Ai’s POV:
I had made six sculptures by the time almost every ANBU had come to the gates. This fact is not to be hampered by the fact that I could make about thirty in a minute. Only Itachi was absent, but that was more than expected…by me, anyways.
“Wait, where’s Itachi?” a man asked.
While they debated, I smiled from the cover of my cloak and hat. This was just too entertaining. And with all of the training I had, it would be only too easy. After about five minutes, I was able to slip a few sculptures in between the ANBU ranks and finish strategizing. I waved to get their attention.
“Uh, guys. Yeah, S-class criminal, right here, ready to fight, and threatening your village,” I said.
I quickly did a hand sign and blew up the sculpture, injuring a few of the ANBU. They all looked at me, tensed and ready to fight, but I just raised an eyebrow. I saw an ANBU start to circle around, and tossed a sculpture lightly over. It shattered, creating a circle around him.
“Move and you go boom in a very artistic way,” I warned. I opened my Akatsuki cloak, revealing hundreds of sculptures. “There’s enough here to make quite a big, artistic, cloud of destruction. The thing is, it’ll only work if they’re touching my body. So…who wants to handle the situation?”
The ANBU who had tried to sneak around turned slowly to me. “You sound familiar.”
“Yeah, a lot of people say that,” I said, copying his voice exactly. “It may have something to do with the fact that I can disguise my voice to sound like anyone else’s. An advanced feature of art, shall we say.”
I took out a drawing pad and sketched while the ANBU watched carefully. Once I had a good picture of a tiger, I tossed it to the ANBU who had spoken. He looked at it, then passed it around. As the paper was being passed around, his eyes never left mine. I winked and smiled, but he glared.
“What did you say your name was again?” he asked.
I turned my head to him. “You don’t listen well, do you? You know me from somewhere.”
I sat down and acted like I was leaning against a tree. I started drawing again in my sketchbook, this time drawing a helpful masterpiece to use in case I had to blow something up. His eyes widened.
“It can’t be…We have to bring her in alive.”
I stood again and started doing a hand sign. “Touch me and I’ll blow this entire block to beautiful pieces,” I warned again. I saw Itachi running out of the village and smiled. “Well, I hate to kill the party, but I have to go. See you losers later!” Just before I could jump off, dogs appeared out of the ground and latched on to my legs, keeping me in place. I sighed. “Ok, you asked for it.”
I did a hand sign that blew up the small explosives strapped to my cloak. I was severely injured from the force of the attack, as were several others. The only one who was unharmed was the ANBU who asked who I was. He sent his dogs to get the medic corp. I looked at him and smiled.
“Oops. Guess I miscalculated. Still, it was a very artistic display, don’t you think? Father would be proud. Maybe I should’ve gone with the bigger explosives instead of messing up the distraction, hm?”
“Distraction? What distraction?” the man asked.
I was about to answer when I realized I was hurt badly. Very, very badly. I groaned and held my sides. The man picked me up by my collar and looked in my Sharingan eyes. I had to work very hard not to knock him out.
“What distraction? What are you a distraction for, Ai?”
I laughed and did a hand sign, blowing up yet another sculpture. The man holding me was knocked a good ways away, and I was thrown a good ten feet away, into a wall. I fought off the blackness surrounding my vision and stood, standing in the middle of the fallen ANBU. The medic corp. came and took the ANBU to the hospital, and a few wrapped me in ninja wire and carried me to the Hokage’s office. I was smiling the entire way; I would have one heck of a story to tell Leader, Uncle Tobi, and my father when I got home.
Kakashi’s POV:
I woke up in the hospital with someone laying in the bed across from mine. I sat up to see who it was. The face was hidden by bandages…as was most of the body, but she had short black hair and was tied to the bed. Her eyes were open, staring at the ceiling.
“You know, if they think these ropes are going to keep me here, they’re sadly mistaken. So, did you ever figure out what my distraction was?” she asked.
I noticed her arms were moving and looked at her hands. She was molding clay, and I saw chakra going into it. “You’re going to blow up your bed?”
“No, I’m going to send this to Leader so he knows why I can’t come home quite yet.”
“And where is your home?”
She laughed. “Yeah, I’m going to tell you that.” The clay figure, a butterfly, flew out the window. She activated her Sharingan. “There we go, that’s better. Now, let’s just move this way and…” the ropes around her fell, and she stood up. She brought her hand to her ribs, and blood dripped between her fingers. “Such a beautiful color. Well, there’s no use wasting it,” she said, sitting down and pulling out a sketchbook.
She used the blood on her hands as ink and started drawing. After a little bit, she held the book out at arm’s length and looked at it critically, then tossed it to me. An almost exact copy of the explosion from her sculptures was on the page, drawn in blood. I looked at her.
“Why did you leave?”
She laughed. “I had to go home, you know. My task was over.”
“So you lied to me.”
“Nope. I never told you why I was in the village, and I never told you what I was doing,” she pointed out.
I sighed. “You know, for someone who almost blew herself up, you’re in a pretty good mood.”
She smiled. “How could I not be in a good mood? That explosion was pure art! Ah, and if it had taken my life…I died protecting my family. There is no greater honor than that.”
The Hokage walked in smiling. “You have the Konoha flame inside you,” he said.
She drew in her sketchbook again, and I thought I saw a picture of the Hokage. “Perhaps, but I really need to go home. Leader will be very worried.”
“Who is ‘Leader,’ Ai?” he asked.
She smiled. “Leader is one of my many sensei’s, though the one who cares the most. You see, I am very crucial to Leader’s plan. So, can I go home?”
“You think we can let you go home? Even before what you did…uh, Lord Hokage, how long have we been unconscious?” I asked.
“Only a day,” he said. “Ai, I apologize, but you cannot go home.”
She sighed. “Ok, ok. Can I at least have my pack? It has all of my artistic tools in it.”
The Hokage smiled. “Of course. I will have them brought in immediately. You can wear whatever clothes you like, though you should stay in this room until you recover. Just out of curiosity, how did you break the ropes?”
Ai smiled and held up her hands…which had mouths on them, teeth and tongue included. “Not only that, but you used some pretty weak ropes. Leader-sama spent a whole year working on my abilities to escape, so I can get out of just about anything. And the fact that I’m basically a female Criss Angel works to my advantage as well.”
The Hokage and I raised our eyebrows. “Really?”
She smiled hugely. “Would you like me to demonstrate? I’ll make a tiger appear out of nowhere!”
The Hokage watched, and Ai took off a sheet from the bed. She held it up, and when it fell, an orange tiger was in her place. The tiger crawled under the sheet, and Ai was sitting in its place, still smiling.
Ai’s POV:
I had the chance to escape, but I really needed to recover. So after my little demonstration, I picked up my cloak. It was torn and burnt; hardly recognizable. Anime tears started falling.
“Hokage, I need to talk to Leader right away! My cloak is…is…so…Artistic! Aha! I have to talk to my father, then! He’d love this! Hokage, please, let me go back to my family! Please?!”
He sighed. “We can’t allow you to leave. You are an S-class criminal, and the only one who knows the whereabouts of Itachi Uchiha.”
“Yeah, but you’re never going to get it out of me.”
The entire time we were talking, I was fusing my medic chakra into my wound, healing it completely. So, by the time the Hokage said he was going to get me into an interrogation room, I was completely healthy again. I smiled and waved, then threw one of my sculptures to the ground, creating an explosion big enough to give me some cover as I grabbed my things and ran out of the hospital. I ran home as quickly as I could and went straight to Leader after putting on a fresh cloak. I got on my knees and bowed.
“Leader-sama, I apologize. My distraction didn’t work as planned, and I was injured and knocked unconscious.”
He smiled and stood. “Ai, you did wonderfully. You gave Itachi the necessary distraction to get the Uchiha clan killed, and killed twelve ANBU while you were at it.”
I sighed in relief. “Thank you, Leader-sama.”
A scout ran in and whispered in Leaders ear. Leader’s expression turned from happy to angry very quickly, and his eyes fell on me. “Ai, you were followed here. You must go out and kill your tracker.”
I dipped my head. “Yes, Leader-sama…I apologize.” I ran outside and saw Kakashi with his nin-dogs. “Wh-what are you doing here?!”
“Following you. You left in such a hurry and without permission that the Hokage had me follow you.”
I sighed. “Look, you’re nice and all, but you’re not really my type.”
He got an anime vein. “I’m not here for a date. I’m here to bring you back to the village!”
“Forgive me, Leader-sama. I shall return as soon as I can,” I whispered, and did a hand sign.
Every single one of my sculptures blew up, destroying the entrance to the lair and almost killing me. Once again, I was knocked unconscious, though I vaguely remember Kakashi picking me up and carrying me back to the Leaf Village, and I know I remember the pain of the medics cleaning my wounds. I was tied down to the bed again, this time with paper tags set to electrocute me if I tried to escape by breaking the ropes. Loophole? If I didn’t touch the tags, I was fine. Downside? The only part of the ropes not covered in paper tags was the ones at my feet. Upside? I had trained with Leader on being electrocuted, so I could escape easily. Or, I could do the smart thing and fake my death.
I took deep breaths, slower each time, and focused on stopping my heart. It wouldn’t kill me; I’d still be completely aware of everything. I just needed my heart stopped and to hold my breath long enough to make them think I was dead. I was almost to that point when I heard music blasting. Familiar, dangerous music. My heart rate sped up considerably, and the alarm on the monitor started beeping. Medics were running towards my room from down the hall, but by the time they got to my bed, my entire body was shaking, and I was intense pain.
“Turn off the music!” I screamed, though it sounded something like, “Mur ow meh mroweh!”
“What did she say?” the medics yelled.
I screamed in pain and started thrashing, but the music only got louder. I passed out from the intensity of the pain. Well, my secret was probably out, but that was easily reparable, and I didn’t care at the moment. I had fought to keep my transformation in check, and I don’t think anyone saw me as a tiger. The only thing I cared about was getting the fire in my veins to stop.
Fortunately for me, the music stopped, and I could wake up. I managed to get a small piece of clay in my hands for the mouths to mold while I waited for the medics to leave. I smelled Kakashi walking into the room.
“So…it was you, hm. You’re the one who forced such pain on me, hm?” I muttered, with my face turned to the ceiling.
I fused some of my chakra with the figure as I waited. “What are you talking about?”
“Just get out and leave me well enough alone, hm? Great, now I’m getting my father’s speech impairment, hm.”
He left, as did the medics. My hand’s mouth spit out the figure I had been working on, a small bird, and it started eating through the ropes until it got to the tags, then would go to the next. You have to love loopholes; once the ropes were gnawed enough, I would be able to just break the tags and escape. The sculpture returned to my hand. I broke through the ropes and picked up my pack, then put my cloak and hat on. Once I had gotten out of the hospital, I walked through the village and finally found a hobby shop.
I bought a big block of clay, three sketchbooks, paint, and plenty of paintbrushes and pencils. The cashier looked at me. “You don’t look like you’re from here.”
“You wouldn’t have any explosive clay, would you, hm? My father is almost out.”
“Uh…I think we have some in the back. How much would you like?”
I looked in my money pouch. “How much will this buy me, hm?” His eyes widened, and he brought out a huge box. I sighed and paid for the clay then left, molding a few new sculptures. “Now to get out of here…”
“There you are, un! Come on, this way!” my head shot to the voice. I smelled my father. I ran over, turning on my Sharingan so I could see. “Let’s get you out of here, un.”
I followed him out of the village and back to the lair, carrying my art supplies. My body was still in pain from having the music played, but I was on my way home and didn’t care. “Father?”
“What is it, un?”
I looked down. “This ANBU who keeps following me…he’s made me realize I still need to become much stronger, hm. I think…I think I need to train with the Leaf Village. I could gather intelligence and find out who the Nine-tailed fox is, and probably find out who the other Jinchuuriki are, hm.”
He looked at me, and we walked in silence. “We’ll talk to Leader about it, un,” he said. “An inside job may be just what we need, un.”
We walked straight to Leader’s quarters. I got down and bowed. “Leader-sama, I apologize, hm. To make up for my mistakes, I have a suggestion concerning our ability to get the Jinchuuriki, hm. An inside job, with one Shinobi acting as an ally of the Leaf could gather the Intel we need, hm.”
He looked at me for a long time. “An altogether good idea. I would like you to go undercover at the Hidden Leaf Village, and once you find out the hosts for the Jinchuuriki, I want you to bring them to us if you can.”
I dipped my head. “As you wish, Leader-sama. I will pack my things and leave immediately, hm.”
He nodded, then smiled. “Be sure to write. After all, you are very important person to us all.”
“As you wish, Leader-sama. I will visit if I can, though as soon as I am strong enough, I will leave and return here, hm.”
“We will look forward to it, Ai.”
I sighed and walked to my room and packed my things, making sure all of my art supplies were there, along with my new clothes. I kept my cloak and hat, but kept them in my bag, and made sure I had my iTunes Library CD. I paused at the entrance to the lair and said goodbye to my family, then walked once again to the Leaf Village, this time as Hitomi. I walked to the Hokage’s office.
“Ah, you were with Itachi.” I nodded. “So, I suppose you need a place to live. Do you know anyone here?” I nodded, and drew a quick representation of Kakashi on the floor with my claw. “I’ll call him here right away.”
I waited quietly, laying down with my head on my front paws, looking away from everyone in the room. Kakashi walked in and saw me. His eyebrows raised and he looked at the Hokage. “What is Hitomi doing here?”
“She’s staying with you.”
I stood and followed Kakashi out of the room, back to his house. He scratched the back of his neck. “I usually just summon my dogs, so I don’t really know where you can stay.” I rolled my eyes and lay down in the corner, then blinked at him. “Uh…that will work, too. So…you hungry?” I blinked, then looked at the door just as someone knocked. Kakashi looked at me. “So much for needing a doorbell…” he muttered as he opened the door.
I decided to freak his guest out a bit. I transformed into my human again and waved. The man at the door freaked out and pointed, but by the time Kakashi turned around, I was a tiger, looking at the man with a bored expression. He told Kakashi that he was going to be a jounin in charge of training ghenin, and Kakashi turned around and looked at me.
“I wonder why he was looking at you like that?” I blinked. “Well, I guess a wild animal isn’t that normal, hm?” I rolled my eyes and walked over to the bookcase. Make Out Paradise. I picked it up and jumped up on the couch. “Hey, that’s my book!” he yelled, reaching for it. I snapped my teeth right where his hand was. “Uh…I guess you can read it…”
I flipped through the pages, getting more and more bored by the second. Finally, the boredom was about to put me to sleep, so I walked to my bag and picked up some clay, molding it with my massive paws.
“Hitomi, why do you keep coming back?” Kakashi asked, looking at me over his book. I looked over and blinked at him. “You’ve left a few times, but always show up again.” I blinked a few times. “I’m not complaining. You’re the only feline I like.”
I pushed the finished sculpture over to him and sat down, wrapping my tail around my paws and tilting my head. He took it and looked at it; a perfect representation of my tiger form, colors and all. I growled softly, trying to get some feedback on it.
“You’re pretty amazing, you know that? Come on, let’s go train.”
Finally, something to do. I stood and followed him to the training grounds. He looked at me critically for a long time, and I returned the stare. I decided to freak him out, as well, and turned on my Sharingan for half a heartbeat. He blinked and looked at me closely. I did it again, and his jaw dropped.
“No, that’s not possible. Tigers can’t have Sharingan…can they?” I shook my head. “I didn’t think so. So…can you fight? Track?” I nodded. “Hmm…I’ll go hide somewhere, and you track me, ok?” I blinked, and he disappeared.
‘Geeze, this guy is an idiot…’ I followed him easily. ‘Tag, and you’re it,’ I thought, jumping on his back and knocking him out of the tree.
He smiled and stood. “Ok, ok, point taken. You can track. What about fighting and dodging?”
I rolled my eyes. He threw some kunai and shuriken, which I easily dodged with a simple step to the side. He started throwing more and more, and never once did a single hair or whisker get touched. He set a trap, now severely annoyed that he couldn’t touch me. I shook my head and caught a few of the weapons on my tail, some on my claws, and the rest on my teeth. He shook his head, surprised. I dipped my head and bent my leg over my chest in a bow. He laughed and we walked back towards the house.
I saw a kid around two years old with blonde hair sitting by himself on a swing and ran over. He freaked out, but I just sat down next to him.
“Hitomi, come on!” Kakashi said, sounding impatient. I picked the kid up and set him back on the swing, then licked his hand and lay down next to him. “Hitomi!” I turned and roared at him, then looked at the boy.
“Th-thanks…” he said. “Hey, aren’t you a wild tiger?” I blinked and lay my head on his knee. “That’s cool. So, you’re name is Hitomi?” I blinked. “I’m Naruto Uzumaki, and I’m going to be the next Hokage, believe it!” I stood and took a few steps, then looked back at him. “Huh? You want me to follow you? Well, ok…”
I started running and he followed me to the top of the Hokage’s mountain. I laid down and put my head on my front paws. “It’s a lonely life, hm?” I asked, looking at him.
He started freaking out. “You can talk?!” I clamped my paw over his mouth.
“Shut up, hm!” I snapped, and returned to my human form. “Look, I’m only a tiger around the village because I’ve got people trying to kill me, hm.”
“So why tell me?” he mumbled from behind my hand.
I let him go and sat down. “I don’t know, hm. I guess I don’t like seeing people in unnecessary pain, hm.” He looked down. “Please don’t tell anyone about my human form…they’ll have me killed, and I can’t let Leader down like that, hm.”
“Who’s Leader?”
I looked at him. “Just please don’t tell anyone, hm?”
“Believe it, I won’t tell anyone!”
I nodded and went back to my tiger form. “Come on, and I’ll give you a lift back to your house, hm?”
“Hey, what’s with saying ‘hm’ at the end of everything?”
I shrugged as I picked him up and threw him on my back. “It’s a speech impairment, hm. Oh, I’d actually rather you didn’t tell anyone that I can talk, hm?”
“Uh, you don’t want anyone to know anything about you, do you?” I shook my head. “Then I won’t tell anyone, believe it!”
I nodded and dropped him off at his house, then walked back to Kakashi’s house. I growled quietly and sat down with my tail around my paws. “Why didn’t you come when I called?” I growled at him, baring my fangs. “Right. Wild animal. Got it. Well, I’m going to bed. Come on.”
I stood and followed him to his room. He dressed down for bed and laid down. I laid down at his feet and stared at him, a silent contest to see who would look away first. We stared for a good hour, but I won. Thank you, Leader, for your wonderful training.
“I almost forgot. If you’re going to be staying with me, we’re going to have to work on your manners,” he said, and I growled. “That’s what I’m talking about. We need to get you to the ‘well trained dog’ level.” I sighed and put my head on my front paws. “Don’t be like that. The more well trained you are, the more chance there is that the village will let you stay.”
Well, I had to say that was required for Leader’s objective. I nodded and crawled to the top of the bed so I could lay my head on the pillow. Kakashi smiled, and I realized then that he didn’t have a mask on…or a shirt…Thank god for Leader’s mental training. Nothing could bother me anymore. Kakashi laid on his stomach and rested one arm over my shoulders, then immediately fell asleep.
‘This is going to be a long mission…’ I thought dryly, and fell asleep myself.