The mission was a success and the One Tails has been captured. I stopped walking when I noticed something was off. "What is it? Why did you stop?" Sasori said. "We're being followed." I said. I turned around and spotted Kankuro. "Looks like you were right, un." Deidara said.

"Deidara, Nue. You go on ahead. I'll handle this." Sasori said. I looked at Deidara, then at Kankuro. "Fine." I said. I was already walking away. "Hey, wait up, Nue, un!" Deidara called as he got on his bird. "You're not getting away!" Kankuro said.

He flung one of his puppets at us. I pulled out my trident to attack, but Sasori's tail stopped the puppet. I turned back the other way and began walking again. I rested near a rock while Deidara sat on top of it. After ten minutes, I was getting a little impatient.

"What's taking him so long?" I asked. "Relax, Nue. He'll be here, un." Deidara said. I sighed. Some of the sand was getting in my eyes so I used my wings and tails to shield myself from it. I didn't realize I was falling asleep until my eyelids started to get heavy.

Before long, I was asleep.

(*Dream*)

"Nue? Nue!" I opened my eyes as I saw the faces of my people from the Houjuu Clan. "Why have you forsaken us, Nue?"

"What? What do you mean?" I asked, confused. "We're all alone up there, Nue. But you're with us now. Like family." They said. "No..." I whispered in horror. "You killed us, Nue! You betrayed us! Abandoned us!" My aunt screamed.

I covered my ears with my hands and closed my eyes tightly. "Why didn't you save us, Nue? Why did you want us to die?" My father said. "I didn't want you to die! I swear! I tried to save you!" I tried to explained. "Nuueee~..." I heard someone sing my name.

I turned around and gasped when I spotted a face I haven't seen in a long while. "Mina...?" I whispered. She smirked at me before grabbing her face, peeling it off to reveal Orochimaru. "Is this what you want?" He snapped at me.

"No! No!!! Just stop!" I screamed. I fell to my knees as I covered my ears again. "Why are you doing this to me? Leave me alone!" I screamed. "Why did you leave us, Nue? Why did you want us to die?" My people said in sync as they surrounded me.

I lifted my head when I saw my dark twin, looking down at me emotionlessly. "You killed them. You left to their fate." She said. A dark scythe appeared in her hand and she swung it over her head. "Die."

I screamed as she swung the scythe down on me.

(*End of Dream*)

I gasped as I jolted awake from the disturbing dream. "Hey, you all right, un?" Deidara asked. "I'm fine." I said quickly. I looked ahead and spotted Sasori. "There you are, danna. I thought you said you didn't like to keep others waiting, un." Deidara said.

"It's fine. He's here now, so let's get a move on." I said. I stood up and began to walk away as I tried to get the disturbing dream out of my head. We finally made it back to the base and began to extract the One-Tails. "He's your friend. You're not going to say your goodbyes?" Itachi asked.

"He was never my friend." I stated, coldly as I stared at Gaara. We got in position and began extraction the One Tails. This may take a while. Who am I kidding? This'll take forever! 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

We've been going at it for three days now and I was already getting bored. One of my red wings began to twitch a bit. "What's up with you?" Kisame asked. "There are Leaf Village ninja heading our way." I informed in a calm voice.

"What should we do, Leader-sama?" Itachi asked. "Let me take care of them. You guys finish the extraction." I said. "Very well. Itachi. Kisame. Go with her." Pein said. "That won't be necessary. I'll make it quick." I told him. 

I jumped down from my spot while teleporting to a field. 'Talk about a reunion' I thought. I went into my sash bag I had brought with me and put on aspare Akatsuki cloak to cover my wings and tails. 

I didn't want the Leaf Village to figure out it was me. After all, I'm the only one who has things sticking out of my back. I sat down and waited patiently for the enemy.

Itachi's POV

"The kid seems a bit quieter today than usual." Kisame said. "Three years and she's hardly talking, un." Deidara said. "Maybe there's something on her mind?" I guessed. "Do you think she's sick?" Kisame asked. I doubt that. 

"Oi, Leader-sama. Why did you want to make peace with the Houjuu Clan?" Hidan asked. 

"Since the Houjuu Clan was such a rare clan, I wanted to try and reason with them. Provide them with protection and help them keep their secret. Not many people were fond of the Houjuu Clan because of their wings and tails. They didn't even trust humans, knowing they would attack at any minute. They even wore cloaks to hide their identity from the humans. A human could spot a member of the Houjuu Clan easily." Leader-sama explained.

"How so?" Kisame asked. "Each member from the Houjuu Clan had black hair and red eyes. However, Nue's mother had light brown hair with a purple gradient at the top and had hazel eyes." Leader-sama answered.

"But if every member of that clan black hair and red eyes, why did Nue's mother have light brown hair and hazel eyes, un?" Deidara asked. "You'll have to ask Nue herself. That is if she's willing to talk about it." Leader-sama answered.

"I'm just surprised she didn't throw a fit when we helped her that night." Sasori said. "Did everyone in the Houjuu Clan hate humans?" I asked. "Basically, yes. Nue had the most hatred towards humans. But she never said why." Leader-sama said. 

I know Nue wasn't sick and she's not feeling down about anything. But she has been isolating herself a lot lately. I'm not sure if I'm the only one who's noticing that. I wonder what's bothering her.

"I don't think Nue's that bad. She's actually pretty cool, un." Deidara said. "You're only saying that because you like the kid, Deidara. Sounds to me you have a soft spot for her." Kisame said with a smirk.

"You shut your mouth, un!" Deidara shouted, making me sigh. "I'm getting the feeling Nue's hiding something from us." Hidan said. "And what could she be hiding? As Kisame mentioned, she rarely talks these days." Black Zetsu said. 

"I don't think we should be talking about Nue behind her back. It seems mean." White Zetsu said. "Nue is probably just tired. This is the time of day for her to be sleeping. She's not hiding anything from us." Deidara defended. 

"I bet you would love to see her asleep. Wouldn't you, Deidara?" Kisame teased. "I said, shut up, fish face!" Deidara shouted. I sighed again.

Nue's POV

After waiting for a few minutes, the ninja finally arrived. It's about time, too, because I was getting sleepy. "Who the hell are you?" Naruto demanded. I stood to my feet. "You've grown, Naruto." I stated, emotionlessly.

"Huh?" Naruto looked at me, confusion written all over his face. He's gotten a bit taller and his outfit was different, too. Instead of his regular orange and white jumpsuit, he was now wearing an orange and black jumpsuit. 

"I have no idea why the Akatsuki wants you. You're still the same knucklehead from back then. But you have gotten a bit taller, I'll admit." I said. Sakura came at me to throw a punch and I quickly teleported behind her, pulling her hair back. 

"Pathetic. You still wash your hair more than you train. Man, I find that annoying." I said. I stabbed her shoulder with a kunai knife twice, then jumped back, landing behind Kakashi. I spun around, kicking his back, before running towards the old woman. 

"Time to die, you old hag!" I snapped. I summoned my scythe and went to slice her head off, but Kakashi got in the way and blocked my attack with his kunai knife. I glared at him. "Quit getting in my way!" I growled.

"Why don't you remove that hat and face me like a real ninja?" Kakashi demand. It actually sounded more like command. "I don't have to prove anything for you." I said, scratching his face with my nails. 

I jumped back and Naruto threw a kunai knife at me with a paper bomb attached to it. I tried to dodge it, but I was too slow and got hit in the arm. My arm lost a lot skin as it was covered in blood. "Dammit." I growled as I gripped my wounded arm. 

"Give up. You're outnumbered." Sakura said. I began to laugh, coldly. "Maybe. But I still have few tricks up my sleeve" I said. I activated my kekkei genkai and took out my katana. I teleported in front of Kakashi and stashed my katana down on his shoulder, causing him to grunt and take a few steps back. 

I looked back from the corner of my eye and saw Naruto running towards me with his Rasengan. I kicked him in the stomach as my back was turned to him, then jumped away from Kakashi, landing near Sakura.

Before she could make a move, I quickly grabbed her throat, lifting her a few inches off the ground. My fingers tightened around her neck as she opened her mouth to breathe. "I never really liked you, Sakura. I should have broken your arm back then." I murmured, coldly.

"Rasengan!" I looked behind me, seeing Naruto run at me with his Rasengan again. I threw Sakura over to Kakashi, making her crash into him, and I stepped aside so Naruto missed his attack on me. But I didn't let him go that easily.

As his arm went past my face, I opened my mouth and bit down on his arm, drawing a bit a lot blood. He grunted and stumbled forward. I wiped my mouth as blood ran down my chin. "You taste awful. I don't want your power." I said, bitterly.

"Nue, we need you. We're almost done with the extraction." Leader-sama informed. "Hai." I replied before looking at the Leaf Village ninja. "We'll have to finish our fight for another time. I have work to do." I told them. 

I teleported back to the base, back at my spot. "What happened to your arm, kid?" Kisame asked. "I got hit with a paper bomb. Nothing to worry about." I assured him. "You changed your cloak." Itachi noticed. 

"I know that." I said, ending the conversation there, and we picked up where we left off. 

After a few more minutes, the One Tails was finally extracted. "It is done." Pein said. My red wings began to twitch again. "They're here." I said. "Well, they're too late, un." Deidara said. "You three will take care of this." Pein said, referring to me, Sasori, and Deidara. 

His holographic form vanished, as did the rest of Akatsuki, and I jumped down to examined Gaara's face. Deidara and Sasori joined me. "How long until they come in, un?" Deidara asked me as he sat on Gaara like a seat cushion. I raised my hand and began counting down from three. 

Right on cue, the entrance was smashed open. "Gaara!" I heard Naruto yell. I turned my head a bit and saw Naruto's eyes were red. Still the same knucklehead. I turned my head back to Gaara. "Get away from him!" Naruto yelled. 

"Or else what? There's nothing you can do. He's already dead." I said, emotionlessly as I examined my arm. It was slowly starting to heal. "Yep, he's been dead for sometime now, un." Deidara said. Naruto growled. 

"Gaara! Come on. Get up!" Naruto yelled. I sighed. "I already told you, he's dead. Nothing but a lifeless corpse" I said, irritated. "Just who the hell are you!" Naruto said to me. "Why don't you go ahead and remove that straw hat, Nue." Sasori said. 

"What?" I asked. "I didn't stutter. Take off the hat, and while you're at it, let your wings and tails out, too." Sasori said. "But Sasori..." I started. "Do it." He ordered. I hesitated before I slowly reached for my straw hat. I removed it from my head while making my wings and tails tear out through the back of the cloak. 

"That's better, un." Deidara said. I emotionlessly stared at Naruto as he stared bac at me with disbelief in his eyes. "No, it can't be. Nue-chan... is it really you?"