Author's Note: This is the sequel to Growing Up, which can be found on my profile, or here: s/11514209/1/Growing-Up You can read this on its own, sure, but there's gonna be a lot of things you don't understand when it comes to the OC's kekkei genkai and her previous friendships sooo I'd suggest reading that first. Someone asked me if I'd write a filler story for Kana's time in Root, but I think the most I'll do is add a few flashbacks because there really isn't anything I had planned for that.

But if you're stubborn and don't want to read the last story, Kana's whole shindig is that she's providing a behind-the-scenes look on the Naruto timeline - as opposed to seeing everything from the main characters' eyes. She's stubborn, hotheaded, dotes way too much on the people she grew up with and hates her clan for being a bunch of twisted ritualistic freaks. Her hair changes between shades of white and black based off of her mood and has a kekkei genkai that I based heavily off of the whole "Body and mind" thing, as well as yin and yang. The taoism view structure, not the Naruto release types.


The snow had stopped by morning, melting away beneath the warm sun that insisted on warming the climate even as a chilly breeze rolled through the street. Kana pulled her knees up to her chest and tightened her Captain's cloak around her small frame against the bite of the cold. She flashed her Kurogan to scan their surroundings for the sixth time in the last hour, a scouting pattern the kunoichi had come up with as to not over exert herself.

About a dozen feet away, Kisame stirred from the gentle rays of light that poked in through the window Kana was sitting on. The shark-like man hadn't truly slept through the night as he had tried making it seem; she caught him looking at her with one eye open every now and then when he would wake up. He still didn't trust her after their month together, which was understandable. What kind of person does someone have to be to abandon their duty and friends to accompany a group of S-class criminals?

'One with a violently self-destructive edge, apparently,' Kana thought wryly to herself.

When it truly mattered, the shinobi had an excellent hold on her emotions so she had managed to put forth a steely demeanor instead of crying until she choked on her own spit like Kana wanted to. Still, she knew she must be emanating absolute misery because whenever she had caught Kisame looking at her, he always had a wary expression of curiosity.

As the sun rose higher, Itachi's eyebrows furrowed at the offending light before pearly-black eyes blinked open.

"I told you four hours," he muttered flatly, looking mildly irritated. If circumstances were different then Kana would have probably grinned at how her childhood friend was still as much of a nightowl as ever. Instead, she shrugged wordlessly. Kana had yet to utter a word since leaving the village – partly due to mental exhaustion, but mostly due to not wanting to hear how small and broken it would sound in her ears.

When it was clear that she wasn't going to give any more of an answer, Itachi sighed and pushed himself upright on the futon; long black hair cascaded over his shoulders in a knotted mess. "Pain wishes to convene at sundown," he murmured, rubbing his face.

Kisame yawned and stretched out over the futon that he was about two sizes too large for, "He's the only one that knows about her, right?" When Itachi nodded, his lips stretched into a grin, "I wonder how they'll react to a tiny child joining the organization."

His eyes were fixed on Kana as he spoke, which told her that he was attempting to elicit some sort of reaction from her; she only flashed her Kurogan for the ten minute cycle.

"Again, you're allowing appearances to fool you. She's only eight months younger-" his irritated words were cut off by a small cough that turned into an almost violent fit.

Kana swung her legs over the window sill and knelt next to the convulsing man, noting the blood that splattered into his palm when she pulled his arms away from his chest so she could place her hands over his lungs. 'Sit up straight,' she commanded. When he brought his hands up to cough into them, Kana pushed them away and shook her head, 'I need your arms out of the way.'

Clearing his lungs took only a few moments, but Kana made sure to pay extra attention to the damaged tissue that lined the organs. There were bits and pieces of his lungs that were showing signs of decay, as if they were dying faster than the rest of Itachi's body – just like they were. There was a light tinkling sound as Kana channeled some of her white chakra into his body, watching the green glow of medical ninjutsu change texture from a steady green flame-like shape to a green flame with tiny starbursts.

The man gurgled something incoherent before a mixture of spittle and blood splattered across her Anbu mask.

It took longer than she would have liked, but she was eventually able to restore the dead tissue with living cells, merging into the rest of Itachi's lung seamlessly. Without asking permission Kana slid her hand up to his throat and gingerly wrapped her fingers around his neck, working on the miniscule tears in his trachea that were attributing to his bloody coughs.

Color slowly returned to Itachi's face as his body was healed and when Kana's hands left his body he no longer looked as pale and sickly as he did before.

Curiosity glittered in Kisame's white eyes as the ordeal unfolded, watching the kunoichi while she worked, "This's the best he's looked in weeks – months, even," he noted, "That wasn't just normal medical ninjutsu."

His tone carried his words as a question, but Kana didn't have much interest in discussing the intricacies of how her chakra and jutsu worked so she only rose to a standing position and walked over to her backpack. Taking out one of the small cloths she normally kept reserved for cleaning her blades, Kana snapped her Anbu mask off and began to wipe away the drying traces of bloody phlegm.

"What's the purpose of wearing a mask when you're already wearing goggles and a cloth mask that cover your face-"

"Kisame," Itachi cut in, having pulled his hair back into a neat ponytail, "It'd do you well to not ask so many questions."

With a heavy sigh, the shark-man shrugged and pulled his cloak over his massive shoulders, "Whatever you say. I'm hungry, how about we find some food in this backwater town?"

Kana frowned at his tone but remained silent as she slung her pack onto her back. She sort of liked the small village they had found refuge in; it had a nice charm to it. Though the shit weather wasn't doing it any favors, with the streets muddied by the thin layer of snow that had melted into the dirt.

They soon entered a small one-room tea shop and sat down at a table in the back, something that appeared to be a habit of the two Akatsuki members as they silently climbed over the wooden benches to seat themselves. When Kana didn't immediately follow suit, only standing behind Kisame, the pair leered up at her questioningly. It took her a few moments to realize what they were expecting, and she soon hooked her legs over the bench Itachi sat on. This was the first time she hadn't just jumped onto the roof to pop a food pill into her mouth and wash it down with her canteen.

Her worn heart clenched painfully when the server brought a small tray with three tea cups and a pot of aromatic green tea, pouring the translucent beverage into each cup and distributing them accordingly. Images of the night Kana left flashed through her mind – the way Neji's shoulders sagged as she left his window, the way his eyes glittered like white pearls with unshed tears...

"I'm beginning to think this stuff is the source of your power," Kana joked when Neji moved to pour his fifth cup of tea in the last hour, "You know that has caffeine in it, right? You shouldn't drink it so fast."

The boy leered up at her from under his long lashes with a pout, "Are you telling me to stop?"

Muscles instinctively pulled Kana's lips into a fond smile at his attempt at swaying her. Nearly everyone knew that she had a huge fluffy soft spot for the eight year old, but only he knew just how easily he could manipulate her with the tilt of his head. She reached out for her own cup and brought it to her lips, which were still bruised from being kicked in the mouth by Guy during training, and nursed the tea with a shrug.

White eyes flitted between hers and the cup before letting out a defeated sigh. Neji continued to pour his tea, but only filled the cup halfway.

Satisfaction brewed in her chest and Kana slid her hand up to twirl the boy's hair around her bandaged finger, "You Hyugas and your tea," she sighed happily.

Instead of picking up the small porcelain cup, Kana set her trembling hands into her lap and watched the steam curl up into the air. She shook her head when the server asked for her order, not having an interest in food when her stomach was twisting into knots.

"No sleep, not drinking and you're still refusing food," Kisame mused from behind his teacup, "You trying to prove something?"

A slender hand reached up to touch the side of Kana's face, turning gently applying enough pressure to let her know that Itachi wanted her to look at him.

'I understand your pain' his deep voice thought when her Ishikigan activated, 'But you need to keep your strength up. Your misery will be all for naught if you were to fall ill and die. I'm not the only one that has noticed how much weight you've lost since joining us.'

She kept her mental block up but nodded, looking back to the patient server and asking for kakuni-filled onigiri. Normally she was a fan of plain or seafood-filled rice balls, but the country they were in had no port so it wasn't an option. The kunoichi ignored Kisame's comment on how her voice sounded like bells, not quite sure what to make of it.

'How much does he know?' she asked, idly wondering how Kana was going to be able to drink her tea through two masks without a straw.

Itachi mentally shook his head, 'He knows of our relationship, but virtually nothing of your abilities as a shinobi – why do you feel angry?'

Despite no longer needing to maintain eye contact, only requiring it to initially establish a connection once her dojutsu was activated, she looked up and narrowed her eyes at the shinobi, 'You gave him personal information that he could use against us, but failed to mention the information we need him to know on the battlefield?' Kana sighed audibly, 'Itachi, what the hell?'

Dark eyebrows knitted together in response as Itachi realized how devastating that kind of blunder could have been. Being a skilled ninja himself, he knew the importance of knowing one's teammates' skills and abilities. 'To be fair, I still don't know the extent of your powers. Relaying outdated information can be worse than leaving your comrade completely in the dark.'

'Is he a comrade?' she hissed, 'He's an S-class criminal, and from the Mist! They're brutal enough as it is.'

Itachi frowned, 'We're both S-classes, too.'

A small choked noise escaped Kana's clothed lips at the harsh reminder of what their grouping entailed. She hadn't forgotten that she was now considered a traitor, someone that had abandoned her village to join a mercenary organization, but the kunoichi had been trying to not focus on it. Now it had been driven into the forefront of her consciousness like a cold spike. The familiar dark blanket began to lay itself over her heart, and Kana chose to deactivate the dojutsu and focus her attention on the warm food that had been placed in front of her.

It looked like the region they were in chose to wrap their rice balls in what looked like woven bamboo leaves, making Kana feel almost guilty about ruining the lovely presentation as she hooked her gloved finger under one of the leaves to tug it free and reveal the hot rice. Serving them warm, as opposed to the cold onigiri she was used to back home, must have been another regional difference.

Seeing Itachi slide a dango off of a skewer, delicate tongue flicking out to catch the red bean paste that didn't quite make it past his lips, brought a small sense of comfort to Kana. He still had a sweet tooth.

Fighting against the wave of paranoia that was associated every time her cloth mask was pulled down, she bunched the fabric to just below her chin and broke off a piece of the steaming rice ball to bring it up to her lips beneath her Anbu mask, eyes fixated on the blue man that was eating three different bowls of donburi and toppings seemingly all at once.

For a brief moment Kana considered just activating her dojutsu and digging into his brain like she did with any other person she needed to acquire information from, but she quickly decided that it would have been a terrible idea. Kisame was supposed to be her teammate, and she could tell that Itachi genuinely considered him to be as much of a friend as he could hope for in his situation, so rifling through his mind would be disrespectful to both him and the Uchiha. As soon as he would have felt it, which she knew he would, Kisame most likely would be furious. Over the last few weeks they've spent together, Kana had come to understand that he was a short-tempered man that loved to fight. As dangerous as he was, he really wasn't too different from her.

She waited until after they had paid the teahouse owner and walked a few miles out in silence before speaking up.

"Kisame, you asked why I wear a mask," she murmured, her steely voice sounding almost foreign in her ears; Kana didn't even speak to her subordinates in Root in such a cold tone. Kisame made a humming noise to let her know that he was listening and she took that as a sign to continue, "Like Itachi's Sharingan, my eyes have different stages."

To prove her point, she pushed her Anbu mask to the side and slipped her goggles down to her neck, watching his lips curl into a curious grin at the sight of her swirling irises, "Except when I unlocked the second stage of my dojutsu, it changed the entire genetic makeup of my eyes. They glow brighter the stronger my emotions become, making stealth next to impossible, hence the goggles. It also makes me immune to genjutsu-"

Kisame's eyes flitted over to Itachi and she didn't need to dig through his mind to know what he was thinking, "-With the exception of that wielded by expert Mangekyo users. Meaning, yes, something like the Kotoamatsukami and Tsukiyomi could work on me."

Itachi's shoulder twitched slightly at the mention of Shisui's jutsu, and Kana immediately felt bad for bringing it up – she had almost forgotten that Danzo had only been able to acquire the jutsu through stealing their friend's Sharingan. Vaguely, she wondered if Itachi knew about the village elder's collection.

"So what do the different stages do?" Kisame purred, his curious grin expanding enough to reveal impossibly sharp teeth.

She activated her Kurogan and tried to not wonder too much about how he managed to eat or talk without cutting himself, "The first stage allows me to see across great distances – the more chakra I put into it, the farther I can see. I can also see the individual chakra points on a shinobi and identify a person's chakra signature…" Kana's eyes flitted to the wrapped sword on his back, "For example, I can see that your scaly blade is sentient, and that you have identical chakra signatures. But you're constantly channeling chakra into it."

An eyebrow raised high enough to nearly disappear into his forehead protector, "That's right. Samehada and I have been together long enough for our chakras to merge. I can even hide myself inside of it completely undetected." Kisame removed the wrapped sword from his back as he spoke, holding it out and to the side towards the kunoichi, "But you're wrong about one thing, I'm not giving it any of my chakra. It absorbs and eats chakra on its own – we have a sort of symbiotic relationship, I guess you could say."

Kana experimentally focused her yin chakra to her hand and touched the bandages to channel the black flame-like energy into the sword; she jerked her hand back when it began to writhe, eliciting a laugh from the mountainous blue man.

"I haven't seen him that unhappy with someone's chakra since he stole some of Itachi's," he chuckled, his laughter gaining intensity when her brow furrowed, "Are you offended?"

Ignoring his question, she transferred her white chakra to the blade. It squirmed more and Kisame placed it back into its straps with a curious glint.

"You have more than one chakra type," he noted, "But your eyes are still black, which tells me that you can use one or the other without needing to change chakras – what else should I know about those eyes of yours?"

Silver-white replaced black as Kana transitioned between dojutsu, "My Ishikigan allows me to read minds and thoughts once I get a good look at their eyes…" she trailed off, choosing to speak telepathically for effect, 'And I can project my own. Once I establish a link, I'm in until I decide to pull out or something causes my dojutsu to deactivate.'

For the first time since she had begun speaking, Kisame's smile faltered as uneasiness set in. Kana had no interest in digging around his head right now, or upsetting him, so she broke the link quickly and kept speaking, "I can merge my chakra types and activate them together, but I haven't mastered that yet. It's hard to maintain a balance still."

"So the goggles aren't just to hide the glow in the dark, they're also so no one can see what stage you're in," he mused, "You're sneaky… And dangerous."

They continued on behind Itachi, going over their combat techniques and jutsu types. Despite coming off as somewhat dense at first, Kisame turned out to be relatively intelligent in the sense that he grasped the concept of Kana's kekkei genkai and tota without needing too much explanation on her part. She explained how her imagination and Ishikigan could be used in combination to insert illusions and false memories into an opponent, and how her black chakra could be molded into physical attacks and shields. When she tried to explain how her white chakra was a healing type, the total opposite of her black, that was for medical ninjutsu to make it more effective, though, Kisame began to get confused.

"You mentioned earlier that you could merge your chakra for your eyes," Itachi suddenly cut in, "Can you do the same for attacks?"

Kana hesitated, trying to figure out how to properly word things before attempting to explain it. "I can, but… It's still too difficult for me to properly control – it's not like a normal yin-yang release and other transformation types. And the only jutsus I can properly execute are sort of like… I guess the best way to explain them is to compare them to a gamma-ray burst and a supernova?" She folded her arms and twirled the end of her ponytail listlessly as she tried to explain it to the pair, which was extremely difficult when most of your techniques and jutsu were self created. In short, she could only merge the two chakras together long enough to create blasts.

Kisame laughed at the way she struggled to explain things, "So if your fighting style is all about using chakra and the power of imagination, " his words dripped with sarcasm at the last bit, "That means you'd be at a pretty heavy disadvantage against me." He reached back and tapped the hilt of his sword for effect.

Glowing eyes narrowed, "A shinobi that can't hold his own without ninjutsu can hardly call himself a shinobi," she said flatly. It was a very strong belief of Kana's that if your physical attacks were shit, then you were a shit ninja – it didn't matter how good you were at ninjutsu or genjutsu.

Shark-like eyes peered at the two blades mounted to her cropped Root jacket, "Kenjutsu?"

"Taijutsu," she corrected, "I've never been that good at kenjutsu and bukijutsu; those were always Itachi's specialties. I'm only average at it in comparison." Well, to be fair, Kana's skills in kenjutsu had increased dramatically in the last year thanks to Danzo's training, but she felt that it would be best to leave a few things out just in case the large man ended up turning on them at some point.

"However, you learned the Flying Thunder God Technique," Itachi noted, pointing a painted finger at the scrolls hanging from her belt where she kept her specially marked kunai, "So you can at least hit the broad side of a barn now. Maybe."

Kisame burst into a roaring fit of laughter at the unexpected jab, "I – haha – I don't think I've ever h-heard that – hahahaha – tone from you b-before, Itachi."

The dark-haired man's eyes widened just a fraction at his slip just before glaring at his teammate wordlessly. Kana only scowled and pulled her mask back over her face, but this seemed to encourage Kisame's raucous laughter as he began to accuse her of pouting.


Throaty chuckles echoed off of the cave walls the group had decided to take shelter in for the night, "Itachi, are you sure that she's the same age as you?" Kisame purred while eyeing the kunoichi standing next to him, "You're not overestimating by a few years?"

Kana rolled her eyes and made an attempt at folding up the sleeve of her Akatsuki cloak, only to watch the soft cotton flop back down past her fingertips. It was technically Itachi's spare, who was a good half a foot taller than her, so it hung off of her small five-foot one-inch frame like a large jacket on a wire hanger. She looked down at her feet where her Anbu boots were hidden by the dark fabric, which pooled slightly against the cave floor.

The Uchiha ignored his question, bringing his hands up to form a hand seal, "We're ready, Pain," he said passively. Looking over his shoulder, his gleaming red eyes focused on the woman, "Come, Kana. Keep close."

Shutting out Kisame's snickers, she discreetly picked up the sides of the cloak so she didn't trip on the hem and quickly strode to stand just behind and to the side of Itachi as the pair began forming hand seals. The rings on their hands glowed just a couple of seconds before a group of shimmering figures appeared – like rainbow phantoms, or screens that couldn't quite get a signal.

Kana realized that she was looking at the entirety of the Akatsuki, the mercenary organization that was secretly plotting to gather the jinchuriki to use them against the shinobi world. Even if they weren't physically manifesting inside the cavern, she felt a nervousness just looking at their flickering shapes.

"C'mon, Pain, what's this about?" a man with his right arm out of his cloak groaned, "I need to perform a ritual!"

"Heeeey who's that next to Itachi?" a high voice with only one eye and spiky hair squealed, "Is that a newcomer?"

The figure with a strange eye pattern that looked oddly familiar spoke, "This is Kana Shimi. As of today she will be accompanying Itachi and Kisame as an unofficial member of the organization." His voice was deep and, though he was one of the shorter members, the way he spoke was very commanding and held authority. Though, Kana recognized him as Pain, their leader, by the purple dojutsu he wielded; those eyes had been difficult to forget when they met face to face two weeks ago.

A man with what looked like the outline of a high ponytail sucked his teeth in disapproval, "What the hell would they want with that pipsqueak? Hey, Sasori, my man," he nudged the figure next to him, "Looks like you're not the shortest one here anymore!"

Whoever he nudged looked to only be about three feet tall, but was hunched over – either that wasn't his true form, or he was sitting. Kana chose not to respond, only staring straight ahead. "Fuck off," he snarled in a gravelly voice.

"Why's she wearing a mask? Is she ugly?" the high-voiced man without a cloak said happily, "I bet she's really ugly if her face is covered up like that!"

The ponytailed man groaned, "Tobi, shut the fuck up! No one cares!"

There was a curious hum to her left, "I've heard that name before," a deep voice mused, strange-looking multi-colored eyes looking downward. Rustling told Kana that he was flipping through a book just before he made another humming noise, "That's right, you're also known as the Black Demon Fox of the Leaf… You have a pretty high bounty on your head, little girl. Ninety-five million ryo, to be exact - you've made a very rich man very angry."

"Black Demon Fox? Ohhh that sounds so scarrryyyy!"

A threatening growl came from the ponytail man, "Tobi if you don't shut the hell up I will kill you! Shit!"

"Ninety-five million ryo?" the ritual man asked incredulously, "Damn, Kakuzu, are you serious? Sure you didn't read that wrong?"

"Once she acquires Orochimaru's ring she will become an official member," Pain continued as if none of the bickering was occurring, "And she will be tasked with infiltration and resource acquisition for the organization."

"Isn't that Zetsu's job?"

Tobi squealed again, "Whooaaaa, Zetsu, looks like you're being replaced!"

"Oh no, is that true?" a man with a strangely effeminate voice cooed. His outline made him look like some sort of alligator, or carnivorous plant, with a person in between the jaws.

Sasori looked over to where Tobi was standing and must have had a menacing glare, because the masked individual cringed with a fearful squeak.

"Zetsu is not being replaced," Pain affirmed, "But as our goal comes closer, we need to gather as much intel about each Great Shinobi Village as possible. her skills will prove to be invaluable to the Akatsuki."

Ponytail man huffed, "No way, what makes this squirt so special?"

"We graduated the Academy and joined Anbu together as children," Itachi finally said, having been silent during the entire meeting, "Only a fool would judge someone's abilities based off of their size."

Kisame smirked, "Especially when you're not much taller than she is, Deidara."

Giggles erupted from Tobi, "He's kinda got a point, up until now the only person in the organization shorter than you was Sasori!"

Ritual man joined in on the laughter while Deidara scowled.

A woman with bright orange eyes looked over to Pain, who looked back at her briefly before nodding, "We will reconvene in one month."

With that, the figures flickered into nothingness.

Kana blinked stupidly at where they had all been previously standing, then looked up at the two men next to her, 'What the fuck just happened?' she thought to herself. To be perfectly honest she had expected a group of cold, calculating, hardened criminals that spoke in raspy voices and talked about… Shit, she didn't know, whatever criminals talked about. Instead she had met a group of-

"Such children," Itachi sighed tiredly with a subtle cough before turning on his heel over to the blanket he had laid out next to the fire.

'Yeah, that about covers it…' Kana followed after the two as her mind moved to other places, dropping down onto her own blanket unceremoniously and reaching up under her mask to wiggle her fingers under her goggles, rubbing at tired eyes.

Her eyebrows furrowed when a particular subject began to nag at her, "Hey… What did he mean by I have to get Orochimaru's ring?" she asked cautiously.

Itachi's stony demeanor somehow hardened even further at the question and his eyes locked on the fire that flickered in front of them, "When Orochimaru departed, he took his Akatsuki ring with him. Pain wants it back, so your initiation requires that you break into his hideout and retrieve it."

Flashes of Kana's encounter with the sannin sped through her mind. She remembered the burning agony that ripped through every fiber of her being when Orochimaru sunk his fangs into her chest, marking her, with that wicked, evil smile. Memories of the way he purred in her ear with that sickening singsong voice while touching her face made her stomach twist.

Subconsciously she brought a closed fist up to cover the curse mark that had been placed there, lightly pinching the fabric of her too-large cloak.

"You're strong," Itachi's tone was calm, but soft, as if he had sensed her uneasiness, "He won't be able to touch you - just run in and out."

Swirling eyes brightened behind Kana's goggles, "It's not me I'm worried about," she half-lied before a thought occurred to her.

Across the fire, Kisame hummed, "It's the boy you're concerned about, isn't it? Sasuke?"

"Itachi, take off your shirt," she demanded, ignoring Kisame, while crawling over to where the man was sitting with a knee raised.

Pearly-black eyes stared back at her quizzically but he did as she wished, releasing the snaps on his cloak and slipping it down to bunch around his waist. Kana kneeled behind him as he tugged the lined mesh shirt over his head; Kisame raised an eyebrow at her when she looked up over his shoulder but remained silent.

Focusing a tiny amount of chakra to her fingertip in a very thin claw, Kana put a hand on the shoulder, noting how cold it felt beneath her gloved palm, to keep him stable. "This is going to hurt," she murmured. When Itachi nodded to show that he understood, the kunoichi brought the tiny scalpel down and cut into the flesh over his left shoulder blade.

A pained grunt escaped his lips while Kana systematically etched symbols and characters into his skin. They formed the same seals that were on each of her special kunai and she made sure to move slowly and pay special attention to her movements as to not screw anything up – she didn't exactly enjoy listening to Itachi's breathing come in short, ragged bursts between low moans so Kana didn't want to have to do this again.

When she was done, the kunoichi sat back on her heels to admire her handiwork. Blood trickled down his back from each thin incision, sliding over his pale skin in a series of small rivulets. Itachi looked over his shoulder at her expectantly and Kana found herself momentarily stunned at how morbidly beautiful he was like this.

She tore her eyes away from the macabre display to reach into the larger pouch strapped to her hip for first aid supplies, mentally cursing herself for not already having them at the ready. "I used a chakra scalpel to inscribe the same seal into your back as the ones on my kunai," she mumbled while dabbing a peroxide-soaked piece of gauze into his bleeding cuts, keeping him from twitching too much by tightening the hand on his shoulder.

"What good is that going to do?" Kisame asked, sounding genuinely curious.

Tossing the bloodied gauze to the side, she tore open a sterile pouch of bandages and gently taped it over the wound, "Do you know what the Flying Thunder God Technique is?" When Kisame shook his head, she explained, "It's a type of space-time ninjutsu that was created by the Second Hokage. I mark a place that I want to teleport to with a seal that's unique to me and activate it with my chakra. Though…" she stuffed the masking tape into her pouch and began collecting the used materials, "The kunai part comes from the Fourth Hokage."

The man nodded, "And by using chakra to carve into Itachi's skin, you're making sure that it permanently scars. But… Why?"

"Because in doing so it allows her to teleport to my side," Itachi answered, pulling his shirt back over his head.

"Couldn't she just give you one of her kunai, though?"

Kana blinked at him, "What good would that do if someone takes it? Or he loses it? Kisame, my purpose is-" she stopped herself before she could finish. Did he know why she had joined their entourage? Kana looked down at Itachi, who turned his face up to hers curiously as if he were waiting for her to finish her sentence.

'He knows, right?' she asked, eyes locked on his, who nodded.

She looked back up at the clearly confused swordsman, "My entire purpose now narrows down to keeping Itachi alive. I need to be able to get to him no matter where either of us are, and this is the only surefire way for me to know that the technique will get me to him. Just…" Kana looked back down into the face that was still peering up at her, "Don't, like, get your skin cut off or something. Please."

Amusement glittered in his pretty black eyes, 'And ruin your hard work?'

It should have brought a sense of warmth to her, but the fondness in his mind's voice felt like a punch to the gut. She gripped the dirtied medical supplies in a fist and rose to a standing position, stuffing them into the pouch on her hip before shrugging off the cloak and chucking it over to her blanket.

"I'll take watch. You two sleep" Kana muttered curtly.

Her mission wasn't about friendliness – about watching a group of men bicker amongst themselves and lob petty insults, or prattling on about chakra and the best weight for a sword. No, Kana was here to delay Itachi's inevitable death so he could continue directing the Akatsuki away from the Leaf and the Nine Tails while simultaneously keeping her out of Orochimaru's grasp.

Kana exited the cave and jumped up to where the small plateau ended, sitting down and dangling her legs over the cave's mouth. It was going to be a long night.


Note: Ugh. I seem to keep making Kana more and more unhappy. I think I just enjoy torturing her?