Inevitable
Chapter 16

Tsunade sat in her office, bored, wishing that Shizune wouldstop removing her secret stashes of sake, or that she had something to bet on.She had piles of paperwork but decided that procrastination was better as shefolded some blank papers into different animals.

"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune bust in the office, makingthe blonde woman stop her origami and look relieved that something was finally happening.

"Please, tell me it's interesting," she begged.

"Amejisuto Ishi is missing and so is Itachi Uchiha!"the assistant exclaimed.

Tsunade slammed her hands on her desk and stood up."What?!"

"I suspect the Akatsuki had something to do with this."

"Shizune, alert the tracking ANBU. We were onlyslightly prepared for this! I didn't expect it would happen so soon," theHokage ordered. "Get some Hyugas too. We don't know where the Akatsukihideout is and they can see through-"

"Lady Tsunade," Shizune interrupted. "I thinkthat we should stay calm for now and let the villagers think they're on amission. Itachi and Amejisuto are smart enough to plan a way to get out."

The older woman sat down and rubbed her temples, knowingthat her assistant was better at staying level-headed in heated issues. "Isuppose you're right. This is already giving me a headache."

"At least they didn't force him to kill his whole clanor something," the assistant said, trying to make the situation seem a bitlighter.

"Maybe they can even become inside spies. I could sendJiraiya to gather info."

Shizune nodded and smiled. Her pig hid behind her legs andsulked. "Ooink."

Tsunade turned and looked out the window with her handsbehind her back. 'Just... Please stayalive you two...’

-----------------------------------------------

Violet eyes flew open, followed by a gasp. The kidnappedfemale sat up and looked around. The room was different than where she fellasleep. The walls were red with a strange black pattern on them, and in theroom was a small bathroom, a small table that had a bowl of steaming rice onit, and the bed she was sitting on. "Where am I?"

"In an Akatsuki hideout," a creepy voice answered.Amejisuto looked behind her and screamed. There was a creepy man with a yelloweye and skin that seemed painted black. The weirder thing was that he only hadfeatures on the left side of his face. The rest was just a swirl of weirdshaped goo, and he had some sort of plant surrounding his sides. "I wouldeat you, but I've been ordered not to. I'm Black Zetsu. My white half isprobably talking to Itachi Uchiha right now."

"The Akatsuki?! But don't you capture jinchuriki? Whydid you kidnap me?"

"To get your mentor to join, of course," the blackhalf smirked. "Now, Konan brought you some rice. I recommend you eat itunless you want to starve," he started retreating. "Oh, by the way,don't bother trying to use any jutsu. We had most of your chakra sucked up,leaving only enough for you to stay alive, and then we put a seal on you toprevent it from replenishing. Only the leader can undo it."

She was left alone, trying to wrap her head around the factthat she was bait for Itachi. "I may be a close friend and his apprentice,but that couldn't be enough to get him to leave the village for me, couldit?"

She decided to eat the rice after reasoning with herselfthat they wouldn't poison it since nobody would try to save a dead hostage.Looking at the blankets pooled around her feet, she decided it was probably agood idea for her to pass the time with sleep. "Itachi, please hurry up,"she whispered before closing her eyes.

-------------------------------

"How much longer is it to get there?" Itachiinquired. He was running quickly and white Zetsu popped out from every twelfthtree to lead him to the hideout. They were already in Otogakure, the hiddensound village.

"It's only a few more minutes. I must say, I'mimpressed with the speed of an Uchiha when a loved one is at stake. Thisshould've been a full two day's journey with a normal ninja squad pace insteadof a mere thirteen hours," Zetsu replied.

"Yes, well I'll push myself to the limit when it comesto Amejisuto."

"Even abandoning your village for her. How sweet."

The last few minutes were silent as they arrived in themiddle of a desert. The only things that could be seen for miles was the paleblue sky, dotted with occasional clouds, and the vast sand littered with rocksand boulders. Zetsu put his hand on a rock and twisted it. The big rock behindit vibrated a bit before a door appeared and opened, revealing a secretpassage. The white creature led the sharingan user down the halls to themeeting room where Madara, Konan and Pain stood, waiting for the arrival of theUchiha prodigy.

"Itachi Uchiha, we welcome you to the Akatsuki,"Pain said once the raven stepped into the room. Black and White Zetsu reconnected,making one plant creature again.

"I only came for my apprentice. Where is she," thedeadly male asked with a threatening glare that activated the sharingan.

“First, I need to drain your chakra,” the orange-haired manspoke, holding out his arm. Itachi inwardly growled, but the brunette was moreimportant to him at the moment, so he gave in and let the man take almost allof his chakra.

"Right this way," Konan gestured down the hall, leadingItachi to the room that Amejisuto was being held in. He calmed down significantlywhen he saw she was asleep and unharmed, walking across the room and sitting onthe bed. She woke up and looked at him.

"Itachi?" she questioned drowsily, adjusting hereyes to the light.

"Yes, it’s me," he wrapped the Ishi in a tight hugwhen she sat up. Konan couldn't help but smile silently as the brunette nuzzledinto him. "I was so worried. Are you ok?" he asked quietly.

"Except for the fact that the Akatsuki kidnapped me,yah I'm alright," the Ishi answered, sighing.

"Itachi, Amejisuto, will you come with me? You need toget fitted for your cloaks," Konan hated to interrupt but they were on aschedule.

"Wait! I thought that you only wanted me? There is noway that I'll let you get her involved," Itachi stood up and stood infront of Amejisuto, prepared to fight for her safety.

"Calm down, Itachi. She would be partnered with you,and if you feel that worried abouther safety, especially on missions, she can stay here, though it might be evenless safe since she would be around men who have anger issues, bombenthusiasts, cannibals, sadists, and a man who likes to sacrifice people,"the blue haired woman explained “Oh, and one that would turn any alone-timewith an Ishi or an Uchiha into a dissection session, but you already know abouthim.”

Through her explanation, the Ishi and Uchiha were more and moreuncertain about their life spans.

Itachi was silent for a moment before looking at hisstudent, who nodded. "Fine, we'll be on a team," he gave in. Konansmiled and lead them to a different room where a man with weird wires comingout his arms was waiting. He quickly took their measurements and adjusted twonew cloaks to fit them. They left and went down the hall again, now wearing theuniform of the Akatsuki, to a room with couches and a big table. Pain andMadara were already there.

"It is time for introductions. I am Pain, the leader ofthe Akatsuki," the former introduced.

"I'm Tobi! I'm a good boy," Madara answered in hischildish goofy voice.

Pain briefly closed his eyes and performed a hand sign, andsoon all of the Akatsuki members ran to the room. "Finally got theUchiha," Deidara smirked, glad that he wasn’t called on to help capturethem. "I'm Deidara. Don't touch my clay or else you will die by explosion,yeah."

"Hey, you were one of the ones who killed Gaara!"Amejisuto yelled, forgetting that she was in a dangerous place.

"Kakashi said he killed you," Itachi looked at theblonde oddly. "How are you here?"

"He only got my arm, yeah."

"I'm Kakuzu," the creepy one with wire control cuttheir conversation short. "I'm the treasurer, so don't break anything orit will cost you your lives."

"You know me. It's great to see you two again," Orochimaruseemed to hiss cockily.

"I can’t believe you came here after betraying ourvillage!" Itachi said angrily, angry that the snake, evil as he was, wouldjoin up with other criminals and possibly share Intel on Konoha.

"Shut up, it's my turn,” the albino caught everyone’sattention. “I'm Hidan. I'm immortal, so don't touch my sacrifices. I can killyou but you can't kill me."

"You already know me," Zetsu came out of theground.

"Kisame," the blue shark-man grinned beforepointing to his sword. "This is Samehada. He eats chakra."

"And I'm Konan, second in command," the womansmiled, trying to get the two to not be as tense. It was bad for missions,after all.

"I'm Amejisuto, but Ameji is fine," the brunettetried to be polite even after her outburst at Deidara.

"You all probably already know, but I'm Itachi Uchiha,and if any of you threaten or touchus, especially Amejisuto, you will die," he turned on his sharingan toprove that he meant business.

"Relax, even Hidan wouldn't touch someone else'sfiancée," Konan assured, as everyone glared at Hidan to let him know thatthey would each have pieces of him if he did anything to the seventeen yearold. They may have turned into criminals, but they weren’t that terrible. Honour among thieves, as they say.

"His fiancée?!" Amejisuto exclaimed, looking overat Itachi with a death glare from important information being withheld from her.

"Uh... I didn't exactly tell her that part yet,"the raven braced himself as she stalked toward him, fuming.

"WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!?" Without anychakra, she was still able to send Itachi flying to the other side of the room,making everyone aware of how powerful she actually was, and instantly knowingnot to underestimate her. She had fire in her eyes as she walked up to him."Prepared to die, fiancée?"