For a moment there was silence as Imi fell in line with the rest of them, no one quite sure what to say now that she had agreed to help. After all, their feelings were mixed—though they believed her, at the same time they knew they should be suspicious. Then again, if Imi had wanted to reduce that suspicion, she wouldn’t have agreed so readily. She would have done whatever she could to make it seem as if she was simply travelling through, not go along with everything immediately. But still…they all knew she was different. Imi, in turn, could sense just how they were feeling towards her, and ultimately said nothing, giving them the time to accept all that had happened. She noted they almost surrounded her on all sides, but didn’t do anything about it. They might have asked for her help, but she wasn’t entirely trustworthy to them.
But the more they walked, the more relaxed they became, seeing how calm and almost tranquil Imi was. And the moment she noticed it, Imi had to speak up. It was the reason she had called out to them and offered to help, and, regardless of how aloof and distant her attitude may be, even Imi couldn’t wait. She knew Itachi was around, and she had to say something. So as they continued on towards the hideout, Imi questioned nonchalantly,
“How is Itachi?”
Instantly everyone reacted, throwing surprised glances in her direction. Imi never took her gaze off the path ahead, waiting for their response, and the others could tell she was genuine with her question. This wasn’t a case of simply hearing about him and wanting to know more—a bit of curiosity on her part; this was because she really did know him…and they were more than happy to oblige. The Akatsuki knew the basics about Itachi's past, but considering how notorious he had become with his ‘antics’, that wasn’t exactly a big deal. But apart from them, nobody knew anything about him—even Kisame only knew a few things; things that had taken time to either coax from Itachi or pick up on as he watched the way Itachi worked. The idea of someone appearing from Itachi's past had been zero—and yet here Imi was. And there was no way anyone was passing up this chance, prompting Deidara to question bluntly,
“You—you know him, un?”
“Yes—I used to be a Konoha ninja,” she replied in much the same manner, glancing over to him and back again. Hidan took this into account, shrugging as he elaborated,
“He’s fine. Doesn’t exactly fucking share much, but…yeah.”
Imi smirked slightly, hearing how Hidan described him, recalling her memories of how things had been in Konoha and resisting the urge to shake her head. Instead she kept her eyes on the path ahead of her and stated plainly,
“He hasn’t changed.”
Now the topic was on Itachi, however, Imi was beginning to sense things through the others as their minds passed over what they knew of him. She analysed Deidara's apparent grudge against Itachi, smirking inwardly at the thought, but noted that they didn’t know him well—but that was only to be expected. After all Itachi had done and how he had ended up in the Akatsuki, he wasn’t exactly going to let himself get comfortable—he didn’t even want to be there. He simply did what was necessary, doing more listening than he did talking. Not that Itachi had ever been a particularly talkative person to begin with.
It was good to learn more, though. Imi had kept an eye on him, using her abilities where she could to sense if he was doing okay. But there was only so much she could find out. She found out all the information she needed on her travels because she knew where to go and who to look for. Itachi, on the other hand, travelled all over and Imi didn’t know his location for the most part. All she could do was stay alert and keep her eyes and ears open in case she caught a bit of information she knew. Now, however, it was another matter. Imi was around people who knew and—sometimes—worked with him. Though she didn’t find out a huge amount, she didn’t need to.
A little bit longer and she’d be seeing him face to face after all this time.
Kakuzu waited a few minutes longer, but eventually he asked a few questions and reminded Imi that even he didn’t fully know if she would be helping the Akatsuki out. He wasn’t the leader, when it came down to it, and only he would be passing judgement as to whether Imi could help out or not. But Imi shook it off. She would deal with leader when she met him—she hadn’t lied; she could help them out, and she wasn’t trying to betray them or lead them astray. It was just that—to be honest—Itachi was what she was concentrating on the most for now. She could handle herself; she wouldn’t have felt as if meeting the Akatsuki was something that would change her life if things were just going to go wrong, anyway.
When they were getting closer to the hideout, Imi knowing it as well; being able to sense several presences on the very edge of her radar, Kakuzu called a halt to their journey. Turning to the others, he glanced from Imi to them and back, and gathering what it was he was thinking about, she gave him his answer right away, pointing out,
“There won’t be any point blindfolding me from here—I can sense my location regardless of sight. So knocking me out won’t work either; I could figure it out the moment I woke up.”
Unsure whether to be irritated at how Imi already knew what he was thinking or merely be a little unnerved, Kakuzu focused instead on her answer, crossing his arms before shooting back testily,
“Then what do you propose we do?”
“There’s nothing you can do,” Imi immediately countered—but not, Kakuzu noted, in a patronizing way, causing him to remain calm as she went on, “You’re going to be keeping an eye on me, anyway; even if I was going to try and slip away to do something, you wouldn’t give me the chance.”
Kakuzu paused as he contemplated that fact, but eventually gave in: Imi was right, after all. Though there was nothing he could do to stop her from knowing the location of the hideout, he sure as hell could keep a very close eye on her. Not that he thought she was about to do something, but the idea was there, and as such, he nodded in acceptance and everyone once again headed onwards, albeit surprised at how Kakuzu had simply accepted Imi’s suggestion without any sign of his temper in the slightest.
By the time they reached the hideout, Imi was excited—but prepared. She could sense Itachi's presence clearly, and she was ready to see him again. Not that it would happen straight away; no doubt they would take her to see Pein first. That was the most important thing here, and Imi was okay with the wait. There was a lot to talk about, and a lot to catch up on—that would take time in itself. But now that she was here…knowing she could meet up with him again…
It was the only thing that mattered.
