Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry about the delay again, I've been distracted with idiotic things. This chapter is definitely the longest I've ever written I think, and it will be in two parts *gasp* So I hope you all like it! I really had fun writing this one and put a lot of work into it. As always, Thanks so much for the reviews and your support of Hatatsu, glad to know I did some justice to the adorableness of otters lol

A Sailor's Luck: Part One

It was early morning as two Akatsuki made their way further into the Land of Rivers. Kisame could see the sun shining through the leaves of the dense forest but it had only just begun to dispel the previous night's chill air. A small breeze blew past the man, the cool air whipping the last remnants of sleep from his eyes. More alert, Kisame lengthened his stride to walk in line with his partner. He glanced sideways at the shorter man and smirked as he recalled last night's events.

A clothed Kisame was strolling down the hallway to his room, scrubbing the rest of the water from his hair with a towel. The steamy waters of the hot spring had done Kisame a world of good, melting away the tension of previous missions. Sure, their last mission had been simple enough, but they had been on a tight schedule and spent their nights making camp outside. There would have been no end to Kakazu's bitching if he found out that Kisame and Itachi had wasted money and time to stay somewhere decent…and there was the small detail of them carrying along a man's head in a bag on the way back. Even Itachi's charm would have had a difficult time of explaining the bloody bag to the front desk. Thinking of the sharingan user, Kisame was surprised that he hadn't seen Itachi after leaving him in the bar to fend for himself with a group of giggling civilian women.

Shrugging, he figured the reclusive man had spent his time sulking in their room. He arrived at the right door and dug through his pants pocket for the key. The swordsman frowned when he couldn't sense the familiar chakra and when he opened the door he blinked as he took in the sight of an empty room and open bathroom door.

'Well, well. Maybe the blonde did get our boy after all,' an amused hum escaping his throat at the thought.

Kisame went to the dresser to where his things were located, searching for his sword cleaning kit. Upon finding it, he sat on the edge of his mattress with one leg under him and pulled Samehada off his shoulders and onto his lap. He had finished unwrapping the last of the bandage when he sensed Itachi at the door. He glanced at the spot from the corner of his eye, resolving to keep his face emotionless.

The swordsman didn't know what to expect when Itachi walked into the door, but he was positive that whatever happened it would be funny as hell. And when the Uchiha finally walked in, the shark-man was not disappointed.

Nothing appeared off about the man at first glance, but Kisame knew he was pissed. Years of working with the man had given Kisame the opportunity to catalog the Uchiha's mannerisms. They were slight, but Kisame noticed Itachi's stiffer gait and a clenched jaw. It didn't take a keen eye, however, to notice the ghost of a lipstick mark that could be spotted on Itachi's right cheek.

Seeing the mark, Kisame's mind was rolling in laughter while on the outside only a twitch of his lips revealed his amusement. He returned his attention to Samehada and a moment later calmly spoke, "Didn't think you'd be out so late….did you have fun?"

Itachi went to his side of the room to ruffle through his pack and seemed not to have heard his partner. The lip-twitch tugged harder on Kisame's face before he spoke again.

"I'll admit, I'm a bit surprised that you didn't leave as soon as I did. Can't blame you though, those girls sure were cute, eh?"

Silence.

The shark had paused in his cleaning and bit on his cheek to contain himself, "Hm… I see. Not the kiss and tell type." His voice began to betray his laughter as he tried to sound hurt, "Here I was your wingman, and I don't even get to know if I did a good job?"

Not so much as a "Hn" was uttered by the sharingan user as he walked past Kisame and towards the room's bathroom.

The grin could no longer being contained, flooding the shark man's face, "Aw, don't tell me you broke the girls' hearts. It might just break mine." Itachi had entered the bathroom and Kisame chuckled as the door loudly slammed shut.

The rest of the evening had been spent in a similar fashion with Itachi being more silent than anyone thought possible. It seemed to be an unofficial mission for the Kisame to get Itachi to loosen up and have some fun. He may have failed again, but he was victorious in getting the man to show some form of emotion. Kisame finished cleaning his sword and when he was ready to go to sleep he knew Itachi was planning his revenge. What it was he surely didn't know, but the man kept Samehada a little closer just in case his angry roommate thought of exacting his revenge as he slept.

The night passed peacefully and, for the first time in days, Kisame recalled that he hadn't dreamt at all. He supposed it was from being somewhat more alert all through the night. Either way, the duo had gotten an early start and expected to arrive at their destination before the sun set that day.

They continued forward at a steady pace, Kisame chuckled again at the memory of seeing lipstick on Itachi's face. He still didn't know what exactly happened. If he were a betting man, Kisame would have said that Itachi did what he usually does in that situation: be as polite as possible while leaving as quickly as possible. The poor girl was probably just too dense to notice his disinterest, and planted the kiss on him before he got the chance to escape. Kisame looked through the corner of his eye at his partner, as if his answer could be found there. A second later the man gave a small snort, regardless of what had happened, this would definitely be a story for the guys back at base.

The two Akatsuki were about a half hour from the village when Itachi stopped. Kisame knew his partner wanted to go over their strategy again and turned to face the man. After checking for any signs of someone being nearby, white irises met with black ones as Kisame waited for Itachi to speak.

"We are to retrieve a set of River documents from the man, Kenta Marimoto. These documents contain blueprints and financial information about local villages. From Zetsu's reconnaissance, these documents are located in the library of the target's home."

"Yeah, yeah. You'll get the documents and I'll be standing watch outside. The man said impatiently. Normally Kisame was patient throughout this whole spiel, but the telltale salt smell of the ocean was making him antsy.

Kisame took a calming breath and crossed his arms, "What I don't get is why Pein wants such trivial information. The only villages in this area are small and I seriously doubt any of the people there have ever set foot outside of their village."

"You know as well as I do that for Pein to continue his plans he needs to keep surveillance on the surrounding Lands."

"So he's just expanding his Big Brother status, huh?"

Itachi gave him a pointed look to confirm the statement.

'I was hoping that he had gotten past the whole 'I'm God' thing.' Kisame thought before he brought up another point, "We didn't discuss what will happen after we get these papers. We're ahead of schedule, are we gonna stick around somewhere nearby or get the hell out of Dodge as usual?" Kisame genuinely wanted to stay somewhere nearby, he hadn't seen the ocean in months and he could almost pretend that he was on vacation.

"It would be wise to take what we need and leave. Zetsu may have said that there are no ninja in the area, but small villages remember strangers. The more time we spend there the more people will notice." Itachi answered dully.

Kisame nodded curtly. He had expected that answer, though it didn't mean he was any less disappointed by it, so much for his mini-vacation. The man uncrossed his arms, signaling that he was done asking questions and was ready to leave.

Itachi didn't move from his spot, continuing to look at his partner. The shark-man took the hit and made a hand sign. A cloud of smoke appeared, obscuring the ninja for a few seconds. When the smoke cleared, another man seemed to have replaced him. Kisame had transformed his features back to when he was in the bar. Gone were the blue skin, gills, and white eyes. Instead they were replaced with smooth, pale skin and common place brown eyes. His jaw was less angular but still retained its masculinity. He also rid his cloak of its red clouds. The only thing that Kisame had not changed was his blue hair and his height.

Seemingly content with the level of transformation, Itachi copied the action to remove the conspicuous clouds from his cloak as well. This being completed he turned in the direction of the village. Kisame rolled Samehada to a more comfortable position along his shoulders and both men promptly set off.

xXxXxXxXx

Light had begun to peep through the curtains of her bedroom when Amaku opened her eyes. She laid there in comfortable silence before slowly sitting up, popping the air out of her joints as she stretched. She noticed that Hatatsu was still curled up on his bed on the floor sound asleep, the otter's body rising and falling in time with his steady breathing. Not wanting to wake him up, Amaku quietly padded out of the room to complete her morning routine.

Still in her pajamas, the woman went outside after breakfast not yet fully awakened. A mug of hot chocolate in her hand, she made her way to her favorite meditation spot and sat in the sand. She sighed and sipped on her drink as she thought about her tasks for the day. There wasn't much that she had to work on for once. She did have to return to the village for that checkup on Kenta, which she really was not excited about. The man didn't understand how annoying he was. On the bright side, there was a very good chance that she wouldn't see him again after today. Amaku tore her gaze from the depths of her chocolaty drink to look at the ocean.

Since the sun was to her back, Amaku could view the scene unhindered. The ocean happily glittered as it reflected the sun's light. A smattering of clouds lay across the sky, the puffs of condensed water fluffy without a hint of grey in them. Today seemed like it was going to be another pretty day.

Amaku tilted her head to the side as she watched the clouds. The sky was an array of oranges and golds that held testament to the sun rising. The clouds, however, were a delicate shade of red. It made for a gorgeous morning, although Amaku couldn't help but remember part of an old saying her father told her when she was little.

'Red in the morning, sailors' warning'

The woman's eyebrows furrowed. She hadn't thought about that saying in a long time. When she first heard it, she recalled it had been a similar morning to this one.

"Daddy! Aren't the clouds pretty?" A young girl said as she tugged on her father's shirt and pointed up to the sky.

The bearded man looked up to where the girl pointed, "It sure is, but I'll bet ya they won't stay pretty for very long."

The girl looked up at her father with confused eyes, "What do you mean?"

The man looked down at the girl and chuckled, "Red in the morning, sailors' warning. Red at night, sailors' delight." The girl looked even more confused, so he continued, "It's an old saying that people used to go by. Sailors would avoid going out to sea when the clouds were red in the morning, believing that a storm would hit. But if there was a red sunset, it was believed that there would be calm seas and good luck for the next day."

The girl frowned as she processed what he said and then looked back up at the clouds, "But it doesn't look like it's going to rain…"

The man smiled as his daughter, "True, it doesn't. But things are never always as they seem. You wait, it'll rain."

She had to have been about six at the time and she couldn't recall when she had thought of it since then. Amaku did remember how surprised she was when her father turned out to be right, it stormed something fierce that evening.

Perhaps thinking of it today meant something?

Well whatever it was, or wasn't, she wouldn't know until that something happened.

It was at that moment, Amaku heard something coming towards her. The woman turned her head and brushed her fawn-colored hair behind her ear to see that it was Hatatsu.

The otter approached her and rubbed his head on her shoulder.

"Good morning. You slept well I see?"

The otter trilled an affirmative and poked her bare arm with his nose.

Amaku flinched, "Ah, that's cold!" Hatatsu repeated the action, causing the woman to grumble, "Alright, I get it. I'll get up…"

Having won, Hatatsu hopped in place as his companion grudgingly stood up. "You know, I would think a capable otter like you would be able to hunt for his breakfast instead of relying on me to make it."

Choosing to ignore her statement, the otter briefly looked at her and took off back to the house.

Amaku snorted, amused. "Lazy brat."

xXxXxXxXx

Amaku's day went by rather peacefully. Her students weren't able to stop by and pester her: they were all in school or working with their families. None of the villagers came by needing medical assistance. It was one of those rare days where she got to train and catch up on housework uninterrupted. When it was time to go to Kenta's, she and Hatatsu were in high spirits.

Kenta's home was on the other side of the village, so the shortest path for the duo to travel was through the market place. She was surprised to see that the market was pretty busy. Walking along the edge of the activity, Amaku slowed her pace to observe. She caught something white in her peripheral vision and stopped. Two men standing by one of the merchant's tents were the source of what had caught her eye. The taller man had a giant object on his back. It looked like a sword, but it wasn't like any sword she had ever seen. Including the handle, she guessed it was almost as long as she was tall and it was wrapped in gauze.

Finding the object strange, Amaku looked more closely at the two men who had conveniently turned around so she could see them clearly. Her eyes were drawn to their attire first: black cloaks with red clouds on them. Her eyes furrowed as she frowned. For some reason, Amaku felt a tug in the back of her mind telling her that this held some significance. Not thinking of what the significance was she moved her attention to their faces. The shorter man had black hair that was tied back and he had a line that went along each side of his nose. The one with the sword, while good looking, would have been relatively forgettable if it hadn't been for his hair. Amaku repressed a very unladylike snort when she noticed the blue color.

'They definitely are not from around here and I know I've never seen them before… I'd remember seeing men like that."

She was drawn from her reverie when she realized that Hatatsu was staring up at her curiously. She continued walking, but she kept an eye on the newcomers. She had a feeling that something was not right about them or their strangely decorated cloaks. Amaku knew that any ninja worth their salt would sense her chakra, but they wouldn't be able to track it back to her due to how she wielded it. So, as they were about to walk past them, Amaku decided to test their chakra. She flared her fingers out and, using her chakra like sonar, released a small wave of chakra towards them.

They had walked past each other by the time the jutsu was completed. Amaku's eyes widened. Not all of her chakra came back. She normally lost some of it, because of the nature of the jutsu, energy transfer, and so on, but in this case hardly any of her chakra came back to her ….it had just disappeared.

Sadly, the chakra that did come back to her held little useful information, and she was smart enough not to look back to see if they had noticed. If she had looked back, however, she would have seen the blue haired man stop and reach back to touch the mysterious sword-thing on his back. That man curiously looked around and through the crowd, the only thing strange was an otter accompanying one of the villagers.

They arrived at the house where another maid showed them in. Amaku stepped inside gingerly. She really hoped they would be meeting the man somewhere other than in his bedroom; it always seemed to level up the awkwardness. She was relieved when the maid started to walk in the other direction. Amaku walked after the young woman, Hatatsu ambling along by her side, to the back of the house to an open patio. The healer was told to wait there while she retrieved Mr. Marimoto.

Amaku set her medical pack on a coffee table and took a look around. Her surroundings reminded her of a tropical getaway. The patio was minimally obscured with palm trees and other flora to act as a frame for a beautiful distant view of the ocean. If a certain man didn't inhabit the house, she'd have to say that she would love to live there. The woman was distracted from her daydreaming when she heard a small growl.

She looked to see what was bothering Hatatsu and saw Kenta slide the patio door open.

The man gave her a smile that gave Amaku that special vomit feeling, "Ah, I was wondering when you were going to come over." She got the irritating notion that he emphasized the word "come."

"Hmm, well I'm here now. How are you feeling today, Mr. Marimoto."

"I'm feeling absolutely wonderful, dear. And how many times do I have to tell you, call me Kenta. Mr. Marimoto sounds so much less…" he twirled his hand as if searching for the right word, gazing at her when he did, "intimate."

Amaku's face tightened and she subconsciously clenched her fists. Hatatsu appeared right next to her leg, hoping his presence would help pacify her. She noticed and gave a slight stiff nod.

'He is so fucking lucky right now.' The woman angrily thought. "Right. I'm going to need you to do a few simple exercises so I can gauge how your chakra pathways are functioning."

The whole process took around half an hour. It took a lot of patience on Amaku's part; he was really trying his luck. She had him stretch his shoulder and hand. What she was looking for was his range and ease of motion, as he had the most chakra clots there. She noticed however that he finished the exercise with an exaggerated flex, as if to show off what little muscle he had. Amaku had ignored it thinking she was only imagining it. She made him walk around the patio for a few minutes, wanting to see what his change in blood pressure was. Kenta didn't walk, he sauntered. All the while, he never shut up, asking her what she was looking for and, "if she liked what she saw." She had to hand it to him though; he was slick about his behavior. He certainly knew where the line was and he tread all over it.

Amaku glanced over her notes and, with as much cheer as she could muster, said, "Everything appears to be in working order, you won't be needing anymore treatments. So you're good to go." The woman stood up and put her notes back in her pack, relieved that she was finally done with this nonsense. She turned her head to Hatatsu to let him know she was ready to leave.

Kenta got up from his seated position and fished in his pocket for his wallet. He counted out the bills and handed it to her. She gave him a small smile in thanks and went to take the money from his hand, but met resistance when he didn't let go. Amaku's orange-brown eyes met his dull muddy ones.

"I know you said this is what I owe you, but I can't help feeling that this isn't payment enough." He released his hold, and Amaku busied herself with putting it in her pocket. He sounded so kind and honest; she was beginning to feel bad.

She looked up at him and spoke with a softer tone, "It's truly not that big of a deal, I'm just…"

"I know! Let me take you out!"

Amaku jumped a bit at the interruption and any guilt she felt shattered like a wineglass in an opera house.

"Umm…What?"

Kenta enthusiastically explained, "Yeah! Me, you. A real night on the town. I'm not your patient anymore, so there's no harm there, right?"

Amaku was still shocked. "…I suppose."

"See, no problems! Just an attractive girl going out with the local stud." He flashed her what he thought was a winning smile, "So what do ya say, doll?"

Amaku looked to Hatatsu to make sure she wasn't hallucinating this ridiculous event. The otter gave her a sympathetic look and Amaku sighed in resignation, returning her attention back to the man awaiting a response.

"I'm flattered, really I am, but…."

At that inopportune moment, one of the maids burst through the door. She looked like she had been running frantically to find them, her hair out of place and breathing heavy. Tears stained the poor girl's face and she wrung her hands as she stood in front of them.

"Mr. Marimoto, Haru's been hurt! Someone got into the library… and he tried to stop him and…and…" Her distress getting the best of her she broke off in a wail. Kenta quickly went to her side to calm her.

When she appeared like she could form a logical sentence, Kenta spoke, "Take me to Haru so I can find the scoundrel who dared to break into my home." As they were leaving, Kenta looked back to the other woman, "Amaku, darling, you stay here, I'll take care of this"

The healer rolled her eyes while she buckled her medical pack securely onto her hip. "Like hell we're staying here. Come on, Hatatsu."

They went into the building, quickly retracing their steps to get back to the front of the house. Amaku didn't know who Kenta was kidding; any person in their right mind wouldn't stick around long enough for the show off to gather clues. She had a sneaking suspicion about who the thief was and her best course of action was to try and follow them, and that's what she fully intended to do. She didn't like Kenta but, as far as Amaku was concerned, these strange men may have plans to hurt the village. She would be damned if she let anyone get away with messing with her home and the people she cared about.

She barreled out the door with Hatatsu close behind. Finally skidding to a stop in the middle of the yard, her senses were on high alert for anything out of place. She held out a hand and let her chakra sonar scan the area for other signatures.

Just as she noticed a blank spot in the feedback, a man jumped down from a tree about 10 yards from her.

The girl scowled, "I knew it."

xXxXxXxXx

Kisame was standing on a high branch that overlooked the target's house, standing guard for Itachi. The man crossed his arms and leaned against the tree, thinking about what happened at the market. Samehada had tasted chakra. Obviously that meant that there was a shinobi nearby, but Zetsu had told them that there were no ninja in the village. It was troubling, this could put a serious dent in their (Itachi's) plan to stay unnoticed. They hadn't been confronted, but that didn't mean shit. Part of him embraced the idea of having an enemy to toy with and another knew that this would get Itachi's knickers in a twist. When he told Uchiha, he got the expected reaction: the need to be even more cautious. So Kisame played along as always, and they hadn't noticed the signature since.

Letting his shoulders relax a bit, his eyes wandered to take in his surroundings. From his vantage point he could see everything he needed to, including over the top of the house. There he could see the expanse of glittering blue that was the ocean. He gazed wistfully at it, she called out to him the ocean did, beckoning for him to come closer. He had been teased by her tingly perfume since that morning, and now Kisame could see her. He could even hear the waves colliding with the shore, sounding sweeter than a siren's song. What he'd give to be closer.

Kisame snapped back to reality and returned his attention back to the mission, jaw clenched in disgust. He was pining after the ocean like some lovesick teenager. Damn, if any of the guys back at base knew what he just thought… Anyway, this wasn't like him. Sure he missed being near that environment, but he had never before let it distract him from a mission. Keeping his focus on the house, he thought it over. He had been thinking about it a lot lately. Maybe he really did need a vacation. The organization was busy this year and he hadn't been able to take time off. Yes, the Akatsuki allotted vacation days. Pein believed it was good for moral, or something of that nature. Kisame resolved to have a talk with Pein about his vacation when they got back, his previous thoughts truly disturbed him and he didn't want it happening again.

A few minutes of nothing and Itachi appeared on the branch next to Kisame.

"Let's go."

Kisame nodded at his partner and noticed Itachi was almost scowling. That wasn't good.

"What's going on? You got the documents, don't you?"

"Yes. Now let's go."

Kisame's head turned quickly to the house, there was shrieking going on near the back of the house. He questioningly looked back at Itachi. This time the man did scowl. Somehow the Uchiha had been spotted. Itachi never got caught; no wonder he was in such a rush to leave.

Kisame smirked and cracked his neck with a large hand, "Go ahead, I'll take care of this."

Itachi nodded and jumped away, "Don't make a mess."

A quizzical expression graced the swordsman's blue face. 'Was that a joke?' Shrugging it off, he turned his attention back to the house to await his opponent.

A minute later, he watched as two beings ran out of the building and, on reflex, reached for his sword. He cocked his head as he recognized them, it was that woman and otter from the market earlier. The otter was by her side, fur on his neck straight up. He hadn't really gotten a good look at the woman. Of course she was shorter than him; she probably didn't even reach up to his shoulder. She was attractive though, long light brown hair that looked good with her powder blue t-shirt and dark gray cargos. 'Not the only thing that looks good with her outfit,' he smirked, as his eyes roamed her curves. The woman raised her hand in front of her and Samehada twitched on his shoulders, alerting Kisame that she was the shinobi from the market. The smirk on his face grew, 'This should be interesting.' He jumped down from his perch to confront the duo.

When he landed, Kisame removed Samehada from her holster and lazily rested it on his shoulder.

The woman scowled, her eyes focused on a red cloud, "I knew it."

Kisame cocked his head again, feigning innocence, "Oh? Do you know me?"

"You're the man from the market. I knew there was something off about you and your friend. I just didn't realize you were Akatsuki."

"Hmm, I'd be surprised that you would know Akatsuki, but seeing that you're a kunoichi, I'm not in the least."

The woman moved a hand to her pouch and was about to say something when there was a commotion at the house.

A middle-age man appeared at the door with what looked like to be a maid. The man seemed to be positively flabbergasted by what he was seeing.

"Amaku! What are you doing? I told you I would handle this!"

Kisame didn't miss how the woman, Amaku, fisted her hands. She held a finger to Kisame and gave him a mock smile, "Pardon me for a moment." The man blinked, not knowing if this was amusing or incredibly stupid.

"Clearly you took too long, Kenta. Now go back in the house and stay out of this." She spat.

Kenta tried to reason with her, "This isn't a fight for a woman like you…"

She interrupted him, "For a woman like me?" She huffed at the idea. Without returning her gaze to the one called Kenta, she held out her hand so he could see it. A blue-green aura glowed around her hand. She couldn't see but Kenta's jaw dropped as he realized her power.

"Hatatsu," The now ferocious otter, parted some of his attention off Kisame to the woman, "Get those two back in the house and keep them there." The otter shot one last snarl at the swordsman, before he set about his task.

Amaku then looked at Kisame and saucily stated, "I haven't had a good fight in a while."

"Well, looky here. The little lady's a feisty one." Kisame chuckled, "You're lucky I let you get away with that stunt."

"I thought you would understand, they would just get in the way."

"Ah, how considerate of you. But you've picked the wrong fight, I'd give up now if I were you, Bambi."

Amaku looked unimpressed by his words, "I don't know what you or you pal want with a stack of dusty old papers, but no one fucks with my village and gets away with it."

She tensed as she watched as Kisame raised a hand sign. Smoke appeared as Kisame released the henge to show the women his true appearance. The whole point of this charade was to give Itachi time to distance himself from the village, if he could intimidate this woman out of a fight the less chance there would be that they would try to get the documents back. As the smoke cleared, he gave the woman a grin that displayed his pointed teeth.

Amaku knew what this man was up to and she wasn't falling for it. Instead she got what she needed from her pouch and looked the man in the eyes.

"I always thought blue hair on a pasty-white guy looked stupid."

Kisame was a little taken aback by her response. He didn't have time to dwell on it though, because after she said this, a shower of senbon was upon him. What was left of his grin vanished as he was forced to dodge the attack. He then ran at her, Samehada in position so he could rip her to shreds.

'Can't say I didn't warn her.'

He swung the sword at her, but she jumped out of the way, throwing more senbon at her attacker. Some of the needles had a purple hue, Kisame recognized this: they were poison dipped. This in mind he took care to completely avoid each of her attacks.

"It'll take a lot more than needles to win against me." He snarled as he followed her.

Kisame maneuvered Amaku so that they were fighting at close range, easily countering her movements with water clones to prevent her escape. It was only a matter of time before Samehada stole enough of her chakra to slow her down until she could no longer avoid being shredded.

The woman had been reduced to using her senbon to scratch rather than throw. The swordsman laughed as his face away from her latest attack; she seemed to be out of the poison needles. Amaku scowled and dodged one of his own attacks,

He knew he had an evil gleam in his eye, he knew he would be the victor. He looked her in the eyes, expecting to see an overwhelmed frustration. Instead, there was more of a calculating determination.

Immediately he was set on guard, she was no longer trying to step back from him. As they fought, he noticed that she was steadily decreasing the range they were fighting in. Kisame growled at this revelation, being forced backwards to maintain a range for Samehada to effective. He swiped downwards with his sword, as if to cut her in half diagonally then quickly back out that would have knocked her off her feet. It was brilliantly executed, but Amaku jumped back to avoid the initial slice and leaped forward and over the blade in the second cut.

The swordsman cursed, she was now too close. Changing tactics he slung Samehada onto his back, resorting to fight with taijutsu. He still greatly outmatched the woman, even if she was able to avoid him, she didn't have his stamina. Itachi should have distanced himself enough by now, it was time to end this.

Amaku did her best to block his kicks and punches, but she was slowing down. Kisame could smell the lack of adrenaline and could see that her chakra loss was taking its toll. It was a shame really; he still didn't even know which village she was loyal to, not that it mattered. The man was starting to get in more of his punches and she seemed to only be capable of dodging enough to lessen the blows. His last kick got her soundly in the gut with his shin.

The woman flew backwards and landed onto the Earth with a hard thud. He watched as the battered woman struggled to get up. One hand was clutching where the hit landed, the other was supporting her in a seated position. The woman was practically wheezing and she couldn't get her legs to cooperate enough to stand. Kisame saw that her spirit certainly wasn't broken, those orange-brown eyes glared at him for all she was worth. He saw all this as he slowly made his approach, removing Samehada from his spot on his shoulders again.

"I warned you, I gave you a choice. Now you reap what you sow."

He brought Samehada down to shave her to ribbons. For Amaku it was almost like watching it in slow motion, her eyes grew wide. In the next second, her eyes softened and dulled as she accepted her fate and images of her family, friends, and Hatatsu flooded her mind.

Kisame saw this change, just as he saw it on countless others. That look that he always destroyed soon after. Just as Samehada was about to hit her, he felt an intense pain shoot up from his palm. His hand flew away from the source, and he dropped Samehada. He saw the blood streaming from his hand and looked to his sword for an explanation. The sword's hilt was covered in spikes.

Adrenaline coursed through Amaku seeing this, and she wasted no time in using his distraction to her benefit. As quickly and with as much force as she could muster, she sent two more sets of five senbon at the man. They were able to pierce through the cloak and embed in the standing man's abdomen. He was frozen in place.

"I can't move…" He growled, "what did you do?" Kisame was astonished at the turn of events. Samehada had betrayed him and now this?

Amaku rose on unsteady feet and brushed her fawn-colored hair out of her sweat and dirt streaked face. She lowly laughed.

"It doesn't matter how much chakra someone has, hit the right points and it can paralyze you just as well as damage to your spinal cord can." She held his stare as she said, "And now I can put you out of commission for good."

Kisame watched her make a few shaky hand signs and those same hands began to glow with the same blue as before. She stepped forward, her palms raised and lingering a few inches from the paralyzing needles. Amaku then shoved waves of her chakra into the embedded senbon, causing the pins to glow violently. The only true indication of something affecting the swordsmen were his roars of agony that reverberated through the forest before he finally collapsed.

xXxXxXxXx

Another Note: I'm terribly sorry! I would have made this chapter longer to keep it from ending like this, but it's already 14 pages, so that's being kicked to Part Two. So if you don't already hate me for hurting Kisame (I really did hate doing that to him, he's such a great character), I'm going to warn you all right now that I don't know when the next chapter will be out. I'm hoping to get it out before the end of Christmas break though. On the bright side, I've already got tons of notes for the next chapter and I've got a Kisame one-shot that I'm pondering on. Hopefully this chapter wasn't a total mess, and I'd love to know your thoughts on it (what you like, dislike, etc) so please review, it'll really help me improve I think.