Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. So please don't sue… I have no money.

Kairi P.O.V.

I lay awake and wondered what time it was. A few hours ago I had fallen asleep after the dining fiasco and woke up next to konan. Speaking of said disaster why is it that whenever I get stressed I get sleepy or pass out after coming down from the adrenaline rush? Huh…I never really thought much about that til now. Maybe I was one of those people that shut down before the anxiety could overwhelm them? But wouldn't that make me a weak person? If I was a weak person then what would these guys want with me? And there was the billion dollar question.

Brushing back my sleep tangled hair I sat up in bed and propped myself up against the head board. Recently I've been feeling… how should I put this? Kinda like a rubber band slowly being stretched too thin. As if something inside me was slowly pushing its way out of me. At first I attributed it to the situation I was in. Kidnap must be a killer on the nerves and is sure to wear on your sanity. But now that I thought more about it, it wasn't just the trauma I'm going through. No, it was something more than that. I was never prone to fainting spells and I've been stressed out to the point of mental break downs before (exams, coming to this world, ninja training…need I say more). But never have I felt like this.

What I mean by this is, fragile almost like one wrong move and I'll snap. And to tell the truth I'm scared of what this is. At dinner when that man Hidan said those things I cracked a bit. Sure I get angry just like everyone in the world but this was different. Of all the times I've been angry before I don't remember once wanting to hurt somebody let alone out right attack them.

I rubbed my forehead, perhaps I was thinking on this too much, maybe it was just all my pent up emotions getting the better of me. Pssh, it was stupid of me to think that something inside me wasn't supposed to be there. If there were surely I would've have recognized it by now. But still, none of these musings answered why the Akatsuki would want someone like me around. And around to do…what?

Deep in the forest surrounding Konoha two figures traveled quietly through the foliage like the experienced ninja's they were trained to be. Clothed in dark cloaks the companions walked side by side, one little more than a head taller and hardly wider than their slighter shorter counterpart.

"It's been weeks and we have nothing to report, we are clearly too late." Said a low smooth voice.

The smaller of the two stopped walking and paused to answer the other, "Well, we just having to keep looking til we do have something to report don't we Seth."

"Hmf." Said person walked off not waiting to see if the other followed.

The other hesitated for a moment before shaking their head and followed slightly behind him. They had been wandering through fire country for little more than a month now looking for a female that is crucial to their master's plan.

"Selene…" Seth spun on his heel to face her, "if we don't find her, what'll happen to us?"

Selene looked up in to the hood of Seth's cloak; the shade it cast over his face gave his boyishly handsome face a dangerous look to it, the women's image of a bad boy. But even without the cloak that she knew that hid his somehow always perfectly tousled blue black hair, shaded dark smoldering eyes (bedroom eyes most girls giggled behind their hands), high cheek bones, full pouty lips and unblemished light sun kissed skin, not to mention the body of a popular male idol or lean ninja. It was no wonder that with one slanted glance in any girls direction would have them swooning within milliseconds. Heck, she often found herself dazed by his masculine beauty. She sighed; she had no idea how to answer that question. There "benefactor" was more often than not more prone to cruel punishments than forgiveness.

"I dunno Seth, all we can do is try our best and pray we find her." Seth frowned undoubtedly unhappy with the answer but nodded and resumed his trek though the forest, unaware Selene wore her own frown but not because of the dread of receiving some punishment should they fail their mission, her frown was there for the reason that she did not like Seth's young face looking upset or worried about anything, not ever.

The thought surprised her, since when did she care if Seth was upset or worried about something? Her frown deepened as she thought on this new revelation and followed automatically behind him like she's always done.

Seth didn't know what to think, on one hand giving up there search sounded like some kind of heaven to him, but on the other hand the thought of the last punishment he received still made him tremor with fright. And now not only did his decision affect not only him but his partner too.

He glanced back to look at her, a frown marred her face and she had a hand tucked underneath her chin a habit she frequently did when she was in deep thought. Slowing his walk so he would gradually come to walking beside her he took in his female partner's features. She was slender and fine boned, her skin was porcelain white with a lively glow to it and delicate looking, often leading many to doubt her position as a ninja. His eyes wandered her face, she had cool blue eyes like glaciers fringed with dark lashes (result of her use of mascara) that did not match the platinum blonde eyebrows above them or her fine cascading platinum blonde hair that he knew came to just below her shoulder blades. Her features were aristocratic somehow, regal really, like those marble statues of a goddess one found in some museum.

Shaking himself out of his musings he pointedly made it his mission to keep thoughts like that out of his head til their current assignment was over. He sighed, 'It's bad enough the other two escaped, now we have to go on a wild goose chase looking for another…'

A few hours later…

"Kyouji-sama said she should have landed somewhere here if his latest estimations are correct."

"Hmmm…"Seth slowly turned in place, leaking his chakra in a small nearly unnoticeable flow. They were currently in the middle of the forest searching for some hint that their missing person was nearby or perhaps left something behind that they could use to track them with.

"Find anything?" She questioned.

"Nothing but the leftovers…"

"Ahhh, so he wasn't wrong this time."

"Seems like it." He tilted his head in sudden interest, "There was more than one." He mumbled.

"Huh?"

Selene watched as he walked over to a spot on the forest floor and knelt down, "There was more than one Selene."

"Wha-what do mean more than one?!" She said shocked.

"I mean besides the one, somebody else tagged along for the ride." He stood up slowly and muttered, "Damn, Kyouji-sama isn't gonna like this!"

She walked over to him and patted his back in understanding. She shuddered to think of what type of fury their master would be in when they gave him the news. She could still remember the tortured screams of the guards that gave him the news of the other two that fled from him. He had been merciless; their deaths were quick but not painless. Now they would have to tell him yet another escaped his grasp and brought along a friend on top of that.

*sigh* "Perhaps if we find the other we could find the girl…?"

Seth shook his head, "The remaining chakra has faded so much I could barely sense it. We waited too long to search, we should have been sent out as soon as we got word about everything but something had to go wrong and-!" *sigh* he gave a small mocking smile, "If we had just done like we always do, we wouldn't be here right now."

Selene's shoulders slumped "You're right."

They both knew it was hopeless, any trail of the chakra they would have clinging to them would be gone by now. The purpose of the chakra sticking to them like a second skin was for quick a find and retrieval, it was supposed to be subtle and unique so only those who knew what they were looking for would be able to find it. The only downside was that if they didn't find it within a few months the thing could easily vanish without a trace since the chakra would weaken quickly. If you wanted to think of it simply… it worked like scenting. While the scents still fresh you can easily find what you're looking for but the longer it's out and about the scent weakened til it wasn't there anymore. Maybe if the remaining chakra had been strong enough they could have used it to track the bit that stuck itself to the two…

Seth growled in frustration and Selene grimaced. They could only hope that this new development would interest their master. Hopefully it would peak his interest enough they wouldn't be punished too harshly or at least escape their death. They knew it would be too much to ask for just a reprimand and an "I forgive you". They've been with him too long to even dream of something like that, not even his current favorite could escape his wrath when he was raging. No, if anything they would take their punishment with a blank face and be done with it. It was how he had trained them, to suffer in silence and do his bidding with either a smile or nothing at all.

No one could defy him, his word was law and if you disobeyed him there would be not only hell but blood to pay. And if for one second he suspected betrayal he would make sure the person would wish they had never existed, he would torture them to the brink of insanity, damage their bodies so much they were nearly unrecognizable, destroy every bit of happiness inside of them, and when they were left with nothing but a hallowed shell of the person they once were not even then would he grant them peace, he would lock them away in some dark silent place where they would live out the rest of their days in unrelenting pain. Yes, they would gladly take whatever punishment he saw fit for their incompetence even though it was his own arrogance that caused this dilemma.

With simultaneous heavy sighs they both began their journey to their base where they would await their fate when Selene abruptly stopped. Underneath her foot something made an audible crack and melodious sound at the same time. Obviously no rock or branch would make such a sound, curious to what it was she bent down and lifted her foot. Picking up a compact and shiny silver object she turned it over in her hand.

"A Cell phone?" She looked to Seth who only lifted a fine eyebrow in answer.

Flicking her eyes back to the small flickering screen she determined that it was low on battery and must have automatically turned itself off to preserve what was left of it. When she stepped on it she must've turned it on somehow, flipping it over she saw on its back a small crack from where she tread on it. Flipping it open she furrowed her brows when she saw the screen saver was a picture of two girls in uniform posing for the phones camera. One girl she recognized as the one they were looking for but the other not so much. Quite aware of Seth standing right behind her looking over her to see the picture she turned the phone off and flipped it closed.

"Let's get going. Kyouji-sama will want to have a look at this." And with that both leapt off in to the trees.

Mina P.O.V.

I collapsed on to the soft green grass near the training field I was practicing in. It was just past sunset right now and I had yet to perfect my substitution jutsu. I felt the day's dirt and sweat cling to my body and longed for the shower I knew that awaited me at home. I sighed maybe I'd pick up some dango to eat on the way there.

So far my training has been a steadily improving thing. My taijustu was passable, ninjutsu was…okay, I guess and genjutsu well plainly put it was a witch. Jeez, I made a suck ninja. I can't even get the substitution jutsu down.

Flinging my arm over my eyes I sighed again. I wish kairi were still here, she would tell me all about her day of training and how it sucked harder than P.E. and how come someone just didn't invent guns already. She'd tell me how everything she was learning was pointless cause she'd never make a good ninja and if she ever figured out how to do some serious jutsu she'd probably screw it up somehow and end up causing utter chaos for the village, like armageddon times ten. I laughed, that would be hilarious, a thousand ways the shadow clone jutsu can go wrong! Just imagine her learning the shadow clone jutsu and freaking out that she somehow got doppelgangers. I could see her now, running around the village desperately trying to get rid of them all…*sigh* I'd pay to see that. Or even better the transformation jutsu! I'd dare her to transform into a dude only she'd be stuck like that the entire day until she finally falls asleep! I giggled, the sad thing is that all would probably really happen!

My fit of laughter calmed down after a while to be replaced by a somber mood. The sky had darkened to an inky blue with hundreds of glittering stars. Kairi may not have liked the ninja life style much but she did have some positive outlooks. I remember she told me a few days after a training session, that a place where you could see so many stars can't be entirely bad. I remember saying to her that once we became ninja's good enough to be sent away on missions that we would get to see them a lot more. I think she liked looking at the sky; she'd often stare at when we'd relax together.

Flashback

"Kairi…what'cha thinking about?" I turned my head to look at her.

"Hmmm?" She was laying on the roof of our apartment with me, we had just finished dinner when I thought it would be nice to lay out in the cool evening air for a while. Kairi kept her face towards the night sky.

"I said what are you thinking about?" I pronounced every word clearly to make a point.

She just shrugged her shoulders for an answer.

"Really? Nothing worth sharing?"

"It's funny…"she said.

I sat up to look at her better, but she just kept gazing up at the stars, "What's funny?"

She frowned for a moment before saying, "People…they say that even though were different and we may be separate from each other…that we shouldn't worry about things like time, race or distance… because after everything is said and done we still share the same sky. And I can't help but wonder do we still share the same sky with Atherton? Or is this… a different sky completely?" She turned her wide blue green eyes to me, I had no idea why she didn't like them. I thought they were innocent looking, pure and childlike. I shook my head and smiled, she could be such a mystery sometimes.

End Flashback

I wiped the salt water from my eyes and smiled a sad smile, I miss her. Sitting up I started to head in the direction of my apartment, completely skipping dinner. I wanted to hit the sack more than anything right now especially since I'd be getting up at seven tomorrow morning to go through this all over again. I stretched and yawned, I needed to push away my sadness right now. I'd have time to mourn later, right now getting stronger was priority.

Thank you Melody Kari Starlight and Jangonara for reviewing!!! I just want you guys to know I really appreciate everyone who reviews! But then again I really appreciate that your even reading…

Sorry this chapter took so long, I didn't really know how to write this one. I wonder if any of you out there can guess just who Selene and Seth are, besides them being O.C.'s. And I also wonder if any of you can guess just who they're looking for and why this Kyouji-sama wants them? Hmmm, the plot thickens!

Until next time on a Teen in a Ninja's world…