One could easily become consumed by power or sadness. It happened to people in the shinobi world quickly and without warning, the best of shinobi became power hungry and in search for that power they desperately wanted would kill family and friends...accident or not.
No matter how young or old.
This is how two special, talented girls became who they are to this day.

The Akatsuki lair was silent, the air heavy with something, possibly shock at the fact both Tou and Kimi were sitting around them. Though murderous intent seemed to radiate off of them.
Tou ran a hand through her long black and purple hair that she had not put up yet, as she shot a glare at Hidan who looked away nervously.
Kimi however, wasn't as obvious with her current anger as her eyes seemed to linger on nothing in paticular, though her eyes would shoot over to Itachi quickly, so that no one but Itachi himself caught the sudden movement.
Finally, Tou broke the silence as she slammed a hand on the table she was sitting at as she stood up, "You're all idiots, men, is that what they call you? More like spineless cowards..." Tou hissed before going to see why Deidara had yet to appear.
Kimi followed Tou with her eyes as she left the room into a room not so far away.
Tou slid into Deidara's room, before making a few handsigns so that she soon had a katana in her room. Her eyes narrowed as she saw the sleeping form of a friend.
"Dei-chan, get your lazy ass up now, or else, I'll chop your hands off and feed them to the birds!" she snapped.
Deidara turned around so that his one blue eye was staring into her lilac ones, and knowing that it was for his own safety to get up, he did, grumbling about how one day he was going to sneak a bomb into her room.
She shot him a glare and walked out of the room, leaving him to get ready.
Tou sat in a chair, crossing her legs casually as she stared at Kimi.
"Is he planning on sending on any missions today?" Tou asked in a near whisper.
Kimi merely stared at her for a second.
Tou glared at Kimi, "Answer me..." she muttered, clutching the katana's handle harder in frustration.
"Hn," was Kimi's reply, her sapphire eyes staying emotionless, her monotone voice and short answer only fueling the fire.
Tou threw her katana at Kimi's head, watching as it barely even grazed her as it flew into the wall and disappeared in ribbons.
The act was obviously in attempt to stop herself from stabbing her arrogant partner, or atleast attempting too.
"For someone new, you sure are cocky...." Tou muttered, Kisame giving her a sharp glare telling her to shut up.
Tou returned Kisame's glare, "Shut up, Fishstick."
Tou turned her attention back to Kimi, only to see the quick curve of lips that could of almost been considered a smirk or smile.
Tou slowly cooled down, though her fist stayed clenched. Deidara walked in, instantly feeling the tension of the room.
"What happened, did someone die, yeah?" Deidara asked.
Sasori looked up at him, then to Tou and Kimi.
"Hn, they're at it again, un..." he muttered.
Tou gave Deidara an agitated look before going back to being silent and trying to ignore Kimi as much as she could as she pondered if the leader was just trying to get back at her for the bears she had accidently got him attacked by. It wasn't her fault, it was how she killed her family. She had just recently figured out how to stop them anyways, that's how she had finally got the cloak...and unfortunately, the partner that came along with it.
"Difficult," Kimi said quietly as she looked in Tou's direction.
"What was that?" Tou snapped.



TBC

Sorry the chapter is so short, my mom is fussing at me =o

Tou sat in her room, eyes focused on her painting as a Kisame plushie was placed in her lap, her hand occasionally touching it to make sure it was still there out of fear of losing her posessions.
She smirked at the swirls of reds on her canvas as it slowly started to get the appearence of a tiger with each stroke.
As she sat blissfully painting she was unaware of the intruder in her dark room.
Tou sighed, putting her paintbrush down and picking up the plsuhei that was in her lap, hugging it slightly.
"Nice plushie..."
Tou turned around only to see her partner, Kimi standing there, arms crossed.
"Ever heard of knocking?" Tou muttered, before putting the plushie down and standing up.
"What do you want exactly?" she asked calmly.
"Leader wants to see us..." Kimi replied before walking out of the room.
Tou folowed Kimi as they went down halls to the Leader's office.
They walked in, Tou's hand placed on her hip as she waited for the orders.
"You two have a mission to go to Konoha and get the Kyuubi container. Tou, you should know much about this mission," he muttered.
Kimi turned to look at Tou, confusion flickering across her eyes before disappearing.
"Hai!" the both mumbled, before walking out of the room.
Tou looked over at Kimi, "Get your cloak and hat on and come on."
There was a long silence.
Kimi grabbed her cloak and put it on before they both poofed out of the lair.
They arrived at the outskirts of Konoha, "Try not to make a scene," Kimi muttered, glaring at Tou.
"You'd make more of a scene than I would!" Tou snapped in a hushed voice.
"Shut up," Kimi whispered before walking ahead.
Tou made her sketchbook appear with her paintbrush as she quickly painted a tiger, and made a few hand signs so that it came to life.
She watched as it distracted the guards while the made their way into Konoha in search of the Kyuubi container.
"Ever heard of genjutsu?" Kimi asked, as she continued to look ahead.
"I can't do genjutsu..." Tou whispered.
As they continued through Konoha, they came to an unwanted memory, the run down houses of Tou's clan. Tou quickly turned around as the images of the brutal murder flashed across her eyes.
As they went to leave the sight, another shinobi jumped in front of them.
"Tou-chan, your record isn't very good," the shinobi muttered.
Kimi stared at him for a moment before look at Tou who seemed to be crumbling as she backed up.
What had the leader told Kimi previously...so this was Sai. He said to keep her from the man if possible. It was Tou's one gigantic weakness.
"Sai...-kun," Tou choked out.
"You remember me?"
"I'm...I'm sorry I left so quickly. My pictures...they got out of hand. I killed them all, I had to run, run far away!" Tou yelled.
Kimi sighed, she had to get Tou out of there or they'd be screwed, they were sitting ducks at the moment. Not a good thing when you are just in about every village's bingo book.
Kimi started making handsigns, trapping Sai in a temporary illusion as she picked up the panicing Tou.
"Damnit..." she muttered as she looked into her teammate's eyes that were wide and hollow.
"Troublesome partner," Kimi whispered before poofing away to the forest where she sat Tou down, knowing they'd have to go back there soon.
"I can't fail my mission...but, but, Sai-kun," Tou whispered, her eyelids seemingly becoming heavy, a few tears streaming down her face.
"That's why I don't have any..." Kimi whispered.
"Any what?"
"Friends."
For once in Tou's short life, she sucked up her pride, "Gomen...gomen for ruining the mission."
"Hn," was Kimi's reply.
Tou faced the other way, the only thought going through her mind was why she got stuck with such a bitch of a partner, and Kimi's thoughts weren't far behind that.



TBC

Kimi looked aside as Tou tried to breathe deeply and move beyond her weakness. She didn't like the girl, no way around that, but every person, bitch or not, deserved time to collect themselves. "Are you done wasting my time?" Kimi asked in the monotone voice she had developed over the years.

Tou stood up and shot a glare. "Wasting you time? As if. Come on, we need to find the jinchuriki," Tou shot at her, "in case you forgot the mission."

Kimi glared, sapphires meeting amethysts. "Me forgetting the mission? Listen girl, I'm not the one who nearly handed herself on a silver platter to the enemy."

"Excuse me for having a friend you heartless bitch! Not all of us could have grown up as icy as you!" Tou yelled drawing her katana. "Maybe if you had a friend as a child, you wouldn't have become this excuse of a women in front of me!"

Kimi's gaze became cold an beyond emotion. In a slick movement her own katana was drawn and she had closed in on Tou. Their blades clashed as Tou was in the defensive, Kimi pushing the girl up against a tree. "You know nothing about me," Kimi hissed venomously slow. "I had a friend, the best friend a girl could have hoped for. And you know what happened to him? He died. On this very blade by these very hands."

Tou froze, wide eyed at the news her partner had shared. She could never kill Sai. That was impossible, if he were to die by her creations, she would most likely draw up her own death, turn herself in, anything was better than killing Sai. "Monster.." she breathed out as Kimi sheathed her katana and walked away

"Get used to it Tou."

Tou returned her own blade its rightful spot before walking off after the raven girl. They walked back to Konoha in silence, and this time Kimi created the illusion of a band of rouge nin to distract the guards. They made it into the streets of Konoha before Tou spoke, "You don't even know where you're going do you?"

Kimi stopped to look behind her. "You forget, unlike you I wasn't held up in Akatsuki for a couple of years. I've been to Konoha on several occasions."

"But you haven't been told who the jinchuriki is," Tou stated, superiority in her voice. Kimi's silence allowed Tou to continue, pulling out a small book made for Akatsuki members. Only the kunoichi team hadn't officially been given theirs yet, but Tou had 'borrowed' it from another member, one who would be ranting about how theft was against his bloody religion later. "Uzamaki Naruto, member of Team 7, the holder of the Kyuubi Kitsune."

"Hn."

Tou smirked greatly before turning to a different direction. "If we actually want to find him, we should be at the training grounds," Tou announced.

Kimi reluctantly followed, her had twitching towards the blue leather handle of her katana every moment. "Bitch," she muttered under her breath.

"I heard that!" Tou shouted as they walked onwards, her own hand edging towards the paint brush.

"Hn. Good, I don't have to repeat myself."

A rather shrill shriek of pure anger and frustration was heard in Konoha at precisely noon. No citizen knew what the inhumanly high pitch noise was. And none were sure if they wanted to know.

Kimi and Tou sat in a tree masking their chakra as they watched Naruto and Sakura train.
"I heard about her," Tou whispered, "that is Haruno Sakura, Naruto's teammate, the other is..."
Kimi looked over at her, "Who?"
"Oh...no one," Tou whispered as she continued watching them, "Besides, we must focus on Uzumaki Naruto, Kyuubi no Kitsune's container. Extracting is our mission, we can't loose sight of it."

"Wow! Sakura-chan, you're getting loads better!' the blonde exclaimed.
The pink haired woman blushed slightly, "Arigatou, Naruto."
"Sickening..." Tou and Kimi muttered in unison, quickly shooting a glare at eachother.

While they were busy glaring at eachother, neither of them noticed the raven haired man who was watching them from the branch above them as he smirked slightly at the sight of the purple and raven haired female, arguing with the older woman.
Tou's eyes suddenly widened at the feeling someone was watching her, "Kimi...." Tou managed to cough out.
Kimi took this as a sign to look up, sapphire eyes meeting cold black ones.
"Tou, go down there...now," she hissed.
Tou did as told for once in her life, landing in the middle of Sakura, Naruto, and Kakashi.
Tou made her katana appear, the rubbons spiraling up her arm as she glanced at each one of them.
"Hn...you're that girl who killed her whole clan about ten years ago, aren't you?" Kakashi stated lazily.
Tou spun around quickly, the blade of her katana against Kakashi's neck, "Mention that again and you'll be killed before you can count to three....give me Kyuubi no Kitsune and I'll be on my way!"
Sakura glared, "You aren't taking Naruto!"
Before Sakura could say anything else, Tou was behind her, her eyes narrowed as she whipped out a sketchbook and paintbrush as she swept the brush over the paper quickly, creating Uchiha Sasuke, their former teammate.
"I looked into your team a lot around the time Sai-kun entered...." Tou whispered, making Sasuke walk in front of them. "Are you willing to defeat your old teammate, my paintings aren't illusions, they are very real..."

Sakura and Naruto couldn't attack it. It looked so much like Sasuke, especially when it looked up at Naruto with that same look that told Naruto they were clos even though he was gone.
Naruto stepped back, "Sai...we could use your help!" Naruto called.

Suddenly Sai and Kimi appeared in front of them, fighting. Tou sped in front of Sai to block Kimi's attack with her katana.
Kimi glared, "Get out of my way, Tou."
"I couldn't even if I tried..." Tou snapped, both jumping back as their katana's power evened out.

Naruto ran over to Sai, "You know that girl?"
"She was an old...friend..." Sai mumbled.
Team seven was shocked, they had never heard Sai call anyone a friend.
"If she is in the Akatsuki, why is she helping you, Sai-san?" Sakura questioned.
"It wasn't entirely her choice.." Sai muttered emotionlessly as he watched the two girls continue fighting at about even strength.

Kakashi stared, "That is Inju Tou, part of the Inju clan that was murdered ten years ago by the girl. Apparently, she was only eight and it had been an accident, but she fled and not one single person had seen her...till today."
"She killed her family when she was eight?" Sakura asked in shock, the reply was merely a nod.
Kimi was now shoved up against a tree, katana pushing on eachother as lilac eyes glared into the sapphire eyes of her partner.
"Touch one hair on Sai-kun and I won't hold back in killing you..." she whispered in a threatening voice.
Tou turned back to the others, "We'll be back..." she whispered, before both Kimi and Tou disappeared in smoke.




TBC

The puff of smoke settled in the cold dank cavarn the two kunoichi had come to call home. The two broke apart panting holding their stances and their katanas. "What the hell was that for?" Kimi hissed

"I told you not to attack Sai!" Tou replied in a shrill cry.

"What is this about Sai?" the shadowy figure, that had gone unseen, in the corner of the room asked. His gaze went from the stoic Kimi to the raging Tou. "Someone explain," when both girls went to answer the figure added, "one at a time. Kimi."

Kimi nodded and put her katana back to its sheath. "When we entered Konoha, we had made an encounter with the one called Sai. Tou broke down and I got us out of there with a simple genjutsu. We went after the target, but appearently Sai is a member of the jinchuriki's team."

Leader nodded, casting his gaze over both girls as he motioned for Kimi to continue. "You still haven't told me why you returned here so soon after departure."

Sapphire eyes looked up as she continued. "We were forced to enter battle earlier than planned. I held off Sai, as Tou approached the other memebers of Team 7. Sai and my battle became known to Tou and the others before I had managed to finish him off. Tou had other plans, she left her battle with the other members, a battle where we stood a chance of high success, and blocked my attacks to save Sai." Kimi finished and silenced. She had a sense of reading other's emotions even though her own were so few. Leader was not pleased.

The cloaked figure began to walk behind a desk that stood before the statue for the bijuu. "You mean to tell me, you lost the Kyuubi?"

The girls nodded in a slow unison, shooting glares of pure hatred when they thought possible.

"Because Inju-san wouldn't allow the death of a former friend?" Leader stressed former. Upon entering Akatsuki, all ties were supposed to be undone. "And because Akamari-san could not finish off a danger I warned her of before hand fast enough?"

Tou flinched, that tone of voice. It was deathly calm, volume rising. In her years of remaining at the lair, she had only seen Leader angry like this a few times before, never had they ended well.

Kimi kept her gaze steady though her fists were clenching. He was insulting her skill as a weaponist, not making the kill fast enough. Excuse her for having to keep her own safety a matter of worry when painted animals were attacking in the trees.

Leader, spun to face them, slamming his hands on the desk, an echo vibrated off the walls. "Do you think this is a bloody game? Are we trying to form a world power or a god damn tea party?" His voice was the only thing heard, the kunoichis merely looked at the ground before them. Tou feeling much like a child being scolded and Kimi feeling like a gennin again after threatening the life of her team mate one too many times.

"You two have some nerve! Screwwing up your first mission, and the Nine Tails no less!"

"With all do respect Leader-sama, Uchiha-san and Kisame-kun failed the same mission three years ago, and they were more experienced than us," Tou dared to speak up.

"Silence!" Leader roared slamming his hands on the desk again to effectively shut the kunoichis up. He raised a hand to his shadowy brow before pacing again. "You better hope Sasori and Deidara are successful in their capture of the Shukaku in Suna."

Tou's eyes widened, Deidara-kun and Sasori-kun were on a mission, why hadn't they told her? They always told her, and Deidara always would tell her not to let the mean shark boss her around while they were away. Kimi watched her partner's shock out of the corner of her eye. Great more emotions heard from.

"Return to your rooms, it is to soon to return to Konoha now that they are aware of our activity again," Leader hissed as the girls swiftly exited the room.

Kimi walked slowly towards her room in one of the winding corridors. As she did this, the purple haired girl shot past her skidding to a hault near one door that wasn't her own. Kimi continued and stopped to lean against the wall opposite the door.

Tou slid to her knees banging on the door cursing. "Damn it! Damn him! Why the hell are they all gone when I need them!" she cried as her fingers traced the blue shard on the door. Nailed to the door was a rough blue scale from Kisame's sword, Samahada. It had been dislodged in a battle against a bijuu years ago and since then had become the sign for Tou to know Kisame was gone for an indefinate period of time.

"You're hopeless."

Tou shot around to look at the raven girl against the wall. "And what do you know?"

"I know ties of any sort, be they in Akatsuki or not, will get you killed. Sever them and live for youself and your own goals. Then consider a real mission with me Tou. No more of what we had today. Because next time you come after me, I won't hold back because you're my partner."

"You wouldn't, couldn't kill me. We're partners, you can't kill your partner."

"Watch me. Jeopardize a mission again and we will see about that," Kimi warned before heading to her own door down the hall.

Tou watched her go, hatred still flaring. Everyone was gone, her two closest people were after a jinchuriki as ruthless as the bijuu her carried. She kicked at Kisame's door muttering something about stupid fish before returning to her own room. Damn it, what did she ever do to life for it to hate her so?

Tou was curled up on her bed, her knees to her chest as she held back the tears. Something told her something bad was happening to Dei-chan and Sasori-kun; it made her really scared. Even Kisame was gone and the only ones left were Hidan, Kakuzu, Zetsu, Tobi, and Kimi. Needless to say she didn't like any of them.

She closed her eyes, falling asleep, waiting for their arrival, Deidara and Sasori had never been long before. What was going to be different now?

Kimi watched secretly from the door way, she also had the feeling in the pit of her stomach that something bad was about to happen, and that she'd be dealing with a very angry Tou.

The next morning, Deidara and Sasori still weren't back like they normally were, but Zetsu and Tobi were also gone. Both Tou and Kimi had learned about Zetsu's job as well as the fact that the annoying man, Tobi, was his apprentice.

"I'm going to the leader...." Tou whispered, before feeling a hand on her shoulder that was holding her back.

"We are in enough trouble, you can't go barging in there," Kimi hissed, obviously frustrated at Tou's antic and need to make sure her best friends were okay.Even the ones who were enemies..

Tou's eyes narrowed as she pushed Kimi away, "Watch me." Tou dashed towards the Leader's office, barging in, the shadowy figure casting a glare over at her as she glared back.

"Why aren't Dei-chan and Sasori-kun back yet?" she snapped, even though she knew she shouldn't have talked to him like that, she kept going. "They should be back by now! WHERE ARE THEY?!" she screamed, as Kimi poked her head in, just in time to see the Leader clenching his fists with anger.

"They succeeded in extracting Shukaku...but, there was a little problem," the figure responded. "I sent Zetsu-san out, because, simply the fact that, we need Sasori-san's ring and Deidara's..."

Tou dropped to her knees, "Neither of them made it?" she choked out.

'Oh crap...' was the first thing that came to the raven haired woman's mind as she listened intently to the leader. There were only two things that could happen. The first was that Tou could go on a rampage, and possibly stab the first member who got in her way OR she could lock herself in her room and not come out for a mission. Either way, it wouldn't end well for Kimi.

However, Zetsu, Tobi, and an armless Deidara appeared. Tou looked over and stood up quickly as she ran and hugged Deidara.

"Dei-chan!" she cried. "I thought they had killed you, I'm so happy you're okay! ...Even though you are missing your arms," Tou muttered, stiffling in a giggle.

Deidara frowned slightly, waiting for Tou to realize Sasori was not there, he didn't want to break the bad news to Tou. Really. He didn't, but something had to be said.

"Ah...Dei-chan, where is Sasori-kun, please say he isn't really dead! He was so strong! He can't be dead!" she cried out as she hugged Deidara tighter.

"Sorry Tou-chan, un..." Deidara muttered, telling himself not to tell her his last words to him. That'd get him a one way ticket to death row.

He could feel his shirt slowly become doused with tears, as the purple haired girl cried, before looking up at him again, "Dei-chan, who got Sasori-kun killed?"

"Sabaku no Gaara, yeah," Deidara replied.

Kimi walked farther in the room. Gaara? The man who had stolen the spot she had been destined to have away from her? How she hated that man, him and his father were the reasons she had done what she had done.

Tou looked at the ground before realeasing Deidara out of the hug, her eyes became colder and darker, "If Sabaku no Gaara does not die by my hands, then I will never be at rest, so I swear, I will kill him...." Tou growled out, her voice full of malice at the thought of Gaara. He wouldn't get away with this.

"Kimi no Danna, come and get me in my room if you need me, but, you shouldn't see me around much until I avenge Sasori-kun," Tou whispered, bowing her head before leaving.

"Kimi...no Danna?" Kimi muttered, watching Tou leave. She knew she had been right, the girl should have severed each and every tie as she had done. It would have saved them both some trouble in the long run.

Deidara sighed, "I'm gonna go talk to Kakuzu about getting my arms sewn back on, I'll check on Tou-chan in a little, yeah..."




TBC

Tou stalked back to her room teary eyed. She slammed her door shut and sat with her face in her knees on her bed, her little plushie getting the stuffing hugged out of it. Sasori-kun...he couldn't be gone. He just couldn't. She would get that Gaara and kill him.

She didn't care if it was unbefitting of an Akastuki to get sentimental but she was. No one else in the whole god damned place was. She pulled out her notepad and sketched a picture of the ex-jinchuriki. With her seals she brought it to life and violently lashed out at it with her katana until the jutsu wore off and the image popped out of existance.

"I will avenge you Sasori-kun."

After Tou had stormed out of the room, that had left Leader, Tobi, Zetsu, and Kimi alone staring at each other. Leader slammed a fist on the desk. "With Sasori gone everyone's going to have to change a few things around here," Leader told the three present. "Zetsu, you'll be going solo again."

The plant like man nodded, his white side and black side both agreeing in their odd tones. "I'll go find return to the field, Itachi and Kisame are still scouting around out there since the Kyuubi and friends had shown up," the white side said before the man wallked out of the cavern towards the grassy expanse outside where he could transport.

Leader nodded before turning to the masked man standing before him. "Tobi, from now on you will be partnered with Deidara. Go inform him of this and assist Kakuzu if needed."

"Hai! Because Tobi is a good boy, he will go find Deidara-sempai," the man said brightly before turning around.

"Hold up," Leader added, pausing the man in his tracks. "Here. Guard it with your life," the shadowy figure told him as he tossed a small shining object into the air.

Tobi looked around and caught it in the cup of his hand. Kimi's eyes grew wide in envy, Sasori's ring now sat in the babbling idiot's hands. "Hai Leader-sama!" Tobi squeaked putting the ring on his finger before running after the direction Deidara had gone.

Kimi stood there silently fuming, counting backwards in her head to releave the anger built up and directed at a certain mask wearer. Leader turned his shifty attention to her. "Kimi, keep Tou under control. She has a temper and a one track mind. Next time you two go on a mission watch her carefully. And be warned, I am not sending your team out towards Konoha or Suna for awhile," Leader told her before waving his hand signaling for her to leave.

Kimi nodded before drifting down the winding hallways she had memorized upon her fist day. She stopped at a door that wasn't hers, one splashed with paint. She tried the handle and when that turned out false she pulled her leg up and kicked out at the door.

The door swung open, violently crashing into the stone wall. "Kimi no Donna, what is it?" Tou asked bitterly calm. Crumples of paper with red paint lay scatter around the room, all holding the profile of a certain redhead shinobi.

Kimi looked at the faces glaring from the paper before slowly she turned to look at Tou. "It is likely we will not be sent to either Konoha or Suna for awhile until we prove our abilities to Leader again. Also I came to tell you two other things. One, Tobi took over as the keeper of Sasori's ring and is now Deidara's partner."

This news extracted a startled and angry gasp from the other girl. Tou wanted to work with Deidara, she knew if she was with Kimi their differences would only cause more trouble than good, and she also wanted the ring much like her partner.

"Second is not from Leader but from me," Kimi said as she stood in the frame of the doorway as calm as ever. "You will not be the one to kill the Kazakage. That is my duty and mine alone," Kimi said slowly before turning out of the room, her black and red cloak twirling as she did so.

"No!" Tou shouted as her anger reached new limits. "You have no reason to kill that bastard! I need to avenge Sasori-kun!"

Kimi haulted in the hall and turned around to look at the raging girl. "No, you need to cut all your ties once and for all before you become overwhelmed by them. And you know nothing about my reasons to kill him. If you took a step out of Tou Land you may learn somehting," Kimi hissed before returning to stride towards her door, she opened it and slamemed it behind her.

Tou stood fuming in the hallway as she stormed into her room trying to strangle the scream working in her system. That woman was infuriating! But she did hold a good point...Tou had yet to learn anything about Kimi since she had joined. Since they had met less than a week ago all Tou had learned was that her name was Akamari Kimi a rouge from Sand who slaughtered her ANBU squad and appearently her best friend. Motives or any sort of past she had expected to be served to her.

And yet in this time Kimi had learned so much about Tou, her weaknesses, past, personality, and strengths. Tou growled as she pulled out the bingo book she had 'borrowed' from a greedy little heartless man, hehe heartless.

She flipped through the pages of the overstuffed text until she found the list of ex Sand nin. "Akamari Kimi," she muttered as she flipped the pages until she let her eyes scan the page.

Simutanuously, without the other's knowledge, the girls sighed, "Of course my partner is perfectly stable minded."

Tou reached for her paintbrush and grabbed a new canvas. She slowly started painting, the dark paint forming to create a young girl with short black hair and lilac eyes.

She put her hand on the canvas, making the little girl come alive. Tou placed a hand on the girl's head, smiling weakly. "Can you go find the woman with short black hair and tell her I need to see her?" Tou asked in a kind voice.

The little girl smiled, "Okay!" she giggled, before she ran out of the room in search for Kimi.

The girl soon found Kimi, and giggled, "Ah, my Master wants to see you!"

Kimi stared, "...Tou...when I get there I am going to kill you..." Kimi whispered as she tried to stab the painting, who quickly dashed off to Tou's room.

Kimi walked to Tou's room before kicking the door open angrily and violently.

"Kimi no Danna, killing my messenger won't do any good for you, besides, I heard we are going to be sent on a long mission soon," Tou whispered as she continued to paint the tiger she had been painting before they had left to go after Kyuubi.

"I thought he said we weren't going on missions for a while," Kimi growled.

Tou stared at her with hollow eyes, "He wants us to spy on Orochimaru-san, they say he is plotting something against us. Though I highly doubt it personally," Tou sighed.

"I don't care what you think. A mission is a mission, and if you screw this one up, I will kill you," Kimi warned.

"I won't screw this one up...but, we have no guarentee for you," Tou muttered emotionessly, as her painbrush continued moving.

Kimi glared at her from behind as if trying to make her katana 'accidently' stab the girl as she focused at the target.

"Now, if you wouldn't mind getting the fuck out of my room and getting ready, I would like to be left alone," Tou stated.

An hour later after a quick kiss on the cheek and advice that only came from an over protective friend they were on their way to Oto.

Tou and Kimi walked side by side though they stayed a few feet apart, trying to avoid one another if at all possible. That was, until they both stopped. Kimi grabbed her katana as Tou summoned hers.

"I sense two strong chakras and one weaker one..." Tou whispered.

"For once, you're right," Kimi replied, getting into a fighting stance as the sources of the chakra came into view.

TenTen, Baki, and Ibiki stopped as they saw the two. Automatically recognizing them as Akatsuki members. TenTen smirked, she'd heard about the two since they were in multiple bingo books by now and they both were almost perfect with their katanas. A new challenge, even though she hadn't even defeated the older ones.

Tou and Kimi moved swiftly. A ribbon immobilizing TenTen quickly as she grabbed a scroll. Baki went to slice the ribbons to get them to let TenTen go, though Kimi quickly stopped him. Her katana going right through his back as he came inches from actually setting TenTen free.

Tou quickly brought her katana to TenTen's chest as TenTen attempted to kick Tou away. "Hey, TenTen-san, how you ever became a chunnin is beyong me," Tou whispered into TenTen's ear, a smirk across her lips as Kimi stood there watching as TenTen struggled to get free, though she also watched Ibiki from the corner of her eye. Mabye Tou could prove herself...mabye.


TBC

TenTen, held prisoner by the red ribbons of Tou, struggled helplessly as Tou came closer, drawing her katana. Ibiki glanced from Kimi to his teammate. While holding a steady gaze with Kimi, he flug two kunai towards Tou.

Tou dodged them easily but watched in aggitation as the kunai hit their real target of freeing the brunette. Tou and Kimi nodded at each other before each facing thier own opponants. By now Ibiki had had summoned two clones of himself, each armed with kunai and exploding tags. TenTen had pulled out her scrolls and currently held two windmill shuriken.

Tou stood her ground before pulling out her notebook, reciveing a wondering glance from TenTen. Tou smirked and clasped her hands together in a few seals before a small puff of smoke revealed her creation, her signiture tiger. She pointed her katana at TenTen and the tiger pounced bearing it's teeth.

Kimi glanced at Ibiki and then to the wounded and dying ninja next to him. Kimi brought the katana up to her face and wiped her finger across the blade and looked at it. "Funny how something so easily spilt is the core for all life," she spoke calmly while Ibiki gripped his weapons. "But what a wonderful color, it will be beautiful when this clearing is covered in it," she whispered before licking her finger clean of the blood, Ibiki wasted no time in tossing his kunai.

TenTen expertly threw both her shuriken at the pouncing tiger turning the creature into a cloud of smoke. She waited for the smoke to clear and slowly pulled out another scroll as she tried to detirmine Tou's location. She swivled her head behind her and saw nothing, and when she turned to look at the disappearing smoke she came face to face with the lilac eyed criminal. A small gasp escaped her lips as the cold metal of a katana plunged into her chest and the last thing she heard before falling to the ground with a sickening thud was, "Tata TenTen."

Kimi deflected the flying kunai with her blade, sending each one into a near by tree where the paper crackled until each exploded. The tree fell to the floor making the only sound in the otherwise silent battle field. The Ibikis charged Kimi all at once and right before impact she leapt up, chakra in her feet, and pulled out two senbon. She landed on a branch and as the three Ibiki's turned to face her, the two on the ends were hit directly in the forehead with her senbon, clouds of smoke ensued.

"How did you know?" Ibiki asked gruffly as he pulled out more of the exploding tags for his remaining kunai. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the brunette fall to the ground in a pool of her own blood. So now two were feeding this earth their blood, and this mission was supposed to have no casualties, he should have known better.

"Simple. You were the one who's chakra potential exceeded the rest," Kimi stated boardly before leaping down again to face the older nin. Tou made a step to join her when Kimi shot her a pointed glare. "This is my battle kohai," she hissed, her sapphire eyes giving no alternative.

Tou scowled before leaning against a tree. She watched as Ibiki charged Kimi again, the older girl made no move, not even entering a fight stance, her katana hung from her hand at her side. She didn't quite like Kimi calling her kohai, it made her feel weaker, at least she knew to get into a fight stance when an enemy was ten feet away and decreasing.

Ibiki leapt and flung the kunai directly at Kimi, there would be no time for her to block when she wasn't even in stance. He looked ahead to the tree branch he planned to land on when he found himself going the opposite direction with a shooting pain in his gut. Ibiki looked down to see Kimi smirking up at him, her blade sheathed inside of him.

The older man coughed up blood as Kimi kicked him hard sending him flying into a tree where he slid down and lay in a heap on the forest floor, his blood joining his team in the soil. Kimi walked over to him, so the old man still had fight in him? As Ibiki struggled to stand up her blade came to his throat and in one swift movement a dark gash formed on his neck and his head slumped downward.

Kimi wiped her blade on his shirt before returning it to her holster. "Come kohai, we best get out of here before anyone else appears. I have a feeling they were here to meet someone, they weren't prepared for a mission, just a journey," Kimi stated calmly looking at Tou.

"Kimi no Danna, please refrain from calling me kohai," Tou requested kicking off of the tree to walk next to Kimi as they left the now blood splattered clearing.

Kimi ignored the request and kept going, she brushed the hair from her face as she made her way through the forest. "Hn." Tou simply glared at Kimi but followed relentlessly. Somehow she figured the mission would be a silent one.

Tou and Kimi continued to Oto without speaking as much as one word. The silence from Tou had made Kimi slightly nervous, the purple haired kunoichi could never stay this quiet for this long.

When they stepped foot into Oto, Kimi and Tou nodded to eachother before they made their way towards the mansion, the lair of the ex-Akatsuki member and spy. Yakushi Kabuto and Orochimaru, two dangerous shinobi if not dealt with properly.

Tou opened the door silently as both Kimi and her slipped in, their job was to figure out Orochimaru's intentions and to retrieve his ring.

"I heard Uchiha Sasuke is also here, beware of him and Orochimaru-san...Kabuto shouldn't be too much of a hassle for either one of us..." Tou whispered.

"Mabye not for me, Kohai," Kimi replied.

Tou twitched slightly, but decided to let it slide. If she had an outburst, it could be the end for both of them, and the Leader would be even more angry.

Tou and Kimi snuck through the mansion, finally arriving at what seemed to be a lab. They started to search around the room until voices came from the hall, Tou and Kimi. "Fuck..." Kimi mumbled, as she poofed out of the room with Tou.

They watched in secrecy as Orochimaru and Kabuto entered the lab.

"Kabuto, I will need to transfer bodies soon..." Orochimaru hissed.

"I know, Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto replied.

"I'll go this way, you go the other..." Kimi muttered in a whisper to Tou. Tou nodded, before going in the opposite direction of Kimi. This was one of her few chances to redeem herself to the leader, and the same went for Kimi. If they failed another mission, it would be extremely bad for both of them.

"Where is that ring?" Tou asked to no one in paticular.

"Mabye you should ask Orochimaru your self, I'm sure he'd like to know why you were here and why you need his rings," came a cool voice from behind Tou. The kunoichi spun around, lilac eyes meeting dark eyes that resembled Itachi's. What was it with her and running into the biggest pricks of all time? Was she wearing a sign that screamed, 'HEY LOOK! I'M A PRICK MAGNET!' Oh dear god, she hoped not. The raven haired man raised an eyebrow as he waited for an answer.

"Uchiha Sasuke, the only surviving Uchiha from the massacre and my friend's little brother," Tou said, trrying to remember everything she had learned about the youngest of the Uchiha brothers. "You left with Orochimaru three years ago, all because you wanted power, ne? Revenge took over you so much that you even left your boyfriend...I mean, best friend," Tou smirked, wondering if she could get the cool Uchiha to refrain from saying anything if she just happened to spill some other facts out. Oh yes, Tou was a sneaky bastard.

The Uchiha's face stayed cool, though his eyes told another story. "What do you want here?" Sasuke hissed in an annoyed tone. How did this girl know so much about him? He had never met her once in his fifteen year old life.

"Say anything about this to Orochimaru-san, and I swear, you will die...." Tou whispered in a threatening voice, putting her finger to Sasuke's lips as she glared at him, "I don't think you want a beautiful work of art such as a katana protruding through your chest. I won't hesitate if you say one thing to Orochimaru-san, understood?"

Sasuke glared at her before nodding and walking away. Tou let a small smile grace her lips. She had won, again. She turned around and continued searching the mansion.

Kimi dodged another trap as she wondered how many of these things one person could have in their mansion. Not like she entirely wanted to know at this point, she'd get beaten to a pulp if it kept going on like this. A tiger soon appeared, looking at Kimi warily.

"Kohai sent you, didn't she?" Kimi mumbled. The cat nodded, as it swung it's tail around a large windmill shuriken that had been heading for Kimi.

Kimi had an annoyed expression on her face, "Whatever, just come on..." Kimi snapped at Tou's creation. The tiger snorted, before nodding. Tou had told him to follow Kimi's every order.


TBC

Kimi followed the tiger back to Tou, slightly annoyed the whole way. How the hell could the tiger find the one path that was trap free and she couldn't? It was going to piss her off for a while, damn paint things, she hated them all, and their creator.

The tiger lead her through a room that could only be called a storage room. The large scale room was filled to the brim with boxes, weapons, scrolls and only the snake knew what else. The painted tiger kept its pace through the only narrow path to the door when Kimi's voice haluted its movements, "Feline. Hold up, the ring could be in here," she hissed. If cats had the ability to shrug, this one would have before it just sat down wrapping its tail around its paws.

Kimi clasped her hands in a few quick movements before a small puff of smoke revealed a small wolf pup who looked up at her with wide eyes. "You're Kiyoshi's summoner!" The little brown pup barked.

Kimi nodded. "Quietly, search around here for a blue ring. Remember quiet, I don't need any trouble."

The pup nodded and hurridly began climbing and sniffing around for this 'ring'. Silently he wondered to himself, how was he supposed to telll if something was blue? Wolves were colorblind. Stupid summoner, not that he would say this outloud, he and just about every other wolf ninken knew Kiyoshi's summoner was easily angered. And very violent.

After a few minutes of searching, Kimi had found nothing on her own. She whistled softly and the pup came bouncing back, waving his fluffy little tail with a small black box in its mouth. Kimi bent down and after shaking it free of puppy slobber she opened it.

"Is this what Master wants?" the pup barked cutely looking up at her with, well puppy eyes.

Kimi looked in the small black box curiously. It wasn't the ring she had been looking for, hell it wasn't even a ring. Inside sat two bracelets and a neckalce, both silver with ancient black writings around them. She picked one up and felt her chakra stir in responce to the metal. Curious, she tried to read the writings and found them to be in a language not her own.

"Curious, very curious," she muttered closing it in its box and then shoving the box in her pouch. She bent down and put her hand on the pup's head and ruffled its fur. "Not what I was looking for but good job anyway," she muttered as she made the pup return to his home. Ok, so she had soft spot for her wolf ninken.

"Lets go tiger," she ordered as she striaghtened her clothes to resume following the painted creature. The tiger nodded and returned to its previous path, which lead them to Tou after a few more good minutes of walking.

"Glad you decided to show up Kimi no Donna," Tou welcomed as she sat on a large desk in the office like room.

"Well kohai, I had to avoid traps and then I actually did some scouting," Kimi retorted bitterly crossing her arms.

"Well, I had a run in with an Uchiha. But I believe I found where the ring is, I just need you to open it. My paint cannot make an exact copy of the key needed to open the drawer of the desk and if I were to break it open that would cause a scene," Tou stated calmly leaving the rest for Kimi to think up.

"So you want me to use my genjutsu and turn something into the identical key?" Tou nodded. Kimi looked around the room before walking towards a single scroll hanging from the wall. "Kohai, mind telling me why you didn't use the actual key?" Kimi pressed her chakra glowing hand to the art scroll that depicted a scene from war, and a small key drawn into the scene grew in dimention and size.

Kime twirled the key in her fingers as Tou stared at her with a heated angry gaze, muttering something like 'show off' which was ignored by Kimi. "The best place to hide something is in the open kohai, remember that." Kimi shoved the key into the lock on the desk drawer which opened with a click.

Both girls peered inside at the small blue ring known as Void, the only occupant of the drawer. Kimi picked it up and put it into her pouch. "Now lets go, we still have to gather information about what Orochimaru is plotting," Kimi said calmly as they began to move.

Tou growled softly, Kimi wasn't even going to give her credit during the report was she? She wouldn't acknowledge it now, what would make telling Leader any different? Tou clenched her fists as they walked, she would give the report this time. And Leader would praise her for acquiring the ring and look at Kimi as though she had the plague. Tou was silenlty plotting her promotion, oh how that ring would look wonderful on her.

Tou and Kimi were on their way back to the lab, sensing the chakra of two people, most likely Kabuto and Orochimaru. Tou whipped out her notebook, quickly painting a small snake to listen in on the conversation the two were having, a recorder stuck to it's back, courtesy of Tou.

They waited for about an hour before Tou called the snake back. It wrapped around her arm and the ran out of the mansion as quickly as they could. Tou looked over at Kimi, "I say we just poof over to the lair, if we stay in this area too much longer we'll be in extreme trouble," Tou stated.

"Hn..." Kimi replied, before they both poofed away to the lair, just as Kabuto came out to investigate the noise and chakra levels.Tou and Kimi appeared outside the lair, slowly making their way in. Mission complete and successful, and Tou was gonna make the report. Yes and she'd get the spotlight.

However, once they walked in they were met by an....interesting suprise. A blue eyed, silver haired man was in Itachi's lap and they were kissing a little too passionately. Kimi's mouth dropped open as she put her hands on a wall to keep from falling, though it was too late for Tou who had fainted and landed with a thud. Itachi and the other man looked over and their eyes opened wide. Damnit, they had been caught.

Itachi nudged Tou slightly until she finally woke up, rubbing her head. "Ita-chan....I did not know you and Uchiha-san were so....in love," she whispered, still somewhat dazed. Kimi twitched slightly, one suprise after another, it was time likes this where she was considering quiting the Akatsuki.

Tora blushed, "Ah, gomen, Tou-chan..." the silver haired man whispered. A tiger coming up beside him and whacking him on the head, glaring at him, then Itachi.

"These two idiots don't understand why they have a room, please excuse them," the cat said. Kimi and Tou twitched, now a tiger was speaking to them. Tou never remembered Yuki speaking. DAMN, this was a creepy day.

"Whatever," Tou managed to say, "I have to go report to Leader... I'll see you three later..." With that Kimi and Tou quickly scurried off to see Leader. When they entered the office, the Leader was smirking.

"I'll assume you've finished the mission, fill me in, please," he mumbled. Tou nodded, placing the ring and the tape on the desk in front of them.

"We recorded their whole conversation so you could listen to it and figure their motives out," Tou started, "I also found the ring, Kimi merely found the key. On our way there, we had some Konoha and Suna shinobi attack us. Ibiki and TenTen from Konoha, Baki from Suna. We succesfully got rid of them without causing a scene..." Tou finished, smirking in hopes she'd get the ring. Kimi glared at her, merely found the key? MERELY?! If it wasn't for her finding the damn key they wouldn't have the ring.

He grabbed the ring and looked over at Kimi and then Tou, "Good job girls..." he whispered before tossing the ring to Kimi, who smirked smugly. Tou twitched, punching a hole in the wall. "Inju-san, I suggest you control your temper...and by the way, you two will have a break for a while. Do what you wish with it..." he finished before dismissing them.

Tou stomped out of the room before running to find Deidara, she had a plan.


TBC

After the day of their first successful mission, the girls began to spend their free time doing various things that their fellow Akatsuki began to question.

Tou was always seen leaving Deidara's room and had come into a habbit of wearing black gloves on her hands. When questioned why she wore them, the one asking would be on the receiving end of a pointed glare and a 'don't mess with me' look. Deidara never told anyone either saying it was a secret between artists.

Kimi was constantly seen bringing in mass amounts of scrolls and texts to her room where she proceded to spend most of her time. A few times the other Akatuski members would try to find out what it was she was studying, only to find the texts in a language unknown to them or to meet Kimi's katana pointed at their chest.

A year after that mission to Oto, the girls were given another break to do as they wished for two weeks. This was right after the kunoichi team had returned from another successful mission to retrieve a text on the bijuu. And rather than remaining in the lair as they did last time they had a break, the two girls packed and annonced their destinations were classified, they were not to be followed, and that they would return when their time was up.

Tou left the lair the same night as Kimi, she put her hair up and left wearing her black gloves, no one had seen her without them for ages. Kimi left with nothing but a scroll depicting a seal from Konoha's Hyuuga clan and a small black box. Oddly enough for both girls when they left they were wearing the normal Akatsuki cloak, not the outfits they had created for themselves.

No one knew where it was the girls were heading, or why the two had been so strange for the past few months. All they knew was that ever since their first mission to Oto, the girls had changed, steadily but surely. Tou was being more cooperative while Kimi was, well no one could describe Kimi she was just different.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Deidara sat in his seat around the table where most of the meetings were held. Tobi sat across from him looking around the blond at the entrance with Kisame next to him, Itachi and Tora, who had taken up residence at the lair, were no where to be seen. "Where are they, un? They're so supposed to be back, yeah," the blonde sighed throwing his head back on the chair looking at the ceiling.

Tobi continued his peering around, "Kimi-san and Tou-san are good girls, they won't be late and anger Leader-sama."

The blue man snorted next to him. "Those two have been strange lately, I won't put anthing past them. Especially Tou."

The three continued their talk, wondering where the girls were and what they had been doing. During their wait Itachi decided to join them announcing Tora was asleep, and Hidan and Kakuzu entered shortly after. All were present except for Zetsu who was on a mission, Leader who was in his chamber, and the two kunoichi.

The chatter stopped however when the sound of footsteps reached them, they all turned around to see Tou entering quite alone. She walked in calmly looking at everyone gathered at the table who watched her. Her hair was tied up and hidden from view by the standard hat that had caught everyone's attention, she never wore the hat. And her hands remained gloved in the elbow length material, the standard cloak was on as well.

"Well the little painter returned, yeah," Deidara smiled looking at her curiously as she took her seat at the table. Everyone was a little worried, she was silent, this wouldn't end well.

The room remained silent as her lilac eyes gazed out from under her hat at everyone around her. As the unheard of silence settled around the room, Tou looked up suddenly at the entrance when a soft patter reached her ears before the others. "Kimi no Danna," she stated simply as the shadow from the entrance entered the dim light.

Kimi walked in with her cloak collar up and the hat on her head, again a surprise to the other members seated around the table. Her eyes were shaded from view at the angle of her hat when she replied just as simply, "Tou-kohai." Her hands were free of anything she had left with as she made her way to the seat across from her partner and next to the person she hated.

The others members remained quiet as they watched the girls trying to figure out what was so different. One thing was sure about both of them, and every member at the table could sense it, during their time away both had gained a great deal of power.

The silence was broken when Leader entered the room and took his seat at the head of the table casting his shadowy view on his followers. "Well girls, so nice of you to join us again. Anything interesting during the break?" he asked trying to weasel out the information, he too could sense the power surge in both of the girls.

"You could say that," both voices sounded at once capturing the attention of all present.

Leader smirked in the shadows, that was more of a responce then he was expecting from both of them. "Care to share with the group?"

Both girls nodded but Tou stood up faster, resutling with a 'hn' from Kimi who just sat down again. Tou reached up to her hat and pulled it off as well as undoing the ribbon that held her hair up. Her hair fell down to her back when before she left she had short hair, and the tips and front of her hair were now violet while the rest was black. The table stared at her sudden change, but that wasn't all.

Tou took off her cloak and draped it on her chair to reveal her new wardobe. Her short and skimpy clothes were replaced with slighlty longer black and red clothes. She had on a red shirt wilth elbow long sleeves covered by a black tank, and a short black skirt leaving part of her stomache exposed. She had a red ribbon wrapped around her waist tied with a large bow in the back and red leg guards past her knees.

Now everyone watched her in anticipation as she reached to pull off the long black gloves, only one person knew what they would reveal and he was smirking away. She pulled off the gloves keeping her hands out of sight until she sat down again with her palms up, both of which had a mouth in the center much like another artist in the room.

"Look's good, yeah," Deidara replied mentally patting himself on the back.

"That was.. unexpected," the greedy man at the end of the table said behind his mask.

Kisame was looking at Tou wide eyed, he had been her guardian for so long and then she changed without even consulting him. Others were staring just as much as Kisame, Leader merely smirked and softly clapped his shadowy hands.

"My turn eh?" Kimi said standing up. She pulled off her own hat, closing her eyes as she did, revealing her hair had grown from its chin length to reach her chest. She opened her eyes and caught attention with their black depths, making Itachi's normal onyx seem dull in comparison. Tou watched her partner carefully, she wasn't the only one who changed it seemed.

Then Kimi removed her cloak gaining a gasp or two from the other side of the table. She wore a tube top of sorts that just covered her chest, revealing her neckline and stomache, and a short skirt, both of which bearing designs of the Akatsuki claok. Her legs were covered in mesh and and her boots came up just below her ankle. Kimi had a long red ribbon tied around her waist with a knot in the back and was adorned in her ring Void on her left pinky, and the necklace and bracelets she had stolen from Orochimaru, all of which fit her snugly.

But the thing that shocked everyone most was the amount of ink covering her skin. Before she had left they had all seen her train in her tank tops, revealing her ANBU mark and the kanji for evil on her shoulders. But now, she had added quite a few more. her left arm bore the kanji for dragon, tiger, and rabbit while her right arm bore the kanji for dog, ox, and ram. On her chest from left to right the kanji for horse and snake could be seen above her shirt line, while on her bare stomache was the kanji of monkey, rat, boar, and rooster. And if they looked behind her they would have seen wolf inscribed on the back of her neck.

The first one to say anything was Hidan, "That amount of ink is against my religion!" he announced.

Kimi shot him a hard glare as one hand hovered over a marking before she was stopped by Itachi, "Well, this is more of Kimi-san than I planned on viewing."

Kimi pulled her katana from its new sheath in her ribbons and pointed it at the raven next to her, "Want to make something out of it Uchiha?" she hissed.

Leader broke it up by clapping his hands on the desk. Kimi angrily sat down, still reciveing glances from her commrades. "Well girls, this was certainly unexpected," Leader said glancing between them, mentally noting how girls were much more difficult that guys. "Now, down to business."

The Leader threw something to Tou, who caught it quickly. A smirk made it's way upon her lips as she looked at the bright red ring with the kanji for sword on it. Tou looked Leader for a quick second, "Hn...."

"Okay girls, I want to see how much ebtter you have gotten. Choose one of your comrades to fight with you, I'm sure all of us would like to see your skills put into action," he stated, sirking at the two girls. Tou simply looked at each of the people at the table, before her eyes focused on Kisame. Kimi did the same, however he eyes zoomed in on Itachi.

Tou stood up, "Okay..." she whispered, "I'd enjoy sparring with Kisame-sempai..." A silence drifted over the room. Tou wasn't insulting Kisame, this was obviously part of her change. She seemed more mature, though more angsty and quiet too. She wasn't the old playful Tou anymore.

"And you, Kimi?" Leader asked, looking in the direction of the raven haired kunoichi.

"Itachi," Kimi replied, pointing at the older of the last Uchihas. Both Kisame and Itachi nodded as they stood up, the others following them.

Leader took them to a clearing not far from the lair, before looking over at Tou, signaling her to come out to fight Kisame.

Tou pushed a few strangs of her multicolored hair out of her lilac eyes as she took a step a few feet away from the shark like man, her eyes glinting with bloodlust. Kisame grabbed his sword, ripping the bandages off of it and looking into his friend's lilac eyes.

Her hands moved quickly, her skills with her symbols having improved. Soon two katanas were in her hands, as she got in a fighting stance, ribbons trailing up her arms. "Since when did you get two katanas?" Kisame questioned.

Tou didn't answer, yet instead charged at Kisame, he blocked her katanas with his sword, not noticing the ribbons that were wrapping around his ankles, and soon pulling him down.

The ribbons returned to Tou and she pointed the palms of her hands in the air, red paint coming out so that it created a large chimera like creature. It's eyes glowing, teeth bared as it rushed towards Kisame in a mad rage.

Kisame swung is Samehada at the beat, but to no avail, the creature pouncing away. Tou watched with an emotionless face as she created another creature from the palm of her hands, this time, it was a person, more specifically Deidara. The painting of the artist quickly started making a bomb as the chimera distracted Kisame.

After the bomb had finished being made, the painting threw it at Kisame, the explosion wiping out the chimera and creating smoke to where Kisame could not see a thing.

Tou ran through the smoke, the others waiting in anticipation to see what had happened under the veil.

When the smoke disappeared, it revealed Tou holding both her katana up to Kisame's neck as her foot was pressed sturdily against Samehada, practically immobilizing Kisame. One more move and Kisame could surely be decapitated, not like he had been fighitng his best of course, he couldn't bring himself to hurt the girl he had protected for all these years. Much like Tou was not able to hurt Sai.

Tou backed away, bowing to the older member and walking back to join the others, Leader clapping. Tou had gotten more serious about her fighting style as well as personallity in general. He shot a look at Kimi, who nodded, walking to the place Tou had been, Itachi soon stepping in front of her, getting ready for their fight.


TBC

Kimi walked over to where Tou had started off as the Uchiha went to stand where his own partner had began as well. Leader was about to start the battle when they heard someone rapidly approaching their positions.

"Wait! Hold on!" Tora called out as he ran to the field before clinging to Itachi, Yuki hot on his heels. "What's this about Ita-chan going into battle?" he asked glaring at the woman on the opposite side of the field.

"Kimi and Itachi are having a skills test. Why does no one listen to the tiger?" Yuki mumbled trying to pull Tora off of Itachi.

Itachi pryed Tora off before giving him a quick kiss. "Tora-kun, please just sit down with Yuki and watch the battle, it will be over soon," he said patting the younger man on the head. Tora reluctantly nodded before going to stand next to Deidara and Yuki.

"Now if no one else tries to stop this, I'd like to get back to a battle I've been waiting for," Kimi growled shifting her glaze from Itachi to Tora.

"Kimi-san, I have beaten you before, I will do it again."

"I'm not twelve anymore Itachi. I've beeb preparing for this battle for years, nothing is stopping me," she hissed out gasting her intense gaze on him and only him. Her desire to spill the Uchiha's blood was stronger than ever and those on the sidelines could sense it even if Itachi ignored it.

Leader smirked from the shadows. "Begin."

Both Kimi and Itachi held their ground, already in a stand off to see who would attack first. Itachi's red gaze met Kimi's black. No one moved until Itachi uttered the word that caused most shinobi to tremble, "Tsukuyomi."

Before the spirals of his eyes completed formation Kimi's gaze flickered avoiding the trap. "Old tricks Itachi, you will have to do better." As she spoke the writings on her three silver accessories began to glow a deep black to rival her eyes. She uttered no words, made no hand signs, her only motions being the fast movements of her hands tapping the kanji skin. In seconds the field had turned into a sandy zone, her own turf.

Itachi was watching her carefully, "How?" he asked simply as he watched his surroundings. This was something his sharingan could not even copy. What exactly had she been doing for the past few months when she was locked in her room?

"If you can beat me, I may tell you," she smirked a delecate hand pressed to the marking on her neck. There was a small puff of smoke as two full grown wolves flanked her. "Sic him," she hissed. The two wolves nodded and charged at the raven man kicking up sand as they went along.

Itachi dodged each wolf seeing their move before they made it, but during his dodging he had somehow lost sigh of the real enemy. He pulled out kunai and threw them at the wolves who before even getting hit disappeared in the smoke. What was she playing at? He scanned the area until he heard something behind him.

Kimi held her katana to his back as she rose from the sand that she had disappeared into moments before. Itachi disappeared only to be replaced by a clump of sand which fell to the ground. He reappeared on the other side of the field. "Running a little early Uchiha? Or do you except defeat?"

Itachi made no reply. Tora on the other hand was being held back by Deirara and Yuki so he wouldn't go and get himself killed. Itachi made a clone of himself and then another until there were five raven men against the raven woman.

"Ganging up on a girl Itachi, a low trick." Kimi kept her black gaze steady watching him growl, she knew as well as he did her timing for shifting her gaze would keep her safe from his sharingan tactics. He would have to pin her for it to work, thus the need for clones, but Kimi wasn't going to be stopped, especially when her senbon destoryed them so simply. Her trinkets glowed brighter as her hands ran over a new series of kanji.

Itachi watched as he tried to figure her out. The kanji were taking the place of the hand signs? That had to be it, some how she had found a new way to activate chakra. "The kanji activate you chakra rather than handsigns," he stated with an air of question lest he was wrong.

"Clever." She sighed in mock boardom. "I thought the Uchiha would put up a better fight and yet here I am, board. Lets end this Itachi," she sneered as she lept forward with her katana.

Itachi glared before unsheathing the katana under his cloak and charging forward. The two met blade for blade, kick for kick. Itachi charged her again until she leapt up unexpectedly and kicked his katana aside. She landed again and pointed her katana at his heart. "I'm curius if I were to stab you here, would one as heartless as you or I die?"

"Enough," Leader broke in. If he let this procede he was surely going to lose one of his shinobi. "Very interesting display Kimi," he said calmly nodding at her.

Kimi scowled softly for her chance to kill him being ruined before nodding to Leader. "Got off lucky Uchiha. Next time I won't waste my time showing off my new abilities, I'll kill you were you stand," she smirked as the ground around them shifted into it's grassy landscape again.

Leader looked over his shinobi, Deidara, Tobi, Hidan, and Kakuzu were speechless, all just shifting glances between the girls. Itachi was struggling for air now that Tora had tackled him and was sobbing into the cloak. Kisame was still staring at Tou, was that truely the girl he brought to Akatsuki so long ago?

And then his gaze fell onto Tou and Kimi. The two girls were standing off to the side questioning each other on their abilities. Kimi wondering how Tou received the mouths and Tou wondering how Kimi had activated her chakra with a simple touch. Tou could be heard answering that Deidara helped her and Kimi had answered something about the Hyuuga scroll she 'found' awhile back was about tenketsu and chakra.

Leader smirked, he had some crew working for him. Their goal of becoming a world power seemed possible, especially now that his two most fiesty followers were not at each other's throats...well at least not yet, there was always tomorrow..or five minutes from now. "We still have business," he called out getting the attention of everyone who had been in their own little worlds. "There is some important information on the bijuu we must discuss."

"We have discovered a new demon, the one that matches Inju-san's ring," Leader said, looking over at said nin, "It dwells within the brother of Sabaku no Gaara, we had no knowledge of said demon before due to the fact Suna kept it hidden for so long."

Tobi was the first to speak on the matter, "Why did they seal the demon in Kankurou-san?"

"They were originally going to use him as the weapon, however, the demon prooved to be to docile, yet still dwells within the man's body. That's the reason they sealed Shukakau, who is now in our possesion, in Gaara," Leader replied before turning to the two kunoichi, "You two shall go to Suna and retrieve the creature after you have finished settling down here again. I expect you to be ready by tommorow."

Tou seemed to clench her fist at the mention of Gaara, "Hai, Leader-sama, I shall be ready as soon as possible."

Kimi nodded as well, "Same here."

Tou turned to leave, before a hand was placed on her shoulder, she looked behind her to see Kisame, smiling at her. "Hn?" she mumbled, staring at her guardian. Or previous guardian now-a-days.

"Can I talk to you, Tou-chan?" he asked in an attempt of a soothing voice. Deidara watched with jealousy in his blue eyes as he glared at Kisame, Tou was his.

Tou nodded as she walked with Kisame to her room, where she painted, waiting for the man of her previous dreams to say something. "Tou-chan...you've grown so much, do you know that? You're not that eight year old girl who hid behind me anymore are you?" he whispered.

"Hn," was Tou's reply as she clutched her paintbrush slightly harder."Things change...it is destiny, for if things didn't change we would not have the beauty of butterflies this day in time...." Tou whispered as she continued painting.

"You sound like that annoying Hyuuga, Itachi and I came across on our mission one day, Tou-chan, as beautiful as you have become, you aren't you anymore," he mumbled. Both unaware that all of the other Akatsuki member were outside listening through the door. No one could ever have privacy, could they?

Tou rolled her eyes, "Mabye I'll be your little Tou-chan after I kill Gaara. How's that sound?" she muttered.

Kisame stood up without Tou noticing, because she was too focused on her painting. Kisame moved the canvas aside, she glared at him. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" she asked, wanting to finish the picture.

Kisame lowered to her height, smirking, before kissing Tou sweetly. Tou's eyes shot open in suprise before she gave in and kissed him back.

The door soon collapsed, revealing all nine of the other Akatsuki members flat on their faces. Deidara started glaring at Kisame, Tora giggling in a happy way, as all the other Akatsuki members sat there with shocked looks across their faces. Fishstick was kissing an actual girl!

Kisame pulled away, smiling at Tou, "That sounds good..." he whispered to her. She blushed, before turning to glare at the other members.

"Now, dolls, can you stop being little eavesdroppers and run away, hn? she hissed in a vicious tone, "And Kimi....what the fuck is wrong with you?" she mumbled in a monotone voice.

The rest of the members took the chance to dash away from the room in fright. Tou was scary. Tou turned back to Kisame, "So, did you take me in to be a pedophile? Kisame-sempai?" she asked, staring at him emotionlessly, a blank expression on her face as she awaited on answer.

Kisame's face lit up bright red as she turned around from her in embarassment. Damn the little sneaky, arrogant bastard of a girl.

After the incident where all of Akatsuki had walked in on Tou and Kisame, Kimi had pulled a Kimi and retreated to her room as usual. After her stay in the Akatsuki for near three, maybe four years, she had turned the room into her own.

The door outside was signified as her own by the carvings of threats upon entrance with her katana. The inside stone was no less marred but more from her practice than from her twisted amusement. Other than that only her essentials and her bed was in the stone room.

She sat on her bed in her new outfit, head bent over the sword and the stone she used to sharpen it. It's personalized blade shined in the dim light as small sparks flew from the edge.

There was a deafening crash as her door was kicked open by the purple haired girl from down the hall. "What in kami's name has happened to you, Kimi no Donna?" Tou asked as she slammed the door shut and crossed her arms.

Kimi placed her tools down and looked up, bangs covering her darkened eyes from view. "I could ask you the same question, kohai," she stated calmly, no emotion in her voice.

"This isn't about me. You, you went from a heartless, cold, uncaring way of life to... this," Tou said waving a hand at the older woman who was probably showing more skin now than in all her life added up. "You're tattooed in places I know were clear and you're showing more skin than I ever wanted to bear witness to. And, you were showing emotion. I haven't seen you and emotion in each other's presence since I met you. And your eyes are black, pure black."

"Are you done?" Kimi asked blankly to the girl who had possibly lost all her breathe in the rushed manner she spoke.

"Yes," she growled before leaning against the wall.

"You got to share my changes now how about yours?" Kimi suggested. "You went from hyper to emo in two seconds flat, you covered up so much skin that I had never wanted to view in my life, and look at you," she hissed standing up and pulling Tou's hand into the light. "You have mouth's in your hands, and I am damn sure they haven't been there."

You pulled her hand back and walked away from Kimi. "You're point? You've said it yourself, 'the price of power is steep and changes people' if I remember your words exactly. I paid my price, what was yours?"

Kimi stood back with a small smirk, "Trying to teach the teacher won't get you far, Tou." Kimi picked up her katana from her bed and looked at her partner, "I think I have had a bit too much influence on you."

"Power?"

"Katana."

Tou glared, "Itachi uses one as well, how do you know it was not he who influenced me?"

"Because Uchiha cannot tell a katana from a tree branch," she hissed before she got a twinkle in her black eye, "Do not compare my art of the blade to anyone."

"Now who is copying who?" Tou growled as the two seemed to circle each other like enemy predators, a wolf and a tiger.

"Tou, my outlook on things may have changed as my price, but my force of anger and power has only grown. Don't test your limits."

"Kimi no Donna, please."

"Please what, Tou? You want me to go back to how things were? To be like you?" Kimi hissed as her eyes flashed. "That Kimi is gone, Tou. The Drifting Cloud has moved on her path and once a cloud has drifted it won't drift back the same."

Tou glared at her elder partner. She knew the woman had been fond of leaving her self given title to hang around the countries they traveled, it was her cold hearted partner's only form of amusement, installing fear in others. Her name since joining Akatsuki had been the Drifting Cloud.

"If you want to be a cloud then be a damn cloud. Follow your path, I'll follow mine and I'll be damned if you change it for me," Tou hissed as she opened the door of the room.

"We leave at dawn."

"What?"

Kimi looked away from Tou and down at her sword, her voice ice, "I said, we leave at dawn."

"To watch, Kankurou until the other bijuu are caught?"

"No to have tea and cookies with the Kazekage, of course to watch Kankurou," Kimi hissed.

Tou glared and slammed the door of her partner's room before retreating to her own, her door splattered with paint where Kimi's is in carvings.

In another room down the hall of Akatsuki sat two members who weren't near friendly terms at the moment. "Have you heard anything?" the owner of the room asked.

"No, un."

"Think they killed each other?"

"We would have heard them, un. Those girls are not the silent killing type, yeah," the blonde said as he flexed his hands trying not to punch the man across from him.

"Deidara... what happened to the Tou I brought home those years ago?"

"Kisame-san, you brought home a child, un, children tend to grow up."

"Tobi didn't," the shark man said blankly running a hand through spiky hair.

"Well Tobi is an idiot, they don't grow up often, un," the blonde muttered as his look darkened further at the mention of his partner. "She got you good though, yeah," he snickered.

Kisame growled before chuckling, "Yeah well, I'm just glad we fight for the same cause. I wouldn't want to find myself against Tou more often." Kisame looked up at Deidara to see the blonde smirking.

"I trained her well, yeah."

"We trained her well you mean. You, me, and Sasori," the fish man huffed showing his fangs.

"Whatever," the blonde waved his mouth bearing hands to end that subject matter.

There was silence between the two as they collected their thoughts before the blue skinned man spoke up, "Those two... they make a fierce force to be reckoned with."

"Is Itachi-san alright? Kimi-san gave him a run for his earlier, yeah."

"Yeah, Uchiha's alright. Tora nearly murdered something but yeah Uchiha's fine."

The two chuckled before Deidara stood up and went to the exit, his cloak sweeping behind him. "We won't be seeing her for awhile again, un."

"Why do you say that?"

Deidara fell silent as his head reached for the door knob, "She and Kimi-san leave at dawn."