I am so overwhelmed that so many of you have interest in this story. I apologize for the slow update and hope to get back on track soon!

Also the moth to be mentioned in this chapter is one that I have in my own personal collection and can personally attest to its beauty as well as tenacity as a member of the sphinx moth family. Almost every sphinx I've personally caught was caught because it dive-bombed myself or a member of my family. They're completely harmless and rather silly creatures. Perfect for Sachi.

Respectively, Kishimoto owns his characters, as I do mine.

X

The sun was beginning to set, the trees all looked the same, the rocks all looked the same. Everything they had past in the last two days had looked exactly the same. Sachi was ready to kill Kisame; Kisame was ready to kill her, when out of the shifty shadows a voice broke their violent thoughts. The exchanged a confused look, they were knee-deep in River Country, which didn't have it's own shinobi fighting force.

Sachi peered into the dense foliage around them.

"You heard that right?" whispered Sachi.

"You bet. They with you?"

"No. You?"

"Nah."

Sachi broke out in a cold sweat. She had picked at her nails through much of the extra briefing for the mission, but she had remembered a particular nugget of info. Amegakure shinobi were rumored to have been using River land to move through. Most likely doing the same thing that Sachi was doing. However, the reports coming back from the Water country was not reassuring ones as far as the alliance between the two countries went.

"We've got to get out of here," said Sachi.

"And where do you think we should go? There are mountains on either side of us and there is no bloody way I'm racing up those any time soon," grumbled Kisame as he motioned to his bound hands that had already impeded his balance for walking on flat land, let alone sheer rocky hills.

Sachi grabbed his cloak and forced him to meet her eyes, "Those are most likely Kiri-nins. You think they'll be particularly pleasant to one of their most notorious criminals? At least with me you'll get a chance to see the inside of a jail cell."

"Not willing to collaborate with an ally of the Leaf?" asked Kisame skeptically.

"Hell no, Konoha writes my checks. I won't get jack squat from these guys. Probably just a fast pass to the afterlife and a shallow unmarked grave," said Sachi with a dry chuckle.

"But you took down a full-fledged Akatsuki member, shouldn't some no-name Kiri-nins be nothing to you?" asked Kisame as he attempted to walk backwards from the oncoming voices.

"Pff, come on. Lets be honest…" grumbled Sachi as her eyes went wide and she shoved Kisame off the path and behind a tree, "I got lucky because you stared at my ass the entire fight."

Kisame didn't get a chance to agree because Sachi then threw herself up against him, flattening him rather awkwardly against Samehada and the tall tree behind him. He almost made another crude joke but Sachi flashed through hand signs and he could feel the soft fluttering of wings as a genjutsu of disguise-oriented moths settled over them. 'Moths. Always moths.'

The owners of the voices came into view seconds later. They were obviously moving through the area and hadn't sensed either of them. Kisame didn't dare move a muscle; he was going to live only as long as his captor decided. She was right, if a Kiri-nin got a hold of him, there wouldn't be an interrogation, just a beheading. He was going to pick being covered in moths with a kunoichi's ass grinding into his groin any day over a beheading.

Part of him suddenly appreciated the tenacity of the moth shinobi named Sachi. She could have just left him to rot with the Kiri-nin, but decided, for reasons all her own, to save his hide as well as hers. Granted if they both survived this and managed to find their way to Konoha she was going to get paid for his hide. 'To each their own I guess.'

But the genjutsu was taking a heavy toll on her. He could see her arms shaking as they kept the tiger sign to keep the illusion going. Sweat had beaded on her face and her body as she watched the two opposing ninjas with every fiber of her being. Flat out; she was doing everything she could not to get them caught.

When the two were finally out of sight Sachi canceled the jutsu and had to grab a fistful of Kisame's cloak and the nearby tree to keep her feet under her. 'That used up way to much chakra…'

"Good move there thought for sure they'd have sensed us but I guess Amegakure really isn't what it used to be…"

Kisame watched as the Aburame pitched forward and fell with a dull thump to the forest floor. He stared down at her, astounded, flabbergasted, amazed…

And then he tore into his bonds with his sharp teeth like a five year old does birthday cake.

Xxxxxxx

The first insect that Sachi ever caught was a Small-Eyed Sphinx, otherwise known as Paonias myops. To any other clan that meant nothing, to the Aburame it meant everything.

Sachi wasn't the heir to the Aburame clan name, but she was technically a high-ranking member. Her mother was the sister to Shino's father, which is what made the two so close. However Sachi didn't come into the Aburame name like Shino had. He had an obvious talent for the chakra beetles that lived under the skin of most of his clan. Sachi did not.

She had ignored the disappointed stares and apologetic looks. Bugs crawling underneath her skin had never seemed very appealing anyway.

For those in the Aburame clan that didn't automatically take to the parasitic beetles, a test was constructed to find a much more willing insect ally. Young ninja were given a net that had a special fiber that only worked when chakra was pushed through it. For days the youngsters would run around with their nets, furiously swatting at every insect they found until one finally would get stuck in the chakra-sticky threads.

It had taken Sachi the better part of a week to find her companions. Initially the elders had pushed her towards butterflies, bees, anything that seemed to fit a young kunoichi. Yet every one of those insects found its way out of her net and by the end of the day she would collapse exhausted from pushing so much chakra into her net and utterly humiliated.

It wasn't until she had forgotten to blow out a candle at night whenever she got up to use the bathroom that she had her big break. It was there she saw a soft little white moth flitting around the flame. However when she returned with her net the moth was gone. She was feeling not only useless, but a failure to the entire family.

Until however a soft buzzing sound was heard and a distinct 'whap!' was felt as a furry cannonball smacked her upside her head. She swatted at it, more out of instinct and miserable fury than actual deliberation and low and behold the buzzing moth was trapped inside of the net!

From that day forth that night was referred to as The Night of the Moth since Sachi then ran around the entire compound showing off her catch. Even if it was three in the morning. For the first time in her life Sachi was congratulated and welcomed as a true Aburame.

It was one of the last times she remembered her mother and father being together. It wasn't long after that that her mother was taken from them both. And life was never quite the same.

Moths were never something that was highly praised, however, they didn't sting or bite. Half of their species didn't even have mouths, but Sachi didn't care. As soon as she could summon her own companion moths via the kuchiyose jutsu she didn't go anywhere without one of her little fluttering friends.

Sachi wasn't sure why she was thinking about all of this, her mind just ran through it on its own. Her body felt miles away and distinctly…at peace. Her mind was filled with the image of the small dark moth with the funny shaped wings that had crawled all over her hands. She had been so happy then, to feel its little soft feet…

"Oi! Hey why are you smiling?"

The voice broke the serenity that had fallen over Sachi, shattered it like a piece of glass; the image of the curious little moth broke apart and dissolved. Her gut clenched, and whatever was still left in her stomach came out violently.

"Kisame…" chided Itachi as the girl violently heaved.

"Don't look at me. I didn't do anything," he said as he stood over the girl. Frankly he was kind of embarrassed for her, puking wasn't an elegant thing.

"Oh gods…" she finally muttered as she wiped her mouth on the back of her hand. Her eyes were foggy but she was fairly certain she was seeing two different pairs of feet, not that her vision was doubling.

"Come on, to your feet girlie," came Kisame's voice. She peered up at him, he didn't offer a hand and Sachi decided that if he had she would have spit on it.

'Things have gone terribly wrong.'

Sachi debated trying to shimmy away while their attention was averted, but the ground and sky kept shifting places and she wasn't sure where her feet were…

"I don't understand how she was able to capture you, and keep you contained for so long," said Itachi.

"Well I don't know why it took you so long to find us! And besides she packs a mean punch alright!" retorted Kisame.

"Are you going to kill her…or?"

Kisame honestly hadn't really thought about it. He supposed that he should, she knew too much about their movements in River Country. That and she'd devised a way that could easily contain not just him, but other Akatsuki members. That alone was very dangerous, but at the same time, could be pretty useful when one was battling a tailed-beast.

Subconsciously he figured he'd feel kind of guilty about it too. He'd killed people in the past, sure, but this seemed a bit different. Maybe its because she had treated him like a human being while in her company. Maybe it was because he was pretty attracted to her.

"You know normally I would," he began, making sure he had his partners attention, "But I think this little moth can be pretty useful to us."

"How so?"

Kisame rummaged around and pulled out what was left of the chakra ribbon. It didn't stir the Uchiha so he figured that he didn't know what it was.

"No clue what it is? Me either but she used it on me. It has some sort of jutsu woven in that it uses your own chakra against you. I felt like I had two left feet and was permanently drunk when I had it on. I was thinking that we take it, and her back to base. Might prove useful."

Though Itachi was skeptical about it all, he had found the two of them almost passed out from starvation and overexertion only two miles from the main road through River land. But as far as he was concerned Kisame was making some sense. The Uchiha just wanted a bath; he didn't really care about anything else.

"Fine. I'll put her in a genjutsu so she doesn't slow us down until we get there," he volunteered.

Kisame ran a hand back through his hair and whistled, "You have no idea how much easier that makes everything." He looked down at the Aburame that simply mouthed the word no over and over again at him. She made the mistake of glancing back over at the Uchiha, which only made matters worse.

'Shit.'

But perhaps the universe was on her side, because at that very moment that she was about to become completely transfixed in the Uchiha's powerful gaze, the Amegakure ninja they had just evaded burst through the underbrush.

What happened next was a blur, not because Sachi's brain couldn't process what was happening, but because it simply happened. So. Fast. One of the ninja, sporting a very unattractive haircut/respirator combo was flung up into the treetops by a firm kick from the Uchiha.

His partner however was not so lucky since he was going about ballistic with his kunai twirling and ended up on the receiving end of Samehada. Half of him went east, the other half west. Hot red blood and gore spattered the foliage on either side of the small group. It made a sound akin to rain hitting leaves. Chunky rain.

Sachi sat in utter shock at the scene, gold eyes wide and mouth slightly agape.

With a quick flutter from his cloak Kisame threw Samehada onto one of his shoulders and cast a look down at her. His eyes were bright, his mouth in a sharp grin and he was chuckling in her direction.

Sachi's body stayed transfixed in that position as he took a few steps closer to her. He absolutely radiated power, death, and chakra; enough to send a normal person's senses reeling. More than that she could feel his hunger, a carnal thing stuck somewhere between the bloodlust of a man and the animalistic thrill of the hunt; a hunger for blood, death, and domination.

He reached out a hand slowly, almost as if he were intent on not spooking a wild animal and touched her face. A few drops of blood had rained down upon her cheek and were running down to the corner of her mouth. His hand was warm and gentle as it smeared the blood on her skin.

Sachi was trapped, she couldn't pull her eyes from his, she was his prey, caught in his powerful predatory gaze. Nothing more than a waterlogged moth floating above a hungry shark.

His knuckles grazed her cheekbone and his thumb brushed over her bottom lip, smearing a bit of the red onto her lips. Sachi didn't even realize that her breathing had accelerated because she was too caught up in the fact that at that very moment she was the prey.

His eyes stayed glued to hers for only a moment longer before they moved quickly to her mouth where his thumb lingered. A new emotion flickered in his eyes then and his posture changed. Staring at her lips, now touched with the bright crimson of someone's lifeblood had twisted something deep inside of him. And he liked it.

He could feel Samehada filling him with chakra, his muscles became stronger, his fatigue disappeared, and his senses had sharpened with killing-intent. Now, however, focused on the tenuous Konoha-nin before him his want for another fight, for blood and death, was masked by another want.

In that quick moment Kisame wanted nothing more than her.

He wanted all of her, the heat from her skin, the moisture from her breath…

"Kisame…" she whispered, her voice trembled in the air and sunk deep into his skin, into his blood, into his very bones.

That was what he wanted most. In that moment as he jerked himself away from her and busied himself with Samehada and growling to the Uchiha to finish off the other guy so they could move on, Kisame Hoshigaki realized that he would go to his grave wanting to hear her say his name with that sort of lust one more time.

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