I was in such shock, that all I could do was stare at my arm with wide eyes as Hana half-dragged me to a clearing in a group of trees. When we got to the middle of that clearing, she seemed satisfied and nodded to before letting my arm drop.
"Not very good bodyguards you have." she stated matter-of-factly.
"They aren't really bodyguards, so much as making sure I don't escape." I said looking back, wondering where they were.
"Where would you be escaping from?" Hana looked confused now.
"From Akatsuki. They kidnapped me the day everyone was killed. I thought you had been killed too."
"No kidding. I thought you had died, so imagine my surprise when you came into the shop looking scared stiff. You were never like that Maeko. What happened?" Hana said, looking at me with nothing but concern.
"When I was kidnapped, I was put under the care of Hidan; one of the Akatsuki members. He is immortal. One of his preferred jutsus is one where he ingests his victim's blood and then tortures them to death by stabbing himself. He feels their pain and his own. He enjoys it. I went through three weeks of that, Hana. It was worse than hell. It's enough to make anyone scared. Now I'm Itachi and Kisame's responsibility. They don't seem like sadists so far." When I was done explaining, I thought Hana's jaw might be stuck the way it was forever.
"Why did they kidnap you?" She asked, astonished.
"Most likely because I'm an elemental weaver and you know we were the most powerful of anyone in our village."
"Well yeah, but why not me?"
"Hana! Never talk like that! I would much rather have them taken me than you. You still have a chance at living happily." I grabbed my sister by her arms and hugged her tightly; sobbing for everything we had lost in a short month.
"Well, why did they bring you to this town at least?" She asked, pulling away from the hug for a minute.
"Because, I was stuck with Hidan for those three weeks and the wounds weren't able to heal and they got very infected. It's probably affected my abilities as well." Hana looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Try growing a flower right now, to see if your powers really are impaired from your illness." I looked at the ground and tried to will a flower to grow. I managed to grow a flower but it was not what either of us had been hoping for. What came up was a viscous looking thing with four petals, black at the center and growing crimson towards the edges with what looked like fangs in the middle. What types of plants we could produce depended on our physical and mental health. So did our control over the elements. Hana frowned and inspected the thing I had grown.
"That looks like a nasty infection. I hope it will go away soon. I know how much you love your flowers." I stared sadly at the poor thing and quietly willed it away, wondering how it had come to this. I had never seen anyone in our village create something so horrifying. I felt tears prick behind my eyes and fought to keep them from coming out. I knew how sick I was now. I'd be amazed if I was ever able to recover my full powers. And I knew that I had been summoned by the leader because of my powers. I was the prodigy in my village. If I did not recover, I had no doubt that I would be disposed of. I may have turned soft in my weeks of torture, but not so soft that I had lost my survival instinct. I knew how hard I would have to fight to get it all back; and I was willing to do it. Hana took my shoulders and forced me to look at her. As I looked up, she spoke, "I know you can do this. I love you, and I know that you have to leave but send me a message sometime to let me know that you're okay." I nodded and a solitary tear slid its way down my cheek. Hana hugged me tightly and walked away.
Then, it was too much to handle. I wasn't sure what had pushed me over the edge, but something had. At that moment, I was a force to be reckoned with. All the events of the last month caught up with me at that moment and I broke down. But I didn't cry; I unleashed the wind. I sent it all through the city. I sent it in powerful, destructive gusts. And when I still wasn't satisfied, I sent the rain. I sent it pounding down so hard and fast that it started to flood. And then, I froze the rain. I made hail, and I made it tiny bits that came so frequently, you would have wished they were baseball sized. That way, you would have been able to dodge them.
Once I had finished wreaking havoc on the poor town, I walked out of the clearing to find Itachi and Kisame standing, waiting for me. Kisame looked about ready to kill. All he said was, "You." and pointed his finger menacingly. Itachi had a blank look and started walking. I took that as my cue to follow him and started toward his slowly retreating back. I heard Kisame slowly shuffle along, muttering to himself about stupid rain and stupid hail. Despite myself, I grinned wildly. As I thought about it, I wanted to laugh. I had to bite my lip to stop it from coming out. In the end, once we reached the room we would be staying in, I couldn't hold in laughter and immediately broke into hysterical giggling and gasping. I was rolling on the floor in a fit of laughter for a solid ten minutes. By the time I was done, even Itachi was giving me strange looks. I just grinned at him and went to the bathroom to change my bandages and take my medicine.
It took me an hour to change all the bandages and apply the medicine and then sift through my bags of clothes to find pajamas. When I finally emerged from the bathroom, Itachi had a book open and was reading on the bed while Kisame was next to him, sound asleep.
"We thought you might appreciate having your own bed." Itachi told me when he put his book down. I silently thanked him and got under the covers and turned away from the light. Within minutes, I was deeply sleeping.
Nightmares haunted me all through my sleep. I was only half-conscious of what was going on around me. I did feel the bed moving and it seemed like that was my fault. I could feel my legs thrashing, trying to run away from the illusion that my sub-conscious was creating for only me to view. When I woke up in the morning, I felt anything but rested. Fortunately for me, Itachi knew I would not be able to keep up and carried me while I was blindfolded for our journey back to headquarters.

End of Three

Nightmares? What will happen back at headquarters?