Disclaimer:

I do not own Naruto. It was created by and belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Elva couldn't stop running. Her feet continuously hit the ground – at the speed she was going, it was a wonder to her how she wasn't collapsing from pushing herself too much. Her muscles screamed in agony, but still she wouldn't stop. She couldn't. Everything she just experienced was repeating itself over and over in her mind, pushing her to her limit.

"I thought you died when your mother did, is all. But when I saw you, and found out who you were…I…hated you."

Still, she forced her legs to move faster, if that was at all possible by now.

"Dad…why is it always that, whenever something is going right for once in your life, something happens that makes it screwed up again?"

"Elva."

Tears began to cloud her eyes again, obscuring the dense forest in front of her. She continued to run faster and faster, even though she couldn't see anything. She didn't care, as long as she got farther away from her father.

"Don't you understand, Dad? …I hate you. I hate you!"

Elva's own words echoed through her head, shattering any barrier that she had been trying to keep up to prevent herself from crying. Her heart was beating quicker than she thought was possible as the tears started to fall, and at that moment she couldn't take it any longer. She fell to the ground, catching herself with her arms before she had completely collapsed. Her arms shook dangerously, about to give out, when she froze, her tears stopping abruptly.

Out of the corner of her eye as she had fell, she had seen something – a brief flurry of movement among the trees. She glanced over to the left, assuming it was nothing, when a shiver went up her spine, stopping her again. As quickly as this had happened, however, she jumped to her feet, taking out a kunai. "Go away," she said quietly, glaring at the Akatsuki member with all of the hatred she could muster.

Zetsu stared at her calmly, as if he hadn't heard her. He tilted his head to the side, a smirk barely noticeable on the dark half of his face. "Now, now, don't take out your little fight on me," he chided, his eyes glinting dangerously. "I can't do with any more sauciness on your part. It might make me hungry. And we both know your dear, old father would hate if something were to happen to you, wouldn't he?"

Elva shivered involuntarily, backing away from Zetsu repeatedly until there were twenty or so unnecessary feet in between them. "Please leave me alone," she pleaded in a small voice, continuing to keep the kunai at arm's length. She didn't mean to sound scared, and she wasn't even sure that was even how she sounded. She just honestly wanted to be left alone.

"Maybe I could pay a visit to Itachi-san soon…" Zetsu trailed off, seemingly unfazed. He glanced over in the direction where Elva had come before looking back at the girl, frowning. "That was quite a fight you two had. He must think you really hate him. How depressing."

Elva tightened noticeably, also frowning. "What, you were stalking us?" she demanded, her voice louder than it was at first. Her arm began to shake slightly, and at that she hastened to put her kunai away, her arm falling limply at her side.

"On Pein's order, of course," Zetsu responded, now shifting his gaze upward to the trees overhead. "He wanted to know what all the fuss was about. Itachi-san did seem fairly anxious. Pein-sama wanted to make sure he wasn't going to do anything…improper to you. After all, it's understandable that the men here in Akatsuki might be a little sex-deprived."

Elva raised an eyebrow, involuntarily taking more steps away from Zetsu. Okay, seriously, what kind of reputation does my dad have at Akatsuki, anyway? she wondered to herself, remembering what her father had said earlier while talking to her in the forest.

"He's my father," she said tensely, backing up again. "Besides…he hates me," she finished.

Zetsu shrugged, muttering something to himself. Elva was about to come up with an excuse to leave and head back to the hideout when she stopped, looking behind Zetsu, where Itachi had stepped into view. She blinked several times, then abruptly turned on her heel and hurried away, within an instant resuming her fast pace again.

Behind her, she heard Zetsu realize Itachi was there. "Hello, Ita—" he began, but was cut off by a sudden sickening, crunching sound followed by a grunt and a loud thud on the ground. Elva flinched, cringing inwardly. This sudden movement made by herself caused her left foot to catch on a root that lay above the ground, sending her toward the ground again. She winced for a moment, then at hearing footsteps behind her jumped to her feet and, resisting the pain now coming from her left ankle, cleared the distance between herself and Akatsuki faster than she had thought possible.

She sprinted down the complex halls of Akatsuki, hardly caring if she was going in the right direction or not. Only once did she run into someone – Deidara, who didn't seem to care that Elva had bumped, or more ran, into him. She quickly offered her apologies, but when he didn't seem to care, she continued down the hall, this time at a slower pace, until she reached what she thought was her apartment.

Knocking on the door, she crossed her fingers, hoping this wasn't Konan's room again or, even worse, Pein's. To her relief, Kisame opened the door, but he instantly frowned, staring down at her. "Where's Itachi?" he demanded, eyes narrowing.

Elva felt herself flinch yet again, but held her ground. "He's still outside," she said quietly, attempting to push past Kisame. When he blocked her, she took a step back, frowning. "Please let me in," she said, trying her hardest not to look at the ground when Kisame just stared back at her. "I said please," she tried again, her hands curling into fists. She didn't know why she was suddenly losing her temper, but she felt that she was about to find out.

Kisame smirked, raising an eyebrow at her teasingly. "What are you going to do?" he asked, still not moving. "Yell at me? Threaten me? Start to cry?"

The next words that Elva said most definitely were not what Kisame was expecting to hear. "I hate you," Elva said, glaring at Kisame suddenly.

Kisame blanked, his cocky expression gone. He seemed to be dumb-founded, as if the prospect of Elva ever saying those words had escaped him. But he was still right about two of the three things he had predicted Elva to do.

"I hate you," she repeated more forcefully, eyes already beginning to well up with tears. "If you hadn't started everything, none of this would have happened." When Kisame looked confused she continued. "It's all your fault. Why did you have to be so rude that day coming back to Akatsuki? Why did you say something that had provoked him to be kind and reassuring for once? Why did you have to provoke him to stand up for me in front of Pein? Why couldn't you have just continued to pretend to like me, and not force him to actually be a father for once?"

Before Kisame could respond, Elva continued to talk, this time her voice breaking more. "Why did you have to fight with him and try to force him to tell me that he hated me? Do you really want me to be that miserable? Are you really that horrible a person that you would do something like that? If you're surprised somehow that I'm angry and upset at you, and that I said I hated you, then you're really messed up. I honestly hate you, Kisame, and I hate myself for admitting that. But you made him tell me how he felt. You made me tell him I hated him!" she exclaimed, getting angrier and angrier as she talked, although only forcing herself closer and closer to the edge.

Suddenly, Kisame cut her off from saying anything else, enveloping her in one of the big bear hugs that she had always been afraid of due to lack of oxygen. This time, however, it seemed to stop her. Any hint of tears that had been in her voice or in her eyes disappeared. Her heart returned to its normal rate of beating. It gave her a sense of clarity, which would have been welcome in almost any other scenario. Except for this one. She closed her eyes, sighing deeply. "Kisame, don't," she said suddenly, her tone angry and cold.

She could feel the tall man flinch, surprised by her reaction, but stopped and let her go. Elva sighed again before opening her eyes and looking at Kisame for a long time, eyes narrowed. "…you disgust me," she said after a long pause, making a beeline around him toward her room. His voice stopped her one more time, just as she had opened the door.

"You're limping," he observed dryly, causing her to pause for a moment before ignoring him and shutting the door loudly. She made a point of not limping as she took her first few steps into her room, then cried out suddenly when her left ankle screamed in pain. She fell onto the bed, wincing and sitting up afterward.

Biting her bottom lip, she carefully slid off her left shoe and sock, gasping in pain as each caused a fresh throb of pain. Her ankle was swollen. Damn it! she cursed angrily. In frustration, she sighed again and threw her shoe against the wall, not caring how loud it was. Then, in a rush of sudden emotions, she fell back onto the bed, hugging a pillow to her chest as she slowly but surely cried herself to sleep.

"She twisted her ankle," Itachi announced quietly, coming out of Elva's room and shutting the door silently before returning to the table. Kisame looked up from his meal, having brought back food from the kitchen in case Elva woke up.

"Did you see it happen or something?" he asked, his mouth full of food.

"No," Itachi admitted, falling into a seat and resting his head in his hands. "It must have happened when she was heading back here. She probably tripped on something or fell from a rock while crossing the river. I don't know." He sighed, shaking his head. "…she won't like it, but she'll have to stay in bed for awhile, depending on how serious it is. Either that, or she wears a brace for a couple of weeks."

Kisame frowned. "…how did you find all of this out without my hearing her shouting for you to get out or something?" he asked, perking an eyebrow.

"She was asleep. She must be exhausted…she ran all the way back, from what I could tell," Itachi responded, shrugging. "…she…didn't want to be anywhere near me." After a moment of silence, he cleared his throat and stood up. "In any case, if she doesn't wear a brace, she'll still have to bandage it, even if she's just going to rest in bed. Do you know if anyone would have extra cloth or bandages?" he asked, heading for the door.

"Nope, sorry," Kisame replied cheerfully, shaking his head and returning to his meal. Itachi's eyes narrowed slightly, but he just scoffed, disappearing out the door and into the long hallway.

Elva shifted uncomfortably, feeling a sudden pressure on her ankle. She involuntarily shivered, unable to think of what it was. She shivered again however, and again after that. It wasn't for a few more seconds that her brain had registered the fact that whatever it was that was on her ankle was cold, at which point she abruptly sat up, still shivering.

Itachi stopped, facing the door in silence. He seemed to tense when Elva forward on the bed, taking the ice off of her ankle and setting it aside, but then Elva spoke up. "…is my ankle broken?" she asked, in a way that was more to herself than to anyone else.

Itachi turned around, his face expressionless when he faced her. "No, but it's sprained," he said calmly, staring straight at her ankle. "You need to wrap it in those strips of cloth I brought you—" He took a moment to gesture to them, beside her, before continuing, "—and whenever you're resting, put ice on it…and elevate it. If you don't want to have to stay in bed for a few days," he added after a pause, "you'll have to wear a brace to protect your ankle."

Elva blinked at him, slightly confused, then shrugged. "That's fine," she said, now averting her gaze to the strips of cloth, picking them up and pulling them tight, almost as if doubting that they could sufficiently protect her ankle. Then she looked up again. "I really appreciate your trying to take back what you said by being all fatherly right now, sir," she said quietly.

Even though Elva had said it in a kind way, Itachi still appeared hurt. "…I'm not trying to take it back, and I'm not trying to be fatherly. I… You misunderstood me, Elva," he said slowly, carefully choosing his words. "I said that I 'hated' you. As in the past tense. I know it's wrong that I ever admitted it, but…still, Elva, you have to know me at least a little by now. I never get close to people easily."

"You never let them get close to you, you mean," the girl responded calmly, beginning to attempt to wrap her ankle in one of the pieces of cloth. She avoided his gaze, although she knew it was on her.

"…maybe I deserved that," Itachi murmured to himself, then spoke up. "…both, Elva. It's not one of the other. It's more complicated than that. It's how I was brought—"

Elva cut him off, finishing wrapping up her ankle. "How you were brought up?" she asked, frowning. "Oh. Well, maybe I could understand that. Maybe…" She trailed off, then glanced up at Itachi, raising her eyebrows. "Maybe if you had ignored whatever way the Akatsuki was trying to contact you and recruit you…maybe if you hadn't left Mom…maybe if you hadn't killed your family, I could've understood. Maybe if I had been given the chance to have a normal life, with a mom and a dad living with me and taking care of me, I could understand. Maybe if I had been given the chance to meet my grandparents I could've known about how you were brought up. But you can't really use that excuse, sir. I hope you realize that."

This response had taken Itachi by surprise, but he couldn't just say he had deserved it again, especially because he didn't think he did. "What did you say about your mother?" he asked quietly, eyes narrowing slowly.

Ignoring this small change, Elva shrugged. "You left her. It's just something I put together. The doctors at the Konoha hospital are good at what they do. I don't think someone could die just from having a baby," she explained. "But I do think you could have broken her heart or something."

She knew she shouldn't be pushing it. Elva knew how her father tended to get more protective and withdrawn when the topic of her mother was involved. Still, she felt she had to push him. She had one reason for doing what she was doing: It's now or never.

"Are you trying to make me angry?" Itachi demanded softly, his tone much more threatening than it had been moments before.

Every part of Elva's body pleaded with her to stop and apologize for what she had already said, but she just smirked and shrugged. Before she could begin to say something else, Itachi had yanked her to her feet, his left hand taking hold of the front of her shirt and lifting her to eye level while his right hand swiftly pulled a kunai and pressed it to her neck, breathing heavily.

His next words scared Elva, making her immediately regret everything she had said.

"Because it's really working."

Author's Note:

SydneyIsQueenNO, Itachi's not an idiot (or if he is, at least call him a HOT idiot!). Everything that happens is my fault and partly Masashi Kishimoto's fault (makes sense, doesn't it?). So really, if you want to call someone an idiot, that more would be me…although…now I'm just putting myself down…so…never mind! Oh, yeah, Konan's AWESOME…so thanks!

Sasori-ChibiI'm glad you were happy to see this new chapter, even if it wasn't the…erm…happiest of chapters. This may just be one of my faster reviews, so…yeah! I just didn't want to forget any of my ideas, so sorry if it seems just a bit rushed.

Highturo-Kun112Yeah, I know what you mean by "a little cute." Before I even started coming up with ideas for this story (wait, how long was it? …Bored-ism, you know, right? I dunno, almost a year ago now…?), I kind of just toyed around with ideas of a fanfiction for Elva, so some of those little things that are a little bit too cutesy are just reflections of my old, much-more-childish-and-immature ideas from yesteryear! But thanks!

Okay, seriously, what is with me and writing chapters when I'm sick? Am I just hit by inspiration only when I'm sick or…something? Because it really bothers me how that happens…because…yeah. IT'S SICKENING. And there are auditions this week for the school's musical… (I'm fake-sobbing, if you haven't realized by my whining!) …yeah, no way am I going to get a good part. I'll just end up killing myself anyway, so it doesn't matter.

Anyways, please review! I love reviewers! Tell me what you'd like to see, what you thought of this chapter, or if you JUST COMPLETELY HATE ME. …because…I'm sure y'all do by now. Cheers!

-Meri Umeko-