Hey guys! Thanks for sticking with me! Hope you like the newest chapter and please remember to review!!!!
P.S- Big thanks to my Beta Rae-Chan!!!!! This whole chapter is dedicated to her and Jess!!! Happy 11th!!!!
Rae: *blushgrin* Hehe. Yeah, me and my girl's 11-month anniversary is on the 23rd. Drop a note in the reviews to say hi!
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"Father…"
Lifeless bodies…
The piercing screams…
Fire….
Hinata sat up with a start. She couldn't tell if her eyes were open or not. The darkness was piercing and seemed to sink into her very soul. She shuddered and suppressed a sob as she squeezed her eyes closed.
How long had she been locked in this prison of darkness? Days? Weeks?
She felt a laugh starting to pull at her throat. Shouldn't she be dead by now? Is that what they were waiting for? She pulled herself further into her corner and hugged her knees.
The bastards who did this would die. She smiled. Her revenge would be sweet. She would escape somehow. Then she'd come back and kill them all. She refused to die.
She stared out into the darkness as she let the anger fill her. It had kept her going. It was her only company in the dark.
Hinata turned as she heard movement against one wall. She silently crawled to the place where she heard the soft sound and pressed her ear against the smooth stone wall. All her senses seemed to be on alert. She could hear the tiniest noises of the mice chewing on straw in the corner and the fluttering of the wings of the bats that hung above her.
She frowned when the sound disappeared. She activated her Byakugan and looked around but saw nothing. She smiled as she deactivated it and started running her hands along the stone. She moved slowly along the cold stone then stopped when she felt the neat cut in the stone.
She'd found the door. She sat back on her heels and she stared straight ahead. Now all she had to do was get it open.
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Itachi sat silently in a corner with his eyes closed.
He frowned slightly when he heard the faint sound of someone entering. He ignored it. He felt a breeze from his left and instinctively shot his arm out, and caught the leg that was sent hurtling to his head from the left.
"Damn!" Kisame yelled before yanking his leg away. "It's impossible to sneak up on you!"
Itachi cracked an eye opened and gave Kisame a warning look as he sat across from him and stared at the wall that Itachi was leaning on.
"How much longer?" he asked seriously after a moment.
"Soon."
"You said that two days ago!" Kisame smiled. "You have to let her out sometime, Itachi! We were meant to train her! Not kill her!"
"I won't have to."
"Then how the hell do you expect her to get out?!" Kisame laughed as he stared at Itachi in amusement.
"She's found the door." Itachi said softly and closed his eyes again to focus on the movement on the other side of the wall. He heard Kisame shaking his head and ignored him again.
He had to admit. The girl had more drive than he originally expected. She had managed to stay alive longer than any normal human with no food and water and she still had the energy to move around. He raised a brow as he heard the slight squeal of a mouse. Is that how she had managed to continue living?
He frowned and opened his eyes to see Kisame doing the same.
"She eating the rats?" He said with a frown. "Damn. Smart, but sick."
'Whatever it takes to stay alive.' Itachi thought. Then he drew his brow when he heard a slight hissing from the other side of the wall. He barely recognized the sound and had time to jump out of the way before the wall burst open in a ball of flames and stone flew everywhere.
"How the hell!?" Kisame yelled as a piece of stone hit him in the head.
Itachi smirked and ran forward into the darkness. He frowned when he turned to see another gaping hole where the door had been.
She had used the explosion as a cover.
His eyes widened momentarily before he jumped through the door just as the ceiling exploded and sent tons of rock crashing to the floor he had just been standing on.
He smirked and turned to look down the hallway to see a flash of ghostly pale skin followed by demented eyes that seemed to belong to the holiest of angles.
He didn't hesitate a moment before flying down the hallway after her.
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Hinata wiped the blood from her mouth as she turned a corner and dashed forward.
She knew hiding those explosion tags in her chest binding was a good idea. But she only had one left. She'd have to move cautiously now.
She darted around another corner and spotted a boarded up window at the end. Her heart fluttered as she saw thin beams of sunlight breaking through the board. This was her only chance. She ran as fast as her legs could take her, and as she neared the window, she closed her eyes, preparing herself to break though to her freedom.
She felt her heart fall through the floor when she hit a wall.
Staggering backwards, she fell to the floor in a heap. Her head thumped madly and she could feel the earth moving beneath her.
"Not very smart, Hyuuga."
She stiffened at the cold voice and forced her hazy eyes open. She gasped when her eyes started to focus and the crimson red eyes of her tormenter focused on hers.
"What do you want from me?" She demanded in a hiss. She pushed herself up slowly as he stood before her.
"I'd recommend that you not move, if you value your life."
Hinata froze as the icy words sent a shiver down her spine and spike of fear through her heart. She felt the penetrating gaze on her face as he walked slowly over her and pulled out a kunai. His blood red eyes narrowed as he lowered himself to hold the kunai at her throat.
"Where did you get the explosive tags?" He demanded.
She forced a glare and set her lips into a thin, straight line.
"I do not need to ask for me to find out." His said coldly and glanced down at the thin black shirt.
She felt a shiver of rage go down her spine, and before she could stop herself, she spat into his face. She watched his face as it landed on his cheek and began running down his face.
In the blink of an eye she felt herself flying towards a wall. The pain in her face was excruciating and she barely managed a sob before she crashed into the opposite wall. Her whole body vibrated with the impact. She barely began to fall, before she was grabbed by the neck and pinned to the wall in a bone crushing grip.
She didn't have the energy to stifle the sobs any longer. She was sure her cheek bone was broken, as well as various other areas in her body. She grimaced as she felt his hand run up under her shirt and rip the chest bindings away from her. She shivered as his hand ghosted around her chest and gripped the extra explosive tag she had hidden.
As he pulled the paper from her chest, he removed his hand from around her neck. Hinata coughed as sweet oxygen poured into her throat, just as the darkness that had been circling her consciousness finally enveloped her completely.
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"Wow…"
Itachi didn't turn when he heard his blue companion catch up to him. He gripped the explosive tag so hard he felt blood beginning to run down his hand.
"Did you kill her?" Kisame asked as he came up to stand next to him.
"No." Itachi replied before dipping down and grabbing her around the waist, hanging her over his shoulder and starting down the hall.
He felt her black hair swinging and gliding against his back. He had to stop himself from spinning her around and cutting it off himself.
"What are you gonna do with her? She totaled the cell."
Itachi ignored the comment and continued down the hall. He was aware of Kisame silently following him, but ignored his presence as he walked into his room and dropped her on his bed ,none too gently. She wasn't going to be moving for a while, especially with the wounds she just received.
"Bring Debai from the village." He said, as he started walking out of the room.
He glanced as Kisame nodded, and in the blink of the eye, he was gone. He frowned as he moved swiftly to the stream just outside of the underground compound and filled two buckets of water and put them next to the bed. He then walked to the pile of rubble that had once been her cell, and pulled an old blanket from the wreckage.
By the time he got back Kisame, had the short white-haired medicine woman. He put the blanket down next to her and moved to the opposite side of the room, sitting quietly as the woman fussed over the dark-haired girl.
He closed his eyes after a moment in silent meditation. He would not allow himself to feel any concern over the insolent girl. She was simply a mission. A mission he would not fail. He would train the girl, convert her to the Akatsuki, and she would be used as their 10th member.
He still didn't have all the details as to why their leader had pulled the girl into the group. She would be the second female to join, other than Konan, and he wasn't given a clear reason as to why. He would find out.
He refocused his hearing as he listened to the old woman work away on Hinata. He had no doubt that the girl would recover. He'd been taking it easy on her. Next time he wouldn't.
He continued listening for a while longer before he finally heard the woman sigh, and sat next to her on the cot.
"She will live. But her recovery will not be easy." She said solemnly, in his direction. He knew she was speaking to him.
"Please, just give her a month to recover."
"Hn." Itachi said finally and opened his eyes to look at the woman. The fatigue on her face was very evident. Her skin was drawn and her gray hair looked slightly disheveled.
"You may leave." He said, as he rose in one fluid movement. He stood as the woman started to the door and looked over in that direction. "Kisame, see that she gets back to her village."
When the woman finally disappeared through the door, and he finally heard her footsteps fade, he approached the girl quietly.
He could see the deep, sickly-looking purple bruises already forming on her face and her body. The woman had been forced to remove her shirt as she bound her chest to help the broken ribs heal. And he could only imagine what was below the blanket that was pulled carefully over her waist.
He felt the sneer curl slowly onto his lips before he turned and strode slowly back to the other side of the room and sat facing her. He just had to wait now.
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Enemy, familiar friend, And it finds me,
My beginning and my end,
Knowing truth, whispering lies,
And it hurts again.
What I fear and what I try,
Words I say and what I heard,
All the pain, I want it to end,
But I want it again.
The fight inside is coarsing through my veins,
And it's raging,
The fight inside is breaking me again.
Jade- Hey guys! So this is the third chapter! Hope you liked it!!! That little exert above is my theme song for this fic! Fight inside by Red. Red 3
Any ways, please remember to review and my new Beta Rae-Chan enjoys anyone hello's from my loyal reviewers!!!
Rae: Why yes. I do. I'm like a retarded puppy, very easy to please. (: