𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 | gaara/sasuke uchiha

Chapter Twenty - Fresh Meat

"Oh [Naaaaaaaame]. It's Saturday. And you know what that means, right?" I groan as Gaara and I sit at lunch later on, having just finished sorting out my shopping. I wanted to go and sort out Gaara's outfit, but he full on rejected my pleas and said he wanted to leave after we finish eating. Ugh, I swear, I preferred feminine Gaara from the store than this Gaara. I'm talking to Deidara on the phone, who had the nerve to call me on my break.

"No?" I say, stuffing my mouth with food to avoid talking. Gaara raises an eyebrow at me, causing me to wave his disagreeing gaze away. The blondie chuckles.

"We have a meeting tonight, remember?" he points out, making me groan even louder. Shit. I'd totally forgotten about that, ugh. The stupid assignments I had to do were bad enough, but the meetings themselves were a complete bore. I'd only been to one, and that was when I'd been introduced to the rest of the crew. "Six o'clock, see you then."

"But-" Before I can argue, Deidara snickers and hangs up on me, leaving me groaning even more. Gaara rolls his eyes, snapping, "People are starting to stare, idiot!" and reaches out across the table to poke me in the cheek. I grimace at him and swallow, eyes beginning to water from the sheer amount that went down.

"Let me guess. Akatsuki." I laugh nervously and wave my hands in Gaara's disapproving face.

"Actually, Deidara, but close enough," I grin, earning me a darker scowl.

"[Name], I really don't understand why you hang out with such losers," he finally sighs. I shrug.

"It's fun."

"Sure."

***

"Ah, she came back! How's life, newest member? It's good to see you again!"

"I'd rather we just eat her." I giggle at Zetsu's odd greeting as I step into Hidan's garage later that evening, greeted by several other members of my new gang. Deidara emerges from the couch, beaming widely with his arms outstretched.

"Ah, [Name], you-" I faltered in my step as Deidara yelped and stepped aside, making room for the person behind him to walk forward.

"Well, well, well, my dearest [Name]. I never thought I'd see you here." My heart stops beating for a second as my eyes meet with Itachi's harsh, ebony ones, which seem to be diving into the very depths of my mind and picking away at my thoughts. I have to shake myself out of it and think angrily, No. He's not relevant to me anymore. I smile politely at Itachi, bowing a little. He remains stoic.

"Anything is possible," I say as sweetly as possible, telling myself that I can't hate Itachi just for being Sasuke's brother. It's not his fault he was cursed to be of the same flesh and blood as that loser. Itachi smiles just a little, and nods in return.

"Anything?" he queries, making me sweatdrop. I point a finger in his face, losing my cool facade.

"Look, if you're here on Sasuke's behalf-"

"Oh no, quite the contrary, dear [Name]," cuts off Itachi, making me raise an eyebrow in suspicion. "I'm a member of the Akatsuki, just like you. Sasuke bears no weight in this shared sanctuary of ours, so you needn't worry, my dear." I sweatdrop even more. Sanctuary? Why does he talk like he's a professor? And why does he keep calling me dear?!

"Uh...huh?" He tilts his head to the side with a small smile, and Pain begins to round up the others behind us.

"Alright, alright, come in, you lot!" Itachi and I split ways, and once we're all settled, Pain begins to speak.

"Okay, so it looks like Orochimaru's gotten wind of our, ah, latest recruit," he says. I feel all eyes settle on me, and grimace. "Or in his eyes, fresh meat. He says he wants to meet her, personally, to welcome her into the fold. I don't know why the hell he'd want to do that, seeing as he's an ex-member, but I have a feeling it's not necessarily to greet her with a welcome basket. Thoughts?"

"He just wants to try and snare her to join his group," says Konan calmly, earning eyerolls of agreement from Deidara and Kisame.

"Well he can fuck off, because [Name]'s fucking ours!" spits Hidan, making me roll my eyes.

"I don't fucking belong to you-"

"Yeah, well, you know what I-"

"SHUT UP! God, I swear you lot are too much to handle sometimes" cries Pain, covering his ears. "Christ! [Name], what are your thoughts?" I shrug nonchalantly.

"When does he want to meet?" A series of collective groans.

"Next Saturday, midnight," says Pain. I laugh, and shake my head while wagging a finger in the air.

"Oh, no no no, that won't do," I say. "I have a ball next Saturday, and I am not skipping out of that just to say hi and shake hands with some crazy loot."

"Crazy loot?"

"Aww, [Name]'s going to a ball! Who's your date, huh?!" exclaims Kisame, totally uncharacteristically.

"- Orochimaru's gonna be offendedddddddd," chimes Tobi. "What if he organises a shoot out or something?"

I blink in confusion. "What?" The rest of them begin muttering in agreement, and I'm just sitting here, confused and unsure of what they're talking about. Pain leans forward, hands clasped together.

"Look, [Name], can it please just be a brief meeting? Please? You can go back to your ball afterwards; it'll be really quick, I promise." I groan and roll my eyes.

"Okay, whatever," I scowl, crossing my arms. Pain nods, and turns to the others.

"We're going to need others to guard the perimeter just in case he pulls anything, and we'll need a person or two to get in to the actual building-" I raise my hand to speak.

"Actually, Pain-" I'm cut off once more, this time by Itachi.

"Leave it all to me," he says with an air of finality. Deidara scowls, and gets to his feet.

"Woah, there. [Name]'s our friend, Hidan and I are going," he says. Itachi looks at him, and it takes a while for him to finally respond.

"Okay."