23. Covert Operation

As I woke I could feel the warmth of Sasori's body pressed against me. I glance over to him, only to see that he had his eyes closed. Was he actually sleeping? I couldn't believe it, I was sure he had said that he never slept. I stare at the way his red hair swept and framed the flawless white skin of his cheeks. His perfect completion is so enticing. I slowly lift my hand up to touched his well-structured cheek bone as gently as I can. My finger tips trace his soft skin. His eyes begin to open so I quickly withdraw my hand.

"I thought you were asleep." I blush slightly, he smiles softly.

"I don't sleep, I was just relaxing," He blinks slowly then pulls me closer into him. I rest my head on the crevice of his neck. Gaze falling on to the box on my cupboard. It had the new needles inside it.

"I picked up some needles yesterday, I was thinking of coating them in poison," I say quietly. Sasori peers down at me, interest evident as he raises a brow.

"You want to make a poison?" He askes.

"Yeah, can you maybe help me? I already have an idea of what kind of base I want to use but..." Sasori puts his hand over my mouth, muffling my words.

"We can go down to my lab and get started. Go and get ready." He says before letting go of my face.

"Really?" I'm surprised at how quickly he accepts. He gives a nod so I quickly get out of bed and go take a shower. When I'm done I tie up my hair so it's out of the way and go back to Sasori. He's sitting on the edge of my bed waiting. Upon seeing me he gives a faint smile, I go over to my wardrobe to get dressed. But, Sasori comes over and peers over my shoulder.

"Wear this." He casually points at favourite floral dress. I smiled at his choice, taking it out. My towel falls to the floor as I drop it and step in to the dress. Sasori doesn't seem to mind, he's already seen all of me the night before so I felt comfortable around him. He has a chivalry about him when it came to these kinds of situations. He never made me uncomfortable which I was grateful for.

After I'd finished changing, I grabbed the needles and we both went to Sasori's room which apparently was where his lab was. I'd contemplated asking Sasori for his help earlier, but, I was worried that he wouldn't be interested in the idea. So, I never asked. But, after last night there was no way he could refuse, right?

Sasori opened his bedroom door and strolled into his room casually, dragging aside the carpet on the floor which revealed loose floorboards. It resembles a trap door. Then, he lifts the door flap. I peer down from over his shoulder, only to see a long flight of stairs that descended beneath the floor.

Sasori started to walk down the stairs so I followed closely behind him. The staircase was very steep and narrow. After taking the last few steps my feet hit solid concrete. A candle light flickered, illuminating the small underground basement. Puppets hung in rows along the walls. There was a long 'L' shaped bench, it stretched right around the room.

"Over here." His voice calls me from beside the bench. I join him at the table.

"Now, what base do you want to use?" He asked, pointing to a long row of shelves. I closely inspect the labels of the jars, four rows of them. There were so many ingredients to choose from.

"You have quite the collection." I mumble, one in particular finally catching my eye.

"Don't keep me waiting." The jar that stood out was one with a black widow spider suspended inside it.

"This one." I point it out clearly to him. He takes the jar off the shelf and puts it down on the bench.

"I want this poison to work on the nervous system, so it will paralyse quickly... Within minutes. If it's possible..." I say. Sasori listens intently.

"And," I went on. "I want it to be lethal. If I use venom from a black widow it will be a deadly."

The look in Sasori's eyes darkens. "Your right, venom from a black widow will paralyse the nervous system and it's deadly. But, you're going to need something to enhance the rate it spreading through the body." I listen carefully to his advice. This was a lucky opportunity, to be able to learn from Sasori. The quality of his poisons were irrefutably advanced. I knew this because I'd experienced it first-hand. The light from the candle reflected in Sasori's eyes as he went on.

"I think if you mix it 1:3 ratio, with some of these herbs, then it should do the trick." He pulls down another jar filled with dried leaves and put it on the counter next the the jar encasing the spider.

"What are those?" I asked, picking up the jar and inspecting the contents.

"They're Nimbi leaves. You can find them practically anywhere. They're very useful as a catalyst, they will speed things up." he smirks coldly.

"Oh, okay." I reply.

We begin to ground the leaves and extract the venom, then begin the combination process which involves heating and cooling the different ingredients so they combine properly. It takes an hour or so to get the ratio mixes right. Eventually they are perfect, so, I put the jar containing the newly brewed poison on the shelf so it can settle.

It needed time. A few more days to be exact, before it would be ready to use. We headed back up to his room, Sasori agrees to grab lunch and train with me. So, our next stop is the kitchen.

Kisame and Itachi both look at us as we walk in. They were both sitting at the bench talking.

"Fancy seeing you here, Sasori." Kisame glances back to Itachi. I make my way over to the cupboard and open it up. Sasori sits down next to Kisame. "Just about to train with this brat." He jokes, tilting his head gesturing to me. Kisame laughs, Itachi stares at me. I sigh, pulling out a packet of Ramen. Making sure to bring a pot of water to the boil.

"So, no mission today?" Sasori boredly asks, Kisame glances towards Itachi again before answering. "Actually, Itachi and I are leaving this afternoon to start gathering intel on our tailed beast." A small smug grin forms on his tiny shark lips.

"Which one?" Sasori asks, seeming interested by the topic.

"The nine tails. A boy named Naruto Uzumaki from the hidden leaf is the Jinchuriki." Itachi replies coldly. I turned my attention from the noodles boiling to Itachi as he spoke. It was rare, him speaking. I couldn't help but look when I heard his voice. It reminded me so much of Sasuke, the lack of emotion in both their voices gave me slight chills every time.

Sasori chuckled darkly. "Sounds like fun." he muses. I averted my attention back to my cooked noodles, turning off the stove and taking the pot over to drain the water out. After putting flavour in and giving it a good mix I sit at the bench facing the others.

Kisame and Sasori kept talking about some random stuff but I wasn't really paying attention, these noodles were really delicious. As I ate I noticed that Itachi subtly staring at me. I tried not to make it obvious that I'd noticed. But, I couldn't help but be curious about why he was watching me like that. It started to make me a little uncomfortable. So, I finished quickly and washed up. Sasori and I left for the training room.

We stood in the centre of the room, looking at each other. A tiny smirk played on the red heads lips

"I've wanted to fight you since I saw you dodge all of Hidan's advances, that time." he admitted.

"Oh, really now? Well, now's your chance." I joked, not wasting any time in summoning lightning clones.

"Lightning clone Jutsu!" I yell. Sasori's reflexes are quick as he pulls out a scroll from behind him, laying it on the floor. He bites his finger and slams his hand down hard on the scroll.

A large puppet with long dark hair appears. I inspect it closely. Taking note of it's attached weaponry.

"No fair!" I yelled over to him. "Your not going to fight me up close??" I frown.

"We'll see how you do against my level three puppet. If you're good enough to hold your own against the third Kazekage. Then, I'll think about it." he stares coldly. I could tell he was playing with me even though his expression didn't falter. I'd come to learn he had a dark sense of humour.

Suddenly, something green started to rise from the floor in between us. Zetsu emerged, opening up his venus fly trap. I gawked at him, still not used to him popping up so randomly.

"Sasori, Leader wants to see you now." His black side informs. Sasori rolls his eyes.

"Fine." He calls back his puppet, poofing it away in his scroll. I released my clones before walked up to him.

"Wait here. I won't be long." He calmly says. I watched as he walks down the hallway towards Leader's office. Zetsu had also vanished. So, I sat down on the floor cross legged as I patiently waited. Silence filled the cavern, but my mind was loud. Thoughts of last night filling it. Sasori had told me many deep things that I'd never known he had buried away. Even though he was a puppet I don't mind. He is intelligent and thoughtful. I admire him.

He made me feel loved and cared for, more than I'd ever have felt before in. When I think about what his last words to me were before we fell asleep... I can't help but to want the exact same thing.

For us to be like this forever. I sigh as my mind goes off in to all sorts of wacky thoughts. Could I be dreaming? No, this was reality.

I hear footsteps approaching so I open my eyes and look over to their origin. It's Sasori, closly followed by Deidara.

"Tila, what're you always doing sitting on the floor? un." Dei stops beside me, gazing down. I quickly stand up and brush myself off.

"I was just waiting." I hesitate, glancing between the two.

"We have a mission. We have to leave now." Sasori says. As though reading my mind. I couldn't make out the look he was giving me. It was one I hadn't seen before.

"What's the mission?" I ask cautiously.

"We are going on a covert operation to retrieve to one tail. It will take a few days." He looks away. The lack of eye contact was unlike him. It seemed like he was reluctant to go.

"Okay, well I'll see you both when you get back." I try and be reassuring. Sasori looks back at me. Deidara eyes his partner suspiciously. Obviously, Deidara had also noticed the change in his demeanour. I wrapped my arms around Sasori's shoulders and hugged him tightly. He stiffened at first. But, quickly relaxed, encasing his arms around my waist. I could see Deidara's expression become more confused by the second, so I let Sasori go and hugged Deidara too.

"So, you're going to miss us, huh?" He cockily asks. I let him go and laugh.

"Yeah right, don't get in to too much trouble. Okay?" I tease. Sasori smiles faintly and Dei gives me his infamous smirk. They both go over to the boulder that covers the entrance. I watch as Deidara releases the seal and the boulder rises. Sasori looks back at me one last time before they both disappear behind the large rock again.

I turn around and scratch my head. What am I going to do now? I felt a little lost. I guess I'll just go and explore until I find something to do. So, I head down a random corridor. This is sort of like a lucky dip. You never know who you'll bump in to. Sure enough, I eventually found myself looking into the lounge room. Hidan and Kakuzu were bickering over something, so, I decide to walk in and see what they're doing. Before I can say anything they both stop and look over at me.

"Tila! Fuck that's a nice dress!" Hidan says loudly, leaning back in his chair, looking me up and down.

"Thanks... I suppose..." I say slowly, taking a seat across from them. Kakuzu shoots a death glare at Hidan who notices this and starts to scratch the back of his head. I don't know what's wrong with these two. It made me feel dumbfounded watching the weird events that unfold before me.

"So..." I interject, they both avert their attention to me.

"What're you both doing?" I ask, looking from one to the other.

"Getting ready to go out on a mission." Kakuzu answers with a glare.

"Oh really? Everyone's out on missions except for me... What am I supposed to do now..." I mumble, feeling disappointed.

"Why don't you just fucking come with us?" Hidan suggests. I sit up at his idea.

"Yes! Anything to kill time is good." I grin excitedly. Kakuzu contemplates me for a moment before standing.

"I'll go and ask Leader." He says before walking out, leaving Hidan and I alone.

"What do you fucking need to kill time for?" He asks, reaching for his scythe. I watch as he starts to polish one of the three large blades.

"Nothing, I mean... I just get bored sitting around." I say, not wanting to mention how badly I just wanted Sasori to get back.

"Fucking hell. Tell me about it!" He groans, moving on to polish the next blade. I giggle at Hidan, he's just so foul mouthed.

"What the fuck is so funny?" He asks defensively.

"It's nothing, forget it." I brush it off, pulling a straight face.

"Fucking tell me." He sits up, looking at me. Kakuzu come back into the room.

"Your allowed to come with us."

"When do we leave?" I ask. Hidan stands up and puts his scythe on his back.

"Let's just get this fucking over with now." He complains. Kakuzu lip twitched in irritation. He looks like he's about to blow his fuse any minute.

"Fine. We leave in twenty. Get ready now Tila. There will be plenty of time to brief you on the way." He turns and walks out. Hidan and I both watch as he leaves. Hidan let's out a long sign.

"Sheesh, fucking Kakuzu and his bounties." I stand and walk over to him.

"Shouldn't let yourself get so worked up Hidan." I pat him on the shoulder.

"When the fuck did you become Mother Theresa?" He asks, laughing at his own joke. I shake my head and walk off. This guy is a such a handful. I hear Hidan follow me out in to the training room as I make for my room.

"I still want to know what the fuck you were laughing about before." I hear him say from behind me. "Yeah, Yeah." I dismiss, picking up my pace as I head down the hall.

"Don't worry, I'll fuckin get it out of you eventually." He says cockily.

I turn my bedroom door handle, opening my door before turning to face Hidan, who was halfway into his room by now.

"I'm not telling you." I tease. knowing it was getting to him. He pauses, glaring at me.

"Just you fuckin wait, Tila."

Ignoring his cocky demeanour I turn aroud. His door slam at the same time as mine. Whatever, I don't know why he's so determined. But, the only reason I laughed was because he swears so much. It's not even a big deal yet he's so set on knowing. Meh. I need to start packing.

After changing in to more fitting attire which includes my cloak, I gather all my things and pack it in scrolls. It doesn't take long and within twenty minutes I'm back in the training room lent up against the entrance as I wait for the other two to arrive.

Another five minutes passes until I see them walking my way. As they get closer I hear Hidan complaining about something. Ignore it, I take it upon myself to release the seal. The boulder rises and the three of us step out on to the water. I seal the rock back in place and we start walking over to the forest line.

"We're going after a bounty who isn't too far from here." Kakuzu tells me, pulling out a little black book. From beside me he flips to a page in the centre of the book. There's a picture of a mans face on the page.

"He's some leader of a rebel gang a few villages away, we're going to go there and find him." Kakuzu says bluntly. Snapping the book shut.

"So, how far is the village?" I questioned.

"Two villages away, it will take a few days." Hidan gave us both an irked glare at the news.

"Fuck, this is going to take forever." he groans. I ignored him. Kakuzu scowls at Hidan.

"Shut up Hidan, you already getting on my nerves." His voice dangerous. We kept walking for what seemed forever. Hidan complained most of the way and Kakuzu lost his cool. I had to try and break up their fight. After that we continued to walk. They'd stopped arguing by now and we could see a village coming into view as the sun began to set.

We'd been walking all day and my legs ached, I just wasn't used to this.

"Are we here? I'm not used to walking for such a long time." I say, tiredly.

"We can stop here and get a room for the night. There's motels out-skirting this village." Kakuzu offers. We make our way to a place Kakuzu knew of. When we entered the small Inn, Kakuzu booked a cheap room for us to stay in for the night. We headed up the stairs and down a short narrow corridor, entering the last room on the left. As I followed in behind Hidan and Kakuzu I noticed how small the room was. We stood in the tight space, a single bed and a couch was about all it had. Apart from the kitchen that was against the wall, and one bathroom.

The room was a small studio. I wonder how we were all going to fit. Kakuzu sat down on the couch and kicked his legs up on the small coffee table. Hidan stared around just like I had.

"Fuck! It's like a shoebox in here." he mutters under his breath. I sit down on the bed and face Kakuzu. Hidan takes a seat down on the couch too and takes off his cloak.

"We're only here because Tila's with us, If it were just us, Hidan, I wouldn't have bothered." He shoots back before pulling out some money from his pocket.

Hidan rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, Yeah. I'm just fucking sick of these bounties." His annoyance at the situation obvious. I take off my cloak and put it down on the bed before looking back over to the other two. Kakuzu had put away his money after counting it, and, had now pulled out something else. Hidan noticed too. "What the hells that?" He asked curiously as Kakazu slammed down the deck of cards on to the table.

"Who's in?" He asked in his usual deep tone. I went and sat down on the floor in front of the coffee table. It was a low table so It was perfect height when I sat on the floor cross legged. Hidan and Kakuzu both joined me on the floor and then Kakuzu started dealing.

"We're fuckin playing thirteen right?" Hidan asked, Kakuzu gives a nod. I knew how to play this game well. My mother and I had always played together throughout my childhood. I kept quiet as Kakuzu starts to deal out thirteen cards. I didn't want to give away how skilled I was.

We played on into the night, it'd been more fun than I'd anticipated. Kakuzu won most of the games. But, I held my own which I was happy about. As the night went on I felt myself yawning. Eventually, calling it in and going over to the bathroom to change into my favourite onesie.

As I walked out Hidan cracked up laughing, pointing at me as he rolled on the floor in a cackling fit.

"Oh fuck Tila! Your supposed to be an S ranked crim and your wearin' that to bed! Shit!" He wiped the tears out of his eyes from laughter. I couldn't help but chuckle along too.

"I never even thought about it like that" I admitted. Kakuzu might've found it slightly amusing too, I could see small crinkles at the sides of his eyes, as though smiling faintly behind his cloth.

"So, what's sleeping arrangements?" I asked.

"I'll take the couch." Kakuzu says, taking off his cloak and mask. I started at him as he did, this was the first time I had seen him properly without his unusual attire.

"What the fuck are you staring at Til?" Hidan asks, noticing my eyes plastered on Kakuzu as he got comfortable on the couch.

"Oh shit, nothing it's just the first time I've seen Kakuzu's face." I explained. He gave a gruff Hm before turning over. I lay down on the bed.

"Guess we're fucking stuck on this thing." Hidan says, coming over to lay beside me.

"Just don't touch me in your sleep." I warn. He glances at me and scoffs.

"Yeah right, in your fucking dreams." He smiles cockily. I ignored it and rolled over, too tired to care. As soon as I closed my eyes I was fast asleep.