Raising an eyebrow in surprise, Deidara burst out,
"Really? Just like that, un?"
Smirking slightly at that, Mikansei looked down, shrugging, before responding,
"I don't really have anywhere else to go. Don't really have anything else to lose."
Deidara stepped up next to Sasori as Mikansei walked forward herself to stand in front of them, questioning softly as to what their names were with a nod of her head. Sasori smirked at the placidness of her features, before answering quietly,
"I'm Sasori. This is Deidara. We're from the Akatsuki."
Frowning, trying to remember why that name seemed familiar, Mikansei shook it off a moment later to bow to both of them. Pointing out quickly there was no need to bow, Sasori gestured the direction in which they were headed and walked off, Mikansei following on close behind. Narrowing his eyes at Sasori's actions towards her, Deidara dismissed it momentarily to catch up with them both with a small smile, guessing Sasori had a bigger interest in her than he had first thought he had to begin with.
As they walked, Sasori noted Mikansei always walked a couple of steps behind them both, appearing at his side instantly when he offered to tell her about the Akatsuki. Though he frowned slightly at that fact, wondering what exactly she had been through--whether Tanju had had a bigger influence on her than he had suspected--in order for her to be so fulfilling with someone's requests. With her abilities, it wasn't like she needed to. But as he told her the basics of the organization, it seemed to Sasori as if that when she considered someone in a higher position than her; she would comply with whatever they asked.
Mikansei was beginning to recollect where she knew the name Akatsuki from--some of the things Tanju had said, or asked her to do, had been to do with their organization. She hadn't known who they truly were to begin with or how powerful they really were, but the more she heard about how their group worked, the more she realised how much Tanju had wanted to affect their group. Why, she hadn't known, but he had wanted power over a lot of things--considering how strong all the shinobi in the Akatsuki were, it was no surprise he had tried to go after them.
Suddenly another stab of pain fizzled through Mikansei's arms, and gritting her teeth, she rubbed them slowly, trying to lessen the ache. Glancing down at her arms, seeing how it was still hurting her now, Sasori felt strangely concerned about her welfare, and gently calling her name, he nodded down at her arms and questioned softly,
"What's the matter with your arms?"
Opening her mouth to explain the situation with her body, Mikansei paused abruptly as she stared back into Sasori's eyes. He was an incredibly powerful ninja, in an incredibly powerful group, and probably didn't have any weaknesses in his life. But she had allowed Tamju to do all this to her for the majority of her life, and he continued to hurt her even though he was dead. Compared to Sasori, she was weak, and she couldn't bring herself to reveal that weakness, instead shaking it off to say simply,
"Just injuries from when I fought Tanju, that's all."
Narrowing his eyes at her answer, knowing there was more to it than that, Sasori let it be for the moment. He barely knew here, and pushing her for details on something she clearly didn't want to talk about wasn't something he would attempt to do right now. Maybe if he got to know her better, then she would reveal it, but for now, he didn't say anything more about it. The only thing he was sure of was that it was more about her own view of herself than it was of viewing other people.
Mikansei was an amazing fighter, and Sasori knew that for sure. But there was something almost...vulnerable about her; something fragile that made her a lot more cautious in life than she needed to be. She had only agreed to come willingly with them once he had mentioned she would get a job, a place to stay and an income from it, making Sasori wonder whether she was just wandering through, looking for somewhere to call a home; to find friends, having seen a form of kindness in them. With her age, it wasn't so hard to imagine that that was what she wanted.
Glancing down, Sasori saw the unusual joints on her body once again, and thinking about his own body, couldn't help but smirk with the idea that as he was a puppet, she was almost like a doll. Looking back up into her eyes to see her looking down at him with a small smile, her big blue eyes curious and sweet, he knew without a doubt that she had to be the most beautiful girl he'd even seen in his life. True, she didn't look more than fifteen at the most, but there was something in her eyes that showed an experience of someone double her age. A hidden pain was just visible in her eyes, but she pushed it away, focusing on what was in front of her and what other people told her to do.
Maybe she had known Tanju more than he thought...
"Why did you kill Tanju?" Deidara burst out a moment later, as if he had known what Sasori was thinking.
Breaking her gaze from Sasori's--to his irritation--she looked over at Deidara, unsure how to answer his question, once again thinking over the cuts on her arms. Instead, she settled on a very basic truth, and answered softly,
"I--I worked for him for a while, and then he started treating me really badly, so...I killed him."
She was being honest--in a sense--but there was a lot more to it than those few words stated. Glancing from Deidara to Sasori, Mikansei knew he knew it too, but moving her gaze onwards to what was in front of her, she didn't say anymore. She couldn't--not only would they not understand, but they would think she was weak, and as they had offered her a place in their organization, exposing that would ruin everything. She needed this.
It was the only way to find some form of consistency.
To find purpose.
But as evening drew in, that part of the dialogue had been forgotten, having been replaced by simple conversation as the hideout finally arrived on the horizon. Now Deidara began to describe what Pein looked like, and what his personality was like in general. Nodding along with this information, Mikansei took all of it in, Sasori watching and smirking in the meantime. He didn't doubt she would show as much respect as humanely possible to Pein when she met him, bowing with every sentence that he said to her or she said to him.
It would have been a lie to say she wasn't slightly nervous, but none of that emotion showed on her face as they entered the hideout and walked through to Pein's room. Whatever happened now, she couldn't change it. All she could do was try and convince Pein to let her be one of the Akatsuki. Tanju had been her owner and master, and after losing him, she needed another. It was how her life had always been, and hopefully, with the Akatsuki, it would follow in much the same way.
But as she looked over at Sasori as he knocked on the door; she knew it would be different.
This time...things would be better.
YOU ARE READING
