Sasuke Ninja with a Crush, Chp. 28

Chp. 28: Stay?1

I walked into the main house. “ Pein? “ I called out. “ Rai “ I looked behind me.He was standing in front of the door. He turned around and shut the door. I thought I heard something click. “ Did you just lock the door? “ I asked, getting a little creeped out.“ Just a precaution “ he said casually. I chuckled. “ I’m not gonna run away if that’s what you’re thinking “ I explained. “ Fine “ he said. I heard another click. “ Let’s talk in the other room “ he said. He waited for me to go first. I walked into the room and sat down where I had when Itachi first brought me here. 2

Pein sat down. He started tapping his fingers on the table, as if he were trying to find the right words to begin. “ Rai, you’ve been in the Akatsuki a long time, over month. You’re a great girl and very powerful “ He sighed. “ I’ll make a deal with you. There’s a big mission coming up and I was thinking about taking you with me. If you do well and promise not to try and run away, I won’t have your TwoTails extracted. I’ll value you as a true member of the Akatsuki “ he said. Great, now I was tapping my fingers on the table. “ What’s the mission? “ I asked. “ Is that a yes? “ he pried.3

“ Depends on if you tell me what the mission is “ I answered. “ It’s an assassination mission. An old man who is an elemental ninja, much like yourself, is wrecking havoc everywhere he goes with his fire. There’s warrants for his death everywhere and - what? “ He noticed that I had an annoyed expression on my face. 4

“ Pein, what kind of element do I bend? “ I asked. ‘ That’s another thing I have to talk to her about, I hate when she calls me by name ’ he thought. “ Water “ he answered. “ Yes, and what does this old man bend? “ I questioned.5

“ Fire “ he answered. “ Good. Now I don’t know if you were born in like the first century or anything, but we few water ninja never battle fire ninja. You wanna know why? “ Pein nodded slowly. “ BECAUSE WATER AND FIRE CANCEL EACH OTHER OUT!! “ I yelled standing up. Pein was shocked. He chuckled a little. “ Rai, I realize this and that’s why I want you to come with me “ he explained. “ You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m not fighting a fire ninja. It’s against my clans beliefs and rules “ Pein sat there, trying to find a way around this. 6

“ Well, I guess we’ll have to extract your TwoTails “ he said getting up. He walked out of the room. I heard the door open. “ Sasori! Get your puppets ready, we’re gonna extract the - “ No, wait! “ I called out. “ Never mind! “ Pein shouted, shutting the door. He came back into the room and sat down again. “ You were saying? “ he said, one of his eyebrows lifted. I sighed. “ Fine, I’ll go with you “ I said. “ Do you promise? “ he asked. “ Yeah, whatever “ I answered, irritated. “ No ... do you promise not to run away? “ he asked. “ Yeah, sure “ I said quietly. “ Promise me “ he said. ‘ Jeez, this must be a big moment for him ’ I thought. 7

“ I promise I won’t run away “ I said quietly. “ I can’t hear you “ he said. I sighed.“ I PROMISE I WON’T RUN AWAY!! “ I yelled. “ There, you happy??!!! “ I said in an annoyed tone, while getting up and walking out of the room. I opened the door and walked out, not bothering to shut it. Pein chuckled. “ I forgot to talk to her about that “ he said still chuckling. “ What’s going on? “ Deidara asked, “ what did he want to talk to you about? “ 8

I looked at Deidara and started laughing. “ He wants me to go on a mission with him. And the terms are so ridiculous it’s funny “ I said still laughing. “ Like what? “ Itachi said coming up behind Deidara. “ He said that if I did well on the mission and I promised not to run away he wouldn’t extract my TwoTails and that he’d value me as a true member “ I explained. “ Sounds nice, I’d take that deal. What’d you say? “ Itachi asked. “ I said yes “ I answered. “ Do you want to stay? “ Itachi and Deidara asked at the same time. “ Well ... yes and no “ I answered. 9

“ Do you want to talk about it? “ Itachi asked. “ Uh, no. It’s not to important “ I answered. “ Can I take you on a walk? “ Itachi suggested. I hesitated before answering. “ Sure “ I said. We walked past Deidara and went onto that same path that led to that same cliff that overlooked that same field. Once we reached it, Itachi sat down and as he did so he took my hand in his, pulling me down with him. “ I’ve been meaning to tell you this for a long time, but certain ... events have delayed it “ he explained. “ I’m listening “ I said looking at our hands. Both his hands held my one. 10

“ Rai ... I’ve been thinking a lot during the time I was gone and well ever since I met you. I’ve been trying to figure out something about you ... something’s that - “ he stopped and looked past me. There stood Deidara. “ Pein wants you and Rai back at the village, yeah “ he said. He didn’t sound or look to happy to see us together. I wondered why. When Itachi, Deidara and I got back to the village, everyone was all huddled around Pein. “ leaving with her tomorrow. I want you to all - “ He stopped when he saw the three of us were back. 11

“ Rai. We’re leaving tomorrow. Get to bed early tonight “ he instructed. “ Okay “ I said. The clouds started getting low and dark in the sky. Little drops of rain started falling down, softly then harder and faster. I wanted to stay outside. The more water I absorbed, the more water I could summon. But Itachi wasn’t about to let me do that. “ Go to your room! “ he ordered. I wasn’t going to argue with him, so I went to my room. 12

Before I went inside I tried to soak up as much water as I could before I went inside. Itachi hadn’t gone in his room yet and saw me standing there.“ Now, Rai “ he said sternly. “ Okay, okay! “ I said. I stood there for a couple more seconds then went in. “ Jeez. When did he become my father? “ I asked myself out loud.