I would like to extent a big thanks to both Shadows4Twilight and evil . mastermind no. 1 for their kind reviews!

As I've warned before, there will be a few spoilers contained within this chapter.

Disclaimer – I don't own Naruto.

Chapter Three: Hatching a Plan

It had grown long into nightfall before there was any indication of stopping for the night.

We had been travelling for hours on end without taking a single break and for the most part, I had complied with Itachi's order and kept my mouth firmly shut. I shouldn't be complaining, really, as I hadn't actually had to walk any of the distance. However being suspended upside-down over Kisame's less than comfortable shoulder was not my idea of a good time.

On top of my aching back, my head felt like it was going to split in half and the injuries I had received up until now were starting to take their toll.

The sun had well and truly disappeared and the world had been cast in a shadow of darkness. We had even continued travelling by night for what seemed like another hour or two until Itachi had made the decision to set up camp under a particular thick set of trees.

I swear, we were still travelling through the exact forest I now greatly regretted venturing into at the start of all of this. Realistically, we could be anywhere. The scenery had barely changed over the entire course of travel and we hadn't come across any towns or significant land marks. Unless the entire Naruto world just so happened to be made up of one large forest – which I highly doubted – the thought now dawned on me suddenly that they had probably planned to avoid them on purpose.

I suspected that I had drifted off a couple of times during the journey, although it felt like every time I had even come close to the thought of sleep, Kisame would jerk in a sudden movement that would jolt me distressfully from my respite. I wasn't sure if he was doing it to on purpose, but if he was, I swear he was going to be fish food.

The minute we stopped at the area Itachi deemed suitable, Kisame had me thrown off his shoulder so fast I barely had time to brace myself before coming face to face with the ground, hard. He completely ignored my grunt of pain and moved to begin collecting small pieces of wood for what I assumed would be used to create a fire.

"Oi fish for brains!" I yelled fiercely as I gingerly rubbed my throbbing nose. "I could have made this journey a whole hell of a lot more painful! You should count your blessings I was so quiet, considering I had blood rushing to my head for the last few hours. My brain cells are probably fried!"

He stopped in his wood collecting process and turned to shoot a glare at me. "What brain cells?" he snapped coldly.

I rose hotly to my feet, about to retaliate when Itachi stepped smoothly between us. "Kisame, we will need a fire." He stated, not bothering to even glance in my direction.

Kisame grumbled angrily and continued picking around the ground for suitable pieces of wood.

As the two set up camp, I plonked myself back on the ground and leant my aching body up against a tree. Watching angrily, I began to device a rather cunning plan.

A slow smile began to tug at the corners of my mouth, the Akatsuki had no idea what they were in for.

xXx

The full moon sat high in the inky pools of the night sky, the fire burning dully in the background, illuminating a large glow throughout our temporary campsite. I snorted, it wasn't much, just a couple of logs thrown carelessly around the fire to be used as makeshift seats by both Kisame and Itachi. Grimacing, I guess they planned to sleep on the ground. How comfortable.

My stomach growled loudly at the smell wafting from the metal pot now brewing hotly over the dancing flames. I hope they at least had the decency to feed me. I huddled closer into myself, as grateful as I was for the warmth emitting steadily from the mesmerising fire, I found myself seated much too far away to actually enjoy it properly. Kisame had landed himself on the log located about a metre and a half in front of me, his back turned. Itachi however, chose to sit on the opposite side of the fire, probably so he could keep an eye on me as I sat outside their little circle, pressed up against the bark of my tree and refusing to climb any closer.

I looked up when Kisame reached in eagerly as the pot began to boil over, pouring two bowls for both Itachi and himself before setting the remaining soup to the side. I looked over wistfully as he dove into the thick looking substance, loudly slurping it up straight from the side of the bowl and into his mouth. I almost whimpered, looks like I wasn't getting any food.

Itachi, however, placed his own food to the side and poured a third heaped bowl, approaching with impressive grace to place it in front of me. We looked at one another for a moment as I regarded his blank look before cautiously unthreading my knees and reaching at to gingerly take the bowl in my hands. Itachi broke eye contact then and returned to his seat to eat his own meal.

Kisame was not a happy camper. "I was saving that for seconds." He practically whined to Itachi through loud slurps.

"It will benefit us in no way if she died before we can extract information." Was all Itachi said in return.

Tipping the steaming soup to my dry lips, I hesitantly tasted the liquid. It was bland, but at this point I was about ready to eat anything. If you could ignore Kisame's rather loud eating habits, the rest of the meal was consumed in relative silence. I finished the bowl quickly and set it down in front of me, gathering one of my two captors would come to clear it eventually.

I allowed myself to close my eyes briefly, thinking back on the events that lead me to become a prisoner to the Akatsuki, of all people. I was no closer to understanding what happened and I couldn't fathom any plausible explanation that didn't sound crazy. Would my mum be worried? If the time zones were the same here as opposed to the real world, I would have been due to return home from martial arts hours ago. What about my friends, would I ever see them again? Even the thought of returning to university seemed so painfully far away at this point. I wondered idly if I would ever get the chance to return home, to get married, fall in love, build a career and have children. I snapped my eyes open in an attempt to stop the reeling thoughts, staring straight into the dark eyes of Itachi.

It felt like ages as we looked at each other from across the camp, but after a beat he looked away again.

Letting out a shaky breath I hadn't even realised I had been holding, I decided it was now or never to set my plan into motion. Kisame would be the easiest.

"You know, Kisame." I began with a sly grin.

He didn't look at me.

"Kisame!"

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

"Kisameeeeee." I could do this all day.

I didn't miss the heavy hunching of his shoulders or the slight twitch of his hand.

Deciding to amp it up a little, I sucked in. "KISAAAAAAAAAAAMMEEEEEEEE" I bellowed in a sing-song voice.

He snapped, whirling around to glare at me. "BE. QUIET." He grit out between his gnashing teeth before turning back around again.

I pouted. "But I have something really important to tell you!"

He lightly tilted his head in my direction, before seeming to catch himself and then stubbornly, he looked back towards the fire.

"Oh well, I guess you'll never know." I sighed dramatically.

Finally, he gave a loud and begrudging groan before twisting completely around to face me. "Fine," He bit out. "What?"

I let a huge grin slip onto my features. "You know earlier when I told you to get your hands off me, before I was rudely interrupted by that psycho over there?" I asked, nodding my head in Itachi's direction who, in no surprise, gave no reaction what so ever.

Kisame looked mildly interested now, raising an eyebrow and waiting for me to continue.

"Weeeeeeeeeeeell," I drew out slowly and leant forward slightly onto my hands in front of me, indicating that what I was about to say was deathly important.

He glowered at my prolonged explanation and leant forward a few centimetres himself, a genuinely curious expression in his eyes.

"Well," I repeated again, my grin broadening.

"…"

"I should have said flippers." I finished flatly, my grin dropping off my face completely as I let a serious expression take its place.

Kisame's brain didn't explode, but it was a close call. He bolted to his feet furiously, blue hands shaking at his side as he loudly began to charge in my direction, seething through his teeth.

"Kisame." Came Itachi's voice in warning, effectively causing his partner to halt halfway over.

Still shaking, Kisame grumbled, however before he even made a single move to turn and head back to his seat, I threw my own hands up in front of me in defence.

"Okay, okay. Geez, you're right, I'm sorry."

Kisame looked back at the sound of my apology, suspicion guarding his expression.

"I do see your point there, you're not a walrus." I paused for effect before continuing, "Fins, then. I dunno, is that more politically correct among you fish-people?"

Before I could anticipate, he was in front of me so fast I felt the wind surge around me before actually seeing the blue figure himself, Samehada drawn high above his head. He was seconds away from unleashing the weapon down on top of me before Itachi materialised, acting as the only object between myself and the shredding sword.

Damn they could move fast, although made no attempt to stop his partner's attack. Luckily, Kisame managed to stop his swing centimetres before Samehada split both Itachi and myself in two.

Itachi sent a threatening glare towards Kisame, who quickly withdrew his weapon.

"You will not harm her." It wasn't a question.

Kisame's face set in a deep and bitter frown, however I flashed a dazzling grin up at the menacing fish. Thank god for Itachi.

Kisame gave a low roar as Itachi continued, "After leader has finished with his interrogation and she is examined thoroughly for foreign chakra deposits, you may then do so."

My smile was wiped clean from my face as Kisame's lit up in a grin of his own at the thought of Itachi's words and after muttering something about scanning the area for enemy ninja, he stalked off into the forest.

Really though, I think he just needed a break from my taunting.

The minute his partner was out of sight, Itachi's head snapped over his shoulder to look at me.

"Do not test our limits. Akatsuki isn't famous for taking prisoners alive and although it would prove easier if you were, continue to cause problems and we will extract information by other means. Kisame and I still have final decision on whether you are worth bringing back for interrogation, do not forget that." He threatened coldly.

I couldn't help but smirk before he was in front of me in a flash, a kunai placed at the tip of my chin and forcing me to tilt my head up and away from its sharp point to look up at Itachi as he crouched before me.

"That was not a suggestion." He warned slowly, as if speaking to a child.

Gazing at each other for just a moment, my mouth fell open only slightly as I took him in. The anime really didn't do him any justice, he was ridiculously attractive. I had been in close proximity with him before, however this was the first time I had really taken much notice. As I looked over every detail of his face with wide eyes, he narrowed his own.

Taking my lack of response as silent understanding, he lowered the kunai and began to head back to his previous position.

Despite my fear, I couldn't help but grin. My plan was now set in motion – anger my two charming Akatsuki captors.

It sounded foolish, but I had come up with a plan, one that if timed right would work to my advantage. How did one anger two expert Akatsuki members, however? I admit it would take a few days to work, but my plan was simple.

The angrier they became, the less aware they would become. There was a reason ninja were always trying to suppress their emotions, angry people would slip up eventually and Akatsuki was no exception.

I didn't need much, just enough for them to make a mistake big enough to enable me some kind of escape route.

Kisame was easy to tick off, Itachi however was a different thing entirely. In fact, the most I had managed to get out of him so far was a slightly raised voice – even then it didn't sound much louder than normal – and a minor narrowing of his eyes as he sent an occasional threatening glare.

However, I thought with a grin, perhaps I just had to come at Itachi with a different approach. It was dangerous yes, but it was a risk I was willing to take if it meant freedom.

I was a medical student, for Christ's sake and despite my demeanour, proved to actually be quite intelligent when I wanted to be. Surely I could dig myself out of this hole.

The idea had first hit me earlier in the clearing with Hisashi, when Itachi had been so insistent on getting some kind of indication about how much information I knew. The question was, why?

Surely he couldn't be that concerned about whether or not I leaked information out to other people about Akatsuki.

That's when I realised, nobody was really all that worried about anything becoming known, unless they had a secret worth telling.

Then it dawned on me, along with a sinister grin. This was just too good, not only could I send Kisame into a rage, but If I could reveal just enough information about one Itachi Uchiha, perhaps that rage would be directed towards Itachi rather than myself.

I had to time it perfectly, if I revealed too much too soon I would be dead before the end of the night for sure. The trick was to slowly build until we were in visible distance of a town, so that when the time came and one of them finally explode I had somewhere to run.

So, what was the one thing that had always managed to affect the great Itachi Uchiha? Sasuke.

And what was the reason behind the one thing that Itachi had done that he wanted to keep locked away so that nobody else ever had the potential of finding out?

Noting Kisame still hadn't returned, I mentally prepared exactly what I was going to say to the Uchiha genius. Well, if he was so concerned with how much I knew, he was just about to find out exactly.

"Bloody hell you're a real psycho aren't you?" I questioned obnoxiously.

If Itachi was surprised that I had completely ignored his warning, he hid it well, not even sparing a glance in my direction.

"I mean, well I guess, you did murder your whole entire clan didn't you?" I continued equally as loudly and again, received no response from Itachi as he began the process of cleaning through his weapons pouch.

"Although, wait, no. There was one other Uchiha you left alive wasn't there? So that makes…two living Uchiha all up." Dumbly using my fingers to count, I tilted my head to the side.

If I hadn't been watching him closely, I would have missed his slight pause as he continued on with his cleaning.

"Hmmmmm, who was it again?" I made the effort of tapping my finger against my chin thoughtfully before clicking my fingers. "Hold up, hold up. I'm wrong again. Was it just one other Uchiha that's alive apart from you?" I asked stupidly, before following to hide any emotion from my face, looking squarely in his very direction.

"Or was it two?" I finished, dropping my voice into an almost whisper.

Bingo, I thought as he stopped what he was doing completely.

Slowly, he turned to look straight at me. It took all my effort not to waver as I looked back at him blankly, deadly serious.

His own blank face turned very dark, very quickly as he glowered at me with an incredibly dangerous look from across the camp site. What's that saying? Oh yeah, if Looks could kill I'd certainly be dead.

I had planned to make another comment, something that would simmer the situation down, but I couldn't bring myself to utter a single word or look away from the menacing Uchiha.

I'd never thought I'd be one to ever say this, but thank god for Kisame strolling back in through the thick trees and into the campsite. Seeming oblivious to the surrounding situation, he walked straight through to his previous seat, which was conveniently smack bam in the middle of where Itachi and I had been looking. So instead of being pinned with the deadly look from Itachi, I was now staring straight at the back of Kisame.

xXx

After what only seemed to be an addition half an hour, I felt sleep tugging at the corner of my eyes as I continued to lean back against the large tree.

Itachi had moved back to his position opposite the fire a few moments after Kisame had re-entered the campsite. Looking at Itachi from the corner of my eye occasionally, I was relieved he hadn't sent even a single glance in my direction since the earlier incident. I did however notice the slight frown wrinkling his brow as he gazed steadily at the flames of the crackling fire.

Contemplating my chances of survival if I pressed further with Itachi tonight, I decided a little more couldn't hurt. I realised I was skating on very thin ice, but reasoning with the fact that Itachi really couldn't do much with Kisame in earshot, without the risk of letting his darkest secret slip, I finalised my decision. Only a little more.

I coughed loudly.

As expected, Itachi continued ignoring me, however Kisame looked at me with a mixed expression of confusion and disgust.

After an estimated 30 seconds, I let out another rattling cough and received the same response from Kisame.

I let another 20 seconds go by before I repeated my coughing action, only this time louder and after doing exactly the same thing only 10 seconds later, Kisame looked at me sharply.

"If you need water, just ask." He hissed, slinging a water container over his head and towards the area I was still seated.

I didn't respond, but after another 10 seconds or so I let out another turbulent cough, sending Kisame into a small frenzy.

"WHAT!" He boomed, standing up to glare at me.

"What?" I questioned back quickly, innocently.

"What do you mean what? What the hell are you doing?"

"What do you mean what the hell am I doing? What the hell are you doing?" I repeated, just as innocently.

Kisame squelched his fingers in anger and sodded off to pace angrily around the campfire. I smirked, even though he was still well within earshot, I gathered he was a little too distracted to pay much attention to what I was about to do.

Coughing lightly, I froze a little to test my theory. It worked, Kisame still appeared to be throwing his tantrum and Itachi simply continued observing the flames in quiet contemplation.

What I was about to do, however, would surely grab his attention.

"MA-" Cough. "DA-" Cough. "RA-." Cough.

Making sure I drew out each letter just enough so that Itachi would realise exactly what I had implied, but at the same time coughing just loudly enough so that Kisame would pass it off as another annoying coughing attack, my plan seemed to be successful as Kisame gave a slight wince each time I let out a cough and then continued on with his grumbling over to the side.

I kept my eyes trained ahead of me harmlessly, ignoring the fact that Itachi had now trained his eyes harshly towards me.

"Right! Everybody! I'm going to sleep!" I announced loudly, looking from Kisame who almost looked like he had just heard of a miracle, to Itachi. If I thought he was sending me a dark look before, the look I was now receiving from the eldest Uchiha was excruciating.

Dragging my eyes away quickly, I gently curled myself over and onto the ground, rolling so that my back was turned and listening closely as Kisame sat himself back down loudly next to the campfire, I allowed my eyes to close over.

I could feel Itachi's eyes burning into me from behind as I feigned sleep. Even a genius of his calibre had to fail at some point. And when he did, I would use it to my complete advantage.

And thus, my plan was set into motion. All I had to do was stay alive long enough for it to work.