Chapter seventeen.

I'm considering going back and naming all of the chapters….if you think I should, let me know. I probably will anyway. Anywho, please read, enjoy and review! The more decent reviews I get, the more motivated I am to continue!

I, as always, own nothing of Naruto.

A momentary glimmer of silver passed over Deidara's shadowed features as the cloud cover broke for a moment. The blonde quickly glanced at the sky as the light was once more extinguished. The rain was however starting to ease off, if only slightly. He looked down and turned his attention back to his new friend.

The Leaf shinobi attempted to shrink away but let out a gasp of pain as the kunai pinning his shoulder to the tree at his bag cut deeper into the muscle.

"So, do you feel like cooperating yet, hmm?" Deidara asked.

"Rot in hell, Akatsuki scum!" Spat the shinobi.

"I don't think you understand the situation…" Deidara said lazily.

He then reached out and took the handle of the kunai in one hand before twisting it viciously. The man before him yelled as fresh blood welled up and ran in rivulets down his arm.

"I…won't sell out…my village…"

"Look, I don't want you to tell me your village's secrets or anything, I just want to know if you've seen a party moving through they area carrying a hostage. A young woman in her late teens – Akatsuki."

The shinobi's brows creased for a moment, as if he was deciding whether to give away any information or not. At another twist of the kunai, he cried out.

"Alright! I…didn't see anyone in the forest, but I heard that a rogue shinobi girl was brought into my village for execution, that's all! I'm just a messenger, I know no more…!"

Deidara straightened up, looking down at the mess of a man before him. He then turned and began to walk away. The Leaf village? She was there…awaiting execution. He was damned if he was going to let that happen to his kunoichi, the very thought made him clench his hands into fists. He then paused, and looked back over his shoulder.

"Thank you." He said as he smirked and swept away into the night, cloak flowing with a strange sort of fluidity behind him.

The Leaf shinobi pinned to the tree looked up.

"You're…not going to kill me?" He whispered to himself.

His gaze dropped to the ground where he noticed a disturbance in the leaf litter as something slid out and wrapped around his arm. It was small, resembling a thin pure white snake with bottomless black pits for eyes…

Some way away, Deidara broke into a laugh as the rumble of an explosion reverberated through the forest. The rain was finally beginning to ease off now, the faint glimmers of moonlight permeating the cloud cover and trickling through the wet leaves to illuminate the forest floor. Deidara's spirits rose as he grinned. He had a heading, whether the girl the messenger had mentioned was the right one or not, he couldn't care less. It would be some time until he could travel through the branches again as they were still slippery from the rain, but with the relaxing of the rain and a cool breeze at his back, everything suddenly seemed a lot more hopeful.

The rain was increasing in volume as Tenten stood outside the door to the interrogation room, huge freezing drops that slashed over her face and body, soaking her to the skin in seconds. She absently wondered where the downpour had come from, after all, the sky had been veritably clear the past couple of days...apart from that night of course. She shivered as the cold started to get through to her, knowing that if she was going to stand the torture without releasing any information. A good way to succeed would be to fill her head with meaningless thoughts that she could concentrate on.

There came a small 'click' as the door was unlocked. This wait was probably intended, as she had heard that Ibiki tended to favour mental tortures rather than inflicting physical pain. However, that didn't mean he wouldn't. Her guards pushed Tenten through the now open door into the room beyond with a force that caused the kunoichi to stumble. She regained her balance before she fell and looked over her shoulder as the door swung shut with a resounding slam.

Before she could gather her thoughts, thick ropes flicked out from the floor and walls and bound her tightly to the point she was virtually covered in a cocoon of ropes. She looked up with gritted teeth as several members of the interrogation force walked forwards, picking up the ends of the ropes so she could have no hope of escape.

Her arms were pinned to her sides and balancing was suddenly made much more difficult. She let out a grunt as some-one kicked her in the back, causing her to fall forwards onto her knees, her eyes screwed up in pain.

Tenten looked up, her eyes full of murderous fire into the lined face of Ibiki. She's forgotten how much she hated this guy – she's felt loathing for him ever since she had first set eyes upon him at the chunin exams. His eyes were unreadable, impassive and yet as cold as ice. Tenten stared right back with an equally cold glower.

"Disgusting." Ibiki commented, nose wrinkling in disdain. "Disgusting to think that a member of my own village would defect to Akatsuki. Executing the likes of you is too kind."

The hulking man began to circle Tenten like a shark. The kunoichi kept her gaze fixed straight ahead, declining to make any expression that said she'd even heard his words.

"So, tired of failing to make the grade in Konoha, you left and joined a rogue organisation for power, am I right?"

Tenten remained silent.

"I asked you a question, Akatsuki." Ibiki snarled, his face coming too close to Tenten for her to stand.

She stared at him for a moment before lashing out, managing to head butt him hard, squarely in the face. The head of the interrogation force reeled back, his hand flying to his heavily bleeding nose.

With a snarl, he lifted a clenched fist and swiped at Tenten, striking her across her face with a force that almost knocked her over despite her bonds. She slowly looked up again; her eyes welled up with tears of rage and pain that she was too proud to shed. Agonising pain spread through her face, and although she knew nothing had broken by some miracle, she would have one hell of a black eye and bruising down her cheekbone.

"Sir...the Hokage's orders..." Said one of the guards nervously.

"Yes, I know, but I'm sure she'll forgive me for that. Besides, we only need her mind to be intact for us to be able to extract the information wee need." Ibiki replied gruffly, striding away with his back to Tenten.

"Bring the Akatsuki to the circle." He continued.

The guards holding Tenten's ropes moved forward as one, Tenten struggling to her feet walking with them – seeing as there really was no alternative at this moment. In the centre of the sparsely decorated room was a low dome-like structure, on which was an indent big enough for a human to lie in. Around this was a ring with four stations spread evenly around it, one for each interrogator.

Tenten was pulled forcibly to the centre, when the guards pushed her down into the indent in the middle. She struggled but was easily thwarted in her attempts to escape by her captors. They must have given her a chakra suppressing drug or something whilst she was unconscious the night before. Before she could think up another route of escape of any way to fight, paper seals were attached to her hands and ankles, and all movement to her limbs was simultaneously cut off. She guessed these bonds had probably been developed by Tsunade or Shizune, as they were evidently imbued with medical nin-jutsu.

"If I had my way, we'd do things the traditional way. The correct amount of pain and even the strictest will spill their guts. However, on special appeal by the Hokage, we have been ordered to use the rather more mundane method. We will search your memories directly."

Tenten's eyes opened as his words registered. What on earth? Tsunade had order for her not to be tortured? Why ever would the Hokage have requested that...unless it hadn't been her request...? She struggled to lift her head so she could fix Ibiki with a stare conveying her confusion.

"Oh yes, the word is that somebody appealed to Lady Fifth, pleading for your sentence to be lightened. Whoever they were doesn't seem to understand the word criminal. In any case, that's enough from me. I believe it's time we started learning some more about you. Hokaku – the seal."

Tenten struggled, her neck straining, but it was no use. The guard called Hokaku placed another of the paper seals over her forehead, attaching either end to the dome structure either side of her.

"Inoichi, are you ready?" Ibiki asked, turning.

Tenten recognised that name – Inoichi was Ino Yamanaka's father. Tenten had never been that fond of Ino, being exasperated by her pretentiousness and ridiculous obsession with looking perfect. As if looks should matter to a shinobi.

She tried to move her head, but now that this new seal had been laid across her forehead she couldn't even more her neck. She closed her eyes tight, preparing for the worst. As she mentally steeled herself, she suddenly remembered what Ibiki had said. Somebody had appealed to the Hokage, asking for her sentence to be lightened? She knew no-one who would do such a thing, particularly now she was a rogue shinobi.

She could hear from the footsteps that both her guards and Ibiki were moving away from her, and she guessed that they were taking position around the circle, surrounding her. Her eye and left side of her face was throbbing painfully, but she tried to ignore it, doing her best to stay as calm as possible. All she was sure of was that she must try as hard as possible to keep her mind blank and not think if Akatsuki, particularly Deidara. She didn't want him to be dragged into this.

"On three, I will commence the jutsu. This requires absolute concentration from all of you, so don't start until I give the word." Inoichi said, his deep voice clearly audible throughout the chamber.

"We're ready when you are." Replied Ibiki.

"One."

Tenten's breathing quickened in her chest, despite her desperate attempts to calm herself. She had to admit she was afraid, more so than she had been fighting Deidara and more so than she had met her first Akatsuki member.

"Two"

A cold sweat had broken out on Tenten's brow. It irritated her and just heightened her anxiety, wishing she could just wipe it away. She hated being bound like this; completely helpless. Her chin was forced back by the bonds across her forehead and all of her limbs were impossible to move.

"Three."

A blinding pain overwhelmed Tenten's senses, searing, piercing, like a hot iron was being pressed onto her brain. She tried to yell, but her mouth had gone dry and no sound would form itself in her throat. She could almost feel her captors trying to gain entry to her mind, like daggers being forced into her skull. She wanted it to stop, to be anywhere else than here, and for a moment, she felt just like a frightened child once more.

The pain became more intense as she started to see flickers of the past few days replay in super-fast speed through her mind. The light was so bright and painful, and yet when she closed her eyes it wouldn't go away. It wasn't long before she passed out.

A few hours had passed since Deidara's encounter with the leaf shinobi, and he had since then put a considerable distance between them and himself. From where he was now, it would be only a few more miles until he arrived at his destination; The Village hidden in the Leaves.

He knew that there were bound to be wards and protective jutsu placed around the village so that if somebody entered, the intruder would at once be detected and forces would be sent out to hunt for them. However, even if he was detected, as long as he made sure to lie low once inside the village, he would be alright. Besides, he regarded his artistry as far superior to any jutsu the enemy might wield.

Having decided the trees had dried out sufficiently, he was once again leaping through the thick branches at top speed, having decided that it was definitely to risky to travel via his clay transport bird in case somebody from the village spotted him.

Midnight was quickly approaching now, and the clouds had disappeared finally to reveal the opalescent moon in its heights. It was nearly a full moon, although not quite, and the pale light was illuminating his path clearly ahead of him. However, this did have a disadvantage in that it would mean that the enemy would be able to spot him easily.

After a few more minutes, he paused, standing close to the trunk of the tree in which he stood. He could hear voices coming from below him, and was just quick enough to make his chakra undetectable before the patrol passed.

He had predicted that he would meet with various Leaf patrols when he got to within a few miles of the village, but all the same was relieved that he hadn't been forced to engage in combat this early on. He would need to reserve his chakra for when his real mission of rescuing Tenten began. It was highly likely that he would have to fight off many of the guards at wherever she was being held, assuming that she would be in no state to fight for herself.

After moving continuously for about ten minutes, avoiding patrols as he did so, Deidara found himself at the base of the main wall that encircled the village. It was a solid structure, and he knew it would take a lot of chakra to permeate, but it was still well within his capabilities.

The S-rank criminal looked up at the sky, wondering idly where Tenten was at that moment, and if she was even still alive. When he thought about it, the whole thing seemed like a suicidal, stupid idea. He didn't know why he felt that urge to rescue his kunoichi, but there was one thing he was sure of. If they had hurt her, they were in for a truly artistic demise.

Oh, and I've decided that from now on, I'm going to update on a Friday, once per week. The only reason I'm uploading chapter seventeen today is because I won't have access to my laptop tomorrow! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review!