Itachi had carried Mika about an hour while they ran. It was about noon when they finally stopped in front of two other Akatsuki members, who Mika assumed to be Sasori and Deidara, although she did not know which one was which. The one with the long blonde hair looked at her closely.
"This isn't the jinchūriki, un."
"No, Deidara. This is Mikazuki Tanaka. I believe that she could be valuable to us, once we get her back fixed up. I'm going to ask you if you could fly with her on one of your clay bombs."
"Of course, un." Deidara reaches into his cloak and let his hand mouths gather clay. He lifted his hands out of his cloak, allowing them to do their work. Mika wasn't really paying attention until a huge owl type creature made out of clay formed from what seemed to be his hands. With a closer look, she realized there where mouths on his hands and her eyes got wide but she kept quite. Deidara hopped onto the bird and Itachi lifted Mika to him. The way they handled her made her back ache but she did not show it. He set her in front of him to where she would not fall off and looked down at the rest of them.
"We will meet you at base. Good bye Itachi, Kisame, Sasori no Danna, un." He made a quick hand seal and the bird rose off the ground and began to fly. Although Mika had somehow managed to get comfortable in Itachi's arms, she could not do so here and Deidara seemed able to tell.
"I know it's not comfortable but we should make it to base soon. What was your name again, un?" he asked.
"It's Mika," she said. There was something kind about Deidara, although she had no idea what it was.
"I'm Deidara," he paused and looked conflicted as if whether or not he should say something. After a minute or two, he looked at her. "It's not fair that you are being recruited at such a young age, un."
Without being able to stop herself she looked at him and said, "You're the one who was recruited against your will, right? You lost a battle against Itachi?"
At first he looked angry but then it faded into something that looked like shame and angst. "Hai, I am. Itachi trapped me within his genjutsu by his Sharingan, un."
"I'm really sorry," Mika apologized and for some reason she felt that if she was forced to join the Akatsuki, then just maybe it'd be okay just because of Deidara had experienced the same thing.
The two of them rode in silence for the rest of the way but Mika wasn't quite as uncomfortable as she was before.
*Back in the village of Konoha*
Kakashi and Guy sat on the training ground playing a game of Shogi. Izumi sat next to them watching intently when Kiba burst through the trees. Not long after Shikamaru and Hinata came through, then Naruto who was carrying Sasuke. Alarmed, Izumi and the two sensei's ran over. Kakashi took Sasuke and layed him on the ground.
"What happened?" Guy asked.
"We ran into Itachi. Well, Sasuke did," Kiba said.
"Where's Mika?" asked Izumi who was looking around, obviously panicked.
"Well, we woke up in the middle of the night because we heard her scream. She got taken by them I guess because then Itachi came through the trees and told Sasuke that they'd see if he could defeat him. Sasuke gave me the look that said 'get out of here' so we managed to pull Naruto away and started to run. But, not long after Naruto turned back and wanted to see if Sasuke was okay. When we got there he was unconscious. We looked everywhere for Mika but we just couldn't find her. I'm sorry,' Shika explained, looking devastated.
Izumi just couldn't hold back any longer because tears started to flow from her eyes and soon she was sitting down sobbing. Hinata sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her. Kakashi looked at Guy.
"Take Sasuke to the hospital. I'll go tell Lady Tsunade what's happened." With that Kakashi turned and disappeared. Guy lifted Sasuke off the ground only to have him pull away suddenly. He gasped and looked like he might fall. Looking around, he seemed to be completely out of it. Guy again lifted him up and ran him to the hospital no matter how hard he tried to get down. The rest of them sat down, tried comforting Mika and wondered what would become of their new friend.