A/N: I'VE GOT OVER 100 REVIEWS! :D Holy shit I'm SO happy! XD Honestly, thank you ALL so much, it's always been a silly dream of mine to one day have a story that gained 100+ reviews and now I have accomplished it...with all your help, it's gonna take a while for that to sink-in though :P NOW my next dream is to have 200+ reviews XD lol! AHEM! On a serious note, I'm sorry the last chapter was so rushed, the ending to it was horrible, I really am unhappy with the last chapter, but have no fear! I will TRY and make this one better :D

MANY THANKS TO; 'Tough chick', 'DeeaE', 'Suki-Chan', 'Shionosekai', 'ShanaShakaku', 'heavens-condemned-kitsune', 'TheParadoxicalOtaku', 'Deidara's Dragon', 'universal646', 'Chrysalis1986', 'Animelover1754' and 'ARavensWhisper' for all you lovely reviews! :D You guys have fulfilled my wish to have over 100 reviews and in 10 chapters as well! :D I'm SO ecstatic, thank you all ever so much!

WARNINGS: SLIGHT self-insert, SLIGHT crack-fic (so yes, some of the characters may seem a little OOC at times, just go with it), mild language, mild nudity, mild gore and SLIGHT spoilers.

DISCLAIMER: If I owned it, Akatsuki would rule and everyone else would die.

11: SLOW RECOVERY

The next two weeks were a nightmare for me.

The pain was starting to lessen, but once the drugs had eased out of my system, I could literally feel every little muscle ache throughout my body and if I'd been human and able to communicate with them properly, then I'd demand for more medication to ease the pain.

Kakuzu occasionally checked up on me just to see how I was recovering, Konan was ever grateful and always looked anxious whilst she awaited his verdict on my injuries.

Hidan visited every day and just spent a couple of hours by my side, petting me, sometimes he'd talk to me about his day, but I think deep-down he was still trying to get over the fact that I could understand him and the other's on a human level of intelligence.

Actually, after Deidara had brought it up, no one had spoken of it, at least not around me and that made me rather nervous.

I wanted to know what they were saying about me, call it childish, but I actually valued their opinions of me.

I guess in a way, I'd always been a little needy. I always had to be around people, I always needed someone to talk too, the reason for that was I hated my own thoughts. Often, when alone, my thoughts would go to dark places, reminding me of horrible things and making me feel disgusted with myself. My self-confidence was at an all-time low and talking to others and even just being around other people made me feel alive and kept my mind focused on something positive.

Ever since I'd left school, things hadn't been the same, I'd finally found my group of friends that I loved dearly and became settled, but then we were separated. Everyone moved on with their lives and we eventually lost touch, there are only a handful of my friends that I'd remained in contact with. And once I'd finished college, I had no idea of what I wanted to do next, I didn't wish to go to University with the worry of a huge debt hanging over my head at the end, I also didn't want to be too far away from my family.

My friends had all moved on and were doing things and going places, where as I wasn't, I honestly had no clue where I wanted to go in life, I had no goals or aspirations. I was just quite happy drifting. But now...

I have another chance to make friends and keep them, I'd actually settled in with Konan and the others, I felt happy here with them and even though I'm a kitten, they didn't judge me unlike everyone else from my world.

Still, it didn't ease the pain of missing my family and the few friends I've managed to hold onto back in my world...

Even so, I hated being left out of the loop, besides, it's not like I can do anything bad to them if they were to complain about me whilst I was within hearing distance.

Deidara sometimes poked his head in to ask how I was doing, but would never stay long, it wasn't until he left for a mission with Sasori at the beginning of the second week did I realise that perhaps he'd just been busy preparing for the mission.

Towards the end of the second week, I'd heard Kakuzu mention to Konan that Itachi and Kisame were on their way back to the base, though he said they'd be a few more days yet due to the rain.

I wasn't all that surprised to hear that it was raining, back home in England, it rained a lot, yet it didn't satisfy my terrible urge to want to be outside in the rain. I haven't been outside in over a fortnight, I was starting to become sick of being stuck inside, it certainly didn't help my mood.

Kakuzu had been trying to get me to walk again, though it'd been almost impossible with the agony of my broken ribs, he wasn't happy with my refusal to do as I was told, yet he never pushed me. I suppose understood that being such a small creature made my body more vulnerable. Konan tried getting me to walk and for her, I made the effort, but it was all pointless in the end, I could move no more than six steps and then I'd be crouching in pain.

And during all this time, even after the two weeks had dragged by, I still couldn't eat properly.

/*\*/*\

I once again pull my head away from the milk bottle in front of me. Naturally, I was in Konan's arms once more and she was trying to feed me, unfortunately gaining the same results.

"Oh Kuzu, I'm so worried, she keeps refusing to drink the milk and every time I get her to drink, she often brings it back up!" Konan's voice was teetering towards desperate and I could see from where I was rested in her lap the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes.

It did make me feel guilty, I was making her worry so much, yet without being able to speak, I couldn't tell her what was wrong with me.

Kakuzu was pacing a little in front of her, but had noticed her anxious voice "It seems that her ribs are taking much longer to heal than I'd anticipated...that would explain why she can't keep her food down."

Bingo!

That was exactly the reason I couldn't eat or stomach my food, making any noises, walking; going to the toilet and even feeding was causing me pain. I was beyond frustrated and felt like sitting in the middle of the floor and crying, but even that would hurt.

"So what should we do? She'll die if she doesn't eat!" Konan almost wailed, her voice frantic and I could sense her nerves sky-rocketing, I was expecting a break-down any day now.

"I'll make her eat."

The three of us looked round to see Pein stood in the doorway, his poker-face making it difficult to discern his thoughts and how he was really feeling.

"But...Pein-" Konan started but he cut her off.

"No Konan, I'll deal with this now. Kakuzu will take you out for dinner,"

"I will?" Kakuzu asked looking both surprised and happy at the same time.

"Yes, you will. You've both been stressing yourselves out and need to get some fresh air-"

"But it's raining!" Konan protested, already I knew she was going to try almost every excuse going to remain here with me so that she could watch over me.

"That's not my problem, now leave." Pein ordered as he stepped aside to let them get by.

Hesitantly, Konan stood, holding me in the crook of her left arm the bottle in her right hand, she handed me over to Pein gently whom held me with equal softness before handing him the bottle. She sent me a worried and uncertain look over her shoulder, her eyes telling me clearly that she didn't want to leave my side. Kakuzu placed a hand at her lower back and gently ushered her along down the stairs.

As soon as they disappeared from our sights and the front double doors had closed shut behind them did Pein carry me back into Konan's room. He seemed familiar and at home here. I could tell he'd been in here before, Konan and him were really good friends so that didn't come to such a surprise.

He sat down in the chair that Konan had previously occupied and this time, instead of holding me on my back as he fed me, he merely placed me in his lap and pressed the tip of the bottle to my lips.

Looking up at him with those menacing ringed grey eyes of his scared the living daylights out of me, he seemed so huge and evil compared to my small innocent form. Yet I knew I could trust him, he wouldn't be here otherwise.

We both struggled with each other a little, clearly Pein wasn't used to looking after or holding small, cute animals and I was more than uncomfortable sitting in the Leader of the Akatsuki's lap being force-fed.

I gave in eventually and allowed him to feed me, surprisingly, I found the new position helped a lot, there was barely any pain when I swallowed the warm milk and I could now feel just how starved I'd been all this time. My first proper meal in over two weeks.

"Realistically, I should've refused you entry to living with us, as you've noticed; Konan has been a wreck since you've been sick. At one point, I was closed to snapping your neck for causing her such misery," I took a large gulp of milk and began hacking a little, the liquid going down the wrong way. I was surprised when I felt his hand stroke my back gently, minding his fingers to stay away from my stitches. He forced the bottle into my mouth once more when I'd settled.

"But I know it wasn't your fault. It was utter carelessness on our part. Someone should've been monitoring Tobi's stability...but then...you know more than you let on, don't you?" His tone sounded almost accusing and when I looked at his face, his expression held interest, yet his eyes burned with the underlying threat that he could seriously hurt me in ways I've probably never imagined and could get away with it.

"Kakuzu mentioned to me that you can apparently understand us on a human-level of intelligence, nod your head if that is true and don't lie. I will know."

Oh God, what am I going to do?

If I lied and he found out about it (how he would, I wasn't sure, but he's an effing NINJA criminal leader! So I don't think it's that much of a shock) I wouldn't have a clue as to what would happen to me, he might think of me as some enemy spy and kill me.

But if I told him the truth, he may also assume the same thing.

Jesus, why do you hate me so much? Haven't I always tried to do as your religion says?

In the end, I figured the truth would only work for me now, no matter how unbelievable it may seem, it would do no good lying about who I am and how I came here, it may just cause me more trouble later on.

I nodded meekly, feeling my body tremble in fright; naturally, I was genuinely worried about what would happen to me, he wasn't the leader of the Akatsuki for nothing.

"I see...then am I to assume you are human?"

His question threw me off-guard completely, of course everyone I'd met so far had found my IQ level a little disconcerting and odd, but they'd never actually stopped to think that I might just be an average human trapped in this body.

I was about to give my answer when a knock upon the open door drew our attentions over to Hidan, his expression looked rather humorous and yet surprised at the same time that Konan was nowhere to be found and that Pein was sat in her place.

"Yo, where the fuck is everybody, eh?" Hidan swiftly became irritated, though I could only gather that he must've been searching for the other's only to wind up unsuccessful.

"Konan and Kakuzu are out, Deidara and Sasori are on a mission, Zetsu is patrolling the perimeter around our base. Tobi is still in his holding cell, Itachi and Kisame are due back in the next two or three days; any questions?" Pein hissed coldly, his mouth almost twitching into a smirk when Hidan gaped at him like a fish before shaking his head rather dumbly.

Pein stood up from his chair and handed me over to the albino male in the doorway "Here, I've fed her, now it's your turn."

Hidan and I stared after Pein until he disappeared down the stairs and I felt myself finally relax, almost snuggling a little into Hidan's chest feeling ever so grateful that he turned up when he did.

"Huh! Who spat in his fucking coffee this morning?" Hidan snapped and it took all my will-power to not fall off his arm and laugh like I haven't laughed in weeks.

A/N: Well, here you go peeps, another chapter. I'm not sure when I'll update next, it might not be for a couple of days yet, so please have patience, I'm going out tomorrow and I desperately want to update on my other story, otherwise, this story shall have my attention completely :) Again, thank you to everyone that reviewed, I seriously love you guys! :D

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