My name's Chihiro Byoki. I'm a Hidden Leaf Special Jonin. I'm half cat, half human – having cat ears, a cat tail, and claws. I also have a demon inside me. The No-Tailed Tiger demon. Yeah, just like Naruto. Though, I hadn't found out about the monster inside me until I was a Chunin, but that's a completely different story…
There is an organization hunting Jinchuriki like me and Naruto, the Akatsuki. And now, they only have a few more Jinchuriki to get before they have every single one each country possesses. But what happens when you fall in love with your worst enemy?
Chihiro's Point-of-View
"Chihiro! Lady Hokage has called to meet with you!" My mother's voice sounds from outside my door. I poke my head out from under the covers and sniff. Four in the morning. And it's raining. Great. My window is open and rain drips in every now and then. I groan. With as much effort as I have, I manage to fall out of bed and close the window. What does the Hokage want at four in the morning? I look out the window at the rain and holler to my mom that I'm awake so she won't come in and drag me down the stairs. Next to me is Yui's bed, and in it is a sleeping Yui. She's my ninja cat. We do everything together. Like Kiba and Akamaru. Except closer. I shake her awake and she stretches.
"Sleep okay, Yui?" I ask her and she mews in response. Only the Byoki clan can understand the species of cat, just like the Inuzuka clan can understand the species of dog. Maybe our clan's are related?
"Chihiro! C'mon! Hurry it up!" My father yells and I growl at him.
"I'm hurrying!" I hiss back, taking off my pajamas and putting on my regular clothes: a white sleeveless half shirt, bandages on my right arm, black fingerless gloves, a beige skirt, and fishnets on my legs. My father and brothers – three brothers, to be exact – find it to be revealing, but my mother's the one who picked it put for me, with help from my sensei, Anko Mitarashi.
With Yui behind me, I open the door and almost collide with my brother, Sorin. I growl at him to watch where he's going then, before he can reply, shove past him down the stairs and to the door.
"Goodbye, everyone! I'll be back when I get back!" I shout, getting simultaneous goodbyes from my parents, then Sorin. The kids are sleeping then, I think as I leave the house. It's dark, really dark. There's no moon, but I don't need it. I'm half-cat, I can see in the dark, and I get to the Hokage's mansion in record time. I knock on the door to her study, but open it before I get a response.
"Lady Hokage, I…" I stop at the sight of Naruto Uzumaki, "N-Naruto?" He nods. That's weird. Naruto and I never go on missions together, or whatever the Hokage wanted us for. "Why'd you call us here, Lady Tsunade?" I ask rather impatiently. I'm more impatient than Naruto, and Naruto's REALLY impatient.
"C-Chihiro, calm down," says a timid Shizune, "We haven't even told Naruto." I grunt in reply and look at the Hokage.
"As intolerant as always, Chihiro," Lady Tsunade laughs hollowly, but I don't. What she doesn't remember is that we're gambling buddies and that I'm helping her petition for a slot machine in the mansion. Does she also forget that I get her out of the office more than anyone else to gamble?
"So what's up, Grandma?" Naruto asks too calmly for me to believe. He's as curious as I am, you can tell by the way he fidgets.
"You both know of the Akatsuki," The Hokage starts, and the atmosphere of the room drops considerably. Of course we do. Every ninja knows of the Akatsuki, or at least, they should. They're the enemy of every nation. Us two lower-ranking ninja nod for her to continue. "Well, I've received word that they've come into the Land of Fire. So you two cannot leave the village unless accompanied by a superior ninja. Is that understood?"
"What?" Naruto and I scream in unison.
"Just because we're Jinchuriki, doesn't mean you can keep us locked up!" I screech, throwing my hands into the air. This makes the Hokage and her assistant jump.
"Just because we have these damn demons inside us doesn't mean we're dangerous! You know this, Grandma!" Naruto backs me up, his face red with anger. Tsunade sighs, already irritated, and holds her head in her old hands.
"Well?" The two of us yell again. Really, that wasn't planned. I guess great minds really do think alike.
"She's only thinking of your safety," says Shizune and we glare at her. Before we blow up at her, Lady Tsunade waves a hand for us to leave. When we don't, she looks up at us, with a creepy glow about her face.
"You are dismissed," she says darkly. We notice the look in her eyes and out we go!
"Ugh, that's not fair!" I whine, holding Yui in my arms. The rain has stopped so we wander around the village in boredom, not really sure as of what to do next. After a mind-numbing ten minutes, Naruto breaks the silence with a random exclamation.
"I'll stop those Akatsuki myself," he says, and I stop behind him. He stops bewilderedly and turns to look at me. Did he really just say that? Really? Or was I dreaming it?
"Say again?" I ask and he repeats his statement. I gape in awe at the teenager before giving him my answer, "Naruto… That's the best idea since underwear!"
"You really think so?" the Uzumaki child smiles and I nod eagerly, "You'd come with me to stop them even though we're both Jinchuriki? But we can't tell anyone we're doing it…"
"Of course!" I smile big and lead him out of the village, telling the sentries that we're on a mission. Excellent. Two Jinchuriki going to put Akatsuki out of commission. The hunters become the hunted. Most excellent indeed. Now we just needed to find the bastards…
Hidan's Point-of-View
Jashin, damn it all! I hate waiting! Especially if it's waiting on Kakuzu and Toraichi. Those two are all about the money, the godless heathens. Because of them, we have to delay our search for the two Jinchuriki! I hate that!
"Kakuzu! Toraichi! C'mon, can't we just do this once we find the damn Jinchuriki?" I yell from behind them. The assholes walk WAY too fast for their own good.
"Ah, shut up, Hidan," says Kakuzu coolly, pissing me off more. Toraichi laughs and I glare daggers into his back. Jashin as my witness, I despise him. The way he talks, that stupid ninja cat with him. Oh, did I forget to mention that he's half-cat? Well, he is. It's annoying as fuck.
"I swear, one day, I'm going to kill you, Toraichi," I growl under my breath and he turns to me.
"What was that, punk?" He snaps and soon, we're at each other's throats, making Kakuzu pry us off each other.
"Stop this insufferable fighting, or I'm going to kill you both," At that, both me and Toraichi shut up and continue on after our "leader". I hate being ordered around. I hate it a lot. The only rules I follow are from my religion, which reminds me of my need to make a sacrifice to Jashin regularly.
"Well, if we're looking for goddamn 'money bags'," I make quotation marks with my fingers, "Then can we hurry the fuck up and find some? I need to please Jashin with a sacrifice, if you've forgotten."
"Is it really that important?" Toraichi sighs, petting his damn cat. That pulled me over the edge.
"Of course it's important, you blasphemous fucking idiot! Jashin's going to let me kill you someday, and I'm going to do it so goddamn slowly and painfully!"
"Well why not now, prick?"
"Because I don't want to disobey my god, asshole!" Once again, we're at each other's throats and in a split second, Kakuzu has our throats in his cold, zombie-like hands.
"What did I just say?" He snarls threateningly. Toraichi is shaking, it's funny to see, but I only glare back at my immortal partner. He can't kill me. He knows that. That's why we're partners. Leader just thought it would be funny to out a half-cat with us. Probably hoping we'd kill him. Oh Jashin PLEASE let me be able to kill him soon!
"Kakuzu, you don't scare me," I scoff, and I'm thrown down on the ground, with Toraichi thrown soon after me.
"Don't make me tell you again," grumbles Kakuzu again and I roll my eyes. Oh give me a fucking break, Kakuzu, I think stubbornly, like you could do anything…
To my surprise, the cat child stays quiet until we reach a small village. The sign says Tanzaku Town. Hmm.
"Tanzaku Town, huh?" Toraichi whispers something quietly to his cat and I roll my eyes. Did he seriously think the damn cat would talk to him back? What a fucking weirdo.
"Come on," Kakuzu says, walking ahead of us, "I have a feeling we're going to find just want we want in this town…"