Rei sat high up in the branches of a tree, her legs pulled up to her chest as she stared off into space, thinking about what she had done. I don't want to go back, she thought, pulling her legs closer She was no longer within the borders of the Earth country, but somewhere within the Wind, in the northern part. There was no snow here. She sighed, grinding her teeth in frustration as she pulled her bag closer to her, rummaging through it before stopping and sighing again. She was out of food.

She could surely get by in the middle of nowhere without food, she knew from experience where to find it and what was edible, but that wasn't her only problem. She knew that, alone, she stood no chance against the Hunter-nin that were supposedly after her. There was safety in numbers, and right now her number was one. One did not stand a chance against a four-man team of hunter-nin. How can I possibly be an S-ranked missing-nin? I can't go anywhere! If I'm recognized, I'll be killed. A missing-nin cannot reverse things and become accepted back into a village. I need others to stay with or hide with.... But who? I'm not going back to Him. Never. But who else is there? One name formed in her mind slowly, the tendrils curling up like smoke from the darkest part of her mind and forming into letters.

Akatsuki. The red moon. Dawn, daybreak... All the same thing, the group of S-ranked missing-nin she had been running from for most of her life. They wanted the Ikichi, they wanted the Aohane, they wanted her dead. Or did they? If... If I joined them, would they still want to kill me? She sat back further, picturing the scene in her mind. "Hello, my name is Rei and I want to join you!" "Oh, really? Welcome to the club, we've got jackets!" She scoffed, like that would ever happen. Who else could she go to? The Demoni were dead, she and Akisu had killed them all. There were a few other missing-nin she knew of, none of which she felt inclined to approach, and she knew that none of them liked her very much. But really, she thought, what would the Akatsuki do? What if I bluffed? Told them that I'd tell others about them, sell their information. No, that's already part of the reason they want to kill me. Because I know too much about them. If I went up to them and said that, they'd kill me.

She sat forwards and reached into her shirt, pulling out the Ikichi. It was swirling a thousand different colours as usual, mixing together, splitting apart and repeating over and over. When she was young, she had spent long moments simply staring at it. She was the only one able to use it, the only one able to control the orbs. She couldn't let the Akatsuki have it. But... If I let them have me and tell them that it means they posess the Ikichi and Aohane as well, then wouldn't they let me join? I just... can't picture it... Me walking into the middle of a group of the nine most dangerous and wanted criminals on earth. What if they simply killed me without letting me speak first? And on top of that, I'd have to locate their leader, Ayame.... No, not Ayame. There's a new leader... Did Shinji tell me who it was? No... Who could it be? I only know a few of the Akatsuki by name... There's Higure Ayame, Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame... I forget that other guy's name... She froze, thinking about the Uchiha. If he's the leader now, I have no chance of getting near them. He is too strong.... But there are two people stronger than him in the organization. It's just that he's insane. I think... he was the one who killed the Uchiha clan.

She shifted slightly and slid off the tree branch, falling for several feet before landing in a crouch and standing. She looked around, turning north, then east, south and west, before turning back north. But right now... WHere should I go? I... I don't want to go near anywhere He might be. She narrowed her eyes as she thought of Akisu, but waved it off, refusing to think about him. She paused to think about where to go next. She could not chance getting too close to a village, and going to either the Fire or Lighting country was very dangerous. But the Akatsuki would most likely be near Konoha somewhere, since they were after Naruto and the Kyuubi. She turned southeast, looking in the direction of the Fire country. If she went too close to Konoha, it would be too dangerous, there would be too many Hunter-nin. But the Akatsuki were last sighted there. I can't believe I'm gonna do this.

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She had not, at the time, been looking for Akatsuki. She had been asleep on a tree branch high above the forest floor. She had not found them. They had found her. She had heard voices below her at around five in the morning, and woken up to see shadows moving below her, whispering as they arranged themselves into a rough circle. She had almost cried out when she saw there were nine shadows, and each was wearing the same black and red cost. Right now, she was holding her breath and keeping as quiet as she could above them, suprised they had not sensed her yet. The sun was beginning to rise.

"Orochimaru may have the Sharingan in his posession...yeah. But we are numbered nine, he is one, if we all fight together, he will be killed... yeah."

"Yes... We have three years still to prepare. He has already taken up a new body, not your brother's, Itachi."

"But what about the Kyuubi?"

"The Kyuubi can wait. Naruto-kun has gone off training with one of the Sannin, Jiraiya. The other two are also training, Orochimaru is training his new body, and the third Sannin, and Godaime Hokage, Tsunade, is training another, the third member of the gennin team, Haruno Sakura. If this continues, they will be as strong as the Sannin, like the next generation. This could be a problem since it will mean there will be six legends alive at the same time. If Orochimaaru wages war on Konoha at that time and wins, who knows what will happen."

"We also have to decide what we're going to do about the Aohane and the Hikaru. And the Ikichi. There are also a few more jutsu we haven't learned." Rei's eyes widened slightly as she heard this quiet voice speaking. It sounded like Ayame. But if it was, she was, indeed, very, very sick and worn out.

"If we could kill Raine then we could steal the Ikichi, but we would lose the Aohane...yeah. We need Raine alive in order to get the Aohane and the appropriate information...yeah."

"While we prepare for the war three years from now, we can split up and hunt down the other sources we're looking for at the moment."

"Kariudo, there are some other things we found out about Raine and Akisu-kun."

"What is it?"

"We confirmed that they were travelling together. They were last spotted in the Stone for some reason. But... We found out some other things about them. Theyare now missing-nin, Akisu an A-ranked and suprisingly enough, Raine is an S-ranked missing-nin wanted in both the Leaf and the Cloud."

"S-ranked? What could she have done to get that under her name?"

"She killed Demoni along with Akisu-kun."

"Killed? All of them?" She could hear the change in his voice as he said this. There was a long pause before he began speaking again. "Then she has become of more importance to us. We should find her and Akisu-kun quickly."

"Will we be splitting up today?"

"Perhaps... I will be making up new two-man teams though, we need to work quickly to find her and the Aohane."

The sun had almost fully risen now, and Rei was tiring of listening to them speak about her. She was going to get down and spweak to them. I can't believe I have to resot to this, she thought, shifting slightly. They still hadn't noticed her. She took a deep breath, steadying herself and sliding from the branch. She fell freely for a few moments, landing in a crouch in the dead center of the circle. Ther was a stunned, suffocating silence, even the birds seemed to stop singing. The nine figures around her were not showing any suprise, but were staring at her blackly. She lifted her head and looked up at the one she assumed to be the leader, Kariudo.

"Raine..."

"You've got a lot of nerve turning up here, Raine," said one of the other Akatsuki to her left. She stood, shouldering her bag.

'You were so noisy you woke me up," she said, pointing above her to the branch she had come from. the leader narroed his eyes, wondering why she would land in their midst.

"Why are you here? You know we'll just kill you," he said finally, looking her directly in the eyes. She did not flinch as he said this, but stared fearlessly back at him.

"I'll give you what you want... information, the Ikichi, the Aohane... whatever you want."

There was another stunned silence, and the leader only narrowed his eyes further, trying to see the reason behind her offer. "Under what condition?"

She smiled slighty, still looking him in the eyes. Inside she was suprised none of the Akatsuki had made a move to attack her yet. They hadn't even tried to capture her even. "I'll give them to you, if you let me join the Akatsuki."

He laughed. She had expected him to. A few of the other members laughed as well, but she kept her gaze fixed on Kariudo until his laughter died down. "You... Want to join the Akatsuki. The Akatsuki is no place for a fifteen-year-old girl. You can't simply walk up to us and expect us to let you join."

"You think I'm weak," she stated simply. She reached up to her neck and removed the ikichi, dangling it before her. "I am the only one who is able to control the Ikichi. if you killed me and took it, it would be a useless piece of jewelry. The only way you would be able to wield it is if you wielded me. Then, you would posess the Ikichi, the Aohane, and a wealth of information."

The leader said nothing, simply staring at her. She knew he hadn't known that about the Ikichi, that she was the only one able to wield it. "You still don't understand. We can't let you simply join us. Look around you. These are the nine most wanted shinobi in the Bingo book. They are many levels above your level. They have stained their hands many times in blood. We cannot simply let you join."

Rei paused, thinking. "If I were to beat one of you, would you let me join?"

"You wouln't be able to. Like I said, we are all many levels above you."

"Prove it," she challenged, still glaring at him. He stared at her for a few moments, before his face broke into a faint smile.

"We only need one kunoichi here. If you can beat Ayame we will acknowledge you."

Rei turned her eyes towards Ayame. They are cruel. 'We only need one kunoichi here'? Ayame is sick, won't this be an unfair battle? She looked Ayame over. She was strikingly beatiful, almost as beautiful as her mother had been. She had long, black hair kept tied back in a ponytail and a face that was a more femenine replica of Akisu's. She had bloodthirsty, red eyes that were currently glaring down at Rei. Her mouth was covered by a strip of cloth and she had small bags under her eyes. As Rei looked closer, she could see that Ayame's hair was dull and her skin sickly pale, evidence of whatever sickness she had come down with. On her left hand's little finger she wore a ring with the kanji for 'empty' on it. Empty? Rei eyed her for a moment longer. She used to be the leader, the one with the kanji for 'Blue' on her ring. Shinji told me she last had the kanji for 'White', but now she has dropped another three levels. If i beat her, I will be above four others.

The other members backed up a few feet, save for Ayame who remained in her same place. The two kunoichi glared at eachother for a few moments, sizing eachother up. No, thought Rei, they are not being cruel. This is a fair fight. She is better than i am, and used to be Akatsuki's leader. I had better start thinking like them soon, because she will not be fighting fairly, and the others will not treat me fairly either.

She let her bag slip to the ground as she replaced the Ikichi around her neck. She could feel the other eight Akatsuki staring at her intently as twenty-four orbs appeared around her. She had only fought Ayame once before, and she had not been serious about it. At the moment, she was wondering what her abilities were. Please don't be genjutsu, please don't be genjutsu, please don't be genjutsu.... She waited for Ayame to make the first move. She undid her Akatsuki robe, letting it slide to the ground and revealing a completely black shinobi outfit beneath.

Her hands flew into a series of complicated series and Rei jumped back a few feet at the sudden movement, watching as Ayame finished the string of seals. "Doton: Doro Kaen no Jutsu," she sad quietly after pulling away the cloth in front of her face. The dirt around her shot up circling her once before bursting into flame and heading towards Rei. She flipped back as a pink orb shot out before her.

"Sekiton: Chakura no Seki!" Chakra spun outwards from the orb in a wide wall, completely blocking the flaming dirt from hitting her. Looks like this will be a battle of Ninjutsu, she thought, watching as Ayame formed a few more seals.

"Tsuchi Bunshin no Jutsu." The ground around Ayame bulged upwards as many replicas of herself crawled from the ground, each pulling out a kunai and taking a step back as they faced her.

"Doton: Tsuchi Neko-te."

Rei spun around as a giant, clawed hand broke from the ground behind her, slamming down on the place she had been moments before. As she flipped back, the clones charged towards her, bringing a number of kunai towards her. She hit the ground and flipped around using her left hand, her shoulder screaming in pain from the wound which was still located there. She kicked the first clone in the jaw and it crumbled, sending bits of earth flying everywhere as she brought her legs around in a wide arc, sweeping two more clones off their feet before slamming them in the chests and causing them to vanish as well. She grabbed one's wrist as it attempted to slash her shoulder, twisting it and flipping it behind her into another, both vanishing. Another burst from the ground beneath her, catching her off guards and nearly opening the inside of her calf with its kunai, but she shifted, placing one foot in fron and the other behind the arm before spinning and breaking it off. These clones just keep coming, she complained inwardly, kicking another clone in the stomach while dodging a number of shuriken. I need to concentrate on offense, this battle is going no where.

A red orb flew to her side as she jumped back, making a few quick seals. "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" She took a deep breath, holding the last seal up to her mouth before breathing out, sending a large stream of fire towards the clones and the original Ayame, who was frantically making a number of seals.

"Kokuangyo no Jutsu," muttered Ayame, just as the flame reached her. The world suddenly fell into complete darkness, darkness so thick and suffocating that the fire from Rei's fireball was invisible through it. Damnit, she thought, listening to the sudden silence. This is Genjutsu. Just what I needed. She brought up her hands, eyes darting around.

"Kai!" Nothing. She lowered her hands. This level of Genjutsu is too high for me to cancel, she thought, looking around. The silence was almost suffocating her, but was it complete silence? She strained her ears, picking up a slight noise.

"Inu, tori, oushi, nezu, saru, tora, tori..." What is it? She strained her ears further, tilting her head to hear better. "Hebi, nezu, hebi, nezu, tori, tora, tora, ryu, ryu, nezu..."

Those are seals! She frantically jumped back, falling into a wide stance and calling the orbs around her. Although she couldn't see, she could sense them around her. I don't want to know what kind of jutsu requires that many seals, she thought, bringing up her own hands and looking around cautiously. She made a long string of seals, listening carefully and bracing as Ayame's muttering stopped abruptly.

"Nijushi Youso Betsushori Kyuutai; Kamiseki no Jutsu."(Twenty-four Elemental Orbs; Divine Barrier) She threw out her hands on either side of her, closing her eyes and concentrating, forcing the twenty-four orbs around her into a spinning whirlwind of chakra that completely surrounded her. Nothing had ever been able to break through this barrier. There was nothing but silence for the longest time, until she heard the earth cracking. Below her.

Underneath!? The barrier did not cover that part. She hadn't thought it neccessary. Ayame burst from under her, her hands glowing in a type of red chakra as Rei jumped away just in time to avoid being cut in half. But that, apperently, was not the jutsu. As she hit the ground, it reacted to her touch and several spiked shot up around her, one catching her thigh lightly and the other... her poor left shoulder. Again. She flipped back just in time to avoid being impaled, touching the ground for only a second before springing away. She had to keep moving. As she ran, she threw out her right hand, calling a orange orb towards her. She could still not see where she was going.

She made a few quick seals as she ran before forcing the orb before her. "Genton: Haru Hikari no Jutsu!" Light, this time visible through the dark, shot out from the orb, reigning light on the world again just as she nearly ran into a tree. She jumped and flipped off the tree just as the wood shot out in spikes towards her, almost catching her again. It wasn't just the ground, everything she touched tried to impale her, stone, tree, earth, and even a puddle of water. And as if to frustrate her, Ayame was simply standing in the middle of it all as if it were a one-sided battle. Damnit, this isn't a battle you can relax in, Ayame. I am not at this low of a level.

Black, shining, metal armour shot out over her clothing, covering her body as she released as much of the Aohane her body would allow. She flipped back the top part of the black helmet to see more clearly with a new set of crimson eyes. She could feel every change in her body, the wound on her leg and shoulder closing slightly as new chakra pumped through her body. Her legs sped up, causing her to portray inhuman speed as she changed directions. The metal below her elbows and knees melted upwards into spikes, along with the thin metal covering her fingers, which grew into long, thin blades. She left the spikes of earth far behind as she pushed her body to the limit, speeding up and plunging directly towards Ayame, who had a slightly suprised look on her pale face.

Ayame brought up her hands, stopping the jutsu and bringing up two, long daggers, blocking as Rei hit her with incredible force. She was no longer in full control of her body, the Aohane had at least half of her mind at the moment. And the Aohane wanted to rip Ayame apart at the moment. They clashed at a furious pace, perhaps too fast for the other Akatsuki to keep up with, meeting in midair and falling back before launching themselves at eachother again. Ayame was quickly tiring, not being able to keep up with the Aohane's speed. She lost her footing, stumbling back, and the Aohane took the chance to slam her back into a tree that was inches away from the leader, Kariudo. He did not flinch as she charged Ayame, skidding to a halt inches from the tree and spinning around, slamming her elbow into the woman's stomach. The spike that had grown from below her elbow drove clean through her stomach and she pulled it out, turning and forming a blade of chakra around her already clawed hand. She ran this blade quickly across her neck, killing her mercilessly and splattering blood over both her and the leader.

The Aohane's form slowly receded, leaving Rei breathing heavily and looking over what she had done. Blood was soaking her hands and arms as she let Ayame's body slide to the ground. She showed no emotion as she took a deep breath, turning to the leader. He was smiling faintly, wiping speckles of blood from his cheek.

"Impressive," he said quietly as she wiped the blood from her hands. "Ayame was still quite powerful, even though she was sick. She should have been able to beat you."

"Let me join," she said simply, getting straight to the point.

"Fine. You've proved yourself. But there is no escape from this organization once you join." Kariudo moved with lightning speed, faster than even the Aohane's, slamming her back into the tree above where Ayame lay. His hand covered her entire face, catching her off guard, and it began to burn her skin. He brought up his other hand and made a number of one-handed seals, the burning reaching a climax before he pulled his hand away, letting her head drop to look down at Ayame. Ayame's face, her eyes still wide open, had red markings burned across it, but they were slowly fading, burning across her own forehead. As if he were a psychic, he lifted her bag from the ground, pulling out her Cloud hiate and holding his other hand up to it. A deep gash spread across its surface, a new pain exploding through her mind, but she refused to make any noise. When he pulled his hand away from the hiate, the pain stopped abruptly.

"What was that for?" she asked in an annoyed tone.

"It was a seal to make you permanently a part of the organization. If you try to run, it will activate."

Then how did Orochimaru...? "What about Orochimaru's seal then?"

Kariudo handed her the hiate and she took it weakly. "Orochimaru is not human. He made up a jutsu that can unseal it and freed himself."

She pushed off the tree, coughing a few times and rubbing her temples, before pulling her hiate on bandana style and tying it securely. What have I gotten myself into now? She thought, dropping her hands and looking around at the other eight Akatsuki. I'm even more trapped than I was before.


A/N: Yeah, I have a science fair project due in two weeks that i should maybe start on soon, so yeah... and the next chapter is half finished and confusing, but i dunno if i'll finish this week. I have French, Math, Socials, Science, and English projects due, plus Math, French and English tests this week and next week, so i'm really really busy...