Dear High School Gang Leader (Naruto and Akatsuki AU Fan Fiction)

23 | It Never Ends

- Chapter 23 -

It Never Ends

The return of the Akatsuki back in the motel room was the hardest thing Akira had experienced up to then. No one talked and no one moved. It was an eerie silence that if one broke, all hell would be unleashed on them. 

Akira found herself sitting in the back of the van all alone for hours, drowning in her own thoughts and petty emotions. Everyone had resided back in the motel room, denying any interaction with anyone. Their heads were buzzing from the gunshot, the thumping of the body on the ground, the promise of death hanging above their heads. 

She had never been more confused in her entire life. Orochimaru's betrayal was the last thing she had seen coming; the man had been loyal to her father and the police department ever since she could remember herself. With his betrayal came her own fall, as she was uncovered in front of the Akatsuki, the people who had welcomed her in their family with no second thoughts. A family she was unwilling to join at first but ended up being her own version of 'home'.

And now, everything had crumbled down.

The back doors of the van opened and Pein hopped in, closing the doors as suddenly as he had opened them. Akira kept her head low and waited for any kind of treatment - a punch, a kick - death. Death had been breathing down her neck for the past hours. 

"I knew who you were since the very beginning."

Akira raised her eyes and looked at the man who had suited himself across her. His stare was not any different from the other times - the same, metallic eyes looking at her with no emotion written in them. 

"Ever since Itachi's ex-girlfriend made me doubt you, I had to do my research. You are not the only one with connections to the police," he continued, hands knotted together in front of him. "I have been keeping a close eye on you ever since then. I have my information, time to spill yours."

The ginger fiddled with her fingers. "All I can say is that my father forced me to do all of this. It sounds fake, but this is the truth. He trained me for the whole summer, took me out of my old school, forced me to cut off any ties with my friends. I have been following his orders for a long time . . . But I disappeared from his radar long ago. At least two weeks ago. So this whole . . . Orochimaru situation was unknown to me, I hadn't shared the information for our meeting with anyone."

A long pause followed in which Pein never took his eyes off her. 

"Why did you keep yourself in our organization, then? After you escaped your father."

"The operation to infiltrate your organization was based on the excuse of my mother's death." She looked up at the male. "My father believed that the Akatsuki caused the fire that killed my mother. As much as I hate him, we agree on one thing; we want to find out who killed my mother. That's why I stayed here. I wanted to find out more."

Pein's index finger twitched. "I see."

Akira leaned back on the van's wall and averted her gaze back on the floor. "Do you hold me accountable for what happened to your leader?"

"No." Pein instantly stood up and opened the door of the van. "However, I want you gone by tomorrow morning. I don't . . . We don't need you anymore."

"Wait!"

The air which blew through Amegakure was chilling. It howled through the empty and abandoned warehouses and it sent chills down Akira's spine once she hopped off the van.

"Gaara's life is on the line here, I won't leave."

Pein sighed and shoved his hands in his warm pockets. "This is something that doesn't concern you."