Chapter 1 - Akatsuki no Holly

Holly ran as fast as she could, breathing hard. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and her jacket was torn in several places. Her side was wounded, but she ignored the pain as she desperately raced through the corridor. A tear fell down her cheek, and she let out a scream.

"NEE-SAN!"

Holly stopped abrubtly as she reached an enourmous room. A peculiar statue stood in the center of the room -it was more like a cave-, and a blond figure lay on the floor, lifeless.

"Nee-san!" Holly shouted again, dashing towards her. She knealt on the floor and held her sister, tears flowing freely down her face. "Yugito..." She looked around. Two statues of hands rose from the ground, and on each finger stood a shadowy figure. "What did you do to her?!" Holly demanded.

"We have sealed away the Nekomata demon." A voice responded calmly. Holly turned to the source of the voice, and saw that it was coming from the figure on the statue's right thumb.

"Ne-Nekomata?!" Holly exclaimed. "Yugito isn't Nekomata! What have you done?!"

Silence.

"Nee-san... You killed her! She's not a Jinchuuriki!" Holly screamed. "She's not! I am!"

More silence. Suddenly, there was excruciating pain from her side, and Holly knew no more.

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When Holly awoke, the first thing she felt was a strange pain from her side. That was strange. Had she been hurt? Suddenly it came back to her. Yugito-neesan! Holly shot straight upright, then lay back down as pain shot through her body. Okay, I shouldn't move yet, she thought. She moved her head to examine her surroundings. She was laying on an old matress on a gray stone floor. The room was bare except for a dim lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. A sound came from outside the wooden door. Holly unconciously reached for the shuriken holster on her leg, only to find that it wasn't there. The door slowly opened, and a figure in a cloak and a straw hat came in. That cloak. Black with red clouds. Of course. It was the Akatsuki, the men who had captured her sister Yugito.

"Who... who are you? What do you want?" Holly managed to say.

"You're barely concious, but you should recognize me, little sister."

"W-What...?" Holly said. Suddenly she remembered. "Itachi! You...?"

"It's good to see you, little sister." Itachi Uchiha said, though his voice had no emotion whatsoever.

"That's all you have to say?!" Holly shouted, ignoring the pain as she sat up. "After killing your entire clan and leaving me and Sasuke to fend for ourselves for so many years! That's it?!"

Itachi said nothing, but set a tray of food on the floor and left. Holly sighed. At least they're decent enough to give me something to eat, she thought. She looked at the tray and winced. The small loaf of bread looked stone hard, and her every instinct told her the water was not safe to drink. But she ate and drank anyway, too tired and angry to care. What now, she wondered.

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Holly woke to the sound of the door opening. Had she been sleeping? She didn't remember. A person in a black and red cloak entered the room. Was it Itachi again? She couldn't see very clearly. Why not? She felt strange.

"Get up." A voice said. Holly tried to stand, but stumbled. She tried again, and succeded, but barely. Why did she feel like this? She thought a moment. The food from yesterday! It must have been drugged. Yes, that had to be it. Why didn't she think of that earlier? Oh, duh. The drug. Mental head slap. She followed the man through the corridor, clutching the rock wall for support. She was lead into the large cave from before, with each figure on it's respective finger. Holly noted that Yugito's corpse had been removed. Judging by the rumors she'd heard about these guys, Holly doubted Yugito had been given a proper burial.

"Uchiha Holly." The man who had lead her here adressed her.

"What?" Holly said. Normally, she would've said somthing much sharper, but the drug, though it seemed to be wearing off, was still taking it's toll.

"You claim to be the host of Nibi No Nekomata."

"That's right." Holly said bitterly. Yugito's death still stung. It was all a mistake.

"Then why the heck was I attacked by a giant cat?!" A man's voice came from the statue's left index finger.

Holly looked at the man with an icy glare. "You were really fooled by that?"

The man raised a white eyebrow.

"Yugito-neesan was a master of Genjutsu." Holly said. "Because she and I look similar, she often created images of Nekomata to scare away enemies. And I thought you guys were supposed to be smart."

"You know what? You're getting on my nerves, kid."

"You know what? I don't care!"

"Listen, you little-"

"That's enough, Hidan." Another voice stepped in.

"What?! You're just gonna let her get away with what she said?! What's the matter with you, Kakuzu?!" Hidan shouted.

"I can't believe you're getting so worked up because of a little girl." The other voice, Kakuzu, said.

"Why don't you just-"

"Hidan, Kakuzu. Enough." The first guy, the one who woke Holly up, said. This guy seemed to be the leader. "Uchiha." This was directed at Holly.

"What?" This was much sharper than the first 'what' had been. Excellent, Holly thought, the drug is wearing off.

"As of now, you are a member of the Akatsuki."

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This caught Holly off guard. A member? She had kind of been expecting them to try and suck out her soul or something.

"Interseting proposition." She said carefully. "What's the catch?"

"You will stay here, and cut off all ties to your village." The leader said.

"What!" Holly exclaimed. "There's no way!"

"You have no choice."

"Oh yeah?!" Holly said, starting to make a hand sign. Wait a minute, what's going on? She couldn't remember the hand sign! Dang, Holly thought. The drug's still working.

"You were saying?" Hidan piped up again with a smirk. As soon as this drug wears off, Holly decided, I'm gonna give that guy a piece of my mind.

"Come with me." The leader told her. She cast a final glance around the room, then obeyed. He lead her through another corridor to a different room. It was nicer than the cell, with an actual bed and a desk in the corner. "Wait here."

So Holly waited. In a few minutes, another man opened the door. He set some clothes on the bed, cast a long look at Holly, then left. Holly blinked a few times. What was that?! That was either a walking fish, or the strangest man she'd ever seen. Holly shrugged. She'd think about that another time. She inspected the parcel on the bed. It consisted of a cloak, a straw hat, and a ring. The ring, she noticed, had the Kanji for "Shadow" on it. She pulled on the cloak, and found that is fit quite well. She placed the ring on her finger, and smiled as the onyx jewel caught the light.

Holly stood there for a moment, not knowing what to do. Oh, right! Hidan! She was going to go beat him up. But was she allowed to leave the room? She tried the doorknob. I turned easily and the door opened. She stepped into the hall and looked around. Suddenly she heard footsteps, and ducked back into the room. Idiot, she thought. I'm a member now, right? She summoned up her courage, then stepped back into the hall. She bumped into the fish man from earlier.

"Ah, I was just sent to get you." The man said. "Come with me."

"Um, right..." Holly said, following him down the hall. He lead her into a small room where 8 people in Akatsuki cloaks were sitting in a circle. THe fish man sat down, leaving Holly standing awkwardly in the middle of the room.

"Uh...?" She said. Uh?! That's all she could say?! She felt a tug at her cloak, and looked down.

"Introduce yourself." The fish man said encouragingly. Holly nodded, and looked up.

"It's common courtesy to give your own name before asking someone else's. But I'll tell you my name anyway." Holly grinned. "My name is Holly Uchiha, Ex-Leaf kunoichi and sole survivor of the Nii clan."

"Then how come your last name is Uchiha?" Hidan said. Oh, right. She had been planning on beating him up. She'd take care of that later.

"If you must know, I was adopted by the Uchiha clan when I was little." Holly told him. "Any more comments from the Peanut Gallery before I continue?"

Hidan glared at her, but stayed quiet.

"Good. Now you all need to tell me your names." Holly said. She pointed at the fish man. "Why don't you start?" Holly felt rather like a school teacher.

"I'm Kisame Hoshigaki, pleased to make your aquaintence." He said. Holly nodded with a smile and looked at the person next to him. He had blond hair up in a ponytail, and big walnut-shaped eyes.

Aaaaaand that's all I had written.

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