Caught by the enemy...well I'm just the greatest villain alive.

Deidara let out a loud sigh and rested his head against the tree he was tightly bound to, ignoring the menacing glare of the man who had put him in this position. The mouths on his hands attempted to gnaw at the tape covering them completely in the hopes of breaking free, but they could barely graze the material, let alone tear it apart. Frustrated with his position, he fixed his gaze on the star-filled sky and began to recite every profane word he knew.

"You should consider yourself lucky," Neji said, folding his arms across his chest. "I can't do anything until the ANBU get here to take you away. But when we're back in Konoha, I'll show you the true wrath of a Hyuuga."

"I'm shaking," Deidara replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Straining against the ropes pressing deep into his skin, he attempted once more to break free of these bonds. But it was hopeless, they were just too strong. His eyes landed on the bags filled with clay, and he couldn't help but sigh once again. His beautiful, perfect clay, which had taken him so long to get was sitting beside the Hyuuga's feet, wide open and contents nearly spilling out, as though the shinobi was trying to mock him with it.

This was never how he had expected the night to end. In fact, the idea of being found by the Konoha-nin had never even occurred to him. After all, why would it? They weren't supposed to know where he was. They shouldn't have been able to find him so easily. Yet now roles had been reversed, and while Hinata had been freed by her friends and was probably running off back to safety he was stuck here with possibly one of the most annoying shinobi he had ever encountered.

Hinata. No. He wouldn't allow himself to think about her. It had been enough to distract him and cause his loss before. He would learn from his previous mistake. Yet even so, these longing thoughts fought hard against the mental barrier he had set up, and it was all he could do to prevent her smiling face from taking over his mind. If he hadn't noticed Neji's unwavering gaze focused on him, the barrier might have crumbled.

"Will you quit staring at me?!" the blonde growled. The shinobi shot a smug grin at him, and the blonde's grimace only grew deeper.

"I have to go check out your rooms at the inn anyways and see if you left anything useful there." Grabbing the pouches of clay, he made his way to the glowing building in the distance.

He must be confident in his knot-tying skills, the cocky bastard, Deidara thought. His desire to escape was brought back to life, and he feverishly struggled against the ropes once more. Maybe, possibly, there was a chance for him to actually break loose and then make a run for it. The Hyuuga would surely be able to see where he went, but if the blonde was fast enough there was a good chance that he wouldn't catch up.

But at this point it was more likely that he would stay trapped here, and that he was utterly and completely screwed.

"You're doing a fantastic job over here. Pein-sama would be so pleased."

"Zetsu?!"

Although his comrade's body wasn't actually present anywhere around, his voice was emanating from a spot on the tree right beside Deidara's ear. If he turned his face to the side he could just barely make out the shape of a face in the rough bark.

"Hello, Deidara," Zetsu answered.

"This is great! Now get me the fuck out of this thing!"

"Sorry, but that's not why I'm here."

"...WHAT?!" If he could have caught the man's eye, the blonde would have given him a look filled with incredulity. "If this is your idea of a joke, let me save you time and tell you that it's NOT FUNNY."

"I'm completely serious. Whether you like it or not, you're going back to Konoha with them."

"Why the hell should I do that?!"

"Just listen. We don't have much time before your new friend gets back. Pein-sama doesn't want to give away all the details; right now it's better that you don't know much. But this is exactly what we wanted to happen."

"...Please, explain to me why exactly it's fucking better that I don't know shit when nothing you say is making any sense!"

"I'm not here to argue with you, Deidara; I'm here to tell you not to do anything rash. Just be a good little captive. It's only for a short while, then we'll come and get you."

The blonde frowned at Zetsu's words. He was just beginning to notice that each time they had a conversation his comrade never actually gave him any information. He was always vague and unclear, simply telling Deidara what he was expected to do, but never why.

"Forget it, Zetsu," he muttered darkly. "I'm not going to go with one damn thing you say unless you tell me what exactly you guys are planning. They way I remember it, we took Hinata because that was our revenge. Torture the Konoha-nin with that. And now she's back with them, but you want me to go there? It doesn't make any sense! How is my being stuck in their jail cells possibly going to help us?!"

"Deidara, there's a good reason why I'm not telling you everything. But trust us – this revenge of ours is far from over. I have to go now. Don't do anything stupid!"

And now he's gone. Damn it...As much as I don't like it, I'd better go along with their plan, whatever it is, even if I don't like the fact that nobody's telling me anything. And then, just as he expected, the sound of footsteps reached his ears. What he hadn't expected was the number of footsteps approaching. So...the ANBU have arrived.

"He's over here," Neji called out, motioning towards the tree the blonde was tied to. One by one a long line of masked shinobi entered his field of vision, followed by Konoha's famous jinchuriki and the pink-haired girl who had murdered Sasori. She's the one who should have been taken, Deidara thought bitterly, meeting her angry stare with one of his own. Hinata shouldn't have been punished for what this girl did to Sasori.

"It's you!" Naruto gasped, recognizing the Akatsuki member. "You're one those guys who kidnapped Gaara!"

"Ah, you remember me?" Deidara grinned. His voice took on a mocking tone. "I don't blame you; I am pretty hard to forget. Tell me, do you also remember my art? It was beautiful, wasn't it?"

"Don't let him goad you into anything," Sakura said, placing a restraining hand on the jinchuriki's shoulder. "He's going to be locked up for a long time. And then there's the interrogation for him to look forward too."

Naruto nodded and then the two walked over to Neji, leaving Deidara to wonder what exactly they meant by interrogation. He'd heard about the certain techniques they used, and he definitely wasn't interested in experiencing any of them. They won't have me long enough to get anything out of me...right? Gah! I hope Pein-sama actually thought about just what's going to happen to me...That cousin of Hinata's, I know he wants a piece of me before anyone else. I guess until he gets his wish, I'm pretty much safe. As safe as you can be when everyone wants your head on a stick. Ah, the life of evil is not as easy as one would believe.

"...He seems to be deep in thought."

"It's better for us; no-one wants to hear the guy speak."

"How did you catch him, Neji? Was it really that easy?"

"The guy's a decent long-distance fighter, but come to close range and he's completely useless. Well, come on, Kiba and Hinata are on their way to Konoha; we should get going as well."

Seven Days Later...

Hinata sat on the edge of the hospital bed, swinging her feet to and fro as she stared blankly at the wall. She was wearing a large gray shirt over some sweatpants that one of the nurses had been thoughtful enough to bring to her from her home. A young lady sat at the foot of her bed, watching the Hyuuga intently. Hinata could feel the lady's eyes on her, but she ignored her and continued swinging her legs back and forth, determined not to say a word.

Three days. They had kept her in this hospital for three entire days. Even though she had insisted she was fine, that she was perfectly healthy and nothing was wrong with her, nobody had listened. Nobody had believed her. Not that she could blame them for this, of course. When she and Kiba had first entered Konoha, her muscles were completely sore, and she was covered in fading bruises. Her hair was shorter, and her cheeks were hollow. Apparently she had lost a lot of weight while she was in the hands of the Akatsuki, something she hadn't noticed until the doctor had pointed it out to her.

The first day they had allowed everyone to visit her, and the hospital room had been alive with a cheerful atmosphere as each one of her friends let her know just how happy they were she was safe. When visiting hours were up she was allowed her to sleep all of her fatigue away, but the next morning Tsunade had ordered for her to have a very thorough physical examination. Hinata knew that they were worrying so much because she had been gone so long – she hadn't asked them, but it must've been at least fourteen or fifteen days, give or take. She certainly hadn't been counting them herself. But the examinations themselves were certainly tiring; they put her through nearly every physical test she could've dreamt of, and left absolutely nothing to chance. What remained of the injuries she had sustained, the nurses healed with their medical jutsu. They had made sure that she completely finished her food – if you could call what they served food –, and they kept someone with her at all times. Naturally Kiba had volunteered for this position, but they had declined, saying they needed people with actual medical experience. Personally Hinata would've preferred if it had been her teammate who had stayed. He would've been much more enjoyable company compared to the people they actually sent in to watch her.

Different nurses kept her company every time, each of them trying to achieve the same goal. She would always do as they asked – if they wanted to measure her pulse, check her blood, subject her to another test, she accepted all of this. However, the one thing that nobody was capable of achieving was getting her to talk about her time in the Akatsuki's grasp.

They had been persistent. Every waking moment someone would try to coax at least the smallest detail, but Hinata absolutely refused to talk about it. She had given them the basics – she was kept in a cell, they regularly gave her meals, and then she went travelling with Deidara. Nobody could convince her to give them any actual details as to what happened during her captivity. All methods failed them – there was pleading, bribing, urging, attempted trickery, but Hinata stayed silent through it all. Sure, you could have a normal conversation with her, she didn't mind that, but there was no way she would tell anyone what she had experienced.

Deidara...

Nobody could know. What they had shared between them, what had happened in the inn, it all had to stay a secret. She knew what would happen if they ever found out. They'd think she was crazy, insane even. It would be the only way they could even think to explain how she had developed feelings for a criminal, let alone the one who had seen her captivity right through to the end. She'd never be able to explain it to them. After all, he was a sadistic murderer. She was supposed to be scared of him, not falling for him.

It didn't help that she could always hear the whispers of the nurses as they stood in the doorway of her room, ready to switch shifts. He must have done something awful¸ they would say, eyeing her with pity. Something horrible to make her keep quiet like this. That poor girl. She must be terribly scarred. But that wasn't the case. It had never been the case. He had been nice to her. True, it wasn't like his compassion would have grown up to the point where he would allow her to escape from right under his nose, but he had shown her enough kindness to at least make her situation bearable.

"Hinata-san, if you don't want to talk to me, then please, do say so," the lady said, raising herself from her seat. Hinata's gaze slowly moved towards her. The woman wore thick-rimmed glasses, and her hair was swept up into a messy bun atop her head. She was the hospital's latest attempt at getting the Hyuuga to talk. A therapist. Right. Because it was definitely going to make the girl talk if they brought in an official.

"...I'm sorry, but I have nothing to say."

"Are you sure about that?" the woman hesitantly moved closer and met Hinata's look with her own. "There must be many things you want to talk about, things you need to get off your chest. Keeping it all bottled inside won't do you any good."

"There really is nothing to worry about," Hinata said, catching the woman off-guard with a cheerful smile. "I'm sorry I wasted your time here, but I'm fine. I told the doctor and the nurses everything they needed to know."

"Ah...well...erm...if you need to talk, we're all here for you." With that the woman moved towards the door, just as it was opening to reveal Kiba on the other side, grinning widely.

"Hey, Hinata!" he said, sidestepping the slightly flustered woman. She quickly shut the door behind her and he shot Hinata a questioning look, his smile growing even wider when she just sighed. "Ah, they're badgering you again, aren't they?"

"Unfortunately," Hinata nodded, moving to the side so her friend could sit down beside her. "Are they going to let me out today?"

"Well I asked Tsunade-sama about that, and she said they can't seem to find anything wrong with you, so you'll probably get to go home by tomorrow at the latest."

"That's great!"

His smile remained on his face, but his eyes revealed his true emotions. "Hinata...are you sure you're alright?"

"Absolutely," she answered reassuringly. "Really." She lowered her gaze and noticed that he had bandages wrapped around his knuckles. "What happened to you?"

"Ah, this?" He held his hand out and flexed his fingers. "It's nothing. Give it a couple of days and they'll be perfectly fine. I just got a bit over-excited."

"With what?"

"...It's nothing important."

His statement surprised Hinata, but she didn't say anything more. Instead she decided to use this moment to her advantage. He could give her information about anything that was going on outside, about things she could never ask the nurses about. And there was one particular question that had been stuck in her mind throughout her entire stay in the hospital. What was happening to Deidara?

She knew they had him. That they had locked him up in some deep dark part of Konoha's jails. Every single person she encountered had made sure to mention it, that he was locked up and far away, that he couldn't get near her. They thought this knowledge would make her feel happy. Little did they know that they were completely wrong.

"So, Kiba," she started, unsure of whether or not he would answer her. "What are they...what are they going to do with Deidara?"

"Well, they're leaving him alone for now. The Akatsuki must know that we have him, and that we have you back as well. They can't do anything at all while he's with us, so they're probably going to try to either break him out or strike some sort of deal with us. I heard the higher-ups are considering sending him for some very thorough interrogation –"

"What?! They can't do that!"

Hinata clapped her hands over her mouth immediately after she finished speaking, thinking that her sudden outburst would shock the Inuzuka. He seemed puzzled by her reaction, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he just continued speaking.

"If they do, it won't be right now. They're going to leave him alone for a while."

"Why would they do that?"

"...That's also not important."

"Kiba..."

"I have to go, Hinata. Shino and Kurenai are waiting for me in the training field. They would've come to see how you're doing, but the doctors didn't want you to be bombarded with too many visitors. I'll let them know you're better."

He hurried out of the room, leaving Hinata alone to mull over what she had just heard. Something was off. What wasn't Kiba telling her? What did he feel that he had to hide? But most importantly, what did he know? His reaction to her exclamation...although he had seemed to be slightly perplexed, it hadn't shaken him in the least.

Just what had he been up to these past few days?

Kiba strode out of the hospital in a hurry, his hands jammed into his pockets and his head hanging low. He was ecstatic to know that Hinata was perfectly fine, yet there was a nagging in the back of his head that just wouldn't go away. Maybe it was because of how upset his statement about Deidara's possible interrogation had made her. Or maybe he just felt bad about keeping so much from her. But then, there were some things it was better to hide than to share...

Flashback

"He's in there."

The prison guard gestured towards a solitary room at the end of the prison. It had a wooden door with a small square hole at the top, blocked off by thin yet strong iron bars. Neji and Kiba made their way to the room, ignoring the calls and yells of the prisoners they walked past.

"So, why is he in there again?" Kiba asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. "I thought he would've been placed in one of these cells."

"He was in the beginning," the guard replied. "We But then he started a riot."

"A riot?! How'd he manage that?"

"I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure it had something to do with those mouths on his hands. Those things were absolutely disgusting. Apparently he went around...licking his cellmates with them through the bars. But each time he manoeuvred it so it was pinned on someone else. Needless to say, things got pretty heated."

"...Oh."

They reached the door, and Kiba peered through the bars. Although it was dark, he could make out the blonde's silhouette. It looked like he was sitting cross-legged on the ground.

"You guys have ten minutes," the guard said, unhooking a set of keys from his side and sticking one into the lock. "Make them count."

"We plan to."

They entered the room, and the guard locked the door behind them. Deidara slowly looked up from the ground to face them and smirked.

"What's this now?" he asked, picking himself up from the ground. His hands were bound together with metal shackles, and the guards had made sure to keep the mouths on his palms covered this time. His legs were also connected by chains, barely allowing him to stand, let alone walk. "Did you miss me? Well, well, I feel like a celebrity-!"

A loud thwack reverberated around the small stone room as Neji's palm connected with the blonde's stomach, and he reeled backwards, slamming into the wall behind him.

"Does it look like I'm in the mood to joke around?" the Hyuuga snarled, clenching his fists as he prepared to hit him again. "I don't want to hear your idiotic ramblings. Tell us, what were you people going to do with my cousin?"

Sucking in each breath as best as he could, Deidara raised his head and shot a malicious smile at his opponent. "What were we going to do? Well there are so many possibilities, I mean we could've tortured her, killed her, cut her up into little pieces and sent them one by one to you."

Just as he finished speaking Neji's foot swung towards his chest, but this time the blonde was prepared, and he raised his arms to block the attack the best he could. He hadn't anticipated that Kiba would move, and was caught off-guard when the Inuzuka's fist slammed into his jaw.

"Don't fuck with us!" Kiba growled, aiming another punch at the man with his other first. This time Deidara didn't even attempt to block it, instead he moved along with the hit as much as he could, in an attempt to lessen the damage. "Hinata's in the hospital, and she won't say a word about anything you people did to her. You chopped half her hair off, you gave her bruises, how the fuck could you all do that?! She never did anything to you people!"

"I didn't touch her," Deidara said simply, earning himself a powerful swipe in the side from Neji, who knew exactly where to aim to make it hurt the most. The blonde fell to his knees, coughing and spitting out small droplets of blood.

"Do you think we're idiots?!" Another blow to his side, to his ribs, to his stomach, everywhere that the Hyuuga could reach.

Kiba merely stood to the side as Neji repeatedly picked up the man, only to throw him back down with a flurry of well-aimed and incredibly strong blows. The blonde barely made a noise through the entire thing, clamping his lips tightly shut as though he was refusing to give them the satisfaction of knowing just how much pain he was in. Finally when he was satisfied, he backed away and nodded at Kiba, signalling that he was finished. Grabbing the neck of Deidara's shirt, Kiba hauled the blonde up and held him against the wall.

"I hope you're enjoying this," he said, his gaze meeting the blonde's cold, stony glare. "This isn't just for you; it's for all your friends as well. For everything you did to Hinata."

"I never touched her."

"Stop talking bullshit!"

Kiba raised a fist to slam square in the middle of the man's face when he noticed something. Deidara wasn't afraid. He wasn't backing away anymore; he wasn't even planning to stop the attack. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't even tried to evade any of Neji's attacks either. What was going on? Here he was refusing to confess to his crimes, yet he had taken each fit without flinching.

"Kiba, we have to go," Neji said as the jangling of keys outside the door reached their ears.

"Give me a minute with him," Kiba replied. Neji nodded and left the room, and the door shut loudly behind him. "...What game are you playing?"

"Excuse me?" Deidara coughed loudly, and the Inuzuka refrained from saying any more until the blonde's coughing fit had died down.

"You're not even trying to stop us. Just what the hell's going on here? You brag about what you people might have done to Hinata, and then you go and say that you did nothing to her?! It doesn't make sense!"

"It doesn't make sense because you don't want to believe it. But listen to me very closely here – and don't punch me in the face until I've finished speaking. I enjoy causing pain and blowing up things just as much as any criminal does. There are so many people who I've maimed or burnt to ashes that I've practically lost count. Their faces just blur together now. Their names are irrelevant, and I've never given a shit about their lives or any of the sort. However, if you pointed out the wreckage or the destruction that I've caused, I would gladly take credit for my work. So listen well when I say this: I never lay a finger on Hinata. In fact, I'm the only reason that she doesn't have half as many bruises and scars as she could have gotten. So why don't you people get rid of that fucking superior attitude of yours before you go accusing people of things they didn't do?"

Kiba wasn't sure how to respond to this statement. He wanted to yell out that the man was lying, that he should own up to what he did. Yet when he looked closely at Deidara's expression, he could see no laughter or mocking glimmer that said this was some sort of joke. No, this son of a bitch was being absolutely and utterly honest.

But how was that even possible?!

"Time to leave, Inuzuka," the guard called out, opening the door. Kiba wanted to stay and ask more questions, but he knew it would be too suspicious. Dropping Deidara to the floor, he spun on his heel and left.

"Kiba, your knuckles are bleeding," Neji said. Kiba looked down and realised the Hyuuga was right. He didn't realise just how hard he had punched the man. He glanced over at Neji's hands, which were perfectly intact.

"Is that some sort of Hyuuga trick?" he asked. "Keeping yourselves perfectly neat even after you go beating down your opponents?"

"It's just skill," Neji replied. "Get those bandaged up. You know, either you do things really quietly, or you were talking to the guy in there."

"He was just spouting out a bunch of nonsense," Kiba muttered.

He wanted these words to be true, but he knew that this just wasn't the case. Something was wrong here, in this whole situation. And one way or another he would find out what.

End Flashback

Stopping in his tracks, Kiba looked back at the hospital and let out a frustrated sigh.

"I have to know, Hinata," he said to himself. "One way or another, I'm going to find out exactly what happened with you and the Akatsuki."

A/N: Hello, my darling readers! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Looks like things aren't going well for anybody right now. Thank you for your reviews and for adding this to your favorites and alerts [i know it's called 'following' now but I will always think of them as alerts]. c:
Seeing as the story's at 65 reviews, let's help me get up to 70? Pretty please? ;D
Thanks for reading, everyone!