"Maybe he's like a dog and comes when he's called?" Mayumi suggested, then took a deep breath. "HERE JUUGO JUUGO JUUGO! HERE-"

Suigetsu covered her mouth and shook his head, "You're making a bigger fool of yourself than you normally do you realize that right?"

"And your point would be…?"

Karin growled and tapped her foot, "Look you two are gonna give us away and it's already bad enough that we're here, Juugo isn't exactly…"

"We know Karin," Mayumi sighed, doing her best to mellow down some, "unfortunately Mr. Stick-Up-His-Ass over there is bound and determined, but if I had my say, he'd be tied down and-"

Sasuke gave her harsh glare, not that she paid much attention to it anyways.

"-drug back to Konoha and we'd all live happily ever after."

Was it really all that frowned upon? For her to dream of a happy ending? She could see it now: Naruto smiling happily, laughing in the way that only Naruto could; Sakura bouncing happily in place, crying from the pure bliss of finally having Sasuke back; Kakashi grinning under his mask, giving her a big bear hug that had always comforted her as a child; and Sasuke… Sasuke would be his old self, a soft smile, hidden behind his trade mark smirk. Mayumi could almost hear him joking with Naruto, giving him a slap on the back, and Naruto saying, "Took you long enough Teme."

Mayumi looked down before any of them could notice the change in her mood, she would give anything, absolutely anything, to have it all back.

"Come on," Sasuke spoke up, "we have business to take care of."

*Later*

Well, this was great… After they found Juugo- who in the end turned out to have a split personality that in fact, actually made Mayumi feel safer- Sasuke decided to have a super-secret meeting that a certain blue-haired female wasn't allowed to attend. The nerve of him. Okay, first of all, he was the one who had dragged her along in the first place, and two, they might talk about team names, and she had freaking great ideas. She'd even been coming up with their super hero names until she found out she wasn't allowed to join in.

God it was boring just sitting there. … … … Eavesdropping time! She had every right to listen to what was going on, especially when she was technically apart of whatever they ended up doing. Her life was in the balance after all. Mayumi jumped off of rock that she had been sitting on, the rock had kept her about a foot from the ground so maybe jumping wasn't necessary… Oh well. Making sure to mask her chakra she made her way closer to where she had seen the group of four walk off to. There were several larger rock formations blocking her view, but she decided that she really wouldn't need a view.

"Gathering you three completes my platoon, and the first stage of my plan," she heard Sasuke say. "It's time I explain my purpose to you all. I'm going to kill Uchiha Itachi of the Akatsuki, and I want you all to help."

"I knew it…" Suigetsu spoke.

"Karin, you said you had other business to attend to. What will you do?" Sasuke questioned her.

Mayumi couldn't believe this, making a team without her! Oh she would make sure Sasuke regreted this one.

"W-Well, now that I Think about it, it's nothing urgent…" Karin said.

"Would you cut the bullshit and just be honest for once?" Mayumi heard Suigetsu speak up, she liked him, he gave Karin what she needed. "Something like, I want to be at Sasuke's side forever and ever, maybe?"

"Th-That's not it! Wh-Why on earth would you suggest something like that?! I just-"

"Bull's-eye, look you're so flustered you can barely talk, give it up. I know the truth, a long time ago, you did something to Sasuke…" the sharp toothed man said.

Then there was a noise that resembled the sound that would be made if someone had hit water… or Suigetsu.

"Suigetsu, stop messing with Karin. I told you to corporate with her," the Uchiha spoke.

If only it worked like that Sasuke, Mayumi shook her head. If it did, they would be back in Konoha right now.

"My bad, my bad sorry Karin. For the record, I plan on sticking lose to Sasuke!" Suigetsu spoke again. "One of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, Hoshigaki Kisame, is with Uchiha Itachi, and I plan to take his sword, the Samehada for myself."

"You're just gathering swords? That's so lame…" Karin's voice rang.

"Suigetsu…" Sasuke spoke.

"I know I know… Juugo, you're free now, what are you going to do?"

"Kimimaro said Sasuke's existence was like his being reborn, and Kimimaro sacrificed his life to protect him…," the orange haired male said, "I need to see for myself how strong of a shinobi he is."

"Then it's settled," Sasuke said, "from now on, we four move as one. Our group will be known as Hebi. Hebi has only one purpose… Uchiha Itachi."

"…So what about Mayumi?" Suigetsu questioned. "Isn't she apart of this?"

"…No."

Mayumi couldn't help but drop her head. So, after kidnapping her, dragging her with him throughout this whole, stupid thing, she wasn't good enough to be part of team, Hebi? Would she or anyone ever be good enough for Sasuke?

*Few days later*

"Nuuuh uh! I am not following you!" Mayumi shouted, crossing her arms over her chest and blowing her bangs away from her face.

Now that Hebi had been formed, the first thing on Sasuke's list was to find his brother, and seeing as Mayumi wasn't a part of the team… Well the way she figured it was that she shouldn't have to be helping with his objectives. So then, just why was she doing as she was told, following after Karin in search for information on Itachi. Mayumi pouted to herself and glared at the redhead's back. This, freaking, sucked.

"He doesn't actually like you know…"

The blue haired girl's eyes widened as she stared at Karin, "S-Shut up! I know that! I don't want him to like me anyways-"

"Lair…" Karin muttered softly, walking still. "It's obvious that you like him, that's why you act the way you do right? You want to get his attention, or see a reaction from him at your antics. Well, I hate to break it to you, but Sasuke really doesn't like you back. In fact, he plans on leaving you at the next place we come by, says you're holding us back."

Mayumi suppressed a giggle, "I told you before, I don't want him to like me, and I sure as fudge don't him," she grabbed a fistful of the other female's hair, then roughly yanked her head back, setting her features into a hard glare, "got it?"

Not waiting for a response she released her from her grip and walked ahead, "I'm going to the left, you take the right…"

Watching her feet the entire time that she walked Mayumi couldn't help but notice that her chest felt heavy, her eyes tired, and her stomach tying up into one giant knot. She didn't understand it, these things she was feeling; she'd never really felt them before. Now that she was feeling them though, she hated it, wished she could set it on fire. How could she set her feelings on fire? Truth be told, it did bug her that Sasuke seemed to ignore her almost all the time but that time when they were alone… He seemed pleased with her then…but maybe he wasn't at all.

Great, now she was depressed, and everyone knew that when Mayumi got depressed, she pouted for weeks. When Mayumi pouted she-

"Cat!" Mayumi shrieked as a small fluffy kitten walked across her path.

Said kitty was black, very very black… Kinda like the night sky black. Come to think of it, weren't black cats an omen of some sort? Ah who gives a monkey's butt that kitten was as cute as Sasuke was when he was baby. Then again, Sasuke did end up becoming a very bad thing… Well Mayumi couldn't assume every cute thing she came across would be evil, if she did that, she never would have been friends with Billy… Oh how she missed Billy.

Picking up the kitten Mayumi was surprised at how tame it really was. She was able to pet it lightly and get a soft purr from it almost immediately. This was clearly a sign that the kitty was a good kitty and meant she had every right to pull a Kiba and carry it around in her jacket for the remainder of its childhood. She already felt like a mother. Oh lord what was she going to do when school time came around?! Would she be able to let the kitty go?!

"Shh kitty," Mayumi purred back to the purring kitten. "Don't worry; I won't let you grow up to fast…"

"Mayumi-san…" Came a man's deep, velvety voice.

She felt herself stiffen in her place; her hold on the kitten tightened. That voice, she recognized that voice… She'd never forget that voice.

"You can't have my kitty, go away."

"…"

"You're not going to let this one go are you?"

"…"

"I have to go with you now don't I?"

"Hn."

Mayumi sighed and turned towards him, "Fuck you wrinkle man."

Uchiha Itachi shook his head and looked at her, "… I'm afraid Mayumi-san, you will be coming with me."

I'm am so unbelievably sorry about how long this has taken me! I know I said something similar to this last time but this time I really mean it. I simply haven't had the mind to write in a long time and I'm sure you'll be able to see that in my writing but I'm trying to get back into so please just keep with me. Also, this will be the last the chapter of this story I post as I'm finishing it for the second part which is going to focus more on her and Itachi so that way it's not just a simple, boom she's with Sasuke because that's the only development she's made. So, please review this chapter and let me know what you think and look for the new story which could be up within the week.