Mokou and Yuuki hid in a cave somewhere while it was raining. Yuuki got tired of all the running and managed to go into his cat form again.
Mokou held him in her arms as she stared out the cave, watching the rain pour down. They couldn't go anywhere else right now. They were wanted.
What happened between Tobi and Mokou, it questioned her because of his strength. She couldn't figure out why he was after her. Does she have something to do with the Akatsuki? That can't be. She's not a tailed beast.
Her main objective was to find out more about this Fire Flower that she is. But she wasn't going anywhere because of all of these damn ninjas that are after her. After all, she is a prize possession.
"What should we do now, Mokou-chan?" Yuuki questions her.
Mokou doesn't answer and all she does shrug her shoulders before sighing.
"This was the only spot I thought it could be safe for us. If we go to a public place, we'll be spotted."
"I know, Yuuki. . . I guess this damp cave will be our little hideout for now. As long as we are away from any danger, that's all that matters."
"Mokou-san, once you find the truth what will you do next? Where will you go once all of this is over?"
"Who knows. . . Who cares. I have nowhere to go. . ." Mokou closes her eyes and slides down against the wall as she continues to hold Yuuki in her arms. "All I want to do right now is go to sleep. . . Wake me if something happens. . ." And just like that, it's lights out for her.
She was too tired that she did not care about her surroundings. But she knows what to do if something were to happen.
As it continued to rain, Itachi and Kisame were on their way back to the hideout after they now have the four tailed beast. They began to walk all the way back to the hideout until Itachi stopped in his tracks and saw a small girl sitting in a cave, dead asleep.
"What is it, Itachi-san?" Kisame asked when he notice his partner had stopped walking.
Itachi doesn't answer him as he continues to stare at the sleeping girl. Kisame looks where he is looking and smirks, seeing the sight of Mokou.
"Do you think she's a tailed beast?" Kisame questions.
"Only one way to find out." Itachi speaks and walks over to the cave where Mokou sleeps. Kisame and Itachi walk over to the sleeping girl and examine her body. Her knees were up to her chest as her head rested on her left shoulder while holding the cat, Yuuki. "What is a woman doing out here in the rain?" Itachi speaks to himself.
"Who cares. The real question is if she's a tailed beast or not." Kisame says back. Itachi looks closely at the sleeping Mkokou before replying,
"She doesn't seem like one."
Yuuki hisses as he gets in front of Mokou while she sleeps. "Looks like the girl has a guardian. How pathetic. Mind if I kill it real quick?" Kisame smirks and takes a step closer to the cat, but Itachi stops him by putting his hand out in front of him.
"Wait a moment." Itachi tells him and Mokou begins to wake up. She groans and rubs her eye and says,
"What's wrong, Yuuki?" She questions before looking up at the two men in front of her. 'Black cloak with red clouds. Same as the other one. The Akatsuki?' She thinks as she stares at the two men. Yuuki hops on Mokou's shoulder as he continues to hiss at the two strangers.
The next thing Mokou does is raise her hand up, creating a fire wall in front of her to protect her from Itachi and Kisame in case they decided to attack her.
Mokou runs through the flames and runs away from the two members. Itachi wastes no time to chase after the girl while Kisame stands back and watches to see what will happen.
Itachi takes out his kunai and throws it at Mokou, but she reacts quickly by swatting her hand to the side, creating a fire whip. The fire whip slices the kunai in half and goes for Itachi head on.
Mokou uses the fire whip to wrap around Itachi's body and tightly pulls on it. She thought that she could sliced Itachi in half, but the next thing Mokou sees are crows flying around her.
She shields herself and feels a kunai to her neck from behind. "Calm down. We're not going to hurt you." Itachi says from behind her.
Mokou stops her attacks and stays still. She was already exhausted because didn't eat anything for 2 days straight. She was tired and hungry.
"If you weren't going to hurt me, then why throw the kunai at me?" Mokou turns her head to look at the Akatsuki member.
"I thought it would be the best way to stop you. What is a young girl like yourself doing out in the rain? Are you from any village?" Itachi says back.
Seeing how she was concerned, she had no choice but to answer. She was too tired to fight back and using her fire abilities took a lot out of her.
"I needed a place to rest, and no, I'm not from any village." Mokou answers. Itachi grabs her shoulder and turns her body around to face him. The first thing she notices is the sharingan in his eyes, making her curse under her breath. "Judging by your scratched up headband, you use to be a leaf shinobi, and now you're working for the Akatsuki. What exactly do you want with me?" Mokou glares.
"Judging by your skills, you must be the Phoenix we've heard so much about. Which also concludes that you are the Fire Flower. And that cat. Is he-"
"My companion." Mokou cuts himself, answering his question. "I'll ask again. What exactly do you want with me? Why did you put up a fight if you were-" Mokou coughs and drops to her knees, while holding her stomach. Since she didn't have anything to eat for 2 days, she is very weak at the moment. Mokou didn't have the energy to stand on her own two feet.
Itachi notices this and kneels in front of her. He sees that her eyes are dull and her skin is very pale. He looks at his partner, Kisame, and they give each other the same look.
"Come with us." Itachi sets Mokou on his back and began to walk to the hideout.
Mokou didn't want to struggle and fight back because she was too exhausted to do anything. She let this man carry her on his back as they walked to the Akatsuki hideout.
Yuuki on the other hand was watching the two men while they carried her. He wanted to make sure they didn't try anything. He walked beside Itachi, as he carried Mokou, and asks in a whisper, "You're just going to let these guys take you?"
Mokou doesn't reply to him, so all she did was shrug her shoulders while her eyes were closed.
The walk to the hideout was silent and nobody said a word to each other. Yuuki kept a close eye on the two Akatsuki members the whole time.
When the two Akatsuki members arrived at the hideout, everyone else had arrived. All in person.
"You're back." The leader, Pein, notices their arrival. "And you brought someone along with you? A spy?" He questions, noticing Mokou on Itachi's back.
"We found her sleeping in a cave before she took off and started fighting Itachi-san." Kisame explains as he smirks.
"She is the Phoenix." Itachi informs everyone in the hideout.
"No way! You're saying this girl is the Phoenix?! Yeah, right!" Hidan shouts.
"I can hear you. . . Keep it down. . ." Mokou mutters and lifts her arm up, setting the top of Hidan's head on fire.
He screams and runs around the hideout while patting his head to put out the flames. After a while, Hidan managed to put out the fire, then growls at the girl on Itachi's back.
Mokou gets down from Itachi's back and looks at each and every member of the Akatsuki. She didn't find them as a threat or anything. To her, this was awkward.
"She's the Phoenix, no doubt about it, un." Deidara says. "Didn't expect to find her so soon. Someone with the ability of only fire, yeah that's her." Pein walks up to the girl and glares down at her. Mokou glares right back as she bares her teeth at him and Yuuki hisses.
"Someone so young, yet so powerful. You are Fumio's child." Said Pein.
"You knew my father?" Mokou lowly growls. "Answer me. How do you know my dad?!" She barks at the leader. Pein keeps a straight face and explains himself.
"Your father was a popular samurai who slayed thousands of men that were trying to kidnap his only daughter, Mokou Fujiwara. He came to me for help while you were growing up. He said rogues tried to take you and make you into a weapon, so he paid us a good amount to protect you and only you, Mokou."
"How do I know you're not lying to me?" Mokou lowers her guard.
"I am not lying. Your father made you drink something to make you immortal, side effect was changing your hair color from black to white and your eye color from brown to red. He did everything he could to protect you but he couldn't take on the rogue shinobi by myself.
So, one day, he came to the Akatsuki and begged for us to protect you. However, we did not know about his suicide. We searched for you, but you were nowhere to be found. Your father never gave us his location. He only ordered us to kill any rogue who was looking for you."
'That explains the times we weren't being attacked.' Mokou thinks and her stomach begins growl loud enough for the entire organization to hear.
Pein reached in his cloak and pulled out a bag of snacks, then hands it to Mokou. "Eat. As long as you stay here, you will be under our protection at all times. Thus meaning, you will be joining the Aaktsuki. Do you understand?"
"Sure." Mokou nods her head. On the inside, she was shocked by this news and her mind was still processing from what Pein told her just now. But on the outside, Mokou kept a blank expression.
So, Mokou joined the Akatsuki for their protection and remained by their side until the very end But, she wasn't going to give up on finding the truth. Her plan is still valid.