"Ashleeeeyyy," a voice hums gently in my ear. "Ashleeeeyyy..."

I quickly recognize the voice and feel an urge to bury myself among my pillows and blankets. Instead i open my eyes slowly.

"Good morning sunshine," Madara chuckles, sitting up and getting out of my bed.

One day he's going to wake up with a fork in his neck...or needles in every nerve ending of his body...

I close my eyes once more and nuzzle into my pillow.

"I'll bring you breakfast," Madara decides as he gets off the bed. He exits the room, closing the door gently behind him.

I look up from my sea of pillows to scan the room. Sunlight is trying to shine through the curtains. There is a distant smell of bacon in the air. In response, my stomach attempts to growl.

This increases to an almost unbearable pain in my abdomen, causing me to clutch my stomach and curl into a ball.

The feeling soon passes and i sit up in bed.

What's the point of waking up anymore?...if we just return to the biggest nightmare of them all?...

The door opens. "Breakfast for Ash-chan!"

I glance at the orange mask that sets my plate down next to me on the bed. I steal a peek at its contents-eggs, bacon, and biscuits. Then i tear my gaze away before my mouth starts watering.

"Anything planned for today?" he asks, watching me gaze at my lap.

I shake my head and look up at him, knowing he's planning something.

He seems to smirk. "You know i'm devising something. I can see it in your eyes. And you're right...I wanted to take you somewhere today. Get dressed, my love."

He taps my nose and walks out. I get up and close the door silently.

"YOU'RE NOT TAKING HER ANYWHERE!"

I mentally sigh at the chaos breaking loose in the livingroom. My shoulder presses against the wall as i lean towards the livingroom, but still stay out of view.

A presence appears behind me, so i glance back over my shoulder to see rinnegan eyes staring into mine. His eyes question me, so i make the shush symbol with my finger and point towards the livingroom.

"I'm just taking Ash-chan on a date, Dani-chan," Tobi's voice replies calmly.

"Over my dead body," Danielle growls lowly.

"Hmmm that can be arranged, Dani-chan."

At his voice tone change i step out from my hiding place and fix my gaze on Madara. I walk over to him and stand next to him, facing Danielle. She glances between us both, surprise, anger, and worry flashing through her eyes. I shake my head and hope she can read my eyes. Don't fight. it'll be okay.

"Ash..." she sighs, reluctant to give up.

Madara suddenly hugs me tightly around the waist, lifting me off my feet. "We will have so much fun, Ash-chan!"

Danielle's cold eyes simmered like a small flame, then she looked to me again and the fire went down. Her eyes flashed slightly. "Be careful with her."

I exhaled silently in relief, then glanced back at Madara once more. I couldn't imagine his expression this time, he was hiding his emotions from me as he took my hand and made me face him.

"Me and Ash-chan are going on a date, Pain-sama!" he yelled loudly in his Tobi persona. There was a barely heard response from somewhere in the house.

Tobi then squeezed my hand gently when i kept my gaze fixed intently on his mask. He didn't budge under my lifeless eyes. The world faded away around us as he teleported us to an unknown location.

I should've known better than to fall into his trap.

Bambi laid silently on her bed, curled on her side. In her hands she cradled the clay flower that Deidara had made for her, back when they were allowed to see each other and they spent the whole day together in the basement creating artwork and just talking.

Her chest throbbed softly, letting her know that the pain was not yet gone. Another quiet tear slipped from her eyelids and dripped onto the bedsheet. Her grip tightened on the flower, but it did not alter its shape. Oh Deidara...

Almost as if in answer to her silent plea, the door suddenly opened, a figure stepped in, and the door was shut almost as quickly as it had been opened. Bambi was too far in her thoughts to hear the person slip in, and she didn't notice their presence until they sat right in front of her on her bed and made her jump halfway up.

"D-Deidara?..." she managed to whisper out, another tear slowly creeping out of her eye.

In a second, Deidara took her face in his hands and kissed the tear on the very top of her cheek, so it never fell. Then he captured her lips in his, passion overflowing into Bambi's form as well. It was all she could do to clutch the sides of his cloak and tug him closer, never wanting to be apart from him again.

Eventually Deidara had to pull himself back, and looked into Bambi's dark, beautiful brown eyes. His voice was choked with emotion. "I had to see you...I love you so much Bambi...i can't stand to be away from you..."

Bambi's lips wobbled as they attempted to form a smile, then she wrapped her arms around Deidara's middle and yanked him into her. "God, I love you too Deidara...please don't leave..."

"I won't ever leave you...I promise..."

To sum up what was happening at the moment, I had been teleported with Madara into a forest somewhere, with no supplies, and he said we were going on a picnic.

We were having no such picnic.

I looked over at him questioningly, as he took my hand and led me to the side. We walked through the trees in silence. I kept trying to figure out what he was doing. Was he going to push me off a cliff or something? Wouldn't that be a relief...

Soon we exited the trees and were standing in front of a large wall of rock. Some vines and other plants had grown over the surface of it and were hanging down lazily. Madara, still holding onto me, went over to the overhanging plants and pulled them aside like a curtain.

There was a cave. A very large one, I might add. Inside it i could see supplies and sleeping bags against one wall, and a small firepit near the entrance.

I knew in an instant what was going on. He was going to force me to stay here with him, for god knows what. You can imagine how exstatic I was about spending alone time with a monster who probably wanted to harvest my organs.

"He's doing WHAT?"

Pain sighed and rubbed his forehead. Danielle was currently freaking out on him, after he told her what Madara was really doing.

"He just wants a week with her. Then he'll bring her back, safe and sound," Pain explained again in an attempt to calm her.

She ran her fingers through her hair, pacing back and forth in her room. "This isn't right. What is he trying to do? This won't help her..."

Pain sighed for the millionth time that day. "He thinks he can talk her into being like she was before. Even I don't know what's going through his mind. But he won't harm her, I can assure you that."

Danielle gave a groan. After a few seconds, she looked back into Pain's eyes. "He better not do anything to hurt her. Because if he does, all hell will be unleashed on him. I can assure you that."

I sat in the far end of the cave, watching Madara as he unpacked all the things he had brought. The curtain of foliage was the only door to our shelter. I had no clue where we were, or how long I would be here. And I sure as hell wasn't going to ask.

My knees were pulled up to my chest and I had my arms folded across the top of them, hiding my mouth. Why was I here? Was this some sick idea of a vacation?

Madara gave a small sigh and took his mask off, setting it behind the bags. Then he turned to face me. In the dim light his Sharingan seemed to be glowing brightly, casting a shadow onto his features. He was wearing his usual Akatsuki cloak attire. The members usually didn't take them off around the house, they either forgot to or didn't want to.

Madara began to remove the hood-like article around his chin and neck. "There is a bathroom about a kilometer from here. It wasn't originally working, but I managed to fix it."

I kept looking at him. Was this a camping trip of some sort?

He placed his hood article in one of the bags. Now i could see more of him, his messy black hair that fell into his eyes and looked completely disheveled. He really was beautiful.

I say that with no personal feelings about it. (Ha, as if i had any.) I was stating it simply as a fact. Lucifer was beautiful too.

Usually Madara had some sort of smirk, or glint in his eyes, but now he held nothing like that. I couldn't tell if he was pretending or not. It's hard to read a master manipulator. His eyes were simply blank as he stared at me, his face almost expressionless.

His Sharingan were almost mesmerizing. I didn't like it. They made you just want to look into them all day, and get lost in their depths. I had to fight that as well as keep my gaze on him. I wasn't about to be blindsided.

"You're probably wondering why I brought you here," Madara said, his voice the opposite of its usual condescending tone. He sat with his legs crossed, leaning forward with his hands together almost in a fist in front of him. "We are staying here for one week. If I can't get you back to the way you used to be by then, I'll leave you alone. Does that sound fair?"

Heh. This will be easy.

Giving an evil grin on the inside, I nodded. This week will be over quickly.

"Hidan, don't make me punch you in the kidneys."

Said snooper opened Danielle's door that he had been peeking through. "I'm not bothering you."

She glared up at him from her bed where she sat with her legs crossed. "You were peeping into my room."

"I was checking to see how you were doing." He began to step inside, but then paused. "Can i come in?"

"I'm probably going to regret this, but sure."

Hidan came in and closed the door gently behind him. He leaned back against it, not wanting to disturb Danielle's space. She kept staring at him suspiciously, chewing on her finger.

"I never thought I would hear someone like you being so polite," she stated. "It seems out of character for you."

Hidan gave her a look. "What, do you want me to go back to being a rude sacrificial douche?"

"No, no!" She then laughed at him, a wonderful sound Hidan hadn't heard in a while. Her laughter was like the tinkling of bells. It was soft, yet so beautiful.

While Hidan smiled softly, Danielle calmed down and looked at the floor. He tried to think of what to say and then remembered why he had come here. "So how are you?"

She gave a soft snort. "Better than I have been in a while. I have a good feeling about Ashley. She's not done yet, not completely."

"That's good."

Danielle looked up at him, once more suspicious. "Since when are you so caring? Just a while ago you asked me why I didn't just give up on her."

Hidan could feel that if he didn't answer correctly, he would be shut out again for who knows how long. So he gathered his confidence and replied honestly. "I didn't know that you cared that much for her. But now i know, and I'm glad that you're feeling better, because I care about you." He cracked a smirk. "I'm not just trying to get in your pants, Danielle, despite what you might think. I like you."

Her eyes flashed in consideration of what he said. "Oh." Honestly she couldn't come up with anything else to say. He had surprised her.

"Well, now that i know you're okay, I'll leave you alone." Hidan's hand took the doorknob and turned it.

Danielle suddenly felt the urge to tell him to stay, but she couldn't find the words to do so. So instead she gave a half-smile as he slipped out the door.

"Thank you," she said quietly before the door closed completely. The door stopped for a second, then slowly shut. He had heard her.

"First, we're going swimming."

At first I was going to simply stare at him until he gave up, but then I remembered that I had agreed to play his game. So I nodded.

He smiled and reached over to the two duffel bags by the wall. He pushed one over to me. "I grabbed some of your clothes beforehand." Then his smile turned into his signature smirk. "I had no idea that you wore bikinis."

Normally, I would have blushed and called him a pervert, followed by throwing my bag at his face. But now I could only glance at him in exasperation as I opened my bag. I soon found my black bikini and held it up, looking back at Madara. He still smirked at me, holding black swim trunks in his hand.

He stood up and moved the vine curtain with his hand. "I'll leave you to change in here. Don't take too long, or i'll come in anyway." With that he exited, and I heard his footsteps fade away into the forest.

I began to undress. I hadn't seen more skin than his face. I wondered about what the rest of him looked like, then i shook my head. It wasn't important.

Tying the strings behind my back, I put my regular clothes back into the bag. I then saw that I didn't have a towel or anything. Who goes swimming without towels?

That was only one of the many questions running through my mind when Madara stepped back into the cave, his own clothes bundled in his hand. I kept my stare down at my bag.

"Ready?"

I nodded, slipping my flipflops on. At least he brought those. To my surprise, instead of teleporting us, he took my hand and led me out of the cave. I squinted at the bright sunlight but didn't have time to adjust to it as Madara pulled me to the forest. To keep my eyes from wandering to him, I looked around us at the quiet trees. There were birds chirping, but other than that it was peaceful.

Why didn't he use his abilities? I looked over at Madara, concentrating just on his face. He noticed me staring and thankfully guessed my silent question.

"Wondering why we didn't teleport?" he asked. He faced the trail ahead of us. It was a simply dirt trail with little debris on it. "I'm not using my strengths this week. No teleporting, no jutsus, nothing."

Hm. That was strange, coming from Mr. High-and-Mighty. He was always jumping at the opportunity to show off. No power at all? Something was really wrong here. Was he going insane too?

He has a long way to go.

Yes.

The sound of rushing water began filling my ears. We were getting close to wherever it was we were going to swim. It sounded like a waterfall. The dirt trail then took us out of the forest, and we were in a clearing. I squinted and waited a few seconds until I could see.

In front of us was a large pool of water with a rock face on the other side. Water cascaded down from the rock face onto the pool, which was steadily flowing out the side to a nearby stream. The water was clear and got deeper towards the rock face. It was really a beautiful place, I wanted to just stand there and look at it all day.

Madara set something down next to me, and i realized that he had brought a bag with him. I crouched down and started going through it. There was his cloak, sunscreen, a blanket, and the object of my desire. My goggles. I took them out and stood again, putting them around my neck.

"I would reccomend that you put those on."

Before I could turn to him in question, he picked me up and used his stupid ninja skills to jump his way up to the very top of the rock face. He carefully set me on my feet next to him. I looked down at the water. We were very high up, and when I looked over at him, he gave me a devious smile.

Crap.

I put my goggles on and just when I made sure they were on correctly, I was shoved into the air. My heart flew up into my mouth and adrenaline suddenly was coursing through me. A scream came up in my throat, and I had to suppress it as i curled into a ball and waited to hit the water.

When I did, I was cold at first, but then the water felt contently warm. Needing air, I swam back to the surface.

As I was breathing in sweet oxygen, I looked up to see Madara jump. Quickly I dove back under and swam to the side. The water moved and created bubbles when he landed in, but he didn't go up for air as i had. He looked around, saw me, and gave me an underwater smile. I only looked down at the sand beneath us. The blood jumped under my skin when a fish suddenly dashed by me. I watched it go farther until it made it to the stream and I couldn't see it anymore.

Suddenly I felt the need for more air, so I swam past Madara and went to the shallower area where I could stand. When I did, I put my goggles around my neck and smoothed my wet bangs out. At least I had worn my signature ponytail today. Madara surfaced shortly after me, and I glanced back at him before turning completely towards him. I sat down in the shallows and the water came up to my stomach. I stretched my legs out in the warm liquid, using my arms to support me.

Madara shook his head quickly, spraying water everywhere. "To tell you the truth, I've never been on a vacation like this. I've never wanted to."

I folded one leg over the other.

He gave me another perfect smile, to which I looked to the side. If I didn't, I would have started staring at every other part of him. I had no intention of letting him think that he would win this game.

He turned around and dove back into the water. When his figure wasn't visible anymore, I breathed out, standing up and walking to shore. I put my goggles back in the bag and dug around in it for the blanket. Once it was unfolded and shaken out, I set it out and made sure it was flat. Then I sat down and pulled the bag in front of me to search through it.

I was in the shade, so I wouldn't need sunscreen. There was a red apple at the bottom. My favorite. My hand closed around it and I held it up. It seemed perfect, round and probably full of juice. I bit into it, shoved the bag away, and sat with my legs folded.

Today is going to be a long day.

Bambi and Deidara were currently sneaking through the house together, hands connected. Bambi glanced around a corner to see if it was safe, keeping Deidara behind her. The house was very big.

When they finally reached the front door, Bambi took hold of the handle and slowly turned it.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Both of them jumped visibly, dread spreading through them. They were caught.

Bambi turned around with a sheepish half-smile. "Hey, Danny..."

Danielle stood with her arms folded at the base of the stairs. She looked suspicious, but not angry. "Answer me."

Bambi winced, glancing around. She pulled out a paper from her messenger bag and held it out to Danielle as an offering. "There's an art expo in town, and I wanted to go to it with Deidara...just for a little bit! I just want him to see what our art is like, and maybe I could sell some of mine..."

Danielle read the paper and handed it back to Bambi. She looked at the both of them, pleading eyes and hopeful faces. With a glance at her watch she sighed.

"Be home before seven."

Bambi gave a noise of joy and ran to Danielle, enveloping her in a tight hug. "Thank you so much!"

Danielle chuckled weakly and waited for the teen to release. She then waved goodbye as they went out the door excitedly. What am i going to do with her?...

CRASH!

Danielle rushed into the kitchen as quickly as she could. But there was no mess, only a few cans on the floor and a frightened Hidan. He was backed up against the counter looking like he just had the Jashin scared out of him.

"Um...what happened?" Danielle asked from the doorway.

The surprise in his eyes turned to mild annoyance. "I was trying to move them aside and find something I actually wanted to eat." He bent down and picked up the cans, then put them back into the cupboard.

Danielle stood there, trying to talk herself out of it, but then she gave up and went to get some bread off the counter. Hidan looked at her in confusion, closing the cupboard.

"What are you-"

"Shut up and sit down."

He obeyed and took a seat at the small table. He watched, curious, as Danielle grabbed numerous things and set them next to the bread she had taken out. She seemed to be putting all sorts of things on the bread. Sliced meat, lettuce, tomato, and dressings. The finished product was then placed in front of him on a plate.

He glanced at it. Danielle sat across from him and scooted close to the table, looking at him expectantly. Hidan carefully picked up the strange thing and took a bite from it.

After a moment of chewing and swallowing, his expression brightened. "It's amazing! What is it?"

Danielle smiled in satisfaction. "It's called a sandwich. It's a classic thing to eat here. Do you like it?"

"No, woman, I love it!"

She smiled again and put her cheek in her hand. Hidan began taking bigger bites, seeming to not get enough of the meal. It was strange to Danielle how such a simple thing could make him react like this. But hey, she wasn't complaining. He looked better when he smiled like that. It was different than his usual psychotic grin that he wore so often.

She wasn't falling for him. It wasn't possible. She simply liked being around him like this. She would never admit to liking someone like him. Or liking anyone, for that matter. She hadn't felt these kinds of feelings in a long time.

The orange sun slowly began melting beneath the pink horizon. The clouds are highlighted by the fading light, shadows on the bottoms of them.

"Ready to go back?"

Madara's voice pulls my attention from the sunset to him, holding the bag and his cloak over his shoulder. Neither of us were wet anymore. It was warm enough here that we both were completely dry. I tore my eyes from him before I could look at the rest of him and began walking to the dirt trail. He quickly followed, walking by my side.

The only light around us was the flourescent orange from the fading sun. It would have casted a romantic glow if I hadn't been so hollow.

There's nothing left to feel anything.

I know.

He doesn't.

I can't do anything about it until this week is over, and he realizes that I won't be how he wants me to be.

I was able to keep the voices under control most of the time. They figured out that I just didn't give in to their screaming anymore, I didn't care. Usually now it was only one of them that spoke to me anymore. I didn't mind it.

The air got a lot colder when the sun disappeared. I had to fight back a violent shiver and wrap my arms around myself to keep my teeth from chattering. As another chill washed over me, something warm and slightly heavy was placed on my shoulders. The red clouds of an Akatsuki cloak looked back at me when I inspected what it was. Madara pulled it closed around my front, using one of the buttons to keep it covering me. I kept my arms folded, despite that my shivering had immediately stopped.

The cloak's collar was high, so I dipped my chin so that my mouth was hidden. Depressed or no, that was something I had always wanted to do. If I wasn't so numb I would have been giggling in excitement at the fact that I was wearing one of the actual Akatsuki cloaks.

Madara started a fire in the cave and somehow pinned the wall of foliage aside so that the smoke could escape. I sat in my corner, but closer to the fire so that I could get warmer. I unbuttoned the cloak so that the inside of me could heat up. My sleeping bag was underneath me and ready for me to climb in when I felt like i wanted to sleep.

I was zoning out and staring into the flames when Madara suddenly sat behind me, his legs folded underneath him but still on either side of me. Getting over my surprise quickly, I pretended he wasn't there and resumed my zoning out.

I then felt something strange. My hair tie was being tugged on, then it was taken out. I felt my hair loosening when the accessory was discarded. Confused, I stayed still, not wanting to show any sign of anything to him. He seemed not to care. His fingers then began to run through my hair softly. He began from my roots and worked his way out, even though there were no tangles.

Once my hair was fully free and normal again, he started to massage it at the base. I'd be lying if i said that it felt anything less than amazing. Fighting to keep my eyelids open was harder than I thought. Waves of soothing pleasure spread down to my fingertips, making me feel like I couldn't move. But I didn't want to anyway.

Don't let him win.

I'm not. I have to play his game and show him that no matter what he does, nothing will bring me back. Wherever me is.

My breathing had slowed dramatically as if my body were preparing itself to sleep at any moment. But I kept myself awake, barely alert. I could fight this.

He wasn't speaking. I thought he would have been, to gloat or try to say something that he thought was sweet and loving. But voices were absent from the air and the only sound was the crackling of the fire.

Madara's hands left my head. They then landed on my shoulders, where he gently slipped the cloak from them. When he started rubbing my neck, the waves i felt earlier were nothing compared to these. Despite my efforts, my eyelids closed, and I felt my consciousness slipping from me. His hands were warm against my cold skin. I could feel the natural heat radiating from his body as well, soothing me into sleep.

The last thing I felt was falling back onto Madara's warm chest.

Hello my amazing lovely people! Um...i love you so much o.o Seriously, thank you for all the support to keep going. I'm sorry if this isn't very long, I'll have more soon. I swear o.o Leave a review if you please x3