Dream Skirmish

Chapter 16 (Finale)

"How did you find me?" Kabuto asks with a bitter tone. "Actually, the better question is why? Didn't you learn from our last encounter?"
He lets out a mocking chuckle, adjusting his glasses as a sinister smirk spreads across his lips. Unimpressed, the young girl simply stares at him with no emotion present in her eyes. He looks at her, his gaze squinting ever so slightly as if he was trying to read the fine print of her soul.
'Why can't I read this woman? The last intel we have on her is so different from what I'm looking at... she's an Uzumaki, clumsy, bubbly and not exactly good at hiding things. A mediocre ninja at best with nothing noteworthy about her... yet the last time we met she nearly bested me and now she managed to track me down on her own and seems like a hollow shell... perhaps we misjudged her? No... no, my intel was perfect, I'd never have made a mistake like this... so what is going on?!'
Blacky's demeanor never falters as she simply stands there, a thousand thoughts and memories racing through her mind. She is well aware that there is no going back, she burned the bridges to her past the same moment she left the tea house with her best friend. Killing Kabuto will complete her mission of revenge, but what will she do after? Roam the lands and kill bad guys? Become a bad guy herself? A wanted criminal, loved by few and hunted by all. There is also the prospect of the Akatsuki; a member recently approached her. It is how she found her target so easily. Apparently the master criminals want Kabuto and Orochimaru dead as well and seem to think she is powerful enough to complete that task. Or perhaps they are testing her? A question that often passes through her mind... Regardless of what the future holds, she is determined to see this through to the end, she has sacrificed too much and won't let it all be in vain.
"Well? Are you just going to stand there trembling in your boots or are you actually going to do something?" The white haired ninja provokes with a mocking grin.
Her eyes briefly find the ground before returning to his visage. 'I can see the uncertainty in his eyes... I could say that, maybe a witty one liner, but he's not worth the breath I'd waste...'
"Come on we both know you're not the silent type, it's not your strong suit." He looked at her, desperate for a verbal or physical reply. "Right, you're just annoying me now. I won't make the mistake of letting you live again, genin."
"Weird..." she finally broke her silence, her expression remaining vacant. "I was thinking the same thing..."
Without a moment going to waste, Kabuto charges at her first, all too familiar with her vanishing into thin air before his eyes. With their first moves said and done their fight to the death will leave only one victor this time.

Hell slowly opens her eyes with a heavy groan, her hand finding her temple as the headache begins to push through her daze. She can hear a group of people talking in the next room, unfamiliar voices in this foreign place. She slowly sits up, instantly regretting it as a sharp pain shoots through her abdomen. She lets out a quiet yelp, the sounds near by simultaneously coming to an erupt stop. The door near her opens and a group of shrouded figures move closer, looking over her.
"Careful when you move." One of them spoke. "We don't want your wound to open up."
"Mhmm, we can't have you being in pain." Another spoke whom Hell recognized to be Itachi.
"Right... the operation..." she stated out of breath, the fog in her mind slowly lifting. "Was it a success at least?"
"Yes." Another answered bluntly in a deep, yet youthful voice. "My operations never fail."
"Tsk, yeah, that's because you're oh so perfect, Sasori, un."
The one she learned is named Sasori shot the other a poisonous glare before his eyes found her again. "I am perfect, no need to be jealous just because your art is mediocre."
"Why you little-"
"Not in front of our guest." Itachi said in a soft voice, though an authoritarian tone laid heavy in his words. They both let out a childish huff, scowling at one another before the Uchiha continued, "As Sasori said the operation was a success, not a trace of Orochimaru remains," He gazes at her contently, "and I'm going to be an uncle."
"A relief for everyone." A tall man states, his sharp teeth shining through what seems like a permanent grin in a perfect contract to his gray-blue skin.
"We'll let you rest now. If you need something just yell, someone will hear you."
"Thank you..." the young girl breaths out a sigh of joy and relief.
She watches as the robed figures leave the room, slowly laying her weakened body down to rest. She stares up at the ceiling, her hands slowly running up and down her belly with a faint smile. Hell closes her eyes as a wave of pleasant feelings towards the child wash over her and lull her into the closest thing to sleeping a ghost can experience.