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.
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Chapter notes: These chapters were typed awhile ago, and I looked this one over before I posted it so there shouldn'tbe a lot of typos. Enjoy.
Chapter end notes: Review please!