Chapter 1


I fell onto my rear, setting my bow, Barahime down beside me. I waited until I caught my breath to climb back to my feet with my bow in hand. I pulled its string back, pushing chakra into my hands and Barahime before a black arrow made of my chakra appeared. I closed one eye and aimed for the last target about a hundred feet away.
Once I was sure I would hit bull’s-eye I released the arrow, letting it whiz ahead and hit the target. A small smirk tugged on the corner of my lips and I walked over to the edge of the sandy training field to get my bag. Once I retrieved it I dug around inside it for the other discs I used as moving targets. I moved back to the center of the field. Barahime ready in one hand, I pushed chakra into the other and threw the discs into the air. All within two seconds I pulled back Barahime’s string back and shot six arrows that hit all targets.
When all six targets fell to the ground in a blackened crisp I smiled. ‘New record.’

Later, back at home, I took a shower and changed into clean clothes. With a sigh I plopped down onto the couch and cracked open a can of Sprite and picked up a book off of the crowded coffee table. I nudged the other junk aside with my big toe and propped my feet up. Just as I flipped the book open to the book mark and brought the can to my lips I heard a knock at the front door, which was literally about three feet away. “Who the heck is that?” I hissed agitatedly, checking the person’s chakra.
From what I got, it was two unknown persons, one with a stupidly large amount of chakra. I scowled, standing and moving across the small living room to my bedroom, striding over to the closet, pulling out Barahime and a sheath of arrows in case I get low on chakra. Meanwhile, the knocking continued, and then turned into banging. I made the correct hand signs for one of my clan’s infamous jutsu: fire clone. It was basically like any other clone except that instead of poofing away it blew up. The size of the explosion depended on how much chakra was used. This time I used just enough chakra to blow this apartment building to smithereens.
My clone winked at me before making her way to the door yelling, “Hold on a second!”
She hesitated just long enough for me to jump out of the window and land gracefully in the bushes beneath my window. (Note the sarcasm.) I got up and quickly jumped on top of a garbage bin then to the roof of a neighboring house. I started to run toward the edge of the village, pumping chakra into my legs. Slowly, I could see the milieu change around me, the trees growing thicker. It was rare that I ever left the village, so I was a bit antsy since they started appearing. At first, it she just saw them while doing trivial things- shopping with her mother, going to the training grounds, taking small walks around the block, small things like that. I’d only see glances of them as if they were hiding from me, but then I’d catch them outright staring. I can tell they were underlings, pawn pieces in some twisted game. Somehow I knew that they were only distractions, meant to sway me from their real goal, which was to capture and/or kill me. It really was nothing like that, but of course I didn’t figure that out until later.
Anyways, I had gone to the village leader to report the stalking (which turned into capture/kill attempts) but had just brushed it as me being “paranoid.” I got so pissed that I almost killed him. It still kind of irked me, but I brushed it off for now. I had relocated around the village about five times because of this whole nuisance, but it seemed as if they found me again.
I was snapped out of my thoughts as a kunai whizzed by my face. I twisted away; landing safely crouched down a few feet away. I scanned the area, activating my Waikegan, my sight sharpening instantly. (A/n: Sorry to interrupt, but I can’t explain how the Waikegan works without breaking the fourth wall, and I don’t wanna do that. Ok, so you know how in video games you look through the scope thingy with night-vision and lock on a target? That’s kinda how the Waikegan works. It helps them [my OC’s clan] work with their bows. I’ll explain more later.) I frowned at the strange man that appeared out of the shadows behind the trees. I only considered him strange because of his attire. He wore a plain black cloak, and an orange mask that oddly resembled a lollipop. Judging by the scorch marks on his cloak he was one of the ones at my door.
“What do you want?” I said, pulling back Barahime’s string, chakra arrow appearing instantly. Barahime pulsed in my hands excitedly.
“Now, now, there’s no need for that. I’m just here to talk.”
“Well that didn’t seem to be the case a few seconds ago when you tried to lob my head off with a kunai.” I responded coolly.
The man chuckled. ”That would’ve been easier if your clone hadn’t attacked me.”
“I highly doubt that since she blew up.” I didn’t mention the fact that they- him and the other odd man with him- were trying to force my clone to leave my apartment. My mind raced, trying to figure out how I would get away from the stranger. Judging by how fast he caught up with me I knew I couldn’t run, so I had to distract him somehow.
Slowly I shifted my fingers on the string, getting ready. “You still haven’t answered my question.” I said, trying to keep my voice level. “Who are you and what do you want.”
“I’m afraid I cannot answer those questions at the moment.” He sighed, seemingly bored and impatiently.
“Why have you been after me?” I pushed.
“Have you ever heard of the Akatsuki?”
I froze. “Yeah. What of them?”
“I came to recruit you.”
“And how would I know you’re even associated with them?” I narrowed my eyes. Just what was this guy up to? Who is he?
“I guess you would have to just trust me on it.” I could hear the smirk in his voice.
I barked out a laugh, sounding much more harsh than intended. For some reason, that comment hit home. “You really haven’t been following me long enough if you think I’d trust you.”
I raised Barahime and let the arrow fly forward, aiming for his head. Without checking to if I hit him or not I stood and turned, taking off-
Only to run into a tree. Startled, I started to fall backwards. Strong arms caught me, and I realized that I had not run into a tree at all: it had been a man. A strange man, but a man none-the-less. He had blue tinted skin, gill marks on his cheeks, and small, gold eyes. I also noticed how tall he was. I mean, he wasn’t that tall, but compared to my short 5”3, he was a giant. He was clad in a plain black cloak that concealed any other clothes he may have been wearing. I vaguely noticed the big sword on his back, but instead stared into his eyes.
I shook myself out of the trance-like state and started struggling in his grip. “Let me go!”
He chuckled in reply, tossing me over his shoulder like a sack of feathers. “Did you hear me?! Let me go! HEY! Watch the hands!!!” I hit, kicked, elbowed, scratched, and everything else I could think of, but Blue-boy didn’t budge.
“Kisame. We have to head out now before they realize she’s gone.” The other man said.
‘They? Who are they?’ I thought as they started running. I pushed myself up so I could see over Kisame’s broad shoulder at the other man. At the same time, he turned to me. I saw a flash of red come from the single eyehole on his mask and suppressed a shudder. Instead I frowned and turned away, sticking my nose up in the air despite my awkward position. The only reply was a dark chuckle.
It was mostly quiet while they ran (and I just dangled from Kisame’s shoulder). The only time I heard the masked man speak was when we stopped. “Kisame. Blindfold her.”
“What? No!” I squirmed as the big man sat me down on my feet like a rag doll. “Why does the universe hate me? All my life I’ve been trying to be a good girl. But no, I had to be the one captured by psychos.” I grumbled under my breath, crossing my arms in defeat as a black cloth covered my eyes.
“You don’t take well to bad situations do you?” I could detect slight amusement in Kisame's voice.
I glared up at him, hoping to burn a whole through the blindfold. “You think?”
I guess we were close to wherever they were taking me because they made me walk. That, or Kisame got tired of carrying me. I was hoping it was the latter.
“Where are we going?” I said, annoyed by the silence.
“Akatsuki’s base.” The other man said.
“What exactly am I supposed to call you?” I asked after thinking it over. I can’t really keep calling him ‘lollipop’ or ‘that mentally of course.
“Either Tobi or Madara would be fine, but it would be better if you called me Tobi around others.”
“Uh, ok…” I frowned. ‘I think I’ll just stick with calling him Tobi’
“So why do you want me out of all of my clan members?”
This time I received no answer and I sighed in frustration. Suddenly the footsteps ceased and I ran into someone’s- Tobi’s I guess- back and scowled, rubbing my sore nose. “Why’d you stop?”
“We’re here!” Tobi's sudden change of tone startled me, and I stumbled back into Kisame.
“Are you okay Sakuma-chan?”I detected a dangerous undertone “Y-yeah I’m fine.” We stepped inside. I blinked, a bit frightened.
“Does he always do this?” I whispered to Kisame.
“Only around the other members.” He replied, not bothering to whisper back.
Suddenly the blindfold was lifted.

Chapter 2

I blinked, squinting in the dim light. “So this is your ‘headquarters’?” I made quotation marks in the air around ‘headquarters’, glancing unsurely around.
“Yup!” Tobi chirped, nodding enthusiastically. His change of attitude still freaked me out. “And now Tobi has to take Sakuma-chan to Leader-sama!”
I turned to look at Kisame, but realized that the shark man was gone. I was scared to be alone with the bipolar man but followed him reluctantly anyway. We passed a lot of rooms, some doors open most closed. I saw not one other person on the way to meet their “Leader”, not even Kisame, which I found vaguely creepy and only made suspicion of these people grow. If I was in the Akatsuki’s HQ, then where were the actual Akatsuki?
Tobi stopped and knocked on a door to his right, and I caught myself before I ran into him again. “Come in.” a deep voice said. I instantly shrank back. Tobi, seemingly oblivious to (or just ignoring) my fear, pulled me into the room; which was darker than the hall. I briefly considered the idea of using my Waikegan to help me see better, but I didn’t really want to expand these people’s knowledge of me any further so I quickly dismissed it.
“State your name.” the voice said, snapping me out of my daze. I looked into multi-ringed eyes and shifted away slightly, folding my arms.
“Sakuma.” My voice came out much more calm than I felt and I was grateful.
Though I couldn’t see much of this man he still crept me out. Not as much as Tobi, but close enough. He had grey-ish purple ringed eyes that shone dully despite the fact that the rest of his face was shadowed. He wore a cloak with familiar red clouds…
That was when it hit me:
These guys were no joke. I was standing in the office of the Akatsuki’s leader.
I visibly flinched back, my back hitting the wall behind me. “Why am I here?” this time my voice did not have nearly as much levity as before my epiphany. My eyes glued themselves to the stone floor.
“Why do you think you’re here?” I didn’t lift my eyes from the floor as I heard footsteps approach me.
“I-I don’t know.” I mentally cursed and hoped he wouldn’t notice. No such luck.
“You stutter when you lie.” By the tone of his voice and the way he said it as a statement instead of a question assured me that he had known this fact way before I had even opened my mouth. Knowing this chilled me to the bone. I rubbed my arms subconsciously, trying to rid myself of the goose-bumps that appeared there.
My chin was suddenly lifted; my eyes met ringed purple ones. “I’ll ask the question one more time, and I expect the truth. Why do you think you’re here?”
“Because of my kekkai genkai?” I squeaked, shrinking away slightly.
The harsh grip on my jaw was released. “That is partially correct.” As the man stepped back I finally gained enough courage to look directly at him.
He was sitting at his desk again, but now I could make out his facial features a bit better. I took in the orange hair and piercings, the slight scowl on his face and the stiff posture. My legs were itching to run for the door, but I knew that would only result in my death.
“Sakuma.” I blinked, realizing that I had been staring.
“Um, yes?” I responded meekly, averting my gaze.
“I will test your skills tomorrow morning. Until then you may get ready.” He folded his hand on his desk as he spoke, looking as if he had better things to do.
“W-wait, you? Test me?” I felt a sinking feeling in my gut as I stared at him wide-eyed.
“Yes. Is there a problem?” he narrowed his eyes slightly, as if daring me to challenge him.
“No!” I said quickly, shaking my head. ‘I just don’t want to die so young.’ I added sourly in my mind. Technically, I was kind of old in the ninja world, but I still considered 25 to be young.
“I assume you’re done with her?” the voice in my ear startled me, and I yelped in surprise. Tobi glanced down at me for a second before turning his attention back to the leader.
“Yes, for now.” Both men looked at me then and I all but shriveled up and died.
Then, abruptly, Tobi turned and left the room. I blinked and realized a few moments later that I was supposed to follow him. I darted out of the door after the masked man and followed him down the hall. I noticed that he started acting more cheerful, so I guess it meant that there were other people close by. I continued to follow Tobi bas he turned and entered what looked like a living room. I stopped short in the doorway, not quite sure what to do.
I started to consider taking my chance with running when Tobi tackled another man, screaming as they both fell to the floor, “Deidara-senpai! Tobi’s back from his mission! Did you miss Tobi?!”
The man, Deidara I guess, groaned and pushed Tobi away while shouting death threats and curses. “Get off, un!”
I turned to see who else was in the room and blinked when I met a pair of angry eyes. “Who the hell is this bitch?”
My temper flared and I glared back at the man. “Who the hell are you calling a bitch?”
“There’s only one bitch in the room!”
“I don’t see any mirrors around here.”
“Hidan-senpai! Sakuma-can! No fighting in the base!” Tobi shouted, waving his arms around frantically.
“Let’s take this outside then.” I snarled.
“Let’s go then!” Hidan pushed himself off of the couch and grabbed a triple-bladed scythe that was leaning against the wall.
“Ladies first.” I smiled and stepped aside, gesturing for him to go first.
“BITCH!”
As Hidan made to attack me Tobi grabbed my wrist and dragged me out of the room (despite my protests) screaming, “No Sakuma-chan! You have to rest for your test tomorrow!”
As soon as we were a safe distance from the others, Tobi dropped my arm and stopped blubbering. I scowled, still a bit pissed about the thing with Hidan, and crossed my arms. “Where are we going?” I asked once I had calmed down.
“Kisame’s room.”
“Uh, why?”
“Because that’s where you’ll be staying for now.”
“Uh… ok…?” I was unsure how to react to this, so I just stayed quiet. Tobi stopped again and turned to the door on our left. He knocked once before entering. Once again, I hesitated by the door before following him.
“Get her up early tomorrow and take her to Pein.” With those final words, he left. After a few seconds of just standing there I let my arms fall to my sides and went to go sit in one corner of the room closer to the light and sat down shouldering off Barahime and the sheath of arrows. I sat both items down in front of me. Barahime’s aura was a light red, fading to blue around the edges. It pulsed slightly in my hands and I patted it comfortingly. Before I knew it I was being shaken awake. “Wha..?” I slurred, voice thick with sleep.
I opened my eyes and sat up, wincing at the soreness in my muscles. “What? Is it morning already?” I yawned and rubbed my eyes.
“No. Move to the couch if you’re going to sleep.” I thought I heard Kisame say something else, but I didn’t really pay attention. I groaned and staggered to my feet, swaying like a drunkard as I walked the short distance to the couch and fell face-first, not even bothering to turn my head so I could breathe properly. I was out again in seconds.

~*Later that Night*~

Kisame could not sleep. The girl, Sakuma, kept snoring loudly and mumbling things in her sleep. He tried to deal with it, he really did, but soon enough, he lost his temper. “Shut the hell up!” he hissed as he threw a nearby pillow at Sakuma’s head. The snoring suddenly stopped.
Just as he closed his eyes, she started snoring again.
Kisame growled, throwing off the covered as he stood and stomped over to the oblivious girl. He grabbed the pillow he had thrown before and pressed it to her face, muffling the snoring. She was still for about five seconds before she started thrashing around. Sakuma pushed her chakra into the pillow, causing it to burst into flames. “What the hell was that for?!” Sakuma yelled, a bit pale in the face from lack of oxygen. She threw the now blackened pillow back at Kisame, now on her feet.
“You wouldn’t stop snoring.” He shrugged indifferently.
“So you tried to kill me?!” Sakuma felt her blood boil.
“It wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t start snoring.” Sakuma could tell he was getting irritated, but at the moment she didn’t care.
With an enraged cry, the white-haired woman headed for the door, grabbing the pillow and blanket she had been using. “Where are you going?” Kisame stood in her way, eyes narrowed.
“Well it’s obvious I can’t stay in here!” She hissed back, grey eyes flashing neon green as she glared up at him. “Move out of my way!”
“You’re supposed to stay in here.”
“I don’t care, move!”
Just then someone knocked, well banged, on the door. “Oi! Shut the fuck up! People are trying to sleep!”
Sakuma blinked, anger suddenly gone. After about two seconds of silence, Sakuma dragged her stuff over to the farthest corner from Kisame’s bed, which happened to be near the bathroom. She dropped the pillow onto the floor and cocooned herself in the blanket and laid down, furrowing herself further in the blanket. The whole time she felt Kisame staring at her, but ignored it. The last thing she heard before falling asleep again was Kisame going back to bed.