Part I

Lightning Country was beautiful. Like Earth Country, it was mostly mountainous, but differently so. The land's overall altitude was much lower, and the mountain peaks were skinny with near-vertical faces, each one spread so far apart that the clouds bundled between them like spun sugar. Karst mountains, as she learned they were called. Asaya thought it the most beautiful of all the places she had seen while traveling with her Akatsuki abductors, Itachi and Kisame.

They had cut through Lightning Country once before on their way to Water Country, where they had met two other members of the Akatsuki: Sasori, the punctual puppet master; and Deidara, the… well, she had mixed feelings after meeting him again.

The trio had left a moderately-sized town called Takayama a few days ago, where Itachi and Kisame had completed a bounty of some sort, and were currently on their way out of Lightning Country heading towards the Land of Iron for another Akatsuki mission that required her particular skills. Novel, how they traveled back and forth across countries like that. At least to Asaya, anyway.

Now somewhere in the south-central region of Lightning Country, they were surrounded by a sprawling forest of magnificent, ancient redwoods. Asaya had read about these famous trees before, and she had seen many exquisite photographs in publications, but actually walking amongst them felt like an absurd fantasy; some specimens' trunks were comedically large in relation to human height- she felt as if she had taken a sip from a bottle labeled "Drink Me"- while the dense, early-morning fog drifting through the canopy filled the colossal, emerald conifers with an ethereal, ghostly echo.

Asaya tilted her head to the side in an effort to mitigate the sound of sepia needles rustling under her steps. She hesitated. Four Kumogakure hunter-nin hid in the surrounding area. At first, she thought Itachi and Kisame might be waiting to see what the hunter-nin's intentions were, but they had been followed for a suspiciously long time. Do they not realize…? she thought.

"Jump!" Itachi barked at her.

Itachi and Kisame both leapt forward while Asaya jumped back to evade a bolt of lightning crashing into where they had stood. Three of the four Kumo nin appeared from the trees. The first two attacked Kisame, while the third attacked Itachi. That left one remaining in the trees studying Asaya. While the two Akatsuki were well-known criminals whose skills, strengths, and weaknesses were written in every Bingo book, she was an unknown quantity to the Kumo hunter-nin. Did she even know how to fight? If so, what was her skill level? Her specialties? What elements could she command? It was wise of them to take an extra moment to assess.

Asaya did not feel inclined to fight. She was at a marked disadvantage without her weapon, the string of beads Itachi had taken from her the night they met, and she thought that if the Akatsuki were going to hold her hostage, they could at least do her the courtesy of protecting her.

Unfortunately, it seemed her plan to remain idle would not work when the fourth, hidden hunter-nin threw a sizable water release technique at her. She planned to throw up an earth wall at the last possible second and dive underground. She would readily admit that it was the most basic and predictable of all Iwa shinobi strategies, but it reliably worked the way she wanted it to.

Itachi had kept Asaya in the peripheral of his vision while fighting the third Kumo nin. She stood absolutely motionless while the hidden hunter nin prepared to attack at her. What was she possibly thinking? Itachi dodged the swing of the third Kumo nin's katana, then body flickered over to Asaya.

Just before she lifted an arm, Asaya felt herself suddenly gathered up and carried off. She nearly squealed, but instead settled on bracing one hand against Itachi's chest. Her eyes widened when she recognized the feel of her string of beads- her weapon- underneath his cloak. Maybe it was hasty and reckless, but she wouldn't miss the chance. She tucked her hand into his cloak and grabbed her beads just before he unceremoniously dumped her onto the forest floor. She winced when her left hip jarred into the ground.

Asaya looked up to see Itachi spin around and block the third Kumo nin's katana with a simple kunai, creating a metallic cling that rung through the air. Either he did not realize she grabbed them or he was too distracted by the Kumo nin to do anything about it. She wasn't sure, but it didn't really matter. Just behind them, the fourth nin, the one who had thrown the water release ninjutsu from the trees, ran towards Asaya with their katana drawn, ready to cut her down while she lay seemingly defenseless.

The fourth Kumo nin jumped up and raised their katana over their head to slash downwards. Asaya smirked and swiftly cast her newly recovered beads. They multiplied and extended with her chakra, looping themselves around the Kumo nin's arms, legs, and neck. With a deft rotation of her wrist, Asaya pulled the string. The beads sliced clean through the Kumo nin's flesh and bone. The limbs, torso, and head fell lifelessly apart, scattering on the ground before her. Thick streams of blood oozed out of every severed body part only to be soaked into the redwood needles littering the forest floor.

A profound exhilaration coursed through Asaya's veins. She finally felt powerful again, finally able to meaningfully fight back. She glanced over at her two Akatsuki captors. Kisame had just slaughtered one Kumo nin, their corpse only a spattered pile of ribbons, and it looked like he would soon overpower the other. Itachi was locked into a battle with an admittedly skilled katana-wielder, but she knew that, ultimately, it would not take long for Itachi to win.

Asaya sprinted recklessly into the forest, not caring which direction she went so long as it took her farther away from them.

Itachi cursed under his breath as he watched Asaya disappear behind a redwood, unable to prevent her escape while fighting the Kumo nin.

Part II

Fuck, Asaya thought, grinding to a halt in the middle of the impossibly large, dense redwoods.

Of course, Itachi found her. It was always him, every time- never the one she stood a chance of outmaneuvering. She did not know exactly where he lurked in the monstrous redwoods surrounding her, but she could feel his presence like no other, steadily encircling her like a ravenous wolf calculating the kill. She clutched the long string of beads around her left wrist. At least this time she had her weapon back, not that he couldn't just subdue her with an illusion like a lullabied infant.

Asaya could picture him in her mind's eye: black fur and raised hackles, white fangs glinting with salivation, red eyes appearing and disappearing as he weaved through the trees with a stride so precise that he floated silently over the dry forest debris. She felt he was toying with her by taking his time. Knew he was, actually, by the simple fact that she could sense him. If he had wanted to conceal his presence, he could have done so easily. He was either flaunting his skill or trying to intimidate her into taking reckless action. Probably both. How arrogant.

Itachi stood some distance behind her perched high atop a redwood branch. He looked down on her in a backwards, three-quarter profile as she immediately stopped running after he flooded the area with his chakra. He had not yet decided how to confront her. He could easily outrun her and trap her in an illusion- again- or he could defeat her the traditional way. Having never fought her, he was somewhat curious to see what she could do if given the chance.

Maybe he should give her the choice: fight or flight? If she hared off, he would trap her with an illusion. If she braced to defend herself, he would attack.

He watched closely as she unwound the string of beads from her wrist.

Fight it was.

Asaya knew trying to outrun Itachi was futile when he had proven time and again that he was faster. Trying to fight him was futile, too. From everything she had seen of his skill, he outclassed her in every category: speed, strength, stamina, and especially experience. Her stomach dropped like lead. Resistance was futile. The corner of her lip twisted up into a repugnant smile. She spun a single bead between her right middle finger and thumb while her ring and pinky grasped the string. Maybe it would all be in vain, but she could at least bite back out of spite.

The weight of him landing on the forest floor a few meters behind her reverberated through the ground and into her heels. Instinctively, she turned with a swing of her beads. They extended considerably in length and cut vertically downwards.

Itachi dodged by quickly jumping to his right. Asaya's beads slapped into the ground where he had stood, leaving behind a thin line in the dirt after she pulled the string back to her. He made three rapid signs while deeply inhaling, then exhaled with two fingers pinched in front of his mouth. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" Itachi shouted before a burst of flame erupted from his lungs.

How typical of him, Asaya thought as she weaved a sequence of signs- ox, rabbit, and dog- then yelled, "Earth Release: Great Wall!" and a large slab of earth rose up in front of her to block the fireball. Then she made a snake sign with her left hand, "Earth Release: Hidden Mole," and sunk into the ground.

Typical, Itachi thought. She was incredibly fond of that strategy.

Underground, Asaya tried to move away from Itachi, but she only felt is footsteps following close behind her, covering her path. Dammit, she huffed internally. She had forgotten that his sharingan could see chakra, so hiding underground was useless. She made the sign for ox and whispered, "Earth Release: Stone Thorn," and summoned a large spike just under where Itachi stood. She felt his feet lift off the ground as he jumped back, and she sprouted from the earth.

Asaya raised her arm to whip her beads at him, but a hand gripping her forearm stopped her swing. A shadow clone, she thought, turning her head around to see a perfect copy of Itachi's form standing behind her. She pivoted around on her heel, reached out with her free hand to grab his bicep, then forcefully shifted her weight backwards. A brief look of surprise manifested in shadow clone Itachi's eyes as they fell towards the ground. Asaya kneed him in the stomach just after her back hit the ground, and she used the momentum to catapult the clone over herself. She rolled and pushed herself back up onto her feet just in time to see his clone disappear with a poof as it collided with the thick trunk of a nearby redwood. Now, where was the real one?

The feintest hint of a vibration echoed through the ground just behind her. Asaya jumped up and spun around while tucking her knees tight under her torso, just in time to avoid a sweeping kick to her ankles. Itachi knew taijutsu was a relative weakness for her. She needed to put as much distance as possible between them again to regain the advantage. At the apex of her flight, she wove a sequence of signs, and she landed flat on her feet while shouting, "Earth Release: Splintering Fault!"

Sharingan perceiving the nanoseconds in which the first fractures appeared under his feet, Itachi reflexively leapt back just before the earth surrounding Asaya cracked apart and violently ruptured upwards in large, jagged fragments. Countless redwood needles flew chaotically in every direction.

One black eyebrow twitched as Itachi landed just outside the attack radius. It irritated him that she had so easily succeeded in putting distance between them. With her particular style, she had the clear advantage in ranged combat. Unless, of course, he wanted to take the easy option and use genjutsu- which he had already challenged himself not to- or use one of his more powerful techniques, which would be overkill. And, even if he had wanted to, he could not afford the physical cost. Asaya, on the other hand, had more than her fair share of chakra and stamina. She could afford to inundate her opponents with ninjutsu for a good while if she wanted.

Before the needles could settle, Itachi saw Asaya's beads fly at him in a wide, horizontal arc. They sliced clean through the boulders between them as they traveled parallel to the ground. Itachi jumped upwards just before the string passed, evading it the same way she had done to his earlier kick. Suspended high in the air, he saw that Asaya had just maneuvered out of the rubble. Clasping his hands together, he shouted, "Fire Release: Phoenix Flower!" and a wide shower of fire rained down towards her.

Asaya felt the heat of the flames at her back, and she turned to see Itachi's ninjutsu hailing towards her. She knew that if she just threw up another earth wall to defend herself, she would lose sight of Itachi and he'd use it to his advantage just like before. Instead, this time she laced her beads into a pattern between her fingers, "Light Release: Cat's Cradle, Heaven's Wheel!" The woven string of beads expanded into an intricate, circular net as she cast them before her, glowing an almost-fluorescent, pure white as it spun clockwise and formed a barrier against which Itachi's fire fizzled impotently into nothing. Through the negative space, she saw Itachi scowl.

They stared at each other across the wreckage, having come to a momentary standoff. Asaya pondered why Itachi, having had countless opportunities, chose not to use an illusion on her. The only possible explanation, clearly, was that he was mocking her. Her cheeks flushed with anger.

Itachi carefully considered his next move. He needed to get close, but the time it would take to cross the distance between them would leave him vulnerable to being ensnared by her weapon. With his agility and precognition, he could likely dodge whatever she threw at him, but the risk still wasn't worth it. Getting caught was game over. He saw something spark across her face just before she wove one-handed ox and dog signs and stomped her right foot into the ground, summoning yet another large earth barricade.

His sharingan could see her chakra through the obstruction. She ran straight back into the trees. Itachi easily navigated himself over the remains of her earlier attack and the wall to chase her down through the towering redwoods. It didn't take long at all to close the distance; he was simply faster than her. Although, he felt a well-known and unwelcome burning begin to simmer in his chest, telling him to finish this quickly.

When he was only a stride away, she suddenly pivoted back and lunged directly at him with her right fist ready to punch. He was not surprised that she turned to fight him, but he was surprised she chose to use taijutsu instead of another ninjutsu attack. She wasn't low on chakra yet.

When he reached out with his left hand to grab her right wrist, her left arm swung upwards. As soon as her left forearm connected with his, the string of beads she gripped in her hand snapped and wound tight around his wrist and forearm. Smug excitement bloomed on Asaya's face, like a cat about to eviscerate a mouse.

Red sharingan spinning wildly, his precognition saw her right hand begin to form half of a dragon sign for a lighting release, and he cursed her ability to use one-handed signs. Now he understood why she turned to fight him in hand-to-hand combat; she planned to electrocute him once she bound him.

Itachi grabbed her right hand with his own, interlacing their fingers to prevent her from completing the sign. Her face morphed from joy into an intense combination of shock and fury. She jerked her hand back with such force Itachi felt like her fingers might rip off, but his hold on her remained. She thrashed with her whole shoulder trying to escape him, but he refused to let her go. Deadlocked, he knew that so long as he remained tied to her, he couldn't let her hand free, nor would she untie him because then she would lose her only advantage.

Itachi saw her knee rise up to strike him, and in a split-second reaction, he pushed her forward. Precariously balanced on one leg, Asaya's knee buckled, and she stumbled backwards. Itachi instantly realized his miscalculation when both the beads tethering him and his hand gripping hers pulled him forward with her as she fell flat on her back.

The weight of Itachi's body landing on hers crushed the air from her lungs in a painful, wheezing cough. He winced as her breath hissed past his ear. He pushed himself up off her chest by pressing down onto her hand and forearm, and she siphoned air back into her lungs.

They stubbornly refused to look away from each other, the air between them growing fervid as their labored breathing stagnated. Black tomoe of his sharingan in a measured rotation, Itachi studied her lying beneath him; rosy lips parted to release delicate gasps, bright eyes framed by soft lashes. Asaya turned her head away from him then, and her creamy neck quivered as she seethed.

"Are you finished?" Itachi asked as if nothing had happened.

Her lip curled, and he thought she might scream or spit in his face.

"Get off of me," she whispered with stifled vehemence.

Itachi noticed her beads had retreated from his wrist, and that the hand he firmly clenched had flattened, her small fingers splayed wide as if to say, 'I yield.' He suddenly became aware of the way his hands pressed hers into the bed of dead redwood needles beneath them. He maneuvered off of her to stand beside where she lay then stretched out his hand. "Give them to me," he said.

Asaya sat up, but still would not look at him.

"You can give them to me, or I can take them from you," Itachi warned.

She stiffly thrust up her left hand so he could take the string of beads and tuck them back into his cloak.

The atmosphere around them shifted, as if a dam had burst and they now stood in the slow stream of water trickling out of an enormous pile of concrete and steel wreckage. He waited patiently for her to process whatever thoughts and emotions swirled through her head.

Asaya eventually rocked back onto her heels and calmly stood up. She dusted off her pants and sleeves, then ran her hands over her long, mousy hair to smooth the errant strands. Her motions appeared suspiciously mundane and mechanical to Itachi. Finally, Asaya gave him a cloyingly expectant look.

Itachi wordlessly turned to walk back in the direction from which they came knowing she would follow behind him.

Asaya replayed their entire battle in her mind, and an opaque crimson smoldered in her thoughts. Just when she almost had him, his sharingan had allowed him to see what she was going to do before she did it. If she wanted to have any real chance of escaping him, she realized, she would have to find a way to defeat his sharingan first. She could do that, in time.