The next morning and Mikansei was lying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling, but with a smile on her face. Things were different; a thought she repeated to herself consistently as the sun rose, coming in through a crack in her blinds to cut across the darkness of her room and slice a beam of light across her chest. Tanju wasn’t around anymore, and though she would never be disrespectful to the people she worked for, she didn’t have to be as empty and personality-less as before. She could at least letsome of her personality come through.
Maybe that way she wouldn’t have to see that same look in Sasori’s eyes.
A little while later and she pushed herself off of the bed, walking into the bathroom to splash water on her face and get ready for the day ahead. By the time she was finished a small knock came on the door, and pausing as she thought of Sasori the night before, she shook it off and turned to the door. She had already said to herself she wasn’t about to be the robot Tanju had made her to be, and better yet, she didn’t even know if it was him going to be opening the door in the first place. There were eight other people in the base at the moment, and anyone could have been told to wake her up—she could only know by answering it.
Deidara’s face grinned back at her as she did so, giving her a cheerful greeting and telling her they’d probably be receiving their mission soon. Nodding, she greeted him in return, grabbing her things before exiting her room and closing the door behind her. Following Deidara, trying hard to remember the layout of the building, they soon arrived in the kitchen/dining room, most of them sitting at the table or leaning against the walls nearby. Turning, they all greeted her, and remembering what she had told herself, she merely bowed her head slightly in return, glancing around to notice Sasori wasn’t in the room.
Dismissing that fact, knowing she would see him soon enough, she grabbed a small bite to eat, explaining she didn’t need to eat much as her abilities meant she only needed what could sustain her and nothing more. Of course, she avoided fully revealing what her body could do, not wanting to tell that yet, subconsciously stroking her arms—now covered in bandages—in a reminder of what had been started but never finished.
Turning to Deidara, she casually asked where Sasori was, feeling she was a little more relieved than she should be upon hearing he was talking to Leader about their mission, instead of sitting in his room after what she had done last night. When asked why, she simply stated she wanted to thank him for showing her to her room—that he hadn’t given her the chance to do so when he had left. Shrugging at her reply, Deidara had pointed out she could do so when he finally arrived, turning the conversation to other things and removing one worry from off of her chest.
True to Deidara’s word, Sasori appeared in the doorway a few minutes later, picking out Mikansei and Deidara in the room immediately, though his gaze halted on Mikansei a little longer. He hadn’t been certain of what to do upon seeing her again this morning, tense at the idea that she might not have changed from how she had been when she had said goodbye. But his fears were washed away as she merely smirked and nodded in greeting. Though he frowned in confusion at first, he shook it off and accepted it, glad she had returned to her old personality, walking over to discuss the mission with the both of them. Then again, it wasn’t really a mission.
As Mikansei had just joined, Pein had decided to do something simple to allow her to get used to fighting with Deidara and Sasori; get used to co-ordinating teamwork with the both of them. So he had decided: there were a group of ninjas who had been getting too close to the hideout for couple of days now. Though Pein had dismissed it at first, thinking it was just coincidence that they had camped nearby, they merely got closer and closer, and he had now chosen to get rid of them. He didn’t want to hold back, only to find they appeared later on, trying to attack. They wouldn’t get anywhere with it, true, but it was a waste of time, so he had handed the task to Deidara, Mikansei and Sasori.
It had reached the time in the morning where everyone was beginning to receive their missions, and slowly, the room began to empty, partners joining with partners to start off their day. Deidara, grinning at the idea of a big fight, left too, heading back to his room to grab some more detonating clay for the battle, leaving Mikansei alone with Sasori. At first the room remained in silence, neither certain of how to begin the conversation, before Mikansei opted to speak up first, saying softly,
“I’m sorry, Sasori-sama. For last night. I didn’t mean to come across like that. But in the past…things were different for me—I can’t help it sometimes. But I—”
Shaking his head, Sasori quickly cut in,
“Don’t worry, Mikansei. I know things must have been difficult for you; I can tell. It just hadn’t occurred to me. But don’t think you did anything wrong—we don’t know each other well, so neither of us were expecting what happened.”
And it was true; if he had known more about her past, then he would have realised she might have changed if presented with a situation like that. If she herself had known that Sasori would have asked her not to bow—that respect between Akatsuki colleagues wasn’t exactly overly evident in many—then she might have been more prepared. He might have approached the question in a different way. Yes, his curiosity about her past hadn’t faded, wanting to know why she had changed; the full story instead of just ‘it’s because of my past’. Yes, he wanted to know what was so strange about the wounds on her arms—the wounds that were clearly still around with the bandages she now had wrapped round them—but until he got close enough to find that out, he wouldn’t try and force anything more.
Mikansei herself knew he was right. It would take time for her to get used to being in the Akatsuki, just like she had been discussing—albeit with herself—last night. Though also, in the same way, it would take a while for the rest of the Akatsuki, especially Deidara and Sasori, to understand the way she worked. They needed to understand there would be times when she would act a little robotically, if mentioning a strategy, taking everything without protest and never challenging the idea unless told otherwise. Without them knowing about Tanju and her body, it would be harder, and she knew that. But that only made her resolve stronger to come to terms with all the new changes. She wouldn’t let her own faults compromise this job—and as her eyes flicked up to Sasori once again—or the connections to the people around her.
Returning to the situation at hand and remembering Sasori’s words, Mikansei smirked in thanks, nodding softly in accompaniment. Though she said nothing more in reply as Deidara returned to the room, stating they could head off on the mission now, turning and leaving as quickly as he had entered. Rolling his eyes, Sasori followed, Mikansei standing to do the same, checking she had all her weapons with her and she was ready to go. She only paused as Sasori reached the door, glancing behind him with a smirk to say quietly,
“Maybe if we actually did get to know each other, we’ll be more prepared next time, hmm?”
Moving her gaze to face Sasori, she narrowed her eyes at his word as he looked back for one moment longer, eventually turning and heading for the exit, leaving Mikansei wondering how exactly to react to that. Frowning, she placed a gentle hand on her stomach, feeling strange but not knowing what it was. Her body was designed to avoid illness and disease; poisons were obviously ineffective against her, so why was she feeling this way? It wasn’t…bad, exactly, but unusual. Passing onto happy, even. Her face was starting to feel hot, too. Either way, the main concern was:
Why couldn’t she think of anything else but Sasori?
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