The small creak of the door opening brought me out of my thoughts and the man that entered the room made me wish I could yank the blankets over my head. He regarded me coldly as he sat on the edge of the bed, cutting off my pant legs methodically without a word.

"Wh-what are you doing?" I asked, not without trepidation.

He glared back at me and answered curtly, "My job." I was mortified to see a piece of thread from his own flesh begin to loosen and extend toward me. I pulled away instinctually, my mouth agape in disgust, but his other hand held me in place.

This can't be sanitary.

"Ow!" I yelled as he began stitching my wound shut. He took a moment to glare at me before piercing through my skin once more with obvious and almost intentional disregard for my comfort.

"That hurts!" I yelped as I pulled back again which only made it worse.

"Whoever told me you were quiet was a goddamn liar. Now sit still..." He commanded as he tightened his grip on my leg.

Kakuzu was… not really what I expected. Him apparently being the most knowledgeable about medical practices, I expected someone a bit more… human?

"Well I'm having a hard time being quiet when you're not being gentle," I argued under my breath. We scowled at each other, his green eyes gleamed darkly and narrowed, causing me to shrink back a little, suddenly taking stock of my predicament. He smirked and continued on.

I didn't like this—being afraid—I wasn't used to it. I was used to being able to hide all my emotions, no matter what. But my world had been flipped upside down and I had no control. Part of me was relieved to an extent, not having to pretend. I had been sick of trying to be tough and acting like nothing bothered me. I averted my eyes finally.

"Some kunoichi you are," he scoffed.

"Well that makes sense, I'm not a kunoichi," I corrected. He looked at me skeptically before going back to mending my legs, somewhat more gently.

"Well that explains why you're so weak," he jabbed. I was annoyed but he wasn't wrong.

"Where the fuck is he!?" Yelling echoed from down the hall into the room. Kakuzu froze for a moment before sighing with irritation.

"Kakuzu!" louder this time, drawing near quickly.

"I hate this guy…" Kakuzu muttered under his breath with a shake of his head. I didn't know what to expect since Kakuzu kind of seemed to hate everything from what little I had seen of him.

A gleam of silver was the first thing I noticed when the figure rushed into the room, practically taking the door off its hinges. He was tall and frankly a little frightening, despite his obvious good looks. His slicked back hair revealed pronounced features, most predominantly—his eyes. They were a strange hue of violet like nothing I had seen before. I found myself staring without realizing it.

"Hidan…" Kakuzu acknowledged the man. Hidan ignored the greeting and looked directly at me.

"The fuck are you looking at, bitch?" He sneered. I was startled by his sudden rudeness towards me. I mean, it hadn't been a day in the park since I got there, but somehow that seemed like a bit much.

I looked away quickly, mumbling to myself, "Nothing, don't flatter yourself..." To my surprise, Kakuzu heard this and laughed under his breath which sent Hidan into a fit of rage.

"The fuck was that? You wanna say it a little louder?" he yelled with a dangerous glint in his eye as he reached for a weapon on his back.

"Hidan." The tone of Kakuzu's voice implied something more than just a name. It was a warning, no mistaking it.

"Oh, like I give a fuck. She's gettin' it!" Before Hidan could make a move towards me, he was pinned against the wall. I watched in shock as Kakuzu's arm flew from his body and held Hidan's throat against the wall, his feet dangling above the floor, kicking to get down. He sputtered out a few profanities before calming down with a roll of his eyes. Kakuzu withdrew his arm back to his body, reattaching it in a matter of seconds, if that. Hidan glared at him while putting his scythe away.

"What did you want?" Kakuzu asked, clearly annoyed with his antics.

"We have a mission and you're in here trying to get laid or some shit."

My face twisted in revulsion, "you're disgusting!" I shrieked, shooting him the nastiest look I could muster in my exhausted state.

"Whatever," He waved off my comment, not even looking at me. "Just come get me when you're fucking done," Hidan whined as he left, slamming the door shut behind him.

During all of the drama, Kakuzu had apparently finished up without my noticing. He tied the last bandage and stood to leave.

"Thanks…" I grumbled before adding, "hey, so you're the one that knows a lot about medicine, right?"

"Something like that," he replied vaguely, annoyed that I was stopping him from leaving.

"Can someone die from being too tired?" I asked with an unintentional but aptly timed yawn.

"God, I hope so," He muttered, stepping out and shutting the door behind him.

Rude.

I awoke to a rough tap on the forehead. My eyes opened groggily to see Itachi standing over me. I jumped, startled by his looming figure.

"Time to get up, Pain wants to see you." He relayed calmly.

"Oh… great," I mumbled, sarcasm dripping. I swung my legs over the side of the bed, my toes just barely grazing the textured wood grain. I tied my hair back before letting my feet press against the cold floor slowly.

It was painful to stand but bearable at least. Kakuzu had applied an ointment to help with recovery before wrapping my wounds which I was immensely grateful for in that moment. Itachi's clothes hung loosely on my body, which was annoying because I found myself having to continuously hike up the pants.

I had figured out by that point that I wasn't going to be killed, and in fact, I was perhaps needed somehow by this organization. I had tested the waters a little with Hidan, and Kakuzu's order to stand down confirmed it. It was time to figure out exactly why I was there.

"Follow me," Itachi said before passing through the doorway. I followed hesitantly in silence through all of the corridors, twists, and turns, until we finally reached a large black door. It opened before Itachi knocked. Pain looked past Itachi at me, his eyes like vortexes drawing me in.

"Come in, Izumi." He commanded. I did as he said. Itachi did not follow, and the door was shut behind us with a wheeze. I felt like it had taken the breath from me, sucked under the crack of the door, leaving me gasping to regain it as I sat down where he directed me. He sat at his desk directly across with the blue-haired woman at his side.

"I want to talk to you about your life prior to your adoption." He said in a demanding tone.

Geez, this guy doesn't waste time with small talk.

"There isn't much to tell," I began, seeing he was already annoyed. Not wanting him to stab me, I decided I'd better say something more.

"It's just that… I don't really remember." He looked at me to continue. I sighed and rubbed my temples.

"I was 6 when I was adopted. I've been told that I was found on the edge of Konoha. I guess I was starving and had some injuries but no recollection of how I got there, even back then. Again, this is just what I've been told. Honest to God, I really don't know." I offered apologetically.

"And you had these nature-centric abilities at that age?" Pain questioned.

"Oh yeah…" I replied darkly, remembering some not-so-great times. "Let's just say I wasn't great at controlling them back then… not that I'm exceptional now of course. But when you're a kid throwing a tantrum and you have the ability to say, I don't know, manipulate fire? Sometimes your house gets burned down by accident…" I recalled grimly.

"No one explained this gift to you?" The hazel-eyed woman interjected.

I shook my head. "They were afraid of me, my parents. They just kept me inside as much as possible, away from other people or anything that could get me trouble."

Pain and the woman exchanged a knowing glance.

"Do you know what's wrong with me?" I asked quietly.

The woman answered first. "I wouldn't call it wrong. But let me ask you this, have you ever heard of the Ten'yo?"

The word sounded familiar but I couldn't place it. I shook my head. She continued.

"There exists a legend of a group of people who lived in the mountains, their whereabouts were unknown, however they had great abilities—a certain connection to nature that was unparalleled. They were called the Ten'yo. It was said they were here on this planet to protect and co-exist with the Gods' creation of nature. They received their gift from the water that the mountain produced."

All too suddenly, the sounds of running water rushed and flooded my ears, so loudly in fact that I felt compelled to clap my hands over them, wincing in pain for several moments before the noise began to recede. I looked up to Pain and the woman to see if they too had heard the bizarre sound, but they merely returned my gaze, intensely waiting.

"You didn't hear that?" I asked incredulously.

"Hear what exactly?" The woman asked in return.

"The spring…?" I whispered with uncertainty. Cloudy memories and visions of a beautiful mountain spring flickered in and out of my head as my brows knitted together, trying hard to concentrate and recall more details.

What does this mean?

"So you are the last of the Ten'yo." Pain affirmed out loud, regarding me coolly like usual. I stared at him in horror.

"Wh-what do you mean last?" I demanded, still cradling my head.

"There was an attack about 12 years ago, right around the time you arrived in Konoha. The spring you are recalling is legendary, sacred, if you will. Should one try to drink from it without a ceremony and express permission from the Ten'yo, your soul would be taken and recycled into nature. None of the attackers returned from that mountain. The legend of the spring was well-known, the curse was not. It is largely assumed that attackers killed all of the Ten'yo without knowing about this, and when they drank from the spring…" he didn't continue, I understood.

"Oh…" I paused and looked at him wearily, "so what do you want from me?"

"You will lead us to the spring and allow us to consume it, after that I will free you in light of your service."

I began shaking my head, my hands slapping against the table in front of me. "I don't even know where it is, you know that," I reminded him with frustration.

"You will stay with us until you find it." He asserted calmly. I knew this wasn't going to go anywhere.

"I don't know where it is," I reaffirmed, hoping that pointing out that minor detail again would show his severely flawed logic.

"You had forgotten about the spring until this conversation, correct?"

I nodded, "yes?"

"I suspect there is another person at play here. Someone that didn't want you to remember… or at least not until the time was right. We will examine you for any memory-altering seals and work to destroy them which can be a... touchy process. After that, Itachi has a way to help you regain these memories more naturally using his sharingan."

I looked at him, horrified. "You can't expect me to agree to this. I can't let him do that again. I'll kill myself before I let that happen," I threatened a bit dramatically without even thinking about what I was saying. I glared at him intensely, examining his face as he examined mine in return.

"You will calm down," he ordered, leaning in slightly towards me. A sudden chill jolted through me and I sat back, unclenching my fists.

"He won't be using it to hurt you. However if you don't comply, he will."

A thick silence settled, I looked at the ceiling.

"You may leave," he finally said.

"Fine…" I mumbled as I stood from my seat and limped out of the room. I shut the door behind me and realized that I had no clue where I was.

"This way," a woman's voice chimed sofly from behind, startling the living bejesus out of me.

"I'm Konan, by the way," she added, walking ahead of me. I followed quietly as we passed through corridor after corridor.

"He's not as bad as he seems," Konan eventually offered to break the silence.

"Which one… Pain?"

"Yes," she affirmed before adding, "he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. I hope you can look past his… intense demeanor. His intentions are good."

"Intense is a word for it," I mumbled. She looked back at me with the hint of a smile before her eyes took on a strange, far-off look.

"I apologize," she said with a frown. "I'm needed elsewhere right now. Continue on down this path and you'll eventually make it to the common area."

She was gone before I could respond, dissolving into thousands of pieces of paper before my eyes.

"Well okay then…" I murmured, scratching my head and pretending that was normal. I continued on, taking twists and turns not knowing where they led, attempting to follow her instructions as best I could. Eventually I found myself at a staircase.

I definitely don't remember going up any stairs…

I huffed loudly in frustration.

You'd think they'd give me a tour guide or something if they're gonna be keeping me hostage or whatever.

I turned on my heel only to bump into something very large. "Sorr—" I stared up at the giant blue man before me, his grin was wicked across his face, stretched in place with teeth pointing.

"What is a little girl like you doing in a place like this?" he asked playfully with a heavy hand on my shoulder. At first it was to catch me from falling backwards, but now I feared it was to keep me from running. Who was this guy? I couldn't fight, or run, I had to bluff.

"Oh you know, just cleaning!" I did my best to attempt a genuine smile, but apparently it came off as pain because he asked if I had a headache.

"No, no! You boys are just so messy, it's all this dust! Achoo!" I laughed nervously and produced a horribly fake sneeze, "see?" I asked with another dithery laugh, taking a shaky step back as he loomed over me.

"I- uh… I…" I stuttered as he took another step forward and I fell back even more until I hit the rock wall behind me.

"Cleaning lady, huh? Somehow… I doubt that," he grinned again, his teeth glinting mysteriously bright in the dim light. He slammed his hand against the wall next to my face, I flinched as he did so, then again with the other.

"You look more like dinner to me," he moved his face closer to mine.

I panicked, not knowing what to do and pinned against the wall. I shut my eyes and wished I could just disappear. A bizarre feeling whirled inside of my stomach as I felt like I was falling.

Oh here we go again.