CHAPTER II

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto. I do, however, own the plot of this story.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I extend my gratitude to Hidan's Little Riku and Narutoske. Thank you very much for your review and for your encouragement. Anyway, here goes the second chapter. I hope you enjoy this. And, oh! Please feel free to drop some comments after reading this. Thank you very much.

-Eliza Yuu

"Bye Keiko!"

"Bye Ai!" Keiko chirped as her red haired friend went the other way and disappeared as she rounded a corner.

The smile she plastered on her face fell. Keiko always felt happy when she's with Ai. They had only been friends for a few months but they felt so comfortable with each other; they were already best friends. Both could finish each other's sentences, and both could see through each others' lies. What made Ai even more special to Kieko was Ai's acceptance of Keiko's another world or, sometimes, other worlds. Ai was the only one who knew of the empty feeling gnawing Keiko from the inside. And in turn, Keiko was the only one who understands the way Ai feels.

They knew each other well and cared much for each other. They knew, though they do not feel, the exact pain the other was going through; for Keiko's pain was emotional (or maybe, even mental) and Ai's was physical.

But it was enough to be their link. This was their unique connection. It was their bond.

Keiko continued to walk as she prepared a list of things she needed to do once she got home:

a. Calculus homework

b. English poem about Work

c. Linear Algebra Problem Set on Matrices

d. Journalism Article on the environment...

She was so lost in her thoughts she failed to see where she was going. She just walked and walked and walked. She just trotted the road. And she resolved to stop only when the path ended or when she grew tired.

"I'm home," Ai tiredly said as she plopped on the couch and closed her eyes. Her heart was weak, she easily gets tired and that's the reason why she tend to idle in the house whenever she's home. This was also the reason why her whole (and it really means whole) family was very protective of her.

"I'm home," Ai repeated as she realized that no one answered her. Her sister was always there. She was always home, but where is her sister now?

Her skin prickled as she felt someone near her. It wasn't her sister, she knew. It this person was her sister, her sister would have talked to her right now.

Ai quickly willed her eyelids to open, revealing her green eyes. Green locked with black.

"Where is the girl? Where is Keiko?"

She didn't know whether it was from the callousness of the voice or the intenseness of the eyes or the question itself that frightened her. All she knew was her heart beat stopped, and all of a sudden it beat so erratically.

Black enveloped her vision.

A knock on the window disturbed Tsunade from her work. Glancing at the clock, she realized that it was past midnight.

Who on earth is stupid enough to go here at a time like this?

But once she recognized the familiar chakra of the man she deemed intelligent (even a genius, honestly), she opened the window and stood in front of it expecting a person to enter.

"My apologies, Hokage-sama," the man said as he went though the window with a body slung over his shoulder – a girl's. "She was not where she was expected to be. And so I asked this person but she passed out. However, I believe, she didn't just faint."

Tsunade nodded and motioned for the man to lay the body on a bed. She approached the bed and focused her glowing hand on the female's head.

"Is she her friend?" She asked as she lowered her hands to the young lady's chest when she found out that nothing's wrong with the unconscious one's head.

"Best friend, Hokage-sama," the man corrected as he observed with red eyes the thing Tsunade was doing.

She nodded though her perfectly-shaped brows were furrowed. There was something wrong with the girl's heart. It's beating was weak.

Tsunade knew she must save this girl's life for it meant so much to someone very dear to her. However, it would take time. The man who brought this girl must protect the other one at all cost. At all cost.

"Leave her here. It will take time for her to completely resuperate. I trust that the situation in her home is clear, no traces?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"But, Itachi, you said she wasn't where she was supposed to be. What do you exactly mean by that?"

Itachi thought hard on how to break it Tsunade but he knew there was no easy way. So he just answered, "I supposed she was missing, Hokage-sama."

The blonde woman froze as her mind replayed the words Itachi had uttered. She didn't even hear Itachi report in details. Her heart stopped beating (figuratively, of course!) but her mind raced. There were so many possibilities. Orochimaru or Akatsuki might be the ones who had abducted her but there was also a slim chance that she was kidnapped by people who were not in any way connected to either Orochimaru or Akatsuki.

But Tsunade willed her thoughts to stay dormant for a while when she realized the bleak silence that plagued the very air which surrounded them. She faced Itachi and gave him a pleading yet somehow, a still authoritative smile.

"You may go now. But, find her, please."

"I will, Tsunade-sama," and with that the man disappeared, in his place were crows flying out the window.

The Hokage stared outside the window for a long time. She felt numb; so numb because of what Itachi had told her she didn't even feel the tears that marred her countenance.

The girl was missing; she was missing and Tsunade did not want to believe it.

What was the use of my strength and my skills when I couldn't even protect someone I love?

"I believe the mission is clear to you now," the Akatsuki leader said as he stood in front of Sasuke and Suigetsu. They had already handed back to him the photograph of the person they needed to abduct. She looked weak but both knew that she had potential. Nevertheless, potential when she had never trained at all was nothing. In short, if no one out there disrupted their mission, this would be easy. Very easy.

"Yes, Leader-sama," Suigetsu answered while Sasuke merely nodded. It was the expected response from the Uchiha.

It was common knowledge that Sasuke was not a very talkative person. But his murder of Itachi worsened his case. Now, he talked rarely. He just stared at people impassively. And when asked by a question answerable by 'yes' or 'no', he would nod or shake his head. But when asked otherwise, he would turn his back and walk away. He did this to everyone except, of course, to Leader-sama.

"I suggest you two depart soon, Konoha is already making measures to get her or to protect her from us and Orochimaru. We must beat all of them."

The two nodded and left the room, went to their quarters and in a few minutes walked out of the headquarters and proceeded to jump from branch to branch while their cloaks – black with red clouds – billowed in the wind.

A light dream about Keiko and their friends roused Ai from her very deep slumber. Ai opened her eyes to see yellow-painted ceilings. Yellow? Their house doesn't have yellow ceilings. Quickly, she sat up and looked around.

She was in an unfamiliar room and an unfamiliar bed.

An unfamiliar bed?!Kami-sama... she prayed as she slowly looked down her body. What she saw shocked her - she was fully clothed. "Thank goodness," she muttered quietely as she released a quite-contented sigh.

Letting her green eyes roam the place, she spotted a blonde woman sleeping on the couch. She was beautiful but the bags around her eyes showed that she was overburdened.

Bags around eyes? Overburdened? That sounds just like Keiko, she mused and let out an involuntary giggle as she thought about her overly grade-conscious friend. True, Ai herself was a grade-conscious (GC) individual but Keiko was the superlative of GC. And sometimes, this caused the people around Keiko to back away from her a bit; Keiko may be charming (in a way, at least) but with this trait included in her attitude, tsktsktsk…

The lilting sound seemed to have roused the sleeping blonde from her sleep as she opened her eyes and stared at Ai.

"Good morning. Oh, I see you are well now," she remarked as she sat up and stretched her arms.

"Good morning, too. But what do you mean by 'well now'?"

"Oh, that. Well, you see, your heart had some complications. I believe you were a bit shocked by something and that caused your heart to beat rapidly and caused you to pass out," the older woman said as she walked over to her.

Oh… Ai remembered now. That freaky guy… Then, every piece of the huge jigsaw puzzle that was her life seemed to fall from the sky, Ai realized that she was kidnapped.

A scream tore itself away from her throat. It was so shrill, Tsunade had a hard time fighting the urge to cover her ears with her hands. She has strong lungs, the blondie thought.

"I am Tsunade," the older woman offered as she stood in front of a still-screaming Ai. Her voice was so controlled and loud that Ai immediately shut up.

"Ai," Ai timidly answered as she felt embarrassed with her screaming so she just contemplated on what to say next. By observing the whole place, she came to the conclusion she was somewhere far from home, but how far exactly, she didn't know.

"Uhm… Ms. Tsunade, can I go home now? My family might be worried. I am not going to tell them that you kidnapped me if you let me go" Or they'd be in hysterics, Ai thought.

Tsunade seemed thoughtful for a moment as she looked at Ai. She took in the girls flaming tresses, her green eyes which reminded Tsunade of Sakura, and her pale skin.

"First off, Ai, you were not really abducted but by the looks of it maybe you could consider you were. However, you were kidnapped because if you weren't you would be in deep trouble because someone that was in a way connected to you is still in great danger," Tsunade started. This made the Hokage think of Ai's family as well as Keiko's "family". I have to protect them, as well, she thought as her head strated throbbing.

I guess, I'll just have to ask Team Gai to take care of the two families.

"Stay for a little while more, I have to make sure that you are fully recovered first before I let you go," she finished as she walked to another room with her right hand on her temple and her left hand on her hip.

Ai didn't say anything but nodded in response as she sat down the couch. The way Tsunade answered her question persuaded Ai to zip her mouth and refrain from asking questions.

But inside her head were questions waiting for answers. Who was that person Tsunade talked about? How was this person connected to her? And if this one is connected to her in some way, how was she now? Was she safe?

Am I even safe? How about my family?

Ai almost cried at the thought of her family. She told nobody how much she loved her family. Not Michi, not Kaori, not Keiko. No one as in no one. But really, she was ready to die for them – that was how much she loved them and inasmuch as she was afraid of what Tsunade would do if she seemed insistent she still wanted to make sure her family was safe and as far from trouble as one could be.

"Uhm… I know I might sound demanding, but will you please keep my family safe?"

Tsunade gave her a nod. Ai felt a surge of assurance and peace. She sure is nice.

"Rest, I will just prepare for work. I'll just bring you with me. Don't worry, it is not far from here," Tsunade said as she entered the bath and prepared herself for the day ahead. The blonde dearly hoped that the bath would clear her head not from thoughts, but from headache.

Keiko felt her feet grow numb. She was so tired but she didn't want to stop walking. She knew she was almost there. Or she felt, rather. She couldn't know because right now the place was foggy. Everything was a blur. Not to mention she didn't know where exactly "there" was.

And so she walked until she bumped into something. Or, as she felt, someone. Keiko fell on her behind and she looked up to see dark red eyes.

Keiko's own deep brown eyes widened as she thought of it. A pair of red eyes. It was very peculiar. Never had she seen anyone with a red eye let alone two. What was even more peculiar were the three comma-like imprints in each eye and their constant motion.

She involuntarily shuddered as she felt a cold hand gently touch hers and pull her to her feet. But since she had abused her feet, she wasn't able to stand and ended up leaning against the person's frame.

The person then hoisted her and scooped her into their arms and walked. She knew she must not trust this person – she didn't even know who he or she was. But her instinct told her to place her trust in him or her. Another thing, Keiko had never been a suspicious person; she easily trusted everyone. And so she gave in and just hoped that her intuition was actually true. Nonetheless, she wanted to know who this person was. And as usual, Keiko's curiosity got the better of her.

"Thank you. But may I know who you are?" She asked as politely as she could. She never really had to try.

"Uchiha Itachi," the man answered without looking at her. He was so emotionless, he was so impassive that Keiko knew that if she could see the person's face it would be blank as a clean sheet of parchment waiting for blood red ink to be imprinted on it.

Content with the name of the man, she assumed that he was indeed a he because of the baritone voice that answered her question, Keiko settled herself comfortably against the man's well-toned chest.

The walked continued for a while and Keiko felt her eyelids grow heavy. She was almost ready to give in to sleep when Itachi suddenly halted.

Her heart beat faster though the reason it did was unknown to her. She also noticed the rate of his pulse which had considerably picked up.

Itachi's body went rigid.