Chapter… um… seventeen, I think. Well, here it is. I took a long time with these huh? Well, no matter, here they are now. Enjoy! Lights… camera… ACTION! Ps: I don't own Naruto and those things. I own characters: Aki, Minawa, Michiyo and some more later on though!

: x :

Neji finished wrapping Aki up in bandages. Ha-ha, now she looks like me; with all those bandages there. He smiled a bit and continued watching over her. So far, there was no sign of Ryou or his sister around. Perhaps they were taken, thought Neji, Aki won't be very happy. It was already night, and Aki still hadn't awoken. She just lay there; her breathing labored. Neji sat on the ground thinking about past events.

A bush shook on his right. Neji shot his eyes over and activated his Byakuugan. There was a person. Sighing, he spoke out, "I know you are there. Come out; I will not hurt you unless you hurt me or my sister."

"Neji?" The person behind the bush spoke out. Neji realized that it was a guy speaking and also identified the guy as Ryou, Michiyo's brother. Michiyo was the two tailed Biju, the Nibi demon (二尾). The Nibi resembles the Japanese mythical creature, the Nekomata. The Nibi demon was believed to be an evolved form of a cat. The cat maybe had to be more than ten years of age before people believed it could turn into a Nibi demon. When the cat reached that age, its tail split into two and it was granted magical powers such as shape shifting and control of the dead. If the Nibi demon were to fall into the wrong hands, things could go terribly wrong.

"Ah, Ryou; where is your sister?"

"I don't know! I was hoping she was with you and Aki. Speaking of which, what happened?"

Ryou stepped out from behind the bush shaking and trembling with fear. He looked as if he were picked up by a crane, if there were such things then, and dragged through a pit of mud and sharp twigs of wood.

"I could ask you the same question." Said Neji eying Ryou from head to bottom.

"I ran into some troubles."

"So did we."

"Oh come on, just answer please?"

"It seems that we had to be kept at bay while our attacker's partner made off with your younger sister. I didn't do much; she did though…" Neji jerked his head in Aki's direction, "Nearly killed herself, the idiot."

"I-I'm not an idiot."

Neji and Ryou turned their heads towards Aki who was struggling to get up. Blood was seeping through her bandages again as the scabs that had healed over cracked.

"Don't get up. I worked very hard to wrap you up, idiot." Neji rolled his eyes sarcastically.

"H-hah." Aki finally managed to get up and rested a bit; hands on her knees. "Crap. I am bleeding again."

Neji sighed and turned back around to face Ryou, "What did I tell you, idiot."

Aki shot a fierce glare at Neji. He started floating, got up to about a meter and, fell again, hard. Aki giggled.

"Ouch. You loser! That hurt."

"It is your fault."

Ryou stared at the fighting siblings and hushed a laugh. Not quietly enough for Aki though.

"What are you laughing at?"

"You two. I never fight with my sister like that. We always get along."

"Well… there has been an absence… um… damn." Aki looked as if she were about to cry. She recalled her painful past. She turned away and was quiet. Neji quieted down also; leaving the howling wind to fend for itself.

"Where is my sister?"

"She is most likely in the hands of the Akatsuki; or lost in the woods."

: x :

Someone rushed through the forest, running as fast as they could. The trees sped by as she ran away, far away, from her home. But, something was following. A cold lump in her throat formed as she first noticed the presence. It haunted her, following her wherever she went, no matter how fast she ran. The stalker gave her the impression that he or she was stalking her. Tears started coming down her cheeks as she tried running faster. Something jumped in front of her and she stopped abruptly, and then sped around to her left, running again. She started holding her breath; she let in short gasps of air and threw them back out again. Stumbling, she grabbed hold of a tree branch and regained her balance. But, that was all it took; that little hesitation.

Watching a black figure land in front of her and feeling another land behind her; she could do nothing. She stood there, shaking in her shoes, as the one behind her took hold of her neck and whispered, "Wasn't that fun?" She tried screaming but the pressure points that the woman (the voice was a woman's) was pressing on her neck prevented her from doing so. "Oh. Sorry, am I hurting you? It'll all be over soon."

The woman motioned her partner over and they bound and gagged the girl. After, the male swung the girl over his shoulders and they all disappeared in a flash.

Arriving at their fortress, Minawa and Deidara brought the girl to the cell where Gaara and Naruto were. When they got to the stairs of the cell they talked to her.

"Scream, no one will hear you. So just save your saliva." They ripped off the cloth that gagged her. She thought of screaming but thought better of it and kept her mouth shut. "Smart move."

They guided the girl to the cell and opened the door. They pushed her in roughly so that she fell and then locked the door behind them. She got up on her knees and sat there a bit.

"Who are you?" A voice said from the dark. The girl jumped.

Naruto stepped out, Gaara following reluctantly afterwards.

"I'm Michiyo or Mimi if you want. Nakashima... Michiyo. Who are you?"

: x :

Ryou, Neji and Aki sat around the camp fire and thought to themselves. Aki was first to make noise.

"AHhh! What kind of Jonin am I? I can't even fight off another Jonin!" She buried her head in her already wounded arms and her hair pulled off the bandages.

"She wasn't a Jonin. She was more, probably, before she became part of the Akatsuki." Neji walked over to Aki and fixed her bandages. "Don't kill yourself over it. Literally."

"Whatever." Aki mumbled to herself.

"So when do you think my sister is going to be set free."

Neji was silent. The fire crackled in the background, nobody spoke.

"Never. She's not coming back." Aki mumbled; her head still down. Ryou and Neji looked appalled. "If the Akatsuki continue their plans, and are able to find them all, everyone they captured…… all the Jinchuuriki, will die." You could see that she lifted her head a bit and her eyes were open, but barely. "When they extract the Biju from their bodies, it is much like taking out their soul because when they were first put in there; their real soul was taken from them. If you became a Jinchuuriki when you were five, for the rest of your life you'd act differently than the five years before." Aki was silent for a second and then spoke up again, "Most Jinchuuriki were infected at birth by someone who they thought loved them. Like a father or a mother; they were the ones who did that task. When they, the Akatsuki extract the beasts for their own purposes, the carrier will be a soulless shell. Death would be better." Aki was silent and didn't speak again. She said everything as if she was in a trance. It seemed she fell asleep after because she sat still and didn't talk or move. Neji and Ryou were still staring at her although she didn't speak.

"Mm?" Aki woke up after several moments again. She looked up with bright, large eyes, "Um… Did I fall asleep?" Neji nodded slowly, "Sorry. What were we talking about?"

She doesn't remember? Neji stared.

"Oh yeah. Um… Don't we have to get going, the more we sit here, the more Jinchuuriki the Akatsuki are going to find. Come on," She struggled to her feet and leant on a long beam for balance, "We have to get going, we have to save them." She used wind to help her and she sat back down on it. She was levitating about three feet in the air.

"Can I come with you?" Ryou spoke up, he seemed nervous but didn't show it much.

Neji stood up and thought. He felt a tugging sensation; it felt as if someone grabbed hold of his head and pulled. He tried making it go away, but it didn't.

Neji-niisan, you loser! Neji gaped at the voice, it was Aki's.

Aki? Why are… how are you talking to me? He thought to himself, knowing Aki could hear him too.

We're twins you idiot! We have that kind of power; we can communicate from long distances by mind, or I can for example... Aki scratched something on the palm of her hand, the long deep marks disappeared. Neji felt a ting of pain from his wrist. When he looked, he saw 'See?' written on it. I can even transfer my pain to you if I was really mad at you. Father and Uncle should've had these powers too. He looked over at Aki and found her grinning sheepishly. So, should we let him come?

I don't know. I do not want to be responsible if anything happened to him. I don't want to see him hurt.

Aki smirked; who could've known that dear brother Neji had a soft side. She laughed in her mind. He's older than us. Come on, he had a right to come with us to look for his sister.

Fine, whatever. You say he can come then; if anything happens, know that it is your fault. Not mine, hmph.

Okay. I get it. Aki broke her connection with Neji's mind. "Ryou? I think you can come."

"Really? Thank you. I promised my parents that I would always take care of my sister, no matter what. I would hate to break that promise now."

Aki smiled at him and then floated over to a near by tree. "I can tell where they passed. They don't do a very good chance of covering up their tracks."

Liar. Neji's voice echoed in her mind, you used your dumb time powers again.

Fine, you caught me, but Ryou doesn't know that, and I intend not to tell him.

Aki's hand was still on the nearby tree, Neji knew that was because she would fall off if she let go, but Ryou thought she just didn't really wish to let go. "Come on. We have to hurry. The Akatsuki now has three of them. There are only six to go; and there are plenty of troops for them. We have to beat them to it."

"Can you even walk by yourself?" Ryou asked questioningly.

"Yes. I'll manage. Come on, we have to hurry." Aki let go of the tree trunk really slowly. She placed her hands on her knees again and floated beside her brother.

"Please!" Ryou placed a hand in front of him. Neji and Aki eyed it with confusion. "Um…" He took his hand back and said, "Okay, let's go!"

"Yes. Let's."

"Whatever."

: x :

"Me?" The boy pointed at himself and then grinned, "I'm Naruto. And this is Gaara." He sat down cross-legged on the floor. "Haha. I'm here because of Kyuubi. Why are you here?" Michiyo stared at him, he seemed awfully cheery in his situation.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Said Michiyo, even though she did. She knew she was a freak. That's why everyone was so mean to her. She heard her brother and his friends talking. She knew, maybe not the true truth, but enough truth to hate her brother and life.

The boy stroked his chin, imitating a smart gesture. "Hmm… Alright. There are nine different beasts in this world called the Biju. Blahblah…" Naruto put his hand behind his head and grinned, "I don't know."

Gaara whispered from the shadows the story of the nine Jinchuuriki the legendary tenth one, why they were all here, which Biju he was and which Naruto was.

"Which one is she?" Asked Naruto inquisitively.

"There is only one way to find out, and that is to put her in such peril that her beast has to come out and save its body."

Naruto and Gaara stopped speaking for a moment.

Michiyo didn't know this. She didn't know there was this power inside of her that could've warded off all those people who made fun of her. She started plotting in her mind to kill. To kill those who had made fun of her and bullied her in her life. A seed that was waiting to hatch within her finally broke through its shell and started growing rapidly within her little body.

Starting to shake with fury, she grasped the attention of her two cell mates.

"Hey? What's wrong with you?" Naruto asked.

Michiyo faced him with yellow eyes. Her irises were red and her pupils were black. The original white part of her eye was yellow and she hissed angrily. Her hair seemed to stand on end and she continued hissing. She opened her mouth and hissed louder revealing long white fangs like a cat's. Her chakra was visible already, it was a bright pink and there were two visible tails. She pushed Naruto back and started tearing at the bars of the cell. Naruto and Gaara watched in amazement as her chakra took the shape of a cat and was able to creep through the bars of the cage. It didn't go far though because Michiyo lost her energy and slumped to the floor, asleep.

Wow. I had fun with this laid-back chapter.I hope that you guys still have the heart to review. Well here is my new clue thingy: but wait. here is an example: have fun figuring it out! Example: (ziczian ziyziou rzieadzi zitzizihziis zinziowzi? Ozif czioziuzirse yziou canzi!) hint: look for the similar letter!

thghhgis hgis ihgn sphganhgish, hggo thgo ghgooghgle ahgnd hgtrhganshglate hgithg!

Awaki, Nwaeji y Rwayou conwatinwaúan suwas jouwarnies.

Suwa vwaiaje los twarawae awal pawaís dewal twarueno waen

dowandwawae los resuewalven satwaisfacwaen awa mucwahachwao

qwaue teníwaa prwaoblemawas suwas ewal prwaopiowas. Ewan suwa

wamanerawa dewa ayuwadarle, encwauewantran muchwaas

beswatwaias way lowas monstruwaos y ewan el ewaxwatremo,

sewa dieron dwaos aliwaados waútiles.

Okay, have fun figuring it out... cya in the next chapter! REVIEW PLEASE!