Sorry for the very late update, guys! I was in New York for a vacation, so I had an excuse :D Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 6

Who was the idiot that came up with the Akatsuki.? Oh right, it was Pein. Now, because of him, I'm in a lot of pain, no pun intended. My lip was cut and bleeding, there were random cuts, bruises, and burns scattered across my body, and a black eye was delicately placed on my right eye. Frankly, I looked like a punching bag—a panda punching bag. Gorgeous? I think not. Though the training the Akatsuki gave me were, to be honest, worse than hell, I had to admit one thing.

They knew what they were doing.

Even after just one session of ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu training, I felt stronger, and more….educated, in a way. That, and I felt dead. No, I felt worse than dead. I ached—all over. To make it worse, apparently, I was now the Akatsuki's maid.

Fun.

I looked at the floor. More like the junk on top of it, since I technically couldn't see the floor. I gripped the sponge in my hand. There was probably also a stupidly determined look on my face to complete my look. Getting down on my knees, I scrubbed vigorously…and somewhat wildly as well. It seemed as if I was attacking the floor instead of cleansing it.

Really, I wondered when was the last time someone stepped into the kitchen. The dishes were chipped and coated in dust. The countertop was an ivory color; I was pretty sure it was white before. Feeling that I no longer wanted to clean, I strutted out the room.

Only, I got to the door before I bumped into someone—more like something. Sasori's puppet, Hiroku, glared at me with a piercing look so intense that it could burn. Only, I wasn't afraid.

"Why are you here?" His voice was altered on the puppet into a deeper, huskier sound. Frankly, he sounded like a wheezing old fart.

"I didn't feel like cleaning anymore." I shrugged it off as if I were talking to a mere simpleton and not Akasuna no Sasori.

"There is a thin line between courageous and stupid, and you are walking dangerously on it." I raised my eyebrow at his random sprout of poetic lingo.

"Well, unlucky for me, since I have terrible balance." I tried shimmying past him, but he sufficiently blocked me.

"Fight me and you may go." This was unfair. No, it wasn't just unfair—it was practically a crime! He was an S-ranked criminal and I was…I was a little frail (to some extent) girl. Didn't Itachi tell me something about mind control or whatever?, I thought to myself bitterly.

"Fine," I commanded in a tone that—hopefully—held power and dignity, "But only if you get out of your puppet." He merely glanced at me before the wooden shell opened. I had to admit—Sasori was not what you would have expected an S-ranked criminal to look like. He looked young, possibly younger than me, when he was supposed to be an old fart already. "Sasori," I spoke with force, hoping that the combustion would work, "You will let me through." I saw his eyes glaze over for a few seconds, but returned back to normal just as quickly.

"Is that your matter of fighting?" His lips tilted into a small smirk. I grimaced, half depressed that it didn't work, and half embarrassed that I looked like a summoning fool.

"Move it," I hissed as I launched myself—rather recklessly, might I add—at the wooden man. Obviously, he dodged masterfully, with skills that I haven't had…yet. He threw out five kunais, and attached chakra strings onto them all. I was kind of hoping that I would get out of this alive and in one piece, and not six.

"You should give up while you can," Sasori stared at me with his cold eyes—unfeeling.

"Never!" Maybe I was just being a little dramatic, but this felt like some epic battle scene to me. He smirked as he launched all five kunai at me. I didn't know how I did it, but I managed to dodge three. The other two, lucky for me, did not get lodged into my body, but rather skimmed it. So now, I had two more cuts to add to my collection.

"Not bad." Sasori took out ten kunai now. I could almost see my life flash before my eyes, but I didn't back out. I was getting the feeling that I lost my balance and fell over to the stupid side of the line.

"Bring it." I huffed, adrenaline rushing through my system. Frankly, I felt like I could take on the world. With a look that could only be described as menace, Sasori launched the ten kunais at me with a flick of the wrist. Taking a deep breath, I dashed straight at him and tackled him down. "How's that for a newbie?" I smirked.

"You have a deep gash on your left shoulder." His voice irked me to no ends, with its hollow sound.

"Oh." I probably looked truly dumbfounded, since I heard a pretty familiar laughter. And obviously, it didn't belong to Sasori.

"Rin, Rin, Rin," Deidara shook his head mockingly, "Groping Sasori-danna like there's no tomorrow." I didn't realize what the hell he was talking about until I got off a stoic Sasori.

"Really? No tomorrow? Damn, guess we're all gonna die then, eh?" My words were dripping in sarcasm. Actually, I was wondering whether I was born out of sarcasm as well. Actually, I'd rather not know. Ignorance might actually be bliss.

I could almost see a vein pop on Deidara. He glared at me with his icy blue eyes. Icy blue, meet sapphire blue. I had a feeling that they wouldn't be good friends. I had no intentions of getting along with a feminine male drama queen.

"Itachi needs to talk to you," Deidara spat 'Itachi'. Truthfully, it looked as if he would spit on me any minute from now. "Go." Now, he hissed at me. Feeling like a dog, I gave him a threatening look. I sometimes believe that the Akatsuki took me as a pet. Nonetheless, I scampered to my feet and shuffled my poor soul over to Itachi's room. Only, I had no idea where his room was.

After wandering around randomly and busting open several empty doors, I ended up at a rather bloody and…religious room. Perhaps their religion was to worship money, since there were piles of it scattered here and there. A part of me wondered whether I stepped into a slaughter-house bank. And the other part told myself that this was how hell would look like if Satan was rich. The room was all white like the others—originally. Only now, there were random splotches of red and brown all over it. I was hoping that it was paint, and not fresh blood and dried blood. There were also bundles of green cash on the bed, hanging on the wall, and on the shelves.

"Hidan and Kakuzu's room," I whispered, kind of in awestricken with all the red and the greens. They just made Christmas seem sad.

"Damn right, bitch." I whirled around to see Hidan laying on the floor, a sword stuck in his chest. He had a satanic smirk placed on his bloody lips, looking as if he enjoyed having a sharp, pointy object pierce his heart. What he did for his religion, I would rather not know.

"Usually, people die when they get pierced through the heart. Since you're still alive, I'll just assume that you have no heart and waltzed right on out." I gave him a cheeky smile, trying to slowly back out of the gory room.

"Fuck no, you stupid whore!" He pulled out the sword, stood up, and threw it at the wall, all in one fluid motion. He grinned at me, looking like he wanted to kill me, with his scythe in hand. Or worse, sacrifice my to Jashin. To be honest with you, I thought that some religions only sacrificed pigs, or sheep. Apparently, Jashin wants people.

"Make it or break it," I muttered to myself, thinking about using combustion on him. It was more like trying to use it. "Hidan," My sapphire eyes bore into his magenta ones. "You will drop your scythe." His eyes glazed over and his grip on his weapon loosened until he dropped it. My eyes darted to the weapon on the floor.

"What the fuck was that?" Hidan, now probably pissed, grabbed his scythe and swung it wildly at me. Afraid to lose my head, I mustered up all my talent (or maybe I just kicked out my non-talent) and successfully dodged it.

"Drop the scythe," Sapphire drilled into magenta as he clumsily dropped his scythe. "Now hit yourself on the head with the wall ten times." I tried not to laugh as I gave this command. Hidan obediently walked over to the wall and began robotically bashing his head onto the wall as I shimmied right out of the room. I sighed, glad that I had my head attached to my neck, as I cautiously walked deeper and deeper into the base.

"Rin." One word and it could scare me enough to pee in my pants. I turned around warily to face the Sharingan user.

"Itachi." I tried matching his tone, making sure that no slither of fear leaks through my voice. "What now?"

"Practice." One word. That was all I got. Following him made me feel rather inferior and more or less like a little puppy. Oh, it wasn't fun.

But the training was even worse. He led me into a totally tranquil room filled with candles. They were light against a warm, red wall, making the whole room seem calm and cozy. It was a small room; probably could fit only ten grown men, or five fat sumo wrestlers—whichever one you're more familiar with. Either he was a romantic or he wanted to burn me. I had to go with the latter.

"These candles will release a scent to help you concentrate," Apparently, it was neither. The candles held a soothing scent, resembling warm sugar, with a trace of something I couldn't describe.

"Close your eyes and meditate." He commanded. Wow, they sure liked treating me like a pet. Yet, I followed his instructions and closed my eyes. After an excruciatingly long time of sitting and breathing, I finally got somewhere.

"You can stop now." Itachi's monotone voice echoed in the room. My eyes fluttered opened and the dimly lit room seemed so much brighter. He pointed to a body in the corner of the room. "Go into his dream." From his statement, I found a conclusion that he was not dead, but asleep. But I knew that he was going to kill him later. I nodded like an obedient student. Funny, since I never thought I had to use the word 'obedient' in my vocabulary.

I closed my eyes, and concentrated on the man. Slowly, I got inside his head. I was in. I was in his dream. I was surrounded by an array of beautiful flowers, yet I was on a beach, with the sand under my feet, and the fresh air blowing in my face.

"Who are you?" The man asked me. He was more or less plain—boring. Ignoring him, I began to change the landscape into a deadly, gothic castle. Why I did that, I have no clue. Though the scenery changed, I couldn't stop it from changing. I couldn't focus my mind. Suddenly, I was back in the room.

"I get what the meditation was for now," I grumbled, still kind of irritated that I couldn't stay in his mind much longer.

"Try again. On an Akatsuki member." I gaped at him, wondering if something ate his brains out. Why would I invade an Akatsuki member's dreams? Surely, I liked my life well enough to try to evade death.

"Who's asleep?" Even though my mind strained from the previous entering, I wanted more. It made me excited to know that I had complete control of someone's minds.

"Deidara." Not expecting for Itachi to say anymore, I closed my eyes and slipped quietly into the mind of a very girly blonde.

I landed in the middle of a grassy field, on top of a deep canyon. I could see the horizon, where the ocean was caressing the sky. Dark blue meeting a lighter blue. It was simply breathtaking.

"Why the hell am I dreaming about you?" Deidara spat at me. Apparently, he's even spiteful when asleep.

"I have come to warn you of a grave danger." Since I'm here, I might as well just scare him out of his wits. "Your world will collapse in fire," I changed the scenery to a volcano, and a world of destruction. "Drown in water," With a snap of a finger, the dream world was drenched in a tsunami. "Suffocate by air," Suddenly, we were in the middle of a tornado, "Crushed by earth." I made it so that he was swallowed up by the earth. As fun as it was, I was suddenly pulled out.

With a massive headache, I rubbed the temples of my head, hoping that it would go away. Hope wasn't in my favor, as my world turned black and I fainted.

Wow, I'm such a sissy.

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