Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto...

Hey all! Thanks for the reviews and sorry for the wait. I knew where I wanted to get to, just getting there was the problem! I've re-written this chapter about a dozen times now, lol!

Chapter 7

Amaya was feeling relieved that she had managed to avoid losing her head for the second time that night, but as realisation that she was going to fall to her death instead set in, she began to curse Itachi, Kisame, Deidara and anyone else who she could think of to blame it on. Hana just screamed incoherently.

Amaya had so many emotions were whirling around inside of her. She was scared. Scared of dying; scared of the pain. Anger rose above it though. She was angry that they had been kidnapped; that this had even happened; that she would die without ever getting any answers; that she couldn't do anything; that she hadn't even made a decent attempt to escape; that she wasn't stronger.

There was something else, too. Underneath all her anger and fright there was something small and nagging at the back of her mind. There was a distant sense of familiarity with the situation. The way the wind whipped through her long hair, rippled through her clothes and rustled the trees rushing ever closer beneath her.

You'll be fine.

The thought floated through her mind and she suddenly felt…calm. Then confusion settled in as to why she was suddenly so sure of their safety. Even though it was her own mind, she could find no reason why she had thought that.

Amaya squeezed her eyes shut. Hana took a deep breath mid-scream before continuing, determined to go out of this world the way she had come into it. They both braced themselves for what would come.

Thoughts of what her last words would be rushed thorough Amaya's mind. So many things she wanted to say; faces she wished she could see; things she wished she could remember. Then some words came to mind and were past her lips before she could work out where they were from, or who they applied to.

"Mou ichido tsuyoku dakishimete!" Please hold me tight once more.

It annoyed her that she had no idea where the words had come from, or why they would be her last, and again confusion took hold, but she didn't have long to think about it as someone caught her, one arm around her back, the other under her knees.

The answer to my last wish?

Her eyes flew open in surprise as she stopped falling and her hair fell around her face.

Deep red eyes looked back at her blankly.

Guess not…But, he saved me…again…?

Then a half-smile crept slowly across her face.

I'm alive.

Even though her almost dying twice was his fault, as he and Kisame had kidnapped them in the first place, he had saved her life both times, and she couldn't help but feel as if she owed him. She didn't like it.

She could hear Hana screaming, still incoherently, but it sounded as though she was actually trying to say something this time. Amaya couldn't work out what it was, though.

Itachi was stood on top of a tree as though nothing was out of the ordinary and Amaya once again wondered how it was he didn't fall. Cool and calm he leapt down from the tree to meet Kisame and Hana already on the ground. They were arguing again.

"You could at least thank me, you ungrateful little midget," growled Kisame.

"And you could have caught me in some way other than upside down by my ankle! My foot could've come right off!" Hana shouted back.

"Would you rather I'd let you fall?"

Hana glared and muttered something which sounded rather rude, while Kisame, who didn't seem to hear, smirked in triumph.

Itachi put Amaya down but didn't take his eyes from her. His cold gaze roamed her face as though he were searching for something.

Amaya met his eye uncertainly.

"Don't be late again," he said suddenly.

For a moment she was confused, but she assumed he was talking about getting back to her room. She nodded and then winced as the deep cut on her cheek stung. She could feel the blood running down her face and her cheek was swollen. She hadn't really noticed it when she had been falling, but now she was more than aware.

Something in an increasingly familiar black and red cloak appeared in the corner of her eye. Turning her head slightly she found herself staring again - which she seemed to do a lot lately - at the strange creature before her.

It was bigger than it had looked from the sky. It definitely wasn't human. Then again it had human looking arms and legs sticking out of it. Maybe it was just a strange sort of shield, or something. The face was…unpleasant and whatever it was had a tail like a scorpion. It made Amaya feel uneasy.

"I'd give you a lift, un" said Deidara's deep voice from above.

"But we have a mission," finished a new voice, belonging to the 'thing', which promptly disappeared in a puff of smoke as Deidara and his bird disappeared into the nights sky.

Amaya blinked. She had been expecting another introduction of some sort.

So Hana wasn't just messing around when she said Hoshigaki-san disappeared in a puff of smoke before…

She was still aware of Itachi's sharp, slightly narrowed eyes boring into her and did her best to ignore him.

"Amaya-chan," Hana said quietly. She sounded strangely serious, which was never a good sign.

"Yeah?" Amaya replied, glad for an excuse to look somewhere else other then up at Itachi. There was silence; even Kisame was staring at her with an odd expression. "What is it? Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"Your hair," Hana said, her tone still sombre. Amaya's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as her hands went to smooth her hair – she assumed that it had got messed up in the wind or something and didn't see what the fuss was all about.

Then she stopped. Her fingers ran through long, silky hair. Pulling her hair over her shoulder she blinked, stared and then, quietly, she said, "Its not…curly…? It's straight…dead straight… Why? How? What the…What the hell's going on?!"

She was shocked. Strange things going on around her was one thing, but actually having them happen to her was another. She was silent for a moment. It was like calm before the storm.

"Why would my hair change? All I did was fall from a giant clay bird," she gave a small, slightly hysterical sounding laugh, "why would that change anything? Why does everything just keep getting weirder!? And I'd still like to know why you've kidnapped us in the first place! We were just in the forest and you two randomly pop out of nowhere and decide to take us off with you. That's twice I've almost died now, because of you and you won't even tell us why!" She had started off still quite quietly but she was gradually getting louder.

"There are other questions too, like why is it that those other people from before, you know, when we tried to run, why is it that they wanted to kill us? What did we do wrong? And while I'm thinking about it, how can you all jump through trees, and appear out of no where, or disappear whenever you feel like? And why the hell do you look like a fish?" Amaya directed that question at Kisame.

At this point it would be fair to say that she was getting herself rather worked up, "And why are your eyes red?" That one was for Itachi, "And would you stop staring at me like that!" That was directed at Itachi too and came out much sharper and louder than she would have liked, making her wish instantly that she had kept her mouth shut.

Before she knew it the breath was driven from her as her back hit the tree and she looked up at him, wide-eyed, her anger disappearing again as she took control of herself and tried to get her breath back.

He had her pinned to the tree with one hand, the other beside her head. He didn't look angry or offended in the slightest, but he must have been or he wouldn't have bothered. He leaned down to her as he spoke; she could feel his breath on her cheek.

"Do not speak to me like that again."

I'll have to start making a list of all the things I shouldn't do.

Surprisingly though, he gave her an answer. Only one, but it was better than nothing, "It's a kekkai genkai."

What is?

Well, it really wasn't that great of an answer, as it told her absolutely nothing at all (she had no idea what he meant by an 'advanced bloodline'), but he had answered and that was something.

Almost as though he felt that he had to give an answer too, Kisame said, "Why I look like a shark is nobodies business."

Hana sighed, "Was there actually any point to opening your mouth?"

Kisame was about to retort when Itachi spoke, "Let's go," and Amaya let out a squeak of surprise as she found herself over his shoulder and dashing through the trees again.

Don't they ever sleep?!

No, I didn't seem like they did, but they did need to rest every now and again. Even though it was well into the morning there wasn't much sun. Heavy grey clouds filled the sky, blocking most of the sunlight and casting a dreary grey over everything.

Amaya wasn't sure if it was just the weather, but she had the same bad feeling that she'd had on the first day they'd been kidnapped.

The first day… That was only two days ago… The longest two days of my life!

Amaya's cheek was still stinging a little, but at least it had stopped bleeding now and the swelling had gone down. When they stopped beside a small river she took the chance to wash the blood off her face and neck, before cupping the clear liquid in her hands and relishing in the cool freshness of it as she brought it to her lips.

She then sat and stared at her reflection rippling on the surface. She looked different with straight hair, more mature with less childish innocence – and she was sure it was much longer than before, reaching down her back so that she could almost sit on it. To top it off she'd lost her ribbon somewhere, so it insisted on falling in front of her face at every chance it got, refusing to stay tucked behind her ear.

Sighing, she absentmindedly rubbed her stomach – partly because it was sore from being over Itachi's hard shoulder for so long, and partly because it chose that moment to remind her that a few grapes the day before were not enough – and took in her surroundings.

The trees were starting to thin out and there were increasingly less plants covering the ground. The river wasn't so wide that they couldn't jump over it, but it looked quite deep even so. It was flowing quite fast, tumbling and bubbling its way along, spurred on by the growing winds.

Turning her attention to a small way down the river Amaya watched Hana as she complained about the cold and was trying to get Kisame to give up his cloak. Itachi was sat in a tree with his eyes closed, one leg stretched out and the other bent so that he could rest his arms on it. He could have been asleep but Amaya doubted that.

She still hadn't seen his whole face as he was always wearing his cloak and she again wondered what he would look like without it.

So much wondering… I don't know anything anymore!

She was hoping for a day without almost dying, being attacked, bumping into giant snakes, riding on giant clay birds or meeting more strange people. Instead she wanted a decent meal, a comfortable nights' sleep in a bed and a long, hot bath.

As it turned out the day was somewhere in between. They continued travelling without meeting anyone else or being attacked, thankfully, but much to both Hana and Amaya's disappointment they did not reach their destination – wherever that was – and so spent the night sleeping on a hard forest floor without anything to satiate their hunger.

The temperature seemed to have dropped further and Amaya shivered as she looked up to the sky. No stars could be seen through the thick clouds and she wondered if there was any way she would make it through this night without getting soaked to the skin; if she wasn't frozen first.

Kisame was snoring lightly, laid out on his back. The bottom of his cloak had come undone and flapped open, spread out to one side. Hana snickered as she undid a few more of the poppers and pulled it over herself. She didn't like laying so close to the shark-man, but it was a little warmer and as long the cloak stayed between them, she didn't care.

Amaya had been surprised to find that the cloaks didn't have buttons, but she guessed that if they were getting into fights all the time that buttons would be difficult to get undone in a hurry.

They'd stopped quite a while ago, but she couldn't sleep, especially as she was growing increasingly annoyed. Itachi seemed to be constantly watching her, his red eyes shining in the dark, and it was getting harder to continue ignoring him.

Finally, before she screamed, she decided that she may as well talk to him. It had to be better than sitting there in silence trying to pretend that he didn't exist.

"Don't you ever sleep?" Amaya asked quietly. She didn't look at him but the other two were asleep so it was clear she was speaking to him.

At first she didn't think he was going to reply but after a moment he replied, "When I am able."

"Aren't you able to now?"

"No."

"Why?"

"You are not trusted."

Fair enough.

Itachi would have slept and woken in an instant if she had tried to run away, but he found it impossible to get to sleep with her constant shivering and shuffling around. Not that he would let her know that she was annoying him, though, nor would he do anything about it, so he stayed awake.

"What…what's a 'kekkai genkai'?"

She waited for the answer. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him stand and turned her head to look at him. He wasn't paying attention to her.

How rude!

Kisame woke suddenly and was prying his cloak from Hana's sleepy fingers as he picked up his sword.

"What's going on?" She asked. They both seemed to be alert and listening for something.

Oh no…

The bad feeling suddenly seemed to double and she felt panic start to bubble in her chest, instinct taking hold.

"I think we should run that way," and she pointed into the forest, trying to resist the urge to start running straight away.

Itachi and Kisame both looked towards her before sharing a glance.

"And why would you say that way?" Asked Kisame.

Amaya shrugged, "I have a feeling."

How could they just stand there so calm? Something bad was going to happen; something very bad. She was not willing to simply stand there and wait for it to come to her.

She was about to grab Hana and go when she got the feeling that running in any direction would be a bad move, and she heard Kisame mutter something to himself which did nothing to calm her.

"Sneaky bastard. We're surrounded."

Okay, so that probably wasn't worth the wait, but I promise more action in the next chapter - and I promise it won't take me over a week to post it!

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