A Life with the Akatsuki [ABANDONED]

The Misadventures of Nagareboshi: Chapter Twelve

"It was my new alarm clock's idea."

XChapter 12XX Statosphere X

The shivering starts again the moment the shower room door closes behind me, cutting off the warmth of the steam. It was pleasant enough inside, but my hair is still wet and it is dripping down the back of my shirt, collecting the cold from the air and spreading it across my back. However, it isn't a very prominent shiver and I only stop by my room to toss the wet clothes in the corner to figure out later.

While I am tempted to grab a blanket off my bed, I might get in trouble and instead leave the sheets where they are. To avoid giving in to temptation, I head downstairs to the dining room. I have about five minutes before everyone else should get there, seeing as they are currently showering, but if I stick around, I might fall back asleep and either miss breakfast, or get in trouble for having to have someone come get me.

If this was a normal situation and my kidnappers wanted me to play nice, I would do the exact opposite. But when your kidnappers are dangerous S-rank criminals wanted for all different types of crimes, it is best to keep from getting on their bad side. Now, this might be just an anime, but until I figure out if dying here means dying for good, I would rather not make anyone angry.

Upon entering the dining room, I realize I won't be alone for those five minutes, which just might be a good thing. When I'm alone, I tend to think a lot and frying my brain doesn't seem like a good way to start the morning. Pein doesn't so much as glance at me when I enter the room, but it's not like he doesn't know I'm here. Yukiko has a more obvious response to my presence and whips her head around to face me, eyeing me with a mix of interest and concern, though what they mean is unknown.

As for Tobi, his reaction was a little more like his usual, childish self. I stop just inside the room, glaring at him. He continued to act oblivious until Yukiko began to flat out ignore him to stare at me. Curious, he turned and spots me, "Nage-chan!"

He jumps out of his chair and runs into me, tackling me to the ground. My head would have hit the floor because I was too shocked to tense up, but one of his hands wraps around the back of my head as we fall, shielding me from any real damage.

To anyone watching, it would have looked like he was just hugging me in a very odd way, which is the exact definition of 'Tobi', but, to me, that move was very deliberate. Even though he dropped me in an icy pool - something I will never let go - he seems to care a lot about me accidentally hitting me head on the floor. If he's going to play the jerk, he should at least keep the act up.

Someone chuckles from the doorway and we both look up. Or, rather, he looks up and I have to bend my neck awkwardly. Kisame and Kakuzu stands in the doorway with Hidan standing behind them with a look of flat-out annoyance. My guess is that Kisame chuckled, since he looks amused and Kakuzu doesn't seem to be the type. And it's obviously not the pissed off Hidan behind them.

"Get off her, you little fuck," Hidan all but growls as she shoves past his partner, who says something too low for me to hear, but judging from Hidan's sneer, Kakuzu threatened him.

Grabbing Tobi by the collar, Hidan yanks him off me before harshly throwing him into a wall. Ignoring Tobi's whining, he turns back to me, the sneer and anger gone, leaving a mask of indifference. When he doesn't make a move to help me up, nor say anything, I push myself to my feet so that I am no longer in the least advantageous position.

Hidan looks like he has something to say, but his mouth remains shut so I move around him and take a seat at the table, not sure what else to do. It seems that my assumption of a seating arrangement rang true, seeing as Hidan, Kakuzu, and Kisame return to the same seats as they have since I came here. I couldn't be sure until now, as I wasn't really paying all that much attention. I grow increasing uncomfortable now that I am stuck between Tobi - after he stopped whining - and Kakuzu, both of whom have unsettled me quite a lot.