Technically this is chapter 10 xD

and we're picking up right where we left off! So if you're kind of lost

You should probably go back to chapter 9 and re-read it or just the ending...

Anyways!~ I shall stop dilly-dallying and get to it!

Enjoy :3

Ashley~~

Still Itachi's POV:

But other than that, I waited until she was done and then ushered her out into the living room. Everyone else was awake it looked like, and Kisame looked ready to leave.

My gaze flashed to Pein, silently consulting with him-even though I figured Kisame had already worded our request. His nod and glance to Kisame proved my assumption, and I asked Kisame how long we'd be permitted to be gone.

"Two days," he replied as he stood by the door, and my eyes flashed in agreement as I turned to Ashley and told her to go grab a spare set of clothes through the translator. She nodded, her eyes showing slight confusion before she scurried back to our room. Kisame and I strode through the door, saying goodbye to the others and waiting outside for Ashley.

Ashley's POV:

(Btw (btw is getting annoying... I'll try and think of something more interesting... like... FIRE.) this is while she's going back to the room and coming back from packing for the two day trip.) For some weird reason...,"I feel like I want to set something on fire," I whined to Raylin as I came back with the backpack-I'd emptied the contents for the others to use, since I really didn't need a whole bag of food and some clothes for this trip considering Itachi had said ONE set of spare clothes. I was using the backpack because I mean really, how awkward would it be to be carrying around a spare set of clothes while flying through the trees?

Picture it, love it, marry it. Note to self: next time you spend an afternoon in a room alone, don't go insane. Check. Raylin giggled at me, as did the others, before I gave them hugs. Considering the spare set of clothes, I figured we'd be away from the base for at least today and part of tomorrow. I hoped. There was no telling what the crap we were going to do in that time.

Umm... picture happy things like... Zombies and Unicorns having an epic battle of whits while you and Kisame and Itachi watch... Ok, calm down Ashley. Like, right now. "I'll be back whenever, and Ray's in charge," I said with a smile as I slung the backpack over my back, listening to the groans of protest and catching Ray's evil grin. What can I say? I couldn't let Catie or Alice take charge, because somehow I just knew that when we came back there'd be at least a few ticked off Akatsuki members and something very bad (but hilarious) being the cause of it.

I closed the door behind me and curled my toes in my shoes, getting ready to run with Itachi-san and Kisame-san. Thankfully, the soreness from two days ago was now gone, though I figured it'd be brought up again in a couple hours. Oh well, let's do this!

Kisame motioned for me to follow him and Itachi as they moved towards the huge statue, and I found myself becoming alarmed for a moment-before I thought things through. They couldn't drain my chakra, since I didn't have a demon within me, and my thought was proved right a few moments later when the two Akatsuki men passed in front of the figure and into another offset cave/hallway thing.

I figured that if this one was going to be as long as the last one, I might as well make use of my time, since I didn't have the luxury of English speaking companions with me. What I ended up doing was trailing behind Kisame, trying to follow his movements and walk silently like he was-I didn't do it to Itachi yet because I thought it might annoy him. Both of them, however, seemed to not to notice-or they were ignoring it-for their eyes roved about the darkness.

Even if it seemed like we were alone, there was no telling what could be lurking in the darkness, and they knew it. So while they watched for possible threats, I mimicked Kisame's footfalls-looking closely at the way he gently pressed each foot to the ground before moving another step. My brow furrowed in concentration, and once I started getting the hang of it, I tried to walk more like a lady, swaying my hips softly.

So I suppose you can't fault me for flinching when the two started speaking in Japanese, totally taking me off guard. Especially when they chuckled and made small talk that I couldn't understand. I had to resist the urge to pout, and then decided to keep practicing on my movements.

Kisame's POV: (OH YEA, finally!)

It was amusing, listening to our apprentice follow behind us, I'll admit it. She hadn't quite got the hang of it yet, but she was making progress, I could hear it as her steps became lighter-just barely making noise as she followed me like a kitten follows it's mothers tail.

"She's something, isn't she," I stated to Itachi-san, and we both chuckled slightly before he replied,"At least she's trying." That was not something you usually expect Itachi to say, he was always resigned, but lately.. lately you could definitely tell something was happening within him. You could also see it clearly in Deidara, but he wasn't holding back much, unlike Itachi.

It was.. actually nice to see him a little more loose, and I found it amusing how his eyes spoke so many different things whenever he looked at the girl that we were teaching. I'll admit, it was semi surprising to see him and Deidara react this way, but it was also good to see them at least relaxing around each other-before this, they'd been at each other's throats.

I think that Deidara was being more calm about it, though, he was getting to know his apprentice every day, and the way they gravitated towards one another made it known that he was going with the flow of things. Itachi wasn't, he was wary, on guard, and denying things. But I figured that in time he'd grow used to the girl and at least let her in.

It'd be nice to see him have a little peace.

I rolled my shoulders and adjusted my sword-Ashley was my responsibility as well now, and she was growing on me too, just not in the way she was Itachi. She was more like... a daughter, to me. I found myself wondering what Pein's original plan was for us all-we still had no idea why he wanted us to take them from their world, since we could have just as easily picked stray orphans or something from our world to train.

I mentally sighed, whatever his intention was, it seemed to be a good one.

"So, are we staying in a hotel or in the forest?" Itachi asked, and I replied,"Hotel, it's safer, especially if she finds a sword today. The Seven Swordsmen could decide any fate for her, and if we were in the forest and that fate was death, then I wouldn't like the odds." That was true, even if we could fend all of them off well enough, but we had an untrained girl with us, and if they swarmed us, she'd get in the way.

I didn't like having to put us in danger, but I also didn't wish to go to a gilder in one of the villages. Most of them held shabby swords that were already used and had been put up for sale. Needless to say, the swords that Chojuro had started making when he'd been recruited into the Seven Swordsmen were some of the best I'd seen. (ok that bit of info I made up because I researched the Seven swordsmen and was like 'omg what if they made swords' and 'omg wait... it says none of them do.. well... pick the best one for the job' soo... yeah xD oh and I also changed his look cuz back when I first found him there was no pic of him so don't get too confused with him and the real anime character's look...)

Even after I'd been in the Akatsuki for a while, I still visited him every now and then to observe some of his recent masterpieces. Samehada wasn't one of his, but he still loved the way it was created, often trying to recreate it. It'd been a while since I'd gone to his shop, and I couldn't wait to see the possibilities for our apprentice. (Chojuro... is a fun name. Say it out loud five times fast :))

I let my eyes scan the darkness of the cave again-we were taking it slow solely because it was still early, and we had all day tomorrow as well. Pein had consulted with me privately before the others were awake, and told me that he expected us back by midnight tomorrow night. "Alright," Itachi replied after a while, and I caught his eyes, he was watching Ashley again, with amusement, now.

I hadn't heard her footsteps in a while, and was pleased when I looked back to find her following my footsteps with the same silent footfalls. "Kakuzu actually gave you the money for a hotel room?" Itachi asked, and I snorted,"Surprisingly, yeah, I think Pein's been hounding him on sharing again." We both chuckled again at that, Greedy Kakuzu barely ever shared benefits, unless necessary.

It wasn't much longer before Ashley switched to following Itachi; I hadn't been watching her closely when she was directly behind me, but now I did, and I tried not to laugh. She was indeed like a kitten following it's mothers' tail, as I'd said. But the way her brow furrowed while she adjusted to Itachi's movements-his were always naturally stealthy, a lot more so than mine-made me admire her slightly. She was persistent, that was for sure.

But that was a good thing, for it showed that my original assumption of her was right-she'd be easy to teach. It was a relief, because some of the other girls would be difficult. In the end, though, because of how she'd calmed them that first day, Ashley had won us some of their trust, so maybe it wouldn't be that hard.

I think Ashley got bored of tracking our movements, because once we left the cave she started flitting about. She kept within our bounds, though, racing between us and sometimes hopping into the trees and stalking us. She even tackled me to the ground once, which caught us both off guard. We'd thought she was ahead of us, not right there.

It made us laugh. Before long, Itachi told her to settle down, considering she was becoming a bit loud and could alert us to possible threats. That was when we took to the trees, me taking the lead with Ashley behind me and Itachi taking up the rear as we raced through the branches. It was reassuring to see her keeping up so well.

We took a break after about two hours of straight running-though Itachi and I never let our guard down. We were about an hour or so outside of the Mist village, and Chojuro's shop was set up on the boundaries of the village. So we took our sweet time-our break place was by a stream.

Itachi and I lounged with our cloaks off in the slight sunlight that streamed through the leaves, while Ashley took off her shoes and socks and waded in the water. I would have joined her, but I was having more fun watching Itachi stalk her with his eyes. Many emotions flickered in his gaze as he watched her, and I had to resist the urge to tell him to suck it up and be like Deidara.

I had a feeling that if I had said it, I would be at the bottom of that stream right now.

My gaze was drawn away as Ashley squealed, but I relaxed and found myself becoming puzzled as she held up a wriggling form in her hands. She was clutching it tightly-and I realized a second later that it was a fish.

There seemed to be no end to the amusement this girl could invoke.

OK! there's that chapter :D

Hope you liked x.x I know it's been forever and again I apologize immensely for the delay

I'm hoping that once I get more acquainted with my school schedule I should be in a better position to update frequently/write a LOT more

since the book I want to publish is now pretty much done

and yeah (:

Love you guys! Sorry it took forever!

~MEEEEEE