The Things She's Seen (An Alternate Story-Line)

Chapter 3: The Akatsuki

Third person pov

"You know, carrying the brat like that is more taxing than just throwing him over your shoulder." Kakuzu had finally gotten used to the idea that this child was indeed a human boy. After much bickering, he'd agreed to use the proper pronouns on the child. Of course, both of them were wrong about her gender, but Hollow didn't want to mention it. It wasn't that big of a deal, right? 

"He'd probably start to fucking screech if I did that." Hidan was carrying Hollow like she was a baby. Her legs were wrapped around his torso, and his interlocked hands acted as sort of a chair for her to sit on. And Kakuzu was right: this was more taxing.

"Tch, whatever." Kakuzu grunted. He didn't care about Hidan or what the man did, but watching him do something so un-efficiently was annoying. At least they were close to the base. 

"Fuck, kid what the hell?!" Hidan nearly threw Hollow when he felt something warm soak through the fabric on his back. Kakuzu took a peek back. 

"Her feet her bleeding through the fabric." Kakuzu said. "I thought these cloaks were water proof." Hidan scoffed. Hollow's cheeks colored. 

"S-Sorry." The man with the stitches scared her. 

"Don't apologize kid. Did you stick fucking glass in your feet?" He asked. Hollow shook her head, looking Hidan in the eyes. Their eyes were very similar, very similar indeed. 

"Come one. Surely you can handle a bit of blood, Hidan." Kakuzu glanced at the man from the corner of his eye. 

"Yeah, yeah." Hidan mumbled, shifting Hollow slightly. The girl buried her face in the crook of his neck, shaking slightly. She was scared. 

Where was she being taken? Would the people there be mean and scary like this Kakuzu man was being? She sure hoped not. Hidan was sort of nice, but even he was a little scary. She didn't know him, after all. He was carrying her nice though, so maybe that meant he wasn't too bad.

"Here." Kakuzu stopped in front of a boulder. It wasn't a particularly big boulder, but a boulder nonetheless. Hollow peeked up to look at it, her eyes sparkling with awe as Kakuzu made the large rock rise with only a few hand signs. 

Hollow knew you used hand signs for genjutsu and ninjutsu, but she'd never seen anyone do them before. Hikari tried to show her some, but it was too hard to do in her mind. She could do the hand signs there, yes, but nothing ever happened. Perhaps now she could learn.

"We're here, kid. Can you fucking walk?" Hidan asked, pulling her away so he was holding her bridal style, as though she were a baby almost. 

"P-Probably?" Hollow blinked up at him. 

"So no?" His eyebrows shot up. Hollow glanced away, twiddling her thumbs. Hidan snorted at her, shaking his head. He couldn't believe this little brat. He was such a little pansy, and not even scared! Hadn't he heard warnings of the Akatsuki... well, Hidan supposed if he'd been in a tube up until that point, he wouldn't know much of anything.

The zombie duo entered the hideout, passing through a large and cold cave and to a large wooden door. Kakuzu did some sort of knock, one Hollow assumed was a password because it didn't sound quite right. He would sometimes string multiple knocks together before pausing and repeating the same thing over again. Sometimes it would be three fast knocks, sometimes four, and sometimes just two. Hollow listened closely to the pattern. It was very long and very complicated, and she knew she would never remember it.

When Kakuzu finished, there was the sound of a latch clicking out of place, and the door popped open. Hollow stared in awe. 

"H-How'd h-he do th-that?" She asked quietly, looking up at Hidan for an answer. 

"Some password shit with a seal. They change it every week. I can never memorize that shit." Hidan said loudly as they entered the hideout. There were plenty of people in what the Akatsuki would their lounge. It had a table and chairs, a dingy old couch and a crappy tv they'd picked up from a thrift store. Deidara was currently banging on the top in attempts to get it on.

Hollow's eyes scanned the room. There was about four people in there. A blonde man not too much older than herself banging on an odd box that was emitting a rather vexing noise. There was also a blue man sitting at the table sharpening a very large knife-like weapon. Hollow thought it might be called a sword, but she wasn't sure. 

Across from him, reading a book, was a black haired man. He had very pale skin and red eyes. Hollow peeked behind him. A boy, not too much older than herself, drifted behind him. Hollow could sort of see through the coal-eyes boy who looked a lot like the man reading. 

"Hidan, why do you have a child?" The man reading the book said coolly, glancing up. Hollow stiffened at the sight of his crimson eyes. They were beautiful, but they seemed dangerous. 

"We found it- him, in the woods." Kakuzu grumbled when Hidan elbowed him. 

"And you brought him here why?" Kisame's eyebrows shot up. 

"Well he saw us so close to the hideout that we couldn't just fucking leave him. Plus, look at his feet." Hidan held Hollow out, gaining a squeal. There was a bang from somewhere down the hall.

"What's all this ruckus?" A voice grumbled. A rather scary looking wooden hunchback creature emerged from the dark opening, followed by two floating people. A man and a woman. The woman had beautiful brown eyes and long brown hair. The man had red hair and green eyes, and was gazing at the wooden hunch back sadly. 

"Ah, Sasori. Here to ruin everyone's fucking day again, I see." Hidan scoffed. Sasori's eyes narrowed. 

"I don't have the patience today, Hidan. Don't test me." Sasori said. 

"You never have the patience, un." Deidara snorted slightly. Sasori glared his way. 

"Oh my, it's a child. They've brought a child. That poor thing." The woman behind Sasori said. Hollow gazed at her curiously. 

"What do we do with him then?" Kisame questioned. 

"Well, we must throw him out, obviously." Itachi said. 

"He already knows where our hideout is, un." Deidara said. 

"Oh, come on, Itachi! It's a kid!" The boy behind the red-eyed man exclaimed. Itachi didn't even twitch. Hollow's eyebrows furrowed, and she looked back to the woman behind Sasori.

They made eye contact.