A/N: I would like to thank all the wonderful reviewers for their great response… eh, wait? What!? Only… 2…. Reviews!? What the hell, people?! Is it that terrible? Did I do something wrong? No one likes me? Nothing I do even matters... Or that might be what I'd be saying but, given that I started this fic solely for my own amusement, I really don't care too much. Anyways, for the two of you out there who are enjoying this thing enough to review it, here is the wonderful chapter two.

Disclaimer: Everyone not reading this fic sucks (and I don't own Naruto, damn it)!

The crisp morning air swirled about as Temari, Ino, and the peculiar Yohizu reached the doorstep of their destination. The woefully underdressed Temari looked up at this house anxiously, hoping to get inside quickly.

It wasn't a large house by any means, and it was obviously many years old. It had been poorly kept over the years and signs of great wear were evident all around. Slowly, Yohizu extended a hand to the doorknob, twisted it and opened the door, which creaked loudly.

The interior was a complete mess. Various ends were scattered about seemingly at random across the floor. There was little to no usable furniture present in the house and most visible windows were cracked or broken.

As the three girls found their way into a large open room in the center of their house, Ino found herself staring at a man. He was old; really old. He was probably over 90 years of age. He was bald on the top of his head but had long white hair from the sides and a matching white beard, equal in length. He was short and thin and had a strange look of mysticism in his eyes.

"Hiya, old Kozi!" Yohizu greeted the man with boundless energy.

"The fear is in the leaves…" The old man croaked out cryptically as the two young lovers watched nervously.

"That's nice, old Kozi." Yohizu said with a vibrant nod.

"Deny the blood of trees!" Kozi projected in a booming tone.

Temari's face went cold as she focused on the old man. She gave a slight bow as she spoke in a respectful tone, "Great master Kozi, please bestow us with our mission."

Yohizu turned to look at her with a puzzled expression. In a matching tone she asked, "What are you doing Temari?"

"What do you mean? I was just asking your master about this important mission you told us about/" Temari answered her, herself now equally as confused.

"Old Kozi isn't my master." Yohizu said definitely, as if she was completely baffled as to how Temari could have possibly inferred this.

"Ruin; the cold hand of desire!" The old man burst out suddenly, staring forward endlessly at nothing while he spoke, Temari and Ino simultaneously turned to focus on him.

"So he isn't your master?" Ino asked sounding noticeably less lost then Temari.

"Of course not." Yohizu said dismissively. She smiled widely as she added perhaps too cheerily, "Old Kozi is 97 years old and completely out of it. He couldn't be anyone's master."

"The radish sees all fate…" Kozi drawled off profoundly in a whisper.

"So then if he isn't your master, why'd you take us here?" Temari asked, turning to Yohizu and shooting her a bitter glare.

"Oh, master's here. He's just upstairs" Yohizu answered in a chirp.

"Upstairs…? Really?" Temari started in a disbelieving tone.

"Yeah. Master bought the upstairs from old Kozi for a single fish." Yohizu said dotingly as if her master was simply amazing.

"Wow. Let's go meet him then." Ino said exuberantly, in a way that made it hard to tell if she was actually impressed.

"Yeah!" Yohizu shouted in excitement. She then turned to the old man to say, "See ya old Kozi."

"Let all thine eyes see the souls in the wheat!" Old Kozi babbled loudly as the three girls left him and walked toward a staircase.

Slowly Ino, Temari and Yohizu climbed up the staircase to the second floor. As this house wasn't very large the second floor really wasn't much. In fact it seemed to be a single small room. At one point it likely was an attic, however now it was its own unique environment.

The room was dimly lit by several small candle lamps that hung low from the ceiling in a circle. The room had no furniture save a gigantic chair at the very center of the room that sat atop a pedestal. The whole thing had the feel of some ominous old shrine.

Sitting in the oversized chair was a figure cloaked in black. This figure was giant, far larger than nay normal man Ino or Temari had seen before. Though none of his features could be seen through the darkness his presence was quite daunting.

Yohizu walked over to the giant's side gleefully with a skip. Temari and Ino continued forward until they were mere feet from Yohizu's master.

Moving to her knees in a bow and speaking in a deep respectful tone that seemed contrary to her very character, Yohizu now said, "It is my honor to introduce my beloved master, the great and wise Lord Ponybear."

Temari looked up at the odd sounding name. She further studied Yohizu's master. He was even bigger than she would have initially guessed; as he was seated, it was hard to tell but Temari estimated him to be almost nine feet tall. His entire frame was covered with his giant cloak save for his head which was now in clear view even in the darkness.

Lord Ponybear looked simply inhuman. His face was abnormally elongated and covered in thick gray fur. His ears were small and pointed and rest at the top of his head rather than the sides. A thick line of long dark black hair extended from the top of his head to the back of his neck.

"It's my honor to meet you, Lord Ponybear." Ino said as she got to her knees in the same fashion as Yohizu.

"Ino are you seeing the same thing I am, t-that… thing… can't possibly give us a mission." Temari said obviously unnerved.

"Now love, show respect to Yohizu's master. He is great and wise and stuff, you know." Ino said sounding somewhat disappointed in Temari.

"Oh, fine. But I'm still not sure about this." Temari said indignantly as she forced herself to her knees.

"My master, these are the chosen ones: Ino and Temari Yamanaka." Yohizu started to convey her message to her master in a dutiful voice, missing the angry glare Temari was radiating in her direction. She gave a brief pause as Lord Ponybear nodded in response before adding, "Please bestow upon them their all-important mission."

Ponybear nodded again before getting to his feet, he gave a wave of his arm, which was covered in gray fur and seemed as a claw at the end, signaling all could rise. Then in a tone that seemed gruff yet dignified, he spoke the following, "Grawl grrrr rarrrr hrrrr. Gragrrawgrrrrrrrrrrrr grrrrhissss rrrrwlllllll. Raaar. Krrrrowww grrrr rawl. Grakrolllrrrr?"

Ponybear went silent and there was a long pause where no one spoke. Ponybear and Yohizu stared the girls down as if they were both waiting for some response. When none came, Yohizu asked in an impatient voce, "So do you accept your mission of not?"

"Yes! We accept!" Ino said excitedly at once.

"Ino do you have any idea what this mission even is?" Temari asked in a curt voice as she glared at her beloved.

"None what so ever. But I bet it's fun!" Ino said in a simple carefree tone.

"Yohizu can you please tell us what this mission is already?" Temari now asked in a sigh, as if she realized she would have to put up with task regardless of what it was now.

"But Lord Ponybear already told you." Yohizu said shooting them a confused look.

"All that thing did was make a whole bunch of unintelligible growling sounds." Temari said in slightly raised voice, clearly having lost her patience with this whole thing.

"How dare you refer to my master as a thing! He is a noble and dignified human being!" Yohizu shouted violently.

"You may say otherwise, but all I see is some strange giant beast. It's really pretty damn creepy looking. That's definitely not human." Temari said giving another deep sigh, wishing Ino and her hadn't decided to follow this girl.

"The nerve of you to so openly insult my master. If you weren't the chosen one I would strike you down right now!" Yohizu threatened in a clearly angered voice.

"Calm down little cutie. I know my girl's rude sometimes but please don't mind her. Now pretty please could you, help to… uh… clarify… what master Ponybear told us." Ino spoke in a soft voice that calmed Yohizu and elicited more angry glares from Temari.

"Oh all right. Here goes." Yohizu gave in reluctantly. In a bored drone she began, "Ryukazakimaru Mitumarushime, do you find this name to be familiar?"

"No. Not really." Temari said despondently, giving a short heated glare at the floor.

"Oh come on, lover. You have to remember him. Without that guy it's like the two of us would never even have gotten together." Ino said in disbelief at Temari's failure to and or lack of desire to recall this man.

"Sure the first story might have been a lot less entertaining without him, but it's a bit of a stretch to say he really had that much to do with us actually getting together." Temari said in a definite voice.

When the others had gone silent for a long enough time, Yohizu opted to continue, "While anyway. Ryukazakimaru was born to a real big shot family in our ninja village. They were like supposed to be all skilled and stuff and everybody though they were great. At the center of their power, the Mitumarushime had two like all powerful artifact thingies that were passed down through the family."

"Now Ryukazakimaru was an heir to this family and was chosen when he was a kid to be the one to get one of these treasures. He got this ultra-cool awesome badass weapon thingy called the omega-power-blade-stick, and he was all like, yeah! But it was soon found that Ryukazakimaru was not fit to be the head of his family..." Yohizu voice went from her bored drawl to her more upbeat sporadic self and back again seemingly at a whim.

"And why is that?" Ino asked taking a saddened tone.

"Uh, let's see Ino. Maybe because he was fucking crazy?" Temari suggested in a very direct tone.

"Actually, when Ryuakazakimaru was a small boy he was abducted by some bad guys who were jealous of the Mitumarushime's great power. They like screwed with is brain or something. I don't really know. But he was left incapable of rational thought and he would never be the same again." Yohizu continued.

"Well that kinda sucks!" Ino said furiously though Temari continued to look on in indifference.

"Yes. But anyway, his family, like tried to have him be the heir anyway, even though he wasn't completely there. They tried to hide the difference, but it proved impossible when he started mutilating livestock, blowing up mail-boxes, and assaulting young virgins with the omega-power blade-stick." Yohizu explained, still as if it was some arduous task.

"Yeah, behavior like that would be hard to hide." Ino commented intently.

"Grand-elder Kamizakunarakamito, the leader of our village, was forced to come to the decision to send Ryukazakimaru into exile. Since he was still the only clear heir to the Mitumarushime clan, he was still to be watched and guarded by my master, and when the time was appropriate, be provided with a wife so as to continue the blood-line." Yohizu gave a deep yawn as she spoke.

"Man, I'd feel sorry for the poor girl forced to marry that psycho." Temari said with a pointed laugh.

Yohizu gave a full smile at the comment. She said in a cheery way, with the slightest blush, "Don't feel sorry for her. You've made her really, really happy."

"Wait! Is it you?" Temari snorted out in disbelief.

"Yup yup." Yohizu chimed.

"But you're like way younger than he was." Ino said in a concerned voice.

"I was only 9 when I was promised to him. I was set to be his bride when I turned 16. Thankfully you guys came and killed him 2 years before that happened." Yohizu said in a grateful way.

"Happy to help." Ino said in a friendly way.

"So you guys ended up killing Ryukazakimaru and as a result my whole village, like went crazy as to what this meant. Since like one of the most powerful clans now had some really huge dispute on its hands over who their next heir would be. Master was forced to return to the village, but thankfully he left me here so I could go to the parties." Yohizu continued.

"So I spent like two years partying, and celebrating and all sort of stuff. And it was real, real fun. I had this pie and it was good. And there were all these lights and colors. And I bought this one really cute shirt. And there were all these people and we were dancing. And it was swirling all around me. And I was happy. I was really really really really happy." Yohizu rambled on incoherently.

"Okay… And what about our mission?' Temari said in an effort to return to what was supposed to be this conversations purpose.

"Oh yeah. Well a couple weeks ago Master returned. He said that the Mitumarushime succession battle had finally ended in a terrible and bloody blood war between rival factions of the family, and well apparently the faction led by Ryukazakimaru's uncle Kashiyozumakinara Mitumarushime won. But that really isn't important." Yohizu seemed to actually take interest in this apparently violent family struggle.

"The point was that, it was over, and things were finally at peace in our village. It was only then that they remembered that Ryukazakimaru had had the omega-power-blade-stick with him. It is like really important that we get this thingy back. And since you're the guys who killed him and stuff, and it's your fault it like went like missing, we thought you should like get it back for us or something." Yohizu's story came to a close in a particularly airy way.

"Wait! So you're saying this dire mission of 'great importance' you dragged me all the way to this run-down shack in nothing but a pink bath robe, and away from a hot shower sex session with my girlfriend, is just to recover that lunatic's stick." Temari said, clearly pissed off.

"Yeah! Pretty much…" Yohizu replied in an energetic chime that further enraged Temari.

"Like hell, I'm going to help you." Temari shouted violently.

"Krrrarowwllllllllll!" Lord Ponybear said in a fierce yell as he returned to his feet and raised a claw, making Temari back away several feet and decide it was best to calm down.

"That's right master. You two already said you accepted your mission." Yohizu said, nodding in agreement with what her master had apparently said.

"But we didn't even know what it was before…" Temari said shaking a little as she very slowly eased back toward the others. Then after a few moments she said in a now perplexed tone, "And now that you mention it, are we seriously supposed to believe that this creature said everything you just said back then?"

"No, What I did was clarify things like you guys wanted. All master told you was to go get the omega-power-blade-stick." Yohizu said simply.

"Temari, I think we should help these people. As I see it, we wrongly and callously robbed them forever of a dear friend. The very least we can do is recover this lost omega-power-blade stick so that they have something with which to remember him by." Ino said in a soft, sensitive tone.

"No, no, no. Ryukazakamaru wasn't dear to anyone. He was a stupid insane loser who everyone hated, and everyone is glad you killed him. We just want the omega-power-blade-stick back because it's like super powerful." Yohizu said pure agrivation.

"Is this thing really that powerful?" Temari asked, her interest in the mission suddenly piqued.

"Of course it is. It was after all, forged by the blacksmith of a demon god and continually fed the souls of innocent virgins for generations." Yohizu said as if it was basic knowledge.

"Really? That's awesome!" Ino said with her eyes brightly lit.

"Yeah, but how powerful is this thing, really?" Temari said giving a soft laugh, unsure what to believe anymore.

"I'd say it's roughly powerful enough to give a complete and total moron the power to single-handedly defeat two full-fledged ninja with a single strike." Yohizu said with wide eyes.

Temari though a moment before saying in a deductive voice "So in the hands of someone powerful, it could-"

"Destroy the world!" Ino cut her off to finish in an awestruck manner.

"Exactly!" Yohizu said with a definitive nod.

"Seriously?" Temari asked, still largely unconvinced.

"Yup yup!" Yohizu said giving two more excited nods.

"Alright then we should probably get going. We need to hurry if were going to save the world from certain destruction." Ino said in a seriously happy fashion as she grabbed Temari by the arm and led her back toward the staircase. She stopped in her tracks before the first step, turning to face her host she said with a bow, "Thank you Lord Ponybear, it was a pleasure to meet you."

"Yeah…" Teamri said with a small laugh and a short wave as she was led down the stairs. Yohizu followed right behind them.

"The shadow of evil lives among thy brethren!" Echoed Old Kozi's voice as the three girl's rushed through the downstairs of the house, a dire purpose now etched into their soul, burning brightly and giving them the drive they would need to complete their perilous quest. As they once more opened the door that had held their new destiny and walked back onto the open streets Temari and Ino held fast to their determination to save the world from the threat of devastation.

A/N: Alright that chapter was needlessly long (especially needless when you consider only two people like this story, but what the hell…). I don't know what compelled me to do a Ruykazakamaru back-story. I guess since I didn't do one in Truth of flowers I thought it'd be fun to clear up who he actually was. For those who didn't notice right away, yes Yohizu's name is spoken by Ryukazakamaru right before he dies (along with Lord Ponybear and Grand-elder Kamizakunarakamito). Back then I intended his death quote to just be long and incoherent and list a whole bunch of random and mostly ridiculous names. For this fic I decided to actually create characters for those names. Also, just a random note, in case you're wondering, I purposely tried to come up with a title for this story that was a hopelessly cliché as possible. Anyways, hope this chapter was interesting. Review.