Hey guys! This is chapter four! Hooray! I made it a little longer, spell checked it, and didn't end it with someone passing out! Aren't you all proud of me? I gave you a little insight into the guys' minds as well. Hope you enjoy. Thanks for sticking with me guys~!


-3rd Person-

"I kind of feel sorry for the kid," Kisame said, glancing down at the girl in his arms, her teal colored hair – just a shade darker than his own skin – splayed across her face.

"Hn," Itachi grunted, his eyes flicking over to Kisame.

"I mean, 'Why can't you people just leave me alone'? With a line like that, you gotta wonder how many people have come after her. I can't help but sympathize."

"Don't lose focus. The mission is to capture her and bring her back to base. Emotions will only get in the way."

Kisame snorted. "Geez Itachi, when did you become so heartless?"

"Hn."

Kisame chuckled in amusement at his partner before turning his attention back to Kasai. As he stared at her trouble face, something pulled at his heart. He shook his head, dismissing it as empathy for her situation. However, as they traveled on, the feeling continued to bother him, and something in the back of his mind told him it was a little more than just empathy...

-Kasai's POV-

When consciousness found me, I was laying on my side on the forest floor. I closed my eyes again and sent a small amount of chakra out of my body to give me a general layout of the area.

"That's not a good idea," the raven – whom Kiba had identified as Uchiha Itachi – told me.

I wasn't stupid enough to think I could fool him into believing I was still asleep, so I slowly sat up and leaned into the tree behind me. Kisame gave me a toothy grin as I observed my surroundings before placing my head in my hands to balance myself.

"You really trust me enough not to tie me up?" I asked.

"You are in no condition to be running, much less fighting," the raven responded.

"Who said anything about fighting? I could kill you both in your sleep and run away."

"Itachi doesn't sleep," Kisame told me with amusement.

"Well then, I could use a substitution jutsu and sneak off into the night," I told them.

"You could do that with your hands tied as well," Itachi answered evenly.

"Yeah, but it'd be a heck of a lot harder to hide or get away," I retorted. Kisame started laughing.

"You're a weird one, kid, giving away your escape tactics like that."

I snorted. "Those tactics are amateur. Mine are much better."

Kisame started laughing uproariously. I leaned forward and clutched my head tightly, the loud pounding in my ears making me dizzy and slightly nauseous.

"Kisame," Itachi called. Kisame looked down at my contorted face and smiled sheepishly.

"Right. Sorry."

As the pounding in my head slowly faded, I felt two cool pairs of fingers gently massaging my temples and another large hand softly stroking my hair. As creeped out as I was, it helped the headache, so I didn't protest. After a few minutes, both Akatsuki members drew away, and I raised my head, looking at them warily.

"Why are you being helpful?" I asked.

Kisame smiled. "We had orders, kiddo. We knew you weren't just gonna pick up and leave if we told you why we were looking for you, so we had to snatch you. Doesn't mean we can't treat you like a comrade, which is what you'll be just as soon as you get all cleared with Leader, now that you're stuck with us."

I glanced over at Itachi, who nodded.

"Why would you be looking for me?" I asked in honest confusion. "You two took me down without even working out a sweat, and on top of that you managed to dismantle all my plans for getting away by using my own abilities against me. I'm obviously not that great, so why?"

"You weren't fighting at your full potential," the raven told me evenly, cutting me off when I started to protest. "You thought you were, but you weren't. You were distracted and hindered by the proximity to the village and the need to protect your friend. We had no such restraints."

"Honestly, you're little buddy kinda helped us on accident too," Kisame chuckled. "You were thrown off when he told you I was from the Mist. Of course, I was a little distracted by the fact that judging by your reaction, you are too, but I had Itachi to cover me."

A shadow of a smile crept onto Itachi's face at Kisame's statement. I raised my hand to brush my hair back and push the knife hanging by my face back into its holder so it wouldn't accidentally cut my face, but a surge of returning chakra coursed through my veins and I fell backward with a strangled gasp. The painful feeling quickly faded, and I looked over at my abductors and, still breathing somewhat heavily, said, "You know, if your plan wasn't so ingenious, I would hate you right now, but oddly enough, instead I'm kind of impressed."

I twitched my arm and caught my breath at the pain that shot through my body. Glancing at the two Akatsuki members again, I said, "I can't move. I have a small little knife holder next to my ear so I won't get cut while I'm moving. Would one of you be a wonderful person and put my knife in it please?"

Kisame was closer to me, so he reached over and pulled my hair back, revealing the knife dangling beside my face. Kisame chuckled and placed it in the holder that was, as I mentioned before, next to my ear.

"Clever hiding place," Kisame grinned. I smiled tiredly.

"I have eleven knives total hidden on my person. Clever is necessary."

Kisame looked a little impressed, and the shadow of a smile crept back onto Itachi's face.

"The sheath is clever as well. It makes it nearly impossible for your own weapon to injure you," Itachi commented, studying the holder I had fashioned from a few feet away. I nodded my head, and as the light moved on my face, Kisame caught a glimpse of the thin scar going across my cheek.

"I see you learned by experience," he observed, brushing his thumb across the scar.

"Yeah. I was a little stupid back then," I responded, glancing down uncomfortably at his hand. He noticed and pulled away.

A moment of silence passed before Itachi rose from his place on the ground, saying, "We should begin moving. It's almost midday."

I tried to move my arm downward again, but as before, a bolt of pain shot through me, so Kisame lifted me easily from the ground and jumped into the treetops along with Itachi. The constant jostling sent extreme bolts of pain shooting through my body, and within a few minutes, I was unconscious again.

-Itachi POV-

We're not supposed to let our emotions get in the way of our missions. So why am I behaving so kindly towards the girl? Yes, her personality is similar to that of my brother, but even so...

I looked over at Kisame and Kasai, wondering how the two of us had managed to become so attached to our hostage in such a short amount of time...

-Kisame POV-

As I ran, I pondered over how the girl in my arms could seem so familiar to me. When I came up blank, I decided to see if I could collect any clues from her.

"Hey, Kasai, what's your family name?" I asked her. When I received no response, I glanced down to find her unconscious in my arms, her face twisted slightly and her hands clenching the outer layer of my cloak. Her physical reaction to chakra exhaustion was uncommon, to say the least. I'd only seen one other person have that kind of reaction, and I had difficulty remembering her name... that wasn't important though.

I made a mental note to ask her about her life in the Hidden Mist when she woke up and began trying to disentangle the strange emotions that had plagued my mind since first meeting Kasai. This girl sure does have something special to her...