"Wake up Megumi-chan!" Tobi cried as he pushed her to wake her up more.

"What is it Tobi?" She asked sleepily.

"Leader-sama told me to wake you up." He explained.

"Is Leader-chan awake?" She asked and looked at Pein. Pein shook his head and looked down at his sister still sleeping in his arms.

Megumi looked at the sky. It was now morning and they were still going to wake for Kenta so no one got ready to go.

Megumi watched Kenta sleep for a while. Daiki and Tobi did the same. Pein looked a bit nervous, but he had seen her internal structure and she was holding up fine so he didn't loose his head.

At almost noon Kenta stirred.

"Deidara?" She murmured and opened her eyes. She instantly snapped into fearless leader mode and pressed her forefinger onto her temple.

"Pein do you hear him too?" She looked up at him.

"I do." Pein nodded.

Neither of them did anything else for a moment then Kenta relaxed suddenly and looked around.

"What happened?" She asked her brother. "I know I was fighting Tayashi and I lost...What happened after that?"

"Leader-sama came in and saved our butts!" Daiki laughed.

Kenta looked up at her brother as a thank you.

"What were they talking about before?" Megumi asked her friends.

"I think Deidara-san contacted them." Tobi suggested.

"What do you mean?" Daiki asked.

"Well...As long as they are wearing one of the ten Akatsuki rings Leader-sama and Leader-chan can contact any of them or any number of them through telepathy. They can also contact them." Tobi explained.

"Oh." Megumi breathed. "That's cool."

"I wonder what Deidara-kun wanted?" Megumi asked herself.

Pein set Kenta down and the girl sat on her knees, rubbing her back. "Apparently I'm still feeling the after effects..." She winced. "Huh?" Kenta looked down at the doll which was still in her arms. "What's this?" She held it up to Pein.

"I'm not sure. It fell off of Tayashi when he died and you caught it even subconsciously. It's totally useless so I let you keep it." Pein explained.

Kenta stared at it for a while. "His name's Boogie." She added.

"How do you know?" Megumi asked.

"I don't know...It just came to me." Kenta shrugged and held the doll tighter. "I don't know why, but I think I'll keep him."

Pein just shrugged in approval.

"We should get going if we're going to meet Deidara in time." Kenta stood up and a searing pain shot up her spin sending her tumbling back to the ground.

"You shouldn't walk too much." Pein came to her side and hoisted her onto his back, piggyback style. "I'll carry you the rest of the way back."

"Thanks..." Kenta sighed and relaxed on her brothers back, still holding Boogie tightly.

"Come." Pein commanded and Daiki and Tobi followed without hesitation.

--

After three hours of walking Daiki and Tobi had invented a new game to keep them busy.

"Obsessed with himself and oblivious to every body else." Tobi described.

"Kein!" Daiki cried.

"Correct!" Tobi laughed.

"Eats way too much and molests girls." Daiki described.

"Hidan!" Tobi laughed.

"Yup!"

"Obsessed with money and really mean to everybody." Megumi cut in.

"Kakuzu!" Daiki and Tobincried at the same time.

"Kenta-chan!" Came the voice of Deidara.

"Deidara-kun!" Megumi waved to him.

Pein helped Kenta off of his back and she stood for herself. Apparently some of the resting had healed her for a bit. "Hello Deidara." She greeted.

"Hey there Leader-sama." Deidara waved happily.

"So what are you doing here Deidara-kun?" Megumi asked.

"I, uh well..." He stammered.

"Megumi?"

The girl gasped. That voice had sounded so familiar...almost like...

"O...Otousan...?" She stared at the man standing behind Deidara.

"Megumi!" He cried.

"Otousan!" Megumi cried again and ran into Orochimaru's embrace. "How are you here!?"

"He infiltrated the Akatsuki lair alone and demanded to see you, hmm?" Deidara explained. "Sasori and I took him down and when we asked Leader-chan and Leader-sama about what we should do they told us to meet them here with him alive, hmm?"

"Hello Leader-sama's." Came the voice of Sasori. "What is with the doll?"

"I found it." Kenta explained, looking down at Boogie.

"What is this about?" Megumi asked the two Akatsuki leaders.

"We can't afford to keep you Megumi." Pein explained.

"You're causing trouble to our other members and distracting them from their duties." Kenta continued.

"But Leader-sama's!" Daiki interrupted. "I do those things too and you don't send me home."

"If you haven't noticed." Kenta looked him over angrily. "We did the first time, but we won't this time."

"Why not?" Daiki implored.

"You have seen too much." Pein explained. "We'd kill you, but Tobi here would never get over it if we did so we're just going to have to keep you."

"As for you Megumi." Kenta continued. "We can't keep you, but we won't kill you. Instead we'll let you go back with your father, who seems precariously hard to kill."

"Y-You will?" Megumi gasped. It wasn't the Akatsuki leaders' nature to just let hostages go without a good reason. They would have killed them. What was going on?

"Go Megumi." Deidara grinned at her. "You aren't really needed here."

Megumi looked at him for a moment before running to him and hugging him tightly. "I'll miss you Deidara-kun!"

"I'll miss you too Megumi-chan."

Megumi gulped. If she was going to say it she would say it now. No matter how much it hurt. She loved Deidara, but she knew how much he loved Kenta and how well they would be together. Even if they couldn't be much more then close friends.

"Don't give up on Leader-chan, but don't come on too strong. You could scare her away." Megumi suggested.

"Thanks for telling me that." Deidara smiled at her.

Megumi looked at her friends, Daiki and Tobi. She came up to the two of them and they pressed together in a group hug. "I'll miss you guys the most of all." She sniffed, feeling the warm water gather in her eyes. "Thanks for always being there for me."

"No prob, Megumi." Daiki grinned at her.

"Tobi will miss Megumi-chan." Tobi sniffed from under his mask.

Finally the three let go of each other. "See you later." Megumi lied. She ran back to her father.

"Let's go Megumi." Orochimaru suggested and they hurried off in the direction of the sound village. When Megumi looked back for the final time she saw her friends waving good bye to her and she saw Kenta, now leaning on her brother to keep from falling down. Both of them were just watching. Not moving a muscle and not attempting to hold them back.

"They let me go..." Megumi murmured. "They could have killed me, but they let me go..." She closed her eyes and wiped away the tears.

"Are you all right Megumi?" Orochimaru asked her worriedly.

"Yes, Otousan. I am." Megumi smiled at her father and wiped the last of the tears away.

"Let's go home."

This is the real end. I hate to end it, but I can't keep it going forever. This isn't the last of the series keep in mind. The sequal to this is The story of Tora. Look out for it. I'll start it as soon as I figure out how to get the story going.

Thanks for reading The Story of Megumi.