Shiryoku sat at on a riverbank, listening to the water rushing past her. To any casual observer, the young woman looked like a normal twenty year old girl. She was of average height and build, had black hair that stopped mid-back, slightly tan skin, and wore a simple outfit of capris and a yellow tank top with a white jacket. The only odd things about the girl were the bandages wrapped around her eyes and her sharp, pointed teeth. For all intents and purposes, the girl was average. And that is exactly how she wanted to be perceived.
She sighed deeply, stretching her arms above her head before removing her sandals and wading into the water. She kept one foot on the shore, so as not to loose her bearings once in the river. It was a hot, humid summer day that made Shiryoku feel like she was swimming in sweat the moment she woke up. She had visited this country once as a child, a long time ago, before her world had been cast into darkness. It had been spring when she and her mother had visited, before the real heat had set in. The greenery of the country was what had stuck in Shiryoku's memory, causing her to call into question why she had to have lost her eyesight. It was a cruel irony that her name meant 'sight' when she had none. Her fingers carefully grazed the badges along her head, longing for the days when she could still use her eyes.
Her hands fell into the river, bringing palmfuls of water to her neck and face, trying to wash away the sweat of this humid country. It amazed her how quickly the heat hit as soon as she crossed the border from the Land of Rivers. Walking for the past day and a half made the girl miss the watery terrain of her home country. But she had to leave, Shiryoku would not regret finally getting away from that damned clan.
The water she drenched herself with was cool and comforting against her tired skin, but did surprisingly little to help her feel relief from the oppressive heat. Unwinding her bandages with one hand, Shiryoku brought water to her forehead, carefully trying to keep it from getting it in her eyes. She didn't know why it mattered, but old habits died hard.
A quiet rustling from the riverbank behind her caused Shiryoku's ears to perk up, listening for anything more to happen. The girl stood up straight, concentrating on the sounds around her. Cicadas droned in the distance, drowning out the sound of any birds. As a small breeze blew past Shiryoku, she tilted her nose in the air trying to discern any scents that would have been out of the ordinary. Other than the village that was about 6 leagues to the southeast, Shiryoku couldn't smell anything that wasn't naturally occurring.
'Perks of loosing your eyesight: smell and hearing are infinitely better.' She thought to herself.
When no sound came to her again, she returned her attention to the river at her feet. She would kill for a canteen of water, but the girl knew better than to drink from the foreign river. Hell, cooling herself off in the water was a risk in itself. The quality of the water she was standing in was unknown, but Shiryoku was so hot she didn't care. Shiryoku figured that so long as she didn't swallow it, she would be fine. Deciding her small romp in the river had been satisfactory, Shiryoku returned to the shore. Two steps inland, she found her shoes. Three paces forward and one to the left sat a rock large enough for the girl to sit on while putting her sandals back on. Shiryoku hated having to judge short distances in terms of how many steps she had to take, but it was the easiest way for her to get a lay of an area in the quickest amount of time.
The rustling she had heard returned. This time she ignored the noise, but her nose instantly picked up on a change in the smells around her. Trying to feign indifference to the new scent, Shiryoku continued to fix her sandal. Two people stood behind her, hiding in the bushes about 10 steps in and 4 to the right.
Shiryoku stood from her rock and started to walk towards the strangers. As she approached, they dropped their guard, allowing for their chakra signatures to be sensed. She couldn't see the distinct patterns the pair gave off, but the electrical surge she felt gave her a clue as to the two people hiding in front of her. They were most definitely members of her clan. One of them stepped out from behind the bushes.
"You know, running off like that really was not a smart decision, Little Sister." A rough, male voice spoke, forcing Shiryoku to freeze.
'Shit!' Her mind screamed. 'Not him. If he's here, then she is -'
"Came back home with us, and I'm sure Daddy will be easy on you." A second voice stated. This one was female, but still terrifying in the young woman's ears. A part from one another, they were a force to be reckoned with, the strongest and and most ruthless of her clan. They had both been promoted to jonin by the time they were ten years old. If they were working together, then Shiryoku did not stand a change of fleeing.
'Why did it have to be them?'
"Little Sister, come home." The male voice cooed, taking another stepped toward Shiryoku. She stumbled backwards, trying to weigh her options. She could run, which would be problematic as she did not know the terrain. The village eighteen miles to the southeast could potentially offer her refuge, but getting back to the road from the riverbank would be difficult. The woman would not be able to see any obstacles that would pop up and could prove to be a fatal mistake. Finding the river had been dangerous enough, she had tripped over an untended root, momentarily causing her to forget how many footsteps she had traveled since leaving the road.
But, if she stayed, if she tried to fight, Shiryoku was certain that she would either die or be taken back to Tanigakure. Death was preferable to that place. Shiryoku turned ninety degrees to her right, the river should be fourteen paces straight ahead. If she was lucky, Shiryoku could get to the water and dive in before the pair could get to her.
Halfway to the riverbank, Shiryoku's hair was caught and pulled on, forcing her to the ground. "Little Sister, it isn't wise to run from us." The female spoke, tugging harshly on Shiryoku's hair. A small gasp escaped her lips as her sister yanked her head backwards. "Daddy wants us to bring you home, but he didn't specify what condition you should be in." Despite not being able to see her sister's face, Shiryoku knew there was a sadistic smirk plastered across it.
"Akane, don't hurt her." Shiryoku's brother said, pulling Akane's hand from her hair. He wrapped his arm protectively across Shiryoku's chest.
"Eiji!" Akane whined as her twin pulled Shiryoku up by her shoulders.
"Father wants her to come home, so we will bring her home in one piece."
Shiryoku pulled away from her older brother's grasp, trying to escape to the river, but large hands pulled her back. Eiji clutched her tightly against his chest, trying to subdue her. Shiryoku stopped struggling for the moment, allowing her brother to relax his grip. "Good girl." He cooed, raising his hand to pet Shiryoku's obsidian hair. Taking a lucky shot, Shiryoku's mouth snapped open, clamping on to his moving hand. Eiji groaned at the pain of Shiryoku's razor sharp teeth baring down on his hand. Being bitten by his little sister hurt like hell, but he had experienced far greater pains when his Kekkei Genkai had be released. Blood greedily trickled from his bite wounds, filling Shiryoku's mouth.
"Don't let her bite you, Idiot!" Akane yelled at her brother, trying force Shiryoku off of the man. Her fist struck the top of Shiryoku's head, accidentally forcing her teeth deeper into Eiji's hand. He grabbed hold of her nose, forcing her to open her mouth to breathe. Shiryoku released her brother's hand, gasping for air, accidentally inhaling some of Eiji's blood, throwing her into a crimson coughing fit.
"You're bleeding…" Akane stated, looking horrified at her twin brother's hand.
"No shit." He sarcastically remarked, trying to get a good look at the perfectly formed teeth marks.
"Did you bleed in her mouth?" Akane dove at the young woman, prying apart her jaws. The inside of Shiryoku's maw was coated with blood. Akane forced her hand into Shiryoku's mouth in an attempt to jam her fingers down her throat. "Spit it out!" The crazed woman screamed at her younger sister, trying to force her little sister to throw up . "Spit it out now!"
"Father is going to kill us if -"
"She's going to kill us! Dammit, why don't you have a gag reflex!?" Akane yelled. She desperately tried to force her fingers further down Shiryoku's throat, but her hand had reached as far as they could manage. The older woman pulled her hand out of her sister's mouth, and began pulling her toward the river. Akane forced Shiryoku's head underwater. "Spit the blood out now, you little bitch!" She spat at her sister again. Shiryoku coughed up some of the blood, but not enough for Akane's liking. The elder sibling pushed her away before retreating toward Eiji. "Run."
Akane pulled her twin from their sister, trying to flee to the road, but it was too late. Shiryoku's Kekkei Genkai had activated.
"Can't believe we were inside a frog's gullet…" Kisame shuddered as he reminisced about the pair's failed mission. "Damned pervert." He cursed the Toad Sage under his breath. Itachi stopped suddenly, turning his head awkwardly to the south. As he did, Samehada began grumbling on Kisame's back, wiggling as if trying to free itself.
"Do you sense it?" Itachi asked, activating his Sharingan. An curious feeling came over Kisame, as a tidal wave of energy washed over the blue man.
"You mean that explosion of chakra?" Kisame replied, turning his body to fully face the odd sensation. The feeling of pure, unadulterated chakra that emanated from the south was exhilarating. It almost felt almost as good as sex, but it was a very distant second. "Even Samehada is excited by it." He said, pulling at the sword on his back.
"It's coming from about 7 miles south." Itachi postulated.
"We're closer to it than Konoha is. Should we go check it out?"
Itachi silently nodded, jumping from the road into the heavy forest. Kisame followed closely behind. The closer they came to the disturbance, the more excited both Kisame and Samehada became. Kisame had never felt something so powerful in all of his life. Even for him, with his enormous chakra reserves and abilities, this chakra was something to be envied. The sensation this foreign energy conjured inside of him was orgasmic. It was powerful, ruthless, and utterly intoxicating. Kisame felt as though his blood was boiling with an electrical surge that sent his skull buzzing. He felt like he was swimming in a state of ecstasy from the chakra, and he needed more of it. The single-minded task of finding the source of this power and drinking from it was an desire unlike anything in his life.
As soon as the glorious chakra appeared it was gone. They were only a mile away from their target, but the chakra reading had completely vanished. "Where the hell did it go?" Kisame whined. Instant withdrawal hit him as the residual effects of his intoxication wore off. They doubled their speed for the last mile, stumbling upon a bloody riverbank. The forest should have extended another couple hundred yards, but some form of blast wave had decimated the area surrounding the river.
Three bodies lay next on the water's edge. The two that lay the furthest from the river were barely recognizable as human. Different limbs, organs, and various other body parts lay scattered about the ground, as if the had been attacked by numerous explosive seals. Judging from the smell, there had been no explosives. Only the scent of blood and ionized ozone plagued the riverfront. Bloody gore was splattered along the otherwise peaceful, but destroyed, riverbed. From the pieces of bloody flesh that Itachi could make out, the pair was an odd couple. The one that still had a head, had dark, navy blue hair, but both of their skin was an odd shade. Despite having obvious flesh tones, there was a slight blue-green tint to them when looked at in direct sunlight.
"They're Valley Nin." Kisame stated, kicking a Tanigakure forehead protector at his partner. "What are they doing so far into Fire Country?" He walked over to the third nin before stopping in shock. When they had descended on the bank, he had noticed this girl right off. She was the only one of the three still completely intact, and she was seemingly at the center of the blast zone radius. The first thing he noticed about her were the bandages that were wrapped around her eyes. He didn't understand why, but the wrappings intrigued him almost as much as the chakra signature had. As he came closer to the girl, he realized the hair he had perceived as blacker than Itachi's, was actually a deep imperial purple. Her skin was what made him stop in his tracks; her tan flesh held a blueish glow. The color that radiated from her skin was not unlike his own.
In all of his life, Kisame had never met anyone else with even remotely tinted skin before. He didn't understand why he had been born with such a distinct skin tone and thoroughly believed that no one else could possibly look like him. Kisame had lived his entire life believing that he was alone in the world. But laying in front of him now was a girl that actually looked liked him. No gill-like markings graced her skin as far as he could tell, but the urge to see her teeth possessed him as he bent down and inspected her mouth. Pressing her lips apart, he noted that her teeth were covered in blood, but they were the same sharp, triangular shape as his. Kisame smiled genuinely for the first time in years. Someone, finally, had been like him. 'Too bad she's dead.' He thought, looking over the sight of the girl. He noticed that the blue skin only shone when she was in direct sunlight. As he released her mouth, the girl groaned slightly.
"This one is still alive." He called out to Itachi. The Uchiha stood to walk over to his partner who loomed over the downed girl. "What should we do with her?"
"Let Konoha deal with her." Itachi stated. The pair was about to leave the riverbank, when Samehada began wiggling relentlessly. The sword began hungrily chirping and growling, trying to break free of Kisame's back. The man turned his head as Itachi activated his sharingan.
"That chakra came from her." He declared, turning around completely to inspect the young woman. "It's not as powerful now, but that was her charka signature we sensed."
"I say we take her with us. Whatever that chakra is, Pein could put it to good use. Plus, if she caused all of this destruction, I'd feel safer knowing our enemies don't have her."
"Fine." Itachi agreed. Kisame picked the unconscious girl up, throwing her over his shoulder. Samehada cooed, rubbing itself against the woman's cheek. The girl was a foot shorter than him, and about half his size. Carrying her was going to be a piece of cake compared to some of the people Leader had sent them after. With her in tow, at least they would not be returning to base completely empty-handed.