Red Clouds: The Strangers of Fate

by Akatsuki God

Chapter 14: Old Friends

Upon rejoining the Akatsuki, Kisame couldn't help but feel sorry for the ponies that once lived in the Krystal Empire, which came to him as a surprise because to him, the ponies had nothing to do with the Akatsuki directly and there for didn't have much to do with him either. None the less, he repaid them by saving their princess although he did so mainly out of loyalty towards the Akatsuki. Itachi had met up with him in the hideout near Canterlot as they had a mission that required every member of the Akatsuki. "It's been too long....Kisame." Itachi said. He was staring at Canterlot and didn't even attempt to turn to Kisame.

Kisame grinned. "It has been a while since we actually went on a mission together, hasn't it?" He then stepped foreword until he was standing at Itachi's side. "I wonder what those loud mouths, Hidan and Deidara are going to blurt out at the very sight of me." After saying that, he saw Kakuzu along with Hidan walking in there direction. "Well speak of the devil." He commented.

"Hidan, next time you want to chase after your girlfriend, tell me before hand, or ill kill you." Kakuzu threatened. "I don't care if she is the only one who ever considered you to be her friend." He then stated. He then stopped as he noticed Kisame.

Hidan was somewhat behind Kakuzu and stopped ahead of him, not even noticing Kisame. "Will you quit your nagging already!?" He demanded. "Honestly, if you keep making empty threats like that then ill put a curse on you!" Kakuzu said nothing. "What is it n-" Kakuzu interupted his question by grabbing his head and turning it to face Kisame. At first, Hidan was caught off guard by the sudden action and as soon as he recognized Kisame, he too fell silent.

A moment had passed as the three continued to stare at each other. Kisame was still grinning and Hidan took a step back. He then grabbed his scythe and charged at Kisame and swung at him furiously. "Damn you! It's because of you that they think we are against them!" He then yelled as Kisame dodged his attack by jumping back.

"I expected as much from you Hidan." Kisame taunted. "But still it's a bit sad that you would attack an old friend like that without so mush as a hello."

Hidan was gritting his teeth, he hated the former members of the Akatsuki because of their recent assault on the ponies and for one of them to appear right in front of him set him off.

"But who am I kidding, you always were the type to charg in like a moron on the very moment someone annoys you." He then continued, further angering him.

Hidan started at him again, dragging the tips of the blades of the scythe in the ground as he did so. "Will you shut up and die already!?" He was then stopped by Kakuzu, who grabbed his rist. Hidan looked back at Kakuzu. "Kakuzu you idiot, what the hell are you doing!?"

"What does it look like I'm doing idiot? I'm stopping you from doing anything rash. Besides unlike you, Kisame isn't an idiot, he wouldn't show up here after that attack without a reason." Kakuzu suggested. He then turned to Kisame. "Go on, explain yourself, or I'll kill you myself."

Kisame had expected this from Kakuzu, he wanted to say that it was his undying loyalty that led him a stray from the Koyoake and although he had such loyalty, it wasn't the full reason. "Well I'm here cause I'm still a member of the Akatsuki." He then said and although Hidan and Kakuzu were both having doubt about what he was saying, he continued. "You see, I left the Akatsuki with Tobi, Zetsu, and Orochimaru only to gather intel about their plans, however, Itachi was the one who put me up to it." He then said, catching the two off guard as Itachi was still silent as he continued to stare off into the distance.

"So this whole time you were a spy that fooled even the Akatsuki into thinking you were of the Koyoake?" Kakuzu questioned in intrigue. "Interesting, I knew Itachi was one to carefully asses and analyze a situation and plan out the best way to counter such situations, but....even I couldn't catch wind of this until now." He looked at Itachi and saw that he was still silent. "A bold and clever strategy that I didn't expect, even from Itachi." He then let go of Hidan's arm.

Hidan just starred at Kisame with a blank expression then he lifted the scythe into the air and placing it on his back. "Huh, maybe you should start sharing your ideas with the rest of us, Itachi, I mean for Jashine's sake, I almost killed him!" he suggested angerly. He then turned to the road they had come from. After that he noticed Konan walking up. "Oh it's you, did you find whatever that pain in the neck leader sent you to the crystal place for?"

Konan was silent but approaching Kisame with a serious expression embedded upon her face. Eventually she stopped in between him and Hidan, still staring him down. "It appears that the ponies of this world are true to their word." She finally said to the other members. "I have spoken with Pain, and he wishes for us to move out."

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{Later that day-Canterlot}

Rainbow Dash layed in a cloud, high in the afternoon sky. The sun was low and golden, seemingly touching the harizen as it inched its way down. The air was cool and soothing for her which helped little for her as she was in tears. "Why?" She silently asked herself. It was at about this time that a pegasus stallion with a black mane that was lined in a single row of small spikes that were combed back. He also wore a blue suit with yellow lightening bolts going throughout it and was also wearing googles. He had brought Fluttershy along with him, as she had been looking for Rainbow after a meeting in the castle, in which she had left after Princess Celestia had painfully announced that the Akatsuki had become a threat to Equestria and that any if not all members were to be eliminated.

Fluttershy looked to the stallion next to her as they stopped. "Thank you, Sorin, for your help, I've been worried about her." She said to him. "Ill be sure to give you an apple pie later."

Sorin smiled at the thought of eating the said pie and nodded. "Well you take it easy, our captain hasn't been herself sinse the attack on the Crystal Empire, I'm guessing she was close with some of the ponies there." He said, dropping his smile upon mentioning the attack.

"Well that's one reason, yes, but not the main one." She then said, as she motioned for him to leave them. She then flew at Rainbow as Sorin just stayed in the same spot as he just stared at her, curiously tilting his head before shrugging and flying off in the opposite direction.

Fluttershy flew to Rainbow as she was almost overwhelmed with concern. She came to her side before Rainbow had noticed her. "What do you want, Fluttershy?" She asked her friend. "I really don't care if the meeting wasn't over yet, just leave me alone!" She concluded, giving Fluttershy no time to reply.

Fluttershy's ears went down, but she continued toward her. "I'm sorry, but I was worried and I just had to check up on you, I didn't mean to bother you like this." She explained apologetically. The two fell silent as Fluttershy awaited for a reply from Rainbow. "Are you upset about the situation with Hidan and the Akatsuki?" She then asked which caused Rainbow's ears to perk up as she quickly turned to her with a mix of emotions; anger, confusion, hopelessness, distress, sadness, all of which were present and made easily recognizable to Fluttershy.

She then turned away. "Yes...." She admitted, lowering her head in defeat as she did so. "It's....just not fair. Why is it that my new friend has to be killed the moment any pony sees him?"

Fluttershy stared at Rainbow as she herself began to tear up from her friend's situation. To her, Raknbow Dash had always been the tough pony that could take almost anything without any problems especially after her mastery of the sonic rainbow, a legendary technique that required tremendous amounts of concentration and even more speed, so seeing her like this made her feel bad for her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring it up..." She said only to be met with silence. "Maybe you should talk to Princess Luna, she also made a friend from the Akatsuki and I sure she knows exactly how you feel right now." She then suggested as she tried to provide some pony to talk to who probably knew what she was going through.

After hearing that, Rainbow had remembered her encounter with Itachi as he spoke with Luna, she was well aware that the two had met and that he had spent a few days in her room in the castle but she was unsure of how close they actually were. Non the less, he had frightened her when she was eavesdropping on the two and was almost immediately caught by him as his sharringan eyes were forever burned into her memory sending a chill down her spine. "I know....." She replied, however finding it hard to believe that someone who seemed cold and bitter could become a friends with the kind hearted Princess Luna.
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{Manehattan}

Shining Armor sat at a large wooden round table as he met with his centurions and the director of the town's militia they had met just a few minutes after the legion's arrival in the encampment to get acquainted and also to plan out the best defensive strategy to use against their invaders based on what they knew about them. "Let us begin, Captain Shining Armor, you may speak." Announced the militia's director.

After that, Shining nodded. "As you all know, we and our very way of life is under attack by the changeling and our once noble allies, the griffins, who have desided to act in an unforgivable manor when they agreed to attack us and dishonor the centuries old friendship between us. Today we came to Manehattan as we fear they will attack here to gain a major foothold in Equestria, which we simply cannot allow." He explained, watching every pony who was seated with him to make sure they were on the same page and, when he received a nod from the director, he turned to Shock and signaled with a nod for him to speak.

The centurion nodded back before looking to the director. "Intel suggests that although the griffins and changelings have united against us, they have been moving separately, what's more is we have had reports from some local pegasus ponies that there have been a few strange ponies who aren't from around that had come and gone, giving us reason to believe that the first major strike against equestria will be led by the changelings, but there is more still. We have had several sightings of a large white object that, according to the local ponies along with a few legionaries, appeared to move on its own, seemingly following our movements."

The director gave them a look of curiosity as to why this was important, especially sense the changelings could only mimic the appearance of ponies and anything else couldn't have been one, especially non-living objects such a the said cloud.

"A cloud?" He asked. "What, may I ask, would be the significance of a strange cloud?"

"Are you aware of the band of humans that have been summoned some time ago that had attacked the Crystal Empire?" Shining questioned and as soon as he nodded, he continued. "One of them went by the name Deidara, and he had the ability to mold clay into the shape of a bird and expand them to a size that allowed him to stand on top of it as it flies."

The director rose an eyebrow at the mention of Deidara's abilities and how their sightings of a strange cloud off in the distance that could move on its own pointed to him based on said ability. "This human...what does he look like and what form of combat does he use?" He asked, heavily anticipating his answer so as to know exactly what to look for.

Shining Armor had clenched his teeth for a second upon remembering, it wasn't so much of Deidara's physical appearance that had sparked this, but just the red clouds on that dark cloak that seemed to torment him as he remembered the reported attack on the Crystal Empire. "He's a blond man with blue eyes with a pony tail and a trail of hair covering his left eye. He also wears a certain outfit that all of them wear, a dark robe with a red cloud pattern." the same pattern that had haunted him ever since the attack on the Crystal Empire.

Author's Note:

To everyone who is reading my story I have two announcements.

1. I'm very sorry that I have not been updating, but I have been busy with school and I'm in band so that gives me less free time.

2. I may be changing the name of the story to "Red Clouds: The Strangers of Fate" pretty soon but I want all of you to leave a comment with your opinion on this, basically if you think it's better that way or as it is now.