Disclaimer: Kukuku. I don't own Naruto.
Warning: Language. Innuendos. Gore. Hints of torture.
Beta: Lavendor Queen
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
Day 5, Afternoon, Mia's POV
X gave me a piggy-back ride back to our inn, both of us snickering the majority of the way at our dramatic exit, their dumbstruck faces, and the sweet, sweet victory of a job well done. X entered our room and sat down on the bed, smirking at him.
"That was... pretty damn awesome," I admitted, still feeling giddy from the success. "And you do this for a living? So bad ass."
X seemed to be smirking at me. "I know."
I grinned brightly, looking down at my lap and folding my hands together. X sat on the bed next to me, grabbing my hands and holding them in his. I frowned at that, raising an incredulous eyebrow at him.
"I know you had fun with this," X began, "and I had quite a bit of fun with it, too, wifey. So... maybe instead of heading back to Konoha, you could do just one more gig with me. What do you say?"
I hesitated. The others had to be worried about me, right? But it was so much fun.
"... Well," I said slowly, my frown deepening, "... I guess I could, but, you have to pay to send a letter to Tobi for me. I need to let him know that I'm okay. The poor guy must be having a panic attack."
"Okay, okay," X said. "Here... I have some paper here, and a pen. Write out your letter and we'll send it out now. Then right after dinner we'll teleport to our next destination. Sound good?"
"Sounds like a plan," I said, grinning brightly. "Now let go of my hands."
"But I'm your husband," X protested.
"This is exactly why I should just stick with Madara," I sniffed.
X gasped, appalled. "How dare you mention that name in front of me."
I shrugged, nonplussed.
"Before we go, there are some pictures I want to get developed," X said brightly.
"Pictures?" I asked, blinking in surprise.
X pointed at the top of his mask. "I've got a hidden camera in here. I, uh... might have taken some pictures. I just want to develop them before you send off your letter, okay? And we'll send the letter after we've teleported, we'll be closer to Amegakure after we've teleported."
"... Okay. Lead the way, soon-to-be-ex hubbie."
"Sure thing, wi - wait, what?"
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
Hello, hello,
I'm sorry, you must be so worried about me. It's a long story, but don't worry. I'm perfectly fine and I'm with a friend - X, actually. We just stole a whole bunch of stuff and it was awesome. Seriously, I'm surprisingly having a lot of fun, so I decided to help X out one more time. We'll be at Sōgen no Mura for a few days, so if you absolutely need to see me, you can. If not, I'll head back to Konohagakure after I finish this up and see you there.
Don't worry, I really am fine, so you can stop having a panic attack.
Love,
Mia
I kissed the scroll and handed it to X. X turned around and tied the scroll to a messenger hawk.
X turned back around and placed an arm around my shoulder. "Right then. You all set to go?"
"Ready as I'll ever be."
"Let's go."
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
Day 4, Morning, Sakura's POV
Sakura looked over the note from the toad, and glanced over as Sasori entered the room.
"Naruto, Sasuke and Jiraiya think they have our guy," Sakura said, standing up and holding out the note to Sasori.
"Let's hope so," Sasori said, his voice silky smooth, "because all the teleporters I've found seem to be in the clear." He took the note and scanned over it, his eyes narrowing. "... If this really is our guy... we'll need to meet up with them and track him down. I will inform Leader-sama. You inform them, Kakashi, and Konoha of our plans."
"Yes, Shisho," Sakura said solemnly.
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
Day 3, Noon, Kakashi's POV
Ryozo gasped, spitting out blood as he rolled over away from his heavily burned side. Kakashi, panting heavily, stood over him. Aside from a few scraps and burnt hair, he was relatively fine.
"Tell me what I need to know," Kakashi growled out, digging a foot into Ryozo's burn. The man writhed in pain, squirming and whimpering.
"Now," Kakashi bit out, digging his foot deeper in.
"What difference would it make?" Ryozo finally hissed out. "He failed!"
"Who failed?" Kakashi asked, his eyes narrowing.
Ryozo squirmed. "I-I don't know his name. I just know that he was after her... after her ability... her... her kekkei genkai!"
Kakashi blinked in surprise. But Mia doesn't... oh.
"Then who has her?" Kakashi asked.
Ryozo shook his head. "No one knows! It seemed like someone interfered with the kidnapping - something took her before he could!"
Kakashi took his foot out, chewing over this information. "... Any idea where?"
Ryozo shook his head again.
"I see," Kakashi said quietly. "Then you're of no more use to me."
There was a flash of metal, and the whimpers stopped.
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
Day 3, Two Minutes Until Midnight, Obito's POV
Obito continued to sit on his bed, staring at the picture of Mia. Emotions swirled inside him and he cursed himself again for not getting rid of Kabuto the moment he laid eyes on him as Mia had instructed him to.
What if I really do never see her again? Obito asked himself. His fingers traced on the outline of her face. And what if he truly never saw her again? What if he had failed again in protecting the most treasured person he ever held?
The Genjutsu...
The Genjutsu wouldn't replace her.
The thought sent Obito reeling, both at its bitterness and it's ferociousness.
And it's honesty.
A mere projection of Mia could never replace her, because... because it would have been a projection that Obito created. It would have been pulled from his memories and his perception of her, and that wasn't... that wasn't entirely true. Because there was more to Mia than he knew. There was more to her life that she didn't reveal (and he didn't press), and there was more to her story than what he currently had read.
He could never accurately bring Mia back to life through a mere projection... because there would have been too many holes. Even if he was her best friend (and she his), there were just some things that were better left unsaid. There were some wounds that both covered up and tried their damndest to repress.
And Obito would never get the chance to see hers. He would never get the chance to see them, and to... and to help them. To help her like she had done to him so many times. And like she would always have done if he opened up to her, too. He could trust her, couldn't he? She always had put him first, hadn't she? Even when he rejected her, she bounced right back and continued her pursuit. She didn't even make him choose then and there between the two. She acknowledged his need to cling to her. And she loved him anyway.
Obito was a broken man. He wouldn't deny that, ever. He still woke up, frozen stiff and a scream caught in his throat from the nightmares of not only Rin's death... but his direct actions in their deaths, as well.
He blindly followed the orders of a spiteful old man, a man revered as the Shadow of Shinobi.
He willfully had, and would continue to do so, make his sensei's son's life a living hell. He would eventually even kill the boy that Mia had grown to love fiercely like a son.
He would betray all his friends again, he would end the Akatsuki when he collected Nagato's eye forced the artist duo to go to war with their own students.
He would start another bloody, grueling, violent war.
He would kill many, many more.
And for what, now?
To bring a fake woman back into his world?
To ensure no one else has to go through what he went through?
Obito let out a long-suffering sigh and placed the picture beside him on the bed. He laid back on the bed, his eyes staring up at the ceiling, unseeing.
He failed.
He lost the one woman who did, and would continue to, accept everything about him.
She didn't even know how he felt. Not really.
He turned her down.
And why?
Why?
Over Rin?
Over a girl who died over a decade ago? A girl, who while she was his first love, didn't actually... didn't actually know him? Not like Mia knew him.
Why was he so hung up over her?
What was so wrong with him?
"We've found Kabuto."
Obito sat up, his Sharingan swirling to life in both his eyes. "Take me to him."
Zetsu stared at Obito with unblinking yellow eyes. "Right away, Tobi."
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
Day 4, Evening, Kakashi's POV
Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Jiraiya and the Akatsuki are pursuing InsertNameHere, Kakashi mused softly, resting against the back of a tree. Pakkun laid beside him. The two of them were resting after a hard day's run. Tobi's nowhere to be found - probably off on his own lead - but I have a feeling both teams are going to turn up empty.
Kakashi gave a sigh, closing his eyes.
"That's a heavy sigh," Pakkun said.
"This is a heavy mission," Kakashi muttered. "I can't put my fingers on it, but I just... I just get the feeling that whoever has Mia... is someone we haven't even considered. I feel like I'm missing something, almost."
"Maybe you are," Pakkun replied. "Maybe we should stop looking at her enemies. Ryozo said someone else took her away - who's to say it wasn't a friend?"
Kakashi opened his eyes, staring unseeingly at the treetop canopy. "I don't think Mia is friends with a lot of teleporters."
"Maybe she is. Think about it," Pakkun said, giving a small shrug.
And Kakashi did.
He ran through every conversation he could recall with Mia. Trying to think of names she may have mentioned. There were numerous names he didn't really recognize - Batman, Dragonborn, Nao, Breaking Benjamin, Linkin Park, Lilly!OCSakura, Howl, Will the Ranger, Halt, Firestar, Jayfeather, Naasica, Deadpool, Vocaloid, Spiderman, Harry Potter, Miwako, Tom Riddle, Skulduggery Pleasant, etc...
But there were some names he did recognize, if only vaguely. Killer Bee, Ay, Mei, Omoi, Nagato, X, Kakuzu, Chōjūrō...
Kakashi rubbed his hands over his face. He knew for a fact that most of them weren't even real. He dismissed those one quickly and focused on the ones he knew were in this world. He could discount all Akatsuki members and all shinobi that were allied with one of the villages. If either of those actually had Mia, she would have been found by now, as Jiraiya's spy network would have undoubtedly noticed her. Not to mention the Akatsuki wouldn't keep Mia from Tobi, and all the great villages were allied with the Akatsuki. Mia was a known member, a known closely-allied member of the Akatsuki and keeping her from them would undoubtedly incur their wrath.
That left the missing-nin; missing-nin that were not attached to the Akatsuki.
Which left only one other person.
"X?" Kakashi asked out loud, frowning behind his mask. "... I don't think he's a teleporter."
"But do you know for certain?" Pakkun countered. "No one knows how he's able to escape. It wouldn't be so far fetched as to think..."
Kakashi's eyes widened. "Really? Pakkun... Pakkun you don't think..."
"I think that we've exhausted our other options, and I agree with your gut-instinct about the other suspects. I think X is our best bet," Pakkun admitted.
Kakashi stood up. "Then what are we waiting for?"
"Do you want me to send a message to the others?"
Kakashi shook his head. "No. I'll confirm this lead on my own. Besides, I'm sure the world wouldn't miss the other suspects."
Pakkun gave a grin. "No arguments here."
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
Day 5, Four minutes after midnight, Obito's POV
Obito appeared at the base of a cliff. From Zetsu' information, Kabuto was inside the cliff. Obito wasted no time in making himself intangible and stepping through the rocks. He didn't care too much for phasing through something, but after using it extensively, he grew mostly indifferent to it. It took several steps of walking through before he finally reached a dimly lit hallway.
His heart quickened.
This was the place. This was where Mia was. She had to be here. He could hear faint moans down the hall on his left, and fearing the worst, he followed them. He knew Kabuto was essentially alone in the base - alone in the sense that he had no underlings or assistants or guards. He was defenseless, as far as Obito was concerned.
If he's so defenseless, then how did he capture Mia?
Obito discarded the thought almost immediately. Kabuto was no match for him. It was as simple as that. Obito moved through the halls, the quiet moans and soft cries growing louder as he neared. He felt his heart quicken again, and a knot formed in the pit of stomach.
Part of him hoped Mia wasn't anywhere near the source of those tortured cries. He hoped she was far, far away from this place and that she never fell into Kabuto's hands for three days. Another part of him hoped that she would be there. That she would be there, curled up in a corner, eyes downcast. Hurt, but alive. Frightened, but safe in his arms again.
Not knowing where she was, how she was, who she was with... it ate him up.
He reached the end of a hallway, and stood before a steel door. He phased through it, and took in the sight.
Blood splattered across the cement walls, thin, raspy, bony people were chained to each other and the floor. Some of them were missing body parts. Most of them were stark naked and huddled together. There were seals drawn on some, and horrible disfigurations erupting from others.
Obito swallowed the bile down his throat and forced himself to examine each of their faces.
They all stared at him in undisguised horror, some even trying to crawl away from him.
None of them had green eyes.
Obito let out a slow, shaky breath. Mia wasn't here, at least. That didn't mean she wasn't in the vicinity. He turned away, phasing through the door and walking away. After he was done with this place, he would send Sakura and the artist duo to claim it for the Akatsuki. If they found those group of people and Sakura wanted to help them... well, that was no bother on Obito's part.
Mia had no chakra for Obito to sense, and he wasn't skilled in tracking her by smell. Obito could sense Kabuto's chakra in the hideout, in comparison to his prisoners, Kabuto had large chakra reserves and was easy to sense. Outside the hideout, with all those blocking-seals placed, he wouldn't have been found. But because he was too trusting, and felt too cocky in his little twisted world, he didn't bother trying to suppress his chakra like Obito was expertly doing.
Room after room, gruesome sight after gruesome sight. Obito meticulously searched the hideout but couldn't find a trace of Mia.
What if he already took her away? Obito thought, a rising sense of panic starting to boil inside him. What if she really is gone from me? For good, this time? No... No... that can't be true. There's still so much I want to do with her. So much she needs to see. She always wanted to go to the Land of Spring and see the stones. A-And she wanted to go to the chocolate factory, and... and...
The only other places in the hideout Obito hadn't checked, were the places that Kabuto kept moving in.
I have to know. I have to know what he's done to her, Obito thought, starting to sprint to where he felt Kabuto's chakra. Unconsciously, Obito's Mangekyō Sharing swirled in his right eye and a kunai slid into his hands. He wasn't quite sure what he was going to do when he encountered Kabuto. Logically he knew he should pause, think of a plan, consider his actions. But logic seemed silly and pointless and he threw it in the wind because his panic and anger was far too demanding.
So the moment he phased through the final wall, already sprinting towards him, he didn't even falter when he attempted to make a killing blow on his turned back.
What he did not expect was for Kabuto to turn around and dodge his attack, if only barely.
Obito stopped in his attacks, feeling a cold anger take him as he watched Kabuto slowly stand up and adjust his glasses.
"My, my, I wasn't expecting any visitors," Kabuto said smoothly, smiling pleasantly.
Obito turned to face him. "Where is she?"
Kabuto's smile widened. "Where is who?"
Obito took a step towards him. "Tell me now, or I will force you."
"Come now, I'm sure we can make some sort of agreement here," Kabuto said gently. "We both have something the other wants."
Obito's hands clenched into fists. "You threw negotiations out the window the moment you took her."
Kabuto clucked his tongue. "Then you'll never find her. You probably already searched the place - she's nowhere here, am I right? Kill me and you'll never find her."
Obito's jaw tightened and he narrowed his eye furiously. A part of him was tempted to just use his other Sharingan to cast Izanami on Kabuto and force him to divulge the information, but the more logical part of him had him pause. Kabuto was too at ease. He already saw Obito's Mangekyō Sharingan, so he undoubtedly knew what Obito was capable of. After all, Obito knew he shared his previous master's enthusiasm for the Sharingan and Kabuto would have done everything he could to secure his late master's work and information on the Sharingan. Work that definitely included the Izanami and Izanagi.
Kabuto knew how dangerous Obito was, but he seemed perfectly at ease.
Swallowing his anger, Obito said lowly, "What do you want?"
"I wanted Mia," Kabuto admitted, seeming to take glee in Obito's stiffened shoulders. "Orochimaru-sama died because he took her. I wanted to know who had taken Orochimaru-sama. I figured if I took her, they would come running again - and I knew it wasn't just any old idiot Akatsuki member. And seeing you... An Uchiha even Orochimaru-sama didn't know about? Just who exactly are you?"
Obito did not respond.
"However it seems that something came up," Kabuto said, frowning. "My creation was unable to capture her. It seems someone else beat me to it."
"Then what good are you to me?" Obito spat.
"Nothing," Kabuto admitted, laughing quietly. "I just wanted to see who you were. Now I know what I need to prepare for."
"You seem to be under the impression that I'm just going to allow you to leave this place alive," Obito growled quietly.
Kabuto smiled. "But you see... you already have."
And Kabuto dissolved into a pile of water.
Obito was frozen, anger and confusion dominating the majority of his emotions. He had his Sharingan activated the entire time. That was not a clone. That could not have been -
And then Obito watched as the water start to sink through the cracks - "Suigetsu was his name," Mia chirped. "Pretty cool guy. He could turn into water at will. How neat is that?" - and Obito snarled a curse and phased through the ground as the rest of the water sunk through.
Obito continued to travel down, but after fifty meters and nothing came up, he was forced to head back up.
He could no longer sense Kabuto.
"Fucking bastard," Obito spat.
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
Day 6, early morning, Kakashi's POV
Kakashi read the note that Jiraiya had sent him. The moment Kakashi had considered X, he knew he needed Jiraiya's spy network to get a good sense at where X was. Jiraiya had replied as quickly as he could, giving Kakashi a vague idea at where X was for the moment. Or at least, where his latest contracter sent him after the Land of Spring.
It was a small town a ways from here, Sōgen no Mura.
Kakashi crumpled the note and burned it, silently praying that Mia was there by the time he arrived.
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
Day 6, late evening, Obito's POV
Obito stared at the envelope in his hands, tentative hope coursing through his veins. An expensive, very fast, messenger hawk had flown straight to Amegakure and a shinobi brought the message to its addressed person.
There, in Mia's tilted handwriting, was To: Tobi (Hi, buddy!). It was undoubtedly her handwriting and Obito could scarcely believe it. He swallowed roughly, his stomach churning as he opened the envelope and pulled out the letter.
Dear Tobi,
I have Mia.
You can't have her.
Haha.
Love,
X
Obito stared at the note in his hands for a moment, disbelief dominating the majority of his emotions before he crumpled the paper. He then pulled out a single picture along with the letter, scrawled on the back was:
You should see what I have her wearing now.
X
Obito turned over the picture and stared at Mia in a rather... nice... kimono. A dark cloud seemed to loom over Obito as his mood took an even sharper turn to downright murderous.
"X," Obito snarled in a long, drawn out hiss, wiping at his nose.
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
I also have super-awesome fanart~ Big thanks to TransformiceGurl and Kaito-DreamMaster. Links on profile, as usual.
Answer: I would... either a.) go to the Batman Multiverse with Mew, Naruto and Hinata, b.) go to the Pokemon Universe with Madara, Hashirama and Naruto (their reactions... oooo), c.) the Narutoverse with Mew, Darkrai, and a baby Charmander egg. Or you know what? d.) Batman multiverse with a baby Charmander, Mudkip and... Mewtwo. Yep.
Question: If you had to be reborn in three universes / multiverses in a never ending cycle (as in after you die in one, you go straight to the next one, and then the next one... and then start all over), which multiverses / universes would you choose?
Reviews are love!