The Secrets We Keep *COMPLETE* (Sasori x OC? / Itachi x OC?)

Assassination Pt. 2

Maeme discards the book as she gets to her feet. A man with long white hair and startlingly deep blue eyes drops from a tree limb in front of her, a smirk on his face and three more senbon sticking out from between his fingers. She crosses her arms over her chest and waits with a curious impatience for him to do something. Killing him too early would make her bored again.

"I'm sorry to drop in unannounced, I just couldn't resist." His voice comes out deep and smooth as he offers her a smile.

"You ruined my book. Now, what the hell do you want?" She bites back.

"Well, you see, I got a bit bored waiting for your Akatsuki friends, so I thought I'd pick you off first. I imagine there must be a reward for your head somewhere."

"If you wanted to kill me, you wouldn't have tried using senbon and wouldn't have revealed yourself if you could help it."

The man steps closer to her and despite her urge to react, Maeme keeps her feet firmly planted on the tree branch as he stops a mere breath away.

"True, unless I prefer to play with my prey before I kill them."

His hand reaches up to brush a strand of hair away from her eyes. Maeme latches onto his wrist, twisting until a loud crack sounds. She ducks his incoming punch and the needles threaded through his knuckles and kicks him off the tree. The senbon sail through the air toward her, making her abandon her perch in favor of the ground below. The man launches himself at her once her feet touch the ground, but with a quick sweeping motion of her arm, the ground around her rises to block his advance. Her eyes widen as the wall suddenly turns to water and his sandal slams into her chest, sending her body skittering backward. Maeme stops herself before hitting a tree and gets to her feet, cursing internally. Her thoughts move to the fights she'd had with Kisame but most all of her jutsu were countered by his and vice versa. The only true hope she has of winning against him is the difference in strength.

The man studies her, his eyes alight with curiosity as he places the last senbon behind his ear like a pencil. His hand press together as they rush through hand signs, so she rushes toward him in hopes of stopping him from completing his attack. She flips forward at the last second and kicks one leg toward his hands and the other to his face. He blocks the blow to his hands and latches onto her ankle but is knocked backward by his other foot. Maeme falls with him, cursing as she scrambles to regain her footing. She gets to her feet faster and slams her hands down, spikes of dirt rising up in front of her. She hears him scream, the destruction hidden behind the mist thickening around them. A small smile crosses her face at the unconfirmed victory, but it is short lived as his voice sounds from over her shoulder.

"I'm not so easy to kill, now am I?"

Her eyes widen as the mist covers her vision, making her scarcely able to see her hand stretched out in front of her. Her hands hurry through the signs to create an earth dome around herself, but it crumbles immediately from the moisture. She ducks the kunai slicing toward her skull but a foot to her back knocks her to the ground. Maeme rolls over and catches the foot aiming to crush her skull and swiftly twists it. He disappears from her line of sight as a string of curses echoes through the clearing.

"I'm going to kill you, you bitch!"

Maeme slowly gets to her feet and tries to use the sound of his breathing to locate him through the grey haze. The reality of the situation weighs heavily in her mind as she slowly spins in place. Panic starts to set in, her thoughts frantically trying to come up with a plan to take him down. She'd hardly had to deal with water users face to face, especially one this strong. Her strong suit had always been her Earth jutsu, since it worked well against most other chakra natures. Itachi had been helping improve her work with weaponry but she currently lacked the supplies needed to be useful. She silently pleads with whatever higher power willing to listen to her that she would train harder and not murder Orochimaru if she survived this situation. All she can do is keep him on his toes or tire him out until they return. She cries out as a kunai slices the back of her heel, sending her to her knees. His presence disappears completely, leading Maeme to curse repeatedly while pulling out a kunai. Her eyes widen as his voice sounds in front of her, calling out a jutsu to paralyze her. As her body stiffens despite trying to dispel it, her eyes meet his through the haze. He grins wickedly at her before summoning a group of water clones to surround her.

"Don't worry, this will only hurt a bit." He croons as he disappears from sight.

With a calming exhale, she closes her eyes as the slight whistle of several dozen senbon sailing through the air reaches her ears.

"I'm sorry Granny Chiyo." She whispers, accepting her fate.

Her eyes open when the jutsu releases her and the needles never reached their target. Sasori is standing in front of her, the needles sticking out of his recently acquired puppet body. She shakily gets to her feet and opens her mouth to apologize to Sasori, but within two seconds the man's body turns into slivers and blood showers down over the three of them. Maeme wipes the blood from her eyes and bites her lip before turning away from Sasori's inquisitive gaze. Maeme grabs the book and her pack from the ground now that the fog has faded and heads away from the scene in the direction of the docks. The boat pulls away from the dock and a few minutes later Orochimaru's chuckles can be heard along with his muttering of her incompetence. She clenches her fists on her lap and ignores him until her attention moves to a small snake swimming a few feet away from the boat.

"Oh look, I found one of your kids. It looks just like you." She huffs as she starts to tend to her injuries.

Orochimaru glares at her while she can hear the boat owner chuckle under his breath.