Mission: Delivery!

When my eyes opened, I was lying on my side. My left arm was stiff from the most likely single position all night long. The sun barely peeked over the horizon, which told me that it was early. I pushed myself up slowly, glancing from the softly smoldering embers in the camp fire to Naruto's sleeping—and slightly snoring—form leaning against the cart. His chest rose and fell evenly with each breath. I wished I could sleep so peacefully. A gentle smile tugged on my lips as my eyes trailed around our makeshift campsite.

Sasuke was still perched on the rock where he kept guard last night. His eyes weren't visible. Part of me was relieved. I didn't feel like looking into them and have that creeping intimidation shoot down my spine. I knew he wasn't asleep. If he wasn't asleep, that meant that he was listening. When his eyes popped open, my heart lurched in my chest. His onyx eyes snapped to me, and I half-jumped. Hopefully, he didn't notice.

"Morning...?" I muttered meekly. Even I could hear the nerves in my voice. He didn't answer me verbally, only nodded his head. My teeth found my lip and I shifted awkwardly. This was the only alone time we had together since we met again a few weeks ago. The first in seven years! An uncomfortable tension began to seep into the air that made me swallow to wet my dry throat.

We sat in silence for a while. I didn't want to break it. With my luck, I would embarrass myself. Besides, I didn't know what to say to start a conversation. So I settled with dropping my gaze. I could still feel his eyes on my face, and the tingle that rose to my cheeks couldn't be squelched.

It was a good thing he broke that silence because I wasn't going to, "I keep trying to figure it out, but I can't wrap my mind around it." I glanced at him in acknowledgement, not wanting to speak. I had the feeling that this was going to be a difficult and painful conversation, "How did you even survive?"

A pang stabbed into my chest, "I don't know." I muttered, my voice low and dull, "I was there-" I shook the scenes of my nightmares out of my head, "-and he could have killed me if he wanted to, but he didn't. He just...let me watch it all..." I cringed as the memories tried flooding into my mind and did my best to put back up my protective wall.

"What did he tell you?" I avoided his gaze.

"The same thing that he told you," I didn't go into extra detail. There was no need reliving it.

"And yet," He continued, "you don't hate him..."

"No." I'm sure that he was just as disappointed as Itachi, "He scares me..." I admitted in a dull whisper, "to death..."

My eyes caught his, and his expression caught me off guard. I was expecting apathy and disgust, not disappointment and sympathy. That did send a surge of relief through me. He wasn't completely stone cold yet. Just this thought filled me with quiet hope.

"I could have guessed as much." Silence enveloped us again. Naruto's snoring began to quieten until it stopped all together, though he didn't wake until an hour later.

"Oh, hey Riyame." He yawned, "Didn't know you were up already. You seemed really tired last night." Guilt dropped into my stomach like a hot coal.

"Yeah...sorry about that..." I muttered.

"We need to get going." Sasuke jumped from the rock and took his position as the leader. Naruto rolled his eyes, mocking him rudely, and grabbed the cart. I completely extinguished the fire and took my place in formation.

We must have walked for hours. Despite the decent sleep the night before, I was still exhausted. One night of sleep usually wasn't enough. But, if I read the map correctly, we were about halfway there. That was a plus, and we were making remarkable time—even despite our little skirmish with the random bandits. It was almost suspicious how great we were doing on time. With that little altercation, we should have been set back quite a bit. Maybe it was just the fact that we got a somewhat early start this morning, but my gut wanted to tell me otherwise.

The forest was quiet, but it was slowly waking up. That in it of itself was odd. It was a few hours past dawn, so the forest should have been wide awake by now. At the very least it wasn't the dead silence like before, but my senses wanted to stay on red alert.

I always seemed to know when something was going to happen—bad or not. There was a feeling of anticipation that would build until whatever it was would arrive. If it was good, an eager feeling would begin to form. Like a sort of elated high. Those were easy to ignore, they just tended to put me in a slightly better mood. But if it was bad, a feeling of unease would leak into the pits of my stomach. My mind would almost instantly brace itself for what was to come. Sometimes, I didn't know how to label certain feelings that I'd get, but I knew what this one was.

My nerves weren't jittery like yesterday, but I got a sense of impending trouble out of it. Something bad was going to happen.

On the borders of my senses, I could feel things skirt by. Not animals, no, they were much too big for that. They were human, and they weren't exactly allies. They would never completely enter the borders of my sensory, so I had a feeling that they were testing their limits. My teeth worried my bottom lip. They were playing with us.

There was only a brief second's warning when all of the sounds of the forest silenced. I froze, a gasp leaping from my lips. Both of pairs of eyes, onyx and blue, were on me, but it was too late. I heard a small crack and poof and the boys disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The smoke burned when I breathed it in, and I nearly choked on it.

"Guys?" He coughed. Naruto's voice wasn't too far away. If I was careful, I could try to use my sensory to find him.

"Both of you stay where you are." Sasuke ordered. He was the best candidate for the leader, so I listened.

Just as I'd made the decision to listen, my stomach dropped to my feet. A hand clamped over my mouth. A scream caught in my throat as his lips were at my ear, "Shh..." He whispered.

"We need to get into formation." Sasuke coughed. I wanted to warn them somehow.

"Don't speak, cry, or whine. If you do, your friends are dead. Got it?" I didn't respond for the fear that my heart was going to explode from my chest. Warning them was now out of the question. My eyes burned, but I didn't dare close them.

"Naruto, Riyame, Follow the sound of my voice."

"Got it." Naruto muttered.

"Respond." It was barely a whisper, but clearly an order. His hand slipped from my mouth.

"I'm here," Hopefully he got the message.

With his hand firmly in place over my mouth, we melted into the forest. Even once we were out of the smoke, we were no longer in a part of the forest I recognized. We were off the beaten path, but my senses were dull. I could barely sense the man dragging me into the unknown. My lungs were still scratchy, and my head was floating. There must have been something that dulled your senses, which meant that they were expecting one of us to be affected. Chances were, they didn't think it was me. Not with the way I'd reacted.

By the time I was paying attention to the forest, I was lost. That was smart. Zone out instead of remembering your way back...Way to go Riyame.

When we stopped, I took in my surroundings. In front of us was a run down shack. The decaying, uneven boards were cracking and splintering. The door could barely even be called that. A feeling seeped into the pits of my stomach that sent my pulse through the roof. And as one of his large hands threw open the door, I knew that I didn't want to be here.

He threw me in front of him. My knees scraped against the ground, "Get up girl." He barked irritably. I shook off the stinging in my knees and tried to force my wobbly legs to work for me properly.

"While you're here, you better keep your mouth shut or your friends are going to pay for it." He barked. My stomach dropped to my feet, and I promised myself at that moment that no matter what was said to me, I wouldn't open my mouth.

I could barely see a few feet at a time. I kept my hand on the rough wall to my right, gripping it for support each time he shoved me forward. The narrow passage way was cold and musty, the dirt under my feet uneven and harsh. Every step I took deeper into this tunnel made my skin crawl with unease. Alarms sounded in my head, but I couldn't turn and run from this. Even if I could get out, It wouldn't be long before they would catch me. Without my senses, I would be as vulnerable as a child. My movements would be reckless and sloppy. Every wrong twig broken would be a mistake, and I could only hope to find my way back to the path. That was if I was lucky. If I wasn't, I would get both myself and my team hurt. I could only hope that they would have the sense to carry on with out me.

The hall way wasn't very lengthy, only made longer by the dark and my attempt at precise footsteps. I knew it had ended when I came face-to-face with another door. It wasn't nearly as abused as the first one, but the wear from continuous use was obvious. I understood it more when he shoved me aside so that he could kick open the door. My back and elbows were sure to sport several new scrapes if they didn't already.

"I took one of 'em hostage. You happy now." I was practically thrown to the ground. I fell to my stomach with an "oof" and tried to regain the breath my ungraceful landing took from me.

The ground underneath me was still the same soil as the passage, and the walls were the same rough stone. Unlike the tunnel, this rather large, circular cavern was well lit with torches. A stocky man stood a few meters in front of me. Even watching his back sent a shiver down my spine. He was the enemy, that, I knew for certain.

"I told you to take one of them in the night." His voice was pleasant, but his growl sharpened it. "Are you incompetent or just stupid?"

"They were on guard," The harsh man behind me grumbled, "It was the one with the red eyes." I glanced back at him. Sasuke? "I'm not stickin' my neck out for you."

The man turned to face him. Even I cringed away. His eyes were a startling burgundy that flickered menacingly in the fire-light. The glare that perforated my captor reminded me of my oldest brother. I cringed away from those memories and forced them back behind the protective wall where they belonged.

The young man wasn't as old as I thought he would be. He might have been sixteen or seventeen, and the way the fire reflected off his coal colored hair gave him a more sinister look.

"I own you." He barked, "Or have you and your little band of dim-witted miscreants forgotten that?" As I adjusted myself, his eyes fell on me. His glare seemed to soften, "And who's this?" The harsh growl that he'd used with the bandit disappeared.

I sat there, not daring to move, speak or even visibly breathe. A small smile spread across his lips that curled like a smirk, "A woman of few words I see...Well, I apologize if that barbarian was too rough." His eyes held mine as he barked out an order, "Leave us." My senses had returned enough to know that we were now alone.

Now that we were alone, my nerves were stabbing into my stomach viciously. He approached slowly, his eyes taking me in and measuring me. I knew what he was wondering. How was someone like me a ninja? Was I even old enough? They were common questions that popped out of others' mouths. I wouldn't blame them. Maybe if I wasn't me, I would think the same.

His proximity as he knelt in front of me made me uncomfortable, "You're smaller than I was expecting. The way they presented the report led me to believe that your little squad was untouchable." The corners of my mouth pulled down, "You're much younger than I was expecting..."

"I graduated early." It was low, barely audible. My teeth found my bottom lip. My heart skipped a beat, and I found myself watching for my kidnapper to burst into the room and tell me my fears.

"She speaks!" A smirky smile lifted his face, "You aren't very loud...You're like a mouse, tiny in both size and stature." He laughed—a pleasantly eerie sound. His eyes scanned me again, and I tried to squelch the tingling in my cheeks, "Tell me, do you think your teammates would value your life over a cart?" My lips parted to spit out the sadly automatic response, but I stopped myself. Normally I would answer with a No, but I wasn't with my team. I was with two completely different people. Naruto would care, and though I couldn't ensure that Sasuke wouldn't kick me to the curb, I know he wouldn't let him.

"Nothing...? Surely they care about you." He said. A strange look crossed his face, "I'll tell you a secret." His voice dropped, and the alarms blared in my head again. "That little bundle of goodies that your beloved Hokage has you carting around disguises an interesting message to allies. Do you want to know what it is?"

Every cell screamed at me, "She has her reasons for not telling us." I muttered stiffly.

"I doubt that..." He leaned so close to me that my stomach flipped and his breath was on my earlobe, "War plans." My heart nearly stuttered to a stop as he stood, "Yes, that's right...Your precious Hokage is sitting in her cozy little office while she uses you and your teammates as pack mules to do her dirty work." I shook my head.

"She isn't-"

"That's how the adult world is, sweetheart. Even your Hokage isn't perfect." He was suddenly in front of me again. He smiled gently, his index finger brushing my forehead.

The reaction was almost instantaneous. My vision slurred, and the world around me swayed. My head began to float and I met the ground before my world faded into darkness.

"Naruto, Riyame, follow the sound of my voice." Sasuke ordered. He didn't trust the smoke or what was in it. This was an ambush, and they needed to be in a formation where they could watch each others' backs.

"Got it," Naruto answered almost right away.

"I'm here." Her answer was hesitant and odd. She lagged behind, her head in the clouds and in her thoughts. He couldn't be sure that she wasn't already compromised.

Someone nearly stumbled into him, 'Whoa, sorry. I can't see anything in this." Naruto was right beside him and he could barely see his face.

"Riyame..." Sasuke said cautiously. When she didn't respond, he knew she was gone. And as the smoke dissipated, his suspicions were confirmed.

"Riyame?" Naruto called out.

"She's gone..." He said.