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Consequence	By : YoukaiFate Category: Naruto > General Views: 1902 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, fandom, etc., of Naruto. This story is for entertainment purposes only, and not for profit.

Chapter List
- 2
- 3
- 4
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, etc., of Naruto. This story is for entertainment purposes only, and not for profit.
Consequence
A/N: This chapter has been sitting in my "edit" pile for a while. This seemed a perfect day to finally get off my sassy and post. Thanks for all the reviews, they kept reminding me to getter-done! =)
Chapter Three
"You have not yet earned our trust."
Ino started, surprised that Miss Stiff-and-Gloomy had actually spoken to her. She looked around, wondering if there was someone else with them. But Konan did not look back, just kept on walking - floating - down that eerie hallway with all the closed doors.
"Ah…" She didn’t know what to say to that. It wasn’t as if that Nagato-Leader-guy had even asked her any of the questions she’d been expecting. She certainly hadn’t pledged her undying loyalty and support to the crazy organization. Hell, she didn’t even know what they were exactly doing. Besides killing their families, anyone who got in their way, and taking an uncommon interest in Naruto, of course.
Getting rich, probably, since they seemed to snap up any missions the hidden villages turned their noses up at. If there was a hint of illicit activity, than the Akatsuki were most likely involved. Ino really had no true idea, though, beyond wild speculations of demonic worship, mass destruction, and dabbling in the dark arts of forbidden jutsu, turning themselves into monstrous forms through crazy body modifications.
"I explain this so you will understand why we do not give you your own quarters." Konan stopped and gave Ino a long look, as if trying to convey some warning Ino didn’t get. The serene face showed nothing as she lightly added, "You will be watched, your actions weighed. Much will be expected, and if you do not strive to do your utmost while training, then your instructors will not hesitate to kill you. Understand that your position is precarious, and you have only yourself to blame if you should fail."
Ino froze. There was no malice in the woman’s voice, only the calm stating of facts. The point was driven sharply home that no one would show her mercy. Not that they had ever shown any - not to her teachers, nor to her team.
Konan watched her, and seemed satisfied that Ino understood the enormity of her situation. She added, as cool as before, "Disobedience will get you killed. So will failure. Is that understood?"
Ino nodded weakly. This wasn’t a game, and the stakes were now twice as high. She suddenly quailed at what her father and the Hokage were asking her to do. Was she even up for it? But the memory of Asuma-sensei’s last words came back to her, "Be strong, and never lose to Sakura - in love or ninjutsu," and determination welled up inside her. She wasn’t some weak, wilting little flower. She was Yamanaka Ino, of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and she wasn’t about to lose to anyone. Especially them.
Her chin rose. "I understand. I will not fail."
Konan actually smiled. It was a slight movement of her lips, a lessening of the remoteness in her amber gaze to allow a momentary warmth. But Ino caught a glimpse of the kind compassion the woman might have been capable of, if her life had not played out as it had. The warmth was gone almost as quickly as it’d appeared, but Ino felt strangely comforted by the fleeting revelation of true emotions from the silent woman. And then immediately craven for needing that reassurance. She had to keep this in perspective - these were dangerous, S-class criminals she was dealing with, not human beings with real hearts and thoughts and motivations. These people were the enemy, and it would be deadly-dangerous not to remember that!
A fact brought sharply home to her as Konan knocked on the nearest door and a grunt bid them enter. Ino stared at the despicable killer who rose to a sitting position as they came in. Her hands convulsively curled into fists, thankfully hidden by the draping sleeves of her white kimono, as she stared at the man responsible for Kakashi’s and Chouji’s horrible murders.
No, not a man, but a monster who took the hearts of his living victims to make himself all but immortal. Bare of headdress and cloak, his dusky skin held a sickly, grayish pallor. Ino had the sudden hope that his latest victims’ hearts were proving more trouble than they were worth. But as that had been pretty much his color when Team 10 fought him, that hope was probably in vain. Black threads crisscrossed his body, like some bad repair job on torn clothing, or a scarecrow someone would be better to throw out than use for another season. He had certainly never taken a Home Ec course. Ugh!
His hair was surprisingly long and luxuriant. A rich brown, it hung past his wide shoulders and covered up the hideous deformity of his back. Ino wondered with a mental shudder if two new masks had formed when he’s absorbed Kakashi’s and Chouji’s hearts into his disgusting body. His strange eyes started to glow, as if he could read her thoughts, and she quickly blanked her mind, seizing on the distraction of just how ghoulish he looked.
Those light green eyes swam amid a dull red pool of dried blood, the ruptured result of shattered blood vessels in each sclera. The pupil-less center was such a soft color, a warm spring-green that just looked so disturbingly weird in such a hideously scarred face. There was no emotion there, just a ghostly gleam of cold intelligence, like a snake. She was repulsed by his calm measure of her. When he smiled, tugging the threads going from the corners of his mouth and up along his cheeks to disappear beneath the ragged fall of his brown hair, she shivered.
"You are afraid. Good."
Konan gave her a brief glance. "This is Kakuzu. He will further your education in medical ninjutsu, and you will assist him in whatever way he needs."
"Come here." His voice was deep, a bear’s growl. Ino swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. She went, though, because she wasn’t about to give in to fear.
"Trace the paths of your chakra."
Ino blinked, surprised by the order. It was the simplest of the techniques used by any medic-nin. She had learned to feel her chakra as a student at the Ninja Academy, but seeing them was a whole other ballgame, and required intense concentration. Once mastered, though, it was easy. Closing her eyes, she drew her hands up in the common gesture that helped focus her energy. In a moment, she felt the circulatory flows that drew the chakra from one organ to another. She added a touch of power, so that the chakra would glow through her skin, demonstrating that she had done as ordered.
"You have perfect elemental balance." Kakuzu seemed surprised by that. Ino shrugged, letting her summoning go. She had known that from her earliest tests at the Academy. Usually, a person showed an affinity for one element over the other - lightning, perhaps, or earth. Most in Konoha, which resided in the Land of Fire, had an affinity to the fire element. Sometimes, a person’s balance tilted toward two elements, and they could easily use and combine them to make or master a new, lesser elemental jutsu. Like combining wind and water to easily use deadly hurricane-based attacks.
Ino, like her father, had no particular leaning. She had a perfect balance between each. In some cases, this led to an incredible mastery of all elemental jutsu, but in most, like with her, it just meant she had no innate gifts to draw on to use for attacks. Inoichi was proud of his clan’s traits - as it somehow helped their mental concentration and telepathic jutsu in a way that was beyond Ino. Ino had always seen it as a liability, as it did not help her to learn fighting techniques. One she had come to accept, though, over the years.
"But no ability to master all of them." Kakuzu seemed disgusted. Ino barely managed to snap back at him that it wasn’t her fault. But this monster must have had that talent, since he manipulated the multiple elemental chakra his five hearts gave him. She was surprised that the creepy scarecrow had managed to both see and understand her balance and its limitations. It showed a high level of chakra control. Only Lady Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage, had been able to "see" the problems with her perfect elemental balance. Ino’s earliest teachers, and even Asuma-sensei, had had to give her several tests before determining she didn’t have what most ninja had as a matter of course.
"This is a weakness I will have to consider." Ino’s brow twitched at that comment, and Kakuzu’s ghoulish eyes seemed to brighten.
"That makes you angry."
Heck, yes, it did! Ino hated being called weak, especially by someone’s whose mastery of seishitsu ninjutsu made her inability to ever learn it all the more humiliating, because there was nothing she could do to prove them wrong.
"Good."
What a smug jerk.
"Anger is an useful emotion. You will learn."
Ino kept her waspish reply back by grinding her teeth together. She didn’t think snapping at anyone came under the terms of "acceptable" subservient behavior. She settled for glaring. That couldn’t be considered too disloyal, could it? Besides, she couldn’t just stop being herself, no matter how much it might get her into trouble.
Kakuzu seemed amused by her anger. What an odious monster, both inside and out. Ino couldn’t stand him, and not only for the memory of how viciously he had killed her teammates. He scared the hell out of her, and she loathed him for that, too. He had an ominous aura of power about him, one that was such a casual part of him that even sitting up on a bed, obviously in some pain, he could probably kill her right where she stood.
Shifting forward slightly, Kakuzu grunted. He stared down at his hand, flexing it into a fist before letting it relax. He suddenly looked back up, pinning her with a hard look. "Your chakra control is minimal, but sufficient for now to help me."
‘What?’
"You will use the Mystical Palm Technique to ease the flow of blood to my main heart, reattaching the strained nerves and syncing my circulatory system to the new organ."
‘Oh my god. Ew! I am so not touching that creepy jerk!’
"Do not even try to use the Technique to cause me harm. I will know immediately what you do, and I will not hesitate - "
Ino choked. Her hands flew up to grab at his, which was suddenly wrapped around her throat. Kakuzu casually lifted her a good foot or two off the ground, so that her legs dangled uselessly. The thick, fiber-like threads that allowed him to extend any part of his body to unbelievable distances gleamed wetly between the severed wrist, which still rested against his bent knee, and the big hand that slowly tightened around her throat to show the threat he did not bother to finish.
"Just so we understand each other." Kakuzu grinned, showing perfect teeth, and abruptly let go. Ino fell in a heap at his feet, her hands convulsively covering her throat as she coughed, trying to recover the air she had lost. She stared up at the evil monster, her blue eyes wide.
"Now, princess," he ordered, pale green eyes malicious in their sea of congealed blood. "I suggest you don’t ever test my patience. It’s short."
Silently, Ino got to her feet. She kept her face expressionless, hoping he would not see the cold fear inside her. Closing her eyes, she brought her hands up in the summoning jutsu. They shook. ‘Damn it.’ She concentrated, and the shaking stopped. She formed the seals, and her palms lit with the tingly warmth of healing chakra. Opening her eyes, she felt herself grow apart, her concentration so total that both the outside world and her own internal turmoil retreated. Slipping quickly into the clinical detachment needed for both medical and mental ninjutsu, this was one area where her perfect elemental balance helped her, for she didn't have to worry about bringing that into alignment as well.
Detached from emotion, Ino could focus on the incredibly intricacy that was Kakuzu’s body. The fibers that bound his limbs together were threaded throughout every part of him. They formed a tentacle-like shield just beneath his dusky skin, encasing each vital organ in a layer of protection, and they were resilient and self-replicating. She was almost fascinated by them, wondering what kinjutsu made them and held them, but she slipped her awareness inside, following the sluggish flow of blood to his heart. A part of her had dreaded this - for it was Chouji’s heart that Kakuzu had taken to replace his own, damaged when Hidan’s cursed blade had pierced it from afar. But it was just an organ like any other, although she could see where it was not settling in as it should.
Her concentration went deeper, to a level where she lost all comprehension of self, and just focused on the task at hand. She emerged sometime later, utterly exhausted and mind fogged with fatigue. Ino drew her hands away, the last flickers of her chakra dancing little green lights across her fingertips that died even as she watched, completely bemused by the sight. When the last glimmer died, she winced, her temples pounding with an oncoming headache. She had overused her chakra, which was already at a lower level than normal.
Closing her eyes, Ino tried a meditative trance, deliberately relaxing each taut muscle in her body. The pins and needles of returning sensation distracted her, and she sighed. Opening her eyes, she sagged where she stood, a few muscles ticking with the strain of having stood in one position for so long. She was so tired she could barely raise her head to check on her patient.
Kakuzu’s dusky skin wasn’t as gray as before, though there was still a hint of it mixed in the stale coffee that was his normal color. He flexed his wide shoulders, and smiled. "Excellent. I did not expect such a level of concentration. Your control and chakra level are basic, but there is potential for better. Your stamina, however, needs work." He gave her a disgusted look as the tremors started. She couldn’t seem to stop them. "You also dangerously overuse your energy trying to prove yourself. This may be a side effect of Itachi’s interference."
Ino didn’t know what he was talking about, and was too tired to really care. She wanted to find the nearest bed and fall head-first into it. Her surroundings blurred as her awareness faded. She heard voices, different voices, all low and deep, and thought that her father might be telling her to get her butt up. "Just a little more…" she murmured, and she suddenly felt herself being lifted up into someone’s arms. "Daddy? How come you smell like fish…"
There was a muffled laugh and a muttered growl that was too low to be her father’s voice. She blinked, and roused just enough to see a fish staring down at her. It was a blue fish. With sharp teeth - for when he smiled, he looked like a shark. That should have bothered her, but she was too tired. She must be dreaming, for the smell of the sea was thick in her nostrils and she could almost hear the waves...or was that her own breaths, slowing into sleep? But then the next wave swamped over her, and she knew no more.
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ooOOOoo
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She awoke in a strange bed. The smell of sea and salt were long gone, replaced by a strange mix of dust and burnt sulfur - like that instant when a match flared into light. Speaking of light - there was too much of it. Ino winced, trying to bury her head into the pillow. God, she hated mornings.
"Wake up, sleepy head!"
That voice. She knew that voice, but how could they be so damn cheerful this damn early? Ugh. One would think evil S-ranked criminals would be night owls, not early birds.
"Wakey, wakey!"
Ino mumbled a curse, one that would have horrified her mother if she had heard it. There was a muffled laugh and the chirpy bird scolded, "Oooh, Hime-sama, you said a baaad word!"
What was he, five? Ino cracked one eye open and glared. He only waved at her.
"Morning, Hime-sama!"
Hime-sama? What kind of name was that? Did Pumpkin-head mistake her for Princess Fortune? She looked nothing like that woman, even if Princess Porker had hired her to pose as a body-double back when she was still a genin. That reminded Ino of Prince Chikara, who the princess had hoped to impress into marriage by using Ino as a slimmer version of herself. Ugh. He was not someone she ever wanted to remember. Those fat, sloppy lips had almost kissed her - gross! As if she was going to let her first kiss be from some fat, ugly, stupid -
"Leave her alone, hmm."
"But Deidara-senpai!"
"Shut up, yeah."
"But senpai…"
Oh, god. Not that again. Ino abruptly sat up, hoping to forestall the inevitable argument. Pushing her hair impatiently out of her eyes, she looked around her with resignation. It was the same room as yesterday, if a little messier. Whatever else those two strange guys were, they definitely weren’t tidy.
There were clothes strewn everywhere, and whoever had slept on the floor hadn’t bothered to do more than half-heartedly shove their bedding into the corner beside an over-turned chair. There was a thick film of dust over everything, except a set of shelves holding several white sculptures and scrolls. Besides the two beds and the bookcase, there was a desk with papers scattered across it, a couple of boxes, a trunk at the foot of the other bed and the overturned chair. Pumpkin - Tobi - was standing there looking all weird and the blond - Deidara - was lounging across the other bed, his hands busy smooshing a piece of - was that clay? - between them, one to the other. He watched her with a knowing smirk she didn’t like. Feeling suddenly self-conscious, Ino looked down and realized her borrowed yukata had slipped open to expose a good bit of her breasts.
Face flaming, Ino hastily jerked the yukata closed, cinching the loosened belt tight with a firm yank. When she looked back up, Deidara pouted. She glared, and he smiled. She blushed again, and looked away as Tobi tugged on her sleeve.
"Hungry, Hime-sama? Want Tobi to go get breakfast?"
"Uh…" To be honest, what she wanted was a toothbrush. She probably had morning-breath to shame a dragon. But her stomach growled, answering for her.
"Oooh...Hime-sama very hungry! Tobi go. Be back quick! Don’t eat senpai, he doesn’t taste very good!" The man laughed hysterically at his own joke as Deidara gave him a rather impressive glare.
"And what would you know about it, un?"
"Sorry, senpai! Tobi go...Tobi go now." He vanished so fast it made Ino blink, for only the slamming of the door indicated he had moved.
"Don’t pay him any attention. He’s an idiot, yeah."
She looked at him. Deidara leisurely got up from the bed and absently plopped the ball of clay on the desk as he crossed the room, stretching leisurely. "So. You’re Ino and I’m Deidara, hmm. I’m supposed to test your taijutsu and maybe teach you a thing or two." He smiled lazily, his single blue eye crinkling up at the corner past the sexy tousle of his long, blond hair. He crossed his arms, and stared down at her. "You’ll be sharing our room, so we can keep a close eye on you - not that that’ll be hard, yeah."
Ino was used to getting compliments. She didn’t maintain her figure for nothing. But the frank admiration in Deidara’s blue eye was disconcerting, and she suddenly felt out of her depth. Ino knew she was acting like a kid, blushing like she was, but this Deidara was much more direct than any other guy she had known. He was also really hot, and that made his admiration of her all the more flattering.
He was also an Akatsuki, and not someone she should be thinking about like that!
Thankfully, she was saved replying by Tobi’s abrupt return. He had perfect timing. Opening the door with a loud bang, he excitedly waved the tray in his hands, almost spilling the contents. Thankfully, Deidara was quick to grab it with a muttered oath.
"Sorry, senpai!"
"Damn it, Tobi - "
Quick to interrupt, Ino said, "Um, thank you, Tobi-san - "
"Oooh, she said thank you, Deidara-senpai! Did you hear her say thank you to Tobi?"
"Yes, you idiot. Now stop dancing around, yeah, before you give her a headache."
She already had one, but that was beside the point. Tobi was certainly energetic. He had already swiped a dish from the tray and extended it to her with an elaborate bow. His voice deepened as he said theatrically, "Breakfast is served, madame."
"Er...thank you." She gingerly took the bowl and stared down at the contents in surprise. "Dango?"
"Dango!" Tobi picked up a stick of the cold balls and waved it around like a wand. "Yum, yes?"
Deidara made a face. "Dango, again? Ugh." He didn’t disdain the food, though, taking a stick with a resigned look.
With a shrug, Ino followed suit. She didn’t dislike dango, but it was cold and made tough chewing, as it had the consistency of a sponge. It might have been better fresh, for there was a sweet sauce that tasted good but it was definitely not something she wanted to have regularly. She was hungry enough to clean both sticks, though, and fastidiously licked her sticky fingers clean afterward.
She looked up, suddenly conscious of eyes on her. She blinked at the sight of both men staring at her, Deidara with a dango stick held arrested half-way to his mouth, Tobi with his head tilted to one side.
"You have a really pink tongue, Hime-sama," he said thoughtfully.
Ino's cheeks flamed. "That’s...that’s not something you should…" She couldn’t finish, for Deidara was suddenly grinning. She glared at him, and Tobi giggled. She didn’t know a grown man could giggle like that. Her brow twitched, and gathering what dignity she could, Ino set her bowl aside and stood up with all the affected haughtiness of a daimyo. With a toss of her head to show how little they counted, she crossed the messy room and grabbed the door-knob, ready to open it.
A calloused hand abruptly covered hers. Sucking in her breath, Ino looked up into a dark blue eye as Deidara stood too close behind her to demand harshly, "Now where do you think you’re going, hmm?"
She shivered. He was too close for comfort, and she took an unconscious step away. He moved closer. She gave him a disgruntled look. "To the bathroom, if you don’t mind."
"I don’t. Let’s go, yeah."
"You are not coming with me." Ino glared up at him. Deidara smiled, that lazy arrogance returning.
"I am, un. Let’s go, princess."
"Tobi, too?" Tobi asked hopefully.
"No!" Deidara turned to scowl at his partner, whose shoulders fell.
"But, senpai…"
"No buts!" Tightening his fingers past hers on the doorknob, Deidara turned it with a hard yank. Ino jumped, colliding into him, and he grabbed her elbow with his free hand. "Come on, yeah."
Slamming the door shut behind him, he all but hauled her along in his wake. Ino struggled to keep up with his long stride, and finally protested. "Sorry," Deidara muttered, not looking at her, but immediately slowed. He didn’t let go of her elbow, and his palm was warm and dry through the thin yukata. Past the closed doors they marched, and she wondered why they had to put the stupid bathroom so dang far away.
The only stupid bathroom, which was currently occupied. As they approached, a voice bellowed through the thin door. "Who’s the soon-to-be-damned dipshit who used up all the fucking conditioner?"
‘Oops.’ Ino slowed, biting her lip. Surprised, Deidara looked back at her and suddenly grinned when she wouldn’t meet his eyes.
"His pansy ass doesn’t need it, yeah," he whispered conspiratorially, bumping her with his hip. "I don’t think his stupid Jashin cares if his hair’s all smooth and shiny."
The wicked gleam in the blue eye that winked at her made Ino giggle. The giggle died, though, when the bathroom door flew open and a wet-haired Hidan stomped out. A completely naked and thoroughly pissed off Hidan.
"What’s so fucking funny, huh?" He stood there, dripping water all over the stone floor, hands on his hips and purple eyes glaring as he scowled, completely unselfconscious. Ino stared at him, struck dumb in shock.
"What are you staring at, you crazy bitch?"
"Go put some pants on, yeah." Deidara scowled.
"What?" Hidan glanced down at himself, and then smirked. "Intimidated, blondie?"
"Hell, no!" Deidara curled his lip in disdain.
"Not you, pretty-boy. The other blondie." Propping himself against the door jam, Hidan crossed his arms. "Like what you fucking see, princess?"
Ino flushed and he laughed. Her eyes flashed at the mockery in it, and she pulled free of Deidara’s loosened grip. There was only one way to deal with rude little bullies like this jerk, and that was to put them in their place.
Marching over, she glared up at Hidan. Shaking her raised pointer finger right in his face, she hissed, "You’re just a stupid little boy, you know that? You think that just because you’re some bad-ass Akatsuki you can just walk all over everybody. Well, let me tell you, buddy, I’m not someone it’s wise to mess with! I’m not going to put up with your stupid mouth, got that? And - " She pointedly dropped her gaze before sneering back up at him. " - I've seen bigger."
With a last toss of her head, Ino brushed past him and slammed the door closed, adding a bit of chakra to help shove him out of the way.
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ooOOOoo
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Deidara couldn’t help laughing at Hidan’s stunned expression.
"Why, that little bitch…" Hidan growled, fists clenching. "I’m gonna - "
"I wouldn’t, if I were you," Deidara drawled, calmly opening his palm to reveal the little white spider cupped within.
Hidan flushed. "Fucking terrorist."
"I think you’d better go get dressed, hmm?"
"But I wasn’t fucking done with my shower!" Hidan protested.
"Oh, you’re done, priest." Deidara lounged indolently against the wall, idly tossing his tiny sculpture and catching it.
"You don’t want to fucking piss me off, pretty-boy." Hidan’s warning was low and dangerous. "Jashin-sama - "
Deidara rolled his eyes even as he tensed with anticipation, waiting for the stupid Jashinite to spring. But the imminent fight was belayed by Itachi’s abrupt appearance between them. His cool gaze cut from one to the other.
"Problems, gentlemen?"
"Nope," Deidara replied coolly, his spider magically disappearing as Hidan’s bottom lip puckered out at being denied another good sacrifice.
"Fucking atheists," he muttered darkly, stalking off.
"Now that’s an ass I never want to see again," Kisame commented dryly as Hidan’s door slammed closed behind him. There was a muffled protest from Kakuzu and Hidan shouted back, suddenly going silent as Kakuzu probably threatened to sever his head again if he didn’t shut the hell up.
"I don’t know how those two survive each other." Kisame shook his grey head. "It probably helps that they’re both immortal."
"I don’t think even Jashin can save Hidan’s ass if he pisses Kakuzu off too often, yeah," Deidara replied with a smug grin. "He’s managed to kill off his last three partners within a few weeks, hmm."
"Which is why this one may last," Itachi said coolly. Deidara’s eyes narrowed.
The temperature in the hallway noticeably dropped by several degrees and Kisame’s forehead wrinkled. His silver eyes gleamed as he looked from one man to the other, his sharp teeth flashing in a grin. "Glad to see everyone getting along as usual."
Itachi’s black gaze cut to his partner’s. Without a word, he turned and walked away.
"Arrogant bastard," Deidara muttered darkly.
"Oh, he’s all right." Kisame shrugged. Propping a companionable shoulder against the wall, the shark-nin asked, "So, how’s it going?"
Deidara eyed the grinning giant. "How’s what going, hmm?"
"The girl. The one I dumped in your bed last night, you lucky bastard."
"What about her?" Deidara pretended a cool disdain he was far from feeling.
"She gave it to Hidan pretty good," Kisame said with some relish. It was good to see that mouthy bastard taken down a peg or two.
"Yeah." Deidara grinned. "Didn’t know she had it in her."
"With a temper like that, she might even manage to survive a few days." Kisame laughed. "That’s if she doesn’t manage to piss you off, Deidara-san. You got a pretty short fuse yourself."
Deidara grunted. The big brute was one of the few members of Akatsuki he liked or respected. Although there was no artistry to the big brute’s fighting, there was a dash of style to the coarse effectiveness of his Samheda. Besides, you had to respect the fact that the former Mist-nin could stomach, let alone get along with, that ass hole Uchiha so well.
"I heard that besides babysitting, you get to teach her a little taijustu."
"Well, we’ll see how she does, hmm?" Deidara suddenly smiled, the spider appearing between his fingers. Kisame eyed the shorter man before shaking his head.
"You know, Deidara-san, you should only look that passionate when you’re in the arms of a beautiful woman, not trying to blow her up."
"My art is my passion," Deidara replied with a shrug.
"We sure are a crazy bunch, aren’t we?" Kisame grinned, getting up off the wall and giving Deidara a mock salute before sauntering off. "See you around, Deidara-san. Don’t enjoy yourself so much you forget we actually have a use for her - alive."
Deidara only stared absently into the distance, his fingers continuing to play with the small spider in the silence.
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ooOOOoo
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Eying the cupful of used toothbrushes, Ino made a face. No way in hell was she even going there. Who knew what weirdo used which. Squeezing the gritty toothpaste out of a tube so rolled up it was pathetic, she used her finger to brush her teeth. Flipping open the medicine cabinet, she eyed the bargain-basement supplies with resignation. Those guys sure were cheap. But any deodorant was better than no deodorant, although she didn’t even want to think who had used it last.
Wiping the top down with a bit of tissue paper, Ino made a mental note to find a razor somewhere. That, or a kunai. Either would do in a pinch, though she’d rather go buy some herself. She wondered if they’d let her, and then grinned with the sudden idea of how she could. None of these guys looked like they would be capable of going into a store and calmly asking for tampons. And it was rather obvious that Konan - the only other woman she’d seen - didn’t stay here in the same bin with the other loonies.
Temper much improved, Ino wondered if she might talk them into getting some clothes. Hers had disappeared - she hoped to the laundry, and not the trash. She could kick herself for leaving her purple uniform on the floor of the bathroom yesterday. It was gone now, of course, but she’d really like something else to wear than another too-big bathrobe. Not that these were really bathrobes - they were like those free yukata given to patrons at a bathhouse. She wondered if Akatsuki had stooped to swiping them from some poor spa, and giggled at the thought.
God, it felt good to laugh. Even for something so stupid. Yelling at that arrogant jerk Hidan had done her a world of good, releasing a tension and fear she had not known she’d had. Well, she’d known it, she’d just not wanted to admit just how scary those guys were. Especially a sadistic Jashin-freak like Hidan. Ino sobered, remembering with a stab of pain who that jerk had last sacrificed to his bloody god. ‘I’m sorry, Shikamaru. I didn’t mean to belittle your memory.’
She would belittle her teammate’s memory if she didn’t manage to somehow make this work and fit in with this crew of deranged psychotics. Ino felt a stab of doubt. How could her father and the Hokage ask this of her? She was just a chunin. Not even a skilled jounin could pull this farce off. But they believed in her, and she supposedly had an ally in Itachi. One she could not trust, for she just couldn’t settle in her mind what she had always known about him and the supposed lie of it. He had hurt Sasuke, deeply, to the point where it had changed the dark-eyed boy.
Ino sighed. She had once loved Sasuke, not only with the fervor of a first crush, but for the brave front he had turned to the world after his family was slaughtered by his older brother. She had felt Sasuke’s deep pain, the void left in his heart after his clan were gone, and she had ached for what he was going through alone. Always alone. She had offered to help him - granted, she had probably come off a bit pushy about it, but it really nagged at her, that empty pain that gaped like an unhealed wound inside his soul, slowly turning bitter with hatred and rage. Sensitive to others’ emotions, even at such a young age, Ino had felt him slipping away from her, and her desperation to keep him from turning to the darkness had been seen by Sakura as her desperation to have him as her boyfriend.
Not that Ino would have minded having Uchiha Sasuke as her boyfriend. He was the coolest, cutest boy in school, and she was the admitted class beauty. But what Forehead hadn’t known was that it was more than just having a prize like Sasuke on her arm. It was being able to reach into the isolated darkness that he had drawn over himself like a hard shield and maybe...help him, somehow.
Not that Ino would ever admit that to anyone - she’d die first. Especially not to Sakura, who had been so hateful back then, when they had fought over Sasuke. Forehead’s betrayal still stung, even though Ino didn’t want to admit that, either. The way Sakura had dropped their close friendship so easily over a boy they both liked had made Ino incredibly bitter, not to mention stung her pride. Why, she had adopted Sakura and made her into what she was! There was gratitude for you. Help others, and see what it got you?
Although she couldn’t not help others. It was in her nature. Even if they didn’t always appreciate her efforts. Like stupid Sakura.
But that was all in the past, and many years had passed since then. Even if her competition with Sakura was still there. Begun over a boy, it was now over the fact that Ino couldn’t stand to lose to anyone, in anything. Especially to Forehead, of all people. Although she had to admit that Sakura had left her behind in more ways than she cared to count. That shamed her, and Ino set her jaw stubbornly. Who knew, maybe this mission wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe she could learn a thing or two from the Akatsuki. They had offered to train her. Had made it a requirement, actually, and Konan had made it perfectly clear that if she failed to measure up to their high standards, than they would consider her expendable. Her very survival depended on how well she learned, and fear was a great motivator, when all was said and done.
Perhaps this wouldn’t be so bad after all…
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ooOOOoo
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This was bad. Really bad.
"You can’t expect me to fight in that." Ino glared at the baggy blue pants he held up to her. The legs pooled on the floor. Even rolling them up wouldn’t work. And the shirt...
"I need a bra."
A golden brow rose sardonically. "Why, yeah?"
"Because...because you would see my...my...ah…" She blushed as his grin turned wicked. Ino scowled, snatching the mesh top out of his left hand while grabbing the pants out of the other. She eyed the white pile of bindings ninja would use to wrap as a lower leg guard. It seemed the standard Akatsuki uniform consisted of some rather cheap clothing, bought in bulk in a variety of sizes. It was just her bad luck that none of them were small enough to fit her.
"I need a pair of scissors. Or a kunai."
"You want me to give you a kunai?"
She gave Deidara a withering look. "What do you think I’m going to do? Throw it at you?"
His eye narrowed. He looked suddenly dangerous.
All too conscious of the sudden tension, which frightened her, Ino scowled, trying to ignore it. "Sounds tempting, I must admit."
He laughed, and handed her a knife. He even let her push him out the door long enough that she could dress. It was a hack job, and she would have died if anyone she knew saw her. At least she had managed to get her breasts bound with some of the white bindings, which she also used on her as impromptu underwear, carefully wrapping her thighs so the coarse fabric of the cheap pants wouldn’t chafe.
Chopping off most of the legs, Ino managed to wrangle a pair of short-pants out of the dark blue breeches. She had to poke extra holes into the smallest belt to cinch it around her narrow waist, cutting the extra leather off one end. She couldn’t do much for the bagginess of the mesh shirt, which slid down her arms past the elbow. Fishing it off, she mercilessly cut the sleeves off. Better, but it still hung distractingly down past her hips to her knees. Nothing she could do about that, though, because if she cut the hem off, the braided threads of the mesh would start unraveling. So she tied it tight to her waist, and had to settle for that. She wasn’t pleased with the effect, and her disgruntlement showed when she finally let Deidara back into the dusty supply closet to see the results of her work.
His brow rose, and he forbore to comment past, "You really are short, you know that, un?"
"Shut up."
"You have quite a mouth on you, princess." He scowled down at her.
"Are you going to start calling me that, too?" She scowled back.
Leaning forward, he whispered silkily, his breath warm against her ear, "I can think of better uses for that mouth, hmm."
Ino shut up.
Standing back up, Deidara smiled lazily. "Hope your shoes are dry, yeah. There’s no way you’d fit any of those." He pointed at the row of blue ninja sandals.
Ino self-consciously scrunched her bare toes, asking hopefully, "So you saved my clothes?"
Deidara shrugged. "Tobi took ’em to the laundry, yeah. I think."
"You don’t know?" Ino demanded.
He looked at her.
She shut up.
In the end, they did find her sandals, and they were, at least, dry. Better than her uniform, which had been washed, but was still wadded up into a damp ball along with several pairs of blue, black and gray pants and numerous grey and black shirts. Akatsuki really needed to update their gloomy wardrobe, Ino thought as she grimaced at the pervasive smell of mildew. At least they had a good, industrial-sized washer. Dumping a scoop of detergent across the wet pile, she reset the timer to rerun the load. "I’ll come back and change them over."
"Come to think of it, you are now the newest recruit, un. Low man on the totem pole. Laundry and dishes will be your job. Tobi’ll be happy." Deidara smiled at her resigned look. "So will we, yeah. He sucks."
"Thanks." The irony was lost on him. He suddenly looked thoughtful.
"You don’t cook do you?"
"No," Ino said flatly. "I suck."
"Really? That’s a shame, un. Only decent cook we have is Kisame, and he only ever likes to cook fish. Gets tiresome, yeah."
"Why don’t you guys hire some help? Don’t you have enough money?"
He looked at her like she was daft. "What? Should we put an ad out, hmm? ‘Criminal organization looking for good chef?’"
Ino suddenly grinned. "Why not? You can add, ‘Discretion a plus. Must be able to feed a diverse range of dietary requirements. The squeamish, hemophobics, and anyone sane need not apply.’"
His mouth twitched.
"Come on, you know you want to laugh," Ino teased, suddenly liking this unexpected side of Deidara.
"Senpai laugh?" Tobi abruptly popped his head around the corner. "Senpai can’t laugh! Isn’t cool for Akatsuki to laugh, right, senpai?" Tobi then laughed, hysterically, and left Ino staring after him, uncertain of the joke as he disappeared.
Deidara’s expression was dark. He didn’t look at her as he said flatly, "Come on, let’s go. It’s time to test your taijutsu."
Daunted by the sudden change in the tall blond, Ino hid a reflexive shiver at the maniacal light in those too-blue eyes. Reminded abruptly why the sane need not apply, she slowly followed, dread trailing icy fingers down her spine.

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