Stray Dogs

Chapter 1

The dark-skinned young man walked quietly through the damp forest. He ran an idle hand through his short, jet black hair and adjusted the duffel bag he was carrying. His deep, piercing black eyes occasionally strayed towards the sounds of the forest, birds, insects, even the occasional deer. He was small and lean, but strong, and most of his body was covered beneath a light brown cloak, under which he wore a light gray, sleeveless shirt, pants and hiking boots. He sighed. The nearest town was some backwater village on the outskirts of some bigger backwater village. He pulled his cloak around himself, at least it wasn't raining now. His goal was Kusagakure, a week's journey away, and one of his brother's old hideouts.

Eiji thought he heard something, and he tensed, he was no ninja, true, but his brother had taught him to take care of himself. The sound came again, a low moan and a flurry of coughs. The source was a dark object hidden beneath a bush a few hundred yards away. Immediately his medical training kicked in, and he rushed over to see who was there.

He pushed aside the branches and found a man with long, unkempt pale blue hair and torn, faded clothes curled into a fetal position. He was barely conscious, shivering with fever, he was probably suffering from pneumonia, given this wretched climate, and he looked dangerously emaciated. He had an enormous Shuriken strapped to his back. A ninja? Eiji wasted no time, he placed two hands on the man's head, two on his chest, and two on his sides, and began the healing flow of Chakra. He first focused on the fluid-filled lungs, gently clearing the infection from his body. There was only so much he could do, of course, he worked to slow, then stop, the raging fever, but the man still needed food, rest, shelter and hydration. Once the man stopped shivering and his fever broke, Eiji reached into his pack and pulled out a bottle of water and a couple of food tablets, opened the man's mouth, and placed the tablets inside, then washed them down with the entire bottle. The man's eyes fluttered open, and he struggled to speak.

"Ir-Iruka?"

Eiji vaguely remembered that there was a man by that name in Konohagakure, something to do with the Kyuubi and it's vessel. "No, my name is Eiji. You're going to be alright, I'll carry you into town and we'll find a doctor."

The man didn't seem to hear him. "Iruka... I'm s-sorry." Then he lost consciousness.

Eiji removed his cloak and wrapped it around the man, then spat a small amount of webbing to hold the cloak to the man, another, larger bit to hold him firmly against his back. As soon as he was sure the webbing was secure, he rushed off at top speed towards the town.

...

Eiji burst into the hospital emergency room, startling the few medics on staff, apparently it was a slow day. "This man needs help." He spoke calmly, if a bit breathlessly, he was trained as a medic after all. "He's suffering from dehydration and exposure, and needs antibiotics." Eiji shifted the unconscious man from his back into his arms. The medics just stared at the six gangly arms sprouting from the youth's shoulders. "Are you even listening?!" he shouted in frustration.

A medic, apparently the one in charge, rushed over, took one look at the burden in his arms, and wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Him? That's just what we need. We're doctors, not veterinarians."

Eiji's eyes opened in rage, "You're a healer, you took an oath!" The medic turned to walk off and another stepped forward.

"Come on, we'll get him to a room and get some fluids in him."

As the pair worked, the medic was pleasantly surprised the young man knew a fair share of medicine.

"What was that all about?" Eiji asked, not bothering to hide his anger at the first man.

The medic sighed, "This man is a thief, not only that he's a Missing Nin from Konohagakure, a traitor to his own village."

Eiji had noted the numerous scars he'd seen on the man's body as they removed his wet clothing, scars which bore an uncomfortable resemblance to those he'd seen on victims of torture. Ninja were known to torture prisoners for information, perhaps they were trying to get him to give up any accomplices. Eiji shook his head," Well, now he's our patient."

Once all the IV's were set and running and the patient was comfortably nestled in a bed, Eiji sat in a chair near the bed. He was tired, he'd used a lot of Chakra with the healing jutsu and running several miles for help. He was not a ninja, nor did he want to be, but he'd learned some useful jutsu in his travels.

"What's his name?"

The medic turned, "Touji Mizuki, I think, I heard he'd been run out of town several days ago" He grimaced, "I see he didn't get far... He's apparently been wandering from village to village for some time now."

Eiji nodded, he knew the feeling, he'd been traveling for a long time. His brother, due to the nature of his "Divine Work", tended to move around a lot. It had been Eiji's job to sew him back together after... He didn't want to think about that now, he'd left Eiichiro over a year ago, and didn't want to relive that part of his life. It did prove useful, he'd learned many techniques from his brother before he'd decided to follow a path less brutal. He wondered suddenly if he would be recognized, he was not wanted, but his brother was in the top 3 of the infamous Bingo Book, and he was a link, whether he liked it or not.

"Why did you bring that in here?" A voice demanded.

Eiji looked up, his eyes were getting heavy, "Because he was dying..."

The figure in doorway muttered something under his breath, "As soon as he can walk, get him out of this town."

It wasn't a request.

Eiji turned back to the sleeping figure on the bed, and sighed, "Well, Mizuki-San , it looks like we won't be staying here for long." He sat and watched the man sleep until exhaustion finally overtook him.

...

"So, you're finally awake." Mizuki stated weakly, "They told me you saved my life. Thank you..."

The six-armed youth looked up, and looked straight into his eyes for a brief second, but that was enough. He was gifted (or cursed) with the ability to see a person's true nature simply by glancing into their eyes, which could be dangerous if he looked into the eyes of something truly evil. He'd once looked into the eyes of a monster named Orochimaru, and had suffered nightmares for months afterward. In the man before him he saw incredible pain, they were the eyes of a man who'd lost everything, and knew that it was his own fault. The guilt was slowly driving him mad.

"It's what I'm trained to do," He smiled, " I couldn't just leave you to die."

Mizuki closed his eyes and lay back in the bed, his mind raced back to the day he'd first met the demon called Orochimaru, and what had led to that meeting. A mission had gone bad, his teammate was wounded, and Mizuki, efficient man that he was, had murdered him rather than slow down and help. He shuddered slightly at the ugly memory.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, just a chill." He lied, putting on a false smile. He paused. "Where are you from? I've never seen someone with -"

"Six arms? I am from The Village of the Silken Web, in the Mountain Country. My Clan, the Naraku Clan, all of us have six arms. Ever hear of Kidoumaru?"

Mizuki shook his head. "No, who is he?"

"A member of my clan, He was one of Orochimaru's elite bodyguards, The Oto-Five, it should have been the Oto-Six, they never counted poor Ukon... They're all dead now."

Mizuki shuddered violently at the mention of Orochimaru. Eiji saw it, but decided it was better not to pry too deep.

...

Two days later Mizuki was well enough to travel, and Eiji managed to get the money to pay for the hospital bills, no one knew how, but he did. The two stepped out of the hospital, squinting in the harsh daylight. "Do you mind if I travel with you?" Mizuki asked, without looking at Eiji.

"I wouldn't do that kid." Mizuki didn't have to turn to see who the voice belonged to, it was the local police chief, he was the man who'd confronted them in the hospital, "He's nothing but a stray dog, he'll follow you as long as you throw him a few scraps, then he'll turn on you."

Mizuki didn't turn around, he hung his head, it was true, wasn't it? He thought back to all of those false smiles, all of those lies and schemes, he'd destroyed his own life and several others. He had literally stabbed his best friend in the back in order to get at and kill the Kyuubi, to avenge his parents, and had failed. Even later, with Orochimaru's dubious "help" and a monstrous form, he'd still lost. That second time led to his transfer to a prison that was even more hellish than the one he'd escaped earlier.

He'd never thought he could be broken, he was a ninja after all, but there were men at that place that could have broken Ibiki himself. In between "sessions", he'd have only his thoughts for company. At first he plotted revenge, how he would take every suffering he endured and return it tenfold to the demon brat. Eventually, he gave up all hope, and prayed to die, but they didn't kill him. He wondered why, why they kept him alive, a ninja who betrayed his village was almost always killed to prevent him giving secrets to the enemy. And then he realized, he wasn't important enough to kill, he was so low as to be beneath their notice. Eventually the prison was shut down, due to the needless torture of prisoners, and he was released. He stayed long enough to see his torturers led off in manacles, after that he'd merely wandered, alone, with nothing but the clothes on his back and his giant shuriken. He couldn't find a job, who would trust a traitor like him? He'd never work as a teacher again, he'd tried to murder one of his own students for God's sake! He was once a prime candidate for Jonin, now he was a beggar and a thief, a stray dog...

"Thank you for the warning, sir, but I know what I'm doing, and I could use the company." Mizuki turned toward the boy in surprise.

" It's your funeral, don't say you weren't warned." The policeman grated, "I don't care, so long as he leaves this village, and preferably this country, and never comes back."

"Then let's go."

...

After they had left the town well behind Mizuki turned to the young healer. "He's right, you know, you have no idea of the things I've done. I'm the worst companion you could possibly have." He couldn't look Eiji in the eyes.

"Believe me," The boy smiled, "I've known people who are far worse. Now c'mon, I lost a lot of time here, and I want to get out of this swamp and back to Kusagakure."

To Be Continued . . .