Deidara's POV

The next day, I went to Nue's room to see if she was okay. She seemed pretty angry when we returned to the base last night. Did I upset her in a way? I sure hope not. I stood in front of her door before knocking. "Nue, it's me, Deidara, un. Are you okay?" I asked.

The door creaked open slightly and I peered inside. "Nue?" I opened the door a little wider and found the room was empty. Where is she? I walked down the hall, entering the living room. "Hey, has anyone seen Nue?" I asked.

"Nope. Nobody's seen her all morning." Kisame answered. "Hmm..." I went outside to see if she was meditating or something. "Nue?" I called out. My eyes spotted a women with gray hair as her back was facing me.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" I asked. She didn't answer nor did she turn around to face me. "Hey, did you hear me?" I called louder. I waited three seconds until the strange woman turned around, facing me.

"Who are you?" I repeated. She didn't answer as she stared at me. I raised a brow at her before taking a few steps back, then walked inside the base. "Hey, does anyone know that woman out there, un?" I asked. "What woman?" Itachi asked.

"The woman that's outside, yeah." I confirmed. "Is she an enemy?" Kakuzu asked. "I don't know. She's not doing anything and she won't speak. She's just standing there, yeah." I said. Everyone went outside to see what I was talking about and the woman was still standing there.

"Who are you? How did you find this place?" The Leader demanded. The woman only narrowed her eyes at him. "Okay, looks like we'll be doing this the hard way." Hidan said as he took out his scythe.

"Hidan, wait!" Kakuzu tried to stop him, but Hidan ignored his warning and charged at the unknown woman. When he got close to her, he went to slice his scythe down on her. The woman frowned at him before grabbing the handle of his scythe.

She used her other arm to punch Hidan, making him let go of his scythe and tumble back towards us. Hidan slid on his back until he stopped near the Leader's feet. He looked down at Hidan before looking at the strange woman as she dropped the scythe to the ground.

I noticed her form changed as she grew black raven wings, her arms turned into tiger arms, and she had grown a snake tail behind her.

"Who are you?" The Leader repeated. The woman responded by summoning a trident in her hand. "She wants to fight?" Kisame asked. "Well, Hidan did attack at her." Kakuzu stated. I narrowed my eyes at the trident the woman had in her hand.

"If it's a fight she wants, it's a fight she'll get." Kisame said as he took his sword. "Hang on just a second." I said. "What is it, Deidara?" The Leader asked. I cautiously walked towards the strange woman as she stared at me with an emotionless face.

"Nue, is that you, un?" I asked. The woman raised a brow at me as she tilted her head to the side. I hesitantly took her trident from her and looked at the handle as there was writing on it that read: "Property of Nue Houjuu".

"It is you!" I said, shocked. "That's Nue?!" Kisame asked, just as shocked as I was. "What happened to her?" Itachi asked. "Your guess is as good as mine, un." I said as Nue made her wings, tiger arms, and snake tail disappear.

Her sweater was now sleeveless due to her tiger arms reverting back to her normal skin. I guess the sleeves tore off once Nue's arms transformed into tiger arms. Leader approached Nue and took a look at her. "It's the curse mark." He said.

"Curse mark? Orochimaru's curse mark?" I asked. "Yes. Nue must've activated it." He said. "Say what? Are you saying this is Nue's curse mark form?" I asked. "Looks like it." Leader answered. 

"Then, why is she acting like this? Why won't she talk, un?"

"It appears the curse mark has a different effect on Nue's kind than it does on humans."

"So, what do we do now? Do you think she can transform back to her normal self?"

"That depends. It looks like she doesn't recognize any of us. Her curse mark form must've done something to her mind."

"What happened to her wings and tails?" Kisame asked. "Her wings and tails must've disappeared when she activated her curse mark." Leader answered. 'Will they grow back once she's back to normal?' I thought. "How long will she be like this?" Itachi asked.

"Who knows? It looks like all we can do is wait. But in the meantime, we'll observe her and see just what she can do in this form. But don't do anything to provoke her." The Leader said. "Yes, sir." We all chorused, and everyone went back inside the base.

I was about to go in, too, until I noticed Nue was still standing there. "Uh... Don't you wanna come inside, un?" I asked her. Nue tilted her head to the side again, making me sigh. "Come on." I said, taking her hand. I lead her inside and glanced back at her as she stared at our entwined hands.

When I got her into the base, she stared straight ahead as if she was waiting for something. I wonder what else she could do in her curse mark form? "Quit staring at her, Deidara. You're gonna make her think that you're a pervert." Kisame said.

"How is she gonna think that if she's staring at nothing, un?" I asked. "Actually, this is the time of day Nue's supposed to be sleeping." Itachi mentioned. "Do you think she knows that?" Kisame asked, looking at Nue. She looked towards the entrance of the base and walked outside. 

"Hey, Nue! Wait!" I called as I chased her. "Nue!" I grabbed her arm once I caught up with her.

"Where are you going?" I asked. Nue's eyes went from me to my hand as I still had hold of her. "Oh, sorry." I said, letting go of her arm. Nue turned around and began walking away again. "Nue, stop walking for a second!" I said, grabbing her arm again.

I shouldn't have done that because Nue turned around and punched me in the jaw. I landed on the ground while holding my jaw. "What was that for, un?!" I yelled at her. She only frowned at me in response.

"Damn it. What's wrong with you? Can you at least try and recognize me?" I said. Nue stared at me, not answering. I sighed. "Right. Never mind." I said. "Enemy." Nue said, quietly. "What? Enemy? Hang on a second. I'm not your enemy." I said, quickly standing up.

"No! Enemy!" She warned, pointing towards the woods. I looked towards the woods, but didn't see any enemies. "But I don't see anything, un." I said. Nue's raven wings, tiger arms, and snake tail appeared and she flapped her wings, making feathers shoot towards the woods.

When that happened, three shadows emerged from the trees and stood in front of us. "ANBU Black Ops?" I said. "Fight!" Nue said, then dashed forward. She began to fight all three men. She dodged and blocked their attacks while throwing a few blows her self.

Nue jumped back and skidded on her feet until she stopped where I was at. "Nue, are you okay?" I asked her. But she didn't answer as she frowned at the three ANBU members. "Nue? As in Nue Houjuu Satori?" One of the members said.

"If this is really her, then we must capture her alive. Lady Tsunade's orders." The other member said. "That's not gonna happen," I pulled Nue behind me as I got in front of her. "If you want her, you'll have to get through me, un." I said, taking some clay out of my pouch.

Nue grabbed my shoulder and got in front of me. "Nue, what are you...?" I trailed off as Nue slowly raised her tiger paw while a weird-looking electric ball appeared in it.

"What the...?" I mumbled as Nue raised the ball over her head. "She's gonna attack!" One of the ANBU members warned. The ball in Nue's hand grew bigger until it was the size of a beach ball.

"Get back! Retreat!" The ANBU members began to run off and Nue threw the electric ball at them. Once it hit them, the attack expanded four yards as it was covered in a bright light. I grabbed Nue and jumped back so we were away from the attack. 

When the light died down, all I could see was broken down trees and twigs hanging from branches. "Wow... Way to go, Nue, un." I said as her wings, tiger arms, and snake tail went away. Her body began to sway.

Thinking she was going to collapse, I quickly caught her, letting her lean on me as she fell unconscious. My eyes widened when I saw Nue's long, gray hair went short and it turned back to black. Her wings and tails tore out of the back of her sweater, nearly stabbing me.

She shrunk slightly, going back to her normal height. The curse mark must've made her grow a little. Well, like Leader said: The curse mark has a different effect on Nue's kind. "Ow... Damn it, my head hurts." Nue said as she started to regain consciousness.

"Are you okay?" I asked as I helped her stand. "Yeah, I think so." She answered. Nue looked ahead and saw the semi-destruction from her attack. "Whoa, what happened here? Did a fight go on?" Nue asked. "You mean you don't remember?" I asked. 

"Remember what? Deidara, what happened?"

"Well... What's the last thing you remember?"

"Hmm... I remember training with Kakuzu last night. Then, after my training, I had a snack and sat in the living room. After that, I did some meditating outside. Then, I decided to check out what my curse mark form looked like. I closed my eyes and concentrated... and then... I don't know. I don't remember anything after that. It's all a blur."

"Well, you did transformed into your curse mark form, but you wouldn't talk at all. Leader said the curse mark Orochimaru gave you might have a different effect on you than it does with humans, un."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm... Okay, what did I look like? In my curse mark form, I mean."

"Well, you had long, gray hair, gold eyes, tiger arms, black raven wings, and a snake tail."

"I had all that?!"

"Yep."

"Wow..."

Nue's eyes closed and she almost collapsed until I caught her. "Hey, are you okay?" I asked. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just... I'm just a little tired." She said before falling asleep against me. I sighed because I was relieved to have the regular Nue back.

I picked her up and carried her back inside the base. When I got to her room, I placed her on her bed and pulled the blanket over her. I gently kissed her forehead before going to Leader's office to inform him that Nue was out of her curse mark form.

"Leader-sama, can I come in? It's Deidara, yeah." I said as I knocked on his door. "Enter." I opened the door, then closed it behind me before approaching him. "Well?" He asked, impatiently. "Nue's back to her old self. But she's sleeping right now, un." I informed.

"Did anything happen while she was in her curse mark form?" Leader asked.

"Well, some ANBU Black Ops were looking for her, and she fought them. But her fighting style was different, yeah.

"How so?"

"Nue did more dodging and blocking; She was more on the defense side than the offense side."

"I see... Anything else?"

"Yeah. She created some kind of electricity ball in her hand. Way different from her fireballs, yeah."

"Interesting. When did she turn back to normal?"

"Just a few minutes ago."

"Did she turn back willingly?"

"I don't know. It was hard to tell."

Leader hummed to himself while he rested a hand on his chin, as if he was thinking about something. "Leader-sama?" I asked. "Leave. I need to think." He said. I bowed my head and left his office. "What was that about?" I mumbled.

I shrugged before heading to my room to work on my clay.