I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. NARUTO IS THE PROPERTY OF MASASHI KISHIMOTO!

Unanimous

Chapter 1

'Damn Sasuke is slow,' Kaiya thought as she pushed Naruto back into the hotel room before the huge shark-man could get to him. She slammed the door shut as Naruto turned back around. "My, my," she said while shaking her head, "the Akatsuki are quite grabby these days aren't they?" Kisame turned his head to his partner and jerked it toward Kaiya. A silent exchange occurred between the two. This was unexpected. They had known about Jiraiya, had prepared for it, and he was safely out of the way… but this woman! They had no clue who she was. Itachi hadn't moved from his stationary spot, not since he arrived at the door. He only observed the female for a moment. She was average in height for a woman of around eighteen or nineteen; around his age. Dark haired and dark clothed, she looked like she could disappear into the shadows at anytime, regardless of her pale skin. And her eyes were different. They were like nothing he had ever seen; a deep blue with cat-like pupils that carried an animalistic rage deep inside. Though his vision had already begun to fail him, he could see that she was quite the good-looker.

"You gonna sit there and stare me down or are we gonna get on with this?" she asked, cracking her fingers and crouching into the strangest position they had ever seen. Kisame chuckled. "Oi, Itachi, doesn't she seem a bit too eager to you?" he said, turning back to the female. But she wasn't there anymore. Only a black wolf crouched there, baring its teeth. That's what her special technique was, though she was closely affiliated with water, she could shift into any animal she wanted, even dragons, which hadn't been seen for a few hundred years. "Eager!" it growled, though the voice was distinctly feminine. "You just might get your ass handed to you on a silver platter!" She didn't have time to fulfill her threat before Sasuke stepped into the hallway. Naruto poked his head out of the door. "Get back in there!" she growled as Itachi deflected Sasuke's chidori, blasting a hole in the building. "Very inconspicuous," she said to the taller man of the duo. Oh what! Now she was holding a conversation with Kisame?

"Seriously," he answered, without even a glance in her direction. They both watched the fight, which didn't appear to last long, and Naruto jumped out of the room in an attempt to help his teammate. 'Damn it,' Kaiya thought. 'Can't this kid stay put for just five minutes! That's all I'm asking!' She leaped still in wolf form to shield Naruto from Kisame's swipe only to be shielded herself by a toad plated in armor. Battles sure did move quickly, especially in her mind. Especially when she fought an enemy such as Akatuski. Jiraiya's voice sounded from behind and Kaiya saw right through the mist. She mentally V-8 slapped herself in the head when she saw Jiraiya holding a woman slung over her shoulder, bragging that he was too good for Itachi's trickery. He looked ridiculous… as always. Her frown was clear, even on the face of a wolf. "Jiraiya, shut up," she groaned. Naruto started to degrade him, and Kaiya was officially having the weirdest day of her life. Kisame laughed aloud and Kaiya immediately knew how this looked: Konoha shinobi were the dumbest of their breed. Definitely. And here Jiraiya was, calling Itachi a disgrace to all men. "Ha! Like you have room to talk," Kaiya mumbled. Major stress mark moment. Sasuke had succeeded in regaining his footing, to which Kaiya was extremely surprised. He was probably going to go down again. She moved silently between the two Akatsuki members, padding down the hallway at a brisk trot, waiting to taunt Sasuke a little. She had to admit, she hated that kid. Sasuke was the epitome of snot-nosed, emo brats. While she was moving, she didn't go unnoticed. Itachi's gaze followed the blue-eyed canine all the way to her place halfway down the hall, where she turned back into a human and leaned against the wall. Her dark clothing remained in place, unruffled. And Sasuke took a running start.

"You're gonna get hit, you're gonna get hit," she said as he passed by. Itachi didn't seem to use much force to kick him into the back wall, in fact, he stayed relatively still. "You got hit," she called after him as he flew past in the opposite direction. And Kisame couldn't help but laugh. This girl was strange enough holding conversations with S-ranked missing-nin and taunting her own teammates. The shorter of the two Akatsuki trudged after his brother none too happily. He swept past Kaiya on the way to smack some much-needed sense into his little brother. He stopped in front of her for only a split-second and glanced in her direction. But she still heard his question. "Who are you anyway?" Kaiya smirked. She liked to keep her identity secret. "Like I'd tell you," she said as she slinked back a bit. Sasuke didn't want interference. And she wouldn't give it, although she did feel a bit of a twinge when Itachi went offensive. He was formidable, even though he didn't prefer hand-to-hand combat. And when Itachi sent Sasuke into a genjustsu, Naruto took off, followed by Kisame. And it was like Kaiya was being pulled along by an invisible string with them. She launched, transforming in mid-air, into Kisame's path, falling short of the Akatsuki member's improvised sword swipe. She was too fast and ended up at eye-level with him, blue eyes meeting white, and had her two inch long teeth embedded into his shoulder with black fur bristling. With the other immobilized, he balled up his other fist and hit the wolf just below the rib-cage, causing her to lose her grip on his shoulder. Her temporary winding gave him an opening, though she did end of tearing his shoulder again before the sword caught her under the jaw, which threw her up and back. She slid onto the floor with the start of a concusion and depleted chakra. Naruto was almost to Itachi when Jiraiya released his Gamaguchi Shibari, which shifted Kaiya's body back a bit as the fleshy membrane covered the floor, halfway swallowing her up. And she couldn't help but think, 'Couldn't he have done that a second earlier.' But she saw no more as her chakra, which oddly continued to deplete, dropped drastically, and she lost consciousness. At least she had harmed Kisame's dominant sword arm, which was still gushing blood. She hoped her wolf form had rabies…

Itachi released Sasuke, allowing him to sink back into the wall and turned his attention back to Jiraiya. He glanced down as his feet sunk into the fleshy floor, as were Kisame's. The petite form of the woman who had been a wolf a moment before sat untouched halfway submerged into the membrane. Both Akatsuki members pulled at the fleshy binding, snapping it easily, and Itachi reached for Kaiya, grabbing her by the arm and slinging her over his shoulder, beckoning to Kisame behind him. If Kisame told this story, and Kakuzu got a hold of it, he would probably want to rip her apart to examine her strange jutsus. Sasori might want in on it too. Besides, if there were others like her, they could pose a problem to the organization. A person was different from a cornered, threatened, and angry animal; and with the consciousness of two, there was no telling what havoc would ensue. Kisame was right behind him, pulling his sword along with him and slashing at the surging mass of flesh pursuing them. "We're not going to make it at this rate!" The disgusting sound that the wall made nearly muffled the statement. 'Like I'd let that happen,' Itachi thought, closing his eyes and preparing himself to use the one technique. The one that would save them. Amaterasu. And with it, he burned straight through the wall, freeing them to flee the scene.

"Why did you bring her with us?" Kisame asked skeptically as they raced through the trees. Silence. "Oh, the silent treatment, eh?" he chuckled. "Itachi thinks that Akatsuki needs a more feminine touch. But we already have two." Itachi glanced inquisitively in his partner's direction. "Two?" Kisame nodded. "Konan," he said, counting off on his fingers, "and Deidara." He flashed a toothy grin, hoping to get a laugh out of Itachi that would never come. "I'm tired," the black-haired man said simply, and the conversation ended. He could almost feel the weight of the young woman, but she was so light. He was really amazed at how little he felt her weight until she started to regain consciousness. "We need to stop," he said and descended without any acknowledgement from his partner, who followed behind him. They stopped in a natural glade, far from any road, and Itachi sat the woman down underneath the shade of a tree while he rummaged through his bag that he kept all of his travel belongings in. He pulled out a small vial with a pressurized needle at the end that would release the drug when pressed against her skin. Her eyelids fluttered for a moment and then she was still as the Uchiha pressed the needle into her upper arm. "She won't be much trouble as long as we give her this once everyday," he said to his blue-colored partner who had casually picked the girl up with one arm. "Well that's a bit too much trouble for me. Lightening our load would get us back faster," Kisame replied, preparing to roughly drop her on the ground. Itachi's anger piqued. He forbade it, finally giving his reasons about Kakuzu, which was only partially true. The blue-eyed woman's blunt and slightly detached behavior toward her teammates was quite fetching. Plus, she had a bit of psycho in her, which he liked. He took to young woman from Kisame and placed her on his back, Holding her this way, with her arms draped around his shoulders and her face buried in the crook of his neck was much easier than lugging her over his shoulder for four or five days. That would be the approximate time they would arrive back home if they didn't haul ass all the way back, which neither of them wanted to do. The sun was already starting to sink. They started off through the trees again, jumping from branch to branch, getting closer and closer to the base with each step. But, as the sun dipped over the horizon, they had to stop for sleep. They were far enough away from any roads or villages to start a fire, and they placed her not too far away an sat on the other side of the burning tinder.

Kaiya's eyes flitted every now and again, but she was only drifting in and out of consciousness. She shivered against the night air, which was colder than usual, and she was extremely unprepared for it. At one shiver, she felt warmth on her body, and cloth draped over her neck. Itachi could tell that she was only sleeping and exhausted. "You secretly have a soft heard Itachi," Kisame said, laughing and faking a sympathetic face. Itachi settled back down a few feet away from his partner, resting back on his hands with his legs slightly bent out in front of him. He didn't say anything for some time. Until: "Kakuzu wouldn't be very happy with damaged goods. Pain-sama wouldn't be that thrilled either." Kaiya quietly pulled the black cloak tighter to herself. She wouldn't run. She would stay a prisoner. In her state, she couldn't get very far away from them before they caught her again; besides, this could be a chance to infiltrate Akatuski. As she settled down into the cloak, she caught the strangest scent. His scent, which was quite enticing to her. He smelled of a rugged life, but not a totally unclean one. In fact, she smelled almost no body odor at all. It smelled like the outdoors, which had more to it than humans – even shinobi – would expect. It was like rain, grass and leaves all rolled into one. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. Early the next morning, she felt the needle in the skin of her upper arm and became accustomed to the uncomfortable feeling everyday after that until they reached the Akatsuki's hideout.

A stone ceiling and walls were the first things she saw. She hated it when she woke up and she had no idea where she was. But at least there was a window made of angled stone. It let in the light from a half-full moon, showing a wooden framed bed and one bedside table. Other than that, there was nothing else in the room. She heard something like plant leaves rustling from the shadows, but ruled it as something outside when she didn't hear it again, although it had slightly freaked her out. She could easily turn into a bird or a bat and slip out, but she couldn't' take that chance yet. She pulled up chakra to change only her eyes into those of a big cat. She now saw the door across from the bed, and a small bathroom, which must have held only a toilet and a sink. Just as she released her chakra, the door swung open. All of the members of Akatuski flooded into the room. Nobody said anything for a moment… until. "Listen, why don't I save you guys the trouble. My name is Kaiya Himura. Since birth I've been able to do what Kisame and Itachi have witnessed, which I'm sure you've been told about. But I can do more (much, much more) and I could probably scare the piss out of you in the process. I've basically lived in Konoha my whole life, although I was abandoned at around age seven because some people though my eyes were the mark of a demon. I've had a very troubled childhood. I have inner trauma, yada, yada, yada. This has probably led to my blunt and irritating behavior. So where do I sign up?" she asked with a smirk. Pain, the leader had been stopped mid-breath. His mouth still hung open slightly, and Konan closed it for him. He shook his head and glanced in her direction. Had he just spaced out? Kaiya was extremely long winded, but she had spunk. Hidan started to chuckle and Kakuzu stepped forward. His hand reached towards her arm, and Kaiya slapped his hand away. "Look, if you wanna "examine" me," she said, making quotation marks in the air with her fingers, "Then we're gonna need a bigger room. Besides, we just met." Hidan's chuckles turned into full-blown laughter and he turned the corner to finish his laughing bout. Itachi only smirked. Just like she had been. And she wasn't even fazed by the fact that she was God-knew-where expected to do God-knew-what. She was extremely resilient. Kiaya pushed herself off of the bed and stretched. "So, where do you wanna do this?"

"Oh, the giant statue is a nice touch," she said as she saw the multi-eyed statue in the dark. "I like her," she heard one of the men say. She turned to see a white-haired man carrying a three-pronged scythe strapped to his back. She smiled back at him and waved. There was no way she could have heard that. She was in the middle of the large cavern and he was at the other end. And he had whispered on top of that. Kakuzu pulled out a clipboard. Pain wanted every single piece of information he could get. "Let's start with something small," the Akatsuki member said through his mask. He expected something extremely tiny; a sparrow, a hummingbird, a bug even. She did none of them. In fact, she all but disappeared. They heard one flap of wings and then Itachi felt the claws of an eagle on his shoulder. They didn't exactly grip as tightly as they normally would, but they were still secure. A black eagle preened itself beside his head, ruffling its wing feathers out. "Is this small enough for you?" it clicked through its beak. "This is pretty good for espionage, but I'd prefer something like this." The weight on his shoulder lightened drastically and he couldn't tell what animal it was exactly until he glanced over. "Much better," a small bat squeaked. Both Kakuzu and Pain deliberated for a moment. They could use that ability anywhere at anytime. Meanwhile, Kaiya had changed into a raven, and for some reason, Itachi had her perched on his hand, stroking her neck. Here small, beady eyes were half-shut; she kinda liked it. Kisame elbowed Itachi, snapping him back to reality. He jerked his hand out from under her, forcing her to fly. She changed back into a human, a bit pissed off that Itachi had just… stopped. Wasn't there something about not ending a petting session prematurely? Or maybe that was only for cats…

"Yep, that bitch is sexy!"

The white-haired man again. For the most part, Akatsuki were a quiet group of individuals. Except for him. Loud, obnoxious, and a believer of Jashin, no less. That god had some low standards. "That makes me feel so much better coming from a playboy!" she shouted across the hall. She drowned out Kakuzu, who was talking to her about offense. The playboy laughed crazily. "And a psycho." Kaiya turned her attention back to Kakuzu. "Hm? Oh sure," she said, without waiting for him to answer. Her wolf form was first. This was what she liked to use most. And, when they wanted to know what she could do with it, she trotted over to Kisame and sat down on the side of the arm she had bitten. She gave him a sideways look with a toothy grin and he grimaced at her. "Okay, okay, she bit me. Tore me up too," he said, removing his cloak and pulling the shirt sleeve back to reveal a blood-soaked bandage, which needed to be changed. Wounds inflicted by Kaiya's teeth tended to bleed for a while because of her technique. Her Kuro Kiba tore muscles, skin, and tendons. That arm would be out of commission for some time. When she used that technique, her teeth were backed by some major chakra too. "My lions, cheetahs, and jaguars are just as bad. But I doubt shark-boy would wanna see them," she said, standing on her hind legs like a human, but remaining a wolf, much to the surprise of the entire group. "I can change any part of my body to that of an animal too, though that takes a bit more control." Over the years, Kaiya had mastered her talents, working with some of the best shinobi available to help with the consumption of chakra each technique took. In fact, every animal shift was a different technique. The larger the animal, the more chakra it consumed. Simple. But, before they requested anything more, she wanted to show them something else. Something that would leave them speechless.

Black smoke pooled around her feet and rose up, growing ever larger in the darkened room, even larger than the statue in the cave. Hitting them with this so suddenly was guaranteed to scare them stiff. Black bat-like wings snapped out of the smoke, stretching across the entire room. A snake-like head appeared with white ivory horns protruding from the back of its skull. The frilled flaps of skin that stretched along the back of its neck went all the way down its back to the tip of its tail. The blue eyes focused and dilated in the dim half-light. Blazing white teeth set in blood red gums peeked ouf of the mouth as Kaiya opened her dragon's maw. Metallic, black scales stretched along the length of the giant reptile's body and white claws and spikes gleamed. Her tail curled around her and flicked sinuously. "So, who wants to see what I can do?" Nobody moved. Could such a small woman turn into something so formidably huge? Dragons. None of the Akatsuki had ever seen one, considering that none of them, not even Kakuzu, was that old. Itachi wouldn't even try, not with his Sharingan either. "I suggest you give me somebody who won't be torn apart and die. Somebody who can be sewn back together." She lowered her head to the group, who showed some guts by standing riveted, not by fear, but by will. Kaiya was impressed. "Ah," she said. "You'll do." And she picked Hidan up by the back of his cloak with her teeth and tossed him into the air. "Bring it on playboy!" She wouldn't be able to move much, but he wouldn't be able to do much damage either. He fell through the air at an odd angle, coming down near the base of the woman's – well, dragon's – snake-like neck, His scythe ripped downward, meeting the surface that should have torn straight open. But the weapon only clanged loudly off of the scales. Harmless. Sparks flew and her head snapped around to where Hidan was. He had leaped back and was now in the air a good thirty feet high. Her mouth opened, and for a second, Hidan thought that he had an open shot at her exposed gums. Boy was he wrong. Flames tinged with orange, red, and plasma blue exploded from the back of her throat, lapping and stretching towards Hidan's black and red cloak. And the flames made the strangest howling sound. Everything stopped. Kaiya drew the flames back. "You're lucky that you make me laugh," she growled, turning her head back to pain. "Virtually impervious," she laughed as she was engulfed in dark smoke once again and emerged as she had been before. A small, black-haired, blue-eyed woman with an attitude. "I'm a small." She disappeared from view back down the hallway.

"I want a watch on her," Pain said to Kakuzu. "She worries me more than Deidara does." A blonde snapped his head around. "Who said that, un?" He wasn't paying the least bit of attention. Pain gave him a death glare. Silence ensued. "Itachi."

"Yes sir?" An emotionless reply echoed the emotionless face. He had very much enjoyed all of her antagonism of the rest of the organization. He would hate to be on the received end of whatever she was like when she was really pissed off. "You're first watch. I realize that you just came back, but one more night of watching that woman won't hurt you," the leader said, putting emphasis on the word "you". Well, after what she did to Kisame, asking him was out of the question. What they had just witnessed was too great to lose to a man who might just implode if he was in the same room alone with her. And Hidan had just had a near death experience; though Itachi was sure he reveled in the feeling of almost dying. Pain could care less about that however. And Zetsu. She might just have to be partnered with him. The group dispersed, each heading off to their own rooms. Teams shared room, except for Pain and Konan. And of course, Zetsu. Nobody knew what happened to his last partner. That had never been, and never would be, spoken of.

During the whole examination sequence, the night had all but passed her up. The sun had already risen when she got back to her room. And she didn't really know how to pass the time. She chatted up the local birds that flitted by her tiny window. An attempt to get a message back to Konoha wasn't going to be so easy. In fact, she hit a stroke of luck finding a hawk that circled by her window. She spoke to it quickly and it complied to take her message. But, simply finding a bird who was suitable enough to fly the distance, was smart enough to listen to her, was fast enough to carry the message, or just simply wasn't too busy had taken most of the day. It was a good thing that she could be patient. But the best part of sending a message via bird was that none of the Akatsuki knew how to speak their language. (;D)

Itachi walked to the door, followed by Kisame. After passing their day doing absolutely nothing, like always, they were happy to just get through another day. And the door that he stood in front of was her door. Kaiya's door. Why he had been put on first watch was a mystery to him, but it would probably leave him sleep deprived and irritated. But, their room was just at the end of the hall. With a swift goodbye, as per usual, Itachi unlatched the door to find Kaiya digging through the night stand to see what was in there. "Would it kill you to knock?" she asked, as if he had just walked in on her shower. He closed the door without a word, listening to Kisame's quiet chuckles on the outside as he moved away. Fun. He pulled a chair out of the bathroom, which would turn out to be a room filled with wonders because it doubled as a closet and nobody knew what would jump out at you in there. She had flipped on the single lamp on the table and illuminated the small room fully along with the light of the newly risen moon. She snorted when he didn't answer her and pulled the covers down on the bed. She plopped down and pulled them back up, turning around and bunching the pillow to use as a headrest to be able to see both Itachi and outside. "So, you're Uchiha Itachi? I have to admit, you're much better looking than I though you'd be. And you killed your entire clan when you were what? Thirteen?" No answer. "You don't feel a thing, do you?" she asked. "No," he answered at last, but Kaiya could sense the despair he felt deep within. She could smell it on him. Deadpanning wouldn't work with her. "Well you don't have to worry about telling me the truth. I know what really happened." A look of suspicion crossed his face. "Trust me, when you've spent as much time around the Third as I have, you know these things. Oh, don't worry about it, only a few of his most trusted people know. I never quite agree with that," she continued. "I think I know how you feel." He smirked. "And how do you know that?" He was convinced that she knew nothing at all. "Being gifted," she said sleepily, "and dangerous, wears on one's body and soul." She closed her eyes, appearing to fall asleep. She knew more than he thought, and at her last statement, his smirked turned from cocky to saddened. Yes, he still felt as guilty as the night he'd done it. He still had nightmares. They would never stop until he was dead. If she felt the same way, maybe… maybe she could help him get rid of them. He noticed how she seemed not to breath, but he could see the steady rise and fall of her chest. She turned under the covers. Her hair fell across her pale face. And he immediately thought of the one he had killed. The very thought of her almost brought a tear to his eye. He shook his head and breathed out a slight laugh. His onyx eyes looked at her sleeping form again. He reached over the gap between his chair and the bed, pushing the stray hairs gently behind her ear. He sat back in his chair and leaned his head back against the wall, glancing at the blue moon and the deep blue sky beyond. It reminded him of her eyes. He laughed at himself. For an Akatsuki member, he sure was being made into a sentimental sap by this woman faster than he thought.

Alright, first chapter is up ^^ You know I've been meaning to do this for a long time, but I really haven't had any time to spare. Reviews are much welcome!