N E V E R M O R E

VI

Sasori and Konan had agreed to move the furniture for Kihara, and she was beyond grateful when Konan suggested she take a walk around the village to become more accustomed to her surroundings.

As usual the rain was endless.

Kihara walked throughout the village in peace and total quiet except for the sound of the rainfall hammering against her umbrella.

The people of the village stared at her in curiosity and others muttered words of interest or perplexity. She was just as perplexed as they were, not only was this place alien to her but the people were as well. She had no family or association bonds to anyone here except Konan perhaps. She felt like a lamb in a pen of hungry foxes

Contained.

Abandoned.

But definitely not alone...

Kihara gripped the handle of the umbrella tighter and let her walk progress into a sort of jog to avoid the gawking and prying eyes of the foxes. It was her damned hair; it brought all attention to her and she hated it; she hated that people stared at her locks of sapphire.

The healer's jog turned into a run and blurs of color and light whizzed past her vision as she ignored the world around her and let her breath come out in short pants.

She could escape if she wanted to.

Leave this all behind and try to escape somewhere they'd never find her.

'No' she thought 'they'd find me...they'd catch me!'

Kihara felt herself collide into something hard and the umbrella slipped from her hand and clattered to the ground as the healer quickly jerked away from what she had bumped in to, lowering her head quickly as the heavy rain soaked her within seconds.

"S-Sorry..." She uttered out, noticing the object she had bumped in to actually was a person.

"It's fine..."

She looked up and her lips parted slightly in surprise when she saw she'd bumped into none other then Itachi Uchiha himself.

Was he not in the hideout?

She could have sworn he retreated right to his room after the hardware store.

The Sharingan user kneeled down and Kihara watched in curiosity as he gently picked up the umbrella she had dropped then held it out to her. She hummed slightly and quickly grabbed it from him as he lowered his hand to his side.

"Thank-"

Before she could finish her sentence he began walking off and she watched his retreating back slowly disappearing into the heavy rain. The healer clenched her umbrella tightly and closed her eyes as she felt the coldness of the rain already seeping through her skin and chilling her bones down to a direct core.

A lamb in a pen of foxes...

But among these hungry, gawking foxes there was an opening...

It was so close and yet...

Kihara opened her eyes slowly and outstretched her hand in front of her as she felt tears cloud her eyes. She wanted to escape yet she was too scared to reach for that opening, she couldn't bring herself to overcome her fear.

Yet...

One of the foxes would be sure to catch her, maul her to a bloody pulp as the others watched.

Yet...

Freedom was just within the tips of her fingers and she was too scared to grab it.

Yet...

"Itachi!!"

The Sharingan user stopped slowly and glanced over his shoulder at her as Kihara clenched her eyes shut again and let her tears spill. She didn't care who saw these tears now; her freedom was on the line and she wouldn't let the gawking foxes prevent that.

"H-How are you so use to this?!" She yelled in anger, fear, and frustration "this place is horrible!! The Akatsuki...HOW DO YOU SUFFER THROUGH THAT?!? Hidan is so rude and mean, I haven't done anything to upset him yet he tries to kill me!! My family was killed and for what?! Hana was so small!! She had hope and love and you people took that all away from her!! Was that funny to you?!? DO YOU ENJOY THAT SORT OF THING?!? This place...these people...you're all just using me as some sort of puppet! I've only been here a day or so and I'm already suffering...SO!!! So..."

Kihara's tears spilled heavier down her face and she jerked her head upwards before staring directly into the onyx eyes of Itachi Uchiha, whose facial expression had not yet changed since she started her speech.

"So...how do you survive in a place like this?!?"

The Hīrā clan:
Population: 131

One kidnapped, two killed

Abilities: Healing, and wind

A healer kidnapped to become what the word would now considered a criminal.

Traits: Quiet, observant, fragile.

Her fragileness was showing clearly to the Uchiha who watched her tears patter to the ground silently, seemingly mixing in with the endless tears from the sky. It would have been impossible to tell that she was crying...

If it wasn't for that face.

That face that she made.

Her face was contorted in pain, her shoulders hunched, her hands had abandoned holding the umbrella and we're instead clenching her shirt as the umbrella was left a victim to the rain.

"How...?" She muttered.

"Fight."

Kihara's lips parted in surprise and she looked up only to see the Sharingan user was standing directly in front of her, his onyx eyes shining in an emotion she couldn't make out no matter how hard she tried.

He knelt down once again and picked up the umbrella before covering the healer with it as she stared at him through watery eyes and tear-striken cheeks.

"If you wish to survive Kihara, you must fight" he said quietly "that is all you can do."

He grabbed Kihara's wrist in his own and she felt a jolt go through her body at the coldness of his hands as he placed the umbrella in her hands before quickly letting go.

"Fight Kihara..."

With that, he walked off once more and the healer watched him retreat in silence. Her face a faint red from the cold and a hot warmth in her chest.

Freedom...
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There's been some romance, y'all know what happens next!! ACTION~!!

Kihara: Ew...

Just to clarify anything the next chapter will be a time skip of a month or so. The only reason I've gone on so long is because I needed Kihara and Itachi to establish, not a sense of trust necessarily, but a sense of familiarity with one another. In other words the people within the Akatsuki she feels most comfortable around are Konan and Itachi. Yes, Kihara's mother and little sister are deceased but for anyone wondering about her father, he's still very much alive...where is he?
Only time will tell ;)
~Fate-Sama
*I don't own Naruto, obviously*