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

Learning Lessons

Maeme finds herself reading a book while walking behind Sasori and Gin. She didn't know exactly what the pair was assigned to do, but she definitely knew that she couldn't handle Gin talking nonstop. To her dismay, the blond falls back to match her stride and starts to apologize for her injury. She waves it off in hopes that he will leave her be, but instead he starts to ask about her personal life.

"So, where did you come from before the Akatsuki?"

"I don't believe that's any of your concern, though I'm technically not a member anyway." She tells him, making it a point to turn the page loudly.

"Then why are you here?"

"To do my job, now get out of my way."

Maeme shoves the book into his arms before rushing up to block the katana swinging toward Sasori's head. The metal clashes loudly with the kunai in her hand and her body is sent skittering backward across the ground from the impact. She quickly gets to her feet, her focus centered on the masked ninja in front of her, distracted from his original target. Maeme's hands run through a series of hand signs, sending shards of the cracking earth into the air. She watches gleefully as they turn into hundreds of daggers racing toward the enemy. The daggers rip through the man, blood spraying the forest around them before his body slumps to the ground then turns into logs. Her eyes widen as the katana tears through her shoulder from behind, the tip emerging through her body. A string of curses pours from her mouth, directed toward herself for not paying attention to her surroundings. She bites back a scream as he twists the blade before tearing it back out. Ignoring the pain, Maeme turns and tries to punch him. He dodges with ease and brings his knee up to her chest, knocking her back a few feet.

"Should we help her?" She hears Gin ask nearby as she coughs up blood.

"No," is Sasori's gruff reply. "She's learning a lesson."

Maeme runs a hand across her mouth, staining her skin red, before stomping her foot, the ground ahead of her erupting into giant spikes. She runs up onto one while drawing kunai with exploding tags attached. As the man avoids the spikes, she tosses the kunai down around him before setting off the explosives. The smoke clears, revealing an empty area as she drops low from her perch on the tallest spike to avoid the sword slicing through the air above her. She wraps one hand around the tip of the spike and plants her feet firmly on his chest, knocking him off balance. As he starts to fall she straightens and latches onto his falling form. They fall together toward a shorter spike, fighting for dominance the whole way. Maeme elbows him in the throat to break his concentration and stuffs an exploding tag in his mouth while he gasps for air. She rolls off of him, landing on her back a few feet from the spikes as she detonates the tag in his mouth. Blood rains down over her, soaking her blonde locks as she tries to catch her breath.

A few minutes pass before Maeme sits upright and the pain of her injuries sets in. She had broken her wrist blocking his katana in his first attack, and along with her various smaller injuries, she had the profusely bleeding stab wound in her shoulder. With a small sigh, she pulls her bag from her back and pulls out bandages, a needle and thread, a bottle of water, a splint, and a healing salve Konan had given her yesterday. She takes off her jacket and shirt, leaving her torso covered by a strapless bralette, and rinses her shoulder as well as she can. Ignoring the impatience pouring off of Sasori who is leaning against a tree nearby she stitches the exit wound closed and applies a small amount of salve to it.

"Here, let me stitch the back for you."

She looks up at Gin whose eyes are looking everywhere but at her.

"Oh, uh, thank you." She mutters, offering up the needle and thread.

He settles on the ground behind her, repeatedly apologizing for any pain he might cause until she reminds him that she'd just had a sword run through her. As he stitches her up, she grits her teeth and sets her wrist before splinting and wrapping it. Everything else can heal on its own. Gin takes the salve from the bag and gently rubs it over her stitches before helping to wrap it. Maeme packs away her equipment and stashes the ruined shirt inside her back before putting the jacket back on.

"Let's go." She mumbles, gesturing for Sasori to begin walking again.

She falls in line behind him as Gin walks beside her.

"I had no idea you had abilities like that. It was awesome watching you fight!"

"I was simply doing my job."

"You weren't as fast as you should have been. You aren't doing your job so well, are you?" Sasori's comment drifts back to her.

"I was fast enough to still protect you, wasn't I? I could've simply let you get hurt since you weren't going to react yourself."

"Perhaps you've been preoccupied with things beyond your training."

She clenches her jaw, knowing it's a jab about her spending time with Itachi.

"Oh bite me you crotchety old puppet man." She huffs under her breath, causing Gin to laugh.

"You two fight like a married couple."

"We are not together."

Gin drifts away from Maeme to walk with Sasori again, leaving her to open her book to read. Maeme looks up a few moments later to survey the area and finds Gin talking to Sasori, his words just escaping her ears. Her eyes widen as Sasori, from inside his puppet Hiruko, uses the tail to slice Gin in half. She shakes her head and sighs, knowing that soon she would be introduced to yet another partner. As she passes his corpse, she removes any revealing items before setting his body ablaze.

"He didn't last very long." She comments lightly, falling into step with Hiruko.

"He proved to be useless." Sasori replies.

"Will you be able to complete your mission alone?"

"Yes."