Author's Note:

Hey everyone!

I began writing this fic just for fun and wasn't even planning on posting it until a wonderful friend gave me a push to publish it. This is my first shot ever at writing a fan fiction, so please leave reviews and such for this fic if you enjoy it! I'm super nervous about posting it, so anything is super appreciated. :)

I hope you all enjoy!:)

(I don't own Naruto.)

Darkness.

Thick and dense like fog, it consumed me, swallowed whole by the crushing blackness. I wasn't sure as to when I'd passed out, but I certainly wasn't awake.

Shit… did I hit my head or something?

Caught in a void of abyssal blackness, I fought to regain conciousness and sucked in a sharp breath.

My captors lay motionless on the damp earth. Dark pools oozed from under their lifeless bodies.

A hulking blue man with strange, shark-like features stood over me. Filled with panic at the unfamiliar face, I crawled backwards and took a moment to observe the man.

He adorned a black cloak with red clouds with a scratched out Hidden Mist headband. A purple, shaggy, sword almost writhed with life under the bandages encasing it. Bright scarlet blood dripped from its spiky points.

Beside him stood a far too beautiful, tall man in matching garb. Long, raven-colored hair fell to frame his handsome features. Emotionless red eyes regarded me as he slowly approached, the penetrating gaze made my blood run cold.

A fucking Sharingan? No—it can't be…

The triple bladed black shuriken replacing his pupil were like nothing I'd ever seen. It was a Sharingan, yes… but what the hell kind of Sharingan made that pattern?

A bloody tear trickled down his left eye, catching the dwindling sunlight. It cascaded down his high cheekbone, stark red against pale skin, falling into the deep line running parallel to his sharp nose.

Upon seeing those eyes, I froze. My pulse skyrocketed. Genjutsu was not fun. And I was not about to fuck around with whatever whack Sharingan that was.

It was high time I'd thought up an escape plan. I had to get somewhere safe. Unfortunately, my feet refused to obey my commands to move, locked in place by paralyzing fear.

"Why are we doing this again Itachi? There can't be anything significant about this helpless little pipsqueak." The blue man scoffed, looking quizzically at his menacing, but gorgeous partner beside him.

Uchiha Itachi. So, this is Sasuke's asshole of an older brother, huh?

The infamous rogue nin sighed, but said remained otherwise silently irritated. Frankly, he looked exhausted.

Contrary to their plans, I had absolutely no intention on going anywhere with the two nutjobs.

If they wanted me, they'd have to catch me first.

I discretely scanned the surrounding forest for anything resembling an exit route. But their eyes were watchful.

I had to time it just right when the smallest window of opportunity was granted by their distraction. And lucky for me, Kisame was chatting with the Uchiha.

The moment Itachi very briefly glanced at his partner, I knew that was it might be just enough to give me a window to run. Shifting my weight, I prepared to take off.

And I would have, if it weren't for nauseating dizziness speckling my vision. Then I remembered, I'd received massive quantities of chakra suppressant from my previous captors.

With that being a stupid fucking variable in the equation, to account for, I would need another window. But given my shit luck, it was a gamble that another opportunity would present itself.

"Yeah, but, look at her… she looks like she couldn't hurt a fly. What could she possibly have that Pain-sama could want?" The ex-kiri nin probed, giving me a pitiful glance.

I was surprised to hear that he didn't know. Amongst the criminal underground, my abilities were relatively known.

Matter manipulation was my specialty. Water? Yes. Wind release? Yup. Lightning release, absolutely. But the thing that always got peoples attention was my strange ability to manipulate iron rich metallic compounds. Compounds such as blood.

It was my blurse of a rare Kekkai Genkai, forcing me to be sought out as a means to weaponize my ability or use it for personal gain.

On the flip side, it allowed me a major advantage when it came to medical ninjutsu. Using my blood manipulation in junction with matter manipulation to stimulates the repair of damaged tissue.

On top of that, my tissue healed incredibly quickly. Nearly 10 times that of a normal human. I'd been told that it was much like Senju Tsunade's Mitotic Regeneration Jutsu. But was somehow… different.

My knack for chakra control made it so I didn't even need to weave signs to mold chakra.

As Suigetsu had once said, I was "OP". Fucking kids these days.

But being that powerful comes at a cost. My price? My freedom. Being a desirable asset to political leaders, warlords and terrorists alike left me a prisoner for most of my life.

I was a weapon.

Itachi apparently wasn't having anymore of Kisame's questions, exhaling a weary breath as he pinched the bridge of his nose and continued in my direction.

His vermillion eyes swirled as they met my now hardened gaze. I knew who he was. And I was having none of that. Fuck him and his brother torturing, murderous self.

Wrath mixed with other feelings I'd rather not mention had my heart thundering against my ribs. Something seeped from the blood red sunsets as they bore into me. Something that I knew well… deep, soul crushing pain.

It almost called to me, beckoning me to give in. To allow them to do what they'd come to do.

The brilliant scarlet danced behind his thickly lashed eyes as he took another step closer. Realizing I hadn't even gotten up off the ground, I awkwardly pushed further backwards.

The Uchiha began, advancing so I was just within his grasp. "Please, come with us, quietly." He halted, towering over me. The glint of a vermillion ring on his slender right ring finger caught my eye as he extended a navy-nailed hand. Now was not the time to be getting distracted. My narrow window to escape was closing—and fast.

Much to my dismay, I was completely frozen in place and oddly found myself taking a moment to observe the stoic, inky-haired man who looked and essentially felt the same as Sasuke. He had a small, angled nose and high cheekbones, soft lines trailed his inner eye—undoubtedly from stress.

His eyes quickly diffused from the harsh red and black to a much friendlier slate-gray color, "Please just come with us—I swear no harm will come to you," he said much more softly and extended a slender hand with navy-painted fingers outwards to me.

Go. Now. Right fucking now.

The suppressive injection was beginning to wear off as I felt my chakra pathways flow with a burst of heat. I narrowed my eyes dangerously at who I know knew was Sasuke's terrible older brother, Itachi. I went to reach for his hand before shooting a flood of chakra down to my feet and legs and pushed off the ground as hard as I could, launching myself towards a large branch of a nearby tree.

As soon as my feet contacted the hard wood of the first branch, I repeated my actions and shoved off even harder onto another, desperately trying to put some space between myself and my pursuers. I could hear them just behind me, "Why didn't you just grab her? She was right in front of you!" Kisame shouted at him from a more distant branch.

I heaved for breath, underestimating how much the starvation and experimentation had taken out of me, leaping between branches back the way I had just come from. A light sense of relief filled me as I began to recognize some of the surrounding area. There was a small cavern hidden behind a large boulder with a patch of bright green moss over the top of it.

My salvation.

Peering back behind me while leaping to another large tree branch, I noticed that the two men were no longer directly on my tail. And given my exhaustion, it was good timing. I paused to rest a minute and leaned against the trunk of a tree, gasping for oxygen.

With all the concentration I could muster, I scanned the dark green, leaf covered forest floor for the cavern I'd seen earlier. A ray of sunshine illuminated a bright green patch, just to my left. The cave.

Get there and suppress the living hell out of your chakra.

I cautiously peeked over my shoulder once more, descending to land on the crunchy leaves, then sprinted to the small opening in the rock behind the boulder. I slid on the damp grass, then shimmied feet first into the small cavern. I tried desperately to regulate my breathing and calm my erratic heart rate, taking deep breathes, focusing on suppressing my chakra. Beads of sweat coated my hair and skin.

After just a couple of minutes, a rugged voice made my heart sink—it had come from just outside of the cavern. They'd found me.

"Itachi, you were right, she went over this way!" he hollered loudly. A set of footsteps scuffed lightly as they approached, I quieted my breathing and slammed a hand over my mouth and nose to muffle any sounds that might escape. The footsteps grew louder until they stopped outside the small entrance I'd wedged myself through.

Shit… time to move.

I used my foot to feel for another hiding place or potential exit, suddenly feeling a little opening just behind me. If I couldn't get through, then I could at least try and squeeze my way a little deeper so the two men wouldn't be able to see me. I silently shifted and pushed myself back with my hands to fit both legs through the narrow opening. My eyes shot open at the thunderous rumbling of craking earth as my foot abruptly dislodged something at the back of the small entry. The horrible, familiar sound of rock splitting hit my ears on the verge of collapse.

Oh. Fuck. You aren't going to make it out of this, Sora…

A sharp pressure tugging on my wrist and black with red clouds was all I registered before the world faded away.

My consciousness coming back was accompanied by a deep throbbing ache in my head and neck.

The more I came to, the more it expanded before morphing into a full blown, thundering headache that radiated down my spine. With a groan, I shifted uncomfortably, noticing that I was laying on something soft—a bed roll.

An oddly familiar deep velveteen voice came from nearby, "Katon—Gokakyu no jutsu!" A light heat warmed the soles of my feet as a pleasant smokey smell filled my nostrils.

Fluttering my eyes slowly, the bright light of the newly lit fire blinded me, forcing me to slam them back closed. The intensity of the pain in my head increased ten-fold. A small groan slipped from my lips from the discomfort.

"How are you feeling?" Itachi's voice was cool and calm, soothing almost given my raging headache.

Just pretend to be asleep.

I repressed my chakra to mimic its pattern during sleep while slowing my breathing. He breathed a laugh, "If you think pretending to sleep will work, you are sadly mistaken. Such childish tricks won't work." I let out a long sigh—of course, he knew I was faking.

Squinting through one half open lid to prevent my head from revolting again, I scanned my surroundings.

My vision focused on a decently sized fire at my feet, the pleasant sound of light crackling noises comforted me as I stared into the glowing orange and red embers. Two other bed rolls near the fire. Opening my other eye, I glanced around to see nothing but a sea of trees encompassing the small camp.

Itachi was no where to be found.

What the hell? Where did he go…?

My heart skipped a beat as the stoically handsome Uchiha regarded me from his spot leaned against a tree—far too close to my vulnerable position laying on the ground.

Charcoal irises bore into mine with an intensity that made me want to hide under the bed roll. Watching as he squatted beside me, my eyes slowly widened.

"Did I not say that would be of no use?" He shot me a subtly bemused glance. My only response was my lips pulling into a tight line.

"Are you going to answer my question now?" He asked, lifting a brow.

"I'm fine." I growled, folding my arms over my chest and doing my best to maintain my harsh glower. The strangest hint of something... soft hid behind those intense onyx orbs. He was almost close enough to hear my heartbeat taking off in my chest.

"Do you remember anything?" He probed, resting a fit arm over one knee. I shook my head, sucking in a sharp breath and recoiling at the stabbing pain radiating through my skull.

"In your poor attempt to hide, you caused a rock collapse," his eyes flickered to my head. My fingers instantly began tracing the familiar, rough texture of bandages, snaking around the entirety of my skull.

Whoever patched you up did a decent job, damn.

Cursing under my breath, defeat shut my eyes. I was wounded... very, very wounded. And in the hands of some of the most dangerous ninja in the five nations. Wonderful.

I released an exhausted sigh before rolled over so he couldn't see my face.

"You should drink some water, you lost a lot of fluids." There seemed to be an almost caring undertone behind Itachi's mostly emotionless voice.

"No—leave me alone," I spat back frigidly.

With a small sigh, he stood up, setting a dark silver canteen down next to me. "You'll need to eat and drink sooner or later, whether you like it or not." I remained silent, letting my eyes narrow as I glowered at him.

He spoke again, this time with what sounded like a hint of concern accompanying his velvet voice, "You won't heal well if you don't—"

Sitting up, I sharply cut him off, "Why do you even care? You can't make me do anything—you're wasting your time." I hissed, letting it spill from my mouth like word-vomit. I knew he was trying to be helpful, and, honestly, all I wanted to do was greedily suck the canteen of its contents, but anger at my current situation had my blood boiling.

I expected chide me. To yell or hit me like my previous captors would have for such insolence.

But he did none of those things.

He remained silent, the darkness in his eyes surging as he lowered his head to stare me straight in the eyes. He was frighteningly close.

The obsidian morphing into the blood red sunsets of the Sharingan had me shrinking lower into my bed roll. The three black tomoe swirled angrily around his pupil. "Be careful, girl—I could make you do whatever I want if I so choose." The hard edge in his tone told me he wasn't fooling around.

This was clearly not the time to be pushing the limits. "I don't want to force you, but if it becomes necessary, I will not hesitate. Obstinance will get you nowhere," he scolded, pushing up to stand.

Before I could think to respond, a loud shuffling noise came from the foliage on the far side of our camp. My blue skinned captor was making his way towards the fire in the center, his arms full of firewood and kindling.

"Oh, damn—she's awake, huh? Heyyo, my name's Kisame. And this handsome devil is, Itachi. What's your name?" He shot me a toothy grin and to my horror, I realized that each tooth came to a dagger like point. I couldn't help but sit unmoving on my bedroll, a look of confusion sprinkled with a dash of horror plastered over my face.

Is he… trying to be nice?

I was so immensely caught off guard by the grumpy shark-man attempting to be cordial that my brain short-circuited. "Nice" was not something I had experienced with any of my pervious captors, and this was far from the norm. "Um, Itachi, does she talk…?" Kisame said as he looked over at his raven-haired partner.

"Yes, she does," Itachi replied curtly. The giant man then shifted his gaze back over to me.

"So… what's your name? I promise we don't bite!" Kisame shot me a cheeky grin.

I knew he was trying to joke around with me as he was part shark and all, but boy, did he need to learn to read the room. To his remark, I sighed and scowled at him, flopping back down on my bedroll—maybe if I ignored them, they would eventually leave me in peace. That idea bit the dust a half second later when Itachi's onyx eyes came into my line of site as he sauntered over to sit beside me again.

Stop looking like a dying puppy and drop the forlorn as fuck look. Then, maybe, he'll go away.

He strangely held my gaze steadily, "You don't need to talk right now if you don't want to—it's understandable, considering the severe head trauma that you have," he muttered somewhat gently. "However, I do insist that you drink this," he handed me the same silver canteen from earlier, "You lost a fair amount of blood from your wound."

I hesitantly took the canteen from his outstretched hand, our fingers briefly touching with a pulse of electricity that caused me to pull the canteen away more quickly than I had intended as my cheeks grew warm. As I began to satisfy my thirst, I could see the corners of his mouth lift ever so slightly as I guzzled the entirety of the canteen. My eyes studied my dirty hands wrapped around the canteen, and after a short silence, was able to croak out my name. "…S—Sora… My name is Sora."

I was surprised when Kisame smiled, pressed his palms together and bowed towards me, "It's nice to meet you, Sora!" Itachi did the same. I physically recoiled in shock, my eyebrows nearly flew off my forehead at their respectable actions. It was not the introduction I was used to.

What the fuck kind of game are they playing?

"You got a last name or somethin'?" Kisame still had a smile despite my confused expression. I felt my heart sink like a lead weight as the sadness set in, like it always had when I was forced to think about the reasons why I didn't have a last name.

I exhaled, as if to potentially breathe out some of my heartache with it and continued while glancing down at my hands, "…no—I don't."

A pregnant pause ensued, knowing their minds were probably contemplating why I lacked a family—a clan name. I peered up and observed Kisame open his mouth to speak. Itachi shot him a harsh glare before Kisame could utter a sound, forcing his mouth to close with an audible click.

I glanced over at Itachi and gave him the smallest of smiles, appreciative that he had saved me the pain of Kisame's curiosity. He merely tipped his chin, nodding once in acknowledgment. I knew from Sasuke that he was the one responsible for the annihilation of the Uchiha clan, so I found it strange that he had prevented Kisame from prying.

My train of thought derailed the second I noticed him quickly look me up and down. "Would you like to clean up a bit?" He said coolly. I practically gasped as I peeked down to examine myself. I was a mess. My whole body was covered in a fine layer of dust that I could taste in my mouth and feel up my nose. My tow-head blonde hair had dark burgundy striations running down to the ends of my waist length hair—no doubt from the head wound I had suffered. My clothes had transformed into a nasty collage of tears, blood stains and dust.

Woah… Yeah, go get cleaned up. You know open wounds and dirt don't mix.

With an exhausted sigh mixed with an odd sense of relief, I shot him a small smile and nodded. A large, calloused hand appeared in front of me, offering me assistance getting up to my feet. I pushed his hand away, shooting him a vexed glance. His smug amused expression compounded my irritation.

I huffed and started pushing myself up onto my knees, using them in junction with my hands to try to stand upright. I was a bit woozy, my vision blurred over as my head pounded so ferociously that I could hardly hear. I shot my left hand onto the cold earth as I steadied myself. As I was finally able to push myself to a standing position, I noticed that Itachi was observing me with a that same almost tickled look as his lips pulled into a mischievous smirk. "Can I help you?" I asked him curtly.

As if on que, my head began to throb while my vision clouded over as my knees grew weaker, as if they couldn't hold the weight of my petite form. My knees buckled together abruptly, bracing for my rough impact with the solid ground beneath me. Instead, I fell into something sturdy and warm and two strong arms rapidly encircled me like a protective barrier.

Well, this certainly isn't the ground.

I was trying to blink away the stupid spots that had clouded my vision when the light scent of sandalwood and smoke grazed my nostrils as I attempted to catch my breath. It smelled like home; I couldn't help but relish in the comfort it brought me—if just for a moment. I glanced upwards at whoever's arms were supporting my nearly limp body.

Dark, slate gray irises stared back at me. Gasping, I turned to face Itachi and pushed hard against his chest in a particularly sad attempt to free myself from his hold. Without being able to use my chakra from effects of the suppressant, I didn't stand a chance.

Fucking embarrassing...

I was unsure of whether the redness on my face had been caused from rage or my deep blush, but I'm sure at that moment I had the complexion of a vibrant tomato. Kisame immediately erupted with laughter, "Wow, you're really giving him a run for his money there, I thought you totally had him!" He managed to get out the entire sentence between laughs, I was shocked that he could laugh so hard and continue to talk.

My eyes narrowed dangerously at Kisame, who looked almost as amused as Itachi—the same smirk riddling his unnaturally blue face. Then, I peered upwards again at Itachi, seething with rage. He didn't lack for height tall, leaving me no choice but to crane my neck to look him square in the eye.

I was happy he hadn't let me faceplant, but I could not stand feeling useless or anything remotely close to powerless. I didn't roll like that. It made me all the more enraged when I noticed his subtlety bemused expression.

Calm down and breathe. You can't afford to do something stupid, you're too weak right now.

I clenched my fists and jaw, hissing through my teeth as I spoke, "Can I please go clean up now?"

The two men exchanged an ambiguous glance that I couldn't make out before Itachi's voice broke the awkward silence with a sigh, "There is a waterfall about 150 yards away, you can wash up there." He appeared stoic as ever.

"Yeah, that's fine—thanks..." My voice was placid as I responded. I'd learned enough in my years of being a target of capture to use my manners, when necessary. Emphasis on that last part. I was never optimistic about receiving any semblance of decent treatment and frankly, didn't care for it.

Kindness and pleasantries had been used against me. My immaturity was easily taken advantage of. I was young and unable to fully comprehend how cruel the world could be. I did my best to not let the worlds cold shoulder consume my soul with hatred.

Itachi made his way towards the dense greenery, glancing over his shoulder, trudging along to follow a few paces behind. With a reassuring self hug and a deep breath, I focused on the relief that I'd get to rid myself of the dirt and blood caking my hair into thick tendrils.

Hopefully getting clean would make the situation a tad bit better...