- Chapter 18 -

Proving Grounds

Never in her life had Akira woken up so suddenly. At one moment, her body was in a tranquil state and in the other, her eyes had bolted open and she had found herself staring into nothingness. She blinked her eyes and turned her head around to no avail; the room was completely dark. Thus, she tried finding her way by patting around.

A source of light flashed open besides her and she flailed her head back, groaning from closing her eyes too hard. She blinked her eyes until no more black spots littered her vision and glanced besides her. Panic overtook her face.

"I see you're finally awake."

"You, uh . . . Uh . . . "

Akira tried sitting up but a surging pain in her head forced her back down. The person closed towards the source of light besides her, making their face more visible. The image of the scar that was imprinted on her memory was enough to make her understand who it was, even without the mask.

"Tobi."

A small smirk flashed across his face before staring down at her with his cold eyes which the night before held softness and innocence. That fact alone made chills run down her whole body since a new danger was unwrapped before her. Deciding to tear her eyes from his scary and newfound face, she simply stared at the shadows waving around on the wall besides her.

"What happened last night?"

"Oh, everything is settled, mission is accomplished."

Akira narrowed her eyes, "I didn't ask that."

"Oh?" Tobi inquired, propping his chin on his hands seated on his lap. "Obviously, you became useless the moment you lost consciousness. But you did have the flash drive on you when we left so I guess you did something."

"You carried me all the way here?"

"Until we reached the car."

"Utakata?"

"Dead."

Akira pursed her lips. She had expected this outcome but didn't really wish for this to happen. Reaching up to her abdomen, her fingers brushed against what felt like a bandage. That's when she realized; fear sourced through her whole body.

"You treated my wounds and . . ."

Tobi rolled his eyes, "No, not me. Kakuzu did."

The girl turned to look at him, "Then . . . you . . ."

"Oh? That I learned that you're a girl? Don't worry, I knew this from the very beginning, I'm not dumb," he explained calmly. He stood up and crashed his hand against the wall besides her head as his face hovered above her, dangerously close to hers. "You better watch your moves around me because who knows what can happen to you, Akira Yamada."

The insane look in his dark eyes caused her to freeze on her spot and not utter a single word. She simply stared at him, fear mixed with curiosity swimming in her tensed eyes. Tobi chuckled and moved away from her, finally getting out of the room. Akira was able to release the breath trapped in her lungs and her first thought was to get out of the room.

The little light falling on the poster-covered walls indicated that she was in her shared room with Tobi and she soon found the light switch. She pulled the door open and after seeing that no one was in the hallway, she tiptoed towards the bathroom. Thankfully, no one seemed to be in there either and she instantly locked the door behind her.

"Shit."

One look at herself in the mirror was enough to make the events of the previous night apparent to her. Her right hand was wrapped with bandages and her torso was nearly fully-wrapped above her stomach. Her face was a mess; she had a black eye, a seemingly-fractured nose and bruises decorated her neck and swelled cheeks. She could feel pain by just looking at herself.

Just don't look, don't look, she thought as she teared her eyes from the mirror. She stripped and changed into the remaining set of clean clothes she had brought from her house- a pair of light brown shorts and a simple white T-shirt. Then, she sat on the toilet seat cover and contemplated what to do next.

The sound of the doorknob turning snapped her out of her thoughts and she rushed to unlock it. Her blondie friend stood on the doorway, a toothbrush hanging from his mouth as he stared at her.

"Oh . . . Deidara."

"Oi, Akira . . . You look like shit, man."

She simply shook her head, "Wanna come with me to my house? I need to take the last of my stuff from there."

The blondie shrugged, "If you treat me to dango afterwards."

"Sure. At the door in five minutes."

Without sparing him another glance, she walked down the hallway and found herself in front of a door with the label "Infirmary" on it. She opened the door without knocking yet no one appeared to be inside.

"What are you doing?"

Akira snapped her head to the side and came face-to-face with the grim face of the person she was searching for. Holding back a yelp, she completely span around and closed the door of the infirmary.

"Ah, um, I . . . Uh . . ."

The male in front of her didn't bat an eye and continued staring down at her with his pale green eyes, thing which made Akira more nervous and fidgety. 

"I wanted to thank you for treating my wounds, Kakuzu-san."

Kakuzu simply grunted and pushed her to the side as he entered the infirmary and closed the door behind him. The ginger huffed, ignoring his rudeness, and descended the stairs; it wasn't much later that her bomber friend joined her.

"What did that bastard tell you, hm?"

An amused grin occupied her face, "Oho, I notice an apathy there?"

"Bastard will ask you for a generous reward after wrapping some bandages around your wrist," Deidara hissed, closing the door behind them after they got out of the building.

The afternoon sun hit them straight on the face and Akira started leading their way towards her house.

"Well, that's weird, he didn't tell me a thing about a reward or something."

Deidara quirked his visible eyebrow, "Then it's already paid somehow."

Tobi. His named popped quickly in her mind and she scowled. Why did that asshole pay for me? I didn't ask him to do jack shit for me.

The two spent the rest of the way silent, often exchanging a few words on multiple issues. A cool breeze would blow then and there, signalling the beginning of the summer. The summer vacations were approaching quickly and everyone was eager for them after the mid-term exams.

Akira stopped abruptly in front of a house.

"Wait here, I'll be out in twenty minutes."

Deidara nodded and the girl fiddled with the keys in her hand, finally unlocking the door and stepping inside. 

The house was awfully quiet but the shoes in the entrance indicated that she wasn't alone. She peeked into the living room- empty. The police devices were decorating the low table instead of the regular vase of flowers and the wires had almost swallowed the carpet under it. Briefly, she remembered not reporting last night's mission to her father's team in addition to her communicating device breaking during the fight. She walked over and simply left her own devices on the table that were given to her, even her untraceable cellphone.

The hallway where the bedrooms were suited was eerily silent and empty but that didn't stop her from reaching her bedroom. Akira inspected the untouched room and wandered inside. She took out a backpack from her closet and started filling it with clean clothes and underwear, a couple of books and her favorite pair of Converse shoes. Along with them went her old cellphone device and a pack of gums.

Her eyes fell on a framed picture on her desk and she instantly grabbed it. It was an old picture of her mother and her, the six-year old her pouting with dirt swept across her face while her mother seemed to be laughing at this sight, her light brown hair brushing in a swift motion against her shoulders.

You have your mother's eyes.

Akira clicked her tongue at the remembrance of her father's words and shoved the frame inside the bag along with the rest of her items. Rage filled her instantly and at that moment, she knew: she could do what was to be done.

With her backpack on her arm, the ginger strode to the end of the hallway. She stared at the wooden door of her father's office for a bit before turning the handle and entering. 

Sato raised his eyes from the documents he was examining and stared nonchalantly at his daughter. "Akira. I've been expecting you."

Akira paused her step a few meters away from his desk, standing still, "Good."

"Give me the report," he demanded as he stared at her set of injuries with no particular interest.

"No."

"What?"

His response was almost immediate with obvious anger and surprise dripping from it.

"I said no. There's no report," she replied, her gaze hardening at the sight of him. "Hell, even if there was one, I wouldn't give it to you for sure."

"I don't understand."

"What is there not to get?!" she exclaimed, glaring at him as if her stare alone could kill him. Her hands were balled into fists unconsciously. "I won't continue working for you or the police. I quit. I'm not going to continue being an object, a tool you can use whenever you remember I exist. I'm done, father."

And with that, Akira tightened her hand around her backpack strap and span around. Sato was startled to say the least, and he stood up abruptly, quickening his step towards her. The girl opened the door of his office and stepped outside, quickly closing it behind her with her hand still on the handle and using it as a barrier between them.

He banged his fist from the inside of the office, "You can't do this. We're close to uncovering their real identities. We're doing this for your mother! They did this!"

"They didn't kill mom. They're just children." She bit her lip at the remembrance of Tobi telling her that Utakata was dead, mostly from his hand. "They're children like me."

Sato kicked the door with force, though made no effort to open it, "How can you do this to your mother?!"

"Dad!" Akira screamed, banging her first on the door with equal force that gave it a numb sensation. "Mom is dead! This continuous and meaningless chase, everything you've put me through . . . You're doing this for yourself. You want revenge from the people who killed mom; you killed her! You fucking killed her by not protecting her when everything happened! And now you're killing me slowly by putting me in these dangerous situations. And fuck, that's selfish!"

When no reply came from inside the office, Akira let go of the door handle and took a step back. She could feel tears burning in her eyes but at that moment, she didn't care even if she returned back to having panic attacks. 

"I don't know if I can even call you my father anymore."

  。。。＊ 。。。＊。。。＊。。。 

Deidara swore to himself that he would die of boredom if he waited any longer for his friend. He was seated on the edge of the sidewalk for a good thirty minutes, throwing small rocks that were laying on the side of the road to the neighbor's dog that couldn't stop barking.

When will he come? I'm hungry, ugh.

As if on cue, the door of the house opened and Akira emerged from the inside. The blonde stood up and flipped his middle finger to her. 

"I've been waiting for years! What were you doing, hm?"

Her eyes were glued to the pavement and she snapped up her head, earning a quirky look from Deidara, "Oh, sorry about that. I had to settle some . . . business."

Deidara nodded his head and placed his hands behind it, "I feel you, un. Had the same trouble when I abandoned my town to come here."

Both of them took their way towards the center of the town with the dark blanket of night slowly occupying the blue sky.

"You weren't always living here?"

"Nah, I used to live in Iwa. It's quite shitty there." Deidara furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm glad I moved out."

"Mm, I see. Let's go for that dango now, eh?"

"Hell yeah! I didn't wait for half an hour with a barking dog for nothing, un!"

Akira couldn't help but crack a smile at the blonde's eagerness for food; truth was that she was equally hungry and exhausted. Her whole torso was pained from her injuries and yelling but that didn't stop her from enjoying the slight moment of peace with her throbbing heart pounding inside her.

"Hey, Deidara."

"Hm?"

"Do you know how to cut hair?"