"Hidan-san!"

Shikamaru gritted his teeth, thinking, "How the hell did she get out?"

He watched Hidan's face drop in surprise, the maniac had even let go of Choji, the moment he saw the girl standing there. Shikamaru could not believe it. The other member slowly got to his feet and stared at the girl too.

It was like they this would be the last place they thought to find her. Like they thought she was dead. Elle only managed to run a single step past Shikamaru before he grabbed her arm and yanked her to his side. She squealed in surprise and fell back into place.

Hidan flared red with rage, "You let her go, you little bastard."

"Leave the village now."

"Not until you let her go."

"Leave," Shikamaru pulled her into a choke hold with a kunai at her throat while trapping her by the waist with his other arm, "Or she dies."

Still weak from hunger, Elle's struggled uselessly like a gasping fish on a hook.

Hidan jerked forward, only just managing to stop himself from lunging at the ninja, "Fucking bastard… you wouldn't dare or I will sacrifice you to fucking Jashin!"

The blade was pressed harder against Elle's throat and she started shaking in his grasp. Breath, short and heavy. Eyes, wide with fear. Sweat clung stickily all over her body. Her breathing becoming erratic. Ino started running towards them after observing the girl's change in condition, "She's having a panic attack!"

Elle screamed at the top of her lungs in an ear-splitting pitch. She clawed at Shikamaru's grasp, kicking wildly to free herself. Before Hidan could attack, Shikamaru threw Elle at Ino and yelled to his retreating comrades, "Get back into the centre of the village. Don't let them get Elle."

They drew back immediately, the two Akatsuki men tailing them, running with all their might until they ran into Team Kakashi. It was obvious the team had already learnt about the Akatsuki duo and were heading that way but Naruto began yelling when he saw the screaming Elle, "What the hell are you guys doing?"

Ino dragged the girl to Sakura and the two started trying to calm her down.

Shikamaru turned on his heels as the duo got closer, "Alright guys, we need to separate Hidan and his partner if we want a chance at winning. Sasuke you go after his partner and try to take him out with your Sharingan, okay?" He waited but got no response, "Are you listening?"

"Shut up," Sasuke jumped in front of the group and stood with his back to them. He stood expectedly as they finally reached the group of Konoha shinobi. Sasuke stared blatantly at them, "Itachi?"

Itachi stepped in front of the steamed Hidan and nodded to his brother, "Otouto, you haven't changed a bit."

"How are you…?"

"Soon Sasuke, first you have to let Elle-chan go and then we'll explain everything."

'His brother?' Shikamaru was stunned; he heard Itachi died long ago but here he, standing before them. Even so, he didn't want to let their captive go so easily, "Hold onto her Ino."

"I ISHf FJIS A," Elle was screaming again and bucking viciously against her captures, "U HJ IWDJA!"

"Jd nejf ij re," Itachi's voice was calm as he tried to sooth the crying girl, he turned his attention to Shikamaru and glared, "She's in obvious pain, I don't know what you did to her but you have to let her go now."

"Leave and she goes free."

Sasuke noticed more ninja heading their way down another road, he wanted answers and his brother was going to tell him. He turned to the two medic ninja and stared with pleading eyes, "Ino, Sakura, please…"

They shared a small glance and let the girl go, despite Shikamaru's stone sold glare, Elle automatically ran to Itachi and grabbed onto his shirt helplessly. Hidan walked over and picked her up, he glared hatefully at all the Konoha shinobi and clenched his teeth, "If any one of you have so much as lain a hand on her I will personally make sure your death is slow and brutal."

"Hidan enough," Itachi grabbed onto Hidan's scythe and threw at Sasuke's feet, he untied his weapon bag and did the same, "Is there somewhere a bit more hospitable we can talk? Elle-chan needs to calm down."

The Akatsuki members all gathered in the kitchen for dinner, Konan was busy serving the meal she made, "Where are Itachi and Hidan?"

"Probably still scouting out the village," Pein gave her a small peck as she served him his rice, "Hidan was still upset about Elle-chan's disappearance and decided to take it out on the shinobi in the village, and Itachi went after him to make sure no one actually gets killed."

"So no dinner for them?"

"I wouldn't expect them back anytime soon, no."

Kakuzu sat impatiently in his seat; normally they wait for everyone, besides Tobi and Zetsu, before eating but the girls had locked themselves up in their room all day.

-Girls Earlier That Day-

"May what are you talking about, we can't go out anymore?" Abi was completely worried about her friend's sudden change in attitude, "What the hell did that bastard say to you?"

May started cleaning up her corner of the room, it was a distraction from looking at her friends' faces, "Just please do as you're told Abi, we have to stick together on this."

"But it's so extreme. I mean, no talking to the others? That's just horrible."

"Those are the orders and we're all going to follow them."

"Or what?"

"What do you think Abi?" May spun around and pointed at the messy bed that hadn't been touched for over a week, "Look, what do you see there?"

"May…"

"Tell me what you see there."

Tay watched silently from her bed as Abi's eye began to well up slightly, "I see an empty bed."

"Why is it empty?"

"Because she's dead," Abi stared May down; she couldn't understand why she was suddenly so keen on listening Tobi, "Tobi killed her and now you want to do everything he says."

Tay swallowed the lump in her throat, she stood up and decided to add in her piece, "Just do as she says Abi, we don't want to lose anyone else."

"Tay, not you too."

"Please Abi."

May nodded and flopped back on her bed, "Please just follow the orders."

"Okay, I promise."

-End-

"What is their problem anyway?"

A dark cackle echoed from the doorway, slowly eyes looked over at the masked figure, "You've gone soft, you all have." No one said a word, he laughed a little louder, "You all care so much about the little brats you don't care what happened to yourself as much, however I believe I've solved you little mishap. You won't have to concern yourselves with them any longer."

Sasori growled softly at the masked man, "What did you do?"

"Girls, come get some food," he called and waited until the three had lined up in front of him, "Thank Konan-san for the food and go eat in your room."

The three girls obediently picked their meal and bowed to the chef robotically, "Thank you for the food"

They then proceeded directly back up the stairs without any other sound.

Tobi smiled beneath his mask and turned to leave, "You don't have to thank me, they're no longer a concern of yours. Please tell Itachi and Hidan all about this ifthey ever come back from the village."

"Bastard," Deidara gripped onto the table with both of his hands, "Bastard. Please tell me you have a plan or something Pein-sama un."

"I do, but…"

"But…?"

"It involves working with the Gokage and that could take years to get together."

Sasori sighed and pushed his plate away, suddenly his appetite had disappeared, "I think we're out of options though…who would you talk to first?"

"Simple," Konan smiled and placed a hand on Pein's shoulder; he placed his hand over hers and finished her sentence, "Uzumaki Naruto."

"Another world? Isn't that a little bit extreme Uchiha?"

"Not at all Hokage-sama, it is the pure and simple truth."

"And these girls just accepted the fact?"

"Well…not at first, in fact I think Elle-chan still hasn't accepted it and is still trying to find a way back. So you cannot blame the girls for what happened in your village, they were following orders when they had no other option, Kazekage-sama."

"Hmm."

"I conclude Kazekage-sama, this is strange," the Hokage sighed softly but perked up slightly when she saw the eyes of Elle open slowly, "It seems our little friend has finally woken up."

Hidan scoffed, he had been carrying Elle on his back ever since she passed out just after the fight had finished, "You know you look just like a little girl when you sleep."

Elle frowned and started roughly yanking at his hair, her voice was dark and threatening, "Don't patronise me boy."

"Gah!"

Tsunade began to chuckle at the sight of this hardened criminal being tortured by a tiny teenage girl on his back, "Well, maybe now we can solve this little dilemma we have found ourselves in. What are we going to do about you?" Elle pointed at herself in shock and Tsunade nodded in response, "Yes you, from what Itachi has told us you can't exactly go back with them now can you?"

"No," Elle sighed and rested her head against Hidan's shoulder, she felt so much more relaxed now that the two were here, "I can't go back. I could always camp out in the forest."

"Tch," Hidan growled softly as he fixed his destroyed hair, "Not by yourself you won't."

"Why not?"

"You damned well know why."

"Ha, ha you care about me."

"Don't get ahead of yourself kid; we only need you to kill Tobi."

Tsunade growled at the man's name, just when they were starting to settle down he shows up again, "You say you want him dead but isn't he the one in charge of the Akatsuki, won't that be classed as treason?"

"We don't care, ever since we got back we've wanted out," Itachi frowned at the thought of being away from his family for so long, "We've all got our own dreams and ambitions to follow; only he is keeping us there. Once he's gone you can be certain that that will be the end of the Akatsuki."

"Sounds promising, but you would understand our doubt."

"Absolutely."

"Now should we get back to the fact that Elle has nowhere to go?" Gaara made a mental note to apologize to her later on for what he said about her in the hospital, he was beginning to feel like he had really deserved to be slapped, "Because if you need her to kill Tobi, we certainly want to keep her safe."

"Could she stay with Sasuke?"

"Your brother? Why?"

"He is living with Uzumaki right? They are the two I trust the most."

Elle pouted and clung onto Hidan tighter, "Are you sure I can't stay in the forest?"

"You're not staying in the forest."

"Not even if I stay really, really quiet?"

"No."

"Man," she hung lifeless in defeat, "this totally blows."

"Gaara-sama," Tsunade turned her head quizzically to the younger shinobi, "Aren't you and your brother staying with those two?"

"Yes we are."

"Then it is settled, she will stay there until further notice. Kazekage-sama, can you show her the way?"

"Of course."

"Um," Elle landed softly on the ground, she stared shyly at her feet instead of the eyes of the curious Kage. She softly scratched the back of her neck as everyone listened for her question, "Can…can Itachi-kun and Hidan-san stay? Even if it's just for tonight?"

Kankuro was terrified, Sasuke had been running around cleaning everything in sight and that included his and Gaara's stuff. He had never seen the Uchiha act this way before, "Na…Naruto?"

"Hm?" Naruto was just lying on the couch half asleep, "Yeah? What is it?"

"Is…is he feeling alright?"

"Teme? Yeah he's just happy that Itachi is alive."

"So he does this when he's happy?"

"Na, it's stress."

"I am so lost right now," the puppeteer furrowed his brows together. The only reason he was still sitting around this house was because he was curious to see what the course of action they wanted to take, now that the dead appeared to have arisen again. Otherwise he could've been out with a cute girl. The door opened slowly and he got up to greet his brother but ended up jumping backwards in surprise, "What the fuck are you doing here?"

Hidan scoffed and crossed carelessly across the room to the food cupboards, "Nice way to greet your guests."

"Get out of there," Kankuro examined the others that entered the apartment, "what's going on?"

"We're staying the night so shut up and stop bitching."

Itachi was last in the house with Elle on his back; she had grown tired of walking during the journey to the house. He groaned and shifted her weight, "Hidan shut up, you wonder why no one likes you? Well the reason is because you're an asshole."

"Shut up Itachi."

Naruto looked wearily up at Elle, "They're not always like this right?"

"You have no idea. This is them being nice."

Itachi put Elle on the floor and softly rubbed his back, "You, bed, now."

"Itachi-kun," she whined softly and frowned up at the Uchiha, "I'm not even tired, I swear."

"You couldn't walk here by yourself."

"I'm not tired."

"Maybe if you ate something you'd feel better since you haven't eaten all week," Itachi cooed, noting that Sasuke had stopped cleaning long enough to start cooking up a meal, he obviously had been expecting Itachi to come around, "don't you think Elle-chan?"

"Ah…" she laughed quickly as the two Akatsuki member stared warningly at the girl, "Suddenly I feel really tired."

Hidan grabbed the girl and roughly sat her in one of the dining chairs, "Sit the fuck down and eat or I'm shoving it down your throat."

Naruto started laughing loudly as he made his way to the table; he sat down beside the slightly disturbed looking Kazekage, "I can't believe this is the big bad Akatsuki, I always thought that you would just live in silence or something."

"It's hard to live in silence when some people never stop squeaking in the room above yo-OW," Hidan flinched as Elle kicked him beneath the table, "Annoying little brat."

"At least all my friends are real."

"Heh, I can't believe I missed this little bitch."

"Ha, you do love me."

Itachi smiled softly to himself as he helped Sasuke make the dinner, "You know you really should thank her."

"Huh?" Sasuke had a small smiled on his face because he finally had his brother back, he could see Itachi was smiling the same way, "What do I owe her for?"

"It turns out she and Tay-chan sent you a small letter about me. I have also heard you've been in high spirits because of it."

"Where did you hear that?"

"I make it my business to know everything important about you."

"Hn."

Kankuro looked vaguely around the room, he was certainly surprised at how at ease everyone was, there was absolutely no tension anywhere. He looked over at his brother and sighed. Almost no tension anywhere.

"You wanna go out for dinner Gaara?"

"Let's," the two Suna brothers left with a small wave. Naruto didn't mind too much, he was happy that Sasuke finally had his brother and the fact that Elle was smiling again. He was starting to see a bright future for everyone, for the five villages and the Akatsuki.

"I don't think I can do this May," Tay flopped on her bed helplessly and stared at her empty plate, she hated having to admit it, "I don't feel right not speaking to the others, I like talking to them."

Abi crouched into a small ball herself and nodded, "It feels like we've just used them and abused them, it's just so wrong."

"Abi's right, we have to find a way around this."

"No, absolutely not, we are not going to risk it," May shivered to herself, she was feeling the same way as her friends but she had a very good reason to listen to orders, "Just stay in here until we are told otherwise."

"But…"

"No."

"No fighting now girls," Tobi walked in and watched happily as all girls sat up at attention, he also noticed the scowl cross Abi's face but that didn't matter, "It's so good to see you all listening so attentively. Now tomorrow I want you to go out and train with Zetsu, he's going to be watching over your training from now on and he will be reporting your progress back to me. I haven't got any missions lined up for you girls for a while so you'll just be training for now. You will be eating all your meals in this room and you will go out to the fields to train. There will be no contact with any of the other members until further notice. If any of you disobey you will be," he looked carefully over at May, "punished for your actions. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir."

"Yes Tobi-sama."

Abi clenched her fists and stared hatefully at the man, "Yes."

"Good girls," he collected the plates and waved happily from the doorway, "Get some sleep and I'll see you in the morning."

It was only a matter of moments after the door shut, May lay down and hastily closed her eyes, "Night guys."

"Oh, right," Tay slowly lay down herself, shyly smiling at Abi before closing her eyes, "Night."

Abi frowned to herself and lay down; she didn't close her eyes though for her head was busy scheming away. She was going to find a way to get the truth out of May and then she was going to find a way to take out Tobi. The man who was starting to ruin her life. Soon ideas were flowing, each more graphic and horrid than the last. A small smile crept onto her face; she was going to enjoy this down to the very last detail…

"Good night."