"Your week is up."
Kisame and Itachi stood in Pein's office. Side by side, they watched the shadowed figure sitting at the desk warily and carefully. For once, Konan couldn't be found at his side. She hadn't left her room for the past two days and didn't show any signs of emerging any time soon.
"She's being well hidden," Kisame frowned. "And with her return, they're keeping an extra close eye on her."
"Excuses don't change the fact that you have failed," Pein snapped coldly.
Kisame scowled, brows burrowing and muscles bunching up as though to prepare for a fight, but Itachi sent him a stern look that had the blue tinted rogue stepping down begrudgingly.
"More time will be needed to get around the Leaf's defenses," the Uchiha said lowly, speaking more in that one sentence than he had in a long, long time. "We will retrieve her, but we need to be smart about it."
He met Pein's gaze unwaveringly as the ringed irises regarded him for a long while.
Finally, the seething man calmed, and nodded. "I'm granting you more time, but I need to see some form of progress, and soon."
The duo bowed, a bit sourly on Kisame's part, and backed out of the room, only to see Zetsu phase through the wall as they shut the door. He jerked his chin upwards, the silent sign that he had news on Yuma. The two nodded and went to the designated meeting area- Hidan's room- as Zetsu went to inform Konan of the meeting. Since the note she'd given them, urging them to protect Yuma, she'd been let in on their plans and meetings.
Hidan's room was dark, cool, and smelled of rust. Blood was smeared across the floor, varying in shades. Some was fresh, and it didn't take much looking to spot the thin, pale hand peeking from under the bed, spattered with blood and decorated in cuts and bruises.
"Are you done with that?" Zetsu asked Hidan as he arrived, pointing at the limb inquiringly as the silverrette glared at him, annoyed.
"What the fuck do you think?" He snapped, crossing his arms over his bare chest and grimacing as Zetsu grabbed the old wrist, phasing through the floor and taking the corpse with him. "Fucking cannibal."
By the time Zetsu had returned, everyone else but Deidara- who was still bedridden- had gathered. They all looked to him questioningly.
"What happened with the Runt?" Kakuzu grumbled, and Zetsu nodded, gathering his thoughts.
"She's been taken to Sunagakure," he muttered, speaking quietly in case Leader just so happened to pass by the door. "They arrested her this morning for all the murders she committed on the mission."
"Shit," Kisame growled as Tobi whimpered. Hidan muttered several curses, but everyone else listened carefully as Konan spoke up softly.
"Did you hear if they're going to execute her?" She asked.
"It sounds like the Kazekage is trying to prevent it, strangely enough," he explained. "But he said something about deciding what they're going to do, so there's still a fucking chance."
"What the fuck are we going to do, then?" Hidan growled, slapping a hand down on his thigh.
"Nothing," Kakuzu grunted, and enraged eyes snapped to him as the loudmouth readied himself to argue. "Shut up, idiot. We shouldn't interfere. Leader thinks she's in Konaha, he'll get suspicious if we all run off to Suna."
Itachi nodded "Hn."
"He's right," Kisame agreed. "She's safest as she is right now."
"Zetsu, keep a close eye on her," Konan said, looking to the cannibalistic rogue sternly. "If there's even the slightest chance that they're going to kill her, report back."
"What if we're too late to save Yu-chan?" Tobi asked, his palms pressed to his cheeks as he squirmed in place from where he sat on the floor.
"I'll feed Pein some story about there being a tailed beast sighted near the Sand," Konan decided. "Kisame, Itachi, he's tasked you to with her retrieval, so chances are Kakuzu and Hidan will be sent."
"Sounds good," Kisame nodded.
"This is planning bullshit is fucking stupid," Hidan huffed, glaring at a blood spattered wall. "Let's just take her and hide her ourselves, or some shit like that. We can't trust that fucking village to keep her safe."
"Doing that would just be gift wrapping her for Leader, you dunce," Kakuzu growled.
"Our best bet is just to make sure she's alive, watch over her," Konan muttered, seeming to grow more and more dull as she spoke. "The less direct contact she has with us... the safer she is."
"Then why doesn't the fucking Uchiha fuck with Leader's head like he did Yuma's?" The silver haired immortal demanded impatiently.
"And risk him catching on?" Kisame shot back. "No way."
"Well-"
"Enough," Itachi intervened, glaring at Hidan as the tomoes in his crimson gaze shifted threateningly. "We watch, we prepare, we protect. Yuma's safety is our number one priority, and until we have a foolproof solution, no one is going to risk her wellbeing. Do anything rash, and I will ensure it never happens again."
Deafening silence fell over the room as everyone stared at the Uchiha, somewhat stunned by the sudden surge in vocabulary.
Hidan huffed, tearing his glaring eyes away from Itachi to glare at a stain on his comforter instead.
"Fucking fine... But if the Bitch dies, I'm holding you fuckers responsible..."