I don't really know what happened to me. I mean, one second I was doing dishes and yelling at my brothers, the next, I was in a dark chamber, surrounded by a ring of people staring at me. The only light was one trained on me, and seeing a bunch of eyes in the dark was kind of creepy.

I was just standing there, hands soapy with a dishrag clenched in my right hand, a spoon in my left, just watching these people, who were watching me just as intently. My mind had frozen, along with my body, and I was unable to think. Really, nothing came to mind. Not that it never happens, but I usually have something going on up there.

"I thought you said we were doing a demon summoning."

"Something must have gone wrong."

My eyes tracked the voices, one with red eyes, the other with eyes that contained rings. Yeah, people where I lived were weird, but none this weird.

"Are you fucking kidding me?! We spend a fucking week pouring our chakra into this jutsu, and it doesn't work?! What the hell?!"

"Shut up."

I glanced to the two next speakers, standing next to each other. One had angry violet-pink eyes, the other red and green ones with no pupils.

"Well, this is annoying, un."

"Quiet brat."

The next two were on the other side of me, and I had to rotate my head to look at them. One had a feminine outline, though by the voice I knew he was male, and the other was short and fat. Really short. He maybe came up to my waist, and that was saying something.

"Well, I wonder what went wrong. This is most unusual."

My eyes flicked to another shadow, with a large object carried on his back. He exuded an air of menace, like the rest of them.

Feeling returning to my limbs, I edged around, trying to find a way to get away from them, eyes wide and spoon clenched in my fist like it would be able to save me. My mouth opened slightly to pant, the way it always did when adrenaline rushed through my limbs. I highly doubted I would be able to do something against them, but I was sure as hell going to die trying if they attacked me.

"What should we do with her?"

The voice whispered from my left, and I whirled around, unconsciously hissing, resorting back to the way I act when I go through walks in the forest I call my backyard. I never talked there, and if something startled me, I always growled and yelped. Yeah, I'm weird. So what?

Anyways, the speaker was also shadowed, with two golden eyes. Leaves seemed to swallow his body, and I edged away from him, instinctively afraid. Nothing in nature looked like that. At least, not in my nature. Who knew where I was now.

"If she's not a demon, she's useless."

I glanced at the man with ringed eyes, the one who had spoken. The lack of emotion in his voice chilled me, and my grip on the metal utensil tightened. Something was being decided now, and I had a feeling it wouldn't turn out well for me.

"If she's fucking useless, can I at least use her for a ritual?"

The ring-eyed man shrugged.

"Go ahead."

The violet eyed man grinned and lunged at me, coming into the light. My mind had enough time to register his steel-colored hair before something red swung out and grazed my arm, drawing blood. I tried pulling away, but as always, my reaction time was horrible, and by the time I moved, he was already away, smiling at me.

Anger swept through me like a red tide, and I blacked out again, the world fading away though a haze of red and silver.

When I came to again, I was standing in the center of the ring again, body soaked in some unknown liquid. The spoon was bent and twisted in my hands, and I glanced down, yelping and dropping it when I realized my entire arm was covered in blood.

The spoon clattering to the floor, I raised my hands toward my face, looking in shock at them. I knew without a doubt that the rest of my body was covered in the blood as well, but I didn't know where it had come from. It wasn't the blood itself that bothered me, it was not knowing what had happened.

I looked out in front of me, and finally saw the torn limbs strewn about the ground, the remains of the one that had attacked me. Horror washed through me, and I ran forward, tripping and falling to my knees beside the pieces, hands trying to put them together again, muttering, "No, no, no, no, no…." over and over again without realizing it.

The eyes around me stared at me with a renewed interest, glittering brightly. I ignored them and continued in my futile task of putting the broken limbs back together, while that horrible nursery rhyme ran through my head.

"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men, couldn't put Humpty together again." What a horrible song to be teaching children.

"That's enough."

I ignored the voice and kept muttering, choking on sobs as I kept trying, because I had to fix it, I had to.

"I said that's enough."

Someone came up to me, pulling me away while another picked up the head, or what was left of it. The bottom jaw had been ripped off, an eye gouged out. I almost vomited, but managed to hold it down.

As the head turned to face me, the eyes flicked toward me in a glare, locked on me, and I screamed. I screamed until I blacked out yet again, the person holding my arm trying to hold me up.

I woke up yet again, in a room so white it was almost cruel as the glow penetrated my eyes. I cringed and snapped them shut again, trying to move my arm to cover my eyes. Something tugged at it, hurting something tender, and I opened my eyes to look, curiosity getting the better of me.

I saw various needles emerging from my arm, hooked up to many different machines and tubes of liquid. My eyes narrowed in confusion, and I tilted my head slightly to the side, again being my odd self. I really needed to stop acting like a dog half the time.

Sighing, I turned my head, wondering about my surroundings. I saw the one who had picked up the head examining some papers, turned away from me and not noticing me awake. Not wanting to disturb him, I looked the other way, wanting to know.

Of course, ignorance is sometimes best.

On the bed next to me was the one I had apparently torn apart, swathed in bandages and sleeping deeply. I stared dumbly for a moment, then screamed again when the arm twitched, twisting away from him.

The needles tore through my arm, pain dominating all senses for a second, and I was on the floor, trying to crawl away from the man who should have been dead. The one with the papers came up behind me, harshly grabbing my arm and yanking me to my feet, strange string-like things snagging my arms.

I really needed to stop being such an idiot. I looked, and saw the thread-like things emerging from his skin, making horror wash through me. I screamed again and tried to pull away, yelping almost non-stop.

The man in bandages woke up, violet eyes flashing open, and he rose to glare at me, groaning, as my surroundings finally became too much for me and I began sobbing like a baby, curling up into a ball on the floor.

"Are you finally done screaming?"

Whimpering, I nodded, not caring at the sarcasm in his voice. He looked down at me, obviously disgusted, and walked out of the room, giving the one with bandages a warning look.

The violet-eyes man glared at his back, then flicked his gaze to me, eyes murderous. He opened his jaws, grimacing in pain, and spoke to me.

"Oi, bitch, what the fuck are you?"

I only looked up at him, eyes wide, and he snorted.

"What the fuck? You see a few guys that aren't human and you're reduced to fucking nothing? How the fuck did you tear me to pieces?"

"How are you alive?"

My voice startled both of us, and we both blinked simultaneously. It hadn't been very loud, but the differences between my accent and his were obvious. Being in an ethnically diverse family, I had almost no trouble understanding different accents, but it was clear he couldn't understand me very well.

"What the fuck did you just say? Jashin damn it, I couldn't understand a word that came out of your mouth."

"I said, how are you still alive?"

I spoke a little louder, as loud as my throat could handle at the moment, and slowed down the words. My friends had always said I talked fast.

"I'm a priest of Jashin-sama. He gives me my immortality."

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't seem to wrap my mind around this. However, before I could ask more, three more people walked in the room, the man from before, the short and fat one, and the one with the ringed eyes. I immediately distrusted him, curling up tighter in my corner, watching him carefully. My arm throbbed, and my background thoughts complained quietly.

"So you're awake."

I stayed silent, knowing he didn't want me to talk. Don't ask how, but I knew. I guess it was like a rhetorical question, only a statement. A rhetorical statement?

"Now, what are you?"

"What are you talking about?"

He frowned at the accent, and I tried again, trying to imitate theirs. Easier said than done. They had a strange habit of clipping their words, while mine tended to run together, and their 'r's were hissed slightly, a speech I knew I could only pick up with time.

"What are you talking about?" I repeated, talking slower.

The man with ringed eyes narrowed mentioned eyes slightly, looking at me with a calculated gaze. His face was covered in piercings, but by the way they were placed, they seemed to have a use. Yes, I'm being weird again.

"You tore Hidan apart with little effort. You laughed. You had claws and fangs. Now, I repeat, what are you?"

"I was laughing?" I asked, horrified. Despite how I act at times, and where I work, I really am peaceful. The idea of laughing while tearing someone limb from limb…… I shuddered.

The man with ringed eyes frowned, then signaled to the short one, who shuffled forward to grab my arm. His grip was tight on the area I had ripped the needles from, and I winced. He ignored this and continued dragging me out of the room, not giving me time to even rise to my feet. Finally, I managed to gain them, and followed him out the door, feeling the others' gazes on me.

I walked I don't know how long, following the short man. He seemed to be very impatient, and every time I stumbled, he harshly dragged me back to my feet, bruising my arm. However, at least I was smart enough to stay silent, a miracle for me.

We reached our destination apparently, though I really didn't know where it was. I could feel a damp heat emerging from the darkness, and the man's gravelly voice spoke.

"You will bathe in there. Clothes will be waiting out here when you are finished. Afterwards, I will bring you to eat. You will eat swiftly, and we will go to a meeting. You have an hour to do all these. Understood?"

His accent was remarkably similar to mine, and I was silent for a moment before nodding fearfully. He grunted and let go of me, half pushing me into the dark room. Of course, I stumbled, nearly falling flat on my face. Almost. I managed to catch myself in time, and walked in, lightly dragging a hand on the wall so I wouldn't get lost.

My foot landed in some hot water, and I squealed slightly before pulling back, shaking it to get the water off my shoes. Listening intently, after all, who knew what creeps were hiding in the dark, I undressed, slipping into the steaming water when I was unclothed.

Trying to hurry, I scrubbed at my skin with my bare hands, not bothering trying to find the soap in the blackness. I could almost feel the blood running off me, and it felt wonderful. The scent of copper filled the room, and my stomach growled, embarrassing me. Of course, when one has eaten many a raw meat, blood has come to represent food to my stomach. Hey, don't look at me like that. I was too hungry to wait for the food to cook. And I have eaten worse.

When I felt my skin was clean, I took a deep breath and dived underwater, trying to get the blood from my mid-length hair. The strands ran easily through my fingers, and I frowned slightly underwater. Since when has my hair not tangled?

Out of breath, I surfaced, panting quietly. Automatically, I reached for a towel, a habit from home. My blood ran cold when I actually found something soft and fluffy, and my bloody clothes not where I had left them. Someone had come and taken away the dirty clothes, leaving a towel and some clean ones. The only people I had seen so far had been males, and my face flushed at the thought of one of them coming in here. But, there was nothing I could do, so I stepped out, listening as hard as I could while I dried.

Picking up the clothing, I tried to figure out what they were with my fingers, but the only things I could definitely figure out were the loose pants and panties. I slipped them on, surprised they fit me. The chances, right? Fingers fumbling around more, I found a bra and what resembled a shirt, though I couldn't figure out how to fasten it. I put on the bra as well, then tried to shove my arms through the sleeves, grumbling when they ended at the elbow. I hated shirts like that.

Figuring out the ties in front, I strapped it up, hoping I was doing it right. I also didn't really know the consistency of the material, so it could be see-through for all I knew. But again, there was nothing I could do, so I just sighed and walked toward the light, toward the impatiently waiting man.

In the hallway, I saw him and another, a blond with blue eyes. His outline seemed familiar, and I remembered him as the one that had called me annoying. Great.

The short one wordlessly began walking, and I followed, walking barefoot since I had found no shoes. In all honesty, it didn't really bother me, since I preferred walking barefoot anyways.

The blond came up behind me, saying, "You messed up on the shirt a bit, un. Let me help."

I had no choice but to stand still, blushing as he undid it and tied it again. He smiled a bit at my red face, but a grumpy growl from the short one caused me to hurry after him, not wanting to upset these people. I wanted to live, dammit.

We kept walking through the dimly lit tunnels for a while, long enough for my short attention span to wander. It didn't take much, really. However, I soon regretted it when the shorter one came to an abrupt halt, and I almost walked into him. I managed not to, but looked ridiculous in the process. Fantastic.

"You have fifteen minutes to eat. Deidara will show you what there is."

A few short words, and I was left to myself again, with the blond I presumed to be Deidara. Said blond walked forward, and I followed, starving. I don't know how long I was out, but it was long enough for my belly to empty.

Deidara led me to a rickety looking fridge and opened it, dramatically waving his arm at the insides. I looked in and cringed, seeing moldy foods I didn't really want to recognize. Peering a bit more, I found some bits and pieces that looked edible and pulled them out, sniffing them cautiously. Deidara chuckled and followed me to the table, leaning against the wall as I set the items down.

I picked up a bit of cheese and scratched the moldy bits off, burying my teeth in it as soon as it was clean. Cheese never does actually go bad, but the mold isn't good for you. Pawing through the other stuff, I grabbed a few stalks of wilted celery, eating that as soon as I stomached the cheese. It had a slight burn going down, but I've eaten worse. I don't think you really want to know, either.

The bread I thought looked good turned out to be rock-hard, and I set it down in disgust. After years of a neat fridge, this was revolting to me. I picked up some greasy bits of meat, smelling it was still good but not quite knowing what it was. Once I tasted it, though, I recognized the tang of venison, and I gobbled it eagerly. Venison was a common food at my old house.

Having devoured everything edible, I stood up, looking at Deidara. Wordlessly, he led me back out of the kitchen, to the shorter one. We apparently got out early, because he gave us a shrewd look before continuing his walk. I followed again, trying to pay attention this time. Yeah, right.

Before I knew it, we were outside another room, looking up at the door. Feeling a sense of menace, I cringed away from the wooden door, but the shorter one pushed it open, herding me inside.

It was dark, just as the first room I had appeared in was, with a circle of chairs surrounding a lone chair set at a table, the light aiming at it and keeping the rest of the seats in shadow. Almost all the chairs were filled, and Deidara pushed me toward the one in the center before going to sit himself. The shorter one didn't sit, instead just huddling off to the side.

Feeling self-conscious, I walked slowly toward the chair, feeling their gazes upon me. I sat down, trying to shrink myself into the wooden chair. Looking around, I could see the one I had injured earlier watching me as well, and I shrank under his glare. He didn't look very healthy at the moment, and I winced in memory.

The one with the ringed eyes cleared his throat, and we all looked toward him. From this, I could guess he was the leader. Fantastic.

"What is your name?"

What, no pleasantries?

"My name is Tally", I said quietly, looking at him directly. Hey, I may be a coward, but I was a brave coward.

"Where did you come from?"

"I came from New York….."

"Where is that?"

"I don't really know….. where am I?"

The silence was almost deafening, and I shrunk yet more.

"You do not know where you are?"

"No. One moment I was washing dishes, the next…… I was here."

The man frowned and leaned forward slightly, watching me intently.

"What are your skills?"

"Excuse me?"

His eyes hardened, and I cringed yet again.

"I asked you what your abilities are. Now answer the question."

Feeling frightened, I said, "I can wash dishes, clean, cook a little bit, I get along well with animals…… um, I can garden and raise and butcher farm animals……. Uh……….. I can draw a bit……"

They all looked sharply up at the word 'draw', and I wondered what that had to do with anything.

The next thing I knew, a pencil and a few sheets of paper appeared in front of me, making me yelp in shock. A few chuckled a bit, but soon quieted.

"Draw something."

I bit my lower lip and looked at him nervously, wondering just what I was supposed to do. Did he want me to draw something particular, or what else….?

Unsure, I picked up the pencil, lightly scratching a few lines and highly aware of my audience. I wasn't really sure what I was drawing, and my lines took the vague outline of a canine, something I normally drew. However, as an idea hit me, I stopped.

They weren't looking for something plain. They wanted something that would mark me as unique, in whatever way. Closing my eyes, I let the ideas flow into my mind, concentrating on creating a monster I had never drawn before.

Opening my eyes gently, I started the lines again, sketching light circles to mark major joints. A hushed muttering occurred at the seemingly senseless drawing, but I ignored it, starting to sink into the zone I get when I focus on something. My eyes hazed over, all sound was blocked, and I was only focused on one thing.

The circles eventually grew four legs, all ending in razor-sharp talons attached to cat-like paws. A thick tail ended in a sharp blade, and a canine head branched a thick neck. Over-sized fangs dripped saliva, three showing, two pointing down, one in between pointing up through the lips. Four eyes donned its head, slitted pupils glaring at the viewer. A short body emphasized the long tail, and muscular legs supported the weight. A light layer of fur covered its body, and ram-like horns were added to its skull. Spikes layered down its back, and only shading needed to be completed after that. A few gently strokes added a second life, and a glint in the eyes heightened its glare. Picking it up to look over it afterwards, I became aware of the muttering around me, slowly descending back to this world.

"Sasori, is there anything you could do with that?"

"There is a possibility."

I looked at the shorter man, the one the ring-eyes one had called Sasori. Somehow, I knew that I had passed some sort of test, and I smiled slightly in relief. I might yet live after all.

They all looked at me oddly, whispering amongst themselves. I felt the familiar cold creep over me, and I shrunk back in the chair again, putting down the drawing. Something major was being decided.

Finally, the ring-eyes man nodded.

"Tally, you will be trained by Sasori until further notice. You will obey every command he gives you. Is that understood?"

I nodded, voice gone. What did he mean by training?

"Good. Everyone, leave."

Some seemed to vanish, and my eyes widened at the sight. Others gave me odd looks as they left the room, heading through the tunnels. Sasori and Deidara came up to me, and I cringed, rising to my feet, ready to follow.

"Grab the drawing."

I looked at the drawing, wondering what was so important about it, but grabbed the sheet, holding it between two fingers. Whatever was going to happen, this drawing had caused it.