Chapter 2
Kaiya titled her head as she shifted her gaze towards her ‘partner.’ For a moment she couldn’t help wonder why Leader hadn’t simply joined her fully into the Akatsuki, a part of her wondered if she should feel insulted. There would be a reason for it…Kaiya scowled mentally, but of course that reason wasn’t obvious. “Are you coming or not kid? Hurry up.” The gruff voice called out.
Instantly Kaiya was walking out the door with Sasori following him quickly and silently. As the jumped up into the trees and began diving from branch to branch she watched him curiously. It was only a few hours when they made it to the bottom of the mountain away from the base and began travelling through the woods on foot (instead of branch to branch) she spoke again. “Where will this spy of yours be?” Sasori grunted, “In between the fire country and the land of rice patties.”
The kunoichi nodded but her gaze turned wary as she eyed him, she couldn’t help the question, “Are you angry?” Kaiya inquired. His head turned towards her quickly and he spat out a reply “No, you brat.” Kaiya shook her head a light laugh slipping out of her lips; she sped up slightly and turned on her heel to face him, walking backwards, “Liar.” She turned her back onto him once again after that. Instead focusing on her mental mapping and deciding would take them a day or two to arrive from where they were. She’d killed spies before and was one but she’d never met another one, this could be interesting, Kaiya thought idly ignoring Sasori’s deliberate silence behind her.
And so there travels continued in the silence, so instead Kaiya focused on other things. Her mind relaxed but not at the same time; her body stayed physically alert but her mind was other places. Like the birds’ songs that floated through the trees, passing over the writhing of branches. Then the chatter of a small chipmunk, to the fierce deadliness in larger predators. Leaves rustled and ebbed away in the wind, allowing gentle rays of sun to reach through to Kaiya’s face. She stared upwards her crimson eyes glittering in the light. Life of the forest wrapped around her steadily as soft blanket.
It was when darkness slowly covered over the light Kaiya turned back to Sasori when she felt him stop behind her. The Shinobi’s face was still shielded by his mask but she figured they should be halfway by now. Sasori turned away from her grumbling “Go to sleep.” The kunoichi tilted her head “Wake me up when you want to sleep—“I don’t sleep” he interrupted voice edging darker. Kaiya nodded while pursing her lips. Walking over to a tree she sat against its trunk and with Sasori’s back turned Kaiya was free to survey him. But her mind was slowly drifting off; she could only vaguely wonder if the no sleeping had something to do with the odd chakra. The bark on her back was rough but didn’t bother her overly much thanks to the many overnight Chunin missions she’d done as a guard. Except now she would never get to be annoyed by protecting snobby royals and delegates for hours on end. Never had Kaiya imagined it would be something she’d miss.
Mostly though as her mind drifted sleepily it was Sasuke she thought about. To him, she was now dead and the more Kaiya turned that over and over in her mind, the more it hurt. Dead. Her little brother thought she was dead and that she and Itachi murdered their clan for power. A lump formed in Kaiya’s throat. Behind her eyes all she could see were the images of dead Uchiha, killed in their sleep or in a genjutsu with ease. Dead, bodies killed—and all by her hand. Her family dead because she chose to turn against them.
Kaiya’s mom face left in that close eyed smile as her body slowly sickeningly lost colour and warmth forever… With a blast Kaiya forced her eyes open. It was difficult to keep her breathing evened. With a deep sigh she took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes once more, but instead of sleep Kaiya put herself into a more meditative state.
There; no thoughts could harm her. So when Kaiya next opened her eyes, it was to the sun just barely breaking past the horizon.
She rubbed her eyes lazily pulling her long black hair back as she looked around the small clearing until her eyes caught on Sasori. Her lips pinched as she watched him curiously again, but redirected her attention to the task at hand. Kaiya shifted up onto her feet stretching out and cracking the limbs with ease. Pulling back her cloak she checked her weapons instinctively, with a nod she walked over to stand behind Sasori.
The Akatsuki man didn’t spare a glance for her, just began the trek once more. They moved quicker this morning. She kept her pace steadily keeping just behind him as her eyes shifted over the Sharingan. No shinobi or people in general seemed to be nearby, everything was deserted. The idea let Kaiya relax; she didn’t feel like having a battle quite yet.
So it was when the trees began thinning out just slightly that Sasori paused and glanced over at her, “I’d suggest deactivating the Sharingan, no need for too much suspicion.” She could see his point, so soon after the massacre. A part of her was almost surprised he bothered to warn her and through his blank façade Kaiya was sure he caught himself off balance as well. Still she did and within a second her eyes had returned to their normal coal with hints of blue. She then closed her cloak up leaving the collar up high shielding the majority of her face.
When the suddenly broke through more trees and Kaiya caught sight an old bridge with a young ash-grey haired shinobi with dark round glasses standing on it. Sasori led the way out. Kaiya followed back behind him and settled in to watch. She caught the feel of someone performing hand signs and within seconds the teen in front of them appeared to fall asleep. Not literally, but Kaiya watched as any tension was gone, his body completely slacking he was dulled and stared at them blankly now. Sasori gave out the orders gruffly and quickly to spy on Orochimaru. He finished “In five years time you will meet me at noon at the Tenchi Bridge.” The teen nodded robotically before turning away. The instant the teen’s attention diverted Sasori flashed back into the woods leaving Kaiya to follow.
She looked at him and back at the ‘spy’ they’d met with in wonder. She’d heard the words he used for the jutsu, ‘Memory Concealing Manipulative Sand Technique.’ Kaiya had never heard of such a jutsu before, but she decided for now not to bother Sasori on the subject until they were further away. She hadn’t quite forgotten the man’s anger she’d proven, so leaving him to it would have to do.
The travelling was again silent although Kaiya’s curiosity had redirected to what their actual mission was, she asked Sasori such. His reply was brief, “There’s a Lord living in Kusagakure that owes the Akatsuki, we’re here to enforce what he owes.” Kaiya nodded, “So he’ll be guarded. Do we need to get in silently?” “Preferably. And quickly although before we leave he needs to be warned in some way.”
Kaiya pursed her lips in thought, her mind flitting through the possible ways to do the mission. A transformation jutsu would be useful and genjutsu on the guards should be easy enough.
During the days of their time together traversing just on the border of the Land of Fire, Sasori was never any less tight-lipped, although Kaiya found herself being instinctively careful to keep on the edge of outright pissing him off. Her mind instead drifted away, slightly wondering what it was Sasori thought of in the quiet. Kaiya absent-mindedly thought about Itachi-Nii-san and his partner, wondering if Itachi was okay. They hadn’t been truly alone without the massacre plaguing them and Kaiya only hoped her elder brother was dealing. Her sleep wasn’t any better. She distantly shifted to Sasuke then, but quickly shied away from him, blocking out the Uchiha clan in general.
So she focused back onto the forest around her while they ran at a levelled sprint. The forest a small comfort in a world where life was kept simple and small, yet so important. Thus when they arrived in the country Kusagakure was in, she noticed immediately. The trees were larger blocking out the small amount of sunlight left in the darkening sky. The further in they went the more there was. The grass here grew tall and free, surrounding the giant mushrooms along the ground taller than she. Changing further until the trees changed into what Kaiya recognized from one of her old books; bamboo trees. Bamboo trees with the mushrooms growing out of them sporadically.
Then they passed by one large bamboo and below them Kaiya could clearly see it; the Village Hidden in the Grass.
The stretching limbs of bamboo encircled the village before them blocking out the full view, but the gates were easily seen. When they jumped past the trees and landed in front of the gates there was nothing to block their path further except for the few ninja guarding.
Two guards dressed in shinobi gear appeared to be Chunin and a third stood in between them. His grey eyes had a blank sleepy quality to them which contrasted against his tense battle ready form. The man’s eyes were kept on Sasori, who he bowed to before stepping out of their way submissively. Kaiya’s eyes flashed crimson staring between the two, was this yet another spy of his? Kaiya stayed quiet following just behind Sasori keeping her eyes on the zombie-fied shinobi warily. Sasori didn’t speak up to give the young kunoichi an answer, she hadn’t been expecting one. But she figured her idea of a transformation jutsu was seemingly unimportant here.
After that they passed through the streets filled with homes and markets noiselessly and unseen. All the buildings had an earthly quality and blended into the environment. They passed through a street and up a barren road where the homes and buzzing people disappeared. The road passed over a small little ridge where Kaiya could see just the very tip of a building peaking up. When she stepped up to the top she was looking down at a large old-style Japanese building with red rooftops stacking over one another but the money put into it was obvious. Sticking out even more so, the guards sitting around vigilantly on the roof and grounds below.
Kaiya looked over at Sasori, “You said you wanted to go in unseen?” “Yes,” his gruff voice groaned out. Kaiya nodded, “Give me a second then.”
The kunoichi’s Sharingan blazing in the dark night Kaiya’s hands formed into the tiger hand symbol, as she crouched town to one knee, lips pursing in concentration.
Her mind’s eye focused in on the guards below them studying their chakra quickly, no usage, these weren’t shinobi. Even easier, she thought smugly. The five guards at the door were the first targets. All at once they dropped to the ground like marionettes with the strings detached as she wove the genjutsu around their mind. Until the point that their body believed they were dead. Moving quickly after that she centered in on the remaining chakra signatures and one by one they all dropped to the ground. As the mind made them stop breathing, blood flow nearly came to an abrupt halt and their minds blanked completely. She found the chakra signature that seemed centered around by the guards and left him be, that would have to be the lord.
Breathing coming a bit harder Kaiya straightened abruptly and looked up towards her partner “We have a good ten minutes.” The man didn’t say a word just flashed towards the mansion. She followed his lead steadily, ignoring the chakra loss until they came upon the room in the center of the building.
He was cowering in fear steadily and Kaiya saw the guards around him all had dropped like corpses randomly in the room. She’d been right on who was who then. The lord was covered in silky golden robes he even bore a crown glinting with gold, he liked being flashy. His next actions were almost comical as he caught sight of the pair in Akatsuki cloaks, his trembling got worse. His baby blue eyes widened like a deer in headlights, popping out of his skull and he dropped down to his knees. Blubbering and sobbing made its way to Kaiya’s ears, but she kept her face carefully blank, not letting the empathy touch her.
His senseless babble continued until his body jerked up swiftly, tensing and the trembles suddenly stilled as well, Kaiya caught sight of blue strings holding him still that animated from Sasori The lord’s eyes were still wide and she caught the hint of tears, but Sasori’s voice held no mercy. “Shut up. You’re wasting my time. You know why the Akatsuki is here.” “Y-y-y-e—“Spit it out.” “Yes I do!”
Sasori didn’t say anything more simply stared at the Lord and Kaiya could feel his irritation rising by the second. “I don’t like to be kept waiting.”
His voice didn’t rise in any way but there was an air of bloodlust and testosterone that could be felt right down to the bones. In an instant the man dived to his feet “Okay! I will, I will!” He shouted continuing his shouting as he searched through a drawer until he found what he was looking for; a dark coloured briefcase locked shut. He pulled out a key next and fumbled with it before finally getting it open and displaying the contents to them; Money and lots of it along with two scrolls sealed shut with Ninjutsu.
It was when he shut it again and slowly began handing it over to Sasori that the chakra came to her loud and clear.
With a curse Kaiya turned to Sasori before looking back out the windows, but when she turned back Sasori wasn’t retreating like she’d expected. Instead the briefcase had disappeared and a gleaming silver mechanical tail that protruded from his cloak threateningly was holding the Lord against a wall and the tip dripped a purple liquid perched just at his neck. “You know I don’t believe you’re afraid of us enough to be so gutsy.” Sasori tilted his head just slightly and shifted his attention to her, “Kaiya how about you do something about them.” “Gladly,” she murmured lightly.
Charging the focus Kaiya formed her hand signs rapidly, “Fire style: flame fortress jutsu!” In the next second a blazing fire surrounded the entirety of the mansion blazing up past the highest point. Faint screams sounded as some of the Lord’s backup were caught in the inferno.
When Kaiya focused back on Sasori the man lay by his feet twitching sporadically, she didn’t bother questioning what had been done to him, just figured that the mission was complete.
Sasori looked out the windows to the surrounding flames with an almost amused air. She looked at it as well, “Once we’re at an exit I can open it up on command.” So they did just that only through the windows of the building as the red briefly opened up. They headed back up to where the bamboo forest started again. Kaiya stared at the building; the backup hadn’t even noticed their retreat and still struggled to put out the flames. “Do you want me to take it down now? It’ll fade away eventually anyways; those flames are meant for protection, not destruction.” At the same time one of Kaiya’s stunning butterflies came over and perched on her finger. Signalling to her wordlessly the guards’ genjutsu was over.
“If it’ll fade leave it we don’t want him, Ryoku, dead quite yet,” Sasori paused a moment then turning around and starting to walk he muttered almost reluctantly “For a little brat you’re strong.” Kaiya laughed lightly as she allowed her Sharingan to deactivate. Catching up to him she grinned “From you I’ll take that as a compliment.” She simply got a grunt in reply, but it only made her laugh more.
Although the laughter faded as they started travelling back through the forest once more, only this time it would be a shorter trip as they moved at full speed back towards the hideout. The trip back remained uneventful and in silence. At one point she’d caught familiar chakra signatures that were distinctly from the Leaf and Kaiya couldn’t help the way her heart lurched at the thought of home. A home that will never be yours…the thought stung, but Kaiya couldn’t allow herself to forget that. But that didn’t mean she’d stop living, otherwise she would be wasting the lives of the Uchiha.
On subject of Uchiha as they made their way up the mountain towards the in-ground hideout she caught a flash of the cloak identical to hers to the left through the foliage of the towering pine trees. Sasori and she pulled to a stop as they landed outside the entrance where a second later her brother appeared at her side. She could see his expert eyes studying her for any injuries, but could also see he found none. The worry he let peak out made her want to laugh at him. Instead she just bumped him with her shoulder lightly as she caught sight the tall man behind them with dark blue hair and skin tinted the colour of the sky, she recognized him for Kisame Hoshigaki from the Bingo book she kept in her pouch. As she glanced over at him he gave a full smile revealing sharp predator’s teeth.
When she didn’t react to his show the smile changed to a sarcastic grin, “So Zetsu wasn’t lying about a little sister joining our organisation, we’ll feed you to the sharks sweetie.” His arrogance and amusement poured off him, but he was almost funny. Kaiya glanced at him her eyes flashing dangerously for a second before she turned away walking into the entrance, “You’ll find I don’t play nice either, Kisame, so unless you want your sharks dead then buzz off.” Instead of being insulted though the swordsman chuckled, coming up behind her and patting her shoulder, “Ah Itachi your Imouto (little sister) has a better sense of humour than you do.” He then leaned over bending down as they walked down the hallways following Sasori, “Now tell me is he always a buzz kill?” Kaiya rolled her eyes but smiled and shook her head lazily.
They all paused in walking as Sasori knocked on the door to Pein’s office they all stepped inside. Kaiya stood by Sasori as he handed over the briefcase from Kusagakure. Pein nodded, “Mission complete, there have already been reports about the mission and the Lord is supposedly terrified out of his mind and in hiding. Good job.” They were dismissed then, but as Kaiya left she could hear Itachi and Kisame being given yet another mission. Kaiya was almost relieved since she hadn’t completed the jutsu she’d been practising yet and he wouldn’t let it go if she let him figure it out.
So in place of heading to her room Kaiya found Konan in the living room area. At her request Konan led them to a basement like room that was their training center. When they entered Konan raised an elegant eyebrow at the younger kunoichi in question. “I need you to attack me.” Kaiya appealed then grinned at Konan’s surprise. “It’s for a jutsu I’m working on and anyways if I do it right you won’t hurt me anyways.”
Konan sighed exasperated before shaking her head leaving the girl to be cryptic, she held her hands out and flurries of paper formed out of her sleeves that then spiralled towards Kaiya violently.