Disclaimer:

I do not own Naruto. It was created by and belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Elva stopped walking abruptly, having arrived at the old apartment building she had exited from less than an hour and a half before. It took a moment before Konohamaru glanced back, waiting for Elva to answer a question that he had apparently just asked. After a moment, Udon and Moegi stopped as well, turning around to find out why Elva had stopped walking with them. Moegi frowned slightly, asking, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Elva responded, inclining her head toward the building while explaining, "This is where I live, that's all. There's really no point with walking home with you guys any longer if I'd have to walk all the way back here." She froze for a second after she had completed the sentence, realizing that it could be interpreted to mean differently by the way she had said it. "Not that I meant to be rude," she hastily added at the last moment.

Udon raised an eyebrow slightly at Elva's behavior, then seemed to shrug, pushing his glasses up past the bridge of his nose and turning once more to continue their walk away from the academy. Moegi, a little more hesitant, smiled and waved for a moment before also starting away. Konohamaru was the only one to stay, due to his inquisitive nature. "Can we see it?" he asked suddenly, causing his two new teammates to look back over their shoulders.

Elva frowned. Why would they want to see my apartment? she asked herself, confused. Not wanting to be rude, she slowly found herself shrugging and heading towards the main door of the large building. "...yeah. Sure. Come on in." She beckoned them in, holding the door open with one hand while glancing in with the other, almost apprehensive to let people into her apartment.

Her apartment was on the third floor, so they quickly made their way up the flights of stairs and into the hallway. Elva stopped in front of her door and jammed her hands into her pockets, searching for her keys. She grimaced slightly in disgust when she felt the apple she had taken from her refrigerator that morning, but eventually her fingers clasped a metal handle, and she thankfully pulling both of her hands out. She fit the key into the lock, turned it several times, and then pulled.

It wouldn't open. Elva felt herself frowning again, and she pulled for a second time; it still wouldn't open. Udon looked over her shoulder down at the lock. "Is it still locked?" he asked, shifting his glasses again.

She shook her head, looking down at the key in her hand. "No. It shouldn't be," she replied slowly, "I have a key. I just unlocked it. I don't know what could be wrong." This time, Moegi spoke up to try and help.

"Maybe somehow you unlocked it and then relocked it," she suggested, standing up on her tiptoes in order to look over Elva's shoulder as Udon had a moment ago. Elva shrugged, figuring there wasn't any harm in trying. She put the key back into the keyhole and turned again. This time, when she went for the doorknob and twisted, it opened immediately. But Elva had never pulled the door to open it.

Directly in front of her was a blood red cloud outlined in white. Her heart skipped a beat as she followed the pattern, surrounded by black, up to find a blue face looking back down at her. She furrowed her brow, confused once more. "Hello, Kisame," she said quietly, subconsciously putting the key back into her pocket as behind her, her three old classmates tensed up, not knowing how to respond to this new person.

The five of them stood like this in awkward silence for what seemed like hours, but suddenly Elva felt herself grow rigid, and she forced a smile onto her face, whirling around on her heel to face the three new Genin. "I'm really, really sorry," she told them quickly, hoping they'd believe her. She honestly was. "You all have to go. I'll talk to you later?"

Udon, eager to leave, was the first to nod and leave swiftly, disappearing down the stairwell. Konohamaru was the second to leave, followed lastly by Moegi, who seemed to be the most frightened by Kisame's sudden appearance. It was only then that Elva finally turned back to face Kisame. "What are you doing here?" she asked quietly, not angrily but not welcoming, either. She suddenly let out a small scream of surprise when Kisame literally lifted her off of her feet and set her down inside of the apartment before he responded, locking the door afterwards for good measure.

She glared at him, her hands forming fists on impulse as her temper began to get the better of her. "I hate it when you do that," she said angrily, as if it would make him apologize instantly. "You know I don't like to be lifted!" she then reminded him, her voice louder than before. She would have started ranting on about how rude it was to go around lifting shorter people simply because they were smaller than you, when she heard a voice coming from inside her bedroom.

"Elva is back home, no doubt," Itachi stated. It wasn't a question. He had just said it, like he knew that it was true. Elva gasped, immediately forgetting her anger at Kisame. She ran into the room, finding her father facing away from her and toward her bed, doing something she couldn't see.

She flung her arms around his waist, laughing. "You're back!" she exclaimed, nearly beside herself with joy. "You're back – I can't believe you're back, sir!"

The silence that followed her outburst proved just how awkward what Elva had just done was. She backed away a couple of steps, hanging her head and attempting to look contrite. Itachi glanced over his shoulder, but before Elva could look up again, he had turned back around, only to continue whatever he had been doing earlier. "Don't do that again," he reprimanded sharply, causing Elva to involuntarily flinch.

Kisame appeared in the doorway, leaning against the frame and folding his arms across his chest, chuckling. "Well, Itachi-san, it's obvious she's missed you," he stated, and just as suddenly as he had taken his pose straightened up, walking up to Elva and leaning over until they were at eye level. "Didn't miss me, did she?" he pondered aloud, not only tweaking Elva's nose in the process but with his other hand ruffling her hair.

She exhaled angrily, pushing his hand away and using her free hand to cover her nose, immensely embarrassed. "Stop it!" she commanded roughly, attempting to push her hair back into place without having to redo her ponytail, a feat which was becoming hard to accomplish due to only having one hand to do so. "I don't like it when you do that. And I certainly don't like you treating me like I'm a five year old!"

Kisame gasped melodramatically, mocking her as he threw his hands in the air, looking shocked. "Oh, did I? Well, with a young lady using words like 'certainly,' you must be older than five. Perhaps...six?" Elva glared at him, only further fueling his fun. "I know, I know. You don't like it when I do anything," he retorted, smirking; "yet I still do them."

Itachi finally faced them, now holding an overly packed traveling bag. He handed it to Elva, who nearly doubled over in an attempt to stay upright while holding the heavy object. He pushed past Kisame and out of the bedroom, heading into the kitchen. "Come here," he said simply, not bothering to specify who he meant. Elva remained in place, still unsure she could move at all while holding the bag without meeting the floor, until she finally sighed and followed Kisame into the kitchen after her father.

Itachi had taken out the peanut butter jar from the refrigerator and two slices of bread from the pantry, once again facing away from the two. Elva fidgeted uncomfortably, losing her patience as she waited for a moment when she could ask her father why he was there and what was going on. After half a minute or less, Itachi turned back around, now holding a simply peanut butter sandwich. He handed that to Elva, too, and then promptly started for the door.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Elva asked, making a face of disgust as she held the peanut butter sandwich. I hate peanut butter, she muttered to herself. How many times do I have to tell him that?

"Eat," he ordered, opening the door and holding it open expectantly. "We're going to be moving a lot today." He paused, and then raised an eyebrow as he saw Elva eyeing the sandwich with distaste. "What now?" he asked, almost in a tired tone.

Elva rolled her eyes to the ceiling, still fighting to hold back her temper. "I hate peanut butter. I've told you that a million times," she told him, sighing in exasperation. "Don't you remember?"

Itachi shrugged. "Hn," he murmured. That was the only thing Elva could get out of him, so she tried another question she desperately wanted to ask.

"What did you mean about 'moving a lot today?'" she then asked, going to the kitchen counter and opening a drawer, taking out a cloth napkin to wrap the sandwich in to be eaten later. "Why are you even here?"

Itachi didn't respond, shifting his weight to lean on the door more as he continued to hold it open, so she instead looked to Kisame for an answer. He raised an eyebrow at her, and then suddenly asked, "What, you hug your dad, but not me? And then you expect me to answer your question?" When Elva's eyes narrowed noticeably, he beamed down at her. "Aw, it's okay. I love you, too!"

Without enough time to react, Elva was pulled into a bone-crushing hug, and she immediately gagged, repulsed. "Dad, Kisame's scaring me again!" she yelled, although her voice was quieter than normal, due to the fact that she couldn't breath through the bear hug. She attempted to push the tall, blue man away, but found she couldn't even move her arms; they were pinned to her sides due to the ferocity of the hug.

Itachi perked an eyebrow, eyeing Kisame with a mixture of confusion and disgust. "Kisame, what the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded in an even tone, not raising his voice, but leaving it obvious he was beginning to get annoyed.

Kisame released Elva a few seconds later and patted her on the head before looking at Itachi and smiling brightly, revealing two rows of pointed teeth. "Nothing, Itachi-san; just bonding with my favorite little kid," he replied, attempted to wrap an arm around the young girl

Elva ducked away, backing up until she was between the two men. "Oh, yeah?" Elva challenged, a bright, yet sarcastic grin now on her face, finally feeling safe enough to make a move that seemed that cocky. "Well, you're one of my least favorite adults. Got it?"

"Let's get going. We don't have all day," Itachi reminded them, trying to prevent an argument, even though he didn't fully expect Kisame to be angry with Elva. Like Kisame himself had said, Elva was his 'favorite little kid.' That was true enough the majority of the time. "We don't have much time," he then repeated, for good measure.

Within ten minutes, the three had successfully gotten out of Konoha without running into any guards that might recognize the two missing nins. They had taken the scenic route; Itachi had led them through the Uchiha District and out a secret exit from the village, as to not cause any trouble and, once again, avoid any extra attention from the village's guards. They spent a good hour or so simply walking in silence. Elva wondered if this was how Itachi and Kisame always were like when they were alone together, or if it was just because she was there, too. She secretly hoped she wasn't the one causing the obvious awkwardness.

Finally, she decided to try and strike up a conversation. "So..." she began, smiling uneasily as she paused until she knew she had Itachi and Kisame's attention. "Is there a specific reason you're taking me to Akatsuki?" she asked, hopeful that she would get an answer.

"There's a mission," Itachi replied after a brief moment of thought, "that we thought you could help with. ...not exactly 'help' with it exactly, but having a child with us would make us seem less..." He trailed off, yet he wasn't exactly thinking of the right word, but more so waiting to see if Elva could catch on.

"Conspicuous," Elva finished, smiling more cheerfully and sincerely now. "I understand. It makes perfect sense," she added, nodding as she quickened her pace a little to match those of the adults.

She stopped talking and, for a while, the only sound around them was that of their footsteps, and occasionally the sound of a leaf falling to the ground or a twig breaking somewhere in the forest around them. Then, finding the silence unbearable, she asked, "What's this mission, anyway? Where is it?"

"Kumogakure," Kisame answered, talking this time. He didn't glance at Elva, instead still looking ahead at the path ahead of them. "Itachi-san and I need to...question a feudal lord there." At question, he smirked a little, although you couldn't see it through the collar of his Akatsuki robe. Even so, the way he had said it didn't make it seem right.

Itachi now looked back at Elva. "Why haven't you eaten the sandwich?" he asked, noticing the peanut butter sandwich that she hadn't touched yet. It was still perfectly folded in the napkin, if not a bit folded from Elva holding it in a fist for most of the trip.

"I..." Elva glanced down at her hand, as if needing to know for sure Itachi wasn't lying about what he had just said. "I just don't like peanut butter. I've told you that at least five times, sir." She sighed heavily, looking back up at her father, almost looking hurt. "I told you before we left, but you—"

He shrugged, focusing on the path in front of them again. "It's an easy thing to forget," he admitted, and the conversation was immediately dropped, leaving them in the silence that would continue for hours to come until they, finally, settled down for camp.

Author's Note:

This chapter turned out longer than I thought, but when I looked back at the original, abridged versions, I realized that it made sense, because the second chapter was reasonably longer than the first. This one is almost 2,500 words long, which is about 1,200 words longer than the first. Wow. That's...pretty good, isn't it? For me, it is.

So, please review. I know the people that are probably reading this have already read it, but if you would be so kind, please tell me if, so far, you like it more. I've tried to add in more information about Elva and her past so far. Tell me if you like these or not, because I can still rewrite either of these chapters. I just don't want to have to go back and rewrite them around chapter eight or something like that.

Thank you all for reading this. I really appreciate it.

-Meri Umeko-