not to seem too eager in front of his family, lest he give even more of the wrong impression about his…feelings for the criminal in question.
"Bring it to the Council chamber, we will review it with the other members there."
"Y-yes sir." The boy scampered off in front of them, Temari and Kankuro trailing behind with one last look over their shoulders. And Gaara, well, Gaara had to steel himself for what he was about to see—after all, when it was about Miyako at this point it was never good news, was it?
O/M
Present
The sable-haired Jounin remained cool at Miyako's insistent stoic silence, despite steadily applying pressure borderline to breaking her ribs. She knew he was still hopeful when he loosened the grip of the wood just slightly—clearly she hadn't outlived her usefulness just yet.
"If not that, than who is your target? Naruto? Sasuke?"
There were a plethora of different options to answering that question—if she really wanted to throw them off she could say Sasuke, it wasn't a lie and it didn't necessarily point a finger to either Kabuto or the Akatsuki. After all, many people were under the false impression that Itachi had designs to kill his brother, and Kabuto could be attempting to carry out the will of Orochimaru in still fanatically chasing after Sasuke.
Instead, "You're asking the wrong questions, and frankly wasting time." She retorted with the straightest face in contrast to the thunderous expressions around her that almost match the intensity of the boom that, though faint, still shook the earth slightly.
'Great, Deidara's decided to get serious I guess' She drifted her eyes towards Naruto, who though normally perpetually antsy to begin with, looked like it was physically paining him not to run headlong in the direction he assumed the explosion to have originated.
She felt the same, though it wasn't out of concern for Sasuke or Deidara, but at the inevitable attention letting a demolitions expert fight a lightning user was going to cause. She didn't understand Obito's thinking here—yes it would make a great trap to lure in Naruto, but the presence of the large dog in the corner occasionally growling gave away that Kakashi was somewhere in the vicinity, and if Kakashi was here it was likely Sakura was as well. Assuming that a tracking team wouldn't just be staffed with Hinata and Kakashi's hounds, Kiba and Shino were probably somewhere around here as well. That was at least 7 people that realistically were risky to take on.
But his original orders hadn't changed from nearly two weeks prior. She tried to think back to their conversation earlier for a clue, but she was really drawing blanks.
1 Hour Earlier
It's a week and a half later before Deidara is on the hunt for his revenge/redemption. The group had barely finished sealing the Sanbi and the Yonbi before Deidara was pulling them off into his schemes, and one meaningful look from that eye of Obito's reminded her of what she was tasked to do.
Still, she'd heard what was mumbled under Obito's breath, so she could stall and play dumb for as long as she wanted.
The bird's touched down somewhere in Fire country, not too far from where they had been the previous week when Deidara had first learned of Orochimaru's death. She considered that the blonde bomber wasn't as empty headed as she'd first believed, though leaving behind a marking to help them teleport back was the least he could do.
"What's the plan sempai?" Tobi called from their bird and in her head Miyako was strangling him.
"We're going to take off in this direction Tobi, hmm." The blonde uncovered his telescope as he pointed due north of them.
"Are we going after Sasuke-kun or the Nine Tails?" Tobi followed up excitedly, shaking her along with him in his "excitement".
"Miyako, you're going to go the opposite direction, and alert us if you find either. Especially Naruto." While Miyako didn't doubt that Deidara actually did want to capture the Nine Tails to make up for the fact that he couldn't months ago, the emphasis was a little too forced for her to take seriously.
"Yeah, Miyako-chan, call Tobi right away!" Said Tobi patted her arm rapidly until she nodded shortly, only stopping when Deidara grunted for him to let Miyako go search.
She didn't know what she was less eager to do, actually searching and finding either Naruto or Sasuke, or stall for time and be given more unpleasant instructions, especially from Obito, that she had to follow.
'Well the sooner I begin, the sooner I can mull around pretending to be looking I suppose.'
The strategy obviously wasn't going to work forever. If either, but especially Naruto were anywhere out here, she'd find them sooner rather than later, but according to Obito she was just supposed to "assess" either skills, whatever that meant. Their figurehead of a leader claimed she wasn't supposed to be a public member of the Akatsuki, so didn't that mean she couldn't technically engage with either target lest she be outed?
The orders were too vague, how was Miyako to "give an assessment" as Obito asked when she didn't know what she was assessing? And even though "Tobi" had made it clear she was to call him after Deidara told her to alert her if she found Naruto or Sasuke, she wasn't required to follow "Tobi's" orders, only her master's, only Obito's.
There was a very easy way of skirting around this—she could avoid either party all together and give Obito an exaggerated lie undermining either's skills. Obviously she knew why he wanted to know of Konoha and Naruto's skills thus far, but she wasn't sure what he wanted with Sasuke and that unknown gave her significant pause.
'Naruto would be easier to find, and thus easier to weave a better lie about, and depending upon what teammates he brought along, easier to convince Obito that she couldn't get a proper handle on them because of the level of tracker ninjas present. But another run in with Naruto and possible New Team 7 wasn't high on her list, and if the other two somehow found out about her engaging with Naruto and the others they may attempt capture, or worse, convince me to try and capture.' She was always wary of Obito watching her every move, so maybe staying away from Naruto was the best option.
'Conversely, if I run into Sasuke I can discern exactly what level he's at and what type of team members he's collected. It wouldn't be as easy to lie to him about Sasuke's skills considering I have only a single move from his childhood to go off of, but I could downplay his skills enough to ward off any further interest. Maybe, even, if Obito wants me to "give an assessment" so badly, I can give Sasuke an assessment of his skills directly and potentially discourage him from killing his brother?' Ah yes, what wishful thinking indeed, however with fingers crossed Miyako decided that she would rather run into Sasuke, she would like to avoid another preventable death if she could.
When a boom sounded behind her the same time Naruto's chakra smacked her in the face she groaned at her own luck.
Present
"Friends of yours?" The Jounin scoffed, shifting the wood prison just a little closer and creating spikes to ratchet up the pressure just so as they pressed in on her throat.
'Hardly.' She wanted to bite back, but she was a little busy tunneling her vision in her right eye to the clone on standby with Obito while he and Deidara made…a mess, it seemed.
From her left eye she could see Naruto lurching in the general direction of the explosives, completely disinterested in her at the prospect of Sasuke. The Jounin stopped, but he too looked torn for a split second, before the calm of the forest eased over him—oddly enough like a wave. Maybe of leaves? This man overall was perplexing to her.
"Yamato-san…" Hinata, didn't move her Byakugan even a fraction away from her, true dedication, she was almost proud even if it felt like she was getting cotton mouth.
"Let the others handle it, Naruto." "Yamato" warned sternly, and he tightened his hands minutely, resolutely beginning to suffocate her air supply.
'Pff, he says let the others handle it, but it's obvious he wants to end this quickly and capture me.' To really make this Yamato feel as though he was doing well, she clawed at the wood, dramatically gasping for breath.
'So it must not only be Kakashi, and potentially Sakura and that other ANBU, but the rest of Team 8 as well.' She then made a show of struggling as Yamato made his way to her, still ever cautious, Hinata never moving her eyes from Miyako even as he approached.
'So 8, possibly—and however many pesky nindogs Kakashi has in his pack plus Akamaru makes for a lot of bodies to track—but the explosions are still happening, meaning they haven't found Sasuke yet. Perhaps this "team" Sasuke assembled is more useful than I thought.'
With this in mind, Miyako collapsed into a faint.
O/M
Ten Minutes Earlier
"Where's Itachi Uchiha?"
Sasuke flitted his eyes without bias between Tobi and Deidara, unphased at an attempt on his life having previously been made. In the safety of the shadow of the forest, the clone grinned unperturbed at Deidara's back as he shook in anger—after all, Raccoon hadn't had to have any practice schooling her expressions when she was always wearing a mask. Out of paranoia— of Sasuke or Obito she wasn't sure, but an Uchiha nonetheless— she hid herself deeper amongst the branches.
As men are wont to do when they're belittled in whatever form, Deidara taunted Sasuke into attacking him, with a speed Miyako found difficult to rival, but she just barely managed to shove Obito away, not without the "sacrifice" of his side though.
Dramatically "Tobi" twirled to the ground, despite the blade having passed straight through him thanks to his dojutsu and Miyako had to clench every muscle in her face to keep from groaning at how easily she'd been baited into revealing herself.
Sasuke paused, now trailing his gaze between Deidara and Miyako curiously.
"Hn, so you are working for the Akatsuki, Maki."
Instead of answering, the clone turned to Tobi, though she still kept Sasuke in her line of vision, waiting for her master to drop the act. She didn't need to give Deidara any more of a reason to throw a temper tantrum after all.
"Tch," Sasuke dismissed her with a flick of his well-groomed bangs. "I've gotten rid of your teammate and I'm well aware that Maki will be the last to talk, so I'll ask you once again: where is Itachi Uchiha?"
The clone didn't even blink when Tobi sprang up, instead grasping his sleeve and giving Sasuke her best unimpressed deadpan as he surveyed the two of them. When Deidara made his move and the fight really commenced, the clone pulled Tobi into a grouping of trees a few meters away.
"What are you doing, Miyako?" Obito warned darkly, shifting her face this way and that only to catch the slightly different tint in her right eye. "What is it? Have you found Naruto?"
"He is here with the same team from their attempt at capturing the Sanbi, minus a few. Clearly here to find Itachi, or Sasuke."
Obito chuckled playfully, a foreboding sound if Miyako had ever heard one. "Why don't we make a little wager then?" His one eye bored into her suddenly very alert ones. "I bet that capturing you is a much higher priority to the rest of this team than capturing Sasuke—so let's give them a fighting chance, hm?"
N/M
It would be inconvenient for Konoha to try and carry around a captured rogue while attempting to track down another, so really Miyako was doing them a favor. But by Yamato's quiet curse as her clone burst into flames mere feet from him, he didn't feel the same.
"What's wrong?" Her voice floated on the breeze, her corporeal form nothing more than the smoke riding the wind at this moment. "Are you suddenly realizing you made to go after the wrong person?" With their backs to each other they darted their eyes around the swirling smoke, Hinata looking especially wary as Kakashi's large hound whimpered.
"Hinata." Yamato said under his breath.
"Her chakra…no, the energy…it's everywhere." She blinked rapidly, form shaking, though only slightly.
"Are you regretting that you didn't corner Kabuto, the sure thing, instead of Miyako Maki, the rogue with unknown alliances? I'm hurt." She cooed, unperturbed, her orders clear—and she would happily keep the group on a goose chase if it kept them away from Obito.
"Miyako." Naruto started steadily. "Whatever trouble you're in we can pardon if you come quietly." Ignoring Yamato's slight hiss, he plowed on. "You of all people should understand what this means to me, please don't keep me from finding Sasuke."
Her sigh acted as a hot wind, pushing the smoke suddenly from their eyes to reveal her twirling a piece of hair on a nearby branch on the edge of the clearing and studying them thoughtfully.
"Well what are you waiting for? You wanted to go this way anyway, right?" She droned through an unreadable look, darting further into the shadows as wood erupted from the ground to give chase.
"Hinata?"
"It's more than likely a trap." She looked to Kakashi's nin-hound who edged closer to the forest. "But we can't afford to miss the reward if it isn't."
K/K
Just as Kakashi was going to radio the rest, Pakkun sniffing the black journal cautiously for traps or jutsu, a "Kakashi-senpai" crackled through.
"I'm here Yamato." The jounin inched closer to the book at Pakkun and Akamaru's signal, checking it over with his own chakra for good measure before retrieving it from the ground.
"There's been a new development and we need orders."
Kakashi briefly wondered if Yamato was about to tell him about spotting Kabuto, after all, when Kakashi, Kiba, Shino and their respective companions caught onto Kabuto he appeared to be fleeing as if hell itself was on his heels. He was tempted to tell the man he already knew and had intercepted Kabuto, but he hesitated just a second too long, long enough for worse to come out of Yamato's mouth.
"It's Miyako—we attempted capture but she's escaped and we're pursuing not too far behind. How should we proceed, senpai?"
Blessedly, Kiba and Shino ignored Kakashi's brief stiffen, in part maybe because of their own heightened interest. Miyako had alluded them now more than once, it was an opportunity for the trackers to redeem themselves.
Briefly he thought about telling them to leave her alone—Miyako had proven thus far that she enjoyed flaunting her skills, and this was more than likely going to lead to nothing more than an exhaustion of their chakra.
Still, he briefly side eyed his two Chuunin companions, how would he explain not at least making at attempt to Tsunade? Capturing Miyako, whether she worked at one time for Orochimaru or even better the Akatsuki, was too valuable to even think twice about.
"Give me her coordinates, Kiba, Shino and I will take care of tracking her. The rest of you, focus on our primary mission."
Kakashi turned to the Chuunin, pleased to find that they matched his determined energy, but feeling the need to warn them all the less.
"You two have something to prove, but you haven't taken on Miyako. Before we take over tracking her, remember that our primary mission is capture, but I will not sacrifice any of this team to ensure that goal. You heed my command no matter what, understood?"
Stiffly, Kiba and Shino nodded. Briefly Kakashi worried, especially about Kiba, about the lengths they may go—but luckily, though Kiba and Naruto shared unfortunate traits for obnoxiousness, Kiba had learned by now when to quit. They weren't Naruto—Kiba and Shino held some fear for Miyako, and it was that fear that would help Kakashi keep them alive should it come to that.
"Good, let's go."
K/M
Kakashi meets them just as Miyako's hair whips out of sight yet again, the only thing exchanged between them a brief nod and an object slipping into Yamato's left pocket. He doesn't ask because it's safe to assume it was "collected" from Kabuto. The entire time he had been doing well at quelling his various assumptions, but now they roar in the back of his head to the soundtrack of Miyako's mocking laughter. He wonders at the exchange between the two he witnessed earlier and if this object was a result of two spies meeting.
Kakashi flicking his head is enough to break Yamato out of his brief trance, and though he sets out to go around the inevitable skirmish about to take place—after all he can still sense Miyako lingering mere yards away from them like a snake poised to strike—Naruto has something to say.
"Kakashi-sensei—" he starts, and Yamato wonders for a truly foolish moment if Naruto is going to insist on tracking Miyako with them. However, Kakashi knows his student best, and stops him before he can even begin.
"Don't worry Naruto, Miyako has too much to answer for." A scoff echoes all around them—clones no doubt.
Naruto nods, warily darting his eyes around before finally following after Yamato, only barely dodging a sudden stream of fire from the right.
"Go!" Kakashi commands at Naruto's falter, Shino having quickly dispatched his kakaichu to eliminate the clone.
'Has she decided to take us head on then? Why would she switch tactics all of the sudden?'
"Kakashi, we have to stop meeting like this." Sounded behind him, so close he could swear she was at his ear, but Akamaru snapping at thin air revealed the truth.
'Genjutsu? So it's a trap after all, but for what? We are not Akatsuki's targets.'
He couldn't let her know that he knew, so he might as well get her talking.
"Why the aggressive approach Miyako? You were playing so nicely with Naruto and the others." He murmured, hand motioning between the three in a signal for "Genjutsu". It was originally created to warn the others of "Itachi" but it had the same effect here.
"Who knows Kakashi, maybe I don't like you?" She trilled, somewhere in front of him and he held out a hand to stop Kiba from lunging in one direction, unsure as he was that any of the Miyako speaking to them now were real.
A feather light touch passes over Kakashi's vest just as a faint grunt sounds from their far right. Kakashi exaggeratedly shoots a hand out to "catch" the clone, only to wrench his headband up with the other, the tomoe in his Sharingan spinning.
'No, not a trap—or at least not a good one. She supposedly has us surrounded with clones, but she's made no move to attack.'
"There it is." She drawls sardonically somewhere off to the right.
"Let's not prolong this then—why are you here?" The non-Sharingan eye narrows at the surround sound of her scoff.
"Were you here to break off things with Kabuto? Keep Sasuke away from Itachi? Or did Sasuke recruit you?"
A laugh comes at the same time that another voice answers mere feet to their left: "Shouldn't I be asking you why you're here instead?" And to his right: "I merely go about living my day to day and somehow you. Keep. Showing. Up." A finger digs into his shoulder painfully to punctuate, but Kakashi isn't satisfied with his revenge so much when the telltale signs of warm steam greet him as he slices through another clone with his kunai.
'Not an ambush or a trap—she's had plenty of openings and has even made contact. She could be getting a better gauge for our skills, but again what use would skill information on a fairly famous Jounin and two Chuunin from well-known clans be?'
"Stop threatening Naruto's life and you'll never have to see me again." Between the three again Kakashi gives another silent signal, hold.
'Then, if this isn't a trap there's only one thing it could be: a distraction.'
This time there is no reaction, and Naruto's theory combined with Kakashi's eerie knowledge of Miyako's ticks has her right where he wants her. If there's one thing she cannot stand, it is the accusation that she would ever want to hurt Naruto.
'She's protecting someone, but is it Sasuke, or Itachi?'
But even more than being accused of hurting Naruto?
"You're already responsible for the death of one jinchuriki, to you what is another?"
M/K
Miyako knew, in the part of her brain responsible for reasoning, that this was bait. She knew she shouldn't react—she should stay in the shadow of the trees in her reality, solid, as the three trackers sat perfectly still in her carefully constructed spell. She should stay still and let the time trickle away until she was given orders from Obito to leave them be.
"You thought I was going to kill him? Don't insult me, knowing full well that if I wanted him dead he would be." The tiny part of her brain, made rebellious under a misunderstood teenager for so many years, fought it's way to the front, forced her body into intangibility. It guided her fingers, nothing but thick clouds of smoke, into Kakashi's nose and mouth—her nails pungent and scraping against tongue to itch the scratch of desire to remove it from his mouth as punishment for even suggesting such a thing.
There were so many conundrums to it all: she didn't want to kill to Kakashi, yet here she was suffocating him for even slightly believing she could be responsible for Gaara's extraction. She also understood how anyone could come to that conclusion logically—it was too perfect that she went missing right as Gaara was kidnapped and then revealed herself soon after his death—but it called into question her benevolent actions and character in ways she didn't believe were fair to her.
She was allowed this, but only so far.
A buzz brought her back into reality, and all it took was a recoil for it all to go to hell.
Kakashi, previously suffocating from smoke inhalation, suddenly dispersed into a mass of black and converged upon her. An automatic step backwards brought logic back full force as a thump sounded.
'The Sharingan, he put me in a Genjutsu version of my spell.'
Miyako barely avoided the snap of Akamaru's teeth and Kiba's nails as she collapsed back into smoke, kakaichu pressuring her into sailing across the wind as they nipped at her magic.
"Suiton: Water Dragon Bullet." Was the only warning she got before said dragon came ripping through the trees straight at her.
The bugs and the dragon came crashing into the bark of a nearby oak nearly simultaneously as she weaved through the branches for cover.
As she half rematerialized above the treetops she momentarily thought about retreating, Obito's orders be damned. She'd just given a huge advantage to Kakashi that she knew he would be more than willing to take advantage of at his next convenience, and apparently Biju weren't the sole excuse for her involuntary moments of poor judgment.
'Still,' she thought as she caught eyes with Kakashi's Sharingan again in challenge, 'the alternative is they find Sasuke, and thusly Obito and that meeting should be prolonged for as long as possible.'
So she laughed, mockingly, in Kakashi's face and took off, knowing she was doing him more of a favor than he would ever realize.
K/S
"She's toying with us."
Normally Shino wasn't one to state the obvious, so Kiba knew that he was frustrated with the way events were unfolding. Aside from this, only one other thing was certain to Kiba—though they were more than capable of tracking her, capture was an entirely different story.
It seemed the singular moment of weakness she'd displayed earlier when Kakashi had implied she was responsible for Gaara's death were all they were going to get from her. Since they'd resumed the chase she hadn't seen fit to engage them head on, staying always at least 3 yards in any direction and preferring to throw Genjutsu after Genjutsu at the them to keep them guessing and occupied. For what they didn't know, and it was starting to feel like a frustrating and rather fruitless endeavor, because if they couldn't capture her what was the point in even going after her.
Kiba turned to Kakashi-sensei who was kneeling on a nearby branch looking pensive as Shino sent his bugs through a mirage-like figure in another exciting round of: is it a solid clone, or Genjutsu?
"Kakashi-sensei?"
They'd stopped, all turned in the direction Miyako was hovering in about several yards away, mostly unmoving as far as they could tell, analyzing them.
"Kiba, Shino," once he knew he had their attention, he continued, "we're reverting to original mission parameters." Any protests they had died on their tongue as his gaze was turned on the two.
"Kiba, search for the scent of detonating powder." Kakashi huffs, pulling a kunai from his pouch. "This feels a little too familiar for me to write off as a run of the mill earth jutsu user."
While Akamaru scented the air, Shino ambled closer to them, never taking his gaze from Miyako's direction. "So we let her go?" Kakashi at first didn't answer, only balancing the kunai momentarily before throwing towards Miyako's location.
Kakashi too would not look away from her direction. "No, we test her meddle."
M/K
'Clever bastard.'
Miyako was doing her level best to keep an eye on them and keep their eyes off of her. Well, eye, that same kind of eye that was constantly trailing after her in her daily life too. She knew she needed to do something further to keep them from reaching Deidara and Sasuke's fight before it was over, especially after hearing Kakashi piece together that it was Deidara after all, but her brain was moving sluggishly for some reason. But did it really matter if she could simply track them and continue to foil their efforts as she had been in their attempt to capture her? It would just be a reversal—she would now be giving chase.
Still, it sounded exhausting all of the sudden, and what was stopping her from keeping them here? Wasn't that a much better idea? Yes, she should keep them here because they were three skilled enough trackers that she didn't want to have to strategize on the fly for in order to keep them away from Sasuke and Deidara. She just needed to think…
She looked again to the kunai embedded in a tree to the left of her—never even given a chance to meet it's target because Kakashi and team could only get a vague reading on her due to all the genjutsus, but he had to have known that, so why did he throw it?
Wait.
She whipped her head back to the three's location, still there, still looking in her direction with that damned eye, but—
She hurled a fireball at the weapon, igniting the tree entirely in her overzealous reaction, to reveal exactly as she had expected.
"Genjutsu." She groaned. What had only felt like seconds had actually been several minutes; a simple Genjutsu that had given them long enough to escape.
The fire fizzled out just as quickly as it had started— because she was environmentally conscious even if she was currently on the side of evil, thank you very much— and she locked onto their auras just as a large pop sounded across what had to be a 50 mile radius.
"Why don't you just announce you're here then Deidara?" She grumbled, chasing the dying sounds of released wind.
O/M
Miyako's clones kind of reminded Obito of wind-up toys—except instead of sitting perfectly and eerily still when not wound up, her clones moved and completed tasks, just emotionlessly and without speaking. He knew this was by design, and one of these days he was going to push them to see how far he'd have to go to get a reaction. Although he didn't think he would have to try harder than simply mentioning the name "Gaara" in the same sentence as a threat.
If he hadn't seen worse, it would almost be jarring how the clone would suddenly jerk alive from a fairly stationary position into whatever emotional response Miyako was channeling through her body that her face was not allowed to show.
"They are coming this way." She didn't have to elaborate, Obito knew "they" were Kakashi and whatever trackers he had employed, and from the pinch of her shoulders it must be from her favorite group of friends.
"Let them come." He tilted his head down to Deidara and Sasuke, Miyako just now comprehending the situation her clone had been passively observing all this time.
After running so many scenarios in her head, the tension sagged from her shoulders, but she remained wary.
"Are you really okay with this scenario? Isn't this…wasteful?" She tilted her head as Deidara became nothing more than dark veins all connected to the singular mouth on his chest.
Aside from a hum, Obito said nothing, letting her know that he wasn't intending on interfering in this scenario any more than he already had. Letting Deidara die wasn't a huge surprise, but Sasuke however.
Normally she wouldn't care, in fact ridding the world of one more Uchiha sounded like a service, but her trip down memory lane with Itachi and Naruto's unfaltering brotherly love must be coloring her judgment, because a part of her almost didn't want Sasuke to die. Really, when she'd thought about it, aside from skewering Gaara that one time and putting Naruto through the ringer physically, mentally and emotionally only to fail to follow through with killing him in the Valley of the End, Sasuke had done nothing personally to provoke her ire. He was a homicidal misguided teenager, and she'd known plenty of those in her lifetime. And killing Orochimaru should really cancel out some of the other questionable acts he's committed.
Ew, was she sympathizing with an Uchiha?
Despite wanting to act, she really didn't have the time for it, as Deidara exploded in a blast so powerful there was no way Miyako could outrun or out-teleport it in time. And if she couldn't, then Sasuke…
One blink, blinding light, heat, and assured death. The next, an uninterrupted view of a dim village winking with multi-colored lights and rain pelting her skin. Ame.
A hand on her cheek guided to look into Obito's sharingan eye as she blinked rapidly to adjust her vision. Maybe the saying "there's no sun in Amegakure" wasn't so farfetched, this being the darkest village she'd ever encountered in her century plus of living.
"That's enough playtime with your friends." He chuckled darkly. "Send your clone to Itachi, I have a feeling we're in for a show."
If she could wrinkle her brow she would; she wondered if his assurance of Sasuke's escape from death was because of his assessment of his skills thus far, or because of his arrogance in the Uchiha name.
"Once that battle is over, tend to the winner and dispel this clone. You won't want to be around when I return to Fire country."
Somehow she knew what that meant, still because he so obviously wanted her to she asked: "why?"
The same way that Gaara and his siblings could just somehow tell what expressions Miyako was making despite the mask, so too could Miyako tell when Obito was smirking at her mockingly on body language alone.
"Don't worry, I just want to talk."
Before she could open her mouth to argue that they shouldn't be alone with him and somehow twist that sentiment to make it seem as though she was concerned with Obito's safety, and not so obviously about Naruto and the others, he grabbed her hand and hauled her up the incline of what she was just noticing was a steep mountainside they'd been standing on this whole time.
Just as suddenly as she felt like arguing, the fight seeped from her skin and melted out of her pores and she felt an echo chamber of nothingness in her thoughts, and blanketed on top of this was a soft peace to sooth the panic. Warning bells, and itching skin, and grinding teeth were all drowned out by these impenetrable auras filtering from the opening in front of them. Who could they be visiting? In the middle of a pivotal fight between Itachi and Sasuke while Obito's enemies sought to track them both down?
From darkness into further darkness they stepped, only to come face to face with a more unfamiliar dojutsu and piercing orange eyes. Pein and Konan, the "Leader" and his Angel.
Nothing good could come of this.
P/K
On the surface people would assume that Madara and Miyako were a mismatched looking pair simply because of the effort the shadow leader put into looking like a fool on a daily basis. However, Pein saw past these things and knew that they were mismatched for qualities that could not be seen on surface level.
When Miyako had first appeared before the Akatsuki, trailing obediently behind "Tobi" as he called himself, she was the picture of a docile, quiet, killer. She played the part of being the brains cleaning up Tobi's fumbling quite well, but there was something guarded about her eyes as they trailed over everyone, even the man she was supposedly attached to, that peaked Pein's interest only just slightly. It went beyond the normal suspicion of a seasoned ninja, and appeared, only if you were lucky enough to catch it, that she knew people without ever having to get to know them. Like she could see into their motivations, their very core personality, in split seconds. And the way in which she avoided certain Akatsuki like the plague let him know that she wasn't the emotionless killer Tobi was toting around.
"Pein, Konan." Madara stopped before them, cloaked from head to toe save for that Sharingan eye, while Miyako's exposed skin glimmered with moisture that dripped from her straight black hair and slipped beneath the pathetic excuses for fabric protecting her modesty. His gloved hand gripped assuredly onto her fingers and Miyako didn't give so much as a reaction to the discomfort of her damp surroundings, or the way Madara refused to release her despite being fully aware that he had no need to put on this act for them.
"Leader, Miyako." Pein greeted back with a tip of head in acknowledgment, Konan following suit behind him.
"It is time to collect the Nine-Tails." He began brusquely, pacing around the duo and forcing Miyako to follow suit by their connected hands so he could hang up his outer rain cloak.
Pein took to observing Miyako rather than answering, knowing that this was only Madara wanting to speak freely after playing his part too long. He didn't miss the lengthening of her back, though he supposed she gave no outward appearance of…would he call this worry? Not to Madara.
"Naruto is no longer a child, in fact he took out two of Kakuzu's hearts with a single blow." He laughed darkly as he swung around, Miyako orienting around him as if he were the sun with small shuffles.
"Isn't that right, Miyako?" He reached with the hand unoccupied by hers over to smooth his thumb on her chin. "Go on, tell them of Naruto's skills."
There was a beat where she simply let the silence sit and then like a tidal wave:
"Uzumaki Naruto is a wind chakra type, his signature moves being the Rasengan and Shadow Clone jutsu. He has recently developed a jutsu dubbed the rasen-shuriken, but has not used it since his skirmish with Kakuzu, which only indicates that there must be a toll taken he is not willing to pay. What he lacks in intelligence he makes up for in stamina, in part due to the tailed beast. His taijutsu is average, as well as his weapons proficiency. He has no known affinity for genjutsu at this time."
Then like a dam welled up she stopped and offered nothing further, face shuttered off completely. The information was, at best, the bare minimum, especially from a spy as well touted as she. His theory then came to mind, and it was then that Pein was certain: Miyako was not a soldier to their cause, she was simply a tool Madara had managed to gain, rather unwillingly, to his side.
Konan must've sensed it too, and thought to grant her mercy, as Madara was too busy burning holes into the side of her head.
"You speak as though the target is a threat, but it matters not to Pein. He has never lost a battle."
He swung his head easily back to the duo with a laugh, but Pein saw his fingers tighten around hers.
"Well, you are right." He conceded. "At any rate, tell the other Akatsuki members to hurry and capture the other tailed beasts."
"I know." He offered simply, and just as quickly as he'd come, he collected his cloak to leave.
"Our goal is that much closer to being fulfilled." Madara continued, wistfully, releasing Miyako to swing on his cloak. "And for all to be right with the world again." He brought a hand behind Miyako's neck to card his fingers through her hair, and like a doll she made not a peep or movement to stop him.
With absolutely no preamble, he made his way past Pein and Konan, cloak secured and his Living Doll trailing behind him dutifully. Pein thought that would be the end of it, but just as she passed, Miyako's head snapped up, and her eyes met his for the first time, and in them he saw life.
Emotion.
And warning.
I/M
Miyako found Itachi because he wanted to be found, chiefly by Sasuke but he didn't look at all displeased to see her.
He lounged, far too casually for her taste, in a chair facing the entranceway to an underground Uchiha hideout. From the amused look on his face, he could tell that she was all sorts of uncomfortable and for that she almost thought about taking back her offer, almost.
"This is your last chance Itachi. Don't spit in the face of my generosity." She groused, scoffing when he did nothing but shake his head.
She began pacing around the space, needing movement to rid herself of the discomfort of death hanging in the air. She felt like she should say something poignant to him seeing as these would some of his final minutes, but what could she say? Sorry? She wasn't—while she didn't want Itachi to die, she could respect choosing to go your own way, so she couldn't disrespect him or his choice. Have a good afterlife? She didn't even know if there was one. Do you have any last requests? Why would she offer that when she was sure she couldn't fulfill any of them without being caught by Obito and potentially punished.
Besides, she was sure he had his last requests already taken care of by his own hands, which reminds her.
"Why are you involving Naruto? What are you playing at even on the brink of death Uchiha Itachi?" She demanded with a cock of her hip.
20 minutes Earlier
Even in knowing that it wasn't going to happen today, Miyako found herself subconsciously following Naruto from a distance as he tracked Sasuke despite herself.
'What can I do? Can I warn them? But what's the use in that when I don't know what to warn them of? And it isn't like they aren't already aware that Naruto has a target on his back. What they need is prevention, but that is not something I can provide. Could I somehow get this communication to other nations? But I don't know when this will take place—and how will I provide validity—"
A faint lick of fire warmed her insides momentarily enough to distract her from her downward spiral of thoughts. Itachi, mingling about with that intense field of roses, Naruto.
"What is he doing?" She cautioned a step forward, but tickling on the edges of her senses were claws and fangs, a thousand eyes, cinnamon, cotton, melancholy, wriggling colors, and a Senju tinged waterfall—the rest of his team was not far behind.
She cursed, jumping several feet back and cloaking her presence even further to avoid them catching onto her again in paranoia, but she desperately wanted to know what Itachi wanted with Naruto.
She paced a good 20 yard radius around where she sensed him, wondering at how to penetrate the distance without getting caught, and she was so caught up she missed the flame traveling her way until it was nearly on top of her, and then—
She looked up, caught eyes with Itachi's signature raven summons, and more importantly the red and black eye.
For a moment the world slanted and then forcefully clicked back into place. Miyako was left staring at a black feather left behind in confusion.
'Genjutsu? On me? For what?' Determining by her surroundings that she was no longer in a genjutsu, that is if she had ever been put in one in the first place, which was a scarier thought all together, she felt around to check if the Leaf team was pursuing, but they all took off in a totally separate direction, meaning…
'Naruto lied. Why would Naruto lie to the team about encountering Itachi? Unless he put Naruto in a genjutsu that made him question his own reality?'
Miyako grunted, but followed the flickering flame to Itachi, determined to find out either way.
Present
Itachi, of course, did not answer her inquiries, giving her nothing more than an upward tilt of his lips. How he could still be amused at this situation was beyond her, but she supposed she too would take joy wherever she could get it if she knew she was going to die.
She opened her mouth to press, but then a colder fire washed over her and she bite back a groan, but did not hold back an irritated glare.
As she disappeared from view, she wondered if she was powerful enough to control a séance, just so she could ream Uchiha Itachi out.
G/K/T
"I…don't understand."
Spread before the Jounin Council and the Kazekage were artist's renderings of a scene found in the forest near Sanbi's lake. Images, according to Konoha, that were carved into trees before later being erased without a trace.
It wasn't entirely true to say he didn't understand, he understood a few things: one, these were made, and then later destroyed, by Miyako. Two: they were carvings about her, at least some of them, as evidenced by the commonality of curly hair and violet petal stamped eyes. Three: She was physically harmed when she made them, the Inuzuka confirming that all of the scenes containing red were made by her own blood.
What they didn't understand was why, or what the majority of them meant.
Gaara could easily pinpoint his own, they were right next to each other, one scene of a stick figure with blood for hair and the curly haired stick figure of Miyako sitting under the stars. He couldn't recall where in his reality this scene was calling back to, but he attributed it to his missing year of childhood.
The only other scene he knew was about him was another bloody haired stick figure, standing alone, surrounded by an outline of a slanted eyed, pointed teeth animal behind him and off to the side, a small sanded circular object. He could only guess that this was about his time being driven by the desires of the Shukaku.
He…postulated that the picture of the stick figure lying in the sanded area with overlapping bloodied handprints, and the red eyed stick figure standing over him was about himself as well, when he died after having Shukaku extracted of course, but he wasn't sure why she had added red eyes. Did it simply mean evil, as other children often indicated in their drawings? And he also didn't know why she had bathed him in red handprints, he hadn't bled nearly that much.
It seemed silly to pick a part what were essentially drawings carved out to…taunt them, as the council was convinced. But Gaara knew Miyako to be meticulous and detail oriented, and there was no way she would mess up those sorts of details.
Still, none of those drawings mattered as much to him as the one currently in his hand now. Simple as it was, a swirled carving intersecting with a carved circle, next to a pair of carved eyes stamped with bloody violets. This was the drawing at the forefront of the discovery. The first one the team saw. The eyes were obviously Miyako, the true riddle was, who, or what, was the swirling symbol?
"Isn't it obvious? The swirl is a symbol of the Uzumaki clan, she was naming her target!"
Gaara phased back into the conversation at this declaration from Asuka, and the hums of agreement of the rest of the council.
"Not to play Devil's Advocate, but this is not a perfect swirl, the pattern is interrupted by a circle on the right side, and the shape is more oblong than a perfect circle on the outside." Kankuro argued, surprisingly.
Himura scoffed, but was glared down by Baki and Kankuro, who were alternating between monitoring the Council's words and shooting Gaara concerned stares. He did his best to not look as vulnerable as he felt as he sat up straighter in his chair.
"Still, is her being there not proof enough that she's working with the Akatsuki? What do these drawings provide us, except more questions?" Goro pushed the papers away resolutely.
"Even if they are nothing more than a taunt, they could be a clue—and any information is valuable at this point." Kankuro grimaced. "Jinchuriki are being picked off like flies, so the Cypher core needs to work with Konoha on this to glean what we can from it."
Kankuro looked to Gaara for support while the rest of the Council groused defensively.
Carefully, he placed the paper containing the puzzling picture onto the table before him and smoothed it out, resolutely staring away from those violet eyes staring back at him.
"Kankuro is right, this could very well be a costly mistake on Miyako's part and information the nations will need to protect the remaining Jinchuriki. Take it to the corps."
A Chuunin came by and collected a set of images from Kankuro, who, like Gaara, was especially interested in the first picture of the eyes and the swirling pattern.
Gaara stacked his copy of the images neatly, those eyes still boring into him at the very top, and tried to beat down the voice in his head mocking that Miyako didn't make mistakes like this.
K/O
Even with all of Kakashi's focus lying on finding Sasuke, he had still remained vigilant in double checking for Miyako, sure as shit that it must be one of the Uchiha brothers that she was stalling for earlier and just knowing that she was going to move to deter them from finding them at the first sign of trouble.
He had forgotten to take into account other Akatsuki members; so sure that Miyako was working with them and therefore their primary concern.
He was annoyed with himself, but mostly he was annoyed with the situation.
They were being abundantly cautious when it came to Akatsuki members, especially since this one was not listed in Kabuto's book, but thus far he had proven to be a nuisance first and foremost. At the moment it seemed he was gleaming more from their jutsu than they of his, only recently having discovered that he could erase parts of his body from existence. A formidable and grating skill.
"He's toying with us!" Naruto yelled through gritted teeth, Kiba scoffing in agreement.
"First Miyako, and now this guy, what does the Akatsuki hope to gain from this?"
The masked man titled his head exaggeratedly, not unlike a certain lying ANBU black ops used to, and affected the most confused tone he could muster: "Miyako? I don't know a Miyako." And then he hummed pensively for added dramatic effect.
Wait.
'The picture. A swirl leading to a circle on the right side…' Kakashi locked his gaze onto the masked man more intently, almost as if he was really seeing him for the first time, and superimposed that image over him.
'Yes. There's no mistaking it, this must be who Miyako carved into that first drawing. But why?'
From the tree branch came a large Venus fly trap that opened to reveal a…man? Bisected perfectly down the middle with black and white. His appearance was one thing, but what came out of his mouth next was more than shocking.
"It's over, Sasuke has won. Uchiha Itachi is dead."
'He doesn't seem overly concerned with his comrade's death, but if they weren't here to stop us from interfering with the battle in order to prevent Itachi's death, then…?'
"Just as I predicted." The masked man's posture shifted, his voice losing the ridiculous whining pitch and his chakra spiking with deadly intent.
"I'll take you on later." And just then, he locked his singular left eye on Kakashi's right.
'That's…Sharingan? But, how? But more importantly, what do they want with Sasuke?'
"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto, even ever dense, had caught on to the odd plant man's implication.
"We have to find Sasuke as quickly as possible." 'Before they can do worse.'
G/M
3 Days Later
Gaara's bedtime routine was shot. He refused to think of the reason.
His tea he typically used to sleep had been scalded, and it was the last tea bag they had available. Then he had discovered when preparing to bathe that he had no clean bedclothes to sleep in and had to have a Chuunin run his dirty laundry in the middle of the night. While he sat in the tub the hot water had run cold in his waiting while he battled tumultuous thoughts about she-who-should-not-be-named.
His warm bedclothes being returned to him did bring comfort to his chilled skin, but once he hit the bed every thought he'd avoided having hit him full force.
'The nameless Masked Man appeared in front of the Leaf Team and matched the drawing Miyako left to the T. Who is he to her? In Kakashi's report he made it clear that he was new, is that why she left? Because she was biding her time until this man made it in?' Beneath him the fibers of his sheets cried out in protest, the seams straining under his white-fisted grip.
'Are they…no.' He turned over resolutely, determined to think no more of this, but the thoughts pierced his skull in the darkness of night. 'But why tell us at all? Miyako is not the type to give out information like this for no reason, and strategically there is no good reason for forewarning your enemy of your arrival, unless it's to play mind games.'
He slammed his eyes shut and breathed out, trying to un-crease his forehead and meditate.
'What if this was the other man she was afraid to confess love to?' He gasped, slamming a pillow over his face. 'No, no, no—she wouldn't, but she kissed—so why?'
He sat up and attempted to calm his rapidly beating heart, unsure of the cause of his sudden panic.
'It doesn't fit, it's out of character. There's no reason to suspect something like this after she spent so much time with me. And, and what if—what if she was warning us? What if the carvings were her attempt to help us? What if she erased him so the Masked Man wouldn't find out about them? What if, in these carvings, she is giving us intelligence?'
Gaara sank down into his pillows, heartbeat calmed, and finally closed his eyes.
K/T
3 Days Earlier
Tsunade flipped through the black book Kabuto left them with interest, noting two new entries at the back with very little information.
"We managed to track down Sasuke's scent after the Masked Man disappeared, but when we arrived to the scene, both Itachi's body and Sasuke were gone. Miyako's scent disappeared before we found the scene, but we're certain she was around monitoring the entire fight to have acted that quickly in cleanup."
Tsunade closed the book on the page of the artist's rendition of Miyako and the scrawled information with a lot of question marks and looked pensively up to Kakashi. "And you said that this Masked Man had a Sharingan? And he didn't claim to know who Miyako was."
"Yes, Tsunade-sama."
Silently she bent to the side and felt along the bottom of her desk until she made a triumphant noise, plunking down a half full bottle of sake onto the desk.
Sighing she poured herself a drink. "More questions, and no answers from either Cypher core, huh?" She tsked, downing a mouthful straight from the bottle.
Kakashi watched her for a beat, her gaze seemingly in a far off world, knowing that the failure of this mission wasn't what was fully weighing on her mind. He'd heard whispers of Jiraiya briefly returning before heading right back out again, and he wondered at her haunted look if wherever he went this time would end with grave consequences.
"Tsunade-sama." He wasn't sure what he was going to say when he called out for her, but if it got her briefly back into reality.
"The Masked Man…I think he's the reason Miyako is in the Akatsuki. The drawing…"
She pursed her lips in thought, nails tapping rhythmically onto the side of the bottle. "That's not concrete evidence, but it's enough if his mask matches the drawing." She petered off into silence at his wary look. "What is it?"
"I just—" he sighed, cutting himself off, frankly disbelieving that he would even think this.
"Speak." She demanded, leaning forward in interest, he ignored the obvious temptation that came with her top sliding further apart.
"I think she's there, against her will." At the pitch of her eyebrow, he breathed out a torrent of words.
"She's always been fidgety about the Sharingan, and she has a distinct distaste for Uchiha—I realize that this could've all been facets crafted for her undercover persona—but it's so specific considering most of the Uchiha had died out. The pictures with all of the red-eyed figures, the wreckage around the site—she was in pain." He deflated at her thoughtful look. "I know how it sounds."
"Kakashi…" Tsunade groans heavily. "We'll never know the truth until she's standing in front of us. Who knows?" She took another swig of her bottle. "Maybe Naruto is on to something." She snorts, grinning in fond exasperation. "He usually is."
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Gaara's eyes rip open to unreachable darkness above him and in his peripherals faint light dots random places. He doesn't know this place, and yet it fills him with a dread that feels familiar.
He tries to move but his body is numb. Beneath him his spine feels the sensation of rocky terrain digging into his back. A cave, he guesses, is where he's ended up. How he is unable to move, even to so much as turn his head, is beyond him.
He can hear the buzzing of voices, low murmurs, ones he can't recognize but again only deepen the dread in his stomach. The bustling gets sharper, several feet moving about to various places some meters away from him, and then the slow build of a sinister chakra builds before him and his heartbeat suddenly thunders in his ears. His breath gasping is the only thing he can make out sharply through the blood rushing in an onslaught of panic he doesn't entirely understand. 'Move.' He urges himself, but only a finger responds.
"Miyako, come."
The voice, just as dark as his surroundings, cuts through his emotional upheaval, heart racing for an entire different reason. 'Miyako? Has she been captured too?'
His heart stutters to a stop as her face appears before him, before twisting in a mixture of anguished joy.
She looks…wrong.
It is the same copper skin, full lips, slightly crooked button nose, and famous purple eyes. But those lips were flat, those eyes expressionless, and the hair…straight, flat, dull.
Something was wrong.
"Calm him down, you're the only one who can."
Something was wrong, as her hand reached for his face. Something was wrong with her touch, foreign yet soothing, familiar yet apologetic. It cupped his cheek, and something was wrong with it, but his body betrayed him. His face sagged into her palm, eyes locked onto that still blank face as her thumb stroked his cheek.
"Gaara, calm down."
Something was wrong with her voice, it was still soft and lilting, but something about it was disconcerting and disjointed; insincere, but calming nonetheless.
"Everything will be over soon."
Something was wrong with the words she said. They weren't the solid, eloquent kind he'd come to be reassured by, but carefully painted promises that sounded like lies.
'Isn't she here to help me? Isn't she here to take me away? What will be over soon? Why wouldn't she say she's here to take me home? Please.'
Her hand withdrew, now that it seemed like his heart had treacherously slowed its beating. But still something was wrong.
'Help me, please.'
"Move Miyako, it's time." Another voice snickered in amusement.
She withdrew, backing away several feet, but still just on the edges of his vision. Still with no emotion for Gaara despite never having seen all of her face for this long in years, despite all the emotion she seemed to display behind a mask; emotion she had for Gaara.
'Miyako.'
Something was very wrong.
"Let's begin." The same voice commands, and as if brought into motion by this last chance, his body allows him to throw one arm out to the still unmovable Miyako.
A scoff sounds, then: "Miyako."
"Gaara, be still, don't struggle." Miyako, the wrong one, calls out evenly.
He can feel slithering beneath him now, a grittier texture: sand. It gathers, and gathers, and gathers and his arm, raised desperately to her, is forced down. His lips, which before would not part, open to let out a singular whimper and the sand greedily converges on his pain to weigh him down further until it's all he can feel. Everywhere but his face buried under his former safe haven, his eyes still set on the now frowning Miyako, hands clasped in front of her and eyes looking at him unseeingly.
"Please." He chokes out through everything wrong—his calm body, the traitor sand, the unfeeling version of Miyako—and behind her he sees it, a coalescing shadow, with too jagged teeth, wicked talons and beady purple eyes looming over them both.
"Trust me." She intones dispassionately, her face warring with her words even further as her mouth pulls deeper into a frown. She brings one palm up and waits.
He twitches in a last act of rebellion. "Please."
The shadow lunges.
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Um. Anyway, have you ever typed a word so many times it's no longer a word to you? That's me with "Kankuro" today lol.
For the readers who showed up after all this time. Thanks
Until next time (I won't promise anything, but it won't be so long.)
Safety. First. Acronym.