Kaela woke before the sun rose the next morning and groggily sat up from the position she had rolled into on the floor. She rubbed her eyes sleepily and looked downwards.
Her ankle was stiffer and more swollen than the day before. She was certain that there was no way she was going to be walking on it for at least a week. And even that estimation was being generous.
Suddenly noticing the presence of someone beside her she flinched and backed away.
Itachi's lip twisted upwards in a smirk at her response, he knew he was intimidating but it was somewhat amusing to test it out every now and again. Kaela seemed to relax slightly when she noticed it was Itachi and wrapped her arms protectively around her torso. She felt safer this way, albeit falsely.
Itachi had fallen asleep for a few hours the previous night, reasoning that if she were to stir he would be awake faster than her. And he was right in that assumption, ninja's didn't have the luxury of waking up groggily like civilians did.
He doubted she could do anything to him either, she came across as a harmless girl, even though he assumed she must be about the same age as him.
Kaela sighed and uncurled her body in favour of fetching a sleeved shirt out of her bag. After a few moments of rustling through her bag she pulled out a low cut long sleeved white shirt.
She wasn't quite sure why she bothered pulling the shirt out in the first place though; she was too shy to get changed with Itachi staring at her like that. Sighing in defeat, she left the shirt on top of her back pack and moved onto her knees.
She flushed a dark red when she realised she really needed to go to the toilet and on top of that she had to ask for help because of her ankle. She turned her head slowly to Itachi who was watching her from his lying position on his back, through half lidded eyes.
"I h-have to g-go," she mumbled embarrassedly, putting emphasis on the 'go' and looking down at her rather large chest dejectedly.
Itachi, having expected that this would have to happen at some point crawled to the opening of the tent and unzipped it silently. He was wearing only his mesh shirt and black pants and upon exiting the tent held a large hand out for Kaela to take.
Gratefully taking his hand, she was pulled into a standing position outside of the tent and almost immediately handed to Kisame who had come over to see why they were already up.
"Help her get to somewhere she can relieve herself Kisame," Itachi said to the confused giant in the same authoritative way he always spoke.
Kisame raised an eyebrow at Itachi before looking down at Kaela who was almost dying of embarrassment.
"Fine," Kisame grumbled before carefully lifting her off her feet and carrying her into the bushes. When they got there she was left to do her business herself and when she was done she was carried back to the campsite sulkily. She hated having to depend on other people to look after her own body.
She should have just stopped the day before, before she got so fatigued and injured herself. It was definitely speeding things up though, as little sense as that made.
Kisame could carry her and travel at his usual speed without any trouble, meaning that it was only going to be a few days of travel rather than over a week of walking at civilian speed.
When they got back to the camp site the sun was just starting to rise and Itachi had already packed up their tent, after throwing out her bag, which was already packed other than the one shirt.
Even though this allowed them to leave earlier, it didn't give Kaela the chance to get changed, like she had hoped to do. It was too chilly to be wearing a tank top in this weather, and on top of that it looked as though it was going to rain.
Kisame placed her next to her backpack and walked over to his tent to pack it up, before Itachi could give him one of the famous Uchiha death glares again, it seemed to be occurring more often since Itachi found out that the younger Uchiha had gone to be trained by Orochimaru.
Kisame shrugged, he knew there was something Itachi wasn't telling him about his past, and he was very happy not knowing anything about it.
He preferred keeping his business to himself and gave the other members of Akatsuki the same sort of respect, especially his partner Itachi, who he had gained admiration for over the years.
Kisame was done rolling his tent in a few minutes and strapped it to the top of his bag, which was rather small considering how few items of clothing he could find that fitted him. Shops just didn't cater for people who were as big as he was.
Kisame looked towards Kaela who was still sitting where he left her and frowned. She seemed like a nice girl and he felt sorry that she had to have the abilities she had. The Akatsuki was no place for a timid girl like her.
Some of the members were savages and in Sasori's case, none of the other members even knew what he looked like. Kisame even avoided some of the members that were in the Akatsuki and it was really something to say that he (a giant blue, shark like man) was not the biggest freak there.
Kisame finished hooking his bag onto Samehada's strap and pulled out the dried meat he had in one of his Kunai pouches, he hardly used them anyway, preferring close combat at which he excelled.
Kaela was already munching one of her breakfast bars she had in her backpack. She didn't eat a lot unless she was required to heal someone since her body stored energy much more efficiently than other people's. It was very important with the type of ability she used.
She had almost given up hope of her leg healing enough for her to escape before they got to wherever they were going.
Itachi had already eaten while they were gone; he was sure that they would make it back to the base today if they left early and travelled the whole day. He was impatient to get back to base with the captive so that he could get this mission over with, he didn't like missions where he had to capture people.
He didn't mind killing, killing came naturally to a shinobi and once he killed someone he didn't have to babysit, unlike the alternative.
Itachi walked to Kisame and explained the route they were going to be travelling. Kisame gave a nod before grabbing Kaela's backpack, placing it in the same place as yesterday and throwing her over his shoulder, much to her displeasure.
Unfortunately it was the most energy efficient way to carry her and since it seemed like they weren't going to stop for lunch, he was going to need his energy.
They travelled the whole day without much of an issue, other than the huge bruise that was forming on Kaela's hip from Kisame's shoulder, but as always she didn't complain about it.
Around sunset the two started to slow down and ensure the area was clear. They then proceeded to step past a large boulder that had rolled out of their way upon sensing the ring Itachi wore
Kaela was not even certain which country they were in anymore. Her assumption about the rainfall had been correct and for the last 20 minutes of their trip the sky was pouring down on them, she was certain every single item of clothing she had was soaked.
They walked through a tunnel that was so dark that Kaela had no idea how they even knew where they were going. There wasn't even a single torch until they reached an enormous high-ceilinged room with a huge statue was adorning the entire far wall, all ten fingers raised skyward and hands chained together.
For some reason she couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from it. She stared at it all the way until the door of the passageway they entered was closed behind them, obstructing her vision of the statue.
She blinked rapidly before returning her eyes to the floor of the passageway, she was glad there was at least some light in this passage.
After a couple of minutes she was placed on her feet next to Itachi. They were standing outside a door and after a few knocks a deep foreboding voice was heard from the other side.
The door was opened and she was helped into the room left standing there alone as the door was shut behind her. She felt her throat tightening with the fear of the complete darkness of the room and the knowledge that she was not alone inside it.
After a few seconds a dim light was switched on and a shadow like figure made its presence known. Weirdly, the only clear feature the shadowy figure had was its purple ringed eyes that seemed to be all too real.
She blinked in confusion and almost jumped out of her skin when she heard that same dark voice from before.
"You will be, willingly or otherwise, joining my organisation. You will heal any members that come to you and you will not leave your room or this base unescorted. You will also refer to me as Leader-sama, do you understand girl?" The voice said in the same harsh tone he always used.
Kaela was trembling in her already unstable standing position and only nodded her head, before mentally kicking herself straight afterwards.
"H-hai Leader-sama," she responded shakily, averting her eyes to her feet in fear of those eyes that seemed to stare straight through her.
She saw no reason in trying to disagree with his terms; she had a much better chance of escaping if they felt as though she was willing, it was probably also less painful than the alternative.
She stood there awkwardly for a few seconds longer before he dismissed her and she bit her lower lip anxiously, getting ready to explain her condition.
Luckily she didn't have to because the door was opened soon afterwards and she was pulled out of the room by Kisame, who had obviously been listening in, after Itachi had left him behind.
Itachi was supposed to take her to her room after she agreed to the terms, if she agreed, but as usual Kisame didn't mind doing the job for him.
Her room was centred in the middle of a long passageway and there were many other doors surrounding it, which she assumed belonged to the members she was supposed to be healing.
The room was actually decent with a standing wooden cupboard, a white double bed, two side tables, a bookcase and a desk and chair. There were two rooms attached to hers, a bathroom and a room full of medical supplies.
She was surprised to find that there were actually windows in her room; she was under the impression that they were underground.
And upon closer inspection she realised she was right. The outside area seemed to open at the top of the mountain, allowing light to filter in. It looked like it was being used to grow herbs close to the windows and as a training field further out.
She had a door that led outside but was locked and had no key on this side of the door, but weirdly did have on the other side.
Kisame left her on the side of the bed and dropped her soaked backpack on the ground below her.
"I would recommend you don't try go anywhere by yourself, not all members are aware of who you are and will most likely kill you on sight. Or worse," Kisame said, grumbling the last part distastefully. The only response he received was a reluctant nod from Kaela before he left her room to return to his own.
He was fairly certain the girl wasn't going to try going anywhere anyway, at least not until she could walk properly.
Kaela sighed and lay back on her new bed; she had a feeling she really wasn't going to like what was to come.
Hey guys I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I would just like to apologise to my 'The Genie' fans that might notice me update this, even though I haven't updated there in almost two weeks. I am working on it but unfortunately I'm having a horrible case of writer's block *sigh*.
Anyway please review and let me know what you think. I am always open to ideas from my readers, just saying ;)