*EDIT 2014*:
I think this is the last chapter I will alter, since I am mostly satisfied with my 2013 writing. (However, I will update the A/Ns for future chapters.)

/

EDIT 2013:
This chapter was COMPLETELY rewritten, which is why it took so long to be posted. It is drastically different than the first one. Instead of romance, have an interrogation. Oh, and Itachi. XD From here on, the story will be completely different than its predecessor. That being said, now the chapters will take longer to post because I am completely rewriting them.

Welcome to Chapter Ten! Thank you for reading the story up to this point! Before I thank the reviewers, I'd just like to say that I know the previous chapter was very heavy on the explanation of the chakra device and Aoi getting healed. When I write original stories, I usually write sci-fi (well, not with aliens, but with a lot of scientific experimentation, XD), and I like to make everything seem believable. I know it might have been boring, but I wanted to make the story as realistic as possible (or, however realistic it could be in the Naruto world).

Now that that's out of the way, I'd like to thank all who reviewed. You're awesome!

I don't own Naruto. (Aww!)

-Chapter Ten: Interrogation-

As soon as Aoi opened her eyes, she felt a throbbing pain in her chest. It wasn't as bad as it was before, but it was enough to make her wince.

"Ah. You're finally up." Sasori narrowed his eyes and tilted his head slightly. Turning to Deidara, he barked, "Brat! Get Pein-sama and Itachi-san."

"Uchiha too? Why him, un?"

"Who else specializes in genjutsu and has Sharingan?"

"Fine. Point taken." Cracking his neck, Deidara exited.

Despite the pain, Aoi forced herself to sit up. "What's going on?"

"Because you were taken by Orochimaru, and could have given away valuable information about this organization, especially since you know so much about us, Pein-sama and Itachi-san are going to interrogate you to make sure you didn't." The redhead's voice was cold.

"But I didn't!"

"We need to know for sure."

Aoi looked down, not liking this at all. Suddenly realizing that all that was covering her top half was a bra, she blushed and covered her chest.

"Here." Not meeting her eyes, Sasori removed his cloak and threw it at her. "Your current state of dress is indecent."

The brunette nodded, blushing further, and quickly put on the garment. Before she could say 'thanks', Itachi and Pein entered the room, along with Deidara. Looking around, she noticed that Kakuzu was sitting in a chair, counting his money.

"Pein-sama. Itachi-san." Sasori nodded at each of them.

"Before we start the interrogation, I have something to ask," stated Itachi. "Kakuzu-san, what is your assessment of her injuries?"

Not looking up from his precious money, the Taki-nin responded with, "There's a device in her chest that was supposed to pump chakra throughout her entire body. Her body rejected it, and the chakra was killing her from the inside out. The device attached tendrils of chakra around her heart and lungs. If I removed it, the tendrils would constrict around the organs, destroying them and killing her. However, I stopped the flow of chakra, therefore stopping the creation of more tendrils. She is stabilized for now, but her heart has become weak."

The Uchiha nodded. "So she was used as a test subject, I presume."

Aoi knew she should have been annoyed by the fact that everyone was talking about her like she wasn't there, but she was too nervous about the interrogation to care. When Pein turned to her, she forced herself to look into his eyes, though she was completely intimidated.

"Before we begin, I want to state how serious this is. If you revealed any hint of information to Orochimaru, you will be put to death. I want you to know that this is nothing personal; Akatsuki just doesn't tolerate traitors."

"Right." Aoi gulped. She gripped the fabric of Sasori's cloak until her knuckles turned white.

Itachi stepped forward, his Sharingan almost glowing. Aoi instinctively closed her eyes, but opened them again when the Uchiha grabbed her chin and tilted her head upwards. Once again, she found herself being sucked into the raven-haired man's gaze. Feeling lightheaded, she gripped the edge of the table for support. When she was tired of the pounding in her head, she let the blackness of unconsciousness overtake her.

Itachi really didn't want to poke through Aoi's mind again, but he would rather do it than have Pein or one of the others interrogate her physically. He already knew a lot more about the girl than any of the others did, as well as knowing some…interesting…facts about the world he himself lived in. He wanted to get the chance to talk with her alone at some point, and hoped that she did not leak any information.

Show me your entire stay with Orochimaru, he silently spoke. He was able to slip into the memory with less resistance than the time before, so he was a bit concerned that her mind was becoming more vulnerable to genjutsu. However, he needed to focus on the interrogation, so he pushed the thought out of his mind.

As he watched the procedure, he was surprised at how much pain Aoi was able to endure before she passed out. He thought Orochimaru would go on with his cruel experiment as-is, and narrowed his eyes at the fact that he jolted her awake before continuing.

The memory skipped forward, and Itachi found himself in another lab.

Orochimaru knelt down to Aoi's level and stroked her face. She flinched, trying to get out of his grasp, obviously aggravating her injuries in the process. "Madara was right," he murmured, "you are weak, but you lived through the procedure. You must have some strength, after all." He leaned in closer, tilting his head. "Maybe I just didn't add enough chakra." Before she could resist, the tall man's hand slammed onto the device.

The brunette cried out and fell back, writhing from the pain, and Orochimaru stomped on one of her legs. He looked ready to inflict more damage, but stopped when he heard an explosion echo throughout the base.

"We'll continue this later," he hissed. "I have some questions about my old friends in Akatsuki…"

Itachi suddenly found himself back in the infirmary. Blinking a few times, he laid Aoi back down on the table. "No information was leaked to Orochimaru, Pein-sama."

"So she was able to resist his interrogation?" Pein's eyes narrowed.

"Yes and no," stated the Uchiha. "She was able to take an unusually high amount of pain, especially for someone who is a civilian, before passing out. However, Orochimaru's priority was using her as a test subject, not interrogation. From what I saw, though, it seemed as though he planned to interrogate her later."

"So what happened during the procedure, un?" Deidara narrowed his visible eye.

"It doesn't matter. All we needed to know was that she did not betray Akatsuki." Sasori's voice was cold. "I am disappointed; I was hoping that I would be able to add her to my collection…"

Something about the way Sasori spoke intrigued Itachi. He was an expert at reading people's emotions, and was puzzled by the fact that the redhead's seemed jumbled. The puppeteer, like the Uchiha himself, was always composed, even when threatening or killing people. However, there was something underneath his sharp tone that Itachi couldn't quite place.

He was snapped back to reality when Kakuzu spoke. "Can someone take the brat out of here? She's not going to die any time soon—unless one of us kills her—so she doesn't need to be here."

"Very well. I will take her back to my room." Before Itachi could pick her up, Deidara stepped forward.

"Your room? I thought she was living with us, un."

"I think it would be best if Aoi-san was away from you two for a few days. She needs time to recover, and your constant debating will only make it worse," the Uchiha smoothly responded. Turning to Pein, he inquired, "Is this all right, Leader-sama?"

The pierced man nodded, leaving the room. Deidara scowled, and Itachi assumed it was because once again, he had 'bested' the bomber. He mumbled something under his breath before leaving as well. Itachi gently picked up Aoi and was about to exit when he was stopped by Sasori.

"What's your goal?" the redhead whispered. "I know you have something up your sleeve."

"Don't you think Aoi-san could use some time to get to know other members besides you and Deidara-san?"

Before the puppet master could respond, Itachi left the infirmary.

Sasori narrowed his eyes before leaving the room. He contemplated following Itachi, but decided not to; he wanted to work on his puppets some more. However, he was still trying to piece together why the Uchiha wanted Aoi away from him and Deidara; he was sure that there was an ulterior motive.

When he got back to his room, he was pretty sure Deidara was sulking, a fact which slightly amused him. "Aren't you happy, brat? We get our room back."

"Stupid Uchiha, un," was all he got in response.

Narrowing his eyes at the childish (and one-sided) rivalry between his partner and Itachi, Sasori ignored Deidara and proceeded to add some new mechanisms to one of his puppets. Despite working on his art, he found his thoughts straying back to Aoi, and the reaction she gave when asked about her opinion of being Akatsuki's tool. Her answer was so…cold. Shaking his head, he forced himself to focus on the puppet in front of him. Who cares about some girl who will die. You don't understand her, and no matter what she says otherwise, she sure as hell doesn't understand you. She hasn't even been here a month and she already jeopardized this organization. I don't understand why Pein just won't kill her, or order one of us to. We know our futures; she's done her job. In her words, she's a tool who's gone dull.

"Uh, Sasori no danna?"

Deidara's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "What, brat?"

"Why did you put the leg on backwards, un?"

Sasori looked down and saw that the blond was indeed correct. Shit. Standing up, he strode over to the door and pulled it open with more force than necessary. I have to end this, now.

"Where are you going?"

"I left my cloak with Aoi-san. I need to get it back; my mission report for Pein is in one of the pockets."

Before Deidara would answer, he left. Hopefully Itachi is busy; I don't need him involved.

When Sasori reached Itachi's and Kisame's shared room, he tentatively opened the door. No one responded, so he assumed both were out. Perfect. Narrowing his eyes, he silently shut the door behind him. Because of the lamp that was fortunately on, he could see Aoi sleeping on one of the beds. I have to do this quickly; I probably don't have much time. Reaching into a pocket on his pants, he pulled out a sheathed knife. Good thing the poison on this one induces cardiac arrest. Her death can be blamed on the device. Removing the knife from its sheath, he proceeded to kneel down next to the bed. He then unsnapped his cloak and removed Aoi's arms from it. Leaning closer, he scanned her body for a good spot to cut. He was about to make his move when the girl flipped onto her side and stretched her arms out, wrapping them around his chest.

Sasori nearly dropped the knife, recoiling as though he had been slapped. Emotions hit him harder than they ever had since he turned himself into a puppet, and he didn't like it. Not used to the physical contact, he quickly removed the brunette's arms from around him and stood up. He looked at the knife a few moments before covering it and throwing it back into his pocket. I…I can't kill her. Why can't I kill her? Confused, he shook his head, unsure of why he was acting this way. Narrowing his eyes, he left the room, his hand over his heart.

My suspicions were correct. Itachi unmasked his chakra and walked out from the bathroom, puzzled by the new developments. Ever since the change in Sasori's tone, the Uchiha had a feeling he would try to kill Aoi, though he wasn't sure why. He took the girl back to his room to test the theory, and was unsurprised to see that it was indeed correct. If the puppet master actually decided to go through with it, Itachi planned to leave the bathroom and stop him, since the redhead would be going against Pein's orders. However, he predicted that Sasori wouldn't do it for an unknown reason. He did not predict that the girl would unconsciously latch onto him.

Itachi knew more about Aoi than any of the other members; he knew her likes, dislikes, favorite foods, etc. He also knew that Akatsuki, as well as their entire world, was fictional in Aoi's. By scanning her thoughts the first time, he gleaned that she knew all about them not from dreams, but because they were characters in a picture-novel, or manga, as she called it. He knew that he and the rest of the organization were her favorite characters because they were outcasts, just like her. Just by focusing on those thoughts, as well as what he knew of her personality and life, he could easily guess who her favorite member was. And he was concerned. Not just for her, but for the member she favored and kept her eye on. He knew that if they got too close, it would not end well for either. She doesn't belong with us, no matter how much she understands us. She is too innocent.

Sighing, Itachi snapped the cloak back up and pulled a blanket over the brunette. Grabbing a thick novel from his well-stocked bookshelf, he sat down in his chair and proceeded to read. He wanted to wait until Kisame came back before he went to sleep.

*EDIT 2014*:
Besides a few tiny lines that needed to be fixed, this one was not altered much. I think I have reached the point where I no longer need to edit this.

/

EDIT 2013:
Finally! I finished this! It might be a bit shorter than my usual chapters, but I didn't know where else to end it, XD.

I really, really hope that Itachi and Sasori weren't OOC (especially Itachi. I didn't want to make him seem too nice, but I also wanted him to seem a bit protective. I feel like I butchered his scenes…).

Haha, for some reason, I can totally see Sasori looking horrified if he ever got hugged, XD.

Also, Itachi's acceptance of the fact that his world is fictional will be explained in the next chapter.

I hope this was enjoyable…