Hello readers, this is xxRainy.
I welcome you to the first story I have posted up! Any reviews, comments, critique would be appreciated.
This will be the first and last disclaimer I make in this whole story:
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way, the only things I own are my OC and the plot.
Please enjoy the story.
Lie To Me
Chapter 1:
"A Wisp of Mist"
The mist.
You could say she was the embodiment of it.
Silently appearing without notice and then fading like a smoky phantom into the day.
Hiding the most obvious truths with the vaguest smile.
Flaunting the most extravagant lies with the most twisted laugh.
Without a face.
Without a name.
Without a place to belong.
That was why she was known as Kasumi.
She was the mist.
Unnoticed. Uncatchable. Untouchable.
Supposedly.
Until she met the clouds.
In particular, the shark of the red clouds.
This is their story.
The sun was blazing down, with only thin clouds hanging here. Enough to catch some of the brilliant rays and throw it back at the sun in an endless game of catch, but not enough to keep the temperature cool.
Kasumi sighed, wiping at another bead of sweat that dripped from her brow before squinting up at the sun with her pastel purple eyes. It beat down onto her back like a champion boxer with gloves of heat making her sag further.
It was too hot.
"No more…" She staggered towards the shade of the trees. "I'm gonna die…"
Luckily no one was around to watch her wobble around like a jelly in the process of melting, or else they would have thought she was in need to be pointed to the nearest asylum there was. Stumbling tiredly to the trees that lined the dusty road, she flopped down onto the leaf littered ground with a grunt, knocking her straw hat from her head. Leaning back, she stared up at the shifting canopy, massaging the tired muscles of her legs.
"This sucks…"
She had started walking since the crack of dawn in an attempt to reach the town she knew should be somewhere further ahead before midday. Obviously, things didn't go as planned because she was currently glaring up at the sun that hung directly above her head through a sea of leaves.
Taking out a long kiseru* that had been tucked snugly in her obi, she popped open a wooden container taken from her deep sleeve and pinched out a clump of a spider-wed-like plant before rummaged through the small pouch that hung from her side. To be truthful, it was less of a pouch and more of a bunch of tattered cloth sewn together and then dragged through dirt, it looked just about ready to drop off and die from overuse-
Puchi.
She froze before looking down.
Her finger was sticking out of a hole in the pouch, the corner of her mouth twitched, half in exasperation, half in amusement. Wriggling her finger a bit, she pulled it out and continued her search for her lighter.
-Yep, she would have to get a new one sooner or later.
Feeling a familiar hard edge, she proceeded to pull out her lighter and in a swift motion, lit the clump of dried plant by passing it over the flame and then stuffed it into the bowl of the kiseru.
…How about getting a new pouch at the town she was supposed to have arrived at right about now?
She inhaled deeply, held her breath for a moment, and then released it. White smoke billowed out of her mouth in a thin stream, proceeding to swirl around her in wispy tendrils before vanishing into the atmosphere.
That's a good idea.
Little did she know that a certain pair of people donned in black cloaks with crimson clouds was already in town.
"Itachi-san, where are we going to next?"
Hoshigaki Kisame looked out at the bustling town from beneath the white strips dangling from his straw hat with Samehada at his side. His partner, on the other hand, was staring down at the steaming cup of green tea before him. They were currently sitting under the shades outside a dango shop, lying in wait for a certain woman to come by.
Well, that was if she was ever going to come by at all. Drawing his eyes away from the busy street, Kisame turned to look at his partner.
Uchiha Itachi.
The Uchiha's eyes were closed, making the shadows that hung beneath his eyes seem ever darker.
"This is the last place." Itachi answered without opening his eyes "They said that she should be arriving here today."
A pause.
"If the information is true."
Kisame let out a rough chuckle as he looked out at the townsfolk walking by without a second glance at their peculiar outfit. Completely ignorant to the danger they were.
"She's quite a slippery one isn't she?" Grinning, he took a sip of his tea. "Leading us on a wild goose chase like this, I'll be sure to pay her back when I see her."
Now this, drew a slightest twitch to the corner of Itachi's mouth as memories of the absolutely absurd information they had heard about her surfaced in his mind.
"P-P-Please, I d-don't know anything about h-her!" The balding man trembled, watery eyes darting about, landing on everything except the two cloaked figures before him."I swear!"
They had found him rather easily, the informant that now cowered before them, in a bar, boasting about his achievement on something or rather. Kisame couldn't help but scoff in distaste as the man at their feet released the contents of his bladder in a fit of terror.
"Kasumi." Itachi's low voice cut through the man's rambling "She should have been here recently," He paused, air thickening with tension. "As an informant, you should know where she's heading."
The man whimpered even more at the mention of her name.
Itachi noticed. "Where did she go?"
The rat-like man let out a squeak of fear, scurrying backwards and cowering. "S-She said-she-she was going t-to the Fire Country to undergo t-t-training-" The man stuttered so hard that no more words came out.
Kisame quirked an eyebrow, glancing over to his partner who seemed equally puzzled in his own silent way.
"Training for what?"
"P-P-Please don't k-k-kill me!"
Kisame let out an annoyed sigh, hand lifting to grasp Samehada's hilt as he growled "Just hurry up and talk."
"S-S-She said she was g-g-going t-to t-train become t-t-the n-next person who-who-who-" The man gulped loudly, sweating profusely " c-carves the H-Hokage's face into the s-stone mountain!"
…
"You have got to be kidding me."
That was Kisame.
Another soundless sign passed from Itach's pale lips as he stepped forwards, sharingan spinning wildly. The man toppled backwards, out cold, with the encounter wiped from his memory.
Lowering his hand from Samehada's hilt, Kisame felt a faint sense of disappoint as the scales of Samehada rustled unhappily at the loss of a fight no matter how…
Kisame eyed the passed out man.
…weak the opponent was
Kisame glanced at Itachi whose sharingan faded away in his eyes, returning they to their usual onyx black.
After several months of being in the company of the young Uchiha, he had gradually been able to read the stoic expression of his partner. Right now, he looked visibly more tired than before.
"Wouldn't it be simpler if I dealt with them?"
Itachi simply moved away, leaving the man sprawled on the ground. "We don't want to draw unnecessary attention to ourselves." Was his reply as he turned the corner of the alley they were in.
Kisame followed the young Uchiha, unable to help the irritated sigh that passed his lips.
It was yet another dead end.
Well, at least they knew what she looked like. Kisame couldn't forget ever if he wanted to, the slight surprise he had felt when a fuzzy outline of a figure materialised on the usually empty finger a certain creepy snake-looking man once occupied on the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path which took the chakra of the tailed beasts they hunted.
In fact, she had lurched onto the spot as if she had been shoved, almost toppling off the finger in the process. In fact, she went as far as slide down the finger of the statue, screaming as she went, before clambering back up with flailing limbs.
Accompanied with swearing that was unfitting for a woman.
Everyone had stared.
As the unexpected intruder, wobbled unsteadily and then stood.
The first thing Kisame had thought was that she looked as if she had been through Hell and back. The outlines of her tattered clothes and the blood that ran down her face flickered unsteadily. Her face framed with locks of hair that reached her collarbone, the only colour that could be seen was the colour of her eyes, a pale shade of plum purple.
And as he stood the closest to her, on the finger right beside her, he had seen.
The wild, maddened glint in her eyes.
The eyes of a feral beast.
But she had looked dazed, out of place as she had turned her head from side to side, taking in the view. The silent members, the giant statue they stood on and finally, the half-dead junchuuriki on the ground.
Kisame saw her blink, once, twice, three times before raising a hand to rub her eyes tiredly as she mumbled words beneath her breath.
"Stupid…dream…wake up…" He couldn't help but smirk at her reaction, she must have thought she was dreaming.
It was then, his eye caught a glint on the last finger of her left finger.
A ring.
A ring that had the kanji '空', inscribed into it.
The others noticed as well.
"Where did you get that ring?" Their leader's voice rang out, strong and deep, demanding everyone's attention.
Her head had jerked up, and she glanced around again, her face morphed into a mask of horror, confusion and then-
Kisame lifted an eyebrow.
-fury.
A moment of silence passed before it was broken by an order.
"Zetsu, track her."
"Understood."
At those words, her eyes had widened considerably, immediately her hand whipped up, pressing together desperately into a sign-
Fzzzz.
And to everyone's surprise.
-her image wavered and disappeared.
She had disappeared.
Just like that.
As quickly and unexpectedly as she had appeared.
It was soon after that he and Itachi received the order to find and capture her as Zetsu could not seem to find her, saying that.
"There was no trace of her chakra left at the location."
But, thinking back to all the ridiculous things they had to go through and all the rumours they had gathered, it made Kisame feel yet another twinge of annoyance in the pit of his stomach. Itachi noticed his agitation and let out the smallest of frowns.
"Kisame, our orders were to bring her back alive." The Uchiha made sure to stress the last word, making Kisame let out another chuckle.
"I know, but it wasn't specified that she should be bought back in one piece."
With that they fell into a calm silence broken by the chatting of civilians and the bustling of the town.
Waiting for a certain wisp of mist to come by.
NOTE:
*Kiseru - a Japanese smoking pipe (visit .org/wiki/Kiseru for more info)
