Miera's POV
“Gaara...,” I forced myself to speak.
He remained silent.
“I can't stay because I'm one of the Akatsuki, okay? And I'm not who I was, so I don't want to talk to you,” I said, looking away.
“Miera, I don't know what Shukaku or the Akatsuki have done to you, but you are still the same person,” he said.
“You wouldn't understand,” I muttered.
“Then tell me,” he said.
“You were born a Jinchuurici. Me; I became one. Shukaku has taken my emotions from me, but has promised to give them back one by one, starting with the less important ones. When I look back at my memories, what caused me to do things does not make sense. I don't understand what I am feeling. It's hard. That's where we are different,” I sighed.
He watched me.
“You may leave if you choose to. I'm not stopping you,” he said after a minute.
I glanced up at him.
This boy, had I actually loved him once? Was what we had shared love? Truly?
I stepped towards him and kissed his cheek.
There was no love in it, just my care for him.
He stared at me, eyes wide.
“I do not have love back yet, but I care about you. And because I know you love me, I did that,” I said softly.
I did not wait for him to reply.
Instead, I turned, and started to walk away.
I dropped off the building onto the road, and walked away silently.
Timeskip
I arrived at the meeting point two days early, and stayed there, waiting.
They arrived a day after me, a day before the set date.
“You two are slow,” I said, getting to my feet from where I had been sitting.
Itachi threw my cloak at me, and I put it on quickly.
“How was your holiday?” he asked.
“If you can call it that,” I shrugged.
“Didn't you go see your friends?” he frowned.
“For a while, then I left. Are we going to get going or what?” I snapped, eager to change the topic.
Kisame whispered something to him, and he nodded.
“We'll leave tomorrow at sunrise,” Itachi said.
“Good. The sooner we get back on track, the better,” I said, walking away slightly.
“Something's different about her,” I heard Kisame say softly.
“I noticed. Not much, but something,” Itachi whispered back.
I rolled my eyes as I sat down facing away from them.
They could think all they wanted to, but they would never understand.
I looked down at my hands, clenching a fist in each.
Maybe things would change eventually.
Or maybe they wouldn't.
Maybe my emotions would merely pull me and those who used to be my friends further apart.
And besides, how could I possible escape the Akatsuki?
I sighed.
It didn't matter.
Once they Akatsuki was done with me, they would extract Shukaku from me, and I would be no more.
No more Miera.
A few months later
I walked behind Itachi and Kisame, my head lowered.
“We're here,” Kisame said.
“Halt!” a different voice yelled.
I raised my head slightly.
We were at the gates of a village, and shinobi were standing outside, prepared to fight and stop us.
“You can not enter,” the leader of the group said boldly.
“Miera, how about you give our friends a little gift,” Itachi sneered.
I stepped forward.
“Oh yes, set a little girl on us,” one of the shinobi smirked.
I threw my cloak aside and took the cork of my gourd.
With my head still lowered, I flexed my fingers.
“A little girl? That's what you see me as? Maybe you should stop judging someone by their appearance,” I said coldly.
I stepped past Kisame and Itachi, and allowed my sand to attack the shinobi.
My sand cut through their bodies, taking off limbs, decapitating some of them.
They were all left bleeding to death, if not already dead.
Blood stained the ground, marking my victory.
This was my job.
Kill people who get in Itachi and Kisame's way.
Kill people who try to kill them.
And what was the reward Itachi and Kisame promised me for killing people like that?
Blood.
Delicious, thirst quenching blood.
I walked forward, crouched down, and sank my teeth into the shoulder of one of the dead bodies.
I drank the blood like at animal, letting it stick to my face.
I went from body to body, drinking the blood, until I had finally quenched my thirst.
Lowering my head once more, I returned to the other two.
“Well done,” Kisame said.
I wiped the blood off my face, and licked it off the back of my hand.
“I don't have a choice,” I said plainly.
I pulled my cloak back on, and waited for them to move so I could follow them.
They smirked and started into the village.
I followed silently.
Why must I do this? The more emotions I get back, the more of a monster I become, I thought sadly.
You are the one who wanted them, Shukaku replied.
I see.
There wasn't much point to my life anymore.
I was a tool, a weapon.
Nothing more.
And when the Akatsuki were done with me, they would take Shukaku from me, and Miera, well, her shell, would be no more.