You know what the sun looks like at sunset? Like he slit his wrists in a bathtub and the blood is all over the water. And the moon is just watching. She's just watching him die. She must have driven him to it.
-Tithe
There is a lot in life we never actually know. So many people and events we never acknowledge or notice, and sometimes, blatantly ignore.
Still, regardless of this ignorance so passively accepted, there are stories to be told that are just as meaningful as the next.
So while Naruto overcame his obscurity and loneliness, trained through hardships and sorrows, and changed the people around him, other tales of venture were strewn about the world.
Imatsura Sayuri was one of them.
"A lonely woman waits at home, her darli'n lost at sea. He said goodbye, and with a kiss, and 'Don't wait up for me'." Fuu sang sweetly as she strolled along the dirt pathway. She could smell the scent of charred chicken and Cajun sauce from the village just over the hill. The tree's around her rustled in the slight breeze, cascading leaves along the roadside.
"She waited till eternity, but still he never came. And lost in grief she took her life, oh what a wasted shame." She whispered the last verse and looked to the sky thoughtfully. "Speaking of suicide, I wonder where Saya-oneesan is right now..?"
Somewhere...
"Itachi-san, what did Leader-sama want?" Kisame regarded his partner curiously. They sat in a small alcove near an estuary, freshwater barnacles clinging to the sides of the bayside. Early morning dew slid off of damp leaves and grass, a wet smell thickening the humid air and creating a heavy breeze. Itachi, who had been sitting with crossed legs, opened his eyes slowly, and without turning to him, replied.
"We're to find a woman."
Kisame arched a brow.
"A woman? What does he want with a woman?" Suddenly a knowing smile crossed his features. "Should I really ask?"
Itachi made a small noise, amusement somewhere with in it.
"He did not specify."
Kisame sighed and rested Samehada on his back. A hoard of gnats floated past them, chasing each other in small circles and nearly creating a visible black cloud. A fish jumped up as the cloud skirted over the water, making the black bugs disperse momentarily before reforming higher above the waters rippling surface.
"Where to then?" He asked while Itachi leisurely stood and faced south.
"Shikairi village." He said gently. Kisame, about to step forward, paused.
"The village by the sea?" He asked. Itachi silently bowed his head and started off.
Kisame partner smirked.
"This sounds like fun."
Time ticks by precariously. It loses itself to the seconds and hours, leaving only trails of dust and remains behind. I present to you a time skip, in a place where this story takes root and legends are made. This is the disturbance that created the ripples…
"Another round!" Imatsura Sayuri pounded on the oak-streaked bar, her eyes glassy and her movements languid. The bartender, Bo, who had known her since she had arrived in Shikai, gave her a hard look. He was a burly man, tall and muscular. His skin was deeply coffee-colored from his younger days as a freelance shipman and his large, calloused hands, evidence of those days, polished a glass as he regarded the woman.
When Sayuri had arrived at the village some five years ago, she had wandered in half drunk, half hung-over. She was terribly delirious.
It was, to say the least, pathetic.
She had been aimlessly walking around like a lost dog or stray cat, not approaching anyone but also not leaving. When she had passed by his tavern, he had eyed her warily. They got a lot of weirdo's in the village, particularly because they were on the water and all sorts of people docked at their market.
So naturally most ignored her.
However, her clothes were rugged and her emaciated form had some of the vendors on edge. Any moment, they expected, she would drop dead.
She had sauntered from shop to shop, hiccupping and pointing wildly at inanimate objects. At one point she even accused a broken chair of leaving her behind in the midst of battle. Without allowing the wholesaler to talk her out of it, she wrestled the thing until it was completely beyond repair. Although the spectacle was amusing, the merchant was hardly pleased with her work and promptly kicked her out of his stockpile.
She irritated most of the other shoppers and vendors until she had them yelling and throwing trashed merchandise at her. No one had noticed at the time, because it was very unnoticeable among the chaos of the angry villagers, but Bo had watched and saw.
She dodged all the pans, rocks, and trash that had been chucked at her.
It seemed more like a half-hazard dance, like she was tripping over her own feet and was just lucky enough to escape their wrath, but Bo figured that if it was just simply that, then perhaps she would have tripped and fallen with all of that movement.
But she hadn't, and it made him wonder.
Regardless, he had customers to attend to and he had little time to spare on such a woman. She was little more in his mind than a mere abnormality among the many he encountered throughout the week, and soon, she was out of sight and mind.
However, the next day came around, and so did trouble. Many different types of people roamed around their village, and this of course included the occasional band of pirates. They had ransacked a local store of rations and taken a little girl hostage. The crew only consisted of four ruffians, and they had stationed themselves in the village center, near a water-fountain. They had been surrounded by most of the villages civilians...
"No one come any closer or the brat gets her throat slit!" The ragged and dirty-looking man yelled, clutching a small child closely. Her blonde hair was muddy from being dragged along, and her cheeks were wet with fresh tears. She trembled against her captors hold and sniffled back sobs of fear, hating that she could do nothing but stand and hope she wasn't killed. The mans companions were behind him, next to the gurgling water, and were holding their finds with wolfish grins. A crowd had formed around them, a team of wharf-police lingered at the front, ready to jump in at any moment.
They were frantically attempting to formulate some plan of action.
"You'll never get away with this, bastards!" One man yelled, cupping his mouth with his hands for a make-shift speakerphone.
The man with the girl smirked. His piercing on his eyebrows shined against the bright sun, the fake gold plating rusting along the edges and inflaming his skin to a blotchy red.
"Naw, we'll get away. Just like we always do. Besides, who's gonna stop us, eh?" His smile transformed into a wide grin as the crowd murmured uncertainly. Bo watched the scene before him closely, his eyes narrowed at the sea-rat and at the rusty knife in his hand. There were no skilled ninja in their village, except on peculiar occasions, and the police force wasn't very good. He wondered idly what exactly they did with their time.
After all, rallying up scum like this was their only job, wasn't it?
Suddenly, he caught movement from the left side of the throng of citizens. Irritated shouting erupted from the area, and then a figure was tossed out into the empty circle where the pirates were. The body fell sloppily to the ground, getting to its knees unsteadily..
Bo's eyes widened.
It was the drunkard from before!
The pirate scowled and held the knife closer to the child's throat. She whimpered pitifully.
"Who the hell are you?" He spat at her, jerking the kid to face the new-comer. With her eyelids half opened, the woman looked up to the man tiredly, almost boredly.
"Who are you?" She mimicked, her words barely formed. It was as if she had a rock on her tongue and had trouble keeping it from falling out and plopping onto the dirt beneath her. His scowl deepened.
"Get the hell outta here, you dumb bitch!" He screamed. The woman, shakily, got to her feet and made a small salute.
"Aye, aye, cap'n." She said, but stumbled forward, towards the group of thieves. He stepped back slightly, his grin faltering nervously at the approaching edges of the crowd.
"What are you doin, eh, onna?" He shook the girl as she cried out. "You want me ta kill this kid?" She stopped, her arms dropping limply before lifting one to scratch the back of her head as she looked up at the man, squinting.
"No, not really. You think you could drop her and hand over the stuff you took?" She asked with a vapid sigh. "It looks like these people are pretty angry."
He barked out a laugh as the crowed murmured. He looked at the woman condescendingly and loosened his hold on the girl.
"What are you, stupid? There's no way in hell I'm gonna do somethin like that! What do you take me for, a fool?" He laughed as his accomplices laughed along, albeit warily. "You stupid woman. Go back and suck a-"
"Oi!" She interrupted him, covering her ears. "Don't talk so loud or you'll burst my ear drums!" She grimaced, her face turning a slight shade of green. Bo didn't know what she'd do first: black out or wretch? The crowd suddenly started yelling and screaming. However, it wasn't at the pirates this time.
Instead, it was at the woman.
"Get outta here!" "You're gonna get her killed!"
"You dumb drunk!"
"Baka!"
She swallowed heavily, rubbing her head she watched as the man became distracted with the crowd.
"Hey, all of you! Shut up or I'm gonna-"
Suddenly, something happened. It happened so fast that no one really saw exactly what transpired, not even Bo, who had been watching very closely. The pirate had the girl, a knife in hand, and was demanding the crowd to move away. His irritated scowl was deep and his eyes were sharp. But then, suddenly, the woman moved. The movement was sloppy but swift as the she snatched up the man's wrist and shoved the girl away, pulling the pirate's arm behind him while driving him to the floor with a foot on his back. She took the knife in her other hand, pulling his arm so hard that it popped out of place, followed by a howl of pain from his lips.
"Little boys shouldn't play with knives." She said lazily. Then, with a jab, she punched him on the side of the skull, rendering him unconscious. She twirled the knife on her index finger.
The crowd settled down and stared relentlessly.
Still frozen to the spot she was pushed, the blond girl attempted a stuttered thanks, but could only end up bowing her head. The woman watched her and shrugged before trailing her gaze to the rest of the thieves. She nodded towards one of them.
"Oi, throw me a that bottle of sake yer holdin!" She ordered. Shaking his head a bit before nodding numbly, he tossed her the bottle.
She struggled to catch it for a moment, juggling it between both hands. Then, uncorking it, she sipped and sighed.
The police finally pushed through the throng of villagers and restrained the remaining crew, cuffing them and gathering the stolen loot. The crowd, recovering from their shock, watched as the woman stood and slowly strolled past them and towards the docks, muttering on about something they couldn't understand.
Ever since then, Sayuri had unofficially become the town hero, so to speak. Every once in a while, when some trouble or other stirred, Sayuri would casually step in and resolve the problem. Tripping a thief with an "Oops, I didn't see you" or saving a drowning child with a fishing pole with the excuse, "You think I can cook this?". She was forever drunk, and regardless of the situation, she never accepted any monetary reward. She didn't have a home, she just wandered around, and in her spare time she ran small errands for various people to earn just enough for a round or two.
"Bo~san! Lemme hafe anader round, ne?" She grinned and swayed, pointing at the polished cup he held. Shaking his head, he closed his eyes. She may be a drunk, but she was a good person. And personally, Bo liked good people regardless of their bad habits.
"No." He said, his voice held a tone that stood for no If's, Ands, or Buts. She scowled and waved him away.
"You're just no fun." She sighed, cupping her chin. Her floozy dialect seemed to have disappeared with her high spirits as well. "No fun at all."
She hadn't changed much in the years since she had arrived. Her plum-purple hair was sloppy and hung just at her shoulders, only pulled back by a blue turban that was wrapped as a hair band, covering half the top of her head. Her bangs dusted across her cheek bones, hiding her eyes sometimes. She had a dark skin tone, a mix between a smoky mocha and brown charcoal. Her wiry frame was long and thin, mostly, he guessed, from lack of a decent meal. For the most part she fashioned a simple black tank-top and navy-blue hakama pants.
Her feet were protected only by shabby geta sandals, and she had copious gold earrings on either ear.
Angled as her face was, it reminded Bo of something from the storybook pictures his grandmother used to show him as a small child. Her small nose and almond eyes made her closely resemble something fey-like.
The eyes she had were a striking amber color, and her long lashes accented her feminity. All in all, Bo had to admit, she wasn't bad looking, especially for such an unusual individual. If anything, she was slightly exotic. He had always been curious as to where she had come from, or if she had any family. But he never asked.
It just wasn't his place.
What he did do, however, was, grudgingly, provide her with booze when she had the money, and a free meal every time that she came for a visit. After all, it was the least he could do.
And she was always grateful.
Two figures in the back of the bar caught his attention as he placed the glass among others, and started on another dirty one. The pair had followed Sayuri into the bar, and had suspiciously ordered nothing but tea.
They had also been watching her like she was the last cracker in a starved village.
Bo was anything but ignorant, and when it came to details, he was particularly observant. The men were adorned in black coats with red puffy clouds, and they had been eyeing Sayuri for the past hour. She hadn't noticed, or at least she hadn't mentioned much, and he was starting to become very suspicious. He knew she was good, but these guys seemed menacing, and he didn't like their scent.
"Come on, come on! Just one more round, ne?" She pleaded.
Kisame looked at the woman and then gazed at Itachi.
"This is the woman Leader-sama wants?" He asked dubiously. The woman was without doubt, a drunk. And it seemed, she was a floozy drunk as well.
"Hn."
Kisame grinned at his partner. Itachi seemed even less enthused about the idea of capturing the drunkard. They had been following her for just a little while before she arrived at the tavern, and she had wobbled the whole way there. Her wobbling evolved into a stagger, and she seemed to be humming an off-key tune as well.
As he heard the clink of glasses, Kisame eyed the bartender.
Bo was it?
He saw the man eyeing them, and he got the feeling that maybe the man was going to be trouble.
"One round! One round!" The woman pounded on the bar childishly. Bo regarded as if she were one, and shook his head.
"No more, Sayuri." She pouted and collapsed on the bar.
"No fun." She mumbled against the wood.
"When do you want to confront her?" He asked quietly. There were only a few others in the bar, but there was just enough noise to drown out their scheming. Itachi closed his eyes in thought.
"As soon as she leaves." He replied. Kisame grinned. Maybe she'd make a fun workout for him. Despite her terrible appearance, she might be worth unsheathing Samehada, though, he detected very little chakra from her.
Then again, maybe she would be nothing but shark bait.
Sayuri, or Saya, pouted for another ten minutes before sighing and standing.
"Alright, Bo-san, I'm off! Have a good night." She thanked him happily while clapping her hands together. Bo nodded and watched her leave.
Then, he turned his eyes to the men. Sure enough, they stood and were already hot on her trail. They had left their tab on the table, next to the two untouched beverages. He paused for a minute and beckoned to a boy sitting at one of the tables not too far off from his stand. The boy was a ninja in training from another village, and had been staying with some relatives for the past week.
"Whatcha need, Bo?" He asked cheerfully. Bo wondered grimly if his cheerfulness would harden once he became an actual shinobi.
"I want you to warn the police that there may be trouble tonight." He advised the boy.
The kid frowned.
"You think Saya-chan is gonna make some trouble?" He asked, turning his eyes to the door she'd just walked through. Bo watched the men push open the door and leave.
"No, but she might be in it."
"A lonely woman waits at home, her darli'n lost at sea. He said goodbye, and with a kiss, and 'don't wait up for me'." Saya crooned quietly as she dragged her feet down an alley and towards the beach. It was a nice, crisp night and she thought it would make a lovely walk. She had also noticed the men behind her and thought it would be a nice secluded place, no worries about little girls sleeping soundly in their beds or old men playing shogi deep into the night. As she made her way down the cobblestone, she heard their almost inaudible steps from above.
She smiled.
A few minutes later, she approached the white, crooked fence that separated the village from the beach and hopped over it. Strolling down the dunes to the shore, she made herself a seat on the soft sand just before the water. The waves lapped up the shore, completely visible due to the bright full moon that hung in the sky like a giant white lantern. The water shimmered between the rays of pure moonbeams, reminding Saya of a fish scale she had once collected as a child.
A few waves later, she heard their soft footfalls on the sand behind her. With a smirk she retrieved a thin bottle of sake from her person and uncorked the sipper, tilting her head back to take a swig.
The footsteps stopped just behind her.
"She waited till eternity, but still he never came. And lost in grief she took her life, oh what a wasted shame." She twitched her head from side to side, finishing the song.
"Onna, that's a pretty depressing song, don't you think?" A gravelly voice asked, making her grin. She bent her head backwards, unafraid of having her throat slit, and glanced at the pair that had been following her. Black cloaks, red clouds. One with black hair, one with blue. Mist and Konoha missing nin from the looks of their headbands.
S-classed.
On the back of the tall one was a very large, bandaged sword. Going by appearances, it seemed it was Samehada, one of the seven swordsmen's blades. If she remembered right, which she always did, Samehada was a unique katana, mostly for being a sentient weapon that gains nourishment from the chakra of others. Samehada has the ability to transfer the chakra it absorbs to the wielder by partial fusion. The fusion could either heal wounds or replenish chakra, which makes its wielder supremely hard to defeat.
The scroll that had contained all this information made Samehada seem like nearly the perfect sword for shinobi. The physical description matched that of the hilt she noticed just beside the roguish man's head, so her assumption was only a simple guess.
"But a woman really waited for her lost love out at sea. The tale is true, I speak to you, as true as you or me." She answered in a sing-a-song voice. Kisame watched her, a grin just barely lingering.
The woman was strange.
"Imatsura Sayuri, you are to come with us." Itachi stated authoritively. She looked back out to the ocean and took another mouthful. She crossed one arm over a knee.
"And if I refuse?" She wondered aloud, a twinkle in her eye.
"Then you will come." Kisame replied. "Unconscious."
She pouted her lips in thought.
"Won't you come and sit with me? It's a nice night to watch the waves." She asked them. "Or maybe you'd like to grab a drink?"
"Don't you think you've had enough?"
Saya didn't bother looking back at Kisame.
"I'm just getting started."
Kisame looked to Itachi, who was glaring at the woman's back. As if sensing their refusal, she added, "Humor me."
They remained in a strained silence until she conceded in a sigh.
"It's a wonderful night for wave watching. Join me, and I'll come with you. Peaceably."
"Just like that?" Itachi asked suspiciously. He didn't know a thing about the woman other than her name and location. She was a giant question mark, and she seemed just a bit too willing. She waved a hand out and shuddered with a shrug.
"Sure, why not?" She replied. "I'll go with you…Just like that"
Authors Note: I started this fic a while ago, back when I just began writing seriously. This started out as something to kill time with while I was sick with a sinus infection. A warning to the reader that the writing for the first few chapters is rather immature and terribly unedited. My narration style has evolved throughout this fic, and continues to do so as I update with more chapters. I just wanted to forewarn you that the writing steadily increases in quality, both in description, dialogue, and plot.
Thanks.