Chapter 33

AN: Kishimoto owns all except my characters-Kiminari, and Kimiko, and later characters. Also I'm probably not going to follow any of the story line except a few small things. I may take the characters outside their natural personalities, but that's because it's my story, and it'll add to it. Another thing: since I'm not following the story line of the series- All main (good) characters will start out the same age as they should be, but even though the Akatsuki will be around, the war will not happen until later; if it does at all. Again this is because I'm making up my own story line; it gets kinda boring when nothing has changed and, you readers would be able to guess what was going to happen all the time. So, enjoy, and please comment, review, rate, whatever you wanna do. :D

P.S. I don't like to go into detail to tell you things most of you already know, and if you don't already know them, then it's best I don't tell you.

After our quick meal and Kakashi's interrogation of me, he decided it would be safe to bring me on in tonight.

"You know, a lot of people have missed you. I'm glad we finally found you, and that you don't know anything." Lee said.

"I've really missed everyone too." I said smiling at him. "I'm glad you finally found me. I do miss my friends though. I wonder if they escaped."

"We did see some of the members escape with two other hostages. Do you think it was them?" Guy asked.

"I hope not, but as far as we knew we were the only three there; I hope there weren't any others." I responded, hanging my head.

Once we got into Konoha, Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura met up with Sai. I'd never really liked the guy, he got on my nerves too much; however, it would be a lie to say I hadn't missed him while I was away, in fact, I was happy to see him; and to see he'd learned to become a bit more… normal.

"Kimiko, I see Kakashi finally found you." He said, greeting me.

"Yeah, some moron kidnapped her, then the Akatsuki killed him and took her." Naruto said.

"Well, I'm happy to see you in good health. We've really missed you." He said smiling his still awkward smile, to which I gladly returned my own.

When we'd finally arrived at Lady Tsunade's office, Kakashi went in first. I waited outside with the others, nervously, while he explained the conditions in which I was found, and told her that he'd already proven my innocence. After about ten minutes, he called us in.

"Welcome back, Kimiko." Lady Tsunade said with a warm smile. I smiled back, bowing. "Kakashi has told me that he has already searched your mind with his Sharingan, so I would not have to send you to Ibiki." I stiffened at the name. Even though I knew, without a doubt, I could easily overpower him, I still didn't care for the thought of even being in the same room as that phsyco; even Hidan was nicer than him while trying to get information out of someone.

Kakashi placed a comforting hand on my shoulder when he noticed my reaction, and Lady Tsunade smiled apologetically at him. Then he spoke to me.

"Would you like me to walk you back to the compound?"

I shook my head. I would have loved to have gone straight back to a place where I could feel something of my father's presence, but I thought to myself: 'If I'd really been kidnapped, wouldn't I be scared to go back for a while?' "No, not yet." Perfect, my voice shook a little. "Can I stay with you, Kakashi. Just for a little?"

He smiled through his mask. "Sure. I've missed seeing my little girl." Great, he still wanted to play dad. I smiled and let out a small giggle. He leaned in and whispered, jokingly, "As long as you can still cook." I laughed softly at that.

"Yes, I think I can still cook." I smiled with everyone as we all shared a laugh. Now I just needed to wait on my other family to show up.

Once Kakashi and I had arrived at his old apartment, he allowed me to take a shower first. Since all the clothes I had left in Konoha were down at my old house, he lent me a pair of sweats he'd outgrown, and a t-shirt. I was grateful he still saw me as a daughter of sorts, but I felt bad for him since he had no idea I'd actually left with my real dad.

By the time he'd finished his own shower, I was almost done with dinner; an old favorite of ours: Chicken, rice, stir-fry, and dango.

"You know, I can't even tell you how much I've missed eating decent food. I mean, you only brought some over every other night or so when you lived on your own, but when you went missing, I thought I'd die." I had to laugh at that.

"Oh, yeah. You're all skin and bones." I joked, still laughing at his helplessness.

Once we'd finished eating, or in his case gorging himself, he said something I'd hoped he wouldn't:

"I know you hid things about the past few years. I could feel the blank spaces." I nodded, looking away. "If it's something personal, I promise I won't tell anyone." He said, trying to get something out of me.

"Well, I wasn't completely unhappy there." I said to start off. He looked confused, so I went on. "There was a reason why they took me from the first man. Our clan has another member, aside from the ones you already know about. Like me, they took him from his home; they wanted Itachi to train him properly so he could restart the clan. He'd only been there three months before they found me. They'd been looking for someone 'worthy' enough to help him restart." I fake grimaced while making air quotes. "I was an easy pick up, so they tried to get us together. Unfortunately, they found out I was also an Uchiha, so they found someone else for him, and someone for me. I never met the girl, but since I'd already met him, they allowed us to see one another on occasions. Haru was the one they kidnapped for me. He was Deidara's little brother; another bet he lost. He must be worse than Lady Tsunade." We both laughed at that. "Well, we ended up really liking each other, so I got to see him on almost a daily basis." I stopped after that. I missed them both so much.

"So they didn't treat you badly?" Kakashi asked. "They didn't make you do anything?"

"No, the only thing they made me do was stay in my room most of the time. For the first year, at least. After that, since we hadn't made any trouble, or escape attempts-well, we thought about it, but we had no idea where we were or how to get out-, they allowed us to train freely, and under mild supervision. We could also move throughout most of the base as well. We took this opportunity to try to get information out of the members, but, although they were nice enough to us, they didn't budge. I never really got to know any of them particularly well, not even Deidara; after Haru found out about his adopted brother, he turned completely away from him. However, they were helpful at times." Kakashi raised an eyebrow in question.

"Well, Kakuzu felt bad, so once a month, he'd take orders for anything we might need or want, and he'd buy it from a nearby village. I didn't make much progress, but Sasori tried to help me with healing techniques."

"Was he any better help than Sakura?" Kakashi asked jokingly.

"No, he gave up after an hour and sent me back to my room." I laughed at the memory. He'd given up and stalked back to his room, knocking Deidara out in the process. I wished so badly that I could tell Kakashi the truth, but I couldn't. "Watch out for Tobi though-guy with the mask-, that idiot was the only one who could manage to get permission to train us. He may seem stupid, but don't underestimate him." I said warning Kakashi; I could afford to give hints like that to Konoha, because Obito could definitely take care of himself.

I paused for a moment, then spoke again. "I really am glad to be back, but I really hope we can find Kazuma. And Haru;" Then shyly, "I really do love him." I forced a few more tears out. Even though I was upset, I still wasn't used to crying this much; it was starting to make my face hurt.

"We'll try. I promise."