AN: Okay, so! This is my first time seriously posting fanfiction, and I'm hoping it's not the last, haha. Critique and comments are welcome, I'd love to hear what people think! Pease be gentle. ;w;

I will note that this story was written before the remaining six bijuu in Naruto were announced back in 2009, so only Shukaku, Nekomata/Matatabi, and Kyuubi had been confirmed. That being said, I based several of the remaining bijuu off of a few of the "myths" going around, rather than change them all to fit the series, cause I like them better. (Only ones really affected are the 5 & 7 tailed critters.)

There is also a small profile made for my oc, Raina, which can be found on my profile.

I couldn't move, I couldn't think, all I could do was die where I lay in a pool of cold blood. My legs were burning, my arms felt shredded, the rest of me lie there bludgeoned and bleeding, just waiting for death to claim me. Satoshi's internal organs were resting on his legs, Takeshi's body all but pulled inside out, Tenshi lying motionless beside her fallen comrade. I wasn't sure how long I'd been lying there, life seeping out of my body with each drop of blood I lost. I could see the crows circling, some cawing in the trees, and calling on death to end me already. I wondered to myself; 'Why, why must it end this way? It seemed like just a normal day...And now I'm on my deathbed..We were black ops- the best Konoha had to offer..' I thought back to earlier that morning.

~Flashback~

Another mission today, an extended leave trip to Kirigakure. Takeshi was excited already, that eager little freak, Satoshi hated getting wet, making this trip his own personal hell. I couldn't care less, just another mission with my beloved, idiot team mates. It'd all gone smoothly; the usual morning routine of frantic packing and scrambling to buy additional supplies, the same arguments from Satoshi of Takeshi and his ninken Tenshi, over-packing, being late, being obnoxious.. Well- more like arguing over the fact that they existed, really. We set out through the trees, playful banter and on-the-go target practice occupying most of the morning and afternoon, managing to travel a third of the way there before we settled for the night.

We'd gotten to another clearing in the depths of Fire Country's massive forests, expecting a few animals to scurry away with our arrival, but this time there were enemies in their place. They were, Sound Ninja, the way everything fell deathly quiet as they stalked towards us was entirely unnatural, their broken statures and strange uniforms making them all the more unnerving. They took Takeshi by surprise, gagging and gutting him in an instant, his porcelain mask shattering against a tree as his corpse was blatantly tossed to the edge of the clearing. Tenshi was brutally thrown aside by a blast of what must have been compressed sound, and fell beside his dying body, already lifeless, thin trickles of blood running from her eyes, nose, and ears. Satoshi went next, ganged up on by at least five ninja before he could manage a single hand seal. It happened too fast even for me to do anything; it would have been useless anyway. They were all on me at once, silent, intent on murdering me where I stood. She'd screamed at me to fight, but there was nothing I could do, I was horrified by what had just become of my teammates, my friends. She took over then, slashing at the mass of assailants with fangs and claws, ice and water, a blur of white and blood. I could hear the screams, the laceration of flesh, the snapping of bones, I could only watch my hands spattered with their blood as I danced to her whims, a spectator within my own body. Some got away, only to die on the run, others were ripped to shreds and their remains left to decorate the scene. She left me then, submitting once more and letting me collapse.

~End Flashback~

It was hopeless; nobody would come looking until weeks later, when we were due to return. I couldn't hear the crows anymore, be it my system shutting down- or they'd begun to feast on the others. The world was blurry, going black. Was this really how it was going to end? I hit the point of no return, and everything I had known faded to darkness.

'You will not die here, foolish girl.'

~?'s point of view~

I was passing over a blood spattered clearing in the forest, nothing I didn't expect, crime rates were at a huge spike these days. Kisame shouted, jarring me out of my thoughts to the extent of me almost missing the next branch, damn me for being distracted. We dropped from the trees and fell into a scene I'd seen many times before: Three dead ninja, and a dead dog. The miscellaneous body parts strewn about were new, however. 'Must have put up a good fight..' My foot nudged what appeared to be a severed arm, frowning as the fingers curled inwards- this was a fresh kill. I could see Kisame a ways off, examining a dead.. No, half dead, kunoichi.

"Oi, Itachi.."

"What?"

"We're looking for an Ame kunoichi with silver hair, right?"

"Hai, what about it? Her hair," I growled, pointing my finger in the girl's general direction, "is brown- and she's with Konoha shinobi. Why do you care? We need to stop wasting our time and find her."

"It's so bloody it's dyed brown, baka," he sneered, lifting the mess of her hair, "it's silver underneath."

I walked over to look for myself, and sure enough, it was filthy and caked with dried blood, but it was silver. Though there was a cracked ANBU mask beside her, the ribbon had been cut. It was made in the guise of a dog, two broad, black stripes ran down from the head and over the eyes, ending around the curve of the snout- a strangely particular design for someone who was trained to be faceless. "We'll take her in." I snipped, irate that Kisame was right about something for once in his life. I jumped back to the trees, Kisame close behind. No matter what Pein-sama says, we're forced to comply, no matter how ridiculous the request was. I waited for Kisame to catch up, he was kind of slow with the extra weight, he hefted her limp form over his other shoulder, and it was then that I noticed the girl's face for the first time. I fervently wished I hadn't.

~Next Day~

~Raina's point of view~

'Am I dead yet?' I asked myself, only to be greeted with a harsh reply.

'Of course not! I will never allow you the luxury of death!' Ugh, I really didn't want to deal with bitch right now.

'Burn in hell, mutt, leave me be.' She didn't press the matter further, but she was still growling. I managed to crack my eyes open, hell it was dark... I attempted to sit up, that was a mistake. I was rewarded with several loud, sickeningly audible cracks from my chest. I whimpered and fell back, earning more snaps and crackles. She laughed. 'How many ribs must be fractured to make that much noise?' I groaned, lifting my head to get a quick glance of my surroundings. It was a well sized room; no windows, three doors, and a night stand to the right of the bed I was on. 'Great...kidnapped..' I lifted my arms to see what damage had been done, and it caught me off guard to notice they had been quite neatly bandaged. That was alarming. My chest, legs, and back were neatly covered as well. That meant whoever had dressed the wounds would have to undress me...I heard her snicker as I struggled to withhold a snarl that could have curdled the blood of the dead. I was still fuming and fighting to get a grip when the door nearest the foot of the bed opened. A cloaked figure drifted into the dark room, damn near blending in with the wall behind them, save for the tacky red clouds that were scattered on the black fabric. I would have jumped them had I been able to move.

"So… You're finally awake." The voice was smooth, dark, completely indifferent, and unmistakably masculine- this enraged me.

"What do you want from me?" I snarled, angered that I was unable to sit up and glare at him directly. I felt so… weak.

"Don't bother to struggle; you won't be leaving here any time soon." The way he spoke, the confidence in his tone was unnerving, the hairs of my neck stood on end.

There had to have been a smile on his face. I was dying to rip it off. "Don't toy with me! Tell me who you are, and skip all the bullshit!" I was more than pissed, not only with my inability to pound him into a bloody mess, but he was so unnervingly, infuriatingly calm. He was walking closer, taking his time, staying in the shadows...

"Hn, have you truly forgotten me so soon?" Was that.. Concern? No, contempt?

"What the hell are you talking about? I don't know you!" I hissed, he was still creeping closer, stopping by the side of the bed. 'So close...If I could just get on my side...' I tried to roll over, my goal being to free my leg and smash him in the side with it. Before I had so much as twitched my thigh, he was over me. Heavy hands suppressing my shoulders, his legs blocking my knees, leaving me defenseless. I saw his face then. Those dark, endless onyx eyes, long dark hair, the curve of his jaw, the set of his cheeks and the light lines that furrowed them... "No..." I whimpered, I felt tears stinging my eyes. "No...This isn't real, this isn't happening!" I was losing it- there was no way- this couldn't.. She was hysterical with laughter. He sprung away, seeing the beginning of my mental breakdown, my mind deteriorating to dust.

"Rai-chan?" He had muttered under his breath, the syllables inaudible as she snarled at me.

'Destroy him.'

'I-I can't, I- never.. No!' I'd started to sit up, ignoring the screech of protest from my chest.

'Kill him. Destroy the cause of your pain!' The world was going red.

'I could never-'

'Idiotic wench, I'll kill him myself if you don't!' I felt her wrath, burning, scorching. I felt my control falter.

'I won't let you near him!'

'KILL HIM!' I covered my ears. Stupid reaction, as if it would help.

"Shut up shut up SHUT UP!"I screamed, aloud. Oops…

"Raina?" I turned on him, my eyes were wild, gleaming scarlet- I twitched madly, resisting the urge to screech and set my claws upon him. She snorted and grumbled quietly, her attempts at murder thwarted. I cast my glance down, waiting for the wooden floor to turn more of a brown than burgundy before looking back up. He was still looking at me like I was about to explode or something.

"How... How are you still alive, Itachi? Wh-what the hell happened? I- I thought you.. They told m-me you died.."

"Didn't Sasuke ever tell you...? I killed them." It took me a moment to realize what he was referring to, but once it struck I cringed, feeling a sinking feeling from my heart. I could only gawk at him like an idiot, tears were threatening to roll down my cheeks.

"Liar!" The word was hissed out through gritted teeth- alive or not he couldn't have done it.. His voice had been so cold, so emotionless, utterly monotone and uninterested. Was he still the Uchiha I knew and- No..I couldn't use that word. He didn't respond, but rather looked into empty space, his face guarded, not betraying his thoughts.

"Hn, I'm surprised he left you in the dark." He was smirking.

The shock began to wear away, replaced with a cacophony of emotion. Anger, loneliness, anguish, relief, resentment, wrath...Wait, relief? I felt like screaming from mental overload. I let the tears fall now, giving up on holding them back. I didn't notice I was trembling, and I didn't care either. I felt a liquid warmth coat my fingers as my fists were clenched tight, claws leaving pinprick cuts in my palms. He was staring again, much more intent than he had been before. A complete one-eighty from the formerly dead looking face.

'What the hell?'

'You certainly did it now, fool.' I felt something brush the sides of my head.

'Shit...' Ears...Tail...Duh he's looking at me like a basket case...

"I-I, uh, well.." A few straggler tears were still making their way down my cheeks, which were gaining a bright scarlet hue.

"..." He didn't seem as freaked, just...Worried. I think.

"I-I can, uh, er.."

"Are.. Those.." He was still staring, blinking as if it were just some fucked up illusion. I blushed, using my chakra to cover my embarrassing features back up.

Surely, any sane person would have run, any sane shinobi would have attacked- but he only stared, no trace of fear was visible or able to be scented- a strange glint of curiosity shone in his dark eyes. It… It had to be him- alive or dead; I knew, or at least had known, this man.

~Itachi's point of view~

I inhaled sharply, her eyes.. The color flickered between scarlet and gold, her body convulsing as she seemed to fight some internal battle. I had forgotten about this.. I watched her shake and clutch herself as I spoke, fighting to keep my expression stoic. I wasn't sure what exactly I was expecting her to feel, but she was clearly beyond hurt, something much deeper had snapped at that. Regardless.. I couldn't show that I cared. It was too late for that now- dead men could not feel. There was a pang in my chest as I watched her tremble, those tears hurt- though my feelings were disrupted by a flicker of movement. I never was one for staring, save for death glares, but this was...Different. With no intention, I found myself gawking at a pair of twitching wolf ears. My lips parted in a gape, at a loss for words, hoping she was just playing some game, or a trick of the dim lighting. Were my eyes going bad this quickly?

"I-I can, uh, er.." I couldn't make out what she was muttering, I activated my sharingan- they weren't genjutsu..

"Are.. Those.." She blushed and the strange appendages disappeared, I had to blink to be sure they were gone, seeing only the shimmer of a cloaking jutsu in their place. I had never recalled seeing it before.. No.. I'd always just thought it was a part of her chakra signature, how blind must I have been?

The topic of murder seemed to have dropped for now. I was grateful.

'She truly hasn't changed a bit. Still the same hotheaded little girl I knew all those years ago..' I thought quietly, holding back a smile, forcing my lips into a smirk. She looked down, grumbling incoherently. Hell, she could have probably burnt a hole in the blanket if she glared harder.

"What do you want from me anyways?" She growled, not looking up. Of course, she'd want to know.

"That, I cannot tell you." I'd pay for it, but truth be told I didn't really know myself. Pein-sama had just told us to find an Ame nin with silver hair.. But surely it wasn't her- she was a Konoha shinobi, through and through.

"What the hell kind of answer is that?" She looked at me again, but didn't seem so irate, if only slightly amused. "Whatever it is you intend to do with me, just know I'm not going down without a fight." She said it with a shaking smile, one that showed just how confident she was, even though she could hardly sit up, and tears were still threatening to stain her cheeks. "Is there anything you can tell me?" She was being sarcastic, but I did have something in mind.

"Aside from the fact that you're sleeping on the floor tonight? No." I smirked inwardly, my face betraying nothing, walking over to the closet and retrieving some old blankets and a spare pillow, which I tossed at her.

"Just because I'm your prisoner doesn't mean you get to treat me like a dog!" I'd struck the nerve I'd aimed for, shaking my head and standing aside, waiting for her to make her way to the floor.

Maybe I'd forgotten just exactly what she was like. I was too used to dealing with the easy ones, the ones that never stood a chance from the start, that couldn't so much as lay a scratch on my social barrier. But she was different; nothing said defiance or shook the very foundation of the stoic walls I had lived to create like she did. And for the first time in a long time, I didn't know what to expect the next day.