Lost Hearts Chapter 20

Water makes an excellent hiding place. Nobody thinks to look there even though my gills were in plain view.
Things protected in my waterproof pack, I swam through lakes and rivers trying to lose the bandits. As stupid as they were, they managed to catch me diving into the lake.
I stopped dead in the water, my feet buried in the sand. I pressed my back against a rock and watched. Could they reach me down here?
Sure enough, a body was swimming toward the bottom of the river. Did I say swimming? It’s more like drifting. Then I realized. They were dead. The water flowing in my face tasted bloody. Five other bodies floated to the depths of the water, the flow of the river carrying them past me.
I swam to the surface to see what happened to the final one. As I poked my head out of the water, cold, unseeing eyes stared into mine. I stifled a scream and swam a few feet to my left. The body that belonged to the head lay a few feet away in a large pool of blood that was soaking into the soil. A piece of paper fluttered against a tree, a kunai sticking out of it.
Hello Maya

Here’s the lead bandit, nice and dead, un. He apologised, but I killed him anyway.

Carry on, yeah? You’ll be hearing from me again, un.

PPPS: T o says hi . . .
The first word to the final statement was crossed out, leaving only two of the four letters. It looked like a name. I stared in confusion at the note. Saved me twice? When was the first? And why were they watching out for me? I racked my memory for the times when I was strangely saved.
The fight with Kidomaru came into my mind. That’s it! I was tied to a tree about to be struck in the heart by an arrow.
Shadows grew longer and things got darker as I thought. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was thinking about in the first place. Bushes rustled slightly to my right. I jumped in fright, but quickly realized I was overreacting when a small coyote poked its face through a bush. Its skin was pulled tight against its ribs, accentuating its rib cage.
Maybe I’ll sleep above ground today. I thought nervously. I dropped my pack to the ground and began the hand signs. One. Two. Three. Ice Coffin. I swirled my hands in a circle, water rising from the ground and the lake and swirling to form a ball around me. I stopped moving my arms when they crossed the third time and shut my hands into fists. The water froze into a large ice ball with me inside. Placing my head on my pack, I fell asleep.

I awoke before dawn to the sound of tapping. Through the translucent ice I could see the blurred form of a man in a black and red robe with long blonde hair. He looked like an older, hotter and masculine version of Ino. I stood up and swirled my hands in the opposite direction, melting the ice and letting the water fall to the ground.
"If you’re here to bring me back to the village, you’ve got another thing coming." I said in a firm tone.
The man shook his head. "Why would I bring you back, un? Your sister is already searching, yeah. No, I’m here for another reason."
When I didn’t say anything, he continued. "Leader-sama heard about you leaving, so he told me to come retrieve you, but bring you to a different place, un. We are a group of ninja that go on different kinds of missions than those pansy ninja do. Leader-sama wants you to-"
A boy wearing an orange mask with a black swirl and spiky black hair came bounding around the blonde man. "Tobi is a good boy!" He exclaimed.
"Shut up, Tobi," the man yelled, shoving him away. "As I was saying, Leader-sama wants you to join our ranks."
I thought it over for a few minutes. "Yeah, I’ll join."
He nodded. "I’m Deidara, follow me then. If you can."
Deidara took off running, Tobi close behind. I grabbed my pack and ran after them. After a few minutes, they jumped up into the trees. I quickly caught up to Deidara, keeping pace beside him.
"Is that the best you can do?" I asked sarcastically. He grinned back and ran faster. I sped up and leapt onto his back. "This is too easy."
He grumbled but didn’t throw me off until we began to run on the ground again. He jumped off the tree branch and rolled, sending me falling to the ground. I grabbed onto a passing branch and launched myself back up. We continued to run.

I pushed open the door to our building and made my way over to my room. A tall man with blue skin cut me off.
"What do you want, Kisame?" I asked.
He chuckled. "Leader-sama wants to see you right now. Both of you. And by that I mean you and Maya."
"She’s exhausted, let her sleep, un." I looked down and the sleeping girl curled up in my arms.
"Well I suggest you talk to him at least."
"Fine." I pushed my way past him and into my room.
I threw back the covers with one hand and placed her on her back. After tearing my eyes off her face, I left my room.
I folded my arms across my chest. "She is exhausted, Leader-sama, she ran almost the entire way here, let her rest, yeah?"
He sighed. "Fine, but she talks to me as soon as she wakes up. She’s part of your team now and she will be sharing a room with Konan because she has specific orders to watch over Maya."
I nodded and left.

When I awoke, I was curled up in a soft bed, a heavy quilt tucked in around me. I pushed myself up, slipped out of bed and left the room. I was dressed in a large T-shirt. Where was I? My head pounded.
". . .Chakra drag . . . " I groaned.
A scratchy chuckle sounded from behind me. "Look who woke up," he said.
I spun around and nearly fell over. "Who? ... Where? ... Um . . . "
"Will you be finishing any of those questions?"
I groaned in reply.
He shook his head. "Anyway, Leader-sama wants to speak with you, come on then."
We walked down the hallway in silence, me dragging myself along after him. He pushed open the door at the end of the hallway and walked off. I stepped inside and shut the door.
"I am amazed that you recovered that quickly." A deep voice said.
I said nothing, so he continued. "You seem to be confused." I nodded. "I had Konan change you out of your cloths. You have been staying in her room. Your new cloths are on the chair beside you."
I nodded. He continued talking. "Welcome to the Akatsuki then. You are on a team with Tobi and Deidara. Go change and make yourself presentable, then come back here."
"All right," I mumbled and walked out, taking the cloths with me.

I pulled off the T-shirt once in the room I was asleep in and cast it to the floor. I found my under clothing and put those on then pulled on a charcoal black T-shirt with a mesh V shape around the neck and a pair of loose black pants. There were two black bandages that wrapped around my calves, a pair of black shinobi shoes and a black robe with red clouds floating across it. There was also a straw hat with white ribbons and bells hanging off it. I dropped that with my pack and grabbed my brush. My elastic was wrapped around the handle. After brushing my hair back into a ponytail, I slipped on the robe, buttoned it up all the way so it covered up until the bridge of my nose. I slipped on the ring that fell out of the pile and exited the room again.
"They seem to fit you well." Leader-sama said. I nodded.
Though I could not see his face, I could feel him watching me. "I suppose you want to know what your first mission is."
"It would be nice."
He tossed a photograph as though it was a kunai at my face, which I caught with two fingers. "This man. You, Deidara and Tobi are to assassinate him, got it?"
I nodded and left.
Deidara was in his room when I went searching for him.
"Hello, un," he said with a warm smile. I smiled back and walked in. "Wow, you look . . . Wow, un."
I flushed slightly. "We . . . we have a mission."
Deidara’s shoulders dropped and he rolled his eyes. "First day here and you’ve already got a mission."
"Not me, we. You, me and Tobi."
"All right, un. Let’s go then."
We rounded up Tobi and left on our mission.

Mists curled and flowed around our waists as we walked. Small clouds floating up with every step we took. With our straw hats on, pulled down slightly over our eyes, we approached the gates to the mayor’s house. A lone soldier sat on top a wall, "watching" over the grounds. He cried out in alarm as we approached and began to fire arrows at us.
My hands flipped through signs as I walked, creating my trademark jutsu. Bloodbend.
The soldier froze, his hands dropping to his sides, arrows and bow clattering on stone. I spread my legs two or so feet apart until I was lowered into a well-balanced crouch. I raised my hands in a large V shape and closed my fist. The soldier’s body grew tense. I swirled my arms in wide circles, moving my torso along with them. The unfortunate man pulled out his sword and jumped over the wall. My actions grew more sharp now, quicker too. Cries of pain and shock were all that disrupted the silent morning.
We walked through the gates, Tobi on my left, Deidara on my right. Bodies lay in the dew soaked grass, blood and gore splattered over some walls. As I approached the building, I looked up. Twenty feet until the room we need. I crouched again and sprang upward, grabbing onto the top of the window and swinging through. Deidara came next, then Tobi. The mayor sat in the corner, huddled into a shaking ball.
I looked at Deidara, then Tobi, they both nodded. I walked up, grabbed the mayor by his collar and put him in a headlock. "Don’t worry, I’ll make this as quick and painless as possible." I whispered in his ear. There was a sharp crack, then silence.
I looked up at the two men in front of me. "We’re done here." I nodded.

After speaking to Leader-sama, I returned to Konan’s room to take a shower. As I washed the last of the soap off my body, a knock sounded from the bathroom door. I shut off the water, grabbed a towel and opened the door. Deidara stood in front of me, a goofy grin on his face.
I smiled at him. "What’s with the grin?" I asked, raising my eyebrow.
"I want to paint a picture and I need a model. Konan . . . Well, I’m not going to ask her. So how would you like to, un?" He said, still grinning.
"I’d love to, just let me get dressed."
"No need, put this on please," he handed me a light purple, silk kimono. I nodded and shut the door.
After drying myself off, I slipped the kimono on. The silk moved softly over my skin and felt like nothing when I tied it up. "He certainly knows how to make a girl happy." I mumbled. I slipped my hair into a ponytail and headed to his room.

I knocked twice then opened the door. He had lit candles throughout the room and had set up an easel on the far side. He was busy setting up paints. When I shut the door, he looked up and a smile spread across his face. I felt my heart skip a beat or two. Was I . . . No, it couldn’t be . . .
Deidara walked up to me, put one arm across my back and slipped hand into mine, then walked me over to the empty side of the room. There were three candles over there, one on a small table in the corner, and two on the shelves that lined the room.
He spun me around so I was facing the wall, then positioned me for the painting. My left hand — which was closest to the wall farthest away from the easel — was placed on my chest, holding the kimono together at the top and my right hand holding a pink rose at my side. He moved my torso so it was turned slightly toward the easel, then backed away. He walked back and turned my face to look at my right hand — which faced the easel. He backed away again, then moved back for more repositioning. He loosened the top of the kimono so it fell off my shoulders, the only thing keeping my chest covered being my hand.
He walked behind me and leaned into my ear. "You look stunning," he whispered, voice almost inaudible. "Hold that pose, and that expression please."
My face grew hot, but I held my pose anyway. He returned to his easel and began to paint.

A few hours later, Deidara moved away from his painting, regarding it. He smiled and walked away from it and toward me. I kept my pose in case he wasn’t finished. Placing himself behind me, he slipped the rose from my hand — which was already de-thorned — and placed his hand loosely in mine. His other hand was placed gently on my waist. My heart skipped a beat, and began to race like its life depended on it.
He took his hand off my hip and moved my head up so it was facing the door a few feet away, then replaced his hand. And as his lips brushed against my neck, I realized. I was in love with him.
I leaned back so I was leaning against his chest while he worked the ponytail out of my hair with his left hand. My still damp hair tumbled over my shoulders, reaching slightly below my shoulder blades, it was longer than usual. He moved his mouth up and began to nibble on my earlobe. His tongue played with the three studs in it. My hair flowed over his head, hiding sections of his blonde hair. He released my ear and began to walk around the right side of me, fingers untangling from mine, other hand trailing lightly across my back. With his right hand, he cupped my chin and turned my face up to his. I stared up into his beautiful blue eyes, pushing his hair away from the left eye.
I released his hair and worked the buttons undone on his robe, a single tear falling across my cheek. With his index finger, he wiped away the tear, ducking down to look at my face.
"Why the tears, un?" He asked in a soft voice.
My hands slid around his back, pressing the side of my face against his chest. "I never thought I could feel this again. Looking into your eyes, I see the same thing I saw before," I murmured into his chest.
"And what’s that, un?" His voice vibrated through his chest.
"Pure love."
He buried his face in my hair. "And you’re right, hon."
Minutes passed, and we stayed in that tight embrace. My heart raced like it had when Neji was my lover, but it felt real this time. "I never thought I could love like this again," I whispered.
"I’m glad you can, hon," he murmured into my hair.
We pulled apart a few inches and stared into each others eyes once again. The gap closed slowly between our faces, everything feeling like a dream. Our lips pressed together lightly and my heart fluttered. As we pulled apart, I yawned.
He chuckled softly. "Tired, un?" He asked. I nodded and cuddled into his chest.
He swept my feet out from under me and carried me over to his bed. I bounced on the mattress as I was dropped onto it. He held up one finger and left the room. When he returned, he was carrying my pack and a few of my other things with him, which he dropped at the foot of the bed. He then walked around the room and extinguished the candles. While he did that, I had slipped off my robe and the rest of my clothing except my underwear and pulled on the oversized T-shirt. I plopped onto the bed and curled up under the covers as he stripped down to his boxers then fell onto the bed beside me. My hair lay spread out across the pillow behind me, my head nuzzled against his chest and my hands pressed up against my collarbone. His lips pressed into my hair, close to my ear and he began to murmur wordless sounds. I quickly drifted off to sleep.

The door slid open a few minutes later, followed by the murmur of voices that were almost undistinguishable to my ears.
"Dei-" a voice began to say. "Itachi, I found her," he whispered. The door shut and they were gone. I drifted off again.