"Two sides to a story but they never tell my side. Never been the kinda guy to stay inside the guidelines. I know I'm the bad guy, I don't gotta ask why."

Kakuzu had to say, the trip back was uneventful for sure. The occasional small talk from Kisame filled the air. He was still keeping a close eye on the other of the trio though, paying no mind to Kisame. Kakuzu had to wonder what Itachi would tell Pein. He hoped that because of his compliance, he would be out of the water. If not, he might sink. He could at least put up with Hidan. He knew what to expect of him. And as annoying as he may be, it was at least what he was used to now. He didn't 'miss' his partner, no, but he would rather put up with Hidan than Itachi and Kisame. This thought made him sigh internally. How is it the one person he can't stand, he would rather be around?

Kakuzu also had questions about this mystery man. He didn't match the description of the man he was looking for. So who was he? And how was he connected to Minahira? It just didn't seem to add up. He didn't look like her type. Kakuzu didn't want to think about that though, as it served no purpose except make him doubt his own self. How many people were in this web? Obviously more than what he thought originally. So how many more were there? He had to speculate that there could be more than anticipated with this long and drawn out mission. It felt like he was set up for failure any way he tried to look at it. Surely there was something he could do to make her snap out of it? He had to keep an open mind about her not changing her ideals now. It was just as possible that she wanted things this way, no matter how he thought about the situation. This thought made him come to the realization that he was indeed not as important to her as he thought. He just didn't understand why this was the life she was choosing. Had their encounter been nothing to her? She could have been masking it well, but she also was not known to be like that. At least not to him.

Kakuzu also wondered how this mystery man was able to infiltrate his dreams, just like Mina. Was this some unknown jutsu that only they knew about? Was it something they created? That was another possibility. How did he disappear into smoke out of thin air? Could they be creating their own battle style? He didn't know, as the times were always changing. These powers though, this was something he thought that Pein might consider seeing as this could be useful. How deep into someone's sub conscious could they delve into? It was like a jigsaw puzzle was in front of him, except none of the pieces quite fit together.

Kakuzu also toyed with the ideas floating around in his head. Like how much he was willing to speak of. What information he thought would actually be useful to his own personal cause. This could work. It had to, right? He spent the rest of the trip contemplating what he was going to say. He knew he had to be careful with his choice of words, there was no doubt about that. At this point, with the current situation, Kakuzu desperately wished that she would invade his dreams so he could properly ask what he actually needed to know in order to go through with his plan. What were the extent to her true abilities? At this point, he knew exactly what he would say. What details he would allow to seep through his own lips. He had more confidence about this than he had been feeling lately. This could be a turning point in the whole ordeal.

As they reached the base, Kakuzu steeled himself. This was what he had made his decision to do. There would be no turning back. The only kink he still hadn't worked out was how he would explain WHY she was coming to him specifically.

"We need to give the report. Will you be joining us, Kakuzu?" Why did Itachi always sound uninterested? Maybe it was his own façade.

"Yes." His short reply caused Kisame to look at him, grinning from ear to ear.

"You seemed unnaturally friendly towards that woman you were speaking to. You know her?" He started picking at his teeth without a true care right now.

"I was simply gathering information. That was the job, yes? Simple." The sarcasm dripped off of his tongue like venom.

At this, the trio headed inside walking in silence. A swift knock from Kisame on Pein's office broke the silence along with a stern "Enter."

"What information did you three come across?" His voice almost sounded like he was actually uninterested in their report.

Itachi locked eyes with Kakuzu before speaking, "Go ahead."

Kakuzu faced Pein, speaking calmly and straight to the point.

"She has a power you might be interested in."

"And that would be..?"

"She can infiltrate another person's mind and it seems to not affect her in any way. She has some kind of ability to slow time as well. How she does this, I'm not sure. But it could prove useful for our cause." Kakuzu concluded.

"And how do you know of this?" The other two were closely watching Kakuzu while Pein seemed to stare into Kakuzu's soul. That's what it felt like, anyway. This whole experience made him feel anxious as he wasn't sure how to answer. Until he did have a light go off in his head.

"She used these abilities on me. I had no way of moving my body under her jutsu. I'm not sure why out of the three of us, she chose me to look into."

"Hmm.." He eyed Kakuzu once more before shifting his attention to Itachi. "Do you have anything to add to this?"

"She seems to be able to hide her own chakra. She seems to be cautious and is quick to cover her own tracks." He shot a glance at Kakuzu as he spoke, almost as if to say he knew more to it than that. Kakuzu knew this could lead up to another unwanted conversation between the two of them. He just hoped his companion wouldn't be around for it. Or any of the the members, honestly.

"We will discuss this further at another date. I will call you when it is time. You're free to leave."

Kakuzu was just relieved to be out of the confinements of being stuck with two other members. One was enough of a headache as it was. He dismissed himself from the party and headed for the kitchen. He had a strange craving for some tea. Maybe because it was a way he used as a small stress relief. When he turned around, hoping to go to his room without a run in from anyone else, Deidara was standing in the doorway looking as smug as ever; hands crossed over his chest as he leaned against the door frame.

"Enjoy your trip, yeah?" It was no secret to anyone that Kakuzu abhorred working with others. He preferred solitude to the company of others. It also did not help that the childish prying made him want to strangle the nuke-nin.

"I don't have time for your ignorance." Kakuzu brushed past Deidara without a glace his direction.

"I heard you spent some time with a woman on your trip, yeah." His badgering on the subject was less than thrilling for Kakuzu.

"Hmph.." Without another thought he headed straight to his room, seeking out solitude from his outing.

Upon reaching his room, he had a though invade his mind. This man that he seen, he knew he had seen the man before but he couldn't place where. The more he thought about it, the more questions he had. Until it hit him. Kayn. One of Mina's previous partners on various missions. How could he be alive? How many more were there that he didn't know about?

He knew Kayn well enough to know he was obnoxious. This man had came on to Mina on more than one occasion, but she always seemed to overlook that. Although he was like that with other women as well. Maybe it was just a part of who this man was, or wanted to be. Kakuzu had no idea. The more he thought about people from his past, the more he realized Mina had no friends outside of some of the men she went on missions with. Kakuzu could remember two more than she frequently carried on about. This brought more questions. All four, including Mina, were on her last mission. Was it possible that Kayn wasn't the only one that somehow was still around? But how could that be? Kakuzu knew for sure he had seen their bodies desecrated. Almost to the point of being unrecognizable.

These thoughts gave Kakuzu a headache. He was sure this was no reanimation jutsu. No. Did Mina have some sort of ability to resurrect others? If so, the possibilities could lead to disaster. All it would take would be reviving the wrong person. There were plenty of people that would love to have an ability like this. Or maybe the speculation of such an ability was just that. A lingering thought.

Kakuzu had given himself a headache thinking about these things too much. It was a stressor to think of what was really going on. So many things weren't adding up t anything that made any sense to him. Possibly because he had no idea the true extent of the situation that kept flooding his mind. He laid down on his bed, fiddling with the golden locket trying to figure what it's appearance meant for him. He furrowed his brows in confusion and anger. How could he not be able to figure this out? It seemed simple, but he had to wonder WHERE it originated from.

Without realizing it, he slowly drifted into a sleep that was not restful at all.

Giggling could be heard coming from the other side of his door. That particular laugh made Kakuzu perk up, eyeing his door. He had expected Mina to simply enter, as she did on several occasional, but instead he heard a rapping at his door. Wondering what the situation could be, he got up from his spot on his couch, putting the book he was reading on the coffee table. He took his time getting to the door. Something about this interaction made him feel uneasy. When he opened his door, he understood why she only knocked and seen the reasons for his uneasiness. Kayn Hiroto had his arm around Mina's shoulders-smug grin and all made Kakuzu feel like he might lose his cool at any moment. Kayn had yellow pants with a black crop top. His usual get up. This time he did not have his scythe on him. The smoke ninja- he was known to be able to get in to any building or room he pleased. He was someone who had an almost perfect kekkei genkai for his job- he was able to turn into smoke and find any small hole to in turn materialize on the other side. As much as Kakuzu disliked this man, he had to admit he had an at least interesting ability. Kayn had also been known to have conversation with his blade, which he called Raahst.

He seen a much bigger, buff man with orange hair and blue eyes. His red coat with white fur on the inside was funny looking to Kakuzu. Not because of the coat itself, but because he had obviously ripped off the sleeves. He had an sleeveless white shirt on with a pair of white pants. He had bandages on his hands aside from his fingers. What really stood out to Kakuzu was his orange cat ears on top of his head with two sets of silver thick hoops on his right ear. How could such a large and obviously physically strong man have these? Kakuzu coughed to keep from laughing at the absurdity. This man had to have been Yone Kotetsu. (Yo-nay) He fit Mina's description. That means this man had very little chakra, but had been an expert in Taijutsu. He had his arms crossed on top of Mina's scruffy head. She seemed happy by the look on her face.

The much smaller framed man on the other side of Mina must have been Alune Kazumi. He had short blue hair that was styled over to the side. He had deep red eyes and a black mask covering the lower half of his face. He wore a black top with a turtle neck with a jacket that was a cutoff- black on the outside and yellow on the inside. He had tighter black pants on and also had matching black nails and fingerless black gloves. This man must have been the mute Mina had brought up on more than one occasion. He was what everyone considered a utility ninja. He was well versed in medic jutsus as well as being a weapons expert. His weapons were not traditional weapons, though. He was the first to wave. He was moving his hands around with a twinkle in his eyes. He must have been smiling, but the truth was Kakuzu had no idea how to sign or understand it- he looked back at Mina for a possible translation. He didn't want to brush her off-even if she was around her own crew.

"He says we are going to watch the fireworks together and you should join us. They might be my team, but you're like my only family."

Family. That was a quick knife to his chest. Why did that statement bother him?

This was our stealth team. These four were the ones that went out ahead of any other team to assess the dangers and gather information. While Mina and Alune made sense, Kayn and Yone did NOT make sense to him. They were two loud men, although Yone was more tolerable in Kakuzu's eyes. Kayn was too cocky and flirtatious for Kakuzu to even consider talking to him. He hated seeing him be so casual with Minahira.

"Fine."

She started clapping her hands in excitement. This one small win made Kakuzu smirk.

"Don't get TOO excited tough guy." Kayn winked at him as if trying to get some kind of reaction. Alune rolled his eyes and put one hand on his hip and the other hand he waved his finger in front of Kayn's face as if he was telling him no or to stop. Kakuzu knew it would take longer to figure out Alune than the other two. Kayn, he was already familiar enough with.

As Kakuzu looked at the group in front of him, he took comfort in Mina's excitement for him to come with them. Fireworks...something he cared nothing about. He understood that their connection to each other was a bit deeper than just a team of ninjas. No, these were the people she had been spending time with when they would get into arguments. These were her friends, whether he liked it or not. He sighed and put on his shoes to follow the quad. He trailed in the back with Yone.

"Mina talks about you a lot, ya know." Yone's smooth voice brought Kakuzu back from his own thoughts.

"Oh? What does she say?" Kakuzu seemed to be unconcerned with whatever this man had to say to him and in fact didn't care for his small talk.

"She really thinks the world of you, ya know. But I'll make this clear, if you ever did anything to hurt her we would come looking for you. She is our captain after all. So that means she means a great deal to us as well."

Her light laughter could be heard in front of the duo. This caused Kakuzu to shift his attention to her. Kayn was laughing as well as Mina and Alune looked flustered, moving his hands almost too fast for Kakuzu to catch. He was going to learn sign after this. There was no way he would let these four know this and not him. What if they were talking about him secretly? How would he know? He would not allow this to happen. Maybe this would be a good thing to learn from Mina. The thought of solo time with her made him feel warm, a feeling he pushed down with his irritation instead.

"What is he saying?"

Yone looked over to Kakuzu, smiling. This is when he noticed Yone's cannines. They were very pointed. This had brought up more questions on this mans origin. Kakuzu knew the man had no family in the village, so how did he end up here? At least Kayn and Alune were locals with families here.

"I can't see everything from this angle, but it looks like Kayn and Mina have gotten him flustered about it being a full moon tonight." He started chuckling at his own words.

"Full moon..?" Did Kakuzu really want to know?

"Oh, you don't know? This is the one night that Alune can speak, but only when there is a full moon. They were poking fun at his voice. To be fair though, he does have a very feminine voice." Yone had been radiating warmth and positivity. Traits Kakuzu hated.

Watching them from the outside though, Kakuzu could tell Mina was genuinely happy. He sighed, feeling defeated. How could these people make her so happy when he only seemed to anger her now. No, they were not kids anymore. But they had always been connected deeply to each other. They had nobody but each other for so long, so how could he have allowed this to happen? She had to go find companionship elsewhere. Maybe it would have happened anyways, but Kakuzu cursed himself for letting things get as rocky as they had been.

"Keep up, Kakuzu-or should I say Kuzu~" Kayn mocked him in a sing song voice, shooting a smirk his way.

Kakuzu stopped in his tracks. This man was pushing him any time they interacted. He seemed to stay trying to make Kakuzu angry. And this time, he did.

"Do NOT call me that, ever. Or I will gladly cut your tongue from your mouth, Kayn."

"Ohoho big talk coming from you. Say, when was YOUR last mission, hmm?"

"Kayn, this is not the time or place for this." Yone drove his fist into his partners head, causing him to faceplant in the ground.

"What the hell, man?" Kayn got up rubbing his head.

Alune just shook his head in disapproval, while Mina seemed to have her eyes glued to Kakuzu. Their eyes only locked for a few moments, but it gave him a sense of familiarity and comfort that maybe this outing wasn't so bad. Is this how people interacted with their friends? He had no idea.

The rest of the trip was filled with laughter and talk from the quad with the occasional remark from Kakuzu. When it was time for the fireworks to start, Mina sat between Kakuzu and Alune. She pointed up with her left hand when the show started-but the detail that made Kakuzu uncomfortable was when she was pointing, she was in turn also holding Alune's hand in her own. Was this normal for them? Alune didn't seem the type to be interested in anybody. This small thing made Kakuzu feel hot with anger. How could she bring him out of the comfort of his own home to seemingly flaunt her other friendships. Were they closer to her than he was? But to Kakuzu's surprise, when the show started Minahira leaned her head on his arm, gently falling asleep. Was she that sleep deprived from the continuous missions the elders had been sending their group on?

When the show ended, Alune gently picked up Mina and nodded as if to say something, but what Kakuzu had no clue. Maybe he was saying he was going to be the one to take Mina home. He did appear to be the caretaker of the group, so it made sense. Kakuzu just had to wonder just how deep her relationship with these men went.

Hey all! I know this one is a bit shorter but I had to give a bit of more backstory/information so that things will make a bit more sense later on in the story. Thanks will incorporate the rest of the Akatsuki slowly but surely. They will be more relevant in later chapters, I promise!

What do you think of Mina's squad mates? Do you think Kayn is the only other survivor?

Just for everyone to have a reference-

Alune: 5'4" 130 lbs

Kayn: 6'2" 145 lbs

Yone: 6'7" 185 lbs

I have big plans for future chapters, and they may get a bit lengthy.

As always, I do not own Naruto or any of its characyers. I only own my OC's.

R ~