I lay in my temporary room, staring at the ceiling. I hated what I was doing. The deal was, "If you join our group, then we will never hurt your friends without your consent." Pain gave me only 5 minutes to think about it, and I had decided losing just me would be better than all of us being chased for a long time.

Now I regretted it.

I had basically just gone against all I had believed in. And yet, when I thought back, didn't Sam and I like the Akatsuki when we were back Home? Yeah, we actually did, I thought. My favorite was… - I facepalmed - …Deidara, and Sam's was… Itachi. But any signs of that had dissipated once we were actually here. Now they weren't just characters, they were real people, real threats. I heaved a sigh. All I can do now is get to sleep. I grinned.

Just because I had to do what the Akatsuki said didn't mean I couldn't give them a hard time.

I awoke with a start. My arms and legs were stiff and aching. I felt pressure on them, but I didn't think for what. I remembered where I was, and my eyes shot open. What met my eyes was Tobi only inches away. "Hey, you're awake!" he cried in delight. He was holding my arms down, and was kneeling on my legs.

I head-butted him. "Tobi, get off!" He tumbled to the floor.

"Ow…," he whimpered. "I'm gonna go tell Leader you're awake." He scrambled out of the room, leaving the door open a crack.

I crawled out of bed, then snuck out the door, just to see what was going on. I walked down the hall, and took a few turns, following the sound of all of the Akatsuki speaking at once. I finally peeked around another corner to find all of the members gathered. I almost laughed at the sight.

From what I could see, all of the Akatsuki had to get out of bed last night because I had gone Nekomata. I had never seen the Akatsuki so disorganized. Just about everyone's hair was completely messed up, none of them were in their uniforms, and most of them were arguing with each other.

Pain stepped up to the front of the room – which immediately silenced the group – and began speaking about who would train me. Crap, I thought. I have to be trained by one of the Akatsuki? He continued on to say that he had thought about this, and had decided Deidara would teach me. Well that's just great, I thought to myself.

"What?" Deidara asked upon hearing this. "I already have to deal with Tobi! I don't want to have to deal with training a kid!"

"I know you don't have much patience, Deidara, but I thought it would be best if you taught her," Pain answered. Deidara heaved a sigh and crossed his arms, showing defeat. He couldn't argue with the leader.

Great, I thought sarcastically. Deidara is going to teach me. I jumped as a hand went to my shoulder behind me. I wheeled around to see Itachi. "Oh, thank God," I sighed in relief. "I thought for sure you were Pain or someone." He didn't respond. "Ugh, I hate this," I muttered. He still didn't reply. "And how are you today?" I asked.

"I'm... good," he answered slowly, obviously confused.

"You know what? You're a good actor," I said. He blinked. "You know, pretending to be bad," I clarified.

"How…?"

"Eh, I know these things." I couldn't say the real reason I knew this, as although he was actually good, he was still on the "bad side," and could easily tell the leader. I didn't know why I wasn't being too careful with what I said; maybe it was because he was basically in the same boat as I was. A thought came to mind. "You know, people like us should stick together."

He was still surprised and confused when Pain walked up to us from the room most of the Akatsuki were gathered in. "Thank you, Itachi, for finding her," he said. "I need to talk to her about what happened last night."

Pain and I stood in a room to talk about me going Nekomata the night before. "I know you don't like this," he said, "but we made a deal. You can't go around attacking us in the middle of the night."

"It's not my fault," I answered.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I have to do what you say, and you told me to go to sleep." I paused. "This happens if I go to sleep; I don't have a seal to restrain my beast, unlike the others. Sam is the same."

He thought a moment. "Why don't you have a seal?"

I bit my lip. If I told him the actual reason, they would know about the real world. "I have to answer this, don't I?" I asked. He nodded, eyes slightly narrowed. I sighed; I had to tell him now, and I couldn't think up good enough lie. "Sam and I aren't… from here."

I went on to explain how we had come from the real world, and why we had no seal. I even accidentally added how we could read other's thoughts at times. When I finished, he thought about all I had said.

"That explains a lot," he said quietly. He looked up to me from the ground. "Now to fix that beast problem."

"What are you—" I was cut short as he rushed up and made the seal on my stomach. I dropped to my knees and had a fit of coughing. "Okay…," I said when the coughing had slowed. "That fixes that…."

He nodded. "The Akatsuki will be breaking up tomorrow morning at dawn. You will be going with Deidara and Tobi to one of their three hideouts."

I later asked Deidara what three hideouts there were, and which one we were going to. He sighed in annoyance at having to answer an obvious question, to him anyway. "There are three hideouts: hideout 1, hideout 2, and hideout 3."

Oh, that's all? I thought. That's very creative.

"We'll be going to hideout 2."

With that settled, few things happened after that point of the day. I did get my Akatsuki cloak, but that was all. (That thing was like a wonder cloak, I swear!) The day soon ended, and I went to sleep.

The next morning, I awoke very early. Right before we set off, Itachi pulled me to the side and whispered, "Go three kilometers North of your hideout at midnight." Then, he walked back to Kisame and ran off with him to their own hideaway. Pain ended up pulling Deidara over, and talked to him a minute.

We eventually left, at around dawn. Right as we walked out of the base something notable happened. "Leader said you guys need to 'bond,'" Tobi said. "So I'll meet you there!" He teleported away, much to Deidara's annoyance.

Deidara sighed, knowing it was too late to get him back, and got out some clay to chew with his hand. When it was done, he molded it as a bird. He held up a hand sign, and the bird poofed to the size that we could both ride on. He got on. "Hop on, hm," he said half-heartedly.

I obeyed, and it took off. I liked the feeling of flight, but it only lightened my spirits the first few moments. My troubles couldn't simply be forgotten. Yes, I enjoyed the cool breeze, but it didn't blow away my worries and feelings. For about 5 minutes we just sat there, still and silent as though we were clay, too... the unmoving kind.

The leader said to be nice, I heard him think.

Oh boy, I thought to myself sarcastically, conversation.

"So…," he began, lost for anything to say. "What's… your opinion on art?"

I heaved a sigh. Of course that would be his conversation starter. "I most often think of art as a painting, but there are many different ways of looking at art where I'm from." He looked to me. I sighed again. "I'm from the real world." He blinked in surprise. I gazed out to the scenery. "Where I'm from, art can be a painting, or a sculpture. Art can be a children's toy, or even music. Art can be a poem. Art can be a photograph, where I'm from. Art can be nature itself. But not once," I said, and turned to him, "have I known a man from my world who thought art was an explosion. Maybe the man who created the atom bomb, or—"

"Atom… bomb?" I then realized he probably had no idea what that was.

"It's a bomb a man created by splitting an atom in two, causing a huge explosion, about the size of your C0." He did the thing known as "un" in reply. "When he tested it and saw the explosion, though, he knew he had created the destruction of the world. Another who might have thought of art as an explosion could be terrorists."

"...Wouldn't I be at terrorist, hm?"

I thought a moment, and realized he was absolutely right. In most movies and shows, we thought of good and evil, when really they were basically just the same as real world 'bad guys.' "Yeah, you would be." I thought a moment. I should probably be at least a little nice, or I would have a hard time living with him. After all, I had to give him some credit for his work. I took a deep breath. "Of course, I respect your opinion on art. Art really can be a sudden flash… like a firework. I suppose an explosion could be art, depending on your opinion."

He blinked. "Hmm…. What is your world like?"

"My world was… is a bit more advanced. We have giant metal… birds called planes, and war tanks and grenades. We have… transportation that runs on gasoline. But there, there is no 'chakra' or jutsus. All we really have is technology."

I stopped, as I had heard a rustle in the trees below. I saw a glimpse of red; almost the color of blood.

"We're almost there," Deidara said, and we landed softly in the woods.

"There are only two rooms?" I asked as I walked in the door of the hideout in the middle of the woods.

Tobi nodded. "There are normally only two people here, hm," Deidara answered.

There was a pause. "There's no way I'm sleeping on the floor," Deidara and I said at once.

We looked at one another, then looked to Tobi. "Looks like your sleeping on the floor, Tobi," Deidara said.

"Yay, Tobi gets the floor!" he cried in delight. "Tobi hasn't had the floor yet!" He fell backwards onto the ground. "Ow. The floor hurts."

I laid awake until the moon was almost at its highest, and snuck outside. I ran three kilometers to the North, and by the time I got there, it was midnight. I was met by Itachi.

"You asked me to come?" I asked.

"First, how did you know?"

"I looked ahead," I replied simply. He just sort of looked at me a moment, waiting for me to explain. "I'm from the real world." He gave an understanding nod. "So why did you want me to come?" I asked.

"You said yourself people like us should stick together."

"Gaara, can I go to the Leaf Village?" I asked

"Why do you want to go?"

"I…. After what happened, I'd like to be with others who knew her well, at least for a little while."

He gave a slow, understanding nod. "How long will you be gone?"

"I really don't know, but I'll try to get back soon. I'm not saying I don't want to be with you, but you're busy as the Kazekage, and I want to be with Naruto for a bit in this time of grief for us."

He nodded again. "I understand."

So I went.

I met Itachi around once a week. He was like my foundation, because, after all he had done, he was actually still good. We most often didn't say much, sometimes we didn't talk at all, but just being around someone who I knew was going through about the same feelings I was reassured me. It almost… purified me. He gave me hope that I could pull through this. I knew that, if my will was strong enough, I would pull through and stay good.

Deidara did train me. I happened to be earth style, which worked out well. I was also fire style, and Itachi sometimes helped with that. But even if our nature types worked positively, both of our attitudes combined worked the opposite: negative. The first time he was supposed to train me, neither of us wanted to cooperate.

Tobi looked from one to the other, me to Deidara, back and forth. "Um, senpai?" he asked, scratching the back of his head. "Aren't you supposed to…" – he stopped scratching head and made a questioning gesture – "train?"

Deidara glared at him. "Shut up, Tobi, hm," he muttered angrily.

"Well then why don't you, um, train?"

Deidara heaved a sigh in annoyance. He stood, then gestured for me to follow. We went to the clearing in the back of the small hideout, where Tobi got to watch us stand far apart from one another, not knowing where to start.

Tobi sighed. "Are you two not getting along? Is that it?" he asked.

"No, you idiot!" Deidara retorted. "I just don't know where to start! This is my first time training someone, hm!"

Tobi walked up to Deidara. "Well Leader said…," he paused.

"What are you doing, hm?"

"…to bond!" Tobi shoved Deidara towards me. He stumbled, and I simply stood there, my brain having not processed what had just happened yet.

He stumbled into me, knocking us both to the ground. Maybe we were closer together than I thought. We stood, and glared at Tobi. "I'm going to kill you!" we said in unison. We looked at one another, then back to Tobi. "We're going to kill you!"

We later decided to try to forget about what had happened, and never mention it again. In training, Deidara and I had come up with a few theories. One was how I could control my beast, without losing control. The second theory was learning how to control my power of hearing other's thoughts.

We didn't stay in our hideout long, however. We could never stay in one place too long. We were going to "hideout 1" next. I told Itachi this, and he then told me I would have to wait a bit to see him again. He told me to go 2 kilometers east of that hideout in two weeks, and go every night until he came. He knew I was desperate to keep the secret meetings a routine.

So we went to the next hideout.

Of course, Tobi left us behind again to "bond," and I told Deidara more about my world, which actually seemed kind of interested in. I saw an occasional glimpse of red in the woods below, but I paid no mind to it. And so, we got to hideout 1.

Naruto and Sakura were waiting for me at the Leaf Village gates; Gaara had probably sent a note that I was coming. We hung around the village, sometimes talkative, sometimes silent. I rented a room to stay in.

The day after I got there, Hinata came up to Naruto while we were wandering the village, not knowing what to do. She twiddled her fingers as she began to speak. "Na… Naruto," she stuttered. "I… I heard about… what happened." She took a short pause. "I… I'm very sorry... about that."

"Yeah…." Naruto replied in barely a whisper. "First Sasuke, and now Natalie. I am a horrible friend."

"N-no! You are a wonderful friend!" Hinata answered. "I… I know you are…."

We met a few others who said they were sorry for what had happened. Sai was having a hard time knowing what to say, but he did pretty well. …Well, not really, but you have to cut him some slack, having been trained to have no feelings. Sakura left our group eventually to visit Lady Tsunade.

A few days later, there was a girl in Ichiraku, sitting right beside us. Her dark brown hair was about the length of Sakura's, but hers was straighter and had bangs. Her theme was red. She wore a red pearl necklace around her neck, and a red shirt with the sleeves poofy and folded at the side leaving an almost diamond shape. The same went for her red pants. Her eyes were red too, and she had a red diamond shape on her forehead.

She seemed to hover around us that day, and the next. Throughout the week, even. One day, curiosity and suspicion got the best of me and I asked her, "Excuse me, but who are you?" I asked this as we were waiting for our ramen in IchiRaku one day. The stranger had already gotten hers.

"My name is Yasuko," she answered.

"I don't know if it's just my imagination, but… have you been following us?" Naruto looked up, trying to remember if he had seen her often, but he was sometimes bad at finding people who are following him.

"Somewhat. I was ordered by Lady Tsunade herself that I watch over you, as you are obviously unhappy. I am to brighten your spirits."

I held out my hand; she shook it. "Nice to meet you, Yasuko." I forced a smile. "My name's Samantha, but you can call me Sam."

Sakura walked over to us to find us shaking hands; she had gone to get groceries. "Oh, you've met Yasuko!" she said, smiling. She looked down to her groceries. "I'll be right back; I need to put these away." She rushed off.

I eventually met up with Itachi again. A few weeks passed, the days seemed to go by quickly. The biggest strange thing was, instead of my age slowing, it seemed to go a little bit faster. I eventually had to tie my hair back to keep it out of my eyes. I tried not to think about that, though. We were going to head to hideout 3 soon.

I alerted Itachi of this, and he said I only had to wait one extra week instead of three. I was glad of this, because being with him was very reassuring. We headed there; Tobi went ahead again. Deidara and I just talked on the way there. We talked about my training; we talked about my world; we talked about art.

On the way there, I only saw a single glimpse of red in the trees.

Fall came. Yasuko ultimately became our friend. She kept watch over me as she was told. As for the Sand Village, I nearly forgot about it. One morning, as I went to get my headband, I picked it up to put it on. I watched as it faded from the Sand Village symbol to the Leaf Village symbol.

My mouth dropped open. Weird.

Later that day, we met Jiraiya in the street. I was walking along with Sakura, Naruto and Yasuko when he walked up to us. He insisted on treating us to lunch, especially after what happened.

As we sat to eat, the subject turned to Natalie. "So what happened to Natalie, exactly?" Jiraiya asked after he took a sip of his drink.

I thought back to a season before. "She told me to move on and that she chose to do this."

"Well, what did she actually say?"

"She said she agreed to it, and that she wanted to join their organization. It's just… I'd probably never see her again. She softly said 'go,' and that she knew I could make it without her. She said she'd never forget me, and made me promise to never stop looking for home. Then…I was led out of the hideout."

Jiraiya thought a moment, then a look of realization spread across his face. "Don't you see?" he said, and stood, leaning forward, hands on the table.

"No," Naruto and I answered.

"What?" Sakura asked.

"Natalie was forced to make a deal! She didn't want to do that!She saved your life!"

Deidara and I surprisingly got along, somewhat. That meaning we didn't try to kill each other. Maybe if he were a "good guy," I might have been his friend. But maybe I was getting too comfortable around him.

In fact, one day when I had proved one of our "theories" to work, I found myself hugging him, him being very taken aback. I realized what I was doing a moment after. I stepped away and cleared my throat. "Let's forget about that, shall we?" I asked, and we continued with my training, after, of course, he gave me a quizzical look.

One night, when I was having a secret meeting with Itachi, he somehow knew that I was getting too comfortable. "Don't lose yourself," he said that night.

I looked up to him. "What?"

"You're getting too comfortable around them. You can't forget they're not on your side." He paused. "If you do, they might eventually become an influence, and you may lose your will to be good." He paused. "Never trust an Akatsuki. Don't trust Deidara. You shouldn't even trust me."

After that meeting, I thought about what he said. Itachi was absolutely right. The only real reason I got along with them was I never saw their "bad side," when they hurt my friends.

The thing was, they seemed so nice when you got past that. They were really just like everyone else, just… bad. Yeah, I needed to somehow get out of this mess.

Naruto, Sakura, Yasuko and I were in a restaurant when we met Katsu. There was a man sitting alone off to the side, eating his dinner. He had waist-length almost blood-red hair, and he had a scar over his left eye; much like Kakashi. He had two dark nubs on his arms, one right above the other, on each arm.

When I looked closer at the nubs, he noticed and said, "Shurikan."

I looked at him to make eye contact. "What?"

"They're shurikan. Never took 'em out, and now they've healed there, just stuck."

"Oh…." I turned back to my food. The man didn't seem to be from the village; he didn't wear a Leaf headband anywhere I could see. Our little group began to talk.

"What's your world like?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, our world is a lot more advanced. We have transportation that runs on gasoline, which we call cars."

"And I suppose you have atom bombs and planes and grenades, too?" the man asked.

I turned in my seat to look at him. "How do you know that?" I asked. There was no star on his left shoulder, so I didn't think he was from the real world.

He turned to me. "I listened in on a conversation while I was wandering. There was a girl who came from a different world, and she said the world had those things."

My eyes were wide. "Who? Who said that?"

"A girl, she was up high on a huge white bird. I couldn't make out her features, but I think she had brown hair."

Naruto, Sakura, and I looked at one another. "Natalie," we said in unison.

The man got up and walked over to me. He held out his hand. "The name's Katsu."

"Nice to meet you," I said, stunned. "I'm Samantha, but you can call me Sam. This is Naruto, Sakura, and Yasuko."

"Nice meetin' you, but I have to go."

"Where?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Nowhere in particular," he said, and turned to me. "I just follow instinct, gained by experience. I'm glad if I helped you in any way." With that, he walked out.

That night I had a dream about Natalie. I was nowhere; all around me was black. I saw a point of light; red light. There was a dark silhouette against it. I ran towards the figure to find Natalie, holding out her hand as though to reach for me. The light was none other than a red cloud.

The cloud began to come forward, getting bigger and bigger. When it got to Natalie, she basically sunk into it. Soon there was only her hand left, still reaching.

Then her hand went limp.

"Natalie!" I cried as the cloud got farther and farther away.

I sat bolt upright in bed. I sighed; I was just glad we might have a chance of helping her, since we knew she was still alive. She's still alive, I repeated to myself in my mind. She's still alive.

I knew tonight wasn't a night I was to meet Itachi, but I just wanted to be alone. I also knew I couldn't run away. I had made a deal, but there had to be a way to get out. A loophole or something.

I thought at first that the clearing was empty, but a rustle in the trees proved I was wrong. A man stepped into the clearing. He had almost blood-red hair that ran down to his waist. There was a scar over his left eye, and he had two dark nubs, one right over the other, on each arm. (A/N: I just repeated myself didn't I...?)

As I tried to identify them, he simply said, "Shurikan."

Those are shurikan? I thought.

"Never took 'em out, and now they're stuck there."

I gave a nod in reply. "Who are you, and why are you here?" I questioned.

"The name's Katsu, and you're…."

"Natalie."

"Right, I remember now. I think I might have met your friends, in the Leaf."

I blinked in surprise. "How are they?" I asked.

"They're doin' good, but I heard from them that you don't want to be here." (A/N: They didn't mention it... Oops.)

I looked to the ground. "You're right. In fact, I was just trying to think on what I could do to get away."

"I can help."

I looked up. "What?"

"I can help you."

"But… you're a stranger. Why would you help someone you don't even know?"

"Well then let's learn a bit about each other." He sat down. "Sit down, and let's talk a bit." I hesitantly sat down beside him. "I know you're from the real world, so you can say whatever you want."

"How do you…?"

"I was in the forest when you were talkin' to that guy on the bird."

"…Oh. Well, I was forced to make a deal with the Akatsuki that I had to join and they wouldn't hurt my friends. Now I want to break that deal, because I really regret it. How about you?"

He thought a moment. "I've lived a pretty long life. I've been through many battles, and I have plenty of scars to show that."

"You must be glad to be alive," I commented.

"Are you kidding? I want to die; just no one has the guts or strength to kill me. None of my friends had the guts to kill me, and none of my enemies have the strength. I would never let anyone kill me; I at least want to die with honor."

I blinked in surprise. "Okay then…."

Then we made a plan.

I really don't have much to write here... REVIEW, PLEASE. pretty please with sugar on top and whipped cream and sprinkles with chocolate on the side? *does puppy dog face* pwease?

...enough of the begging. just continue on. be happy. :)

...but a review would still be really appreciated.