I DON'T OWN ANYTHING EXCEPT MIKA.

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"We killed them," he smiled painfully and then a door opened behind me and I felt an arrow slice through my leg then it embedded itself into the Feudal Lords lower arm.

I jerked the arrow out of my leg as I put my tails away and landed next to the window. Four men were near the door with weapons out. I looked at Hiroku and he nodded. He grabbed my cloak then jumped at me, pushing us both out the window and into the lake three levels below.

When Hiroku resurfaced the water, he saw the girl unconscious in the shallows. He picked her up and carried her deep into the forest before stopping. He cleaned her wound as best as he could with no supplies and ripped part of her cloak to bandage it. Then he pulled her onto his back and headed towards the far prison, hoping to run into her team to get her medical attention. She hadn't moved once since the fall.

"Halt, who goes there?" Three cloaked figures came out from behind trees, swords drawn.

"I am Hiroku, are you the three that brought the Feudal Lord the child?" Hiroku spoke, keeping the girl hidden on his back.

"Yes sir, what of it?"

"She's injured and I know about your mission," he spoke quickly as he pulled her off his back and lowered her to the ground. She was still unconscious. "I had been forced into serving the Feudal Lord and when she got injured, I decided to help her. It's been hours since we hit the lake's surface and she still hasn't responded."

"Jiraiya, can you heal her?" one asked as they all took off their hoods. The one who had spoke was wearing an ANBU mask from the leaf.

"Yes," the one with white hair spoke and knelt besides Mika.

He took the bandages off her thigh and looked at the damage before moving. He pressed his hands to both sides of the wound and a green light emanated from his palms. After a few minutes of silence, Mika's eyes finally opened.

I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was Jiraiya kneeling next to me then things around me became more focused. Kakashi and Asuma were nearby and also a man in a black mask was on the other side of me. I blinked and tried to remember what had happened for me to be in the middle of the woods.

"Jiraiya…?" I spoke weakly.

"Hey little princess, welcome back," he smiled.

I tired sitting up, but failed miserably as I started to panic from not knowing what was going on. "What happened? How did I get here?"

"Mika , calm down, from what Hiroku said," Jiraiya pointed to the black-masked man, "the mission was unsuccessful and the feudal lord injured you… Geez, Hiroku, take off the damn mask. She has short-term memory loss and you're freaking her out," Jiraiya snapped.

As the mask fell away, images came rushing into my mind, tripping over each other to get into order of what happened. I moved my hand over my thigh then felt a warm liquid. I bolted upright to see what the extent of the injury was and fell against Jiraiya.

"I thought you healed her," Asuma growled.

"I did the exact motions but I guess I could only revive her. She is a Ryuu Jinchiriki after all, they heal differently," Jiraiya frowned as he made me lay back down and wrapped my leg.

A flapping of wings, brought us all to attention. Shayla descended and landed near me. I stroked her head and she sighed. "Shayla, fly to the leaf and tell the third that the mission was unsuccessful. We'll wait nearby and are ready for further orders, even though I'm injured."

"Yes, milady," she replied and flew off.

"Let's get away from the Feudal Lord's estate and find a better place to lay low 'til Shayla comes back." I was struggling to get enough energy to talk.

"Okay and no more orders 'til you recover," Jiraiya growled.

"Fine, Jiraiya take charge. We need to get somewhere so I can feed," I whispered as Jiraiya pulled me into his arms.

"Asuma take point, Hiroku if you are going to join us, you follow right after him. Mika and I'll go next and Hatake take back. The most important thing is to make sure Mika can recover quickly," Jiraiya ordered, only he knew my secret of needing blood.

We got on the move and found a cave near a Lake about 10 Kilometers away from the estate. Jiraiya kept me in the cover of the forest trees while Kakashi hunted and the other two set up camp. I drained the fox Kakashi brought after he went to check on the other two then I was laid on a bed roll outside the cave by my own requests.

Shayla landing on the ground next to me, aroused me from sleep. I sat up and saw that Kakashi was on parole duty. He came over and crouched next to me and Shayla ready to hear our orders.

"Sarutobi suggest that you return to the village, also keep an eye on the run-off guard. No one just leaves the Feudal Lord like that, even if they were forced into servitude. Hiroku was one of his personal guards so just watch closely," Shayla whispered.

"Thank you Shayla, you may return home." The eagle nodded and flew off. "Kakashi, she's right… can you and Asuma make a couple clones that look like ANBU? We could say that they were reinforcements that had been delayed to get here," I whispered in his ear.

"Yes, I'll go wake him," he nodded. He created two clones, making them have the ANBU cloak on then left. Before everyone else woke up, I was surrounded by the four 'ANBU' who were helping me stand.

"You don't trust me, do you?" Hiroku smiled as he came out with Jiraiya.

"It's not that, we knew we had reinforcements coming so they'll just join us on the way home since Mika is in a very vulnerable position. Plus, it's our orders," Kakashi snapped, he seemed pissed by Hiroku's demeanor.

"What's the plan Hatake?" Jiraiya spoke, coming to my side.

"We go back to the village. Asuma take point then the ANBU and Hiroku will go next. Jiraiya will help Mika and I'll take the end again. It is our main goal to make sure Mika heals. Let's head out," Kakashi ordered.

At first I tried walking wile Jiraiya had one arm around my waist but my leg didn't take the weight well so Kakashi came to my other side and we hurried through the trees. The journey was strenuous and at one point I went unconscious because I woke up in a hospital. Blood was being pumped into my system and I heard the constant beep of the heart monitor. I heard the clatter of something hit the floor and then the cooing of a baby. I turned my head and saw Takeo sitting on the couch with Naruto on the floor.

"He's grown a bit," I whispered, and Takeo jumped slightly.

"Mika , your awake!" he smiled and hurried to my side. "You've been unconscious for a month since Jiraiya brought you into the hospital."

"If we hadn't gone different ways, you wouldn't have been hurt," he whispered.

"No, it's not your fault. Kaume got angry that I put him back in his cage. The feudal lord angered me and then when his soldiers came in, I put him in his cage," I laughed weakly.

Then I went into a series of wracking coughs, coughing up blood as Jiraiya, Kakashi (who was no longer wearing his ANBU mask, looked about 16 or 17), and Sarutobi came in. Naruto inched his way over to the new arrivals while giggling. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and let it fall to my side from my loss of energy.

"The child is progressing fast," Sarutobi smiled, stepping around the child.

"Are you okay, Mika ?" Hatake asked.

"I don't know… I've never been sick before and here I am coughing up blood…am I dying?" my voice broke.

"What happened inside the Feudal Lord's estate?" Hatake interrogated.

"Hiroku let me away as soon as you left and gave me some wine as soon as he made sure that I had no weapons then took me to see him. In his office, I got angered and some soldiers came in and an arrow went through my leg. Then Hiroku grabbed me and jumped out the window," I whispered, and went into another blood coughing fit.

"Get the prisoner up here now," Sarutobi snapped and Jiraiya disappeared out of the room. "Takeo, take the child home. He doesn't need to be in this negative environment."

Takeo nodded. He squeezed my hand and then grabbed the child and his toy and left. Moments later, Jiraiya, two ANBU guards, and Hiroku who was chained at the wrists came in. He seemed stoic and it made me angered.

"Did you poison her?" Hatake snapped.

"What's her deal?" he looked at me and amusement filled his eyes. "Ahh, coughing up blood now, are we?"

"What did you do to her?" he yelled, drawing a kunai and throwing Hiroku into the wall and pressed the blade to his throat.

"In the wine I gave her, was a poison that would kill her. My lord doesn't like his bed mates to talk so we kill them. I'm surprised that she's still alive though. It usually kills the taker in 72 hours," Hiroku smiled. "The only way to destroy the poison is to burn it but that would kill her."

"Jiraiya…take him…to an empty…field. Hatake…help me please…" I coughed.

Hatake shoved Hiroku once then released him and came to me. He pulled out all the tubes and wires then cradled my in his arms and jumped out the window. The rest of the group followed, confused, but hoping I had some plan.

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