***Chapter 2 – Uncovered!***

You may have realized by now that Yachiru is a little different to the norm. That is because there is a little bit of a twist to this fanfiction. I took a bit from another anime, but not enough to make this a crossover. Don't worry about the world that this Naruto fanfic came from, because it's not really any specific one. Pairings are NaruYachi, KibaHina (I think), and maybe some ItaSaku ne?

Shout out to those who reviewed! Thank you Psuedobeast and Guest!

Thanks to those who added the story or put me on author alert!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto! (T_T) !

Flashback is written in italics.

'Thoughts in italics and enclosed in quotes'

Normal writing is in normal text.

"Dialogue is in normal text enclosed in open and closed quotations."

'Black Zetsu and Kyuubi speak in bold italics enclosed in quotations.'

Previously on Left to the Elements:

"Katsu!" he shouted. "Art is an explosion!" The yell was made over the sound as the clay insects detonated, crumbling the rock wall before him. The gaping hole exposed a cavern with a small cot against the far wall. The white haired woman standing with her back turned to them halted, her rigid posture displaying extreme annoyance. "Told you there was a chick, un," Deidara said triumphantly to Sasori. However, Sasori had already exited the cave. Annoyed, Deidara stalked over to the girl, trying not to get distracted by how gorgeous she was. Before she could move, Deidara grabbed her by the throat and pushed her up against the rock walls of the cave. She didn't even have the good graces to look scared, but rather glared at him angrily. Her defiance annoyed him. "I should blow you up right now," he sneered.

"As if," the female scoffed, her eyes taunting him. That made Deidara serious. He would blow the bitch up. One hand went to his pouch, but before he could make a decent bomb, the breath whooshed out of his lungs as her knee slammed into his stomach. The next thing he knew he was being launched from in front her, his back slamming into the opposite cave wall with such force that he went right through the wall!

oooOoo

Deidara felt the air rushing past him as he broke through the rock wall. He caught sight of Sasori's surprised gaze as he soared past him, missing the redhead's nose by centimetres.

'What the - ?' he thought as his back slammed into the pebbled beach, momentum causing him to skate several feet. His legs dropped to the ground with a 'plop' approximately two seconds after he stopped skating. Deidara slowly got to his feet, his back aching like never before his mind whirring. 'What the hell is going on?' he thought. He should not have paused to think, for the white haired female had launched herself out the hole Deidara's back had created and was running across the pebble-beach towards him, fury creasing her brow. She stopped some seven feet in front him, the blue sea stretching behind her. Deidara had to admit the sight was breathtaking.

Her purplish eyes blazing, she opened her mouth. Deidara expected more feisty words from her and frowned in expectation of an insult. What happened was not at all what he expected. Her chest puffed up for a short moment, then flames shot out of her mouth, rapidly eating up the already small distance between them, and bathing Deidara's face with searing heat. Deidara's nuke-nin reflexes kicked in, regardless of his surprise, and he leapt back, grunting in pain as his back took the shock of landing. He put one hand to it, and the other to his hair, which was mostly singed and curling. Surprise was wreaking havoc within him.

'What the hell?' the questioned himself for the umpteenth time. 'Did her hands move so fast I saw no hand seals? I know I didn't see a hand seal! She didn't say anything either, so what sort of jutsu was that?'

Taking advantage of the blonde's surprise, Yachiru attacked again. Hands behind her, she sprinted towards him, pulling a serpentine column of water from the sea behind her. It writhed, twisting like a mini-tornado on the inside and building in strength as she ran. The blonde's eyes widened and he shoved his hand into his pouch, desperation making its way into his eyes. Yachiru stopped pulling her watery serpent onto the pebble beach. It automatically picked up some of the small stones which began spinning up the centre of the serpent, taking the appearance of a black line through the vortex-like centre of the bluish-clear creature. Turning a bit to the side, Yachiru sent the serpent crashing into the blonde with a push of her hands. The water sprayed in every direction on impact, blocking the nuke-nin's face from Yachiru's view.

Deidara was getting no time to think. He jumped into a nearby tree, but he was far from safe. The serpent was not done. It rapidly spiralled around the trunk of the tree, controlled by the white-haired female's hands and attacked him again, the spinning pebbles in its centre doing a LOT of damage to the blonde nuke-nin. Deidara, desperate, formed several quick seals.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," he muttered, creating three clones of himself. The white haired female chuckled. Drawing her hand back so her thumb was alongside her cheek-bone, she pulled back the serpent, instead moulding the water into a round circle which she spun into a spinning disc with both hands. Her sharp eyes following his clones' movements, she blew a stream of frosty breath onto the circle, her breath visibly white in the warm day air. The spinning watery disc became a spinning ice disc in split seconds. Deidara and his clones were surrounding her, hands in pouches making clay bombs. As the nuke-nin's hand mouths chomped his chakra infused clay, he decided this move would be a bang.

In seconds, hundreds of explosive projectiles were launched at the white-haired girl from seemingly all directions. She didn't seem the slightest bit perturbed. Instead she leapt into the air, and, with a yell that seemed to come from her stomach, she slammed her bare heel onto the top of the spinning ice disc, shattering it and sending sharp icy projectiles in every direction. Even as his mouth was forming the word "Katsu" to detonate his bombs, Deidara knew it would be a gross mistake, for the icy needles had pierced almost all of his clay bombs and were sending them back in the direction they came... very swiftly. As soon as the word left his mouth, Deidara had to perform a substitution jutsu to escape his own attack.

Hundreds of clay bombs detonated, sending his clones away in puffs of smoke and the explosives' shrapnel and the leftover ice needles stung his skin. The log that had taken his place was riddled with thin, sharp slivers of ice. The white-haired female's body was unscathed. She was standing there on the pebbles, her white hair swirling around her face and shoulders in the hot draft of the explosion.

For a moment, Yachiru couldn't find the blonde. She could sense his chakra, she just couldn't see him. A subtle shift in temperature alerted her immediately. So attuned was she to the elements that the shadow that was hovering over her caused the air to cool ever so slightly. She grinned. Apparently the blonde liked to create things that blew up. He would undoubtedly try to drop one on her from his elevated position.

Deidara smirked. He was atop his clay bird, knowing that it had taken a chunk out of his chakra but not caring.

Tossing a relatively large clay bomb above the unsuspecting female's head Deidara yelled, "Katsu!" Even as he was saying the word, Deidara knew something was wrong, but the explosion blocked that something from his sight until it was far too late. The earth was rapidly getting closer to Deidara and his flying clay construct, but Deidara knew that he hadn't lost altitude. Even as his mind was forming the idea, a column of earth crashed into the belly of his bird, breaking through the construct and sending Deidara flying. He was airborne for some 15 seconds, his mind scrambling for a way to break his fall. He was about to make another construct when a shift in the air caught his attention.

Yachiru chuckled. This was getting good. Even though she couldn't remember anything before waking up on this very beach two months prior to the present, she remembered how to bend. Slamming the side of her heel into the ground, Yachiru caused a sizeable, round chunk of earth to dislodge. It sprung into the air, and she kicked it with her other foot, sending it flying towards the man who was making his unintended descent from the air. As it soared towards him, Yachiru drew her head back then pushed it forward, sending a stream of flames behind the earthen orb. The heat quickly turned the exterior molten and the glowing earthen projectile rapidly approached Deidara in perfect trajectory, leaving a hazy shimmer in its wake.

Deidara had no time to think before the molten rock slammed into his side with such force that it changed his direction completely. He crashed to the ground, bouncing three times like a rock that was skipped on the surface of a lake. His head crashed into the trunk of a tree and after a moment of intense pain, darkness took over his consciousness.

Yachiru felt no need to kill the blonde. She just hoped that her attacks would be enough to get him to leave her the hell alone! She frowned. This battle might have been physically satisfying, but mentally she was screaming. The stupid blonde had gone and made her think about her past, which was a major blank to her.

'Why can't I remember anything? I mean sure, I know my name is Kurokka Yachiru, but other than that and the fact that I am different to everyone here, I don't really know anything. How did I even get here? I just can't recall anything at all before two months ago. Is anyone looking for me?' she thought, tossing her long hair over her shoulder with a fluid flick of her head. 'Okay think, Yachiru. Who is your father... or mother? Do you have any siblings? A splitting headache warned Yachiru away from her memories. She clasped a hand to her forehead. 'What is my brain hiding from me? Why can't I remember anything?' she pondered, gritting her teeth in frustration. She felt as if there was something important that was locked away from her. Where was she? Who was she? Why was she here? How did she get here? The pain in her head discouraged any further attempts to recall the events prior to two months before now. Yachiru instead thought to when she had come to consciousness.

Yachiru's eyes cracked open, but blinding sunlight made her squeeze them shut instinctively. The orangish remained even behind her closed lids. She groaned inwardly, feeling battered and bruised. The sounds of the sea caressed her ears, its gentle sound soothing her. As her mind cleared of the dulling black of unconsciousness, Yachiru became increasingly aware of the hard uneven surface she was laying on. It wasn't just hard, it was uncomfortable with hundreds of smooth round pebbles underneath the soft skin of her back.

The warm waves licked at her toes, the pebbles making a crackling sound as they tumbled over each other in the backwash of the tides. It was a lovely sound. One by one, each of Yachiru's senses became active. Even as she became alarmed, she realized that regardless of how cool the pebbles under her back were, the sun above was scorching hot, baking Yachiru in its harsh glare. There was not much thought in Yachiru's mind as she tentatively cracked open her eyes again, blinking furiously to counter the glare of the midday sun.

She rolled her head to the side, her neck protesting the movement, and was rewarded with the sight of black pebble beach stretching as far to the left as her eye could see, the expansive blue sea to one side, and majestic cliffs to the other. The ocean water was darker blue than that of the sky, which was cloudless at the moment. Birds called to each other from their place in the heavens and a cool breeze ghosted over Yachiru's face for a fleeting moment.

Yachiru lay there on the pebbles, her body aching but her muscles too weak and sore to allow her to move. She absently watched a small brown bird attack a much larger one from above, effectively chasing the large fowl from its territory. One thought screamed in Yachiru's mind. 'Where am I?' She could taste the hint of salt in her mouth from the sea water, leaving her with the impression that she must have washed up here. To her alarm, she couldn't remember where it was that she might have washed up from!

A shuffle behind her snapped her from her vivid reverie. She spun round to face who could only be the blonde's companion, judging from his attire. Sasori. He slowly pulled his straw hat off his head and discarded it, revealing his well shaped features and dark red hair.

Sasori had observed Deidara's fight with shock that had held him immobile. Who was this girl, and more importantly, what was she? Throughout the fight Sasori had looked over her slim figure, and had seen no evidence of a hitai-ate so he didn't even know which hidden village she was aligned with. She did not carry the clothing of a kunoichi, though by her skill, she could easily be jounin level. And, even though her abilities must be some sort of Kekkei-Genkai, she looked like a commoner, which was what Deidara must obviously have mistaken her for. However, Deidara could hardly be blamed, for not only did Sasori's eyes attest to the apparent fact of her civilian nature, but his senses as well. He could sense no chakra from her. Needless to say, this girl sparked his interest.

Sasori knew he had sharp eyes, but he saw no seals being made as the girl battled Deidara.

"Must be a genjutsu," he muttered under his breath as he hid in the foliage that rimmed the seaside cliffs and pebble beach. He activated a seal to dispel the genjutsu. The sound of the pebbles tumbling over each other in the surf took second place in Sasori's mind as he thought of a plan.

The man in front of Yachiru smiled blandly, his cloak billowing a bit in the breeze. Yachiru frowned as he shuffled beneath the cloak. She attacked. Running towards him, Yachiru failed to notice that something was wrong, and by the time she did, it was too late. A shift in the air drew her attention to something behind her, and she turned her head to see and identical Akatsuki member to the one in front her and her eyes widened in alarm as her struck out. Yachiru's knees hit the cool pebbles below her before her world went black.

Yachiru's eyes shot open as she came to with a start. Her eyes were greeted by the boring grey of a stone ceiling. 'Geez, my heart is racing!' she thought. 'Where am I this time?' Images of the last moments before she had fallen unconscious flitted through her mind with dizzying speed. Of course. The Akatsuki must have kidnapped her. Where they people from her past? Pain at the base of her neck made her groan. 'Seriously, what is it with this place? This is the second time in two months that I have woken up to somewhere unfamiliar!' she thought. She moaned. Her mouth felt parched.

"Oi! She's awake," a low voice said from somewhere to her left. To her right was a stone wall. Yachiru was lying flat on her back on a small cot, her arms and legs shackled to the four posts of the bed. She turned her head to the direction of the voice, and was met with a silver haired man with a young face and an evil grin. "Rise and shine, fucking bitch." The man was wearing the same black cloak as the other two men that had attacked her earlier. Akatsuki. Footsteps tapping on the stone floor alerted Yachiru to the presence of yet another. Her eyes widened in alarm.

Extending from the neck of the other man's Akatsuki coat were two large green venus flytrap-like appendages which opened to reveal his face. One side of the man's face was black with small white bumps running down the centre and no visible orifices, and the other side was white with a regular eye, nose and ear. Both eyes were a vivid tawny yellow colour, and his short messy hair was green.

"You look delicious, kunoichi," he said. Without missing a beat, he continued in a different tone. "I apologise." At this, the silver haired man's eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

"To Jashin, damn Zetsu! Don't fucking apologise to this old bitch!" His purple eyes snapped to Yachiru. "You nearly killed that dickwad Deidara!"

Hidan felt annoyance creeping into his very core as the girl cracked a smile.

"What are you fucking smiling at?" he sneered, inserting cursewords and insults at random. The girl blinked large purplish eyes at him, her long white lashes fanning out over her cheeks.

"The blondie blew up my cave, ano baka... and he wouldn't even apologise. Total lack of manners, don't you think?" she snapped, still annoyed at the invasion of her privacy. Her mind flashed back to two months prior when she had created her home in the rocks.

Yachiru looked up at the sky for the umpteenth time. How was it that the elements could change in seemingly the blink of an eye? She groaned in annoyance. Truth be told, Yachiru had felt the warning of an imminent change of weather inwardly, but even though she thought she might be the type to trust her instincts, the fact that she couldn't seem to remember anything prior to waking up earlier filled her with doubt and she disregarded her feelings and instead tried to find out details about her location. So far she had found that she was on a coast to the south, judging by the direction the sun was moving in as time went by. The beach was made of pebbles, which must have come from the rocky cliffs and the river that fed into the ocean, and was rimmed by high dark cliffs that unevenly rimmed the coastline. Parts of the cliff dipped lower, and were covered with patches of grass and plants, and the top of the cliff had a few grassy knolls that disappeared into dense forest. Yachiru's eyes narrowed as a rumble from the depths of the dense black clouds that had blotted out the sun sounded.

Her eyes darting to her current surroundings, Yachiru forced herself to think of a place where she could take shelter. Where she was currently standing was a grassy slope that went up between two high rounded mounds of rock that broke the jagged line of cliffs. None of the retreated sections of the cliff line was deep enough for her to take shelter in, but the larger of the two mounds of rock kept grabbing her attention. She looked to the sea, which was no longer a charming blue, and was alarmed by how far up the pebbled beach it had come, its waves getting closer and closer to the cliff faces.

When the first cold droplets of rain assailed Yachiru from above, she knew she had to act fast. She listened to instinct, having no other choice at the moment, and slammed her palm into the face of the rocky mound. To her somewhat lacking surprise – it was almost as if she had half expected this reaction – the rock receded easily under her palm, leaving a large circular hole in the rock as the area under her palm retreated into the mound. There was the harsh earthen sound of rock moving against rock as she pushed it again, making the depth of the recess deeper. Getting more confident with the reaction, Yachiru began pushing at the rock with both bands until a small cave was formed into the rock mound. It took approximately four minutes for a satisfactorily sized cave was created in the mound. Small clumps of dirt and rock tumbled from the roof of the cave, and Yachiru impatiently brushed them off her hair and shoulders, perusing the cave with wonder and satisfaction. Apparently there was more to her than she remembered. 'It seems as if I will have to meet myself all over again,' Yachiru thought, nibbling at the inside of her lip.

A draft of warm wind blew water inside the cave, and Yachiru realized with a start that the rain had already become torrential outside. Stiff wind blew the rain further into the cave, allowing the lovely scent of rain on fresh earth to permeate the cave. Yachiru took an appreciative breath of the welcome scent then decided that her appreciation would have to be cut short since she would rather her cave remain dry.

Yachiru slammed her heel into the ground, listening to instinct again, and was rewarded by the sound of rock grinding against rock as a hunk of earth slid up from the floor at the cave entrance. There was a thud as the earth met the roof of the cave's entrance, effectively blocking the rain from entering and plunging the cave in darkness simultaneously. Yachiru panicked for a moment at the lack of light, then realized with a start that even though she couldn't see anything with her eyes, she was very well aware of her surroundings with her feet! She knew where everything was! From their miniscule movements, she could sense the trail of ants marching in a line right in front her bare feet. She could sense the bugs crawling over the cave walls and floor, and the worm squirming on the ground in the far corner of the cave.

Her heart thudded with the realization that this heightened sense of awareness seemed as natural to her as breathing. Who the hell was she?

"... you even listening to me ya fucking bitch?" Yachiru was snapped back to the present by the foul mouthed Akatsuki. He was pissed off. He should join the club. Yachiru ground her teeth in annoyance of his loud rudeness. Her eyes narrowed as he jabbed a hard finger into her collarbone. "I said who are you?" Yachiru's eyebrows twitched. For some reason, she didn't feel afraid of the silver haired man.

"Che... what's it to you?" she retorted, setting her jaw in the universal sign of sheer obstinacy. "In any case, it's common courtesy to introduce yourself first before asking someone's name... so... who the hell are you?" Yachiru demanded, for some reason enjoying baiting the man.

"Fiesty. Mmm. I bet she will taste spicy, Hidan,"the plant-man said from behind the foul mouthed one, his tawny eyes glittering in interest. Now this one stirred a bit of uneasiness in Yachiru. The plant-man's statement completely nullified Hidan's next words.

"I don't have to fucking tell you my name, you ugly whore! I'm Akatsuki; I ask the questions!" Yachiru smirked at his outburst.

"I already know your name now, Hidan, and you still don't know mine. For an all powerful Akatsuki, you're not getting anywhere, are you?" she taunted. Hidan's eyes widened, narrowed, and then twitched uncontrollably. A vein bulged in his forehead and he spun to face the plant-man.

"Dammit, Zetsu!" Hidan yelled angrily. "I should sacrifice you both to Jashin!" An earthen rumble from the direction of the wall had him spinning his head back round. His eyes widened in surprise before a cuboid shaft of rock surged from the room wall, slamming him squarely in the face.

A/N:- Ehh... I might as well tell you that the foreign influence is the bending from Avatar: TLAB, but that's all that came over, dattebayo! Chotto matte! The romance will come soon, I promise! Do you think there should be some AkaYachi? Please oh please review! Reviews make my fingers type faster!