Author's note: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters

CHAPTER 2

They had been walking for some time now toward the hidden leaf village. Maeko had told the guy with the black hair, Shikamaru Nara and his teammates a blond girl named Ino Yamanaka, and another guy with brown hair who was a little fat, Choji Akamichi about what she knew of their sensei Asuma Tsarutobi. Whatever questions they had for her she answered, even when they asked her things about her past, or where she was from, or even how she could see other people's memories. She answered every single question they had, but never once had Gobi, tailed beasts, or jinchuuriki's been brought up. She figured that she needed to earn some trust to get closer to them, so they would put in a good word for her before she met the Hokage.

They walked and talked for hours and met up with some other leaf ninja that were sent as backup. A guy with blonde hair and blue eyes named Naruto Uzumaki who gave her a weird feeling, a girl with short pink hair and green eyes named Sakura, a guy with black hair black looking eyes and pale white skin named Sai. Then their team leader Yamato with brown hair and a creepy looking face when needed. More questions were asked and answered, it was sunset by the time they all reached the village.

One team took Kakuzu's body to medical ninja's so they could assess his body, and the other team immediately headed towards the Hokage's building. Once they reached the Hokage's door they stopped before entering.

"When we go in there you should keep quiet until after we explain everything and she speaks to you." Kakashi said.

Maeko nodded her head in response. Then they entered the room and there took place of a long conversation and she had finally laid eyes on the famous fifth Hokage, the legendary sannin, Tsunade Senju. She was blonde with brown eyes, a strange small purple diamond in the middle of her forehead, and she was very… very busty, but she didn't expect her to look so young.

Their conversation was long and detailed, very detailed. Eventually they came to a standstill and Tsunade looked at her then everyone else again.

"This means we need to talk." She said looking in my direction. "The rest of you are dismissed." She said firmly, and everyone left except for the two jonin in the room and a woman with short black hair that stood next to the Hokage, Maeko figured she was probably like her assistant or something like that. There was a short silence before anyone said anything.

"So you have some important information about the akatsuki?" She asked as she motioned me to come forward.

"I do." Maeko said but didn't continue.

Tsunade cocked her eye brows. "Well?"

"Instead of telling you, how about I show you?"

She looked confused, and it was something to be confused about. How could Maeko possibly show the Hokage what she knows?

She smiled at Maeko confusingly. "You see I've developed a visual jutsu able to show memories."

The Hokage looked impressed and interested but at the same time very cautious and on gaurd. "Go ahead." She told me.

Maeko began to build chakra in the middle of her hand and formed it into a tiny ball that looked like it was a blue fireball in her hand. Then like Gobi had taught her she closed off her mind from everything else and focused on the things she remembered about the akatsuki. Then transferred those memories to the ball in her hand and projected them outward for everyone to see.

It was a sight to see, images, even sound was displayed outward. She showed the Hokage everything she had seen from Kakuzu and Hidan's minds.

The akatsuki was a group of very powerful people collecting tailed beasts to take over the entire land. One of their members had already died, but they all wore those black robes with red clouds on them. One of the members was an Uchiha named Itachi, and since he was an Uchiha he had the Sharingan. Itachi's partner was another man named Kisame, he was one of the legendary seven swordsman, and his sword was called the 'Samehada' or otherwise known as 'Sharkskin'. Then there was a man with long blonde hair, Deidera who used explosive clay, and had mouths on his hands that helped him form the clay better. His partner used to be a red head named Sasori who was a puppet master and he made himself a puppet as well, but he was killed by leaf ninja. Now his partner was someone named Tobi, who didn't have any exceptional talent as far as she could tell, but he wore an orange mask that covered his whole face except his right eye. Then there Is Zetsu, who she couldn't tell much about, just that his whole body was plant like, his right side was white and his left side was black, he seemed to have two personalities, and he travels by the earth. And then there was a woman named Konan with short blue hair, she used origami as her weapon, making paper as sharp as any blade. And their leader was Pain, he wielded the Rinnegan, but other than that no one knew much about him.

The akatsuki had already taken out three jinchuuriki's and after the fourth she was next. She had been showing memories for about an hour now, and all of the things that were important were shown, and she closed the jutsu. Everyone in the room was stunned by the information she provided, especially the Hokage.

"How on earth did you manage to gather this information?" She asked amazed yet firm, and scary.

"I have a…" She paused. "Special ability."

"What sort of ability are you talking about?" Her voice sounding a little more firm than before.

She hesitated but answered. "I have something called the Lacingan. Have you heard about it?"

The Hokage gasped at that. Her eyes went wide and she yelled at Maeko with force. "But that's only a legend! Don't play games with me!" She pounded the desk crushing it in half.

"I'm not!" Maeko retorted giving the Hokage a serious look to show her she wasn't messing around.

She removed her fist from the smashed up desk and stood up straight. "The Lacingan is a kekkei genkai that can do basically anything."

"That's right."

"Show me." Tsunade demanded.

"I won't kill anyone but who do you want me to use it on?" Maeko asked, and her assistant gasped in the background.

She motioned for one of the jonin in the room to come forward. "This is Kotetsu Hagane, you can use it on him, but if you injure him or kill him the consequences will be futile." She said harshly. The man looked young he had ear length black hair and dark eyes. He had a goatee and what looked like a bandage over his nose.

He faced to her right and she turned to face him. She took a deep breath, not that she needed to, or she was scared, but that was her way of telling him that she was about to start. Her iris swirled into a black hole and he was almost immediately caught in it.

She decided early on that she was just going to make him pass out, but how to do it… that was the fun part for her.

She closed off his lung function. He could still breathe and blood was still circulating to his lungs and no matter how much he breathed he wasn't getting the oxygen his body needed, almost like he was holding his breath.

He immediately began breathing harder and faster, after a moment he grabbed onto his chest trying to literally catch his breath, and eventually fell to the ground on his hands and knees. Maeko had no emotion whatsoever while doing this, besides she had done it so many times before.

He was near passing out until the Hokage interrupted her. "Stop! Stop right now!" She yelled.

Maeko turned off the Lacingan and the man remained on the floor breathing harshly to catch his breath. The other jonin in the room rushed over to help him eyeing Maeko the whole time.

"What on earth was that?!" The Hokage questioned.

"Just what you asked me to do. I can also do the same thing to twenty- five people at once. It's not like I was gonna kill him, just make him pass out, and I've done way worse before, like making people's insides burst or tearing off all of their limbs." She said with a dead, cold expression on her face, and crossing her arms.

The Hokage checked the man to make sure he was all right, and told him to go to the hospital just in case.

"What was it exactly that you did to him?" She asked calmly.

"I closed off his lung function so no matter how hard he was breathing the oxygen wasn't reaching his body." Maeko explained.

Tsunade looked out the large windows in the back of the room and knit her eyebrows together as If thinking really hard about something. Then she looked down at the ground, and back up at me.

"Thank you for the information you've given us but I think it's time that you leave." She said turning her back to Maeko and walking over to the window.

Maeko began to walk to the door but stopped when she reached it, and turned her head slightly.

"Is it true that the nine-tails jinchuuriki lives in the leaf?" Maeko had caught their attention. "I had heard a rumor."

"That's none of your business!" She replied angrily.

For some reason Maeko couldn't help but get this smirk on her face. "Well actually it kind of is." She turned full front to them again. "You know a lot about me, but think about it. How do I even know how to use such advanced jutsu's if I left my village's ninja academy right after I graduated? Who could have possibly taught me those things if I've been on my own for four years?"

The room remained quiet as they stared at each other, and Maeko sighed. "Never mind, I'll just leave."

"You're a jinchuuriki aren't you?" The Hokage calmly asked as Maeko had her hand on the doorknob, but she let go and faced her again.

"Yeah. Look the only reason I'm telling you is because I know how strong jinchuuriki's are, and if these akatsuki people are just taking them down so easily how are the rest of us going to protect ourselves? How are you going to protect the nine- tails?" She questioned angrily.

The Hokage took a deep breath. "Well we haven't made up a plan yet. We only just got this new information, and with this new information we can find their weak spots and defeat the akatsuki."

"Heh. I guess you're right, but still it's gonna be hard and people will die. You're gonna need a lot more help than you think, and I know this is a little farfetched, but I did share a lot of information with you. So I'll ask you one thing, if you'll let me be a leaf shinobi, I'll help you defeat the akatsuki."

There was no answer just shock at her boldness to ask of such a thing. The Hokage didn't know how to reply, how could she just let someone she barely knew become a shinobi for the hidden leaf?

"Like I said it's farfetched but I'm not expecting anything. Look just forget you ever met me." Maeko said as she once again reached for the door handle.

"You've got yourself a deal." Tsunade said right before she began to turn the knob, leaving Maeko frozen in place, both of surprise and something else she couldn't quite describe. She turned slowly back to the Hokage again with wide eyes.

"There will be some restrictions for a while though until we figure out more about you. You will be surveiled and assigned a team-mate who will be with you in your everyday activities. Also you will be participating in the very next chunin exams. We'll have an apartment ready for you by the time you leave my office." The Hokage said with all seriousness.

"Lady Tsunade!" Cried her assistant.

"I know what I'm doing Shizune." She replied firmly making her assistant quiet.

"You're serious about this? You're gonna let me become a leaf shinobi? I could be a terrorist for all you know." Maeko said, she was out of her wits!

"Yes I am, and just the fact that you even brought that up tells me that you're not a terrorist." She said making her point. "You're strong, you have unbelievable powers that I'd like you to teach other shinobi how to harness, and without you we'd still know barely anything about the akatsuki. I'd like you to help us destroy the akatsuki if you would. And trust me I know that there are a lot of risks to letting you be a leaf shinobi… but I'm gonna take that risk."

After that they had a long detailed talk of the things Maeko would and would not be allowed to do, rules she would have to follow, and weekly visits with the Hokage for the next few months. A lot of things were talked over throughout the night that would take way too long to explain.

By the end of their long and excruciating talk Maeko was escorted to an apartment building room in which she would be living in for the next couple days, weeks, months, or even years. When she got inside she flipped the light switch and began to look around she found herself right at home and went to the refrigerator and cabinets. She found that the whole kitchen was supplied with dishes and food.

Then Gobi appeared and sat down on the wooden floor. "Congratulations. Looks like you've dug yourself into a hole you can't get out of."

Knowing that anbu black op shinobi were watching her she replied in her mind as she began to prepare food. "Shut it smart-ass! This may be a good thing you know."

"Yes… or a really bad thing. It is still early in this… arrangement, you could tell the Hokage that you weren't thinking straight today and call it all off. To tell you the truth I really don't think you're thinking straight." Gobi smart mouthily said.

"Come on Gobi! I've trained for four years, I'm really strong now, and you know it. Plus I'm not the useless child I used to be. I don't wanna be on the run my whole life, because so far that's what it seems like. I'm not sure what I want yet but I think this is a good start."

"Maybe you're right, but be careful, remember the last time you got close to someone." He said coldly.

Maeko stopped what she was doing for a moment. The memories of Bitty flooded her mind and sadness welt up inside of her, but she didn't cry. She swore to herself when she died that she would never let someone get that close to her so easily again.

"I know." She answered him, and continued on with what she was doing.

After that she took a shower and headed off to bed beginning to think about the things she had to do the next day. She had to go to the hospital and get an exam, physical ones and mental ones. Then she had to do some training exercises with the Hokage, and then she gets to meet her team-mate, whoever he or she is.

Her mind was clouded with thoughts and her senses on edge from being watched, but eventually sleep took over her. When she awoke the next morning she didn't feel very energized, but just passed it off not being used to the bed yet. She got dressed, ate, and did her morning exercises.

She heard a knock at her door and figured someone was there to take her to the hospital. When she opened the door she wasn't sure if she was surprised or not. She opened her door to see the chunin from the other day Shikamaru Nara.

"Good morning." He greeted. "You ready to go."

She nodded as her answer while picking up her bag and heading out the door.

They walked in silence for a couple minutes before anyone said anything.

"I found your case intriguing." He said out of the blue. "The Hokage brought me in early this morning and told me about what happened last night. She thought it would be less awkward if someone you knew chauffeured you around, but I gotta say… I'm impressed. You got the Hokage to let you become a leaf shinobi in mere seconds, and to me that's impressive."

"Thanks. And hey, it's not like I was expecting her to say yes." Maeko defended.

"Hey I never said you were at fault, just sayin' you got guts." He said calmly, like he had since he met her. She was still trying to figure out if he was putting on an act, or that's just how he is.

"Um, okay."

"Well we're at the hospital." He said as they approached. "I'll wait in the lobby for you."

As soon as they were there, they were out, but two and a half hours had passed although it didn't feel like that though. And a lot of things went on in there that she'd never describe… EVER.

"Well I guess that means we're off to the Hokage's place, huh?" Maeko asked currently thinking over the 'events' that had just occurred. Even as tough as she was, just thinking about the stuff that happened in there made her blush a little.

As they began walking toward the Hokage's building Shikamaru couldn't help but notice the silence, and began observing her body language, movements, and facial expressions. Analyzing what might be on her mind, but he didn't know her well enough to figure out anything solid.

"So how'd it go at the hospital?" He asked wondering if she would answer him at all.

Maeko stopped in her tracks and so did he, and began to slowly turn her head towards him. She shot him an evil glare that said 'I'll pretend I didn't hear that, but if you ask again I'll rip your head off.' And with that he left that conversation alone.

The trip to the Hokage's building wasn't long and Shikamaru left after walking her to the Hokage's office door.

Before she knocked she could hear a conversation going on inside, but didn't give it much thought as she knocked and entered. When she walked into the room and closed the door she saw the Hokage, her assistant, and some guy, and they all looked at her.

He had a large, white, four foot tall dog next to him. The guy was tall, about six foot five, he had brown hair, darkly tanned skin, dark brown slit eyes, sharp canines, and red fang marks on both of his cheeks, all signs of the Inuzuka clan. And he was obviously a leaf shinobi by the fact that he wore a headband with the signature leaf symbol on it.

He turned back to the Hokage and sighed. "I understand."

Just then the Hokage motioned her to come forward. "Maeko this is Kiba Inuzuka and his companion Akamaru, from the Inuzuka clan. They will be your comrades until I trust you enough to be on your own or to team up with someone else."

Maeko chuckled a little bit. "Well I can see why you put me with a tracker ninja." She let out a sly grin. "Just in case I try to run, right?"

Kiba's eyebrow lifted at her snide comment and Tsunade just frowned and sighed. "Anyways, You and Kiba will be doing all your activities with each other every day, also the both of you will train together, learn each others jutsu's, eat meals together, and spend your days together from morning to night. As for today just get to know each other a little better, understood?"

"Understood." They both said in unision.

"Alright you're dismissed."

Halfway down the hall after Maeko and Kiba left the Hokage's office she decided to spike up a conversation. "So you're awfully quiet. What is it cat got your tongue?" She smirked widely.

"Well It's not every day that you get a mission that could last years' long at a time. Also this will lower my mission rank level by the time I get out of this, but Lady Tsunade said it was an S-ranked mission so I took it." He said annoyingly while crossing his arms.

"Hey I never asked for a babysitter." She replied doing the exact same as him.

"I don't think you quite understand my position!" They both glared at each other and Akamaru started barking.

Meanwhile back in the Hokage's office.

"Um, Lady Tsunade are you sure it was such a good idea to pair those two together? I mean he has a short temper and she can be quite annoying." Shizune said filled with worry.

"Oh I think It's gonna be fun." she said leaning back into her chair behind her new desk.

Back to Maeko and Kiba. After their little 'argument' they went to a ramen shop called "Ichiraku Ramen" for lunch. After they both ordered they both started making small talk.

"Well we're gonna be comrades for a long time now, might as well get to know each other a little bit." Kiba sighed.

"Yeah I guess we did get off on the wrong foot." Maeko admitted. "So do you have any family?"

"Hmm." He perked up a tad. "Yeah my mom, and my sister."

"No dad?"

"Nah, he left when I was younger I barely remember him. What about you?" He asked.

"Well first off how much do you know about me?" She replied with a question.

"I didn't get the big details, but I know that you're a rogue from the Hidden Water, you've been on the run for the past four years, and you're some super powerful ninja." He answered while gesturing and scrunching his eyebrows together.

"Hmm, well no I don't have any family they all died, and yeah I guess I am some super powerful ninja. Have you heard of the Byakugan or Sharingan?" Maeko asked.

"Huh, funny you ask my former teammate's a wielder of the Byakugan. Her name is Hinata Hyuga. And when I was in our ninja academy I knew an Uchiha with Sharingan, Sasuke Uchiha, although he's a rogue now, and I'm sure he's never coming back." He said with an odd look on his face at that last statement.

"Ah, well at least your familiar them, and the Rinnegan do you know that one?" Maeko asked.

"Huh? What the hell is Rinnegan?" He asked staring at her one eye brow higher than the other.

Maeko laughed. "I'll explain later, but since you're most familiar with the Byakugan… just look at my eyes." She told him while turning to face him.

At that moment their ramen came and she activated her Byakugan, which freaked the hell outta him.

"How- how are you doing that?! You're not even a Hyuga!" He yelled out in shock with eyes wide.

"Huh, does that make you feel uncomfortable I can do this instead." And she switched to Sharingan with the blink of an eye.

His body jerked a little and his jaw dropped his eyes only got wider. "How the hell are you doing that?!"

"Before I even tell you, this is Rinnegan." And once again she changed to the Rinnegan.

Kiba jumped out of his chair and fall on the floor. "That one's just creepy!" He yelled at her.

Maeko looked away but didn't deactivate it. "Yeah I guess you're… right." She said while leaning forward and turning towards him their faces about five inches apart.

And once more he jumped in his chair and fell to the ground. "Seriously STOP THAT!" He yelled.

Maeko finally deactivated it and started laughing. "Your reactions are hilarious. I've definitely never met someone like you before. Actually I've never met many people."

"That's just sad." He said while regaining his composer and sitting back up on the bar stool.

"But wait!... there's one more." She said head down, and hand high up in the air.

He looked at her in shock and confusion. "Another one! Are you kidding me!"

"No, no, no. This one looks less creepy, but is the most powerful out of all the other kekkei genkai." She answered calmly while taking the first bite of her ramen. "Wow this stuff is good."

"Yeah… okay hit me with your best shot." Kiba said totally prepared for anything.

She knew what he was talking about so she just turned and activated her Lacingan.

Black swirled around her eye and Kiba was instantly caught in her eyes. All of his senses went numb, first his hearing and sight, then everything else. At an instant he felt a cold shiver run down his spine as he looked around and found himself in a dark abyss wandering aimlessly. He could see and feel nothing, and he slowly began to forget things, like who he was, or what he was doing. He slowly began to feel himself slip away, when out of the blue he came back to reality, and remembered everything that just happened.

He sat there jaw dropped, eyes scarcely open, staring at her. "Hey… you okay?" She asked in pure concern, for she had never used this on someone without killing them or making them pass out.

Kiba began to feel his insides convulse and quickly realized what was going to happen. He jumped out of his seat and ran to the ally way next to Ichraku's, and threw up… repulsively.

Then Maeko noticed two people run over, a guy and a girl. The guy covered in clothes from head to toe, also wearing glasses. And the girl short, and frail looking, wearing a purple jacket, and her hair a dark violet color.

By the time they had both reached Kiba he had finished… vomiting, and the tall, dark man placed his hand on Kiba's shoulder. He flinched and turned around.

"Are you okay Kiba?" The girl asked scared and worriedly.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." He said making his way back over to the chair beside Maeko.

"Are you sure you're okay?" The heavily clothed man asked.

Kiba raised a hand up to shush them both as he took a deep breath. "Are you trying to kill me?! What was that?!" He yelled at Maeko.

"You said and I quote 'hit me with your best shot', and truthfully if I gave you my best shot you'd be dead right now. What you just experienced was a low level two my kekkei genkai." She said ignoring the people beside them.

"Low level two?! What more can you do?!" He asked.

"Hmm, well I can stop bodily functions, snap bones in half, make your insides burst, and much much more." She said while noticing that the guy and the girl standing beside them became more and more confused by the moment.

Kiba sighed. "Sorry, Maeko this is Shino and Hinata my former teammates."

Maeko smiled brigtly at meeting new people. "Hi my name's Maeko Takeuchi." She shook Hinata's small, dainty hand.

"My name is Hinata Hyuga, it's nice to meet you."

"Mine is Shino Aburame." By the time he had said this, she was already shaking his hand. But when he said his last name she tensed up immediately and yelped a little, and everybody noticed.

"Aburame?"

"Yeah." He said in a deep, cool voice.

Maeko began to laugh nervously as she pulled her hand away from his and began wrapping her arms around herself.

"You okay?" Kiba asked.

Her head had sunken down at this point. "Yeah… yeah I'm fine… It's just… uh… I don't really… uh… I…" She began to stutter and fumble over her words.

"Spit it out already." Kiba almost yelled.

"I'm horrified of… bugs." She put emphasis on that last part.

They all gave her awkward stares, and right as Maeko looked up a bug was slowly flying across her vision less than a foot away from her. She yelped and jumped from her chair, flailing her arms around, when she realized it was already gone she regained her composure.

"Are you telling me that you can kill someone with the blink of an eye and you're scared of bugs?" Kiba asked wide eyed.

"Hey it's not like I can help it or anything, I always have been, always will be." She said while crossing her arms.

"Well we should go anyways we're meeting the Hokage for a mission, and we'll be sure to ask about… her." Shino said coldly while walking away not waiting for Hinata.

"Huh… oh, goodbye." Hinata said quickly before she sprinted to catch up to Shino.

"Well they seem nice." Maeko said watching them get farther and farther away before looking back at Kiba.

"Don't try to change the subject. I mean come on you lived out in the wilderness for four years, literally living with the bugs, and yet your scared of them." Kiba kept going on with their previous conversation.

"Ugh, I told you I always have been even when I had to sleep with them in the night I always just tried to ignore them and pretended that they just weren't there." She answered annoyingly while sitting back down into her chair.

Kiba left that conversation to die, as they both began with small talk again as they ate their ramen. When they finished eating they walked around the village for hours, and Kiba showed her around and where things were.

When the sun began to set he walked her to her small apartment near the center of the village.

"So what time do you usually wake up… you know so I know what time to come over?" He asked as they reached the door.

"Um, I'm not really sure… probably like an hour after the sun comes up." She answered.

"That's about six- ish. Why don't you just sleep in a little it's not like we have anything important to do tomorrow except train. Eh I'll be here around eight." He said as he and Akamaru began walking away. He waved his hand up in the air without looking back.

Maeko entered her apartment with a sort of… glee about her. She plopped onto the bed and turned towards her window which showed the setting sun. She felt a weird feeling in her stomach when she began thinking about hanging out with Kiba the next day, but ignored it.

She began thinking about the events that had just happened that day. When she thought, 'Did I just make a friend?'

Authors note: I hope you guys liked it. XD And a note to all people, thank you so much for reading and reviewing I really appreciate it. Please R&R again, thank you guys for you