Chapter 3

I just look at the woman for a while. I don't even know myself if she looks at me stupid now, or she's the stupid herself. Finally, after a few minutes of awkward listening, I take the makeup bag out of my hand and start applying makeup. Konan is still watching, waiting for me to start what I have to say and flood her with information. I don't even regret not being able to provide anything worthwhile.

"Doesn't the great Akatsuki even know that Sasuke Uchiha hasn't been in Konoha in years?" I look at her with a cheeky smile after I pack the makeup back in my bag. "And you call yourself dangerous?" - I laugh. "Come on, you wouldn't even notice if Sasuke stepped in the door one day and killed you!" "I'm a few steps closer to Konan, who finds my response surprised." "If Sasuke is so important to you, why didn't you keep track of his life?"

"Of course we know Sasuke is with Orochimaru," she says calmly. "However, we know that you two have always been important to each other. We hoped you would be able to provide information on the current phase of your training as well as your plans" she continues as she hands over an Akatsuki cloak. I look at the material I already have in my hand for a while, then throw it on the bed with noble simplicity and set off.

"When he left Konoha, I lost all contact with him," I shrugged. I hear the girl start after me, I let her touch me as she knows the walking here better. I wasn't even outside the room. "But anyway, if I knew something, I wouldn't tell you," I look at her meaningfully.

We go down a spiral staircase and I immediately find myself facing the whole Akatsuki.

"How do you feel?" comes the first question from Deidara, addressed to me. I look at the blonde, I raise my eyebrows.

"I've been better," I finally reply when I realize the distance and the jerk style are completely unnecessary, because I have to be under the same roof with these people now. Then it's better to make friends with them, because who knows, they might end up liking me more than Itachi in the end, and that only benefits me.

My gaze catches on an unprecedented girl sitting quietly on the couch watching the events. I tilted my head to the side.

"I don't think we've met yet," she says as she gets up and walks in front of me. "I'm Nichi," I offer, which I accept.

"Mea," I introduce myself. I've never liked to be called Meake, I've always used my name abbreviated, and I won't change that in Akatsuki either.

"Yeah I know. I've heard of you. You're Itachi's girlfriend" she smiles kindly at me, but I frown for the last half of the sentence.

"No, I'm not Uchiha's girlfriend. I would never go with a killer" I declare, while my gaze accidentally connects to that. As always, nothing can be read from his face right now.

"Yeah, that's why the air is sparkling between you," a gray-haired, kneaded man laughs. I think his name is Hidan.

"I don't really like you," I look at the figure leaning on the three-pronged mower.

"No one," laughs the girl who introduces herself as Nichi.

"Only you," Hidan hugs her shoulder. Ahaaa, so they're a couple.

"Don't live your sex life here," murmured the fishman, whom I think the Konan introduced last night as Itachi's teammate, I remember Kisame's name.

"We didn't do anything," Nichi blinks as Kisame knocks her down.

"Not relevant. Just do not and you're done" close the topic with the shark.

"It's good to have you, because there's an important thing I need to talk to the whole team about" Pein says, and everyone looks up. "I want to talk to you about the division of your upcoming mission team. This will be Meake's first" he looks at me before I make any kind contact with him.

"Mea," I fix it, and he nods.

"So you have to spy on two smaller villages, which will be divided into groups of four. Not the traditional couples will be selected, as each member of the organization will have a little teamwork practice, and our two newcomers" look at me and Nichi "have a lot to learn" will finish the sentence before more people look at who can have a team.

"We've basically split the troops together," Konan takes the word, and Pein nods. "According to who can't work with whom the most."

I don't even need more text to know I went to the worst. Although I don't know Akatsuki members yet in this regard, I know two things. One is that teamwork is not my strength as I don't need it for Sutagan. The other thing is that even though we used to be a good couple, today I could work with Itachi the least.

Everything is probably reflected in my eyes, for I can feel the gaze of Pein, Konan, Itachi and Deidara.

"The first team will be Kisame, Hidan, Zetsu and Sasori," Pein says, looking at the four people. I have a feeling that this team isn't the tougher nut to crack, already when it comes to working together. "The other team will have Meake, Nichi, Deidara and Itachi," Deidara and Nichi finish, looking at each other at the same time. They don't seem to really like each other, but I wouldn't even have a problem with them, except… our team isn't three. Plus, Deidara even shoots prickly glances at Itachi, which means I found my man. Deidara hates Itachi, just like me.

"I don't think that's the right division of the team," Itachi says objectively, and the sentence matches my mind.

"This is the final decision, Itachi," the leader looks at him inconsistently. I sigh a lot.

"Don't hold back, Uchiha," I step beside him with a contemptuous look, and I have something to say about the whole mission.

"Where are you going? We haven't even handed out the rest of the mission yet," Konan looks at me as she holds a scroll in her hand. There are even more of the same rolls on the table next to it, I think it could be all the information we will need about the missions.

"Put mine in my room and I'll read it," I shrug. I don't want to add any more, and luckily they don't even look into it.

I leave the house and the fresh air immediately strikes me and my eyes are almost burned by the strong rays of the sun. I raise my hand over the awning to my eyes, I smile. I've always loved having a nice time, and when I even hear the chirping of birds, I just feel like I have to start ventilating my head a little bit. Away from this crazy house.

I hear footsteps behind me, but I don't turn back, I just head for the nearby forest. I'm not in the mood for any of them right now, I need peace of mind at last as my plan isn't going to work if someone is always panting around my neck. I need to get stronger, train myself so I can finally stand over Itachi's body. I want you to beg me for his life, which I will laugh away from him.

My fingernails go deep into my skin and my blood flows out of the small cut they cause. That's when I just realize that both of my hands are clenched into fists because of my anger, which I slowly release.

"I know what it's like," Deidara says behind me. I stop and hear him stop behind me with some. "You don't want to be on the same team with Itachi. You don't want to work with him. You don't even want to see it, he lists, and it's as if he really knows how it feels. The only bump is that it wasn't in my head right now, it's not because my palm is bleeding. I'll turn around.

"It's okay to know what it's like, but I don't have a problem with the Uchiha's presence at all," I say, and at that moment, even I myself believe it. The mission will go ahead.

"Then…," he says, pointing to my hand, from which a small drop of blood falls to the ground.

"It's nothing," I wipe my palm with a handkerchief I fish out of my pants pocket so I don't smear my clothes with my blood. I am successfully accomplishing this as well.

"It doesn't look like that, um. People usually clench their fists for a reason. Maybe you don't want to be on a team with me? Or with Nichi?" he thinks further.

"No one," I say simply. "I don't usually work in a team, and that's interesting in Konoha. I wonder when the Akatsuki will realize it's much worse if I'm forced into a team" I sigh. I don't feel like having this conversation, mainly because I have a good time telling me a little bit about the problem. What about an akatsuki? To Deidara? I don't even know, I'd probably abuse it if I trusted him. Yet… even from those few sentences I feel better that I said it.

"I think Pein knows, only Akatsuki has always worked in teams. We are split in pairs because it makes every mission easier. For example, my teammate Sasori is with me, although sometimes Tobi is assigned to us, so I think I can call him a teammate too. You'll most likely be Nichi, though she's almost always subordinated to Hidan and Kakuzu, um" he thinks in the end. It turns to me for a moment that if it's fashionable to split the three-man teams in Akatsuki lately, it could easily be that I'll be assigned to one of the pairs as well.

"We'll see," I say at last, but I don't know if I mean Deidara's sentence or my own thoughts.

---

I happily left the Hokage's office. How happy I would have been when I finally got a mission that I could go with Itachi. It's true that only two of us were given this mission, which is quite embarrassing, but now at least I can show it how much I've improved since the last time. I wanted Itachi to notice me.

"Did he tell you too? Itachi asked as I left the building. I nodded and tried to hide from him how happy it had made me. It'll be fine, I'm sure of that," he smiled. "Come on, I'll take you home to pack up your stuff, because we're leaving tomorrow."

Along the way, we talked about the mission, so I learned more about what the Hokage probably told me, but for some reason I got stuck with information about who my partner would be this time. When we finally got to my house, we stopped facing each other.

"Relax, okay? I don't want you to get in any trouble during the mission because you can't concentrate," he smoothed my hair back as I closed my eyes for a moment. His touch went well, but I shouldn't have imagined anything else about it, since we were just friends. Yet my heart started beating so fast…

"There will be nothing wrong, I promise. I'm going to rest and be ready for it tomorrow" I finally smiled into his eyes.

Entering the house, I quickly went up to my room and prepared my stuff for the next day's quest. I was able to sleep relatively well, I only woke up a few times to see if it was already morning. I finally arrived in the morning when I almost got out of bed, finished in minutes, and ran out to the village gate with my belongings where Itachi was already waiting for me.

I didn't perform well on the mission, and if Itachi hadn't been my partner, I probably wouldn't have been able to return to Konoha alive. I was very grateful to him then, because although I was in a coma for a week, he was the one who saved me and the first time I saw him wake up from a coma. According to my foster parents, he came to the hospital with me every single day and sat next to me for hours to see if I woke up.