Sasuke's P.O.V
I was flying through the trees at an amazing speed, but I didn't have time to enjoy it. The only thing going through my mind was finding Winter, where was the Akatsuki hideout?
There was a bird squawk next to me but it was abruptly cut off as I sailed meters away from it, jumping past trees like a vine less-Tarzan.
Where are you Winter?
I held on to the little hope I had that I wouldn't have to kill her, no matter how much she got on my nerves, she certainly brightened up the shadows of Orochimaru's place.
Had the Akatsuki given her plans for Orochimaru's death?
A part of me wondered if it would be best that he died, Orochimaru was way past his best before date and for some reason, every time I thought of me killing Winter I had this weird feeling that it wasn't the right thing to do, that for some reason I had to keep her alive.
Call it fate, destiny or whatever, but I know for sure that running into Winter that night was not an accident.
Winter's P.O.V
Haku continued to cry, my ears were ringing from the constant cries. I thumped my back against the wall until I heard the series of clicks that opened my chains. I had to get this kid to stop crying otherwise I was going to go insane.
I tiptoed up the stairs and paused to make sure the Akatsuki were asleep. Sure enough, snores came from the rooms in front of me. How did they fall asleep? Don't ask me.
I crept past their rooms into Haku's room. It was dark but I could make out a shadow in the corner of the room. Haku was chained and curled against the wall sobbing his heart out. We were about fifty meters from the Akatsuki's rooms so I lit the candle with the matches that laid next to it.
Haku's cries came to a stuttered stop as he looked up at me. "You? Why are you here?"
"I'm here to help you, why are you crying?" I asked Haku, he just pursed his lips and shook his head.
"They'll hurt you if they find you in here." I moved forward and hit the lock mechanism behind the wall that unlocked his chains.
I chuckled and smiled at the four-year-old. "They can't hurt me, I am a big girl."
"You have owies on your face."
I remembered when Pein had hit me twice and I lifted my hand to feel the rough skin of a long cut. "I'm okay, my name's Winter. You are Haku, right?" I was so glad for Itachi and Sasuke's Japanese lessons. Haku nodded and his stomach growled, loudly. "You are hungry, here, I will get some food from their kitchen." Haku shook his head frantically.
"I'm okay, really."
I smiled again. "Let's promise each other something, let's be completely honest to one another. You can trust me, I can keep a secret." Haku seemed to think for a while until he nodded. "Are you hungry?" With Haku's nod, I told him to stay there and I silently walked around until I found their kitchen. I opened their cupboard and found some bread and cheese. I quickly made cheese sandwiches for the both of us and grabbed some canisters of water.
I slipped back into Haku's room ten minutes later and shut the door quietly behind me. I handed Haku his sandwich and water and he looked at the food, up at me and then turned his head.
"What's wrong? It's not poisonous." I assured Haku. Of course, he would think I poisoned the food! I tore a piece of the food off of Haku's sandwich and made a show of eating it. "See? I'm okay." Haku nodded and took his sandwich. I drank a little of his water and he took that from me as well. "Savour it, I will try and come back every night and feed us okay? Wait for me tomorrow night." I gave my sandwich and water to him, he needed it more than I did. The Akatsuki fed me, obviously, Haku hadn't been eating from them thinking the food was poisonous.
As I stood up I heard a rustling noise and a pair of arms came around my legs. "Thank you, Winter." The little boy smiled up at me.
"Sleep well, Haku." I smiled and chained him back against the wall. I smiled one last time and then exited the room, closing the door softly behind me. As I walked through the door I felt my heart tug, I knew immediately that I had left a piece of my heart with him. What did the Akatsuki need with a sweet boy like that?
I crept past the Akatsuki's rooms and made it back into their dungeon. I lifted my arms and banged once more against the wall. The chains snapped closed around my wrists and I slept peacefully, no crying to shatter my dreams.
I woke up groggily and tried to rub my eyes against my shoulder. "Good morning sleepyhead." Itachi walked in with my scrap breakfast. "You slept longer than you ever have before? Stay up late?"
"It took me a while to sleep with that child crying, I finally got to sleep when his crying stopped." I didn't lie, just withheld the truth, I smiled to myself.
"So while you are grinning like an idiot I am going to go ahead and tell you that we have decided to have a chat with you again today, but the chat is going to be upstairs because Deidara can't walk down here and no one wanted to carry him," I remembered when Sasori had accidentally poisoned Deidara's leg when I had fought them yesterday.
"I am excited to see what it is like up there, I didn't get a good enough look when I arrived here." I lied through my teeth. I was really glad he didn't have a lie detector. Then again his Sharingan eyes probably saw through people's lies, it just doesn't work on me. I was really grateful for having an immunity to ninjutsu then. "I have a question," I asked Itachi.
"Go ahead and ask, I will choose to answer it or not." Itachi rolled his eyes at my expression.
"Okay, whatever you can choose. So I am immune to ninjutsu, does that mean I can't use ninjutsu?"
"I haven't actually thought about that. Maybe Pein might train you before you set off to fulfill the plan to kill Orochimaru." Itachi used the Jutsu that unlocked my hands and I stood up after I finished my scrap of a meal.
"You can give me the plan, I will choose to fulfill it or not." I winked at Itachi's expression and he rolled his eyes again.
"You are so childish you know that right?"
"That is because I am a child, I am a teenager still. Fifteen years old to be exact. You can't be childish, though, how old are you anyway?" I asked him while stretching my legs.
"I am not old you know." He reassured me.
"Says the guy who has wrinkles."
"I, what?!" He yelled. Man, he looked angry and that wasn't because he had red eyes. I quickly gestured to the wrinkles he had from the crease of his eye down along his cheek. "That's not a wrinkle!"
I put my hands up in defense, "Okay, okay! Take a chill pill."
"Take a what!" He roared. I quickly ran up the stairs, I didn't want to face the wrath of Sasuke's older brother.
"There's the babe! Hey sweetheart, over here!" Hidan patted his lap and I shuddered.
"Not in a hundred years!" I inched back away from Hidan.
"Didn't you hear babe? I'm immortal." Hidan winked and I rolled my eyes.
"Lay off the girl Hidan," Kakazu growled at Hidan.
"I was just having a little fun, she is going to kill herself in a few months." Hidan protested which made Kakazu even angrier.
"Calm down the both of you!" Pein's voice cut through the commotion like a knife cutting through butter. Immediately everyone was silenced and Itachi silently walked into the room.
Itachi spoke to Pein for a good ten minutes and when he was finished Pein turned to me. "You want to see if you can learn ninjutsu?"
"Ah, yeah." I agreed.
"I suppose we can try and train you, you have to have good control of your chakra to do it." Pein nodded. "It would be a good attack method to defeat Orochimaru."
"When can you teach me?" I stood straighter, instantly interested.
"We came here to give you the plan for Orochimaru's death, not your training." Pein lifted an eyebrow.
"Give me the plan and then train me."
"You can get serious, girl, that is a good quality trait." Pein nodded once more, approving of me. I crinkled my nose in disgust, what, did he think I cared what he thought?
"What are you? My father? Give me the damn plan." I ordered him, eager to train with ninjutsu.
The next few hours they spent reviewing the plan and memorizing it. "Okay, time for lunch," Sasori muttered, bored.
"I agree with the puppet," Kisame announced. "Can you cook?" He asked me.
"Not even the slightest," I admitted. All the men in the room raised their eyebrows at me and I muttered, "Women stereotypes," under my breath.
"Good thing we have a chef, take a seat at our table." Kakazu gestured to a long dining table by the kitchen.
I walked over with the Akatsuki and I was placed between Hidan and Itachi. When Hidan winked at me and put his arm around the back of my chair I leaned closer to Itachi. Itachi chuckled when he saw Hidan and waited for the chef to serve the food.
"How did you guys get a chef, being top class criminals and everything?" I asked Itachi.
"You would be amazed at what people would do for money." He said as he sipped his water.
The food was served and I licked my lips at the sight of the juicy roast and pasta. I made a note to save Haku a slice of the roast for later tonight.
Before we ate, Pein raised his glass and we all mirrored him. "This toast is for Winter, Orochimaru's doom!" All the Akatsuki grunted in agreement and sipped their drinks. I didn't sip mine, instead, I placed my cup down as a wave of nausea came over me at the thought of death. I didn't want to die...
As nausea faded I dug into the meal just like everyone else had, and I saved a couple of roast slices in my napkin on my lap for Haku. Unfortunately, it didn't go unnoticed.
"What's that for?" Hidan whispered to me.
I reddened and made up a quick excuse. "For later, I get real hungry at night time. I just thought I would save something for later."
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." Hidan winked at me and I felt the wave of nausea creep back up on me.
When lunch was finished Pein looked at me. "Before we start training, you should get some suitable clothes. My friend might have something for you to wear that doesn't reek of sewer rats."
"I wonder why I would smell like sewer rats..." I said sarcastically.
"Watch your attitude girl!" Pein snapped at me.
"Sorry father," I mocked under my breath. I saw Itachi tense and the corners of his mouth turned up before returning to the frown they were in before. I poked Itachi in the leg to let him know that his smile hadn't gone unnoticed.
He poked me back and whispered to me. "Childish."
I smiled, Itachi was nicer than Sasuke, and yet I still missed the arguments we would have.
******
Who's your favorite character in this story so far?
I love Itachi's big brother attitude towards Winter, I bet he's missing Sasuke... *heart breaks*
Love, Books4_Ever xx