Experiment

Rai flew through the grass, landing lightly on the sleeping ninja's stomach. Shikamaru opened one eye lazily and closed it again. “What it is Rai?” he asked. It wasn't uncommon for Kanaye to send messages with her little friends, and Rai was his favorite, the little squirrel lacked the usual hyperness of it's species.

“Shika, this is serious!” her voice was squeaky, but for some reason it had never become irritating. “Serious?” he asked, sitting up, causing the squirrel to have to scamper up his shirt onto his shoulder.

“Hai! This is bad! Itachi and Kisame- they were sent to capture her!” she squeaked with rapidness that was unusual for her. “Something to do with Orochimaru doing something and they wanted leverage...”

Shikamaru was fully awake for once. “Did she send a message to the village yet?”

“Hai, Rui and Rei are on it!”

Worry for his friend crept in, and Shikamaru stood. “Come on, the least I can do is give her some back up!” and he sprang into the trees.

Rui and Rei easily scaled Konoha's walls and were jumping over the roofs in no time. Tactfully, each chose a course and they split up heading in opposite directions. Rui circled the wall, swiftly weaving around chimneys. In around 10 minutes he arrived at the apartment that Kiba had only had for a few months. Akamaru lay outside, laying on his back, paws in the air, totally asleep. Circling the house, and finding an open window, Rui leapt in.

Kiba was dressed for the festival, and was fiddling with something that looked suspiciously like a present. “Kiba!” Rui called.

The startled ninja leapt into the air, fumbling wildly with the package, that was indeed wrapped like a present, for a few moments before getting a firm grasp on it. Turning to see Rui, he gave the cubby squirrel a 'what are you doing here' look.

“Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki are attacking Kanaye!” the squirrel squeaked, jumping up and down. It was the more hyper squirrel, the youngest, and possibly the most annoying. None the less, Kiba stood up, fear and anger in his eyes. “What?!” he asked at almost a yell.

“They said something about wanting leverage over Orochimaru, and Rei and Rai have gone for help as well. Oh, and umm....” the little squirrel glanced around “She says that if she gets captured I'm to give you another message, but not unless we know there's no hope of rescuing her.”

Kiba blushed furiously, but nodded. “We've got to go help her!”

“No! Go to Tsunade, that's where Rei is, she'll be putting together a team.” Kiba's jaw clenched and his fist tightened, but he nodded. The two rushed out of the small apartment.

Sasuke Uchiha stood in shock just outside the Hokage's open window. “Are you sure?” that was Tsunade.

“Hai! Both of them! Rui went to Kiba, who should be here shortly, and Rai to Shikamaru, who was behind her on the path, and is probably backing her up.” Rei was the oldest and most sensible of the squirrels. Sasuke had seen him slip into the Hokage's office and had followed, only to hear that his fucker of an older brother had tried to attack Kanaye. Kanaye, who he liked. He had no idea why, but her lack of interest in him, the way she was the only girl who hadn't fallen all over him, made him actually like her. But he had acted on his hormones and made possibly the stupidest move of his life.

“Sasuke!” Naruto jumped onto his back.

“Get the hell off me Naruto-baka!” Sasuke shouted, shocked out of his thoughts.

“Fine, fine.” he heard Naruto grumble, sliding off his back. Turning he saw Kiba, who looked worried; Naruto, rubbing the back of his head; Hinata, who was red in the face; and Shino, emotionless as per usual.

“What's going on ou-” Tsunade's shout halted as she saw who was congregated. Her eyes flickered to Rui, who was perched on Kiba's shoulder. “Assuming you all know what's going on, I think you should get going now.” she said, eyes hard. All of them nodded, and took off.

Tsunade turned to see the little squirrel still perched on her desk. “Aren't you going with them?”

“No, me Rui and Rai can communicate telepathically, so I'm of more use staying here. Which reminds me, Shikamaru has caught up with the fighters.” Rei said flatly.

Fire flew through the air, turning the air hotter than boiling water. Kanaye was indifferent to it, easily dodging the attack. “Itachi, couldn't you do it without the heat? You're making my gills ache.” Kisame complained, leaning on his big-ass sword, rubbing his face.

“Might as well, it appears standard jutsu's won't work on her with that Byakugan.” His partner replied.

Immediately the real Kanaye shot out of the ground at his feet. He grabbed her hair as she grabbed his, both striking with kunais amazingly fast. Locked together, they glared into each others eyes. Itachi eyes shifted into a strange sharingan. “Mangekyou Sharingan.” he whispered.

The world went negative, and Kanaye felt herself paper thin, wobbling in a slight breeze. Shaking her head, she opened her eyes, and found herself still locked in place with Itachi.

“What?” he asked, odd eyes confused for once. Breaking her hold, he jumped back. “How did you you break my Mangekyou sharingan?” he asked skeptically, face going blank once more.

“I... your what?” she asked, a little wobbly. Whatever he had tried, it hadn't worked, but her mind was fuzzy. “Humph. She doesn't even know what she did.” Kisame snorted. “Listen girl, no one, no one has ever been able to break that sharingan's hold.”

“Looks like we're going to have to do this the old fashioned way.” Itachi murmured.

He lunged, missing by inches as she left out of the way. She blinked, and he was in her face, expression as blank as a canvas. A sharp pain in her stomach exploded, making her gasp. //PAIN!// She couldn't handle it. After fifteen years of abuse, even after two years of recovering, any physical pain hurt ten times worse than it should have. Ignoring her body's protest, she swung out wildly, with her right hand, only to have it grabbed and twisted painfully. Another gasp left her lips involuntarily.

“Found her weakness.” Itachi called to Kisame. “But it's a first, a ninja who fears bodily injury? You must be joking.” Swinging her off her feet she slammed against a tree, causing her to gasp yet again. But she wouldn't cry out, she never did. Itachi strode over, and looked down at her, wincing, trying to sit up. He leaned down to grab her throat, and stopped, half bent over.

“Itachi? Come on, Sasori will have our asses if we're late.” Kisame called, looking bored.

“Ah, well Sasori will have to wait.” Came a voice from the bushes. Shikamaru stood up, as did Itachi.