Beyond the Red Clouds

@ anima d'amore;;
(I fell asleep before I could reply last night and was cramping today. Sorry this took so long Anyway, only Itatchi and Sora for the moment, right? I am sorry my post sucked xD it'll get better as I get used to Itatchi)

As Itatchi packed what he needed for the new mission, he wondered at the change in partners. Kisame was always his partner, and there was a reason for the way everyone was partnered in the Akatsuki. With the wide array of personalities, it was natural that some did not get along as well as others. He and Kisame, for instance, worked well together because they had a respect for each other. Other teams were not so peaceful as this, but while they might annoy each other, they did work well together up to a point.

And then there was their newest recruit, Sora, who had no partner. It was too early yet to tell much of what they needed to know, and he supposed that was where he came in. Since this mission was to -hopefully- be free of fighting as it was only surveillance, he guessed there really wasn't a need for both himself and Kisame to go. Still, as long as he had been part of the Akatsuki, Itatchi couldn't pretend to know what everyone was thinking at any given point in time.

So, preparations finished with, Itatchi left his small room and headed down the narrow halls in search of Sora. When he came to the spare room that she was occupying at the moment, he stopped outside the door and rapped his knuckles against the wood. "Are you almost ready? It's time to leave."

@ beautiful monotony
(Its okay! I'll be up for a little while if you're awake too(:
And I promise my posts won't always be this long and jumbled)

"You understand what it is you are doing for me?" The dark figure in the corner's voice rumbled into Sora's ears, the voice that had once been the equivalent to the singing of angels. She nodded, her blonde bangs falling forward to shadow her eyes, yes she understood why she was here. The only reason she was alive was because of him, she understood that everything she did from that day on was, in some way or another, leading up to the day she would repay her debt.

She nodded again as she neatly put away all of her medicines and supplies in her travel medical pack, "Yes I understand I'm here to a degree, but that doesn't mean I'm happy about it." Sora was there because her medical ninja skill-set was unmatched by any and all, both living and deceased, and it would be of great use to help repay her debt.

"Your happiness is not a concern of our leader, nor is it mine," the voice grumbled. "In this moment, no ones individual happiness is a concern." Sora nodded again, it was just easier to keep her voice down, she wasn't sure the layout of this new place yet... Ears could be anywhere and it was made very clear to her to keep her ties to the Akatsuki secret. The chill from her earlier conversation with the leader still radiated in her bones, he seemed like a man with quite the dark history himself.

"Sora, only I know of your ties to Kisame and it shall remain that way. Typically we do not accept people such as yourself, your resolve and passion for this world aligns with ours but your hands are not stained with the same blood." The man, Pein, had said... his name seemed fitting, and he was right. The blood on her hands was not the same as the other members of the Akatsuki; she had only ever killed those she was ordered to by Kisame, which wasn't too often because of a multitude of reasons, one being that his favorite part about the somewhat miserable and lost life he lived, was his ability to so easily take life from others.

"I know," she sighed, snapped her medical pack shut and slipped it around her waist. "But do I really have to wear the cloak? I... I really don't want to be aligned with the Akatsuki like you are. The way separating the Jinchuuriki... It doesn't sit well with me." The dark shadow chuckled and stepped out, throwing the cloak into her face and claimed that if there was another way he was sure Sora would have figured it out already. Kisame looked at her with a glimmer of deeply hidden playfulness, Sora seemed to bring that out in him.

"Besides kid, you've been aligned since I found your scrawny self in that hiding hole." He completely stepped out from the shadow in her little temporary room at the base and took the cloak from covering her face. "But wear it with pride, not shame. The Akatsuki and its secret are what I live to protect, and you should treat it in the same way." Sora softly groaned but nodded anyway, she could understand where he was coming from, Kisame had basically raised her and she understood him on many levels, no matter how twisted they seemed to others. Before either of them could say anymore a knock sounded from her door and the sound of a relatively unfamiliar voice came from the outside.

Kisame immediately melted into the corner shadow out of view from the doorway with a nod and a glimmer of goodwill in his beady eyes. She nodded as a silent was of saying goodbye, slipped on the cloak and opened the door as she held the final wardrobe piece in her black fingernail clad hands. "I'm ready." She slipped out from the door and shut her sensei inside as she peered up, framing her bangs around her eyes, at his usual partner, Itatchi.

@ anima d'amore;;
(Yeah, I should be awake for a little while yet ^-^ and you're fine! It was a great post!!! Aaannddd I can't seem to come up with much of a post at the moment. I'm sorry. Post length generally fluctuates with me >_<)

Itatchi gave a small nod. "Let's go then." He stepped back and led the way through the complex of narrow hallways until finally they slipped outside. The sun was low on the horizon, having just started to rise. They were starting their journey early in the day, yes, but they had a long way to travel to make it to the Hidden Leaf Village.

As they began to walk, Itatchi settled the straw hat on his head, the bells fitfully ringing with the motion. He was quiet as he walked along, and he was glad that for the moment, Sora was quiet as well. Unless she was usually a quiet person though, he suspected she would start talking before they stopped to eat lunch. He was actually halfway curious on how long she would let the silence go on.

@ beautiful monotony

Sora figured the walk would be one filled only by the sounds of the jingling bells on their straw hats but the silence lasted several hours longer than she could care for. However used to silence she had become due to her solitary life whenever Kisame was away on missions like this with Itatchi, that didn't mean she enjoyed it. She searched for something to talk about, even to just say so she could hear the ring of her voice over the ring of the bells. "I would just like to warn you, I use poisons in my fighting, but should you inhale or get any other kind of exposure I also carry the supplies needed for an antidote." She spoke in a fairly pragmatic tone, her statement didn't call for conversation, but it at least opened a door should he want to walk in and say something in return.

@ anima d'amore;;

Itatchi seriously considered allowing the moment to pass since what she had said did not particularly call for a reply. She had, however, already gone without talking, which was more than many members of the Akatsuki seemed able to handle, and there was no harm in getting to know his new partner, even if only a little. He did not treasure the thought of a possible battle erupting and having to simply trust that she knew what she was doing. "I expected as much," he said after a time. "Anyone who uses poison of any kind and knows what they are doing carry antidotes. Rest assured though, that I will try my hardest not to be exposed to any of your poisons." It was hard to detect, but there was the faintest trace of humor in his voice as he spoke the last.

@ beautiful monotony (I'm sorry this is so short omg)

Sora was slightly surprised when he spoke back, and even more than that, she became confused when she thought she detected the slightest hint of sass in his voice. If he was Kisame she would call him on it, but seeing as her sensei wasn't here she couldn't. She opted for another way to see if she could get him to talk again, "Good." Sora wanted to see if the light humor she'd heard but there was no way to do it without possibly offending him with no way back. "I'm not too sure I'd want to save you anyway." She let a small grin play on her lips, she'd masked her sarcastic humor just as well as he had.

@ anima d'amore;;
(Don't be sorry xD If you haven't noticed, all of my replies have been short for some reason. I'm going to try and fix it though haha)

When silence filled the space after he spoke, Itatchi surreptitiously peered over at Sora, attempting to catch a glimpse of her thoughts in her expression. She seemed to be mildly confused, he guessed because she noticed his masked humor, but she also looked to be thinking about something. Soon enough, she spoke up again. He wasn't entirely sure if her wish was to simply continue conversing or to make him smile or laugh or something of that nature. Whatever the case, he decided that he would play along for a while; there was no harm in it after all, and they had a long ways to travel together. "Then you may rest easy; I feel fairly comfortable in saying that you will never have to save me." Though he still did not smile, there was once again that trace, almost as if he were silently laughing.

@ beautiful monotony
(you sneaky sneaky miki!! I see what you did there! ..and it made my heart break and flutter at the same time.)

Sora let her small smile grow under the safety of the cloak's high neckline, she supposed that was one good thing about the uniform she was forced to wear... one's face was always hidden, should the cloak be zippered all of the way up, and with the hat on her face and identity might as well be labeled Anonymous. Itatchi's humor was so well hidden that without her many years serving under Kisame and learning his behavior she may have never seen the pattern in Itatchi's. Perhaps that was why her sensei and her temporary partner got along so well. "I was unaware I was partnered with a psychic as well," she spoke with that same level of clarity within her tone of voice so her sarcasm was just as hidden as his humor. "How useful." Her deeply purple colored eyes stayed trained on the terrain before them, their steady pace was growing boring and even though she had no idea where their final destination was she felt herself itching to jump between the branches within this densely packed forest. "A psychic and a tortoise."

@ anima d'amore;;
(haha I wasn't sure if you would notice, honestly. And yeah, I considered not writing it at all, but I had to)

"I agree; it can be useful," Itatchi said as he slowed to a stop. Yes, they were in the middle of the forest, but they had also been traveling for hours, and it was time to stop and eat before continuing on. If they were lucky, they would stumble upon some little time around the time that they had to stop for the night. It would be much more pleasant than sleeping on the ground, at the very least. "I am no tortoise," he said as he pulled his hat from his head and settled on a tree root. "It is simply time for lunch. Or would you rather run headlong through the forest and see how long you can go before you collapse?" He appraised her with cool eyes, one eyebrow raising a notch.

@ beautiful monotony

Sora wanted to chuckle at her temporary partner's words, charging ahead, stopping when her body failed her and still charging forward was the only way Sora knew how to survive. Otherwise Kisame would have surely gotten rid of her before then. However she couldn't chuckle or respond in any way because as soon as he took off his hat and turned his eyes in her direction she felt frozen. She wasn't even looking back at him and she could feel his eyes on her, though maybe she was just being paranoid. Sora tried to play off her sudden deer-like trance as she cleared her throat and forced herself to chuckle. She was afraid to turn to look back at him when she saw out of the corner of her eye that his hat was resting in his hands, what would she see in those cursed eyes? She drew her bottom lip between her teeth, again thankful for the cover of the hat and cloak's high collar. She kept her hands by her sides, clenching her fingers into fists under the extra long sleeves, too quickly she was making a complete fool of herself. But those eyes. Those eyes that burned into her back like fire. She kept her hat on, and turned to face him but kept her eyes down, trained on his hands as she spoke, "I suppose the tortoise is more wise than the hare..." Her voice wavered even though she knew he couldn't see that she wasn't looking back at him. Sora felt the sting of his glance, a sting she'd never felt before in her life. Was it really just because his eyes were cursed? She couldn't even be sure he had his Kekke Genkai activated. "So I'll listen to you this time, but don't expect it to be a common occurrence."

@ anima d'amore;;

Sora's response elicited a humorless snort from Itatchi. "The world would be an uninteresting place if we all listened to each other, I am sure," he said, turning his gaze away from her. It could have been his imagination, but it seemed as if something was bothering his partner. However, it was not his business, and he would ask no questions. If it had to do with him, she would do something, whether or not that meant mentioning anything to him about it. And with that running through his mind, he sat his hat on the ground near his feet and pulled out their lunch of hard cheese and bread--food that would keep during a journey. "Do you plan on eating while standing?" he asked without looking up at her. However, he didn't need to look up to know that she was still standing a few feet away. She hadn't moved since last she had spoken.

@ beautiful monotony
(are you going to reply on the other thread? or did you skip on purpose... did i say something confusing?)

Suddenly the burning was gone from her back and she felt like all of a sudden she could breathe, but there was no air to take in. Itatchi hadn't seen her face at all yet, Kisame had kept her from all of the others and she certainly didn't want his first glance of her to be an image of her suffocating. As she forced air into her lungs the smell of a food rare to her drifted into her nose and she found herself drooling. "I-is that..." Her eyes were still trained on his hands but now were focused on the food they held between them. "Is that cheese?" Sora couldn't help but shrink back a little from him, Kisame had always fed her fish and bread, if she were lucky and they were near a town he would give her money to buy spices for the two of them but that was really it. Once he left her on her own more often she grew to find and eat berries and herbs but never had she actually tasted cheese. She took out her own pack and unwrapped some berries she'd picked that morning before they'd left and cautiously extended them in his direction, "I'll give you as many as you want if you left me try some of that." She spoke with deadpan seriousness, she hadn't had cheese since she'd been locked away and found by Kisame.

@ anima d'amore;;
(I replied xD Like half an hour ago)

Itatchi looked up at Sora, a bit startled by the sudden seriousness she now possessed. No, it wasn't the seriousness that startled him; plenty of people were serious, including himself. It was the fact that the cause was cheese... something so simple and was eaten often, and yet she acted as if it were extremely precious or rare. He held up his hand to wave away the offer of berries, "No, keep your berries," he said and broke off a fair chunk of the cheese. "There," he said as he deposited it in her hand. "And if you like cheese so much, you might see about getting yourself some in the next village we pass through." That said, he tore off his own small chunk from the cheese and ate it. No, there was certainly nothing special about it; it was just cheese.

@ beautiful monotony
(I figured we needed a little something to keep the conversation between them going, and it seems that almost everyone in the Akatsuki has a quirky, weird trait about them... Sora's is her love of food... And more specifically, cheese. XD and I also love the last sentence so so much haha )

Sora stared at the chunk of cheese now resting atop her collection of berries like God himself was perched between her fingers. Was this guy seriously going to just give away this much cheese for nothing? Sora concluded that he had to be insane, though considering he was apart of the Alatsuki it probably wasn't that far of a stretch. She shook her head, scooped up a quarter of the berries and stubbornly held them out to him. Her eyes stayed on the cheese in her other hand, but she spoke directly to him, "Take them."

@ anima d'amore;;
(xD you're all good. You're right about everyone having some quirk or another, and Sora's is great haha and yup, Itatchi is confused. He has no idea what's going on, poor guy)

As Sora still wore her hat and cloak, Itatchi could see nothing of her expression, though he could guess she was staring at the cheese that he had handed her, considering how oddly she had behaved over it. And then she practically shoved a small handful of berries upon him, demanding that he take them. He opened his mouth to question her, then shut it again. Every person had their quirks and he supposed this just must be one of hers, and so he accepted the berries with a silent sigh. "Thank you."

@ beautiful monotony
(haha im playing this out in my mind like Itatchi doesn't even have a clue as to anything about this girl and doesn't even know what she looks like and she's geeking out over cheese like can you imagine his face? god I love Itatchi) (Is it weird that I also picture them running into some hooligan rogue ninja and in the battle one of them knocks off her hat and reveals her face from her eyes up to him? I imagine her wanting to conceal it for a long as possible because she had this phobia about it because the only people to have seen her face and continue to be alive are Kisame and Pein--and we know how well that works out-- and them him asking what her deal is after she hurries to put it back on.)

Sora was only faint aware of the sting of his eyes on her as she turned over the berries to him but she was too caught up in worshiping the dairy he had given her. She couldn't wait to taste it, but she didn't want to make even more of an idiot if herself so she wrapped the chunk in a spare piece of cloth and put it in her pack, she could eat it once Itatchi was asleep. "Your welcome," she finally said once the cheese was safe in her pack. Sora turned her eyes to look at his hands again, keeping her face hidden in the shadow of the hat and the brim of the high collar. She would have to wait to eat her berries too or at least do it when his attention was taken away from her for a long enough him. "They're fresh, if you don't want to eat them now they should last for awhile." She tucked her own away again and into the pack beside her cheese.

@ anima d'amore;;
(Haha xD he probably has his poker face on. What you're imagining is the expression no one can see and that's actually an awesome idea. Except of course, Itatchi is all formal with how he talks, so he would never ask "What her deal" was XD)

Despite that it had been a while since Itatchi had suggested that it was time for lunch, Sora had yet to sit down or even remove her hat. Every move she made caused the bells to set to ringing. He personally found their tintinnabulation to be exceedingly obnoxious, but maybe that was simply because he did not like his every move to be marked by sound, no matter how soft. He nodded as Sora informed him of the berries, and he set them aside from the moment. "The cheese should last a while as well," he informed her, casting a quick glance her way despite that he could see nothing of her since she was covered from head to toe.

@ beautiful monotony
(duh haha that's just me dumbing it down during explination, miki! you should know better by now hahaha do you want to do that?)

Sora nodded, "Good to know, thank you." It really didn't make a difference to her, she would probably devour it the second she was sure Itatchi was asleep later on. She shifted her weight on her feet, she didn't like standing but the tree roots didn't look any more comfortable. She wasn't going to say anything about it thought, it seemed like she'd already made enough of a fool of herself. She sighed and opted to just stand there instead and keep an eye out, also giving herself a nice break of constantly avoiding eye contact with Itatchi.

@ anima d'amore;;
(Hehe I do know better. I'm just a smart ass xD And yeah, that sounds like a great idea! Sorry my replies are so slow by the way. I guess four roleplays at once will do that to a person)

Itatchi gave a nod as she thanked him and as she opted for apparently just standing around rather than sitting or eating, he made quick work of a fast lunch. He didn't eat the berries right away, as it turned out, so he wrapped them up and stored them in his pack, then stood and replaced his hat atop his head. "Okay, time to get moving again. There won't be any other breaks until we stop for the night," he said as he adjusted his pack back to where it was supposed to be.