Chapter 3
Kaiya’s hands blurred in signs so quickly Konan’s keen eyes couldn’t tell the meanings or catch anything directly. Then when her paper made contact before her eyes Kaiya disappeared into a flurry of butterflies. Her eyes widened and her paper flew past the space where the girl had once been. But a few moments later the butterflies reformed a few metres away and Kaiya was clutching her cheek where a thin cut now dripped blood. Konan scowled “I thought you said I wouldn’t hurt you?” she proclaimed. Hand still cupping her cheek lightly Kaiya turned slightly sheepish, “I said if I did it right you wouldn’t—but I messed up, again.”
The elder Akatsuki woman sighed exasperated; she shook her head, “Why Kaiya? Explain the jutsu to me.” Frowning Kaiya flicked blood off her cheek and from another cut on her hand, “I suck at taijutsu.” “I thought you were a prodigy or something, you and Itachi both.” “Yeah I am, although he’s stronger than me. But no matter what I’ve just never been as strong in taijutsu, it’s my one weakness. So to make up for it I decided to use genjutsu in my physical battles. That’s what the technique is and if I do it right it’ll almost be like a teleportation jutsu.”
Konan took in the information with ease, “So the butterflies are like the distraction in a magic trick?” “Exactly, and I can already do the travelling part mostly, although it’s still not instantaneous. The part now is an avoidance or absorption of the attack and I don’t know if it’s my timing with it or what.”
Kaiya paused thinking it through again until Konan interrupted, “Kaiya isn’t copying one of the basic uses of the Sharingan?” She looked up at the older kunoichi, “Well yes of course, generally it’s reading hand signs, but I can copy things physically as well.” “Then you’re going to copy me,” Kaiya started but before she could Konan continued on, “I have a technique where my body turns into my paper, so copy me and with that add it into yours.”
The Uchiha smiled suddenly before activating the Kekkei-Genkai and she began watching Konan carefully her crimson irises flashing in the lighting.
Meanwhile by the entrance Pein stood his face blank watching the pair with Sasori just behind him, unable to hide his interest. Pein’s eyes averted to the Puppet Master momentarily, “How was the mission with her?” “Fine. I’m not fully sure what she did but the guards were down and out when we went in” Sasori’s voice held a similar tone to when he found someone he particularly wanted as a puppet, but it had a faint difference. Pein chuckled lowly, “The girl is odd, Itachi told me a few things about her, it’s a genjutsu special to her; a death illusion that works on mind and body however she wishes.” Sasori only grunted roughly in reply before letting the question out, “Why isn’t she a full member?” It was a few irritating seconds until Pein replied, “He doesn’t want her to be.” With nothing more, closing the subject, Pein turned and left silently. Sasori watched the training a second longer before disappearing as well into his room to a new human puppet he had begun working on.
Nearing the end of training with Konan, Kaiya was lying on her back on one of the mats. After Konan initially showed her the technique they’d tried again and she had more thin red slices along her body now. The jutsu wasn’t complete as her mind went through to the addition of the workings of Konan’s technique. She combined what she had done already with the original technique and worked through the two together. Combining mind and physical in genjutsu wasn’t easy by any means, it was meant to be one or the other, but this could work now, possibly.
The butterflies were her physical connection in it and would move her about in a wave of genjutsu hiding her body before reforming herself the way Konan did. Kaiya could finally see her mistake in the original, she’d kept it entirely mental and visual in which she only appeared to disappear and that was why she still got hit. This way she should be able to avoid the attack because now she’d physically be a part of the butterflies. Her mind whirled through all the calculations but couldn’t find any more holes in it.
She opened her eyes and sat back up facing Konan she nodded determinedly, “Alright I think I have it sorted out.” “Do you have enough chakra left?” Kaiya pursed her lips slightly in annoyance, she probably didn’t have enough for much but she had to try it out now.
Ignoring the sting of the cuts scattering her body Kaiya brought herself back up to her feet with a groan. She closed her eyes feeling the chakra churn through her body rhythmically, no matter how low it may be. Opening her eyes she watched the chakra woven into the paper fly at her once more. The papers came with deadly speed true to its mark, yet just before they hit Kaiya disappeared.
The black butterflies with wings laced with electric blue swarmed away then Kaiya appeared once more from their wings. A brilliant smile formed on the young kunoichi’s face and she jumped up shouting happily, before she collapsed back onto the ground.
Konan eyed the girl strangely and bent of her staring down her amusement peeking out in her pinched lips, “So did it work?” Kaiya groaned and muttered a few incomprehensible words along with a faint nod. For a few moments Kaiya stayed lying there staying up at the ceiling before with one last mumbled curse she picked herself back up. Waving flippantly at Konan she headed towards the door, “I’m going to sleep now.” Konan heaved a vague sigh, “Wrong way Kaiya.” “Right…”
When Kaiya woke up the next morning her body was aching in random places. She slowly sat up holding back groans and muttered a few select words under her breath. No matter how worth training ever was, the next day Kaiya tended to regret it. Her legs crossed and she eventually sat completely up and her eyes searched around the room unfocused. It was dark and she could only make out shapes, she still knew that it wasn’t her room, her old room. Her eyes caught on a book she’d left out from a scroll.
Kaiya made her way up, flicking on the lights and grabbing the book before returning to sit on the bed. The book settled in her lap –BINGO BOOK- was written across it.
Something crossed into her mind then; Kisame. With a small smirk she passed through the pages until she found him. She could remember looking at his before when she’d studied the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. She hadn’t imagined ever becoming comrades with one, if it could be called such in an organisation of criminals. His profile was very limited, but as Kaiya thought about the Akatsuki her mind switched over to Sasori, who kept himself as mysterious as possible. With a grin Kaiya began flipping through the pages once more until finally in the Suna section she found him. Sasori of the Red Sand. Except there was wrong problem the picture she stared at in the book’s pages was of a young red-headed teenager. It was impossible for that to be him!
Kaiya pursed her lips for a long while, unable to stop staring at the page. Eventually though her lips pulled up, forming into a sly grin and her eyes flickered with midnight blue rays among the charcoal.
“Well Sasori,” she mumbled her eyes still gleaming, “I’m about to find out what you’re hiding, whether you like it or not.” A puppet master, the title shined out towards Kaiya and her curiosity deepened. Smile growing wider she looked up at her door, threw the book back onto her bed and flashed away deeper into the hideout.
When she followed Sasori’s chakra to his room she hid her own quickly. The door beckoned to her, but Kaiya knew it would be too obvious. She caught sight of a vent a few feet above and away from the door and her eyes lit up. Another second and her body disappeared into a swarm of blue tinted butterflies and she was in the vent a few seconds later. As she climbed through it warily to her right Kaiya spotted an opening that went straight to the bathroom adjacent to Sasori’s room. She repeated the technique once more landing softly on the tile floors. Before she pushed open the door just an inch and peeked out spotting a room similar to her. Directly across the room from her was a desk and a red head that could barely be older than her brother sat there head bent over an object as he fiddled and tampered with it. Along one wall of the room were a few puppets dangling down from the room and she could spot designs peeping out of a desk drawer. So that’s what he looks like, Kaiya thought smugly, switching her thoughts idly to the contrast of the form she’d been with on their mission.
For awhile Kaiya continued watching Sasori, he was completely silent in his works and moved rhythmically never pausing or hesitating. Every once and awhile she’d catch the sight of blue strings flitting somewhere in the room, picking up some tool or another and bringing it to him. That fascinated her the most. The utter ease the puppet master held in utilizing a technique few others ever gained any talent in. But her watching drew to close when he started to shift in his seat and Kaiya knew he was getting up for something. He stood and began turning…
A quick gulp of air and Kaiya had disappeared, reappearing once more in the vents, then once more in the hall. She grunted slightly when her body formed once more. Her hand came up to cradle her temple but she began running off anyways until she came upon the kitchen.
Immediately she sat at a chair happily slouching down on the table in front of her. Her bones throbbed to a pulse of its own even breathing hurt. “Damn it,” Kaiya muttered to herself, “That jutsu still has some tweaks to be dealt with, my bodies not up to shifting back and forth so much.” She continued to mumble a few select words that her mother would’ve given her ‘the look’ for. A moment later Kaiya sighed deeply to herself but a smile tugged its way onto her lips at the thought of that ‘look’ which had been the most terrifying and loving thing to all the Uchiha men along with Kaiya. She’d never forget when she’d seen even her almighty father squirm under that gaze she kept hidden under her sweetness. Afterwards when Kaiya asked her about it her mom had declared modestly “Every once and awhile men need to be put in their place, then you let them keep believing they’re in charge.” Then Mikoto’s smile had widened when she looked at Kaiya and they laughed about it for the rest of the night, leaving everyone else clueless—and all for her father skipping lunch.
Kaiya let out a startled laugh at the memory. She shook her head and brought herself back onto her feet, she grabbed some food from a cabinet and when finished she wondered back towards the training area.
In the following days she stubbornly persisted in practicing what she’d nicknamed the Butterfly Technique for lack of a better term and continued watching Sasori working on his puppets. She’d found more information about him, such as he was the only known person to have made human puppets. Nothing spoilt her curiosity and in her mind he simply looked lonely in that room all by himself. Although unbeknownst to Kaiya, the puppet master was already suspicious about the peeping child.
Upon further days Kaiya worked her way into Sasori’s bathroom to spy. She’d eased her way into the technique and routine with ease. This morning it was interrupted. As she peaked through the vent and appeared in the bathroom, something odd flickered in her vision. With narrowed eyes Kaiya’s vision changed and her irises flickered to red. Now she could see multiple strings created through chakra surrounding her all connected and leading out the door. Simple conclusion; one screw up and it’s obvious you’re there. Kaiya shrugged and glanced at the door before eyeing the strings smirking at the challenge before her.
Keeping light on her feet, she glided through the maze of chakra string until arriving at the bathroom door. She reached out to the door knob but froze inches away when she caught sight of the knob wrapped in strings. Her mind whirled in annoyed curses.
For awhile Kaiya stared at the door in simple frustration before her eyes lit up. Pulling out a shuriken she carefully slid it through the crack next to the doorknob. Sliding and working it carefully she managed to push out the stopper and from there the door moved forward on its own. Kaiya’s smile widened light glancing off her teeth. Try again Sasori-Sama, she thought happily. From there she continued her watching; today he had switched what he was working on. Replacing the puppet pieces and tools for odd fluids and plants and her head tilted trying to get a closer look. He shifted in his chair. Kaiya caught sight of the strings heading over towards him as he turned to look at them. She grimaced quickly with wide eyes before shifting away skipping the vents in her panic and appearing in the halls.
When Kaiya landed she nearly collapsed, but straightened and ran off in a blur passing by Leader’s office then to her room. Konan stepped out into her way “What on earth are you doing?” Kaiya froze like a kid stealing cookies before dinner, which she had done before, and slowly turned to give the elder kunoichi a sweet smile. Konan’s eyebrows rose mockingly leaving Kaiya to glance around before simply looking at Konan, her lips pulling up slyly “Just…gaining knowledge creatively.”
Konan sighed shaking her head at her, “I doubt you’re lying in your own weird way, don’t get killed.” “Hey! Have some faith in me!” Kaiya exclaimed, feigning insult before flashing away towards her bedroom.
She dove into the room and fell on the bed letting out her laughter. She’d never managed an actual full out teleportation with the technique before, apparently panicking was a way to up those things, well for her at least though she would rather avoid that. But Sasori truly was onto her and that was the best part. Kaiya’s laughter furthered “That just makes the game more fun.”