I'm the worst updater in the world, stupid Doc Manager has updated so I can't put my nice time skip lines in either :c

X - X - X - X

I was a failure as a ninja (despite being a member of the Konoha ANBU) and I totally knew it. From the moment I had even looked into his eyes I knew I was doomed. Looking into the crimson orbs of Uchiha Itachi's Sharingan couldn't have been more of a stupid thing to do. The world faded into black and orange, and I knew that I had been caught in his infamous 'Tsukuyomi'.

I had gotten the information from Kakashi after he had been tortured in this genjutsu for 72 hours, although it's only a few seconds in reality. It gave me the chills, and not in a good way.

I was tied onto a cross, and though I used all my strength to loosen the rope around me, it wouldn't budge. A few paces from me stood Itachi in all his monotonous glory. He looked as apathetic as ever, with an almost bored look in his eyes as he studied me carefully.

There was no sense of time stuck in the genjutsu, which was sorta the point, yet the time Itachi and I spent just staring at one another could have been minutes, yet could have been hours all the same.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, he spoke.

"You shouldn't be here."

...That was it? After 4 years of not seeing each other, I get kidnapped, forced into an organisation of criminals, become a criminal myself, have conflicting thoughts about my wavering loyalty to my village, and met up with my old ...team-mate. And the first thing he says to me has to be the starting point of a lecture.

I felt anger boiling up inside me, but I decided to keep quiet. Secretly I knew that I'd end up annoyed at the uncaring bastard either way, but the more information I could get out of him about the Akastuki until then, the better.

"Shouldn't I? Well what do you know, ya clan murdering, abandoning bastard?"

Apparently this was the wrong thing to say when chained up to a cross in one the strongest genjutsu in the world, because the chains tightened around me, making it harder for me to breath and leaving obvious bruises on my skin.

Itachi took a step forward, his Akatsuki cloak making it hard for me to read his emotions on his face, but his eyes looked sharper than they had a few minutes ago.

"What are you doing here, Kira." There was no emotion in his voice. Fine, if he wanted to play difficult, I was going to make it as difficult as possible for him.

"Me? Just hanging-" Apparently smart-ass responses weren't working either, because it was getting really difficult to breath now. I choked on my own breath, which was now coming out in harsh pants. Still, I wasn't giving in to his grumpy-ass.

"Kira." His voice was a sharp as his eyes. My façade started to fall, as my eyes fell to the floor, drooping slightly.

"Ya know, I'd be able to talk a lot better if you weren't bloody suffocating me with these goddamn chains wrapped around me throat." I struggled to announce through deep pants.

Suddenly, the chains hung loose and I fell to the ground.

He didn't help me up.

I brushed the invisible dust off of my clothes and massaged my extremely sore neck and examined my wrists.

I sighed, running my dirty hands through my long forgotten red hair, letting it tangle itself more than it already had. I looked back up to Itachi who still had the same. Goddamn. Uninterested look on his face.

He pissed me off so bad and he's only been in my presence for no longer than an hour. Ass.

I thought to the last time I had seen him in Konoha, the same night he has murdered his clan, the night I got arrested the the ANBU, the night he, well, kissed me.

The thoughts made me scowl, as it had caused so much un-necessary trouble which could have been avoided quite easily.

I stood opposite him, keeping eye contact this time, I mean it's not like it could get any worse than being in his genjutsu already.

I was irritated by the constant silence and mysterious atmosphere he had going on right now. Aggravated, you could say I was.

"It's not like I had a choice." I mumbled quietly, pulling at the split ends at the end of my crimson hair. It's a nervous habit.

"Hn." Ugh, why couldn't I fight someone who wasn't verbally inept? I'd have no trouble blowing them to pieces with my super, awesome, totally over-powered jutsu's that I don't really have because I'm only a ex-anbu/mediocre Jounin with skills that have been long forgotten in my idiotic head.

But this was Itachi. That made the whole prospect of blowing him to pieces useless, since he already knew half of my arsenal of jutsu's anyway.

Life sucks sometimes.

I said nothing else, till Itachi took another broad step towards me. He was getting close now and it was becoming rather awkward. Not for just the reason you think, but the closer he got, the deeper his glare got. And the deeper his glare got, the less patience he had. And the less patience he had basically meant he was gonna kick my ass.

He stopped about 60 centimetres in front of me, expression no different than it had been at the start.

"If you even attempt to contact Konoha in any way, Leader-sama will know about it. And he won't spare you. Stop gambling with your life and accept the fact that you're a rogue ninja now. I suggest you do so quickly too, because any look of despair will have you killed quicker than you can scream for help from that village you love so much."

I frowned. How did he know? Of course he knew. He was Uchiha Itachi. Prodigy of Konoha, youngest ANBU captain ever, the infamous ninja who was mostly known for killing off his entire clan in one night, leaving nobody but his little brother behind, only for him to grow up in hatred and bitterness, swearing revenge.

How could he hate Konoha? Where he was born and raised and cared for until he was old enough to become a ninja. Someone who held such close ties to the village doesn't just...lose them in one night. Maybe he was always crazy, and Jirou and I never really found out until the massacre. There were plenty of possibilities to the mystery that was Uchiha Itachi.

A possibility I was going to solve.

Suddenly, without warning the genjutsu around me released itself and we were back into the trees we were in beforehand. Itachi's face was still in an emotionless mask, yet when he spoke, it was loud enough to echo itself around the entire forest area.

"It seems you have broken out of my genjutsu. That's interesting, wouldn't you say, Leader-sama?"

Wait.. what? What was he doing? I didn't break out of it, he just released it.

"It seems so, Itachi. Interesting. I was hoping to see more skills from you in terms of Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, but this shall suffice for now. You have proven yourself worthy, Kitamura Kira. Let's hope I was right about my choice of sparing your life, yes?" Pein's voice spoke with so much authority that it literally shook you. It was really amazing, but slightly intimidating at the same time.

I gave a weak nod of my head at the Leader's words, and muttered out a low sounding 'Yes, Leader-sama.'

"I shall leave her in your hands Itachi, make sure she doesn't get lost." Pein body flickered away so fast, I almost missed it. That was some serious speed right there, and despite this being an organisation of criminals, I thought maybe I could learn a thing or two while I'm here?

Wait. Processing his words, did he leave me with Itachi? Ugh, see? Even the wannabe Kami was out to get me, let alone the real one.

Still, I was slightly confused about something. Turning to Itachi, I voiced my thoughts.

"Why did you do that?" People don't just do that. Mind you, he probably just saved my skin from Leader-sama, so I maybe was a little thankful. I wasn't going to tell him that though.

"Hn." Of course, no answer as usual. I sighed, tiredly. Who knew the Tsukuyomi could take so much out of you? Just now, I noticed a small stream on the other side of the clearing. I decided to go wash my face up a little, who knows, my thoughts may even clear up a little too.

Taking a slow walk to the other side of the clearing was relieving for me, in a way. Walking away from Itachi's presence made me feel a little more relaxed, as I now didn't feel his heated gaze on my back half the time.

I dipped my hands into the water, cupping them and bringing them to my face, washing it intently. After a sufficient amount of scrubbing, I looked at my reflection in the water. My blood red hair was knotty, and my blueish eyes looked fiercer than I felt, with my eyebrows furrowed. I looked...stressed.

What I wouldn't give for a massage right now. Continuing to stare at my annoyed expression in the water, I didn't even notice the chakra signal of Itachi approaching behind me. When his face appeared above mine in the water, I jumped a little.

"Don't creep up on me like that Uchiha! You're lucky I didn't shove a kunai down your throat for that." I grumbled, annoyed.

"If you didn't notice my chakra signal then you wouldn't be here. Besides, we need to leave. This training ground is shared between all members when here."

I looked up from Itachi and over to the doorway in which we came in, noticing 2 cloaked men standing just outside it, their postures looking slack and overall bored."

I sighed, throwing the last bit of water on my face, before standing up, stretching a little.

"I'll leave, if you give me a back massage, of course. It's too hot out here anyway." I answered, fanning myself with my hand only now realizing how hot it actually was.

"No." Itachi refused immediately. I pouted. Meanie pants. He was seriously a ball of broody emotions. Just like his brother.

"Gah, you're no fun. Well is there a hot springs near by? I don't happen to look this young by magic now!" I grinned, finding humour in an uncomfortable Itachi. I wonder how much he could take before he... snaps. Heh.

"Kira, you're 18. You are young." Itachi reminded me, his voice void of emotion.

"Oh how sweet of you to remember!" I fluttered my eyelashes and gave him a flirtatious smile. No effect whatsoever.

I sighed. After seeing Itachi for so long did affect me. It really did. It annoyed me to know end to see him wasting his talents in an organisation such as Akatsuki. Shame. I guess that's where he came to after the murder of his clan.

The Uchiha Clan Massacre was an interesting, if not painful topic for me. Of course it was the night Itachi kissed me then left, but it was also the night I was arrested. Well, it was the early morning after, but same thing.

Strange thing was though, the arrest was from the ANBU members of Konoha, who were directly under the Hokage, yet the Hokage didn't give them any instruction or order to arrest me. It was completely out of hand, 4 ANBU members acting completely out of order to arrest me for the association and communication of Uchiha Itachi minutes before the Uchiha Clan Massacre.

Of course I understand where they're coming from, and to me that sounded almost rational, but for the love of Kami I was his team mate. Of course I would have talked to him. Despite that, there was still something that I didn't get. Or well a few things. After I was arrested, apparently the 4 ANBU members contacted the Hokage. After spending the rest of the early hours of the morning locked in a smelly prison cell, the Hokage come down and let me go, free of all charges.

So apparently the Hokage must have found some evidence of my innocence, because he let me go with a smile on his face. It wasn't as simple as that though. The 4 ANBU members were strange. They questioned the Hokage's actions, -something an ANBU should never do- and were insistent in my guiltiness. I've never heard the Hokage yell so much at somebody before, it was terrifying.

So that was strange, yet whenever I asked the Sandaime about it, he only gave me vague answers, which weren't really answers at all. He even went the extra mile to ignore my question completely. It was infuriating, and even though I almost screamed the Hokage's building down, I never got an answer from him.

Maybe he just knew I wouldn't associate with him if I'd had known he was a lunatic the entire time.

Or maybe he knew something he wasn't willing to share.

Kage's secrets, ya know? Every village has them. There are rumours about the secrets of the Hidden Villages which would make even the nicest of people resent them.

Of course they were just rumours, but it was a little uncomfortable to think of. Your own village harbouring deadly secrets in the shadows of your home town. Not pleasant to think of.

So yeah after I was released, I became an ANBU member myself not long later. I'm not sure if I can even tell you about the ANBU exam or anything that goes with it, but there is a part where you have to choose your own mask.

Your own mask of an animal was the usual uniform of an ANBU member, as you rarely saw them on duty without them. Also, when a member of the ANBU is killed, their mask is put back into the box ready to be re-used.

So after I passed my ANBU exam, they gave me the box of masks, showing the animals on the front of them.

There was only half a dozen, but 5 of the 6 masks had me frozen.

The 4 masks of those ANBU members who attacked me not a few months before, and of course, a weasel. Itachi's old ANBU mask.

I picked up the mask of one of the ANBU members who had arrested me, and turned to the man assisting me and questioning my thoughts.

He spoke as though he'd been in ANBU his entire life, as his voice was plain and dull, as well as his expression.

"That mask, and the 3 others in there belonged to an ANBU group, killed off not too long ago."

"How?"

"Well nobody really knows how, you see. It happens sometimes. ANBU are killed off by rogues, and criminals and other things."

"Other things such as?"

"Uh, I don't know. Look, just pick your damn mask and let's just get on with it, yeah?"

He wasn't very nice, but I soon grew to learn that nobody in ANBU was really nice at all.

Although I did make a friend.

"Kira." I zoned back into reality, and found myself staring at the water again. I looked up at Itachi.

"Let's go." Who died and made him leader of Akatsuki? I grumbled a few colourful words, but got up and followed unwillingly after him.

X - X - X - X

"I wasn't kidding about that back massage you know. My poor muscles are suffering the stain of having to put up with your stupid non-existent expression once again."

We were back into the creepy cave of the Akatsuki base, sat in the sort of 'living area' of the place. The one with the fireplace... yeah. I was sat in one of the old looking armchairs that looks like it had belonged to my grandmother, and Itachi was busy the other side of the room where the bookcase was.

We were alone.

It was awkward, and Itachi wasn't doing anything to help lighten the situation. He was just searching through his stupid bookcase with the un-even shelving.

I crept up on him, even though my chakra was more of a give-away.

"Watcha doin'? Looking for books eh? You know I'm sure you've probably read all these so go sit by the fire and warm your cold exterior up and let me choose something to read."

Itachi didn't look impressed, but he walked away and sat by the fireplace anyway. I scanned my eyes over the spines of the books, searching for something appropriate to read. I could even see a copy of 'Make Out Paradise' shoved at the top somewhere, which gave me an eye twitch. After scanning some more, I realized that all these are just shinobi books about training and whatnot.

I groaned in annoyance and bent down to see what was at the bottom. There was a series of old bingo books, including a newer looking one that Jounin and ANBU members were normally given to hunt down any criminals. It looked pretty recent, so I grabbed it and sat on the floor by the fire, ignoring Itachi's curious gaze burning into the back of my skull.

Opening it, I flicked through the pages until I came across a person that was familiar.

Name: Kitamura Kira (Crimson Storm)

I have a nickname? Sweet.

Age: 18

And so forth. I never knew I was in the bingo book, how did I miss that?

Affliction: Konohagakure.

So it wasn't that recent. I was secretly relieved it still had Konoha on there instead of Akatsuki, because I can just imagine how much un-wanted trouble that would of caused.

Gender: Female

Oh really? I'm glad they worked that one out. It's not like the picture on the right was a dead give-away.

Appearance: Red hair, blue eyes, etc.

My eyes were sometimes purple too. And who even puts 'etc' on appearance? Whoever wrote this obviously sucks. I turned the page, feeling annoyed that my appearance was just 'etc' for some people. What jerks. I have feelings too. I mean ya know. 'Feelings'. Shinobi weren't allowed feelings, so putting them in quotation marks made it automatically OK for me.

The next page had Itachi on it. It had name, age, rank, etc. on it as well.

"Heh, look at this picture of you Itachi! You're not even glaring or anything. Makes a change, eh?" I smiled up to him deviously. He looked unimpressed.

Again.

To my surprise, his arm shot out of his Akatsuki cloak and grabbed the bingo book straight out of my hands, and threw it with (obviously) outstanding speed and accuracy straight back into the bookcase.

No fun whatsoever.

I looked into the fire, watching the fire dance as the logs burnt. There was something incredibly peaceful about fire. It held so much warmth to it.

Warmth that made my eyes droop and fall into the back of my head as I drifted off to sleep in the early hours of the afternoon.

Little did I know about the onyx pair of orbs staring at my figure as I slept peacefully by the fire.

X - X - X - X

I actually apologise so bad. Well I seem to do that every chapter, but I've dubbed myself the World's Shittiest Updater. How embarrassing. If I've spelt things wrong or written something that makes no sense that maybe cause it's midnight and I suck.

But yeah, ignoring all that, I feel as though my writing skill has improved maybe a tiny-winy bit. Or maybe it hasn't. I don't know. So leave me a review to let me know what you think of the chapter, ok? ^^ c: