A/N: Heyyy so I'm redoing the sequel because I didn't like the way the other one was going and I don't think anyone else did either since there was hardly any reviews.

I hope I don't disappoint this time… please keep me posted on how I'm doing, there's no point me continuing this story if no one likes it…

So same again, if you haven't read Erase Me, this isn't gonna make much sense half the time but I'm happy to answer any questions either via reviews or messaging whatever.

Disclaimer: Unfortunately I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters, only the OCs.

Unexplained Over-protection

The mist was thick. Thicker than it normally was. The Mizukage had ordered extra guard patrol since the attack on the village watchtowers two weeks ago, so Haru often found himself incapacitated and therefore withdrawn from his self-assigned duty of keeping an eye on his teal-haired friend. Despite his best efforts, he was forced to remain loyal to his leader's orders over his own, so rarely saw Akira these days.

Like the extreme weather, Akira's head was dull and hazy from her increasing lack of sleep, and on this particular morning, she found herself sitting on her wide windowsill hugging her knees, and watching an oblivious Haru in the distance on his patrol.

She missed his company, and wished she could talk to him again about her increasing concern of the reoccurring dream. She avoided sleep as much as possible, because the night only brought back the faces.

They had agreed to tell no one that she had recognised the blonde intruder that had entered the village, although his partner was unfamiliar. She'd had short red hair that flicked out in all directions, with bright amber eyes that seemed to glow as they glared out from under her spiky fringe.

The attack had been a strange one. The intruding pair had invaded the village for no reason other than to wreak havoc and cause wide-spread fear among the villagers according to the Mizukage. It had, however, been an organised attack. One had taken to the skies and blown up several of their village defence buildings, while the other had broken into two weapon storage compartments in the Kage tower and completely destroyed their supply, leaving them extremely vulnerable should any other enemy forces come calling.

They had taken nothing and attacked no one but the watchtowers, simply entered the village and left again. But why? There was a hushed rumour circulating the higher-level ninja's that they were from an S-rank criminal group and had possibly come looking for someone or something. The Jinchuuriki were their first guess, but since Yagura had long since been captured, and Utakata had not been seen for several months (presumed also captured), they dismissed that thought.

Their next idea was that they were assessing their defence levels and planning some sort of sneak attack in an attempt to capture the Mizukage. But something about that just didn't seem right. According to Intel, they'd left almost as quickly as they'd come.

From her seat in the window, Akira began to draw the red cloud pattern in condensation with her forefinger, which she'd seen on their cloaks. She sighed and scrubbed it away, swinging her legs off the windowsill and pottered into the hall to get her coat. Haru may be on duty, but she could still accidentally on-purpose bump into her friend on a fresh morning stroll.

She found him easily, pacing back and forth beneath the Kage building. His eyes lit up as she approached, a grin forming on his pale face.

'Hey, stranger,' he called merrily, a cloud of vapour puffing from his mouth as his breath met the cold air.

'Long time no see,' she offered him a sad smile, rubbing her arms to keep warm.

'What brings you outside in this temperature?'

'I just had to get out of the house. I haven't slept much and I was bored…' She leaned against the building tiredly, twisting a loose piece of hair between her fingers. 'How's Kage-watch going?'

'Just wonderful… It's simply thrilling standing around in the freezing cold all day!' He rolled his eyes sarcastically and she grinned.

'Well it's a good job I bumped into you then isn't it!' Reaching into her coat, she pulled out a silver flask and, unscrewing the lid, offered him a cup.

'So what really brings you out here, then?' Haru lifted his chocolate brown eyes from the small plastic cup now filled with steaming tea. She met his gaze momentarily before dropping her head to watch her feet as she rolled a stone beneath her left foot.

'I needed to talk to you. About two weeks ago. I can't stop thinking about it and it's scaring me…' Her tone was hushed and she kept her face down as she spoke. 'What if, I mean, in the past… What if I did something terrible? Why else would I erase my own memories?'

Her friend took a small sip from his cup before reaching out to take her hand, giving it a small squeeze. 'Don't assume the worst. If they really are from…' He paused to glance around him, lowering his voice to barely a whisper as his spoke again. '…The Akatsuki, then who knows what happened to you. Besides, that was two years ago! A lot has changed since then, and you're not a bad person. I don't think you ever could be.'

She gave another small smile that didn't quite reach her eyes and pulled back her hand, awkwardly stuffing it into her pocket as if to warm it up. 'I can't believe everyone's still on such a high alert. I mean, yeah they attacked and the reason is unknown, but they're gone now and there's been no sign of them coming back yet so why keep upping the guard patrols?'

Her friend's expression darkened as he looked at her, something hidden behind his chocolate brown eyes that she wasn't sure whether or not she had imagined.

'I don't know. Maybe I'm just underestimating them.' She tucked the hair she'd begun playing with again behind her ear and grinned. 'Besides, I guess you can never be too over-protective in this world.'

Haru snorted. 'You sound like my mom…'

Akira laughed at a vague memory of the eccentric and exaggeratedly maternal woman that was Haru's mum. Despite her over-the-top motherly fussing, Makito really was a very likable character and Akira had often found herself seeking her company when she was feeling lonely or left-out.

'Actually, there is something else.' Haru's voice broke her out of her daydream and her gaze flickered to meet his troubled one. He seemed torn, as though debating letting her in on some great internal secret he had.

'What do you mean?'

'I mean, there's another reason for all this guard duty. It's not just to protect the Mizukage or the village…' He hesitated, taking a long, drawn out sip from his flask before finally bracing himself to speak again. 'The guards are to protect a prisoner… And by protect, I mean keep from escaping or being rescued.'

Akira blinked at him curiously, waiting patiently for him to continue.

'I really shouldn't be telling you this but I think you need to know. One of the Akatsuki that attacked the village two weeks ago was tracked down a few days later. The squad that traced him managed to subdue him and bring him back to the village. He's been in interrogation ever since…'

Her eyes widened as realisation dawned on her. 'H-him? You mean…'

He nodded, biting his lip as he watched her reaction anxiously. She stared furiously at her feet, her confusion and inner turmoil perfectly evident on her pretty features.

She made no move to reply, so after a few more long moments, Haru sighed. 'I spoke to the Mizukage, she knows about your, erm, dream…'

Blue eyes snapped up at this, shock and slight betrayal flickering across her face at his confession. But she softened almost immediately, obviously understanding his reasoning, especially under the circumstances. 'And? What did she say?'

'She wasn't happy at first, she thought it was suspicious. But I talked her round, she knows you have no idea what happened in the past and I politely reminded her that it's not your fault what you dream about… She didn't want you to know that they had the prisoner, but I didn't agree… Obviously.'

She nodded slowly, her mind reeling. 'I think… I need to speak to her.'

For a moment, she thought he was going to protest, but he suddenly threw her a quick reassuring smile. 'Okay. I'll come with you.'

********** Elsewhere **********

'Jashin-damn-it I'm bored. I'm so fucking bored, damn it.'

'Yes, you may have mentioned that once or twice, Idiot. Now shut up while I count…'

Hidan scowled at his partner as he watched him lay out several piles of notes onto the larger coffee table in the room.

From across the room, Kisame groaned. 'Why do you always have to use that one? What's wrong with the floor? Or, oh I don't know, you room?!'

'Why does it bother you so much, Fish face? You're not even using a table.' Kakuzu growled at the blue man as he watched small white eyes narrow in his direction.

'Because if I wanted to use a table, that would be the one I'd use.'

'Will you guys all just quit your whining and shut the hell up?!' A new face entered the room, scowling at them with piercing amber eyes. She ran a hand through her short hair and slumped into a worn-looking cream couch.

'Piss off, shorty. No one asked you!' Hidan glowered, his magenta eyes flashing in irritation at the red head.

'Geez, alright Zombie! Don't get your knickers in a twist. What's new anyway? Heard anything from above?'

Kisame tutted. 'Not a single thing. Nothing. Nada. Zilch! Although Itachi reckons he'll make a move soon. He's just as bored as we are…'

'I was talking about news on my stupid partner actually.'

As if on cue, the raven-haired member drifted in through the doorway and perched on the edge of a chair. Behind him came Pein and Konan, with Zetsu nowhere to be seen.

'Kiri, since you're so eager to find him why don't you go look for him yourself?' Kakuzu snapped, obviously trying to kill their annoying conversation while he was busily adding up his profit from his recent bounty drop-off.

Kiri opened her mouth to throw back a sarcastic response, but a dark figure dressed mostly in black entered the room, silencing the group and immediately gaining their full attention. His head turned to scan the room briefly before nodding once at Pein to begin the meeting.

'Some of you may be aware that we have been missing a member for the past week or so. There are rumours being passed through the Hidden Rain that he has either been killed or simply defected from the organisation. However, I believe neither to be true.'

There were a few cautious glances around the room as their orange-topped senior continued. 'As Konan mentioned earlier this week, there has been no signs of a battle and as we all know it would be difficult to cover up since his method of destruction is, well, extremely destructive.'

'Doesn't prove he hasn't done a runner though…' Hidan muttered, clearly already bored with the topic.

'Deidara may be impulsive but he is not stupid. He knows better than to, as you say, 'do a runner', Hidan.'

The Jashinist scoffed but didn't bother with an intelligible response.

'We have reason to believe he is being held captive somewhere in or around the Land of Water. Therefore, we are deploying two teams to gather information on this theory. Itachi and Kisame will head to the border between Fire and Water, but do not cross the water. I want you to scan the length of the shoreline and report back as soon as possible. Hidan and Kakuzu, you two will cross the water and search on the actual island.'

The blue-haired woman beside him stepped forward at this point, offering some words of friendly advice. 'As hard as this will be for you especially Hidan, it would be best if you could resist drawing attention to yourselves, and do your utmost to avoid coming into direct contact with the hidden villages.'

'Seems like a lot of effort to go to for the sake of that one fool…' Kakuzu grumbled, stuffing several pouches of money into his cloak pockets.

'It's not necessarily the individual, it's the information they could gather should they manage to access it.' Pein pursed his lips thoughtfully, but a quick nod of agreement from his partner convinced him to continue. 'We also have reason to believe that a certain ex-member may be residing within the land of Water. If our sources are correct, then her ability to enter minds and memories could seriously compromise our position.'

'No way. Akira would never willingly–'

'You are forgetting, Kisame, that she has no idea that she ever held any loyalties to the Akatsuki.'

The blue man huffed in resignation, realising that Pein was indeed right, glaring slightly when he spoke again for the final time.

'Which leads me to my final point. Should any of you come into contact with said ex-member, you are to treat her with the same attitude you would with the enemy. She is no longer an ally of the Akatsuki.'

A/N: So a few things to note about this sequel, it's two years later, so Akira is 22, Deidara is 25, and Kiri is 18, thought I'd throw her age in since she's new.

Please review and let me know if you like it or I'll probably just end up scrapping this one too! :/