Moons of Red Chapter 20

Cooking was one of the things that made Fia's life the way it was. Being the fact she was a perfectionist like her mother and an opportunist like her father, not having some ingredients, common in her own realm, but rare here, was outrageous.

Several herbs, essential for her type of cooking, were missing. And Asian food was getting boring. The most heartbreaking experience for her so far was the lack of potatoes, which was a complete paradox, since, in the series, Chouji constantly munched on chips. Fia, determined to get to the bottom of this, even found the brand, and discovered that those chips were...rice chips. And after several days her panic grew at the rate of the list of ingredients she was missing. Wheat, corn, potatoes, rosemary, grapes, oranges, any sort of citrus really, and so on. They had chocolate though, but it alone wasn't enough. And curry was no way in hell like any sort of chilly or normal peppers. The mental breakdown was imminent.

And, in the event of the said mental breakdown, MJ and L-chan had decided to pay a visit to Pein. Fia had locked herself in the bathroom, sulking in her emo corner. And, as Pein had the unpleasure to find out, he alone had the power to make her get out of the by a simple order.

Indeed, he had much to do, but leaving for five minutes to settle something as childish as Fia's shenanigans was refreshing. Everything was better that paperwork. And the girls turned out to be a lot more than they let on. And everyday he learned something new about them.

'I will by no means give you any of my precious men or women for the mere pursuit of food ingredients.' Pein was currently glaring at an equally stubborn blonde. When one pushed the right buttons, Fia could be serious. And with her, food was serious business. Pein's/ Madara's babies were not part of her holy trinity, consisting of food, knowledge and computers.

The orange-haired man still wondered how he ended up arguing with her about food. Then again, she WAS a genius, and a damn sneaky one to boot. Rose and Michael were silent, mere observers of their verbal duel. He was their superior, and they couldn't disobey him. Fia was their friend and they couldn't go against her. Since displeasing either was out of the question, they were currently on the neutral grounds.

That did not explain how the blonde had the guts to argue with him, let alone stare him in the eyes with such fierceness...

But in the course of the observing them for four weeks, he had learned one thing. This one Fiona was stupendously blind of the dangers she put herself into. Or maybe she was too calculating? Even he couldn't place it. It had been a week since they had defeated Takeshiro, and since he was repairing his tedious nerves, they had made a good use of their alone time, by indulging themselves with Hidan and Kakuzu.

Flashback

'You are late.' The Akatsuki leader glared at the Albino and the tall masked man.

'Forgive us, Leader-sama... we were delayed.'

Pein raised his eyebrows mentally. When would greedy old Kakuzu be delayed by anything when time was money? Despite his outward Leaderly attitude, he found himself asking:

'Delayed?'Curiosity could get even the best of us.

'Damn fucking wenches had big hooters.' Hidan smiled crookedly, a slightly perverted gleam in his eyes.

Kakuzu glared at Hidan. Could the stupid idiot not open his big stupid mouth at least once? Especially not at a crucial moment? The temperature in the room dropped by 70 degrees, Celsius of course, as killer intent exploded from the otherwise calm and collected Leader-sama. The stitched old man swallowed the lump of fear in his throat.

'Kakuzu, you disappoint me.' Pein stated calmly. That translated was actually along the lines of: 'You were late because you were picking up chicks!'

'Chill out for fucking Jashin's sake, man! The fucking bitches hit on us!' Hidan said in their defence.

'Is it true Kakuzu?' Pein asked, still looking as intimidating as he could possibly be. There was no getting out of this for them.

The stitched man nodded.

'Three weird young women, a red head, a black haired girl and a...'

'Blonde?' Pein finished.

'You fucking know em!' Hidan shouted incredulously. 'Fucking damn! And I thought you had a ten foot pole up your ass... I mean... MFF!'

Kakuzu stitched Hidan's mouth shut. There was no way he was going to let Hidan call Pein gay or something of the sort. Did the Albino have a brain at all? He doubted that.

Pein and Kakuzu ignored the fuming and now also wrapped up in black strings Hidan- now an inefficient background noise.

'Be mindful of them. They seem to be quite intriguing and might be useful to the cause. Do not be fooled by their demeanour. Especially by the blonde's happy-go-lucky attitude.'

Hidan stopped thrashing and even he listened carefully.

'While you are in Amegakure make sure to keep an eye on them when you cross paths.'

'May I ask why...?' Kakuzu started, but Pein answered before he even finished his question.

'A group of ninjas were sent by me to investigate a sighting of people in the forest. The group brought them back. In a nutshell, they are suspicious but they haven't shown any signs of actually being ninja... still, many things about them are disturbingly weird.'

The Leader took out their files from his desk and Kakuzu took a look at them. Being a Bounty hunter had made him quite the connections...

'They're not the only ones.' He finally said, actually surprising Pein for once. At least it paid off to have him about with all those connections.

'I've heard rumours of strangely clad people... just appearing out of nowhere...' Kakuzu looked meaningly at Pein.' Two men and two women in Snow Country. Three of them seemed to be Hyuugas by the descriptions. No headbands whatsoever...strange clothing, that sort of thing. They appeared after a massive avalanche.'

Pein nodded, quite intrigued by the turn of events. Kakuzu continued:

'A woman and a young girl, in her early teens, were found near Suna. The only reason why I believe they have some connection to all of this is because they were taken to live in the Kazekage Mansion.'

There was silence for a few moments in which Pein processed the information.

'Anything else?'

'I tried to look up information on them. Nothing on the Bingo Books, let alone information about them at all anywhere!' Kakuzu stressed on the last part.' As if they appeared out of thin air. I also found out that there was some guy in Konoha who seems to have just decided to live there, the thing is that the Hokage is keeping a close eye on him. My informant told me that there were all kinds of gossip about him. Most is probably gibberish but one isn't.'

Kakuzu paused and said the next part of his impromptu speech with a glint in his eyes:

'Rumour has it he is a long lost Uchiha.'

Silence hit Pein's office like a Blacksmith's hammer on an anvil. Usually, Pein was not one to look up the more absurd rumours. He needed solid facts. This time, however absurd the whole situation, the facts were in his hands, and Kakuzu merely brought the latest ninja gossip.

In the shadowy world of ninja, being ahead with information was crucial. And Pein had just found himself in the middle of a very complicated puzzle, in which those three girls played a crucial role.

Thus, they were, in a sense, telling the truth. At this point his gut feeling was telling him something was very off. He felt disturbed, as he hadn't ever since the death of Yahiko. Having a great surge of energy and then people randomly appearing... And these girls, the way they were, so strangely clad and looking like them... Was it possible for them to come from...somewhere else? He had to get to the bottom of this.

'Kakuzu.'

'Hai, Leader-sama.'

'Try to find as much as possible on this peculiar case without raising suspicion or gaining unwanted attention. And do not speak of this to the others. That goes for you too, Hidan. You may leave.'

Kakuzu nodded and picked up the wrapped up in black strings Hidan like a sack of potatoes and left Pein's office.

End of Flashback

Well, indulging was not the right word...

'No, Pein-samaaaa! I just can't just eat or cook Asian food alone! I perfected my cooking skills for a reason! Plus I pride myself with my exquisite taste and...'

'I will tell you for the last time,'He started calmly, even if he was barely holding himself back from dismembering and beheading her.'I don't care about your cooking and I will not spare a shinobi to help you out.'

'You have my Bible and I'm not complaining. I'm under 24/7 surveillance and I'm not complaining. I can't read any friggin' sing or a book, let alone speak in katakana, and I'm still not complaining. I think it would be fair if you allowed us to search the nearby forest grounds for any of the ingredients we might need.'

'Out of the question.'

The blonde sighed in a dramatic, heartbreaking fashion. Pein narrowed his ringed grey eyes at her. He was in no way going to indulge himself with her pitiful display. Still, neither was going to give up.

At this pint Fia was ready to negotiate. So far she had only showed the mere tip of the iceberg and she was still considered the weakest, even if she was quite smart(that being an understatement). It was obviously time for negotiation, as she often did so with her parents when she wanted something they did not allow her to have or to do.

'I built the Bible.' she merely stated and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

He did not react in any way, while her pose clearly indicated she was waiting for him to put two and two together. L-chan and MJ looked at each other. Something important had happened and they were going to have a little chat with Fia about this.

Meanwhile, Pein was trying to figure out the value (if any) of the statement. She had mentioned this bible a few times. It was obviously an object that was important to her and that he had in his possession. Then why was it so important to tell him she had built...oh.

'The black box with the golden markings?'

'Yes, Leader-sama.' Fia barely stopped herself from grinning boastfully about it. It had taken him two-three seconds to figure it out.

He glared at her.

'You kept that fact to yourselves.'

'I didn't feel obliged to inform you of it. After all, that black box is merely my diary and a form of entertainment, sir.'

'From now on you will inform me of everything I order you to tell me, is that clear? I have important matters to attend to and yet I have to deal with your incompetence.' It was a lecture, even if he spoke so calmly, as he always did. Fia always wondered where he got all that patience from, but right now she was dealing with the fact that he had called her incompetent. This meant it was time to get serious as in really serious. She needed to show him she was tough, and that she was worthy of him.

It was not exactly clear through what kind of twisted logic she got into her head she had to prove worthy of him, but there was evidence that the truth lied along the lines of Fanaticism.

Her posture had changed, she was standing tall and straight, like the string of a bow, and her hands were clutching to each other, her eyes glistering with silent fury.

Indeed he was right. He wasn't the first to tell her that sort of thing but it was the way she lead her life.

At first she opened her mouth slightly and then shut it, as if wanting to say something but then deciding against it. The blonde then sighed audibly and smiled politely, albeit in a strikingly cold fashion.

'This incompetent one, despite common belief, has suffered enough with trying to live up to others expectations. I found peace of mind in enjoying the simple things in life. One of them is building things you, sir Leader, never knew existed in the first place. The other one is cooking. So, if I am not to build highly explosive sausages for the sake of it, then I am fairly sure you will at least guide me to a library, where I would try and find what I'm looking for.'

A small grin appeared on the man's face. She always ended up twisting anything she said into something absurd. Highly explosive sausages? Then again she spoke sincerely. But that was not the reason why he smiled. It was because he realized something.

The blonde before him had taken some kind of interest in him and it was only now that he had noticed it. In terms of relationships, her and her two friends had a very stable, deep bond, each of them having a very well placed position in it. From the blonde's side, Rose and Michael were, in fact the only people she actually confided into. Her communications with other people however were completely different. Other people were metaphoric toys in her hands with which she played and which she set up, as she pleased. She was the most openly manipulative of the three. It was a very useful skill which she put to good use along with her charms.

And then came he, the man who made it somewhat possible for her to toy with people and get away with it. When she met someone new, she always experimented with them, eager to socialize. Hidan for example, he had been informed, was a sort of acquaintance, and not a toy. It seemed she was looking for the most important members of Akatsuki's liaison. But among the others it was only him to which she listened... and yet she did not. It was as if she purposely sought his attention, and was somewhat succeeding in getting.

He did not know to what ends did she look for his companionship. It was a subtle battle of wits, he had realized, and she was trying to gain his attention without raising his suspicion. He was indeed impressed by her sheer ability and dedication to her self-appointed mission. After all he had caught her after a month, a testatement of her skills.

Sure, if she wanted some sort of relationship, he needed to make sure she woudln't notice his discovery of her supposed plans. He would give her what she wanted, and she would reveal her secrets. And easy trade. Still, he was reminded that despite their friendly attitude, they still didn't trust him.

'I will send for a Chuunin to help you and watch over you while you look for these... ingredients.'

'You will?' she seemed dumbfounded, an expression worthy for a classic blonde moment.

'I believe I spoke quite clearly.'

'Oh, thank you, Leader-sama! You won't be sorry, I promise! And I will bring you samples! Nobody has ever resisted or capped their resistance against my ungodly cooking prowess!'

After her cheerful exit, along with Rose and Michael, he audibly sighed. Had he just spent an hour and a half arguing about food? He needed a break. Maybe Konan would finish the paperwork while he went to train.