Kioko, Kisame, and Itachi were still walking as the sun reached its highest and the trio, at last, stopped. Itachi looked around and nodded to the blue man, "Here."
Kisame nodded and sat down cross-legged on the ground. Kioko watched in confusion. Itachi sat down as well and stated, "We will be a little weird for a bit. Stay here. Do not move. Do not talk to us. Do not try to get our attention."
She looked to Kisame in her mutism and he nodded his agreement. She looked sad and sat down with her back to a tree. Itachi and Kisame nodded and lifted their hands to a quick hand sign. Immediately, their eyes closed and their minds were focused elsewhere.
-Akatsuki-
Itachi opened his eyes inside the meeting place. He looked around as his illusion self sat on a boulder in a dripping cave. The shimmering form of Kisame was leaning against a wall.
Both of their eyes shot around to each face of the organization. Kisame muttered, "Deidara. Sasori. Hidan. Kakuzu. Zetsu. Leader-sama. Konan..."
Each nodded in turn.
Deidara chuckled hysterically, "Took you long enough, yeah!" Itachi frowned and replied, "We were... occupied." Sasori, inside his puppet, only nodded slightly.
Pein/Leader cleared his throat. "Mission status, Itachi?" Itachi replied, "Target assassinated." Leader nodded his shadowy head and asked, "Any dilemmas on the road?"
Kisame replied, "None, Leader-sama." The shadow nodded. "That is good."
Itachi frowned though no one could really see it in his shadowy appearance like this.
Now another voice chuckled, "Your bodies' are not alone, Itachi... Kisame... There is another life force within your clearing!"
Kisame stiffened and Pein asked, "Hmn? What do you mean by that Zetsu?" The plant replied, "Someone is in their clearing. I can't see a face. Just the chakra can really be seen. So much in abundance…"
Pein looked back to Itachi ad Kisame. Both watched him expectantly.
Pein asked, "What are they planning, Zetsu?" Zetsu only sighed and replied, "He is just... sitting there. Watching them."
Kisame frowned and looked back to Pein. Pein asked, "Do you have any clue as to who this person may be?"
Itachi sighed and replied, "Of course." Every eye focused on him in confusion. Itachi smirked though none could see it. His eyes scanned to Kisame's...
"She is a good friend of both mine and Kisame's."
Pein eyed him and asked, "She?"
Itachi nodded, "We discovered her a while back. Her chakra is overflowing and yet she can't use any herself. Instead she may give it away as she sees fit."
Kisame added, "And a mute at that."
Deidara laughed heartily, "Well look at that, un! What a load of bull shit, hmm!"
Sasori looked at him and the man silenced. Pein looked back to the duo. "What are you planning on doing with her then?"
Itachi replied evenly, "She is a support beam to our team. She is useful and enough of so to keep her."
Pein looked to Zetsu. "Kill her."
Itachi's eyes went wide and he demanded, "Why?!"
Pein replied, "She, if she has so much chakra, is a danger to you and your missions."
Kisame growled, "No."
Everyone looked to him. He looked at Zetsu. "Stay away from her."
Pein was about to comment before the shadow of Konan walked up to him and whispered in his ear.
Pein's eyes closed slightly in amusement and replied, "I would like to meet this mute of yours."
Kisame flinched and replied, "Why?"
Pein shrugged, "You both seem, in Konan's opinion, rather attached to this girl... I wish to see if she is all you say she is..."
Kisame and Itachi shared a look but nodded slowly and warily.
Itachi muttered, "Yes, Leader-sama..."
Kisame bowed and nodded as well. "As you wish..."
Pein smirked, "Well then! Our next meeting shall be one of true forms."
Sasori demanded, "You mean in our flesh?" Pein nodded, "We will all meet at the statue at noon in a single month's time... Until then... I have you your missions..."
-The clearing-
Kisame and Itachi's eyes opened at long last and Kioko watched as they stood and stretched.
Both sets of eyes flickered to the blond woman.
She looked back at them and asked, "Did your talking to yourselves go well?" Her lips said in her silent way.
Kisame sighed and looked to the setting sun. "I suppose not..."
She looked wearily at them.
Itachi replied to her glance, "We are to head out in the direct morn. We are going to move on to another adventure."
Kioko watched their expressions before asking, "What time do you want me up?"
Kisame laughed and thought back. The girl seemed to adore sleeping in late.
He replied, "Don't worry about it, Kioko-chan." She nodded and stood as well as she stretched.
Both set of eyes measured her up and down. Her eyes closed in relaxation. She seemed so content with her predicament.
Both set of eyes turned away in shame.
She seemed to notice and walked up to Kisame. She placed a hand on his shoulder and he replied, "We also... Someone very strong would like to meet you."
Kioko worked out just how strong this man was by the look in Kisame's eyes. She smiled though.
Soon, she laughed.
Both Itachi and Kisame gasped at the sheer ring of her voice. She was a mute but her laugh and that song she had hummed earlier… both sounds had completely immobilized them but her laugh set them on fire.
It was inhuman as it was so beautiful.
Itachi managed to block it out and step up to her in strangled agony.
"Kioko! You do not understand! You are in danger every moment you are with us!"
She only smiled. Her eyes portraying her opinion to that... Amusement.
Kisame glared at his feet. "Itachi... show her... But I swear if you go too far you won't live to take her to him."
Itachi sighed and caught the back of Kioko's head in his hand and positioned her to look in his Sharingan. He looked at her and stated, "I'm sorry for this..."
~Mongekyou~
Kioko looked around her and to Itachi. He was looking down at his feet in the strange world they now stood in.
Kisame was gone and the colors of everything were different.
Her gaze fell to him. He looked up to her and stated, "You need to know who we are."
She frowned and nodded.
Itachi let the memories press in on her. Every conversation that explained who he and Kisame were and what they did and have done were explained to the girl.
He watched her expression. At the end she frowned and looked to him.
Her gaze lingered in his. She smiled after a moment and lifted her hand up to a hand shake position. Itachi watched her as she laughed and smiled brightly.
And then she spoke in her real voice. It was the one she was born with. And she stated in the most beautiful voice Itachi had ever heard, "I'd rather die with you than live another day alone." He felt even his genjutsu curl under her words and melt away.