Bird Cloth ::Chapter 11::

"EYAAAAAH!!!"

That was the sixth time for Nagayoshi causing such screams to people by simply touching her hand to their heads or anywhere on their body as long as she touched their skin. She began to like zapping off people's brain cells. It was everything she wanted: less bloody mess (although she wasn't scared of it much anymore), fast, and easy to use. And since the journey back to Akatsuki's base took several long days, Kakuzu put her improved affinity to good personal use. Not that she complained anyway; she wanted to try them out very badly, after all. What do you call it—a win-win situation?

Nagayoshi groaned and fell to her knees to catch some air. Six times in a day was the most she had ever done so far. It was unusually tiring; while she was quite sure she could use more Raihou. She was considerate of her chakra usage too, so she should still have some left. However, limit was a limit and she was not going to push it.

"Time-out!" she exclaimed, raising a hand. "I need a break."

"Hmph, you asked for a street fight." Kakuzu rejoined coldly. "And I've kindly searched for low-prized weak bounties for you to nail at. I should at least have my share." he added.

Nagayoshi glowered at him before panting some more. "Oh, fine! You can have half of it!"

"Seriously?" Kakuzu chortled amusedly. "Aren't you the best sister ever?" he somewhat roughly patted her head and picked three bodies easily. "You sure got a strange present for this year's birthday."

Nagayoshi chuckled heartily as she dragged the other three bodies with more effort needed rather than that needed by her brother. Nagayoshi used to have no clue about her birthday—she didn't even know what a birthday is. Kakuzu then suggested that she better chose a date that she could adopt as her birthday. Through Kakuzu's point of view, it wasn't for giving presents, but it was so that Kakuzu could remember how old she actually was. After counting the days on the calendar, Nagayoshi decided that her birthday shall fall on the fifteenth of July which was the day she and Kakuzu became siblings and so that Nagayoshi could have the same date as Kakuzu's birthday, which was August 15th.

Nagayoshi never really expected presents other than apples. She wasn't really a girl with material wishes. This year, as she turned eleven, she wanted to try out and test her newly developed auto-killing ability that she discovered a week ago. She gave it no specific name; she's not going to say it out loud, anyways.

They exchanged the six bodies, caught the exchanger flabbergasted, get their prizes, and cut it in half. If there was a day where Kakuzu obviously showed that he was extremely excited, it was this very day. They arrived at a small town just right when the sun was almost down. They rented a hotel room closest to the border of the town. They dropped their load beside their bed and lie down (or just sit on the edge of the bed) to regain their energy.

Grwl…

"I know that sound everywhere." Kakuzu muttered, resisting the urge to cover his face with his hands, which he failed.

Nagayoshi grinned meekly at him, letting out an awkward laugh. "Sorry…my stomach is always hard to compromise with. It must have because I zapped people's brain cells too many times. Hey, Oniisan, let's eat outside."

"Gah! I knew it would end up like this." Kakuzu grumbled. "Didn't I tell you that eating in public places is expensive?"

Nagayoshi frowned. "I know! It's not like every day I want to eat outside! Anyway, it's actually more expensive if we make our own food. You see, you have to buy each ingredient separately. You're lucky if they're cheap, but most of them now are just expensive." she rejoined.

"Damn, you're right." Kakuzu grunted. A thought struck his mind afterwards and he stood because of it, making Nagayoshi setting up her face to look confused. "I might just know a solution. We're in this town, anyway. How could I ever forget? Come on."

At the same time as she was happy, Nagayoshi was perplexed. Kakuzu just somewhat looking forward to eat outside, and that was absolutely not normal. She kept wondering even as she was waiting for Kakuzu to lock their room's door. She then noticed two men going out at the same time as them. Strangely, they wore similar cloaks as Kakuzu. The taller of the two turned to see who their neighbors are and his rounded white eyes seemed like it expanded slightly, although normally it always looked like it was expanding. A wide smile crept to his face and Nagayoshi raised an eyebrow toward him.

"Hey, you're that kid!" he pointed at her, much to her surprise, and his voice was jovial despite his big body size. Nagayoshi felt like she heard his voice somewhere.

"Uh…do we know each other?" Nagayoshi asked.

The tall man whose skin was light blue pouted as he walked towards her. Nagayoshi had to crane her neck up to stare at the man's face since he was awfully tall. Now that she could see his face, she noticed the rows of sharp teeth hidden behind the skin and bones of his jaws. He carried a giant item on his back, wrapped in bandages. "Damn, I'm disappointed that you don't remember me. You look livelier than last time, though."

Livelier than last time? Now Nagayoshi understood; he must be one of those men who helped her directed her to the right room. She put a fist on top of an opened palm, "Ah, now I remember! Sorry, I guess I really was half-alive back then." She laughed genially, rubbing the back of her head. "Well, I have to say thank you for helping me then."

The blue man chuckled before he lifted his head and waved, "Hi there, Kakuzu! Never imagine finding you here!"

"Likewise, Kisame. So you and Nagayoshi had known each other?" Kakuzu asked.

"Eh…not really. I just sort of helped her going to the right room. She almost went inside someone else's."

Nagayoshi blushed to Kisame's revelation and awkwardly met Kakuzu's indifferent stare. "I think I remember telling you not to go to the wrong room."

"Shut up…" Nagayoshi hissed.

"Oh! I almost forgot; I know Leader-sama had told you about him but you guys haven't officially met." Kisame said. The shorter man whom was with Kisame walked towards the three of them. This man turned to be a teenager. Unlike the blue man, this boy looked just like any normal person. He has smooth long black hair, darker than Nagayoshi's. His skin was pale and his eyes were pitch black and downcast, giving a completely silent and even an almost soulless air. He remained silent even as Kisame introduced him, "This is my partner. His name's Itachi. Itachi Uchiha."

Kakuzu contemplated over the young man. "He's very young. You're like what, thirteen when you joined in?"

Itachi in response only uttered a half-hearted 'Hn' and Kakuzu knew that meant yes. "I'm fifteen now." the boy muttered delicately. His voice, though, was smooth; like snow in a fine, non-windy winter afternoon.

Kakuzu nodded. Then by putting a hand on one of Nagayoshi's shoulder, he said, "You haven't introduced yourself. Go."

"Right! I'm Nagayoshi, nice to meet you!" Nagayoshi introduced herself merrily, holding out a hand to Kisame.

The blue man's smile crept up wider, "Kisame Hoshigaki. Say, you have an exceptional name, Nagayoshi." said Kisame, shaking Nagayoshi's hand with a power that shook the girl's body altogether.

"Thanks!" she grinned.

"Well, Nagayoshi and I are about to have our dinner outside. What do you say? You want to join us?" Kakuzu offered. "But don't expect me to pay for you guys."

Kisame chortled, "Hahaha! Kakuzu, you haven't changed now, have you? I'd love to join; what do you say, Itachi-san?" he turned to the younger man.

Itachi shrugged subtly, "I don't think it's a bad idea. I'm hungry, anyway."

"Alright!"

|-oOo-|

"Oh…! So she's the little girl you told us! How far has she improved ever since the last time you mentioned her?" Kisame asked with full of attention. He laughed afterwards, "Hey, your partner's also from Kumo, right, Kakuzu?"

"Don't remind me of him and his annoying jokes!" Kakuzu snapped. "If you want to see how good Nagayoshi is, you should see when she executed six bounties earlier this day. Well, those punks aren't the best ninjas ever, of course. She's still not powerful enough to fight against the champions of the world."

"Well, duh! But I swear I will be strong to beat them all up!" Nagayoshi retorted passionately.

Kakuzu scoffed, "Oh, please! You can't even make me fall down to the ground. You're still a weak little genin. Plus, you only mastered one jutsu and it was inherited from me. You still have a long way to go, kiddo." He patted her head, pushing it down slightly to tease her around. Nagayoshi giggled and threw his hand away.

Itachi watched them with his downcast eyes. The way Kakuzu put his hands on her head playfully (although his facial expression didn't really show much) and the way Nagayoshi giggled made his black eyes to show a very subtle glint. He stood and slid out of their table. "I need to go." he said quickly. With a wide pace, Itachi headed to the men's toilet.

"Huh, Itachi must've eaten a lot." Nagayoshi commented.

"Really? That didn't look like a lot of fat to me." Kakuzu replied, checking the plate of Itachi's meal.

"I don't know. He didn't look good just now." Kisame added. "Maybe he did eat a lot."

"You said his name was Uchiha, right?" Kakuzu asked; Kisame nodded, reconfirming his answer. "Could he be the one who slaughtered his own clan? I read it on the newspaper when it happened. He must have something that exceeds the other members of the clan to be able to kill them all."

Nagayoshi looked at her brother with a gaze that was not playful anymore. She then turned to Kisame, whose face was not far different from hers. The shark-nin then said, "I probably shouldn't say this, but Itachi-san does have something that most Uchiha members don't have. He has the Sharingan, but his Sharingan is much more advanced than the normal ones. It was rumored that there are only two people including himself that holds it."

"It? What is 'it'?" Kakuzu inquired. Nagayoshi, too, was holding down a question.

"The mythical Mangekyou Sharingan. It's one of the most powerful Genjutsu vessels in the world. I've seen him use that eye before, being his partner I am. I can't see what was happening, but I know it's a powerful eye. His target suffered mental trauma for god knows how long."

"No wonder he wants him in Akatsuki."

"Who? Leader?"

Kakuzu didn't answer immediately, but he nodded, "Yeah, him."

"Oniisan, what's Sharingan?" Nagayoshi asked.

"It's an eye exclusively owned by the Uchiha clan. It was said that the eye enables the owner to read their opponent's movement five seconds before they launch it. That was as much as I know. I never really study on Sharingan before, although I had encountered one."

Nagayoshi whistled, "Wow, that sounds cool. But if Itachi slaughtered every people in his own clan, doesn't that mean he's the only one left?"

"I suppose so." Kisame shrugged. "He never told me anything."

"Itachi isn't a chatterbox, is he? Hehehe, Oniisan's not much of a talker too. But I just know how to push that button!" Nagayoshi grinned mischievously at her masked brother.

"Hey, Kakuzu, this might sound a little…rude…but isn't it kinda inappropriate for her to call you 'Oniisan'? When you seriously said you adopted her, I thought she's going to be your daughter or something." Kisame said.

Kakuzu didn't answer, instead the bridge between his eyebrows creased. His eyes glared sternly at the shark-nin who gulped. On the other hand, Nagayoshi stared at him in perplexity. "Daughter? Why should I be his daughter? Oi, Oniisan!" Yet, Kakuzu was not persuaded to answer.

"Don't you know it, Nagayoshi? Kakuzu's age is…let me see…83, I guess. I've done my quick math. Heck, he should've been your grandfather!" Kisame stated.

Kakuzu rolled his eyes as soon as Nagayoshi gaped at him, her lower jaw hanging loosely. It threatened to flop off if he didn't snap at him. "Don't. Look. At me. Like that." His green eyes then shot at Kisame piercingly, "You shouldn't say that. I don't like to be reminded of my age."

Kisame laughed hesitantly, "Man, I'm sorry. I figure she better know about it."

"Yeah, now that she knows it, she won't look at me the same way again." Kakuzu grumbled, covering his face with one hand. Silently, he peeked to the young kunoichi, still finding her gaping at him only with mouth slightly shut. He growled again.

"Tell me, Oniisan, how do you stay young for so long?" Nagayoshi suddenly asked, after a deathly long awkward silence. During that silence, Itachi returned from the toilet. If only everybody wasn't so tongue-tied, they would have noticed Itachi's obviously puzzled look.

Kakuzu stared at her ditheringly before he sighed, "You've seen it. My multiple numbers of hearts helped me to continuously renew my life span and supply new cells for the skin. As simple as that. Now I demand you not to change our status."

"No problem! But that means I have to be careful with you now. I don't want to stress your bones too much." Nagayoshi said, smiling and tapping Kakuzu's arm good-naturedly. Kakuzu blinked for a moment before he finally understood the veiled message at the same time as Kisame's bursting uproar of laughter. He drilled both of his fists on Nagayoshi's head whilst the young kunoichi was laughing as hard as the blue ninja. A pulsing vein visibly pumped on the side of his head.

"Damn great, now I'm a laughing stock." Kakuzu grumbled.

Nagayoshi ceased her laughter with much effort. She ended with a long wheeze. "Geez, relax, Oniisan…" —Snorts— "I was just joking!"

"Well, it wasn't funny." Kakuzu retorted.

"Really? I found it hilarious!" Kisame added. His answer did not make Kakuzu feel better.

"I don't get what's going on." Itachi mumbled, rolling his eyes mentally.

|-oOo-|

Because of the same schedule, Kisame and Itachi joined Kakuzu and Nagayoshi going back to the headquarters. As usual, Itachi had no comment, but he agreed on going back together—on whatever reason. Kisame, on the other hand, was more than delighted on having an additional companion. His delightedness was closely imitated by the young kunoichi while her brother was wary of the potentially new closeness.

He won't be so cagey if Nagayoshi befriends someone who was about her own age. Unfortunately, Kakuzu lacked trust in his Akatsuki comrades and Nagayoshi was immediately chattering with the blue ninja. Those two factors switched on his safety alarm. Nevertheless, he seemed to be alright if Nagayoshi hang out with Itachi instead.

The four of them jumped from trees to trees for the next few hours. Then their eyesight reached a small lake bordered by a cliff of sharp rocks. On the surface of the lake, a gargantuan boulder sat snugly in front of what it seemed to be a cave. Led by Kakuzu, the three Akatsuki and the subordinate of the masked ninja plunged towards the body of water and landed right on the surface. They stopped running whereupon the bottom of their shoes touched the surface of the water.

Nagayoshi ogled at the boulder. It has a rectangular piece of paper adhered to its center. She knew it was a seal. It must be equipped for anti-intruder purposes, she thought. She wondered on how to enter into the other side of the boulder but, to her surprise, the Akatsuki walked to the farther left of the boulder. Nagayoshi ran and caught up to their steps. "Hey, where are you guys going? Isn't the entrance over there?" she asked, pointing at the colossal boulder with a paper seal on it.

"If you're an intruder, then yes. You can take off the seal and get in, but then you'll fall to our trap. Anyway, if you do succeed and enter, you'll only find a normal cave." Kakuzu answered. Afterwards, he braced his ringed finger affront. Kisame and Itachi did the same thing too. The Akatsuki aligned side by side and three holes appeared in front of each of them. Kakuzu grabbed a kunai and Nagayoshi's hand. With the tip of the kunai, he caused a small hemorrhage on the last digit of the girl's index finger.

Nagayoshi winced to the sting; she could feel the small vein pumping altogether with flowing blood. "What was that for?" she asked crossly. Before she made an attempt to suckle her liquid, another hole dug itself down in front of Nagayoshi.

"On my command, put your finger inside the hole." Kakuzu explained. He nodded and he, Kisame, and Itachi stamped their ring into their respective holes. Nagayoshi slipped her bleeding finger in hers, and a waiting process occurred. When the three men withdrew their rings, Nagayoshi hastily pulled out her finger. She blinked profusely once she saw no sight of hemorrhaging from her finger. She wondered on how it happened.

A rectangular shape concaved inside and slid to the side, giving access to the four of them. Nagayoshi gaped upon knowing the existence of a secret entrance. "What the hell?!" she exclaimed, pointing accusingly at the unveiled doorway. Kisame chortled and stepped inside behind Itachi into a dark grotto.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Kisame added.

Still with the same astound, Nagayoshi followed the three men. "Anybody care explaining all that to me?"

Kakuzu sighed, "It's obvious that its function is to prevent outsiders finding out about the Akatsuki's whereabouts. That entrance was exclusive to members and subordinates only. Your name has been registered as my subordinate, that's why you're allowed to enter." The masked ninja explained.

"Oh, okay. Now why is it so dark in here?" What she got this time was a pound on the head. "AH!"

"Just shut up and walk, will you?" Kakuzu snapped.

"Fine…fine…" she growled. "Crotchety old timer…"

"You say something?"

"Nothing."

Kisame couldn't help but giggle at their little argument.

|-oOo-|

Under such darkness, Nagayoshi couldn't tell how far they had been walking. It seemed devastating and she almost developed a new (and probably the first) phobia if it weren't because of a candle light shining a few feet in front of them. The light told them that it was a right angle turn and there was a small stair before turning. Once they took the turn, they were greeted by more candles. Nagayoshi's new phobia was put to a stop.

The long tunnel continued for a good four hundred and thirty yards (as told by Kakuzu) before commencing a great number of stairs. Nagayoshi gaped at the stairs; they almost resembled the super steep stairs before a temple in Kumogakure. This one nearly resembled that one, only with wider steps and shorter heights. They decided not to rush on climbing up the stairs. Therefore, it took around fifteen minutes to climb them all.

Next, a moderate upward slope led their way. It was still a tunnel, but it was no more made of rock and minerals. Instead, this tunnel was made of a more sophisticated material which was iron and concrete. There were windows every few meters of the tunnel, enabling the newcomer to see where she was exactly.

As soon as they entered the concrete tunnel, they could hear simultaneous small beatings on the ceiling. Nagayoshi looked over the window and there, before her eyes, was a town with high absurd-shaped towers, ever showered by rain. That long dark tunnel, the staircase, and this concrete tunnel wound her up to a municipality, to her inexpectation. At which point she needed to ask, "Uh…where are we?"

Kakuzu who was walking a few feet in front of her turned his head around. "We are officially entering the Amegakure territory." he answered. "This is where our base is located."

"Amegakure? As in the village led by Hanzou the Salamander?" Nagayoshi posed. She quickly noticed that Kisame smirked. "What?"

"Hanzou the Salamander is no more, kid. It's Pein now." answered Kisame.

"Pein? The history lessons never told anything about Pein. How long has he been ruling the whole village?"

"It is true that the history books failed to know about Hanzou's retreat, but it's because the truth was remained hidden. The people of Ame are even forbidden on mentioning Hanzou's history and…his death."

"Huh? Hanzou's dead?! Like, how?"

"Nobody knows exactly." Itachi interjected. For once, he actually talked about something big. "But we know that Pein-sama was the one who killed him."

Nagayoshi caught the way Itachi called the new leader of Amegakure. He just referred him as 'Pein-sama', which means… "Wait; this 'Pein' you're talking about, is he…?"

"Right, he's our leader." Kakuzu cut her off. "So behave when I introduce you to him."
"You said you swore in front of him." Nagayoshi pointed out.

"In front of him; not at him."

Unlike the dark tunnel, the concrete tunnel (that was elevated seventeen stories from the ground on the beginning) went about one and a half kilometers. The tunnel kept going higher and higher in every each step, so the end of it was probably twenty four stories from the ground.

Nagayoshi once again peeked out the rain-showered window to see a tall tower ahead. There were circular shapes emerging outside, making the top of the tower looked a little more absurd than the lower and the middle part. On the circular shapes there were windows. Nagayoshi wondered again but to no avail, because she had no idea what was behind those windows.

She posed a question once again, "Does the people of Amegakure know about Akatsuki?"

"They do. In fact, it was the first village to use Akatsuki's service. It was of course because their 'God' and 'Angel' found Akatsuki in the first place. So only in this village we can go out in our cloaks freely." Kakuzu answered. "Oh, and about the so-called 'God' and 'Angel', it's their calling for Pein-sama and his partner. You'll know why soon enough."

Nagayoshi grimaced, "This Akatsuki thing is getting more peculiar every time I ask a thing about it."

"Yep; and since your position is just a subordinate, more things will be hidden from you." Kakuzu sneered.

"What? Now that's unfair!" she protested.

The four of them reached a door. It was unlike the one on the very front of the entrance. In fact, this one looked just like any ordinary door; made from a well-carved wood with a knob. Plus, it was unlocked!

Nagayoshi observed the door for a second. "No bleeding this time?"

"No bleeding; don't worry. This is just a normal door just as it seems." Kakuzu confirmed as Itachi turned the doorknob. They were immediately greeted by a man of two colors: black and white and a Venus Flytrap surrounding his head.

"Welcome back." he said. The black side's mouth was invisible due to the dark tint of the skin so no telling whether it was moving or not. "How did you guys end up coming home together?" he added, now the mouth of the white side didn't seem to be moving. Nagayoshi perked her ears; she just revered about hearing a different voice from the same person. The man looked down to her. All of a sudden, Nagayoshi felt as if she was a Roquefort cheese watched over by a mouse. "You bring us a snack, Kakuzu?"

"In your dreams, Zetsu. She's with me." Kakuzu replied snappily, pushing Nagayoshi behind him. Nagayoshi could distinctly hear Kakuzu's growl from the way he spoke. He pulled her arm, away from the man called Zetsu. Nagayoshi looked back at the bipolar; more questions and wonders raided her mind.

"Who was that?" she asked.

"That was Zetsu. He's, uh…there are actually two personalities inside that one body. You hear their voices, right?"

"Huh? So I wasn't dreaming after all!" Nagayoshi whistled.

"We'll get back to our rooms. So…see you later?" Kisame said before parting from the siblings with Itachi.

"Yeah, later." Kakuzu replied quickly. Kisame and Itachi then strode off to their respective rooms. Kakuzu nodded to his sister. "C'mon, before he—"

"Kakuzu! YO! Hey, ol' buddy!" a high tone of a man's voice zapped Kakuzu's ears. Again, Nagayoshi heard her brother distinctly growling. This time, it was even louder. Even his hands participated in displaying his growing anger. Nonetheless, he turned to meet his working partner: a man in his late thirties with raw sienna-colored hair and eyes with different shades (left is blue, right is lime green). He stood only two inches shorter than Kakuzu and his scraped Kumogakure headband clung slantwise on his forehead, one end covered his eyebrow. And just like any Kumogakure-born, he had a dark skin. His hair was moderately short, but it was heavily disordered and bristly due to lack of brushing and/or combing. He had a huge smile ever so available on his face and he constantly cackled. The man circled his arm good-naturedly around Kakuzu's neck; upon which Nagayoshi could spot a bad twitch from Kakuzu's eye.

"Duuuuuude! I missed you so much, man! It's been a really long time since we kick butt together, hasn't it?" the man yapped humorously, although Kakuzu's face visibly didn't support his blether. In every end of his sentence, he slipped "Hahaheehee" in an equivalent tone and length. "Hoy…say something, man. Helloooo~?" the man yodeled the said greeting. It was indisputable that Kakuzu was fuming.

"Hello, Baka." Kakuzu hissed.

"Naw…don't call me that, Kakuzu! Come on, what's my name~?" the man purred, poking Kakuzu's cheek.

Kakuzu snarled and he knew the 'Baka' could hear him clearly. Unfortunately, stupid is what stupid does. "Hello, Ryouken." Kakuzu snarled his name through gritted teeth. Ryouken chortled and clapped his hands unnecessarily.

"Hooray! Kakuzu-sama said my name!" Ryouken howled joyously. Don't forget the "Hahaheehee".

"Get off of my sight before I break another tooth again from you." Kakuzu growled, pushing the laughing man away from him. "I have business to do with Leader." Kakuzu turned away, pulling Nagayoshi harder.

"Hey! Is that the kid you were talking about?" Ryouken pointed at Nagayoshi. Kakuzu grunted and walked faster. Seeing that he was ignored, he shrugged and cackled a little more before going off to another direction.

The last time Nagayoshi saw Kakuzu this distressed was when he pulled him away from Kumo ANBUs. This was almost the same, except that it has less tension. Nagayoshi winced due to the tightening grip on her lower arm. She grunted and say, "Oniisan, not too hard on the arm, please!"

Kakuzu's eyes snapped to focus and his grip loosened dramatically, but his fingers remained intact. He slowed his pace down, making the course of following up easier. He massaged his eyebrows with his other hand, sighing profusely. With another hand, Nagayoshi clasped his tensed hand on her arm. Kakuzu looked down to his sister, "I'm sorry." he sighed again, "It's just…I can't trust those people."

"Why? That Ryouken guy looks pretty funny. Insane, but funny."

"You don't know what lies beneath, Nagayoshi. Zetsu may be a lesser threat, but that Baka is a real danger for you. That's why, mark my words: do not engage him alone. Am I understood?"

Nagayoshi nodded rapidly. Kakuzu never joked when he used that tone and since most of his concerns turned out to be true, Nagayoshi better obeyed before she was sorry. Then she added, "So he's the idiot you were talking about in the restaurant. Now I'm not surprised as on why you called him so."

|-oOo-|

"Pein, they're here." the blue-haired woman said. Across her, sitting snugly in his chair, was Pein, the leader of the whole organization and the village where it resided.

"Bring them in." he replied coolly. With those three little words, his partner obeyed, exiting his office to greet his addressees.

Not holding her hand anymore, Kakuzu and Nagayoshi arrived at Pein's front of the office. In front of the ebony wood door, the blue-haired woman whom was Pein's partner stood. Nagayoshi immediately was stunned by her looks. Her blue hair may be incongruous in human history, but if put together with her flawless visage, they made a woman that can only be described by one word: gorgeous. Her matching blue eye shadow accentuated her whole mature look. Her icy eyes greeted them with a different aura of seriousness. She nodded at Kakuzu, "He's been waiting for you."

"Right. Great…" Kakuzu grimaced beneath his mask. Konan opened the door for them, letting them enter before she followed suit and locked the door for the sake of privacy. "Behave." Kakuzu whispered quickly before they stepped in.

Finally, Nagayoshi met the face of the man so-called Pein. Initially, she expected a quite aged, powerful male figure, but instead she found sitting in a bossy manner a young man with vivid orange hair. He had six piercings on the nose bridge, some on both of his ears and two under his lower lip. Something that was more inimitable was his grey circular eyes. They were hypnotizing; the circles seemed to be endless and sending whoever stared straight at it into an unidentified dimension. She gulped whilst the Leader implanted his gaze upon her.

"Pein-sama," Kakuzu began politely, "I have returned from my long-term assignment."

Pein nodded, not bothering to answer with words. His eyes were still fixated on Nagayoshi even as he said, "So she's the one? Your 'sister'?"

Kakuzu nodded, "Yes, this is her." He nudged the back of Nagayoshi subtly, mutely telling her to present herself.

"Oh, uh…Nagayoshi, sir." the young kunoichi introduced herself awkwardly. Being unaccustomed to polite speeches, she was clueless on what words can be used in such speech. That and his constant staring made her concentration blurred and fluttered away. If he wasn't an important figure, she would ask him to stop staring at her already.

"Nagayoshi…" he repeated his name with his deep voice. The owner of the name shivered slightly; he voiced her name unlike as if she was calling a person's name. It was more like incanting a spell of an ancient language. Nagayoshi encouraged herself to stare back into his eyes only to found herself drowned in an ocean of vertigo and whirlpools of intense mandate.