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Chapter 4: The Road to Freedom

The week flew by quickly for Autumn. Since that day, she had started her real training, like at an academy. So far, she had been taught to control her chakra, and was currently learning her first jutsu. Henge (Transformation). Itachi had become her main teacher, and was helping her. Much to Autumn's dismay, this was as bad as going to school all over again. Just because Itachi was her main teacher, didn't mean that she didn't have to train with the rest of the Akatsuki too. For practice, Pein instructed that she trained with Sasori, fighting his puppets in her spare time. Because it was the weekend, Autumn, in Pein's opinion of course, had plenty of spare time on her hands, and Sasori had recently made a new puppet that he wanted to try out. Knowing this, Autumn had tried to occupy her free time with excess studying, not just ninja training, but her actual class work. From pre-algebra, to scrolls, Autumn was desperately looking for, something... Anything, that would keep her from having to be anywhere near Sasori. Currently, Autumn was doing extra-credit homework for her Literature class.

"Autumn," Itachi called to her, snapping her out of her trance-like state.

"Yes, Sempai?" Autumn responded looking up from her book. After Autumn had realized that she was living in a house full of murderers, half of which already had a grudge against her, she had finally given in. She became what adults usually called "The Perfect Child". Pein had instructed her not to get on anyone else's nerves, especially his, and because technically everyone was her superior, she was to refer to them as such. This had made Hidan, Kisame, Deidara, and Tobi, all very happy. Hidan, because she had shot him twice. Kisame, because of the goldfish comment, and Deidara and Tobi, because neither of them were commonly referred to as a superior.

"Leader-sama would like to see you…" He said, disappearing as quickly as he had appeared. Autumn nodded sadly to the air, and walked down the stairs, only pausing by her parents' old room, and then continuing again. Autumn's parents' room had been abandoned, after the 'accident'. Since then, she had locked the room and thrown away the key. Thankfully, Pein respected her enough to make sure that room stayed the way it was, empty, and forgotten.

Walking toward her living room, Autumn could already see Pein hunched over his makeshift desk, with Sasori standing sitting off to one side, and Konan on the other. They were waiting for her. Autumn took a deep breath, and walked forward, making sure to keep her head down, as not to look into the eyes of her captors.

"You called? Your highness?" Autumn whispered the last part under her breath, knowing full well that with their skilled ninja hearing, they could hear every word.

"Yes, I did." Pein responded, apparently ignoring her previous comment. "You seem to be just sitting in your room all day. It's been a long time since your last training session with Sasori, and he has requested for you to train with him." Autumn turned to glare at Sasori, who was getting up, sure that his request was granted. Thinking about the situation Autumn smirked,

"As much as I would just love to train with Sasori-sama, I have homework to do." Autumn's smirk grew into a smile, as Pein nodded and allowed her to leave. Autumn tried to hide her happiness, and had to stop herself from skipping up the stairs. Autumn continued up the stairs, but when she got to he second flight of stairs, out of Pein's view, she found she couldn't move. Autumn found her head moving to her left, and to her surprise, she saw... Sasori.

It was Sasori who had stopped her movement with his chakra strings, now he was controlling her like a puppet, forcing her to turn and face him.

"Where do you think you're going, Shoujo?" Autumn cringed as he called her that name. She wasn't a Little Girl as she was called oh so often, she had to take care of herself for two years she wasn't little.

"I was going to go do my homework, like I said, until someone decided to stop me." She replied, glaring at him. (Is that all they do, glare at each other?)

"Oh, really? It looked to me that you were going to execute my request, and prepare for your training session,"

"Then you must be blind, if you see that." Autumn smirked, she was only like this, because she knew how to kill him, even if he was controlling her, she knew. Sasori was controlling her with one hand, and with his free hand, he grabbed her neck,

"I'm sure that there is nothing wrong with my sight."

"You shouldn't lie," she said, smirking again. "Or else your nose will grow." Sasori, disconnected his chakra strings, and threw her at a wall. Autumn braced herself for impact, but instead, something caught her.

"Stop, Sasori." Autumn looked up at the face of her rescuer, it was Itachi.

"That girl should learn to respect her elders," he said, turning to walk away. "I've proposed the idea of turning her into a puppet, to Leader-sama," he turned his head and eyed Autumn over his shoulder, "He said, that if keeping the girl shows no merit, then he will grant my request." Autumn gasped as Sasori left. How could this happen? She still had so much to live for! Autumn, still in Itachi's arms, covered her face. She didn't want him to see her cry, it's time to be a big girl now, and big girls don't cry. (hehe, Fergie)

Itachi carried Autumn to her room and set her down on her bed, she didn't notice, but he watched her, he watched her cry. When she was done she dried her tears and looked up surprised to see that he was still there.

"What have I done to deserve this?" She whispered to herself.

"Nothing," Itachi responded. She knew that he had heard her, but she wasn't expecting for him to actually respond.

"I must have done something then, because everything has gone wrong!" She yelled, tears falling down her cheeks. She couldn't take it anymore, she needed someone, and the closest person was Itachi. Autumn let out a sob, and Itachi put a hand on her shoulder. Autumn tensed up, but relaxed, she threw herself at him, and hugged his waist, still crying.

"Mom, Dad! Even my brothers! They're all gone! I've been alone for two years!" Itachi, having some experience from his brother, returned her embrace.

"And the rest of your family?" He whispered, as she let out a choked sob.

"They abandoned me, with my parents gone I was seen only as an annoying little pest, so they left me." she said, sniffing. Itachi was shocked, although he didn't show it. He had seen hundreds of orphans, the jinchuuriki, and S-class criminals, but none of them had this kind of story.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking down at her.

"It's okay, there's nothing you can do about it. It's just that, I've been through all of that, and now this? Either Fate really hates me, or Eris loves me." (I say that a lot) Itachi was confused, but didn't say anything, he just offered her a tissue, and allowed her to dry her tears. "I don't want to become one of Pinocchio's little toys, I have enough to worry about." She said smiling sadly at her own joke.

"Do you want me to help?" Itachi asked, he knew what he could do to help her, but it would inflict great pain on her, he wanted her permission first.

"I don't think you can help me, the best you can do is just promise me something," Itachi nodded, "Don't leave me... Aniki." Itachi sat there silently and nodded, remembering his little brother. Autumn smiled and laughed, as if she had heard something funny. Itachi raised an eyebrow.

"I just thought of something, I've been alone for 2 years, and I still haven't gone totally emo, like my 'friends' thought I would." She let out a giggle. Itachi didn't bother trying to figure out what she had meant. Autumn let out a sigh,

"I guess being a puppet won't be so bad, and long as you're with me during the process." Itachi paused a second before speaking,

"As I asked earlier, would you like me to help?" Autumn looked at him curiously, them nodded,

"Yes, but first I want you to help me with something else," Itachi nodded, " I want you to create, a jutsu that can get you back to your world," It was this that caught Itachi's full attention. "I don't know how you got here, but none of you belong," her face grew serious, "I really have been thinking about this for the last week. It must have taken a lot of chakra to bring you all here, but what was the cause? What could have brought you all back, Hidan, Kakuzu, Deidara, and Sasori are all supposed to be dead, what could have been strong enough to raise the dead?" Itachi, thought about it, and let his answer accidentally slip through his lips

"You," Autumn gasped, that was unexpected.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing." Before Autumn could say anything else, Itachi had walked out the door.

"Well that was odd," She said to herself, going back to her homework.

Autumn continued to do her homework until late in the afternoon. (That's how much homework our teachers give us, on weekends.) Until someone stepped into her room, it was Pein. Fearing once again for her life, Autumn ignored him and worked harder.

"Autumn." He called to her, Autumn sighed and looked up, stretching her cramped hand.

"Did you need something?" She asked sweetly. Pein wasn't fooled by her act of kindness.

"Yes we would like for you to come outside and train."

"But I have homework!"

"I said..."

"Yes, sir" She said, solemnly cutting him off. She got up, "May I ask why?"

"No."

'Joy…' Autumn followed Pein outside into her backyard, they had created a training ground in a cave under her house. The only way to get to it was through the tunnel in the backyard. Silently walking down the passageway, Autumn had more and more butterflies in her stomach; she had a really bad feeling about this. Walking into the main room under her house, she spotted everyone else except Pein and Tobi in a circle at full attention. Pein pushed Autumn into the middle of the circle, causing her to fall on her butt.

"Ow," Autumn muttered. "Why is it that I'm always the one in pain?" Seconds later Tobi came running in, Autumn's laptop in tow.

"Found it!" Tobi yelled, hugging the piece of technology as if his life depended on it. This didn't fool Autumn, she knew who was really in charge, but for her sake, she hoped that Tobi kept acting like an idiot.

"But that's mine! What do you need that for?" Autumn whined, seeing her precious laptop.

"We don't." Pein said, glaring at Tobi. He just kept hugging it.

"Whatever. Why am I here anyway?"

"..."

"Right didn't think you were gonna answer that anyway." Tobi kept Autumn's laptop against his chest and made a hand sign, the others followed in suit.

"Oh please not again!" That made little to no difference, they continued anyway, within two to four minutes Autumn had collapsed due to intense pain. The last words she said before she blacked out were, 'But... Why me?'

Autumn woke up in the dark, she couldn't see anything, nor could she hear anything. Slowly and cautiously, Autumn sat up. She was in a dark and somewhat familiar cave, with a dirt floor, which she had previously been sleeping on. She couldn't see the walls or much else, so she crawled around until she felt one of the walls. She felt her way along the walls until she reached an opening. Following the passage way connected to the room she had been in, Autumn found herself outside gazing at the shadow in the sky that was the new moon.

"What happened?" Autumn asked no one in particular. Walking around, Autumn found nothing that could help her remember. "Sempai?" Autumn called out into the starless night. "Leader-sama? Aniki?" There was no response. Autumn sat down in the cool grass beneath her, it was darker that usual. It was pitch black, like someone had shut the whole world in a black box. The only thing she could make out was a circle in the sky that was a lighter shade of black. Knowing that at least the moon was the same, gave Autumn enough security for to her closed her eyes. But, she didn't go to sleep; she just sat there waiting for the sun to rise, solving her confusion.

Hours later the sun finally broke through the darkness, signaling Autumn that it was time to open her eyes. Autumn slowly opened her eyes, and sat up, but what she saw made her wish she hadn't. The place looked almost like a wasteland! There were trees that had fallen, and debris all over the place.

"Autumn!!" Someone yelled behind her. Autumn turned and looked at whoever was calling her name. It wasn't just one person; it was the whole Obsessionists gang! (Including all the other groups Autumn hangs out with, but I don't care about them.)

"What's wrong?" she asked, confused.

"I'd like to ask you the same thing, there was a huge earthquake. Even we felt it, all the way across town." May said, coming to the front.

"An earthquake? But, we don't even live anywhere near a fault line." she said, looking around. She didn't recognize the surrounding area, just where was she?

"I know!" May said, offering her friend a hand up. Autumn took it gladly, silently thanking her friend for being there.

"Where are we?" she asked, looking May in the eye.

"You mean you don't know!?" May asked, surprised. "You're supposed to be smart one out of our little group!" This caused Autumn to roll her eyes,

"Just tell me already,"

"Autumn don't you get it? We're at your house." She said, sadly.

"M-my house?" May nodded her head. "N-no, this can't be-!" May turned her head toward the biggest pile of debris; it was nothing but wood, bricks and roofing tiles.

"We're sorry Fall." May whispered, offering to hug her friend.

"NO!! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! THIS CAN'T BE MY HOUSE!! IT JUST CANT!!" Fall sank to her knees.

"Last night, something went off underground..." May started.

"Apparently your house was closest to whatever it was..." David continued.

"And your neighbors alerted us first when they saw your house come down..." Lyn added.

"Look on the bright side! You're still alive!" May said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, you're lucky you got out of there alive!" Everyone else agreed. Autumn sniffed and looked up and what used to be her house.

"I guess I'll have to move..." she gave a small laugh, "Ya know... I've lived in this house for almost all of my life, even after it happened I've never moved, I guess all good things have an end."

"That's the spirit Fall! Let's try to find anything salvageable!" May said, running over to the pile of rubble, Autumn and the rest following close behind.

After about an hour of searching, Autumn found a few things that were undamaged. All of her clothes were in perfect condition, just covered in dust and stuff. Her jewelry (which wasn't much) was okay; Her mother's old grandfather clock that she had gotten in Germany was fine. A lot of things that she had locked up in her parents' room were just fine, much to her relief.

Autumn walked across the rubble to where May had found a hole earlier, picking up a few boards, Autumn found... Her library! She ventured down into the hole after grabbing a flashlight from her friends and looked around, EVERYTHING WAS OKAY!! Autumn jumped for joy, her manga was scattered all over the place, and her DVDs were on the floor too, but her TV was still on the wall and in working condition. Autumn did a little dance and ran back up into the fresh air. Her friends had left earlier, to look for houses, they were looking for anything in the area, until she had a new place to stay, she was going to live in the motel down the street. May had offered to have her stay at her house, but she refused.

As Autumn walked down to her motel room, she thought back about what had happened, and then it hit her... She was free. When she had woken up she hadn't seen the Akatsuki anywhere. If the Akatsuki were gone, then they had no more authority over her; she was now, really and truly free.