Thanks to all who read and to the person who reviewed, it gives me motivation to write. I don't own the Akatsuki or anything Naruto related. All I own are my oc's.

Chapter 3: Natalie

After that Pein did not remember much, but he did remember hearing a small girl say "Mister? Hello? Are you ok?"

When Pein woke up he realized that he was in the same place, but he was alive. His eyes were still shut because he felt a small presence next to his body. Pein slowed his breathing so it would seem that he was still asleep. He assumed it was the small girl from earlier from when he passed out.

He heard the girl sigh.

"I wonder when they'll wake up. I hope they're okay."

She said to herself. Pein opened his intimidating eyes and stared at the young girl. "Hey! You're awake." She said with a smile. Pein sat up and grabbed the girl by her wrist.

"Who are you, and how did you heal me?"

The girl had sensed no danger even though Pein's hand was securely around her wrist.

"Oh, I'm Natalie Yomi! I found you and your friends just lying around here and it looked as if you were sick so I couldn't just let you lay there. You had some sort of really nasty flu, but don't worry I took care of it." Pein glared but he still acknowledged her. He looked around and finally understood what she meant by friends. Every single one of the Akatsuki members was asleep around him including Sasori, Deidara, Itachi, and Hidan even though they passed out about 60 yards away.

Pein had spaced out for a minute, but Natalie awoke him from his thought.

"Well now you know my name so what's your name." Pein thought whether or not he should give his name to the strange girl he had just met, but since she looked to be about nine or ten he had labeled her as harmless. "You may address me as Pein." The moment he finished his sentence the rest of the Akatsuki started to slowly wake up one at a time. Once everyone was awake they looked at each other, then at Natalie, then at Pein. "Hi!" Natalie said waving at everyone. "My name's Natalie." They all gave Pein a questioning look. "This is Natalie. When we passed out she was here to take care of us." They all nodded. "Thank you." Konan said to the girl. "You're welcome." Everyone else murmured a "thank you" or a "yeah what she said".

Konan scooted a little closer to Pein. "What are we going to do with her?" she whispered in his ear. Natalie looked at the two oblivious to what they were saying. "Take her with us." Pein said bluntly. "What?" Konan said raising her voice slightly. Her tone was surprising. "There's something special about her." They both looked in Natalie's direction. She was busy smiling at the other members shyly. "What do you mean by special?" Konan asked. "I can barely sense any chakra from her, she's useless. Besides she's only ten." Pein gave her a stern look.

"She healed all of us. She even brought Sasori, Hidan, Deidara, and Itachi here even though they passed out over 60 yards away from here. We need to take her back to the base."He said sternly.

Konan gave serious thought to his statement, and then nodded.

Pein coughed loudly getting everyone's attention. "We need to get back to the base as soon we can. There is no time to waste. Natalie you will be joining us as well." She jumped up and down with excitement. "Yes! I get to go on an adventure." She couldn't really analyze the danger of her situation. They were being so nice to her.

Pein and the others started to get up slowly. They wobbled a bit, but got up nonetheless. "Oh yeah, you might be a little dizzy." Natalie said scratching to back of her head. The rest of the Akatsuki looked at her strangely. She felt a little shy so she ran behind Pein. Some of the member's eyes opened slightly.

"Get moving." Pein gave the order as they started to turn away from him and the girl. The members were surprised by their leader's kindness. Instead of telling the girl to let go he slid his arm from her grasp and grabbed her small left hand and they walked all the way to the base.

As the Akatsuki walked away, there was a shadowy figure watching them from a tree top. "Interesting." it said. "Very interesting. Wait till the Leaf here's about this."