Chapter 18

The twilight that fell upon the freezing countryside was a beautiful sight.

Cold, dying, golden rays of sunlight cast dark shadows across a crisp landscape. Hovering thunderclouds overhead cast the land into a perpetual state of eerie shadows that wriggled in the reflection of the frozen droplets that fell from above.

"Slurp…"

Muted colors of the forest and sky blurred together as the three traveling figures walked on in the light snow flurry.

"Slurp…"

A chilled breeze swept by the trio, ruffling their thick, dark, cloaks, allowing them to the flap wildly in wind. Red clouds dotted the inky black clocks of the two taller figures as they walked on either side of a smaller figure, draped in a worn, stormy, grey coat. The two towering figures were completely silent as they stared ahead while the shorter figure in between them was clearly hunched over something of great interest.

"SLURP!"

"How many times are you going to fucking do that!" an aggravated voice barked as they pierced through the thick silence of twilight.

"Ms vany times as I vant!" Came the muffed response as the glaring girl slurped down her noodles contently.

"You eat like a pig", Snapped the aggravated voice to her left.

"I haven't eaten in days, what's your excuse?" Amanda huffed as she cramped as much noodles as she could into her small mouth without suffocating.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean you little shit?" The voice growled.

"Simple…" a new voice from the girl's right drawled. "You eat like wild beast, in fact you scared away most of the vendors from the last town. Not that I'm complaining…"

"Oh yea" The girl chimed in thoughtfully. "That poor guy nearly had a heat attack when you requested those spare ribs and than practically ate it whole right in front a jim-", She trialed off as she shoved another batch of instant noodles into her mouth.

A vein in Hidan's forehead twitched as he narrowed his eyes at his two traveling companions.

"Does it look like I care what you think bitch?"

Amanda rolled her eyes as she said something that sounded suspiciously like 'bastard' with the wad of ramen noodles still crammed in between her cheeks. The silver haired zealot narrowed his eyes.

"Tch, stupid girl…" He grumbled. Said girl turned to glare half-heartedly at the purpled eyed demon as the instant chicken ramen continued disappearing in her hands.

"Enough you two, we're here", Kakuzu commanded as they came upon their destination. Hidan scowled but otherwise remained quiet as Amanda perked up in interest.

The small village looked like a flickering mirage in the fading twilight. Long, dark, shadows were cast all over the village, and what was left of the pervading sunlight bathed the village in an eerie shimmering glow.

Thick purple and blue shadows trailed behind them as the three entered the remote village.

Amanda smiled as she looked around curiously at the scene.

Though it was nearing nightfall villagers were still busting around in large crowds as a they haggled down some unlucky street vendors that were desperately trying to close up shop. A troupe of street performers were causing a scene down the busy street, drawing in a large crowd as they danced in some kind of play. The men and woman on the small wooden stage swirled and danced arm in arm with colorful and unique masks, some with happy or peaceful features and some that were so scary that few children in the crowd cried out when they got to close.

With her curiosity peaked, the girl began to wander towards the scene until a large hand snatched the collar of her new cloak roughly dragging her along.

"Come on. We're not here to sightsee" Kakuzu spoke as he dragged the unwilling girl in behind him.

"Aw come on" She whined as she was forced to keep up with the man's impressive strides "I just wanted a quick look".

"No" was the unimpressed response she received as the grip around her collar only tightened. "I'm not giving you another chance to run again like you did in the last town"

"I swear I was looking for the bathroom"

"Then how did you end up on the other side of the village trying to hitch a ride in that merchant's cart?"

"I got lost and… and I asked for directions?" Kakuzu snorted.

Amanda rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms. "Why are you still so mad about that, you got a ton of money when you rob that poor guy blind."

"Please, that man barely had anything worth my interest"

"Then why did you mug the poor guy? You robbed him of everything, hell you let Hidan sacrifice his horse!"

"Be lucky I didn't let Hidan sacrifice the man too"

"That's because she started screaming!" Hidan griped sourly as he walked up behind us, glaring down at me with a rabid look in his eye. His glare had been so harsh after that incident I had to avoid making direct eye contact with him for fear of him burning a hole in my brain. The remaining walk was spent in silence as the rest of the daylight vanished and the stars were twinkling in the dark sky under a crescent moon.

Kakuzu, who had been leading the group, abruptly stopped. I nearly toppled into him but managed to stop myself just in time, though it didn't go unnoticed.

"We're stopping here for the night" He answer my unspoken question as he glared at me form the corner of his eye. I grinned sheepishly as I took a step back and turned to look at our lodgings for the evening.

The hotel actually didn't look half bad or as run down then the other one I had been forced to sleep in. It was also much nicer than sleeping on the forest ground or curled up in a tree somewhere when Kakuzu refused to let us sleep in a inn to which Hidan would adamantly argue about.

'Maybe this time I'll actually get some sleep' I shook my head drowsily as I swiftly followed the two hostile men into the inn. Other than a few strange looks and one terrified receptionist later we were finally given a simple, sparse, room with a couple of futons and a working shower.

I grunted as I slid against the porcelain wall of the blue tiled shower, sliding down into a sitting position with a yawn. I hummed a simple tune as I relaxed against the warm stream of water gushing out of the oddly bent showerhead.

'Thank god. I finally get to shower. I haven't had one since my first night in the Akatsuki base…wherever that was.'

I sighed as I leaned further back in the tub, letting my mind wander.

'Geez, how long have I been stuck here? A couple weeks? A month? I wonder why it feels like less?' I wondered as I brushed my tangle free hair absentmindedly, dully noticing that it had gotten longer as it stuck to the center of my back.

'I'll need to cut it soon. It's kind of a pain to have such long hair. Especially when you have crazy homicidal ninjas that like to pull it all the time.' I scowled as I thought of said ninjas, particularly Diedara and Hidan.

'Wonder if they would let me go find a barber or something, this is getting ridicul-'

I paused and let the brush fall out of my grasp as a sharp pain struck my abdomen. I grasped and then grunted as I kneed over in pain.

"Oh, damn it!" I grunted as I grabbed a towel.

A booming knock echoed in the small bathroom as the old wooden door rattled slightly before a loud voice cut through the doorway.

"Oi! What are you doing in there. Hurry up kid I need a shower" Hidan snapped as he knocked again. When he received no answer he began to fidget. After a minute of silence and another round of vicious pounding later he frowned and turned to the quieter figure sitting across the dinky little room.

"Hey Kakuzu I think she's finally dead"

Kakuzu shifted from his position on his futon, not pausing in his money count as he turned to glare at his brain dead partner.

"Shut up Hidan I'm busy" He grumbled as he continued his task. Hidan rolled his eyes.

"It's been more than an hour and she still won't come out of the fucking bathroom" Hidan growled as Kakuzu continued to ignore him. Suddenly an ear splitting smirk broke out across his face.

"Heh Kakuzu, I bet at this rate the water bill is going to be totally ridiculous huh? They might even charge us extra" He pointed out as he fought down the urge to smirk wickedly.

Not three seconds later Kakuzu was up and standing in front of the doorway, a few of his threads were detached and slithering around his arms.

Hidan looked pleased as he took a step back and let the shit-eating grin contort his features.

Kakuzu glared at the door for a short second not deeming it necessary to destroy any property until he felt the need.

"Girl you have five seconds until I destroy this door" Hidan's smirk grew wider as he watched.

"4"

"3"

"2"

Suddenly the door cracked open with a loud squeak and a visibly red faced Amanda slowly peaked out from behind the doorway. It was silent for a minute before the girl squirmed under the Akatsuki miser's stare.

"Um, Kakuzu?"

"What?" He asked warily as he stood in the doorway wondering why the girl was blushing, and at him no less.

"Um I kind of need to go to a store…"

This time the miser snapped to attention.

"Why" He frowned, thinking she had concocted some kind of half baked escape plan again. He resisted the urge to sigh.

Amanda gulped.

"To…um…buy something really important." she smiled weakly and shrunk further behind the door. Kakuzu glared at her.

"I-I…um. I need to go get some…" She swallowed thickly as she pulled a face. Kakuzu was looking more annoyed by the second.

'Oh god, this is just too embarrassing'

"Spit it out already" Hidan rolled his eyes as he stepped up and finally joined the conversation. Amanda finally collected her courage and turned to glared at him.

"You know what? Fine. I need to go get some um…tampons?" Amanda felt her courage dissipate and she hung her head waiting for the inevitable disgusted response or maybe a obnoxious laugh from Hidan.

It was very suddenly silent. Amanda looked up to take a quick peak at their faces and nearly fell over in shock.

Both Kakuzu and Hidan looked completely confused.

I groaned as I quickly buried my face in my hands.

"Are you serious? How old are you two again?" I nearly shrieked as my face burned in embarrassment. Hidan scowled and Kakuzu raised an eyebrow.

"What are you going on about?" He snapped. They watched in slight amusement and total befuddlement as the girl hid her face in her hands and muffed a long stream of choice words.

"For the love of- come on guys! Shark week, time for my Aunt flow's visit, Satan's sacrificial water fall, Code. Fucking. Red!"

"What the fuck is code red".

"You have an aunt?"

"Oh for fuck's sake, I'm on my fucking period! Do you get it now!" I howled out as my cheeks felt as if they were on fire.

Again, an awkward silence descended.

The two S-ranked criminals gapped as they're jaws collectively dropped. The girl glared at them before finally realizing her mistake and covered her face in her hands with a loud groan.

"I-I didn't- I mean…oh forget it." She grumbled as she slammed the door shut before reopening it seconds later, fully clothed, and darting for the door.

"OkIgotsomemoneyfrombeforeI'llseeyouguyslater!" She yelled only to be halted by her shirt collar once more.

'Shirt collar no jutsu!'

Amanda rolled her eyes at the predictable move as she waited for the dazed Akatsuki members to come through. Kakuzu blinked blearily at the collar in his grasp before letting the girl go with a grunt of disgust.

"Not so fast. Hidan go with her"

"What? Hell no!" The immortal snapped out his daze in rapid time as he scowled at disbelief at his partner.

"Do it" The miser ordered.

"I said no damn it, I'm in the middle of a prayer! Why the hell do I have to go with the little bleeding bitch! Why can't you do it!"

"H-Hey!" Amanda yelled indignantly. They ignored her.

"I have more important things to do than worthless rituals"

"Why you! There is nothing more important than praying to Lord Jashin you washed up money whore!" Hidan raved as he pointed accusingly at his partner.

I froze and began to slowly inch away when I noticed the ex-waterfall ninja stiffen up in annoyance. Kakuzu clenched his fists and gave his foul mouthed partner an equally foul glare.

"Of course there is you fool. Who do you think is going to run the organization's finances?" Kakuzu rolled his eyes, completely unimpressed by the religious man's babble.

"Tch! Give me a break. When you die you're going to rot in Lord Jashin's hell without a cent to your name Kakuzu" Hidan sneered as he stood stiffly.

"Do you want to die tonight Hidan" Kakuzu growled testily.

"Ha! As if you could kill me you money grubbing bastard. I'm immortal remember" Hidan boasted tauntingly as he fingered his pendent.

I swear I could hear the stitched up miser began to growl lowly under his breath and the distinct sound of skin snapping.

"I'm willing to put that to the test" Kakuzu sneered behind his mask as he took a changeling step toward Hidan who seemed equally as excited.

"Ha! Bring it on Kaku-" "500 ryō on Kakuzu!" The girl suddenly cheered from the opposite end of the room as she waved the crumped bills happily in her hand.

"What-Hey what the hell bitch!" Hidan yelled, a vein twitching dangerously on his forehead.

"You…" I gulped nervously when Stiches suddenly turned to look at me.

Before I could utter a shout of surprise I felt a familiar rough hand roughly grab me by the back of shirt and toss me out the room with all the grace of a mentally challenged elephant.

"Your paying me interest on that bet" was his call as I face planted on the hallway.

I fell on my face with a thundering smack as the door slammed shut behind me and the sounds of shouting and things breaking could be heard floating out into the hall. The girl groaned before grinning cheekily as she sat up and slowly rubbed her face.

"Ah, so its true…they are gay" I laughed out loud as I ran down the stairs and passed a still worried looking receptionist as the sounds of a fight began to escalate behind me.

Smiling, I ran down the dirt clouded street, enjoying the sweet air and the hum of the village as I soaked in my small moment of freedom.

"Hmm, this is nice"

The chilly winter wind whipped past me as I finally found the shop, though not without asking every single unfortunate villager that crossed my path for directions.

Hey, don't judge, Its not as if I could read Japanese!

I shivered as I finally stepped out of the shop and into the thick twilight before blowing harshly at my numb fingers. Not that the cold have stopped my relieved smile at this point.

"Damn, its getting c-colder" I sighed as I crossed my arms tightly over myself.

'Maybe I should have grabbed my coat' I groaned aloud at my predicament before flinching surprise when a heavy warmth was draped covered me.I spun around to peak under the dark coat that was unceremoniously dropped over my head and blinked hard in surprise.

"What are you doing here" The girl gaped before quickly shoving her purchases behind her back as fast as she could. Kakuzu resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he glanced down at the shivering teen.

"I'm not letting you run again so easily" He grunted as he glared suspiciously at girl's inquisitive stare.

"Then what's with the cloak?" She pressed. Kakuzu scowled, reminding himself to keep his anger in check.

"Isn't obvious. I'm making sure you don't freeze to death." The dark skinned man replied as he pushed his way pass her and began down the, what Amanda now finally realized, lightly snowed laid path. With a shrug she trailed obediently after him.

"No that's not what I meant…" She trailed off as she took a moment to catch up with the Akatsuki miser's large strides.

"Why did you come? I thought you were going to make Hidan do it." Kakuzu dropped the glare and snorted.

"That idiot is currently in pieces all over the floor. He won't be getting up anytime soon" Kakuzu shrugged nonchalantly as he wandered over thin layer of ice forming on the road; the very same one that I had the majestic grace to fall flat on my backside because of. I swore I could see Kakuzu smirk in amusement from underneath his mask as he stopped to look at me.

"Ugh. I hate all you stupid ninjas and all of your stupid magical walking on water and ice jutsu things" I groaned sadly as slowly stood and I rubbed my bruised behind and glared at the snowflakes falling around us now. This time I could defiantly see a smirk forming under the mask.

"I didn't do anything. You're just a klutz" He supplied un-helpfully as he unfolded his arms and smugly walked away. I switched my hateful stare at the snow around me to his receding back as I got back up and trotted after him. We walked back to the hotel in silence and I couldn't help but offer a sympathetic look to the receptionist when I saw her looking pale faced and miserable as she stared fearfully after Kakuzu as he breezed by the front desk and up the stairs. She must have heard the fighting. I frowned as I swiftly opened the door, ready to ignore the bickering homicidal maniacs and just go to sleep, and paused.

"Oh my god, you weren't kidding…" I gapped as I looked around the room. A few blood spatters littered the walls and floor, a lamp laid destroyed in a corner, there were enormous gashes left by, what I assumed was Hidan's scythe.

"Damn" I whistled softly as I searched for my pack, the small strip of fabric that I made do with already covered in annoying flecks of crimson.

"HEY! What are you doing just standing there bitch. Help me out!" An angry shout made me jump and interrupted my search as I gazed down blankly at the severed swearing head hidden behind a torn curtain.

"Um…" I let the curtain fall back in place.

"Bitch!" Was the muffled reply from behind the pasty blue fabric. I sighed heavily as I slumped down against the wall in dejection.

"I can't believe this is my life now…" I muttered in disbelief as I stared silently at the absolute disaster the room had turned into. I groaned and threw my hands up. What the hell was I going to do now?

'I had been here way too long. I can feel the days slipping away without noticing it at all. Hell, its even winter now!'

I looked outside the small window across the room. Moonlight flittered between the dark clouds and I could nearly see the small specks of white sticking to the windowpane. I gnawed on my lip as I thought.

'What am I doing with myself? I should be finding a way home not tagging around with international mass murders, especially these two…'

I had to bite my lip as I stole a glance at the two occupied ninjas. Kakuzu was counting his money while Hidan was still shouting muffled curses underneath the curtain. I tried to fight the twisted smirk crawling

'Then again, I'm probably as safe as I'm going to get with these guys then anywhere near Konoha, that's just a shit storm waiting to happen. Not to mention these sudden freaky powers I have all the sudden are gonna cause a looottttt of trouble for me'

I shrugged as I bundled tightly under my light cloak.

'Geez. Why can't this be simple like in the stories? Girl falls into wired world for no apparent reason, meets heroes, meets villains, goes a crazy quest, gets awesome powers, falls in love, saves the world, yada yada yada.

But noooooo, I'm stuck being kidnapped, getting the crap kicked out of me at every turn, and meeting every single bad guy…but I did get the crazy powers though, that's a plus I guess.'

I sighed. Yes, because crazy powers that don't help me what-so-ever when I really need them to are exactly what I've always wanted.

"Oi! What are you complaining about bitch? Your not the one getting carpet lint stuck in your fucking neck."

Steely hazel eyes snapped to his magenta ones, anger pouring out of every pore in her body. She barely spared a though for how he managed to get himself free of the curtain before she snapped at him.

"Shut up"

The rustling of paper stopped as green eyes narrowed over their shoulder.

"What's up with you" Kakuzu grunted as he stopped counting his money momentarily, sensing an odd aura coming from the buddle of blankets in the corner of the room. He received an indirect shrug.

The stitched miser growled lowly. He did not like being ignored.

Kakuzu stood slowly before crossing over to the bundled up girl.

She didn't look up as he approached instead choosing to stare blankly at the wall across the room as she was lost in her depressing thoughts.

He said nothing before swiftly smacking her across the head.

"Ack! What was that for?!" she yelped angrily, rubbing the goose sized lump that had formed on her head.

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself. If you need something to do either fix the room or fix the idiot. I don't care which one but I'm done with you being unproductive and sulking all the time. Its pathetic."

Amanda just gaped at the man.

Since when did Kakuzu give sound life advice?

"Oi! Who are you calling an idiot, you jackass?!"

Amanda slowly turned to look at the forgot severed head currently rolling around on the floor like a possessed turnip.

'Oh yeah, I forgot for a second…' she trailed off awkwardly as Hidan gapped in bug-eyed astonishment.

"What do you mean you forgot about MY SEVERED HEAD!" he roared in annoyed disbelief. She stared flatly at him.

"I'm getting too used to your bullshit, so you really don't surprise me anymore"

Hidan opened his mouth, before closing it in shock, unable to form words at this point as his face turned a nasty shade of purple.

I glanced at Kakuzu from the corner of my eye.

"Do we have any bleach or rags in here?"

"Go ask the front desk" he responded flippantly. She raised an eyebrow.

"You're not worried about me escaping anymore?"

"There is a snow storm coming. You'd freeze to death and then you wouldn't be my problem. So by all means…" he sneered as he continued counting his money and writing in his ledger like a devote saint with a Bible.

"Thanks, I feel all warm and fuzzy inside" I deadpanned as I grabbed my coat and turned to leave.

Meanwhile, Hidan floundered for a minute as he watched the two's interaction before his features twisted in rage and he shouted after her.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS? HEY! COME BACK HERE AND FIX ME! DO YOU HEAR ME? WHERE DO YOU THINK YOUR GOING YOU STUPID, LITTLE CU-"

I cut the shouting foul-mouthed, priest short as I closed the door.

I sighed moodily as my stomach constricted painfully again as I wandered down the stairs and towards the front desk and the no-doubt still terrified hostess. Those two idiots were so stupidly loud I swear…

I sighed again as I leaned against a wall.

"Yep. This is my life now" I repeated hopelessly.

'Hopefully this won't last forever.'

If you are still reading this. I am so very sorry.

I honestly forgot this was still here and I lost steam for this story so long ago that I debated taking it off of the website. However, I still have so interesting stuff in my documents for this story so I felt I should try to finish it.

If you are a returning fan or just stumbled upon this let me know what you think in the reviews; and yes I know how bad my previous chapters and characterizations of some of the characters were before but hopefully I can still improve upon this somehow later on.

Things will start to pick up again next chapter, for now i just wanted a little filler.

Again, thank you for giving this story a go, I will update eventually. Thank you. :)