Chapter Two:

Annabell and Gido

"So, how do we get him out without him running away?" The boy's voice floated down to Itachi.

Oh, no. Itachi scanned his surroundings looking for an escape, when he stood up his leg buckled and he hissed in pain. He heard a loud thump and looked up to find a small girl with long chocolaty brown hair staring down at him with mischievous blue eyes. She looked to be about his age, maybe a little younger.

"He really is cute!" The girl shouted back up the hole.

"You crazy… crazy… girl!" The boy shouted down at her. "Why did you jump down there?"

Itachi pulled out his weapon readying himself to fight, the girl took notice and her smile widened. He waited for her to do something, but she only stood there smiling before turning to inspect the pit.

"Ah, I really did good this time. It's near impossible to get out of this pit." The girl puffed up her chest proudly.

"Great!" The boy shouted down at her. "So, how do you plan to get out?"

"I said near impossible!" The girl shouted up at the boy and puffed out her cheeks before returning her attention to Itachi. "What's your name?"

Itachi kept his mouth shut, he couldn't give her any information she could use against him or his village.

"I'm Annabell and that's Gido." The girl pointed up at the boy.

Itachi blinked. Did she really just introduce herself?

"Hey, Annabell you're not supposed to introduce yourself to the enemy!" Gido shouted down at her angrily.

"He's not an enemy. I'm keeping him, so he's mine now. It would be hard to talk to one another if we didn't know each other's names," Annabell retorted.

She can't be serious right now, can she? Itachi tried to inch back, but his foot throbbed making him flinch. The girl notice and looked down at his leg.

"That looks painful." She tried to walk over to him, but stopped when he held out his kunai at the ready. "I'm not going to hurt you."

She dug around in her tool bag at her side and held up bandages. Itachi wondered if he could take her down and capture her, maybe he could get the boy above to free him? A blur flashed his way, he tensed. Huh? Wind whistled through his ears and he hit the wall, he slid to the ground his head aching. The girl stood over him grinning excitedly.

"Wow. You actually reacted a bit. I'm impressed." She bent down next to him. "I didn't think anyone outside of our village could react to me."

"Annabell, stop revealing things!" Gido chided her.

"What's it matter? I'm keeping him," Annabell pouted. Itachi tried to ready his kunai again when he realized he didn't have it. The girl held it up in her hand. "Looking for this?"

When did she? Itachi sat stunned, she'd disarmed him in an instant and he hadn't even noticed. This isn't good. I need to escape.

"Annabell, Gido, stop tormenting the poor boy." A woman's voice came from the top of the hole. Someone jumped down in the hole with them, and Itachi froze. The pressure emanating from this person made sweat break out on his forehead. He unintentionally held his breath. "You can sense that? Interesting."

A tall woman with long flowing black hair tied up into a ponytail stood up and gazed down at them. She wore all black and a headband with a diamond shape. What village is that?

"Edora! Can I keep him?" Annabell pointed excitedly to Itachi.

Itachi's heart pounded in his ears as the woman walked over to them; she stared down at him with sharingan eyes.

"Sharingan…" Itachi quickly covered his mouth realizing what he'd said.

The woman chuckled. "I should have figured. We have a little Uchiha on our hands. Hmm, sounds good. Annabell, bandage him up and bring him back to the village. Gido, go get a room ready for our guest."

She turned and with one jump leaped out of the hole. Itachi could hear Gido grumbling at the top of the hole, but he and the woman left. Itachi stared at the girl they'd left in the hole with him. Can I take her? That scary woman didn't seem to think I could or she wouldn't have left her down here with me. Annabell reached over and touched his ankle; he sucked in air between his teeth. Gently the little girl took off his sandal and bandaged his foot, Itachi felt calmer than he would have figured.

"Edora's a little scary isn't she?" The girl chatted as she bound his foot.

Itachi mumbled a question under his breath.

"What?" The girl looked up at him eagerly.

"What village… are you from?" Itachi spoke up.

The girl put her finger on her lip and thought about her answer, "Well, I'm from a place far far off the map. I don't think even if I told you the name that you wouldn't know where it is."

"Your name is weird," Itachi muttered.

"I get that a lot. My dad was from the land of fire and my mom is from where I was talking about. So, they made my name represent both places. Anna and bell then combined it, but I think that's actually really neat." She chattered on. "Oh, but I'm supposed to be here training with Edora. So, right now I live in her village. It's the Edori village. It's small and a lot of the people there don't have mothers or fathers, but it's like one big family. So, I never feel lonely even though my family's elsewhere. Oh, Gido doesn't have a family. Edora took him in. He doesn't really remember anything either, so don't ask him where he's from. You'll just make him angry."

She talks too much….

"Everyone is really strong in the village. Most people can't touch us. It surprised me when you reacted to my fast attack. You don't seem that much older than me. Oh, I'll be five in a month. Five's a good number; I like it, almost as much as ten. Any more than ten is a little much. Fifteen and twenty is just too many.

"Oh! No one seems to know where our village is at. I asked when I visited a town near here once. The shopkeeper thought I was making it up. I think Edora put up a barrier to hide us. Edora likes it that way. She doesn't bring in new people often, and I think she wants to keep the village a secret. Whenever we get intruders, she takes them out pretty quickly. Oh, but she probably won't kill you. Edora's suuuppper strong and she's pretty. I wish I can be like her when I get older.

"I heard some of the men saying she had a nice body, whatever that means. What does that mean anyway, to have a nice body? Don't people like different things? Like this old man told me once he liked it better when women were curvier, but then this other old guy said he liked it better when women were plump? What do you like?"

"Uh…" How do I get her to stop speaking? He didn't get a chance to answer.

"I don't really get it, but I guess a lot of them prefer how Edora looks. She's kind of curvy, but not—you're a good listener. I like you."

Uh… I wish she would stop talking now. The girl laughed. "What's your name?"

Itachi kept his mouth shut, he'd already accidently revealed he was an Uchiha. He shouldn't reveal anymore. "If you don't tell me your name, I'm going to call you something silly instead."

He looked at her blankly wondering how she thought that was a threat.

"Ok, you're baby bunny now. So, baby bunny, there's this cute little bunny suit I have back at the village. I can dress you up in it and you can hop around." She seemed so excited, then immediately her face fell. "No, that's dumb. Hmm, I'm just going to read your mind instead."

What? Faster than he could see she reached forward and placed her palm against his head. A strange probing sensation made its way into his thoughts. He slapped her hand away, but she stuck out her tongue at him.

"Itachi, huh? That's cute. Maybe I should call you baby weasel instead. Well, welcome." She leaned forward and planted a small kiss on his cheek. He backed away, his face growing warm. "I don't know how long we'll keep you, but if you stay forever, we can get married. I want ten kids. Ten's a good number."

I'm sorry Dad, Mom, Shisui. If I get out of this situation, I'll never leave the village again.