Akatsuki Reign Ch. 3

Chapter 3

Initiation

"Yo, Dei, who's your friend?" spoke an unfamiliar, female voice from behind. Sateira and Deidara stopped in the middle of the hallway and turned to see two people, a girl and boy, standing behind them, dressed in black robes with a red cloud pattern. Both had white hair, the girl's extremely long, much longer than Deidara's, and up in a ponytail; the man's short and slicked back. "Surprised?" the woman asked.

"Not really, you're the only one who calls me Dei, Amaya," Deidara said to her. "So when did you guys get back?"

"Just before you guys walked in," Amaya replied, walking over to Sateira. "So your Dei's new partner, huh? Ira, right? Or do you wanna be called by your full name?"

"Actually, if you don't mind, I prefer being called Sateira. I really don't like being called Ira. It just gives me this bad feeling…" Sateira told her. She almost felt embarrassed telling someone else about the dark feeling around the name Ira.

"Well, that's alright with me, but you should really be asking Deidara. After all, he is your partner," she noted to her and winked.

"Fine by me, I guess it doesn't matter that much," Deidara said to Sateira as he turned to her. He smiled at her, but it seemed kinder than before. Sateira smiled back as a sort of thank you.

The man behind her groaned, "Are you done with your intro already? I'm beat after all that ass-kicking. I need a nap, damn it."

"Well, excuse me, Hidan, but I don't think anyone here gives a shit about your little beauty nap." Amaya snapped back at him. Soon they seemed to forget that Sateira and Deidara were in the room and their argument flew into a full-fledged cussing fight.

Sateira was shocked at how Amaya had seemed to be a kind, caring person then suddenly transformed into this other person. She wanted to say something that would make them stop or at least get her out of the situation, but she was speechless. Sateira felt something nudge her side and she glanced over a little as she noticed Deidara leaning his head down to her.

"Amaya and Hidan are Jashinists. Jashin is a weird religion that they practice where they become immortal by killing people. I'm pretty sure it has some side effects though, like, for instance, the white hair. Personally, I think the extreme cussing is another side effect. But don't worry, they get in these kind of fights a lot, it's no big deal," Deidara whispered in her ear.

Sateira couldn't help but to wonder about these people. Who were they exactly, and what were the other Akatsuki like? She started to worry about if she was actually safe around them but Deidara broke up the fighting and she heard him tell them, "Anyway, I have to take to her Madara soon for initiation, hm."

"Well then, I guess we should be heading back to our rooms. C'mon, jackass," Amaya said, flicking her wrist in sort of a salute as she turned and headed back down the hallway. Hidan followed her, pouting, and Sateira and Deidara were alone in the hallway again.

"Um, who's Madara?" Sateira managed to spit out. Deidara stood still for a moment, as if he was asking himself the same question. Deidara turned to her a little just to glance at her, but his voice seemed to turn ominous and dark.

"He is the leader of the Akatsuki. He's also the one who brought most of us back to life,"Deidara told her. Sateira stood there shocked and could barely speak. Deidara turned all the way to face her and said, "There are six of us that were brought back to life by Madara Uchiha. We all died about twenty years ago. I'm included in that group."

"B-but, how? How was he-" Sateira only managed to speak that much before Deidara cut her off.

"When it comes to him," Deidara said, turning back around and away from her, "the question is never 'how'. The question… is 'why'." He started walking down the hall, but Sateira heard him say under his breath, "And that I'm still unsure of."

--

Sateira laid on her bed, still trying to make sense of what was going on. She had gone through her ceremony, by crossing out the symbol on her headband that Deidara had been holding on for her, and now stared at the ring on her right middle finger with an ivory stone engraved with the kanji "white" in it. That was apparently her proof of being an Akatsuki.

There was one thing that bothered her; their leader, Madara Uchiha. She never saw his face since he wore a strange mask, but his voice was terrifying. Worse yet she had glanced over at Deidara during the initiation and noticed that he looked extremely worried, almost scared.

I just have to stop thinking about it, she told herself, rolling on her side. It's none of my business, anyway. Hopefully, I'll understand things more tomorrow. Sateira sighed and closed her eyes, and before long, she was fast asleep.