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Chapter 21

Poor Itachi, he never did get a chance to kiss Kitty. Tobi dragged her around everywhere and kept her out of Itachi's reach all through November and most of December. When Itachi got her back each night, they were both so exhausted that they fell asleep almost immediately.

Then just to add to the fun, Leader called Kitty to his office. Itachi waited outside and he realized he was getting really sick of all of this. He just wanted to be alone with Kitty for a while, was that really too much to ask? Apparently because when Kitty came back out, she informed him that she had to go on a mission. And to make it worse, she was going with Tobi.

"Gomenasai nya," Kitty said quietly, her ears drooping. He couldn't resist, he petted her gently.

"Daijoubu," he said. She smiled up at him and hugged him. He sighed and hugged her. How could he resist that? He picked her up and walked down the hall. He wasn't really planning on going anywhere, he just wanted 2 hold her while he could.

They ran into Konan a few minutes later and she took them to the kitchen. The rest of the day consisted of everyone trying to steal Kitty away from Itachi. Well not really, he just viewed it that way. Kitty had fun though; she laughed and smiled pretty much the whole time. When Itachi finally got her back to their room, she curled up beside him and was asleep within seconds. Itachi just sighed quietly and held her until he too fell asleep.

The next day Kitty and Tobi went on their mission. They were only supposed to be gone for a day or two, depending on how well it went, but they were gone for a week. Leader had to send Zetsu to find them. When Zetsu came back, only Tobi was with him.

"What happened?" Leader asked.

"We were attacked and we got separated! I've been trying to find Kitty-chan, I looked everywhere but I couldn't find her!" Tobi cried.

Leader sighed and sat back in his chair. He thought over what would be the best choice. He could send someone to find her, but who? Everyone would want to go…but not everyone COULD go…he couldn't keep it a secret from them…but then again…he was the leader, so they could just get over it or else…then he realized his thoughts were lingering on Kitty and how everyone loved her and he wondered how that happened so fast. He was brought out of his thoughts by Tobi.

"L-Leader-sama?" Tobi asked.

"Leave," Leader said.

"B-but-" Tobi started.

"I will worry about what to do about Kitty, just leave," Leader interrupted.

Tobi rushed out and slammed the door behind him leaving Leader to sit back in his chair and plan what to do next. Meanwhile Tobi ran around like a lunatic until he told everyone what happened. It didn't take long before they sent Konan to talk to Leader.

"P- Leader," Konan said quietly as she walked in his office, making sure to close the door behind her.

"What is it?" Leader asked.

"The others…they know about imouto and…" Konan said, trying to figure out how to say it.

"And they want something to be done. They want me to send them to get her or even go myself just so long as she gets brought back. I know," Leader said. Konan simply nodded which made Leader sigh. "I don't know what to do, alright? I know they'll all want to go, but it'd be a huge risk to just send everyone out to search for her, especially when no one can even sense her. But then if I just send one or two, who do I send? And if I don't send the right people the others will get pissed and-"

"So think, who's your best tracker?" Konan interrupted. "Or maybe you don't need to send any at all. Maybe u can hire someone?"

"Hm…that is possible…" Leader thought.

"Yes and many other great ideas will come to you if you just relax. Remember, she's our imouto and we want her back too, right?" Konan asked in a soothing voice. Leader simply nodded. "Then don't think of the others and what they want, think of what we want. Think of what you want and make a plan that helps you get that. Relax and plan, that's what you're good at." Leader nodded again.

(Scene change, because I'm sure you're all wondering where Kitty is, let's go to her now~!)

Kitty woke up with a pounding in her head. The light was too bright and the bed was too hard. She sat up slowly and realized she wasn't in a bed. She was on the ground. She tried to remember what happened, but she couldn't. Everything was still a blurry haze.

She got up slowly and looked around for any familiar surroundings. Nothing. She was in the middle of a forest and she couldn't remember anything…well not anything…she could remember her name and her chosen name. She could remember blurry faces, but one face stood out. One she wished she could forget. The one who experimented on her. The one who abused and raped her. The one who traumatized her from such a young age. Most of all she remembered his eyes. Those piercing eyes…

She shook her head to refocus on what she needed to do…but she didn't know what she needed to do…should she try to find someone? Should she try to find a village? She really didn't know what to do…she ran her hands through her hair and felt something in it. She pulled her hand back and it was covered in blood. She was bleeding. She needed to clean the wound and patch it up.

But before said cat girl could do anything, her ear twitched. Someone was coming. Should she hide? Should she attack? Panic threatened to overwhelm her and she backed into a tree and sank down to the ground. She instinctively curled up in a tight ball and whimpered quietly, waiting for whatever it was to try to kill her. She heard it get closer and she knew it saw her, but nothing happened.

"Hey are you alright?" a voice called to her.

Kitty slowly uncurled and looked up at the person. It was someone wearing a mask that looked porcelain and shaped like a cats face with red whiskers. The person was a woman and dressed in black and grey armor. She had a hold on a kunai, not out and threatening, but there in case she was attacked.

"You're bleeding, let me help you," she said as she slowly walked over to the trembling cat girl. Kitty didn't move, she didn't even respond. She just watched the woman come closer and closer until she was standing right in front of her. The woman bent down and carefully checked Kitty's wound, to which Kitty flinched and hissed in pain. The woman either wasn't fazed or just ignored it as she cleaned and bandaged the wound, earning her another hiss and a whimper.

"There, all done. It's not perfect, but it'll have to do for now. You need a real doctor though," the woman said. Kitty just stared. "Do you live nearby? Are you from a village?" Kitty shrugged. "Were you in a group?" Another shrug. "Were you going somewhere?" And another shrug. "Do you remember anything? And don't just shrug this time," the woman asked with a hint of irritation in her voice.

"Nuh-uh nya," Kitty said quietly as she shook her head. Two more people dressed very similarly to the woman came out of the trees. One of them stepped forward, he seemed to be the leader.

"What are you doing?" the leader asked.

"This girl is hurt, she needs a doctor. She can't remember anything," the woman explained.

"She could be an enemy," the leader pointed out.

"If she were, she would have attacked by now," the woman responded.

"Unless her mission is to infiltrate our village," the leader said.

"Or she's just a lost and hurt little girl who needs our help," the woman said as she stood in front of kitty protectively. Kitty watched in amazement, this woman was helping her and she didn't even know her. The two argued back and forth like this for several minutes before the third person interrupted.

"She's passed out," he said. They both looked and Kitty and sure enough, she had passed out, probably from the loss of blood. "If she has a concussion, she could go into a coma," the third pointed out.

"Shit," the woman said as she dropped down and woke Kitty up.

"N-nya?" Kitty asked tiredly.

"You need to stay awake right now," the woman said. Kitty nodded slightly in response. The woman picked her up. "That's it, I'm taking her to the hospital. I don't care what happens to me after that."

"I'm the squad leader, I make the decisions. And I've decided…she needs a doctor. Let's go," the leader said as he jumped up onto a tree branch. The other two followed and the group headed for their village, the Hidden Leaf, Konohagakure.

End of chapter 21! Hope ya liked it~ So did I just blow ur mind~? Yeah I kinda figured I didn't :p Anyway, I left the A/N open for as long as possible to give anyone who had a problem with this new story arc to say something, but no one has so far. So here we go~ And don't worry, we'll keep checkin' in on the Akatsuki every few chapters or so ;p BTW I know it's cliche to have Kitty lose her memory (even though she didn't loose it all), but otherwise she won't stay as long as I want her too *pout* Anyway, I've been sick so I'm all hyped up on some good night time medicine, so sorry for the rambling and junk. Please R&R, luv ya, bye~! And night night~! =^^=