A/N: I'm back! Thank you everyone for the suggestions on where to travel on my trip to the USA, I will definitely look into them. Also, if you've forgotten what's happening in the story I did a quick recap in the A/N of the last chapter. Check it out.

On another note, I'm not entirely pleased with how this chapter turned out but I was unsure what I could do to improve this chapter any further, plus I hate keeping you guys waiting for a chapter. The story takes a bit of a turn after this chapter, which is probably why it was a little hard to write.

I've received a few negative reviews lately, which is always difficult to take. I know my story isn't perfect, but I do try my best. Most of my writing consists of essays, so writing stories isn't something I'm amazing at. All I'm trying to do is tell a story that I really want to tell, so everyone who has followed/faved/reviewed Depth I just really want to thank you for persisting.

Enough sappy talk! Let's get on with this chapter!

Chapter 11: Taken – Part III

Obito had originally first begun hanging around me after the shuriken Academy class when he'd defended me against two fellow classmates who'd had it out for me. Technically, he was a year or two above me so we didn't share many classes (only those he'd failed twice), so our main source of association had been outside the Academy in our own time.

Still, it had been unexpected when he had turned up at my window and helped me to sneak out of my house.

Turns out that Obito's home life wasn't great, he never went into any great detail about it, but I could interpret enough. Given Anko's introduction of Obito as the "first Uchiha to be 'dead-last'" and the Uchiha's well-known hubris of their prodigious clansmen, it wasn't hard to that his elitist family found some fault with him. I never asked him for specifics, and he never asked me why I was under house arrest. With the situation at home with Kurenai, and my attempted abduction, I felt like it was a little too much to dump on one person.

I don't know what he thought, but he kept his guesses to himself and I liked that about him. Others friends, Anko especially, liked to pry into personal matters and Obito felt like a breath of fresh air in comparison.

Obito did, however, ramble about other inane matters a lot.

At the moment we were hanging upside-down from a branch bordering a clearing in the training grounds where we'd first properly spoken in my shuriken training class all those months ago, listening to Obito complain about how he could never get the Transformation Jutsu right.

We were taking turns throwing kunai at the ground, a game of who could throw the farthest and still make the kunai embed into the earth.

"Why are you so worried about getting the Transformation Jutsu right?" I asked, attempting to keep my arm steady as threw another kunai. Throwing kunai whilst hanging upside-down was really hard.

Obito glanced at me in surprise. "You haven't heard?"

"Heard what?"

Obito took out another kunai from the bucket hanging from the branch between us and took aim, before answering. "Apparently the fighting and stuff with Takigakure are becoming more violent, so they're lowering the Academy graduation age. Didn't cha know?"

I took another kunai, tossing it between my hands idly. "So… that means you'll be graduating sooner, then." It wasn't a question, rather a statement of fact. I couldn't help but feel a little dismayed about him heading off to war so soon. He was such a goofball; he'd be killed straight away.

"Yeah! Isn't that great? I'll be a genin! And I'll finally be able to do… genin stuff!" He exclaimed, grinning happily. "And maybe Rin will be on my team! Ohmigosh, Rin. All I have to do is learn that stupid Transformation Jutsu. But I still have a while."

I threw my kunai, not bothering to take aim. It landed on its side and bounced a ways before coming to a stop. "How long?"

Obito turned to face me. "Probably about a year, it's still ages away." His smile faded and he cocked his head sideways in puzzlement. "I thought that you'd be more surprised. Or at least excited. Just think, they've cut down Academy time so we can do actual shinobi stuff sooner!"

He truly had no idea what he was talking about, did he? That shinobi stuff included things like war, torture and killing – things that my moral compass pointedly turned away from. I knew that when I had agreed to sign up at the Academy. I did. But the reality that someone like Obito – stupid, energetic Obito – going off to the frontlines brought a new perspective of this world to me. I'd been telling myself all along that this world wasn't a game and I think now, finally, I was beginning to believe it.

At least he had a year to improve himself because, damn, if he didn't need it.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Obito asked, peering into my face, unabashedly close.

Flushing slightly, I gave him a weak smile. "Nothing. I wasn't surprised because I knew you'll do fine," I lied.

My answer seemed to appease him as he smiled happily at me again. "Actually, I've been meaning to ask you…" He turned his face away, looking slightly embarrassed.

"What is it?"

"Well… you're a genjutsu-user, right?"

"Yeah…" I replied slowly, wondering where he was going with this. "My whole family is, why?"

"Well, I was kinda wonderin' if you'd, uh, give me some help with my Transformation Jutsu?"

I frowned at him. "You do know that the Transformation Jutsu isn't genjutsu, right? It's ninjutsu."

"Yeah, yeah, I know that. But with the chakra control aspects of the jutsu, that's what I keep having trouble with. In return, I'll teach you a super-secret Uchiha ninjutsu."

Having emptied our collective stash of Academy kunai knives, we climbed right way up on the branch and began to scale down the side of the tree to collect them.

"Sure, I can help you with your chakra control, but why didn't you ask Rin? She's just as good at chakra control as-" I stopped myself from continuing abruptly. I hadn't met Rin Nohara personally, so I couldn't possibly know of her proficiency at chakra control. I only knew because I remembered she was a medic-nin in the manga.

Obito didn't seem to notice my slip-up; instead he was blushing slightly and scratching the back of his head. "Well, uh, you see… I kinda wanna impress her," he admitted, grinning slightly.

"Ah, I see…"

"Yeah…"

"So I'm the consolation prize."

"Yeah… Wait—what?"

"You're only coming to me because you can't go to Rin."

"Well, yeah. But that's—that's not a bad thing! I was trying to—you weren't—I didn't think—!" He spluttered, following me as I began picking up kunai.

"Uhuh." I sniffed, trying to conceal my laughter at his antics.

"Ayaka-chaaaaaan!" Obito moaned, chasing after me and flapping his hands uselessly as he tried to explain himself. "I would have come to you anyway. You're the best at chakra control out of everyone I know! And… and…"

I was seriously tempted to put him out of his misery right now, but it was fun playing with Obito. And boy could I play him. Like a fiddle. It was too easy.

I sighed dramatically, pressing a hand over my eyes as if I were trying not to cry. "Oh Obito-kun. I thought we were friends."

I was met with silence.

Peeking through the side of my hand, I cracked up laughing at the look of abject horror on his face.

"W-wha? What's happening?" He exclaimed in confusion, doing that panicked flapping thing with his arms again.

Chuckling, I reached out and patted him on the head affectionately. "I was just kidding, Obito. Of course I'll help you with your chakra control," I said, pulling back and smiling at his blushing face. I wondered if he noticed that I'd said his name without an honorific—if he did, he didn't mention it.

For a moment Obito seemed torn between pouting for being fooled or relieved that I was going to help him. Luckily – for me – he chose the latter.

"Yeah! Okay, and in return I'll show you that super-secret Uchiha ninjutsu!" Obito cheered.

"Won't you get in trouble for teaching something like that to an outsider?" I queried.

"A super-secret ninjutsu, eh? Maybe I'll learn it too."

Obito and I started, spinning to face the newcomer. At first glance, he seemed to be a civilian. He wore civilian clothing and bore no insignia on his clothes to indicate that he was from a clan. He was quite large and solidly built, his longish dark-brown hair tied back into a simple topknot at the back of his head and was perhaps in his early twenties. But he was definitely a shinobi, of about chūnin-level strength – from what I could sense of his chakra.

Why would a chūnin be wearing civilian clothes and roaming around Academy-level training grounds?

"Oh hey there," Obito greeted, giving the stranger an easy smile. "You must be lost. Do you need me to guide you back to the village?"

"Obito," I warned quietly, stepping closer to him. "He's not a civilian."

"Really?" Obito said, glancing at me in surprise.

"Very astute," the stranger said, smiling condescendingly. "You must really be something to be able to sense at your age."

"Just enough to be able to tell friend from foe," I replied evenly, stepping back into a basic fighting stance. "Who are you?"

A look of confusion crossed Obito's face but he stepped back into a fighting stance also, staring at the man hard, looking for some indication that he was an enemy.

"What do you mean?" The man stated, moving forward a couple of steps. "I just saw you two training and thought I might watch—"

"Where's your hitai-ate?" Obito asked suddenly, catching on.

"Why is that import—?"

As soon as the question began to pass off of his tongue, Obito and I had turned and high-tailed it for the tree line, our practice kunai falling to the ground. It was the sixth rule in the Shinobi Handbook, and we were browbeaten into learning the first fifty of them off-by-heart. I was just glad that Obito remembered it too.

Treat a shinobi – any shinobi – with no hitai-ate outside the village walls as always being an enemy.

I heard the chūnin behind us curse, and I could only imagine that he had began to give chase. There was no way that we'd be able to fight him off and we'd be lucky if we managed to outrun him, regardless I pumped chakra into my legs and kept running through the forest floor.

Obito had jumped on a low hanging tree branch and was now several metres above me among the branches, keeping pace with me. I wasn't confident enough tree-hopping to try experimenting it with an enemy shinobi in pursuit.

After several minutes of running at a full sprint I began to slow down, looking around to see if we had been pursued. Above me, Obito paused too. Watching me.

Perhaps we'd overreacted. I mean, they hadn't pursued when we'd run away. Perhaps he was just a Konoha shinobi out for a run in normal clothes and had just happened across us?

"Ayaka-chan?" Obito's voice carried down from overhead, a silent query in his tone to enquire if I was okay.

I paused for a moment, listening, before replying. "I'm fine." Letting loose a deep sigh of relief I continued. "I think they're gone—"

A flurry of movement caught my eye and I swung around to confront it. But I was too slow and before I could react further, someone collided with me, knocking me to the ground.

"Obito!" I cried, struggling against to my feet, I needed to move faster, then maybe I could…?

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" A ball of fire about the size of a basketball flashed from the branches where Obito was towards the figure, which quickly avoided the fireball by darting back behind the cover of the trees. Obito was at my side a split second later, helping me get to my feet.

"Hello again." That self-assured voice was behind us causing Obito and I to freeze, slowly pivoting. How had he gotten behind us so quickly?"

"Brother, dearest. Stop taunting the children." A snide-voiced girl in her mid to late teens with black hair stepped out from where the figure had darted to behind the trees—she must have been the one to knock me over. She was pretty, I acknowledged. Slender, with long dark hair that fell almost to her waist. It was nauseating, how attractive she was. She couldn't have been any older than eighteen years if I were to guess.

A twinge of pain from my foot made me wince as I rested my weight on it. I must have rolled my ankle when the girl knocked me over—I'd be able to walk and run, but it'd definitely hamper my speed. Great. Not that running had helped me get away in the first place…

On the upside, at least I didn't need to move my feet to use genjutsu. Running hadn't worked and now it seemed our only chance would likely be to cause enough of a commotion for someone to take notice and come to our aid.

Obito launched himself at the man, aiming a roundhouse kick at the man's head that Topknot abruptly blocked. Slamming the palms of my hands together, I moulded my chakra before lashing out at both the man with the topknot and his sister with a genjutsu.

Everything went still, the leaves slowed in the breeze and their bodies began to feel incredibly heavy, as if gravity were working against them. Slowly a wind began to pick up, surrounding both the young man and his sister respectively. Leaves swirled around them slowly before gaining momentum, whirring into small impassable funnels of air that restricted their sight.

I held up my hands and formed the tiger seal. The twisters were abruptly set ablaze. I dived into their minds again, shutting down each of their senses one by one. I was concentrating so hard that I didn't take any notice that the Seal on the back of my neck was beginning to unravel.

I set their skin ablaze, as if lava were being poured over their bodies. The funnels of fire tightened further and burned hotter making it hard for them to breathe. The flames screamed around them as if there were others being burned alive alongside them.

Their bodies began to perspire indicating just how deeply they were falling under my genjutsu; I had physically tricked their bodies into feeling the heat of the illusion. It was perhaps the most horrific genjutsu I had ever conjured but I found I couldn't really care that much.

I smiled. The genjutsu was unlike anything I'd inflicted before, although it still came naturally. It was like how an artist just knew what elements of paint to combine to obtain the ideal shades and layers for their painting, or a writer could tell which sentence structure was preferable. I was an artist, and these people were my canvas.

And this was a masterpiece.

Slamming my hands together into the snake seal, I made the earth boil, blistering their feet and flesh to the point where their skin began to peel off of their—

Obito knocked back the man with a solid punch to the face, snapping Topknot out of my illusion easily. Damn it. I focussed on keeping the girl under my influence, Obito knocking over the man had distracted me and I'd nearly lost her as well.

She gazed back at me intently as I stared into her eyes, drawing her in, trying to ensnare her mind again. Her eye twitched involuntarily—not good, she'd realised she was under a genjutsu and her bodies was starting to fight back. Her charka flared in an attempt to break the illusion and I flared my own to balance it out before she could break free.

But her chakra kept surging and I was going to run out of chakra before she would—by a lot.

I staggered backwards as she broke free, nearly tripping over some tree roots. The girl swayed slightly but retained her bearings and crossed the short distance between us. Still stumbling, I managed to avoid two of the punches she threw at me before a roundhouse kick caught me in my side, knocking the air out of my chest and sending me sprawling.

I gasped for air violently, feeling winded and dizzy. The Seal tingled and thin lines of warmth spread out from it. Lines of Sealing script ran down my back, arms and legs—probably my face too—indicating just how weak the Seal was getting.

I couldn't bring myself to worry about that right now as the dark-haired girl stood over me, fire burning in her eyes. She frowned at the sight of the Sealing script appearing on my body, but moved closer anyway. Picking me up by the scruff of the neck, she slammed me up against the trunk of the nearest tree and cocked her hand back.

Before I realised what was happening, she'd punched me for the first time. My head rocked back against the rough bark and I swore I was seeing actual stars. She cocked back her hand again and I quickly tried to think of some way to escape. I could move my arms, I could strike at her throat—no, her throat was out of my small arms' reach. Maybe I could—

She punched me again.

This time my mouth filled with blood as I bit my tongue, overflowing out of my mouth and over my chin, leaving an unsavoury coppery taste in my mouth. I gagged, thinking I might throw up. I hoped that the stupid pretty-faced dark-haired girl would be within my vomiting range.

I was so weak. It was pathetic.

I was pathetic.

"Ayaka!"

That… that was Obito! He was still fighting, and I should be too! I wouldn't take this beating lying down. I couldn't. I was better than this—better than them. I had evaded death, been reborn into a different world and given another chance to make a difference. I had still yet to figure out exactly how that had happened, and I wouldn't be able to do that by quitting when things got tough.

That just wasn't the type of person I was.

I glared at the girl now, trying to give her the most lethal death stare she'd ever encountered. I was angry—no, I was pissed off—and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up as waves of static pumped through my veins and fizzled over my skin.

When she made to punch me again, I caught her wrist in my small hands before she could pull away.

The static awakened from my partially released Seal and skin-to-skin contact roused something within me that I had hoped would stay asleep indefinitely. I managed to hold off releasing the Seal entirely, feeling the need to provide some confines to the beast that was stretching and testing the edges of its prison.

And at this moment, with electricity flooding through my body and a burning flame of fury in my chest, I didn't feel like holding back.

A single Hand seeped out from between the cracks that had formed in my Seal and zipped along my chakra pathways into my hand, and then pushed itself into the black-haired girls' wrist, feeling its way up her arm, and then even further—into her head. The Hand grasped the sparking golden wires of her central nervous system and a connection established between us. I pushed into her mind hard with everything I had. Pain sparked behind my eyes—it felt like I was dragging myself naked through a small tunnel lined with broken glass—but I kept pushing, my hold on her arm tightening—

—and then I slipped into her mind.

A mind that was uncomfortably warm and reminded me of the smell of pine. The pain in my head intensified and I winced, but stayed in her head. I was in control now. I could feel myself, split between two bodies—in charge of two bodies at once.

Flashes of images and impressions zipped past my consciousness. Loneliness, dissatisfaction, deep-seated anger.

I could see something else to:

A man. Her father. He had dark-brown hair like her brother, whilst she had hair like her mother's. She hated that. She hated her.

They stood in the cottage that the little girl had grown up in, a remote little place quite a distance away from the village.

The man – her father – patted her on the head, affectionately ruffling her hair and said something, the words coming out muffled and indistinct. But she gazed up at him and replied, "I will," even though she wouldn't. She would never be good to her mother—she didn't deserve it.

And then he walked out of the cottage. Her mother watched reluctantly from her chair. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen her mother move from that chair. She couldn't remember her ever moving from that chair, only gazing at her children coldly. Being around the woman too long made her uneasy.

She wanted her father.

She didn't want him to go away again. It wasn't fair.

For leaving her alone, she hated him too.

The memory spun away before I could get a good grasp on it. The mere hint of the memory, however, seemed to make the girl's conscious shy away, leaving me free reign.

"Kneel."

I don't know if the words came from my lips or hers, but as soon as they were spoken she collapsed to her knees, gazing up at me in a stunned stupor as if she'd been lobotomised.

"Ayaka!"

I dragged my eyes upwards, away from the girl. The man with the topknot held Obito up by the throat who was valiantly trying to release the man's grip on his throat and kick him in the face at the same time.

"Well," Topknot remarked. "This just got a hell of a lot more interesting." He paused, glancing at me appraisingly. "I like the demonic look you've got going on too. Very intimidating." Funny, he didn't sound intimidated at all, although I could imagine that mussed black hair, red eyes, blood dripping from my mouth and lines of tattoo-like characters covering my skin wasn't a great look for me.

"What do you want?" I asked tiredly, trying to act more menacing than I actually felt.

"I thought you'd never ask," Topknot smiled. "A trade. You release my sister from the superb genjutsu you have her under, and I'll release the boy." He lifted Obito slightly higher for emphasis.

"No! Ayaka!" Obito gasped. "Don't do it! Run! I'll be—Gahh!" Obito was abruptly cut off as Topknot squeezed his throat further.

"Then what?" I asked slowly, trying to pretend I was calm when all I really wanted to do was sit down and cry. I should never have left home. "You're just as likely to kill him after I release your sister," I said, mind whirring, trying to find a way to either get Obito and myself out of here or alert the Village to our predicament.

"We only came for you. Call me sentimental but I don't enjoy killing kids. But," his grip tightened even more on Obito's throat, "I will kill him to make a point."

Obito let out a gargled yelp.

My eyes narrowed. "This is not how this is going to play out," I ground out through gritted teeth. Arguing with him and having two pieces of my consciousness in different bodies was sending my brain into a tailspin. "You're going to release my friend, then I will release your sister once we're a safe distance away, then we never see each other again."

He laughed languidly and I bit my lip hard to keep from trembling, the effort to occupy both his sister's body and my own, hurt my head like nothing else and the sheer drain on my chakra was enough to scare anyone. I had maybe about fifteen seconds before my chakra ran out.

"You're nearly out of chakra, aren't you? Take my offer, you won't get a better one."

I bit my lip harder.

Eleven.

Ten.

Nine…

"Fine!" I blurted. "But let him go right now!"

The man smiled and dropped Obito who collapsed into a crumpled heap gasping for breath.

I released his sister at the same moment before promptly dropping to my hands and knees and vomiting my lunch all over the ground.

"That bitch!" The girl spat, staggering to her feet. "I'm gonna kill her!" Seemingly out of nowhere a sandled foot snapped out and caught me under the chin sending me spinning backwards.

"Come on, Zara. Don't kill the girl."

"But she—!"

"The job was to retrieve, not kill."

"Fine," Zara snapped. "Hurry up and grab her so we can go. Shin should have grabbed her weeks ago."

I could practically feel my ears perk up at their conversation. Were they talking about the man who'd attacked me at home a few weeks ago? They must be. Papa had said that the man had been blind, but possessed great proficiency in evading physical attacks. That must mean that Zara and her brother were working with the blind man—was his name 'Shin'? Why did they want me?

My mind whirred with possibilities as Zara and her brother continued their banter.

Movement off to the side caught my attention.

It was Obito. He was inching towards me, hand outstretched as if I was close enough to take it. And then I realised. He was scared. Obito Uchiha was scared out of his wits. I could see it by the way he looked at me, wide-eyed and pale-faced. We'd grown close over the many months since our initial introduction and it suddenly occurred to me that the reason why he bugged me so often was because he wanted to be around me. Because I was perhaps his only friend.

I stretched out a hand towards Obito, trying to construe my feelings about our friendship through that simple gesture, trying to smile to ease his anxiety and—

A foot stomped down on Obito's extended arm abruptly, and something in Obito's arm snapped. There was a moment of horrified silence before Obito screamed and I began shouting, tears clouding my eyes so I couldn't see when Zara and Topknot came towards me.

"Sorry about your friend, kid." Topknot said, squatting down in front of me. "I just had to make sure he wouldn't get himself in anymore trouble by following us."

"You said you'd leave him alone!"

"And I will. He's alive, isn't he?" Topknot smiled charmingly.

I glared at him.

"C'mon, Sugoi. You're little stunt is causing a commotion and if we're caught because of it—I'll kill you," Zara ground out, glaring at her brother.

"Well, it seems everyone hates me today," Sugoi – a.k.a. 'Topknot' – sighed dramatically, rolling his eyes. "Well come on, kid. A deal's a deal. We'll leave you're friend here alive if you come with us without a fuss."

I glared at him again and tried to keep my tears back, although my eyes were already overflowing.

Trying to stand, I got as far as my knees before I keeled over onto my side. My chakra reserves were nothing but fumes—most of it having been used up by maintaining the connection between Zara and myself.

I shook my head. An analysis of what that connection had done to her would have to wait. I had bigger problems.

"Upsy-daisy!" Sugoi said, cheerfully lifting me up and throwing me over his shoulder as if I were a sack of potatoes. I felt like a sack of potatoes. "Time to go!" He cheered, before turning back to Obito. "You fought well, brat. Keep up the good work!"

Was he serious? He had to be patronising Obito, because I wasn't able to believe that he was seriously complimenting his enemy.

"Come on!" Zara snapped, her beautiful face twisting into a snarl. "I don't want the Madam finding out we failed this job because you were off sparing some punk kid's life!"

"Okay, okay. Don't get upset over nothing."

"I'm not upset over nothing!"

Sugoi began walking, and I bounced slightly on his shoulder with each step and I fought the urge to vomit again, my head spinning. Craning my head upwards, I managed to catch sight of Obito, his eyes following my prone form and his mouth muttering what looked to be my name over and over again.

Run, I thought at him. Be safe. I wanted to add more but a sharp jab from Sugoi shoulder made me squeeze my eyes shut in pain. By the time I'd recovered enough to look up, Obito and the clearing where he'd been were out of eyesight.

"Here," Sugoi said, handing me a small ration pack filled with dried meat and small dehydrated vegetables.

"Thanks," I muttered, gratefully taking the small silver package from him. I hadn't eaten since we'd the campsite that morning and been half-dragged half-carried across the country.

After the first day I'd been taken, I'd considered not eating the food Sugoi would give me in protest to being kidnapped. But I realised that that wouldn't help my situation any, and I quickly decided to swallow my pride and keep my strength up so that when the opportunity came for me to escape, I would be ready.

"So," Zara started as Sugoi sat down at the campfire. "Now that we've captured the girl and passed through the Land of Lightning's borders, what's our next step?"

We'd passed through the Land of Fire's borders? The trees that surrounded us looked similar to those in the Land of Fire. I'd heard that the Land of Lightning was predominantly made up of mountains, although perhaps that was just a popular misconception.

I sat up a little straighter, trying to listen in from where I sat huddled on the opposite side of the fire. This was the first time they'd spoken that night, and the first time that they'd made any mention of what they were going to do to me or where they were taking me. It had been six days since I'd been taken from the Konoha training grounds; six days since I'd seen my mother, seen Obito broken and scared in an empty training ground on the outskirts of Konoha.

Over the past week, I'd tried not to think about that too much. Logically, I reasoned that he couldn't be dead—not from a broken arm, anyway—and that meant that he'd eventually found his way back to Konoha and alerted people about my abduction. Papa was going to be really angry when he finds out that I was kidnapped after sneaking out—so would Mama probably, I wasn't so sure about what Kurenai would feel though. With that thought in mind, however, I was confident that someone would come rescue me. But after the first few days and the closer we got to the Fire Country's border that hope began to dwindle.

Was I worth the launch of a rescue mission within the Land of Fire's borders? Yes. A rescue mission outside those borders? Probably not.

Had they even bothered launching a rescue at all? They'd have to, wouldn't they? An academy student abducted and another student from a prominent shinobi clan injured? That would definitely be cause for alarm, right?

Yet Takahata-sensei's words from class kept reverberating around in my head. Sometimes the Village will just let bygones be bygones, especially if it will help preserve the peace, Takahata's voice mocked in my head. Letting one person be taken might be better than letting thousands be killed in a war that could have been prevented.

I really needed to think about something else. Maybe start a hobby—like knitting. Knitting sounded like it could be fun.

"What do you mean?" Sugoi replied, giving Zara a confused look. "We head back to the base, obviously."

"So we won't take a detour or anything? Try to throw the Konoha-nin off our scent?"

"That's been taken care of," Sugoi replied cryptically, glancing over the flames at me warily. I quickly lowered my head to rest on my knees again, huddling closer to the fire and pretended that I hadn't been listening in to their conversation.

Been taken care of?

"Shin?" Zara asked succinctly.

"Yeah, he should be here soon."

"What's his deal, anyway?"

"I don't follow," Sugoi frowned before taking a swig of water from his canteen.

"I mean, he has no eyes, right? That's weird enough. But he never stumbles or anything, it's like he knows exactly where everything is. Plus he follows around The Madam everywhere like a little dog." Zara paused, as if considering her next words. "Is there something, like, going on between them two?"

Sugoi choked on his water, spraying it across the campsite in surprise. His choking turned into a coughing fit which later resolved into laughter. "Dear God, Zara! I'm pretty sure they're not in love! I think it's more of a loyalty thing. What makes you think that?"

Zara's resulting blush was answer enough; at least, it was to me. "No reason."

Having heard enough, I tried to order the pieces of information I had learned to fit together into a larger picture. First, Zara obviously had a thing for this blind guy—Shin?—who was likely the same guy who had tried to kidnap me from my house over two weeks ago. Second, Shin worked for someone called 'The Madam' because he was loyal to her – indicating that perhaps this Madam person was the mastermind behind my abduction. Third, Zara and Sugoi seemed to have no such loyalty to the Madam, yet still did their bidding…

"You're mercenaries," I blurted out before I could stop myself.

Zara and Sugoi stilled partway through their conversation, turning to face me a second later.

"What?"

"You're both mercenaries…" I said again, feeling distinctly uncomfortable under their scrutiny. "You talk about the concept of loyalty in a blasé manner, and seem to be slightly derogatory towards those who display it. You don't seem to have a personal investment in your benefactor, this 'Madam', either."

"So naturally you assumed we were mercenaries?" Sugoi enquired with a quirked brow. "Aren't all shinobi mercenaries?"

I flushed at his pointing out of the obvious. "I suppose, but you're not carrying any hitai-ate on you so you're likely not part of any actual Village." Quickly realising that statement wasn't necessarily true, I amended, "Well, that and the fact that you said a few days ago how you couldn't wait to get the pay for 'this job', a job that – may I remind you – is currently ruining my life."

"Then you'll be able to believe me when I say that this really isn't personal," said Sugoi amiably. Then he smiled and I glared back in response. He was totally missing my point.

"You really should mind your own business," Zara sniffed, giving me a haughty look.

"So should you, hypocrite," I muttered, annoyed.

"Hypocrite?! I am not a hypocrite!" Zara snarled. It was almost frightening how quickly Zara could transform from a snooty princess to a snarling monster.

"Oh really? So you haven't kidnapped me then? I'm free to go back home and go about my own business?"

"Oh puh-leez. We were doing you a favour by taking you from that horribly depressing excuse for a family of yours," Zara snapped back. "They practically locked you away in your bedroom, if anyone was keeping you prisoner, it was them."

The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I'd had my suspicions that they'd been watching me for the ideal moment to abduct me, but it was a whole new level of creepy to know that they'd actually done it—and monitored my family situation to boot. "You don't know what you're talking about," I hissed, hugging my legs closer to my chest.

So far, they'd made no acknowledgement of my kekkai genkai, so either they didn't know about it or they just weren't talking. In any case, I'd already decided that I wouldn't make any mention of it either.

Zara sneered—actually sneered. "Aww. Did I hit a soft spot? Did they lock you away because you were too ugly for them to bear looking a you?"

"Who are you calling 'ugly', Flat-chest?" I retorted.

There was a moment of stunned silence as everyone's gaze slid down from Zara's bug-eyed gaze to her less-than-ample chest.

"Ladies, ladies. You're both pretty—" Sugoi tried to intervene.

"I'M GOING TO KILL HER!" Zara screeched, flying at me just as Sugoi managed to grab her collar, pulling her backwards. "IT'S NOT LIKE YOU HAVE ANY EITHER!"

"I'm six years old," I sniffed. "I'm not supposed to have any breasts yet. Aren't you supposed to be the one on the cusp of womanhood? No wonder you don't have a boyfriend."

"I'M GOING TO GOUGE OUT YOUR EYES AND FEED THEM TO YOU, YOU INSIGNIFICANT LITTLE PIECE OF—" She was abruptly cut off as Sugoi dragged Zara into her tent where her rants and curses were a lot more muffled, almost inaudible.

Sugoi came out a few moments later. "Making Zara hate you more isn't making things any easier, you know."

I gave him the most innocent look I could muster. "Who, me?"

"Yes, you. You're going to get killed before we even reach our destination."

"Where is our destination?"

He gave me an amused look. "Yeah, I'm not telling you that."

I showed him my bound hands. "Who am I going to tell? I'm the hostage here, remember?"

"That is very true."

"So you'll tell me?"

"No."

"Well, that's unfortunate for you."

"Oh really? Why's that?"

I smiled. "Now I know that Zara doesn't have a boyfriend—" Sugoi winced "—I can tease her about it endlessly. Knowing the destination might help me… focus on something else…"

Sugoi shook his head in amusement and I found myself smiling at him. Stop. This was messed up. I was joking around with my kidnapper whilst my friends and family at home were likely in various states of turmoil after I was snatched away. I did not have Stockholm syndrome. No way. But I liked Sugoi, he was actually a pretty funny guy, and although Zara was a bitch, it was a lot of fun to poke her to the point where she would have a complete mental breakdown.

I sighed, staring into the fire and holding myself tighter. Why couldn't I just hate my captors like a regular hostage? I was pretty messed up.

"You'll find out once we get there."

Zara stomped out from the tent once again. Glaring, she slumped into her spot beside Sugoi.

Sugoi raised a hand before anyone could speak, drawing our attention to him. "Okay, so I hope that there won't be anymore fights between you two." He gave us both a knowing look.

"Um," I started, giving him a weird look. "I'm the hostage here."

"Oh, that's right!" Zara snapped. "Play the victim!"

"I am the victim!"

"Okay! Enough, enough. Ladies, you're both pretty—"

"—Tell me something I don't know. Because I…" Zara trailed off, her face taking on an almost dreamy expression as her gaze shifted to something just over my shoulder. "I… Uh. I… I'm… just… I'm…"

On reflex, before I could even think what I was doing, I turned around.

And screamed.

It was only a little scream—about a three on the Richter Scale of screams—but it didn't stop the feeling of abject terror that washed over me. I couldn't move, if I could have I would have scooted away—sprinted away, restraints be damned.

Sugoi coolly raised a hand by way of greeting. "Hey Shin. I was wondering when you were going to show up."

Shin, the man who had attacked me two weeks ago stood not even three metres behind from where I was sitting. I hadn't heard his approach at all and I couldn't help but wonder how long he'd been there, watching me through his empty eye sockets.

"Good evening," Shin replied, stepping forward more properly into the perimeter of light cast by the fire. His voice was deep; I wasn't sure what I had expected but definitely not a voice so ordinary. His face was another issue altogether. I'd heard Papa's report and description of this man—Shin—and had painted him as a grotesque child-snatching monster. And although he was still a child-snatching monster, he was definitely not as grotesque as I'd thought. If he'd had eyeballs, some might have even deemed him 'handsome'. By "some", I meant Zara. Definitely not me.

"H-hi, Shin!" Zara blushed, suddenly all smiles, coy looks and girlish charm. I scurried away to the opposite side of the fire, not taking my gaze off of him.

"I see you managed to get the girl," Shin observed, cocking his head in my general direction slightly.

"Well, that's what we were hired for," Sugoi replied, matter-of-fact.

"The Madam will be pleased."

That 'Madam' person again. Who was it? Why did they want me? The word 'Madam' seemed to indicate that it was a woman, but I don't think I remember anyone referring to her as such.

The Madam will be pleased.

This 'Madam' had a very specific interest in me, that was for sure, and her name seemed to denote a title rather than an actual given name. Having never been to the Land of Lightning before, I knew very little about their culture and was unsure if Madam was a part of Kumogakure, the Lightning Daimyo's government, or even just a celebrity. Or maybe she was none of the above. Maybe she was a power within the nation that waited in the shadows before striking. A Lightning-version of Danzo.

I really needed to stop freaking myself out like this; it just wasn't healthy.

Knitting, though. Knitting was healthy.

"W-what do you want from me?" I asked.

Shin turned his eyeless gaze upon me making goosebumps break out all over my arms and the back of my neck.

"Why haven't you gagged her? And why are her legs still unbound? You were instructed not to let her escape."

"In my experience, gagging someone isn't pleasant. There's the possibility of vomiting and then choking to death on your own vomit. There's also the possibility of not being able to breathe sufficiently through the gag. As for her legs, well, we wanted her to be able keep up during our travels. Plus, she's been a delight to kidnap. The most calm and put-together person I've ever had the privilege of kidnapping." He smiled and nodded at me as if he'd just paid me a compliment.

"T-thanks," I tried to intone dryly, but it came out a lot squeakier than I had meant it to be. Shin was still looking—actually, his face was facing me.

"You're very welcome," Sugoi smiled warmly.

"N-no, I was being… Ugh, never mind."

This was going to be a long journey.

A/N: Well, it seems some of Ayaka's kidnappers aren't as evil as she thought they were! I tried to add a little personality to them so they wouldn't be flat and boring. What did you think of them? And who is this mysterious entity, 'The Madam'?

Also, someone asked for more "danger scenes". I hope you enjoyed the fight scene in this chapter. I italicised the parts where Ayaka was describing her genjutsu so that it would stand out to you readers more. And what was up with the Hands? So weird ;)

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter: InARealPickle, helenGet, sharkswillruledaWORLD, Anber, PersonJe, SixPerfections, ToughChick, TheQueen'sKnight, DulcetOwl, Vaughn Tyler, Just a Poor Kitty, BasicallyComplicated, Mysto Stryke (Guest), CaptainofherSoul, tft4, Angel (Guest), ShugoYuuki123, Crystal Blue Butterfly, Ilovedarkpasts and all the other guests who reviewed.

You're all awesome people!

Interesting but useless information about the author and other stuff:

Following the release of Fifty Shades of Grey, rope sales in hardware stores skyrocketed.

There are still five people alive who were born in the 1800s, and they are all women.

There are more public libraries than McDonald's in the U.S.A.

If your house were on fire while you were asleep, you wouldn't wake up. Your sense of smell is turned 'off' when you're sleeping.

There are a lot of reveals on the way for this fic. I've roughly planned to reveal them in chapter thirteen but it's possible I may have to push it back. I'm not sure yet.

Reviews would be awesome.