Chapter Text
It’s a cold day in the Akatsuki hideout, and it’s certainly not any warmer in the throne room that Pein insists on spending all of his time in. Kakuzu has been called in for a briefing of sorts - the leader of the Akatsuki said he has some news for him.
“I’m getting a new partner?” asks Kakuzu as soon as he’s given the information. “That’s pretty fast, even for you.”
Pein smiles humorlessly. “I had Kisame and Itachi retrieve her a week ago. She’s been in recovery since then.”
Kakuzu snorts. “They roughed her up that badly? I’m not sure I’m a good fit, then.”
“You’d be surprised,” Pein replies vaguely. “Somehow, I think this one will stay.” He turns slightly towards the hallway leading to the medical rooms. “Come out, Ema.”
A girl walks into the room, and Kakuzu instantly recognizes her. He’s seen those cold blue eyes before, staring up at him from a Sunagakure bingo book page. Her hair is much shorter than the last time he’s seen a picture of her before, though, and he wonders if Kisame has something to do with that.
“You must be Kakuzu-san,” she says softly. Her expression is carefully neutral.
“Ema of the Red Wind,” he replies.
She frowns, just a little bit, and then her face is blank as a mask again. “I see my reputation precedes me.”
“I’d thought you’d be older.”
“Most people do,” she agrees. She turns to Pein. “Leader, is there anything you would like for me to do before we leave?”
“You are both dismissed,” he says. “Do try not to kill this one, Kakuzu. She’s a rather strong fighter.”
Kakuzu barely stops himself from rolling his eyes. “Right. Okay, girl. Follow me.” He turns and walks out of the throne room, Ema trailing silently after him.
“How old are you?” he asks. “I was under the impression of twenties, maybe thirties if you had some sort of rejuvenating jutsu.”
“I am seventeen,” she says. “I made genin at ten, chuunin at eleven, special jounin at twelve, and general jounin at fifteen.”
“Fair enough.”
They walk in silence until they reach Kakuzu’s room.
“Your bed will be the one by the door,” he says. “Your dresser is the one across from your bed. We have a shower connected to the room, but no bathtub. You’ll have to ask Itachi or Kisame about that.” He watches the girl’s expression closely, looking for a hint of recognition, but sees nothing. Interesting. “Anyways, for now, follow me anywhere you wish to go. Once you meet the others, you can bother them instead. Be careful not to enter the others’ rooms, I know Sasori has trapped his doorway. That might just be to irritate Deidara, though.”
Ema nods. “Thank you for the information, Kakuzu-san.”
“No need to be so formal,” he sighs. “You’re my equal now, no matter the age or seniority. That’s how things work around here.”
She looks up at him confusedly. “This is just how I am.”
“Oh. Right.” Dealing with impolite bastards every second of every day kind of makes manners seem odd.
The girl lays down on her bed, not even bothering to pull the covers over her, and falls asleep within minutes.
“Must be recovering from a genjutsu,” Kakuzu murmurs to himself. From what he knows, Ema is primarily a taijutsu specialist. She probably isn’t good at deflecting genjutsu. He’ll have to work with her on that if he has time. No use in her being his partner if she’s weak.
He heads to the bathroom for a shower and lets the steam clear his mind. Ema is definitely not what he expected. Small, detached, polite - she’s the opposite of Kakuzu. He’s the second tallest of everyone in the Akatsuki, he regularly kills people in fits of anger, and he’s not the kindest. Ema will take some getting used to. She’s not a throwaway like his last two partners had been, that much is obvious. Pein must really see something in her. He might as well give her a chance.
Kakuzu turns off the water and quickly dries himself off, leaving his hair wet and not caring one bit about it. He enters the bedroom quietly, trying not to wake up his new partner, but she appears to be awake already. He sighs, sits on his bed, and waits for her to speak.
“I apologize for falling asleep so soon,” she says, exhaustion lacing her voice. “I didn’t even ask if you needed me for something.”
Something in his chest tightens, and Kakuzu shakes his head. “It’s fine. Go back to bed. Get under the covers, though, or you’ll get sick. You’ll be useless if you’re ill.”
“Your hair is wet,” says Ema, ignoring him. She stands and heads for the bathroom. “Wait here.”
She returns with a dry towel and cautiously approaches Kakuzu. She doesn’t appear afraid, merely apprehensive. She touches the towel to his head, and when she isn’t stopped, begins drying his hair.
“I don’t get sick, you know,” he gripes half-heartedly, unwilling to fight this late at night.
“Your pillow might mold,” she counters.
“I thought you’d be afraid of me.”
“You’re not nearly as frightening as the children I used to babysit.”
Kakuzu huffs a surprised laugh. “You? Babysitting kids?”
Ema pulls away and tosses the towel back into the bathroom. “That’s a story for another time,” she says, but there’s a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. Then she yawns, and Kakuzu does the same.
“Bedtime,” he says. “Don’t forget to pull the covers over you this time.”
“I don’t need you to tell me to sleep,” she says with a slight scowl. “I was going to sleep anyways.”
“Alright, alright.” He reaches up to a lamp and pulses a bit of chakra through it, turning it off. Ema does the same with the lamp above her bed.
He lays down and is asleep so quickly that he almost misses Ema’s quiet “sleep well, Kakuzu-san”.
Morning comes bright and early, not that Kakuzu would know it. The only natural light in the entire hideout is in the throne room. However, every shinobi worth their salt has an inner clock that tells them exactly when to get up.
Kakuzu assumes that he has approximately half an hour before his would normally go off when he wakes to yelling in the hallway.
“I don’t want to kill you!”
“You snuck into the hideout! There’s no reason for you to be here, un!”
“Deidara. Why is it always Deidara?” Kakuzu groans before dragging himself out of the bed and out into the hallway. A glance at the empty bed next to the door helps put the puzzle together and create a picture that he isn’t entirely unsurprised about.
Before Deidara can yell any more and wake the entire hideout, Kakuzu grabs him by the collar and shakes him. “Didn’t Leader tell you about our new recruit, brat?”
“Woah, woah! I wasn’t told anything about a new recruit!”
“Surprise?” says Ema weakly, pushing at the hand around her neck. Deidara lets go, and Kakuzu nearly winces at the bruise already forming on the girl’s throat.
“Listen here, blondie. This is my new partner. She’s in recovery after being recruited. So unless you want to be the one to get another S-Rank ninja to replace her, I’d suggest leaving her alone.”
“Right,” says Deidara, swallowing hard. He turns to Ema and rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. “I’m sorry for attacking you, un. I’ll get you some bruise salve later. I’m Deidara. Nice to meet you.”
“I’m Ema,” the girl replies. “I’m sorry for not explaining my intentions properly.” She bows deeply. “I look forward to working with you.”
Deidara eyes her curiously. “How old are you?”
“Seventeen. How old are you?”
“Thirteen!” The blond grins. “So, we’re both kids!”
Kakuzu braces himself for the explosion that he’s sure is to follow, and is more than a little surprised when Ema quirks a smile and nods.
“I suppose we are.”
He sighs with relief and crosses his arms. “So, Deidara. What brings you to our room?”
Deidara pales. “Oh, crap! Right! You have a mission! Ema-chan too, I guess.” He glances at the girl, who looks amused. “Leader says to go report to him.”
“Right,” says Kakuzu. “Let me get dressed.”
Two minutes later, he, Ema, and Deidara are walking down the long and winding hallway to get to the throne room. The girl is mostly quiet, listening to the blond chatter on and on about art and explosions. Every once in awhile, she replies to a question that’s been asked, but is near silent the entire duration of the conversation. Kakuzu doesn’t know how she can do it.
Deidara waves goodbye to Ema at the door to the throne room, then heads off, probably to go back to sleep in the room he shares with Sasori.
“Good morning, Leader. I apologize for our lateness,” Ema says as they enter the throne room. Pein waves his hand dismissively.
“No matter. It’s not urgent.”
Kakuzu closes the door behind them, blocking out the last of the dim artificial light. Windows line the walls of the huge room, and sunlight is streaming in. It’s rare for any part of the hideout to be this well-lit, and Kakuzu finds himself wishing that there were windows in at least the kitchen.
“Now that you have arrived,” Pein says, “I have a mission for you two.”
He quickly debriefs them on the ins and outs of their target, a missing-nin from Kirigakure. They’re to kill him and report back within 5 days.
Before Pein lets them leave, he gives Ema a coat matching the rest of the Akatsuki.
“I wanted to see if you’d survive the night before I gave it to you,” he explains. “Sorry for not having faith in you.”
“I wouldn’t have faith in me either,” replies Ema evenly. “Kakuzu-san’s a scary guy.”
Pein simply hums in reply. Kakuzu turns a snort into a cough.
After Ema tugs on her coat, they leave the hideout. It’s early February, and thus extremely cold. Despite trying her best to tough out the below-freezing temperatures, Ema shivers almost violently as she and Kakuzu jump from tree to tree.
“Are you alright, girl?” he asks.
“I am perfectly fine,” she huffs back. “Focus on yourself.”
A few hours later, the duo stops to eat lunch. Ema is shaking so badly that she almost drops her chopsticks twice. Kakuzu sighs and decides to take pity on her.
“I’m going to build a fire and take a nap. We have plenty of time to find and kill this guy.”
Ema doesn’t have the willpower to say no, so she helps her partner build a fire and huddles close to it as Kakuzu lays down.
She watches as her partner’s breathing evens out and touches the forehead protector around her neck, a pang of homesickness hitting her. There are no forests like this in Suna. Just endless sand and rocks, with small patches of shrubs here and there. Forests have always made her feel small and alone, especially on solo missions, and now that she’s part of the Akatsuki she’ll probably never get to go back to Suna anyways.
She shakes off the thought. She can’t go back even if she wasn’t a missing-nin. Not after what they did.
Kakuzu stirs, and Ema stills. She isn’t sure how much time has passed, but she’s stopped shivering and feels ready to keep going.
Unbeknownst to the teenager, Kakuzu hasn’t slept at all. He still feigns that he had, though, and makes a show of stretching and yawning. He opens one eye and looks over at the hunched-over form of Ema.
“Ready?” he asks gruffly. The girl nods, and they put out the fire before continuing on towards the last place the missing-nin was seen.
That night, Ema sets up camp on her own while Kakuzu goes looking for water. They haven’t stumbled upon a single shinobi yet, not that either of them care. Ema finishes setting up a tent and sleeping bags and goes to start on the fire.
When Kakuzu doesn’t return an hour later, Ema begins to worry. Sure, Pein told her about Kakuzu’s immortality, but even immortals can get captured or tortured. She bites her lip and shoves the thoughts into a dark corner of her mind. She’s sure he’s alright.
But as the darkness gets stronger and the forest gets quieter, Ema’s fears start to creep back out. What if Kakuzu’s abandoned her? What if he’s been kidnapped? What if he’s hurt? She shakes her head firmly. There’s no use in worrying about her very capable partner, especially since she knows nothing about his habits.
Ema decides she’ll go looking for him in the morning if he hasn’t returned by then, but otherwise she’ll go on to bed. Rest is important.
She wakes the next morning curled up in her sleeping bag with a coat much larger than her own spread out over her body. Confusion washes over her, and she gets out of the sleeping bag and exits the tent.
There is Kakuzu, sitting calmly by the fire and reading a thick book. Ema sighs with relief, and that appears to alert the man to her presence.
“You shouldn’t sleep without someone to watch,” he says in greeting.
Ema looks away. “You were gone a very long time last night.”
“Found another missing-nin with a hefty bounty. I killed her and went to collect the money. When I came back here, you were asleep and shivering. I was worried you’d freeze to death.”
“Oh,” she says softly. “Thank you, then.”
The man shrugs. “It wouldn’t do for you to die before I get an idea of your skills.”
Ema crosses her arms and crouches beside the fire. They sit in silence for a few minutes before Kakuzu closes his book.
“You ready to clean up and get going?” he asks.
Ema nods. “I’ll go get your coat.”
“Thanks.”