Frozen Heart

Their journey continued similarly for the next while.
Kaiya assumed the miser knew exactly where to go; he never consulted her and after a few bouts of her teasing he only replied in grunts. In conclusion, Kakuzu was a stick in the mud for Kaiya, a hard thing to be in the middle of a desert. He managed it.
The fun began though when she felt him tense more, just slightly, and his chakra faded even more from her senses. Kaiya followed suit. Although at first she wasn’t quite sure why, that is until she activated her Sharingan. When the world focused in black and whites around her she found them. She and Kakuzu were currently by a ridge looking over the drop of a canyon and almost directly below them, hidden from direct sight, were three swirling blue signatures. Her eyes narrowed because she was sure there was only one specific nomad Kakuzu wanted. She relayed her findings quietly to him. He wasn’t surprised, though when Kaiya thought about it, if Kakuzu were ever surprised it was doubtful she’d be able to tell one way or another.

He claimed the one he wanted, rather cared about with his bounty was the one who had two blind eyes, marked by the hazy blue with no pupil and to his guess, already knew they were there. When Kakuzu told her that it gave Kaiya a brief pause, a man Kakuzu believed he himself couldn’t hide from. It was an odd thought to the girl who had watched him swat a man’s head off with about as much thought you’d give a fly.
Orders were handed out to her soon after, “Make yourself useful and get rid of the two extras.” He didn’t apply if they needed to be dead or not, but Kaiya didn’t voice it. Instead she nodded her head, took a step and flashed away to a hidden crevice as a deep voice sounded towards them “Are you going to come out of hiding soon dear ones?” Dear ones? Kaiya reappeared in a swarm of butterflies across the canyon, hidden but the men were in sight now; they wore beige robes that revealed basic ninja attire. That was an interesting way to speak towards enemies. Kakuzu’s lack of reaction made the man in her sights lips twitch into a smile. When he cocked his head Kaiya saw it; two blue pupil-less eyes staring blankly at air. “Dear, it’s rude to not introduce yourself.”

The way he spoke made Kaiya freeze, was he talking to her? It couldn’t be, but she remembered Kakuzu’s warning and remained tense. Her red eyes flickered to the miser who tilted his head just slightly. Her hands blurred in seals. In an attempt to save chakra two butterflies parted from her hiding spot, unnoticed until they perched in sync on the two other men’s shoulders. She caught the blind nomads head tilt again in that odd way, he began to say something, but cut himself off when his partners heads’ suddenly tilted back towards the sky and they dropped limply. Kaiya released her hand seals, making sure it would hold for the next ten minutes.
In the time of her own distraction Kakuzu had appeared before the nomad. Still the nomad didn’t quite focus on him. “Dearie, your hiding is rude, let me see you” and before Kaiya could think much about it the earth beneath her feet deformed and pulled her into it, like solid quicksand. She spat out a curse when her eyes caught sight of the blue running through the earth. She glanced up panicked and found him staring straight into her. It shook Kaiya to the core, but it woke her up just the same. Another flurry of hand signs and her body dissolved away into a mob of black.
Problem was Kaiya hadn’t thought about where she planned on going. Now she could feel her chakra slipping away from her and she started to panic again. Quickly she formed again, but miscalculated and ended up in the air by Kakuzu. Thankful her face was covered to hide the terrified expression she couldn’t hold back, she landed crouched on the ground beside Kakuzu. On her feet Kaiya let out a deep breath before looking up to meet eyes with the blind man once more. It was bothering her how he found her so easily.

“Ah I know who you are now, sweet little thing, no wonder you took down my friends here with such ease.” His voice was soft and quiet, almost kind. But Kaiya never got the chance to reply to him. Kakuzu’s patience had apparently snapped. It was certainly an odd sight to see.
A ways past Kakuzu’s wrist detached away from his arms, weird gray threads appearing sending the hand straight for their nomadic opponent. The speed in which it happened was enough that if Kaiya had blinked she would have missed it because in another moment the nomad was bound. Made immobile up in the air, threads wound tightly around his arms, legs and throat. They glinted lethally in the bright desert sun.
“You’re wasting time and money, kid. Time for this to end,” Kakuzu’s said coldly, “The Nomad Raichin can only see when touching the earth. This is over.”

Kaiya cast a narrowed glance towards the miser, biting her tongue to stop a snide comment for not warning her further. But she never should’ve expected much, after all S-rank criminals wouldn’t care if she was dead or alive. When she turned back to Raichin he was staring at her with that same kind gaze. She could tell he already knew about the warrant for his death, he’d expected it. The very idea left Kaiya taken aback; she wondered why he’d never run or fought more, especially if he’d known they were there. His words hit her even harder.
“Shi no Gensō, wielder of the black butterflies. Word travels quickly about people with a power such as yours, dear. But I never expected to find her in the form of a sweet young child,” he sighed softly down at her as the threads on him slowly tightened; blood began dripping down his neck. His voice became a whisper, but to Kaiya he might as well have shouted.
“Death truly is a gift young one, I will be thankful I can have that gift now, in place of facing your future, She Who Creates Death.”
Kaiya’s chest tightened as his words shook her to her core. But Kaiya would never give him an answer because another second and Kakuzu killed him, twisting his neck around in a flash before letting the body drop to the ground. She barely saw it though.

Then, before they left she caught sight of a book fallen beside one of the men still caught in her genjutsu. She made her way over picking it up; another bingo book, this one dedicated completely to S-rank criminals. It was new though. Glancing up as Kakuzu began walking off, probably towards another bounty station; she opened the book flipping through the pages until she froze. Kaiya bit her tongue until the coppery taste of blood filled her mouth and the pain pulled her away from dangerous thoughts. Looking at the men she tossed the book onto the ground before turning away and running up to catch up to the miser.
The page lay open on the ground displaying the title Shi no Gensō in bold letters for the world to see. A prize on the page, it was currently picture-less with anonymous descriptions scribbled on the page…

Kaiya never quite forgot that man or his words. Someone who could not see her and yet saw something in her that he liked. She also couldn’t forget about her page in the S-rank bingo books, as Shi no Gensō. And it didn’t stop there. After that Kaiya’s name as the mystery Akatsuki member with Sharingan eyes continued. Often times she’d hear about it in towns and a few times people had even hunted her down. She hadn’t lost those challenges quite yet. Although Kaiya couldn’t quite decide if she was proud of it, she was proud of the technique. She’d developed it and altered it every chance she got to train, keeping up to the new name. If only bounty hunters knew that they were hunting an eleven year old girl, they’d be ashamed. Except she wasn’t eleven anymore; in the months gone by the day had come for her twelfth birthday.
A bittersweet one at that.

It was her first one after the massacre and marked the time that if she’d been normal Kaiya would probably have been making a mess baking cake with her mom. Throwing flour at Sasuke whenever their mom’s back was turned. Though thinking about it now, her mom would’ve always been able to tell since when she turned back around the pair of siblings would usually be coated in flour. They’d be sent out to the yard where instead of cleaning up, a water fight would ensue. The fight would end when they’d be threatened no cake or Itachi would come out and give them the look. Kaiya would then bet Sasuke one thing or another before running in to get changed.
That was in the days before she had to completely focus on ninja studies instead of focusing on her competitiveness with her little brother. The pair were terrible siblings to each other, fighting and scrambling to beat the other. Itachi would always be breaking them up when he caught them. A spoilsport had once been Kaiya’s name for her nii-san. Even so she couldn’t help the smile brushing across her lips when she thought of those days. She knew no matter how different she became; they would always be important to her.
Although, since she spent the majority of her time with the Akatsuki either assisting Sasori on missions or doing spying/assassination missions her times with Itachi were few and far in between. Itachi kept on a cold killer’s mask when in front of his partner or Pein. But Kaiya still managed to weasel smiles out of him whenever she got the chance, something Kisame enjoyed teasing her sibling for. Also she’d met the other spy for the Akatsuki Zetsu who utterly freaked her out. Konan, who’d remained in Ame, had warned her about his habit of eating partners. Meanwhile Kakuzu had managed to kill off two more partners. Sometimes Kaiya amazed herself with surviving around him. His obsession with money made him quite a teme at times. Not that she’d ever risk telling him that. That would be a true death wish.

A wish she still might have since she was currently dodging past and around Sasori’s Hiruko tail while lost in thought. Coming back to reality the blade was too close and she formed into a swarm, appearing again across the room. The Butterfly Technique was making steady progress into a true transportation technique. Even if it didn’t work with Sasori; second later she was ruthlessly attacked by a blade coated puppet its human eyes gaping at her. As she dodged jumping up the wall the light caught on it and she saw the thin coating of poison on it.
She paused up on the roof, chakra holding her there delicately as her cloak fell down around her.
“You know if that poison touches me I’m a goner!”
Sasori stepped out of the corner of the room chakra strings dancing off his fingertips, “Of course I do, why else would I use it?” he commented dryly. Kaiya scowled and mumbled curses under her breath when suddenly she was yanked down off the roof and suspended mid-air in front of the puppet master.
“Watch your language.” Kaiya ceased her grumbling and instead pouted at him, “Will you put me down Sasori-Senpai, I’d like to live passed the age of twelve!”

Her chakra bound ankles were released immediately leaving her wondering when he managed to attach them to her. She flipped in the air managing to land on her feet crouched close to the ground. As she steadied herself from the blood rushing from her head Sasori was recalling his puppets before heading back towards Hiruko to hide within the puppet. She barely caught his faintly amused voice, “That’s right today’s your birthday…”
A moment later he’d pulled something out of his cloak and tossed it idly towards her. Brows furrowing Kaiya caught the black material with ease. Upon closer inspection she found multiple senbon in the case all capped with plastic. Poisoned senbon then and in another larger pocket was a bottle filled with milky white liquid, an antidote. She looked up to Sasori but he was already making his way out of the room. Without turning back he spoke, “I’ll be teaching you the antidote later, but we have a mission, I know you’ve already figured out the poison recipe. Start practicing. Genjutsu can’t always be your only choice.” A bright smile crossed over Kaiya’s face that gleamed with excitement as she focused back on the weapons. She peered back up at Sasori happily as he disappeared out the door to the hallway, Kaiya hadn’t thought he knew, or cared. She liked that though. So Kaiya couldn’t help calling after him, “I know ya love me Senpai.” Okay yes sometimes she had a death wish. She didn’t lack intelligence though because before anything could come after her she flashed away and out of newer hideout situated smack in-between the Land of Wind and Land of Earth; the Bird Country, having ditched the last one after problems from Orochimaru.

The land outside held the burning heat from the desert along with the rocky terrain from the Rock Country. It made perfect training grounds. She found a spot where some trees were fighting through a rocky face and marked a circle on the three barks with a kunai. Pulling out three senbon she positioned them in-between her fingers and launched them.
The shot sucked. And so did the one after it. After analysing and going over all the times she’d faced enemies with senbon Kaiya finally found the stinkin’ trick to it. By that time the sun was well past the highest point in the sky and it was after she’d just picked up one that she hurt rustling behind her. Spinning around she launched the needle straight to the center-point of their chakra spotted with her eyes activated. When she focused she found Kisame standing there holding the needle between his fingertips carefully a sly smirk on his face.
“C’mon twerp I didn’t think you hated me that much, but if you want to fight,” his smile grew revealing his bladed teeth, “then sure thing.”
Kaiya only dignified his challenge with an eye-roll before speaking “Would you give me my needle back?” “Happily” And in a metallic blur it was flying towards her, Kaiya dodged out of the way feeling the senbon fly by her face.

When she faced Kisame with a bitter glare Itachi commented from beside her, “That wasn’t your best wording ever Kaiya-Chan.” Kaiya rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, “Yeah probably not.” Looking back over she found Kisame had disappeared, probably towards the hideout for their mission report. Kaiya wouldn’t ask Itachi about it, she knew better that whatever it had been; hurt him.
Itachi’s arm came up wrapping tightly around her shoulder, squeezing her and she knew that it hadn’t been a good mission. Her hands wrapped around his gripping it tightly she faced him with a warm smile, “I’ll be a senbon master, Nii-San.” A soft smile formed on his lips and Itachi’s onyx eyes focused on her ‘targets’. Amusement twitched his lips up higher, but he made no comment at the mass of scattered senbon. Instead he reached a hand into his cloak placing the small parcel into her hands, planting a light kiss on the top of her head.
“Happy birthday, Kai-Chan.”

Eyes sparkling Kaiya opened up the package revealing a small thumb sized crest of the Uchiha with a long black string attached to it. A keychain. When she looked up towards Itachi his hand shifted from her shoulder to her braid. Holding onto the end of it he pointed out her hair tie with the same crest, “I noticed it was getting worn out, something new and different seemed fitting.”
“It’s perfect, I’ll have to decide where to put it” Kaiya replied, tucking it away into a pouch while Itachi took the wrapping from her. She bounced away from him to finish putting away her senbon but when she turned back towards him Itachi’s smile disappeared and his face hardened. Above them on top of the rock came Sasori’s steady stream of chakra.

It was time for their mission then. Ignoring Sasori’s presence for a moment Kaiya wrapped her arms tightly around Itachi’s torso before pulling back and bounding up the small cliff-face to where Sasori had already begun walking off. She quickly wrapped the senbon holder back around her waist, closed her cloak and brought her hat out of its scroll. Flashing a quick smile and wave towards Itachi she sprinted off after Sasori until they both picked up the pace heading into the Rock Country.
As it turned out there was a special reason for going to the Rock. It was beginning. During her time spying on multiple occasions during her spying missions Kaiya had been gathering Intel that related to the Gedo statue. The Jinchuriki mission was almost ready to start. Hence their mission since the next step meant gathering info on all the Jinchuriki. According to a letter received from Leader there was still info to be gathered. After this mission her sole purpose would be to find out everything possible on all the tailed beasts and their hosts, from the one to nine tails. Each village, each host, all of it and nothing could be left out or she’d pay the price. The mission made her flinch.
The Leaf held onto the nine tails she knew that much, but he wouldn’t even be older than her and the Akatsuki planned on taking his life away all because of something inside him. An inner turmoil was starting to boil over Kaiya and she just hoped Sasori wouldn’t question it. Her weirdly kind behaviour had become common place to the puppet, but that didn’t change anything. Sadly, it sucked.

Kaiya’s dark blue eyes flashed over towards Sasori’s form just slightly ahead of her and Kaiya let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. Think of the here and now; that was the best way to go about it. As far as the world would be concerned she was nothing but an S-rank they wanted to kill. To them she didn’t care about those types of things; she’d keep it like that.
She huffed out a breath and pushed herself off a branch ahead of Sasori. She turned around to look at him going backwards through the air. Flashing him an innocent smile Kaiya spoke “Where is the location of this scroll Saso-Senpai?”
He continued looking on a head before his eyes shifted towards her, “You’re going to hit something and if you slow us down I’ll just turn you into a puppet.”
“I dunno, you’d definitely miss me” Kaiya replied bounding back into their same old argument. She could feel the eye roll coming from Sasori, “You’d be silent, what would there be to miss?”
Kaiya’s lips pursed as she paused a moment to bounce off another tree.
“So you’d continue talking to yourself in that dank dark room. I doubt that’s very healthy Senpai. Keep talking to yourself like that and you’ll end up like Zetsu.” Her small rant finished with a sweet smirk before she turned back to face forwards, jumping up further ahead towards wherever their destination was.
His remark was such a growl Kaiya could barely make it out, “I’m a puppet, I don’t worry about health.”

It wasn’t long before they closed in on their destination after that. As it turned out they were headed for an old temple. Kaiya knew the details held within a scroll hidden there was key. Getting it was a matter of importance. They made their way, Kaiya’s face hidden as she trailed behind Sasori’s large form, into a tiny village. It was filled with life and noise bouncing off the streets, from children giggling to drunkards arguing. She caught sight of a few shady characters that glowed with the chakra of shinobi watching them from the shadows.
And she couldn’t help but feel something with more sinister thank thieving intentions was watching the pair. Watching Kaiya. The thought slowed her down enough that she almost completely paused in her trek through the dusty streets to search the streets around her with crimson eyes.
“Do you feel anything strange Sasori-Senpai?” she muttered too low for any other person to hear. The puppet let out a measly grunt from ahead of her, “Stop wasting time, brat. I want to get this over with.”

She frowned at Sasori’s back, but continued walking behind him anyhow, without much other choice. When they finally made their way out of the village Kaiya couldn’t help spare a glance over her shoulder. The feeling had disappeared. A sigh fell out of her lips and she shook her head completely brushing it off as nerves. If it happened to be more the worst would be a rogue looking to challenge the Akatsuki. Not enough for Kaiya to worry about overly much.
So with that they soon completed the mission quickly, keeping Sasori’s persistent impatience at bay. But on their way back towards the hideout Kaiya sensed the faintness of Konan’s chakra and a paper message was flying in front of her moments later.

As she paused Sasori did as well peering back at her with veiled eyes while she released the seal and opened the message up, catching a small detailed origami flower as it fell out:
Dear Kaiya,
Leader-Sama has grown impatient and believes more action needs to be taken. Regardless of your mission’s completion you are to abandon Sasori to complete it alone. The jinchuriki need to be found. Your first target is the Five-tails Host. Gather the Intel within two weeks before coming to Ame. We will see you then. Good luck. And happy birthday,
Konan
Kaiya relayed the message over to Sasori. He simply nodded, confirmed he’d complete the all around report for the scroll. With no more formalities he turned his back on her and continue on his way. Kaiya chuckled at him, “You’re not out of it yet, be prepared to teach me about poison when I’m back.” He grumbled something incoherent before she could understand him, “Just don’t get yourself killed.”

Another chiming laugh and Kaiya disappeared into her butterflies managing a fair distance before forming wholly. With that she kicked off, letting dirt out behind her, Kaiya headed off towards the nearest village. The one thing she knew for sure was that people gossiped, a lot. She’d find whatever she needed in no time. To her last knowledge the Gobi belonged to Iwagakure. It was time to rejoin the Rock Nin then all the less fun for Kaiya; since they weren’t always quite as open. Although less hostile than the few Mist Nin she’d met in her life.
A new adventure indeed. Along with the chance to train with her Senbon. For now, Kaiya would let go of her worries.
From then on Kaiya began darting around from place to place, country to country. She kept on a constant move going over different types of spying missions all to get her close to Jinchuriki. The tactics varied from just looking into gossip, right out spying on them to infiltrating. No matter how much she couldn’t admit it, Kaiya enjoyed the challenges it gave her. Hiding from hosts ended up being a harder task than she’d once imagined, giving her a new respect to hosts, along pain in her rear-end.
It also meant she was darting around from partners in Akatsuki, giving different people new information, Kakuzu managed to have a new partner every time. Zetsu had also given her a worse attitude towards him with his tendency to pop out of the ground during her travels. Almost like he was keeping an eye on her, except he always had some type of message sent by Leader. So any ideas or suspicion in her head, were unfounded.
Then on another one of his pop-ins as she sat by a lake taking a break, he brought a new mission Kaiya hadn’t quite expected.