Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Illusion is needed to disguise the emptiness within.

~Arthur Erickson

The enemy ninja were alerted to her presence. Of course they were; it's not like she was exactly trying to hide it, the lit cigarette in her hand attesting to the fact. They don't stand a chance anyway. It was unfortunate really; these ninja could have lived to see another day if only they had chosen a different path to travel. But alas, they travelled too close to the hideout and had to be eliminated. Leader's orders.

By observation, Mitsuko could tell they were young. A three man squad, genin team most likely. One was probably recently promoted to chuunin, the exams had been recently after all. This was probably their first mission without their jonin instructor. It's a shame, killing the young ones always is.

Taking another drag of her lit cigarette, Mitsuko puts it out before grabbing three kunai from her pouch. One part of her brain is screaming at her, begging her not to do it, they're only children, they have families, they're only children. She's learned how to silence that part of her brain long ago.

Ignoring the sick feeling in her stomach, she takes aim and launches the kunai. The children try to move, to dodge, but find that they can't move their bodies at all. Of course they couldn't. As soon as Mitsuko let go of the kunai, her shadows raced towards the children, locking them in place.

One, a girl with brown pigtails, tries to scream, but doesn't have the time. The sound of the kunai hitting their marks makes Mitsuko want to vomit.

Childrenchildrenchildrenchildrenchildrenchildren.

She wishes she could just leave the bodies there and let it be done, but she can't. The bodies have to be relocated. Killing the children would be pointless if other ninja were to look for them and come to this exact location.

Mitsuko gets a better look at the children as she jumps down from her perch on one of the surrounding trees and walks towards them lazily. The girl with brown pigtails couldn't be older than thirteen, there was a blonde haired boy who still had baby fat surrounding his face, and the chuunin boy had dark spiky hair that made Mitsuko's heart stop for a second before she comforted herself with the knowledge that this boy was too old to be him.

Regardless, her relief is shortly lived. She'll be seeing these children later in her nightmares, she always does after all, especially ones that hail from the particular village that their headbands identify.

It's always harder killing ninja from her home village. With other villages, she can delude herself. After all, when she was still in the village, it wasn't uncommon for her to have to kill foreign ninja. But when they come from her village, there's no lying to herself.

No, when they come from the Village Hidden in the Leaves, there's a chance that she knows the ninja. That she knows their parents, their family, that she held them as babies, that she smiled at them in the street, that they could be a member of her own family. It's her own special sort of self-torture to search their faces for something she recognizes.

With a few hand signs, three black scrolls appear in her hand. Though she wants to be delicate, to be gentle with the children she just killed, to cry over their bodies, she can't be. There's no telling who's watching. Instead, she lets out a noise of frustration at having to deal with the bodies.

Her movements are lazy and relaxed as she goes through the motions of sealing the bodies in the scrolls, but her heart is aching. When the bodies are gone from sight, it's a relief, but her conscious is still very heavy. It will be until the day she dies.

Bringing her thumb to her mouth, she bites it, drawing blood. She rolls up one of the oversized sleeves to the cloak she wears and drags her thumb along one of the seals on her skin. A sleek black cat appears in front of her immediately and she puts the three scrolls on the ground in front of it.

"Bring these a mile south of the border of Konoha, undo the seal and bring the scrolls back to me. Make sure not to be caught." The black cat nods once in understanding before taking each scroll in its mouth and swallowing it. The animal is gone in a flash and Mitsuko wipes the blood from her forearm before rolling down the oversized sleeve.

She lazily begins walking back to the base, taking a cigarette from her leg pouch and lighting it, breathing in the comforting nicotine.

"Excellent job Mitsuko-san." Pein says approvingly as said woman stands before him, head bowed respectfully and just having completed her report.

"Thank you Pein-sama." She replies, raising her head to meet the leader's purple, ringed eyes.

"Take some time to relax, you've earned it. I will summon you when your services are needed." Bowing her head in respect once more, Mitsuko turns and exits the room at her signature slow, lethargic pace.

"Konoha's Seal Mistress strikes again I see." The feeling of snakes slithering around her body is a tell as to who is talking to her, and it's one of the last people Mitsuko wants to associate with.

"I never did like that name." She replies neutrally, turning her attention to the white skinned man behind her. Orochimaru tends to never give the girl a moment of peace. Mitsuko has only been a member for around a year and a half now, but she's known the man much longer than that of course. They hail from the same village after all.

"But it's a well-deserved one. You learned a lot from my old friend after all." The thought of a certain white haired Sannin causes her heart to ache, but Mitsuko knows better than to let her emotions show. This is what Orochimaru does. He analyzes her, tries to play mental games with her, to find an opening so he could exploit it. He's a snake waiting to strike.

But she's had years of training keeping her emotions to herself. To defend herself against people trying to play mental games with her; one of her best friends was an expert at it after all. She wouldn't crack, she couldn't, too much was on the line for her to give into the snake standing in front of her.

"My only regret is that I couldn't take more from him." The ninja says, settling her face into her familiar condescending, taunting expression, a small smirk on her face. A mask, one she's had to create to make it through the life she lives. "Good day Orochimaru-san."

As she's walking away, she feels the snakes slithering after her. When she turns the corner, out of the man's sight, she catches the creatures in her shadows and crushes them. Mitsuko hates snakes.

Mitsuko's room is the most isolated, tucked away in one of the corners of the base. She likes it that way. It's defendable.

Countless traps surround her room from wall to wall, not one crevice missed. Sleeping in the same vicinity of S-ranked missing nin doesn't allow for peace of mind. Without her traps she could be killed, or worse, any day. But as her epithet says, seals are Mitsuko's specialty. They cover every inch of her room and coat the door. Only she can enter, a drop of blood to one of the seals on her arm gives her access.

Walking in, a ball of white fluff launches itself at her. She allows a small smile on her face at the excitable animal. Her one comfort, one of the few things she brought from home, a nin-dog. On most missions she takes the animal with her, but this one was close so there was no need. Besides, the dog is safe in her room.

"I'm back Haru." The girl says, sadness tinting her voice.

Haru was a gift from an old friend. The runt of the litter.

His white fur will be the perfect contrast to your black hair and eyes! The checkerboard combo!

Mitsuko pushes the memory from her mind the minute it rears its ugly head. That was a different time, no use letting ghosts haunt the present. It was a necessity. An order.

Putting the dog down, Mitsuko walks to the chest she keeps along the wall. After undoing the seal, she grabs the bottle of sake out and takes a seat at her desk, not bothering to grab a cup. The taste of alcohol wasn't her favorite, but after killing three kids, she needs it.

She wouldn't dare drink to the point of being unable to think and fight at full capacity, but the burning of the alcohol felt nice, comforting.

A soft knock on her door causes her to sigh. Only one person was allowed access to her door, and that person coming meant Pein was summoning her.

When she opens it, Konan is standing there of course. Out of the members of the Akatsuki, Mitsuko liked the woman in front of her the most. And by like, Konan was the least likely to try and murder her, and it was much appreciated.

"Pein-sama has summoned you." The woman says simply, leaving no room for questions.

"So much for relaxing." Mitsuko complains, but steps out of her room regardless, sealing her door. The women walk together, keeping a comfortable distance between them. Neither was very sociable so the walk was silent.

Konan leads them to the entrance to the base, Mitsuko notices Orochimaru is already there. He gives her a look of approval. Killing his snakes was apparently a good thing.

Kisame and Sasori were also already present. Nothing was said, so the ninja silently took a spot next to the puppeteer, curiosity filling her.

"A new member has arrived." Pein says. Mitsuko's curiosity only increases at the news. A new member, someone else to watch out for, someone else to report about.

It takes all her self-control to keep her face expressionless when the new member walks through the entrance. The news spread fast when the Uchiha clan was massacred. Mitsuko tried not to think too much about the Uchiha's she was familiar with.

"Itachi Uchiha." Orochimaru says, the pleasure in his voice evident. The Uchiha prodigy. He killed every member of his clan except his little brother. The thought of doing such a thing made Mitsuko feel sick.

The red eyes of the Sharingan user flit over each of them, coming to a stop on Mitsuko. She's careful not to look at his eyes. Was he a plant? Was his mission similar to hers? Too many questions and no answers. Not having answers made the girl anxious. Not to mention having the Uchiha here made her job harder if he wasn't a plant.

She'd have to be more careful.

"First a Nara and now an Uchiha." A deep voice from inside the puppet observes, amused.

"Can I leave now?" Mitsuko asks. Though she projects boredom, she needs alone time to think about her next step. Itachi was an unplanned variable and a very dangerous one.

"Very well." Pein concedes and Mitsuko walks away, slouched and unhurried with a million thoughts racing through her head.

What a drag.

A/N: Yadda yadda, I don't know what to put here because it's almost 3am and I'm tired. Enjoy, don't enjoy, whatever. Give me some feedback please, I'm in desperate need of feedback. Happy New Year.