You sighed as you walked, your eyes stinging. A part of you wanted to cry. It'd only been an hour since you'd decided to leave the shop that had been your home for nine years, and you were already feeling homesick. Pein, the leader of the group that called themselves the Akatsuki, had convinced you to join the group, to hopefully bring peace to the shinobi world. The ring you'd been given had apparently belonged to a former member named Orochimaru. Itachi claimed that Orochimaru still had a ring, but it was a fake, that he'd taken the real one when he'd cut off Orochimaru's arm.

You didn't speak to anyone, since your head was pounding from having activated your Hanshagan. Also, most of the people didn't exactly seem like the sociable types. You looked around at the members. You'd been told that everyone worked in pairs. The only one not paired off was the man named Zetsu. You edged closer to him, figuring that you should try to get to know him, since you'd likely get put with him. You came up beside him and opened your mouth to speak to him, but as you got close enough you realized that he was having a conversation with himself. Not just having a conversation, but an argument. Your footsteps stopped. Had you just joined with a group of crazy people? You felt a big hand land on your shoulder, forcing you to begin moving again. You looked up and saw Kisame giving you a smile, "Don't mind him. He's just a little different. He has something like a split personality, just with both personalities present at once."

You were now walking between Itachi and Kisame. You glanced at Itachi and shifted closer to Kisame. You couldn't help but feel a little weary of Itachi. You'd nearly died when facing him in the past. But you couldn't help but be curious of him. How had the captain of the ANBU, a highly trusted member of the village, become a rouge ninja? You hoped that it hadn't been because of his failure to bring you back, but you couldn't just ask him that. Itachi felt your gaze and glanced at you, his sharingan still active. Strange...he hadn't had it activated when it had been just him and Kisame, when he'd come to your shop. Did he suddenly not trust you since he knew who you were? That didn't make sense, since he could've known right from the start. So was there someone in the group he didn't trust?

That was possible. No one in the group was overly forthcoming with information. You glanced back up at Kisame, "So...what kind of things will I be doing to help?" Kisame hesitated, "Well...that won't be coming for a while. When we reach one of our hideouts we'll split into our smaller teams. That's when you'll find out who you'll be working with, which will probably be Zetsu, and find out which of the tailed beasts you'll be hunting for. Since you are from the land of fire, you might get assigned to try the nine-tails, like us. His village defends him quite strongly, unlike many other villages, or perhaps you'll get sent after the eight tails. Its host has been particularly hard to get to." You tensed, "Host?" He nodded, "Yeah. Some of the tailed beasts are sealed into human hosts. I'm sure you remember the child named Naruto Uzumaki in the Konoha. He's one such host." You could vaguely remember a young child that was shunned by most of the village.

You hesitated, "And...what are we doing with the hosts?" Kisame scratched his cheek, "Well..." Itachi turned to you, "We extract the tailed beasts from them. That will be the time where you are the most help, since your chakra control and endurance were both so good while you were in the village...unless your soft life at that shop has cost you all of your former skills." You frowned, "While I lived at the shop, Granny taught me medical ninjutsu. I practiced with it often. So I am pretty confident in my control and endurance." Kisame raised an eyebrow, "Medical ninjutsu..." His gaze shifted to Itachi.

"Medical ninjutsu huh?" Your head turned. The man named Diedara had slowed down to join your little group. You nodded and he smiled. "So if I get injured will you nurse me tenderly?" You curled your lip slightly before forcing a smile. You'd kinda hoped that you wouldn't have to deal with having people hit on you again. You had become good at dealing with it at the shop, but you hated doing it. You were about to respond when another voice cut in, "The hell do you need nursing for? Just don't be stupid and get injured in the first place, besides, with Kakuzu's stitching's we've never needed nursing. Getting gentle nursing is against Jashin. You won't catch me using that crap." The man named Hidan had shouted from his place further ahead. Diedara shot a glare up ahead, "You're immortal, so you wouldn't need it anyways. And even if you did need patching up, you like pain, so you wouldn't understand the pleasure of having gentle treatment. Besides, medical ninjutsu is way more effective to speed up healing and heal things that getting stitches won't fix!" You sighed. You hoped that you wouldn't be partnered with either of those two.

"Quiet, all of you." The Leader's quiet voice barely reached you at the back, but its effects were instant. Everyone returned to their original places and fell silent. You took a deep breath, glad to have the attention off of you.

The group was in silence for several minutes, until the leader stopped at a boulder. He bit his thumb, then drew a symbol on the boulder. The blood sank into the rock and the rock appeared to dissolve before your eyes. You followed the group into the darkness beyond the boulder. As soon as the last person stepped through the opening the rock reformed, leaving you disoriented in the absolute darkness. Blindly you reached out. You felt the fabric of a cloak in front of you and grabbed onto it, hoping that it wasn't anyone too bad. They tensed for a moment, then they began walking, slower than anyone had been before, to allow you to keep up. The years of not using your eyes in the darkness had caused your night vision to deteriorate. You'd need to practice lots in order to regain your full potential.

You and the person leading you rounded a few corners before you finally began seeing light ahead. You and the person stepped into a larger room that had several candles lit. Everyone else was there, and you realized that the one you'd been holding onto was Itachi. You quickly let go of his cloaks and stepped away, muttering out an apology. The leader left the room with the only other woman of the group. He must be deciding what to do with you. Itachi had moved into the room and had sat on one of the benches. You saw an open spot next to Kisame and moved to go to it, since you felt like Kisame was the one you could be the closest friends with in this room. But as you walked, something grabbed your wrist and you found yourself seated between Diedara and Sasori. Sasori wasn't seated on the bench, choosing instead to remain inside what you'd learned was a massive puppet, beside the bench.

Diedara smiled at you. You were finally getting to see the entire group without their hats on. You had to admit that Diedara was cute, but he seemed a little too interested in you. You forced a smile onto your face and smiled back at him. He was a comrade now, so better to be friendly. He reached into a small pouch on his hip and a few seconds later held his hand out in front of you. He opened his hand and you had to hide your shock at seeing another mouth on his hand. The mouth opened and a small clay bird emerged. "What do you think un?" You shifted as he whispered into your ear. You looked at the clay bird and realized it was moving, almost as if it were alive, "It's cute...I'm impressed." Diedara smiled and dropped the bird onto the floor. It hopped around a bit, "If you're impressed now, just wait... this is my art. And true art..." You realized that the bird had hopped over quite close to Itachi. Itachi threw a kunai to keep it from getting too close. You wondered why, but Diedara finished his sentence and you understood, "Is an explosion!" He made a handsign and the little clay bird exploded violently.

You stared and the small divot it had created in the stone floor. What a destructive jutsu! Diedara's hot breath hit your ear as he whispered again, "I wonder if those eyes of yours could even reflect that?" You opened your mouth to answer, but the leader walked back into the room. Everyone stood, and you followed their actions. The leader walked into the middle of the large room and faced you. "Y/n, I have decided where to place you in our group and which tailed beast you are to hunt." You nodded and began thinking in your head, *not Diedara, not Diedara, I won't be able to handle his flirting for too long, so anyone but him!* There were a few people you didn't want to work with, but you felt like you could learn to tolerate, or even like them after a short time, but Diedara was too much. The leader's next words answered your prayers.

"You'll be hunting the eight tails and you'll be with Kisame and Itachi."

You glanced at Itachi to be met with his sharingan coldly staring back. You felt unease creep up your spine. Perhaps Diedara wouldn't have been so bad...

Itachi shut his eyes and turned away. So this was your team huh? Fun.