Chapter 4 - Land of Fire

Meisiekai wiped the sweat from her brow. She had been unceremoniously dumped into the edges of the Fire Country by her now employer, Jiroshi. She figured that it wasn't for her to try an attack on the Hokage, both she and Jiroshi knew the outcome of that; The imprisonment of Meisiekai. The Hokage wasn't as cruel as his dark haired friend, to say the least. Instead she was told to make her way to the Land of Tea, to carry out a few errands for the man. She was also told she could meet someone who could be of great assistance to her cause. Of course, being a loner, finding said person was the least of her priorities.

Being wanted, she knew to keep a low profile through this land. With the Leaf's Anbu lurking in the shadows to try and catch any unsuspecting criminal Meisiekai was forced to lurk around as well. At least until the moon lit the sky, she was talented enough to walk a treeless trail at night and not be seen.

But as of now, with the noon sun overhead she had to be careful to not draw any unwanted attention. Which is why she wore a pale orange fox mask, the paint beginning to peel at the ends. Indication that she had just found it lying around somewhere. She found herself walking into a small marketplace. She wrinkled her nose at the disastrous aroma the place had, the smell of fresh blood thickly coated the air. As she looked onwards she found it coming from a butcher's shop. Mixed in with that horrible stench was the foul smell of farm animals, which she saw running amok. Chickens chasing behind pigs like something you'd see in a children's show.

"Hey! How are you!?" She felt a thick hand firmly pat her across the back, sending her into combat mode. Meisiekai quickly whipped around, expertly drawing a kunai blade from her pocket and holding it to his neck. The burly man immediately put both hands up letting the axe that was in his dominant hand fall to the ground. "Wha-! I wasn't looking for trou-"

He stopped himself as he saw Meisiekai retract her hand, slowly lowering her kunai blade back into its pouch. She took a good look at him, forming a conclusion about his status here. "I'm guessing you're the butcher, or the lumberjack huh?" He nodded, slowly picking up his axe so Meisiekai wouldn't think much of the action.

The man cleared his throat, leaning the hold of his axe against his broad shoulder. "What brings a young lady like you to these parts, eh?" He asked Meisiekai, rubbing the gray hairs that coated his chin. "Merely passing through here, nothing more." She replied with a hint of edge to her tone. Her mask began to slip down a bit, but she managed to catch it and tighten it while the lumberjack was looking off into the distance. A few silent moments passed by before she looked up to realize the lumberjack was no longer there.

The hairs rose on her neck as she dropped to the ground. Overhead she saw the blade of the axe coming down on her. Swiftly rolling out of the way and onto her feet she drew a kunai from her pouch and prepared to combat her attacker, whom she assumed was the man she had just spoken too. Her attacker let out a mighty shout, only it wasn't the deep booming voice she was expecting. Instead it was a high pitched shriek from that of a woman. Meisiekai looked up to see a crimson haired woman rushing her with axe in hand. "Who the fu-" She was interrupted by a blow to the leg which gashed a part of her calf.

Mei hissed in pain and retreated back, throwing the kunai with precise aim. It struck its target as it dug itself in her opposition's hand, forcing the axe out of her possession and onto the ground. As the woman howled in pain trying to yank the weapon from her arm, Meisiekai gracefully weaved a few hand seals. "Fire Style: Fire Ball Ju-"

"WAIT!"

Meisiekai was cut off as the lumberjack she encountered earlier came rushing out from a clearing. He dashed in front of the woman and held both arms out as a shield. "I don't know what the meaning of all this is, but I assure you she meant no harm!" He shouted, trying to stop Meisiekai from turning the woman into a crisp.

"Meant me no harm huh? She may have not meant it, but she damn sure caused it." Meisiekai motioned to the large cut across her leg that was currently oozing blood. "Hell yeah I meant it! Papa this lady is a criminal, and I bet she's worth every piece of ryo her warrant papers state. Look at the conditions we're living in. Do you know what that could do for us if we turn her in!" She exclaimed.

"Excuse me." The lumberjack cleared his throat to silence the woman. "This is my over eager daughter, Zanpaku. I never formally introduced myself either, I am Paku." His extended his burly hand out, but Meisiekai shook her head to decline. She pushed the mask up her head further, wondering how the lady noticed her true identity whilst she was in disguise. "My name is Jakuzure, fro-"

"Ohh cut the crap will ya! Papa, this lady's true name is Meisiekai Redyui, wanted criminal A rank." Zanpaku interjected. She grabbed a crumbled wanted paper and shoved it into Paku's face. "Just make her take off the mask, and you'll see!"

"There's no need for that." Meisiekai chuckled. She was really intrigued by how that woman was able to uncover her true identity. Meisiekai removed the mask, slipping it into her bag should she need it again.

"See there!" Zanpaku practically bounced around, hysterically pointing at Meisiekai. Paku let out a soft 'hmph'. He had to admit, he was fooled by a simple fox mask. "Okay she's a criminal Zan, but that doesn't mean there's anything we can do about it. Obviously she's stronger than us, she's a ninja." He said stubbornly.

"Ughhh! Didn't you see, I had her until you jumped in!" Zanpaku exclaimed, earning a audible chuckle from Meisiekai.

"No, what I saw when I stepped in, was you about to be fried by ninjutsu." Meisiekai sneered at Paku's sentence. Perhaps it was true, well actually it was most definitely true. Zanpaku mumbled something under her breath, and looked up to catch Meisiekai watching her. She glared the silver haired woman down, earning a chuckle in response from Mei.

"Well I suppose there isn't anyone else around here right? If someone attacks me out of the blue again, I don't think I'll be as merciful as I was last time." The silver haired bounty hunter mused innocently.

"Nonsense." Paku began to walk towards a small wooden shack, motioning for the two women to follow. "I can assure you we're the only two here. The rest, well they all fled on us." Zanpaku grunted, turning to walk the other way. She didn't want anything to do with Meisiekai, that was apparent enough.

Paku opened the shack door, sending it slamming into the wall from the sheer amount of force he had to use just to get it open. It send dust flying into every direction, causing a few coughs from the old man.

"They fled huh? What caused that, was it something you two did?" The ever nosy Meisiekai inquired. Though from behind she couldn't see it, Paku's face was overcome with grim features. The wrinkles on his face combining with the dark lighting of the shack to give him a more dramatic look. "No, their absence do not stem from any efforts of ours." He spoke.

Paku sighed deeply and continued, "Just a short while ago, maybe three or four weeks at the most, this little place was home to about twenty or so people. So along came this stranger one day, a wanted criminal from the Land of Iron. We all knew he was wanted, yet we took him in anyways. A decision I truly regret. It turns out, he was wanted not because of any crimes, but because he was highly contagious."

"Contagious?" Meisiekai interjected, "With what? I don't know of many contagious diseases around these parts."

"I didn't either, but this illness, there was nothing like it. One day, from this very shack as this was the one he stayed in." Paku stopped himself to watch the ever cautious Meisiekai quickly step outside the shack. "Relax, doctors from the Hidden Leaf have already sprayed every inch of this here marketplace down. As I was saying, one night we were all awoke with a scream. I was the first one here, the young man, why he was bleeding. From his nose, his mouth, and even his eyes. It was like something straight out of the labs of Orochimaru."

Paku traced his hands along the wall, Meisiekai following the gesture he was making. "He was a nicely tanned man when he first arrived, but that night he was as pale as paper. As skinny as a stick, bleeding from everywhere on his face except the ear. I remember the look on his face, wide with fear. That same night he died right in front of us all."

"Hmm… sounds more like a cursed seal more than a sickness. Did he happen to have any markings on his body?" Meisiekai rubbed her chin in thought, awaiting an answer.

"No, his top was off and I got a good look at him after he died. No marks anywhere. Continuing on though, a few days later… it happened again. This time it was a child, about eleven years of age. Only instead of dying on the spot like the man, the kid lashed out. He bit about three people before we eventually had to put him down. Those three people, dead within the next two days. With a great determination, the remaining survivors left without haste. I still wonder if any of them are dead by now. To think, this thing could be spreading across the lands as we speak."

"I wouldn't doubt it. When the kid attacked those other people, there's a ninety percent chance that the blood from that attack splashed on at least two other people. Like idiots they probably didn't think much of it and rubbed off, which in turn smeared some into their skin. Those same people probably traveled together in a group with the others when they departed, so its a certainty they are no longer with us." Meisiekai gave him a summary of what she had put together from the story she was just told.

Paku silently nodded, a gravely look passing over his face. "I… suppose you're right…" He looked up, a soft smile gracing his features. "No use in remorsing over that now, if you're right I should be praising the fact I didn't leave with them. No me and my daughter decided we'd stay behind, keep the place intact in case they would return one day."

"Pa! We've got company!" Zanpaku came rushing in, shouting the news of an arrival. "Coming." Paku followed his daughter out urgently. Meisiekai equipped her mask, and tailed behind them. Their company was an Anbu Black Op, of the leaf judging from his mask.

"Why is an Anbu here, one of the Leaf at that? Did the girl summon him… No, she doesn't have use of jutsu, and no ways of communication…. Unless…" Meisiekai cut her eyes at Zanpaku from beneath the slits in her mask, and then back at the Anbu troop. They usually never leave the Leaf alone from what she'd observed, so there was bound to be one or two more nearby. She figured she could handle all three if she approached it right, definitely wasn't in her best interest to take more than two head on.

"What seems to be the problem here? Care to buy anything?" Paku asked the Anbu, it was clear he was stalling. The young man shook his head, brushing his brown hair back behind his mask. "No sir." He reached into his pocket and came out with a crumbled piece of paper. Straightening it out to the best of his ability, he continued, "Have you seen this woman any where around this area? We've got word from the Cloud that she's incredibly dangerous."

The person on the picture was none other than Meisiekai. Paku observed it carefully. He had to admit, he did not think she was actually as bad a person as his daughter would have him believe. Still he knew even if he were to reveal her whereabouts, she wouldn't go peacefully. It'd end up in a conflict and most of his marketplace would be destroyed.

"I can't say that I have." Paku answered, and the Anbu Op nodded softly. "That's too bad." He said, tilting his mask upwards on his face. "I'd had hoped you were an honest man."

"An honest man…" Paku trailed off.

A shadowy figure moved behind Meisiekai, roughly shoving her directly into Paku. "Pa!" Zanpaku exclaimed as her father hit the ground hard. "I'll take this harborer in, you two deal with the criminal. She's wanted dead, or alive."

"Keep your hands away from my Pa!" Zanpaku slid in between Paku and the Anbu troop leader, gripping the hilt of her axe intensely.

Meisiekai got up from the ground to see two figures standing over her. One wore a hawk mask, and appeared to be a bald headed fellow. The other was equipped with a bear mask, long black hair falling over the mask onto his shoulders.

She wasted little time in going on the offensive, whipping a kunai blade out from her pouch. The two men leapt back, forming hand signs while they were airborne. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Both shouted, and out came a volley of enormous fireballs. Both were clearly skilled in their jutsu, judging from the sheer number and size of the attack. Meisiekai rose to her feet quickly, zipping between the attacks as they hit the ground.

Both men dropped to the ground, one going left and the other right as they began to circle her like ravenous sharks. "Fire Style: Great Fire Destruction!" Both men exclaimed, and in a matter of seconds the whole area was lit in a great display of fire.

Zanpaku looked back at the scene, she was sure Meisiekai did not survive an attack of that magnitude. That lessened her confidence for her impending showdown with the brown haired man, but not enough for her to reconsider. She turned back around and rushed him, swinging her weapon with great speed and power.

The Anbu took note of it as he swiftly dodged each strike, "That's a heavy weapon. You must be quite strong to swing it around as if it's a simple stick." He commended her on her physical strength. Zanpaku gritted her teeth and went for an upwards slash. It was an all or nothing attack that required all of her strength, so if it didn't connect she was finished.

It didn't connect.

The brown haired Anbu man sidestepped, much to Zanpaku's disbelief, and snatched the axe right out of her hand in the process. He whipped it around in a blur and brought the hilt of it across her head hard, all while managing to not cut himself. The force of the blow she had received was more than enough to knock her out.

"Lightning Release: Chakra Stream." Meisiekai said as she emerged from the smoke, spitting out a thick current of lightning from her mouth. The stream arched out towards the fellow in the bear mask, who could not evade it. As it hit him, he went up in a cloud of smoke and a burnt log took his place. Meisiekai grunted internally and whipped around so that the lightning could chase after the man with the hawk mask.

He as well swiftly evaded it, but not the second time. As he sidestepped it, the lightning stream curled around behind him and wrapped around his waist.

"What is this?" Hawk mask grunted, struggling to break free from his restraints. A few feet away his partner looked on, trying to formulate a plan to rescue his companion. He turned his head, looking back at their squad leader, who strangely watched on instead of jumping in to help.

The stream of lightning flowing from Meisiekai's mouth ended abruptly, but it ending did not free the man whom she had restrained. Bear mask ditched his losses and ran in after Meisiekai, throwing multiple shuriken at her.

The woman swiftly grabbed her katana from its hold, deflecting his ninja tools in quick fashion. She refocused her sight on him, but he was gone.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" The man spat from above. Meisiekai looked up to see a hail of small fireballs closing in on her. She jumped back, one hitting the ground where she was just a mere second ago. Something caught her eye though.

"Shuriken…?" She trailed off. Another fireball scraped her arm as she was taking evasive maneuvers. She could confirm her theory from the long cut down her arm as it brushed her, there were indeed shuriken hidden in the fire technique.

Once she broke away from the attack, she weaved together hand signs and said, "Release!"

A few feet away from her position, the guy in the hawk mask let out a pained scream. The lightning roped around him was flaring intensely, the heat burning into his skin.

"What the hell…" Their leader muttered, wide eyed at what was happening to his partner. "Damn… We have to retreat fast." He said.

"Fire Style: Fireball jutsu!" Meisiekai looked up to see three huge fireballs staring her down. She leapt into the air, just barely avoiding the last one. "Fire Release: Dragon Fire Jutsu." She said once she located her attacker.

The bear masked Anbu op was no weakling however. "Earth Style: Great Mud Wall." He pressed his hands onto the ground, and in front of him arose a tall thick muddy wall. Meisiekai's jutsu collided with the wall and slowly faded away, not being able to break through.

The young woman gained her footing on a tree branch, and used it to catapult herself towards the man. "Piercing Lightning Strike." Meisiekai extended two fingers and they began to cackle with lightning. Once in range, she jabbed them fiercely into the mud wall.

"No way…" Bear mask gritted his teeth as his wall exploded into chunks. Meisiekai grinned once she saw the fear in his body expression. Though his face was hidden, he was shaking visibly and bracing for impact.

The impact came.

Meisiekai jammed her fingers against his forehead, releasing a devastating current of lightning that blew him nearly thirty feet back.

She pronounced him dead upon impact, and turned her attention to the remaining Anbu. There were none.

The leader was gone, and there wasn't any remains of hawk mask. She assumed they'd found a way to cancel her jutsu, and rescued the man before he was turned into a charcoal tinted carcass.

She looked over to see Paku, who was slowly crawling up from the ground. She also saw Zanpaku, still out cold.

Paku looked at her, and then motioned for her to come closer. Meisiekai obliged, she felt a strange urge to hear the man out when it would be best to leave before more Anbu arrived.

"Hey you… You don't suppose they'll be sending more of those guys right?" He asked, coughing softly. He was old, so she figured that fall to the ground did more damage to him then it would to normally anyone. Not to mention he didn't seem like he was a ninja in his prime.

"Yeah, most likely he'll run back and ask for more help." Meisiekai replied. She winced in pain as the injury to her calf decided to rear its head again.

"Well then you have to leave, fast. But not alone, I beg you… take my daughter with you. No doubt when they come back I'll be taken in and labeled as a conspirator, I don't want her to share the same fate." Paku begged her, struggling to get to his feet.

Meisiekai offered a hand but was politely declined. "Listen I have to leave as fast as possible, I'm already carrying an injury. I don't think I can afford any dead weight. She doesn't look like she'll come to for quite a while." She saw a glint of depression in his eyes, and his head droop down softly.

"I see…"

Meisiekai looked down at Zanpaku for a moment. Shaking her head, she dipped down and scooped her up, hanging her over her shoulder. With the other hand she grabbed the woman's axe, before looking back to Paku.

"I'll take her and leave her somewhere safe, maybe in a village outside the Land of Fire." She said.

Paku smiled graciously. "Thank you, I could not ask for more."

Meisiekai nodded, and turned around. "You're welcome." She said, and began her walk.

Paku did the same, turning and walking back to his barren shack.

Over off in the distance, the Anbu man whom Meisiekai presumed she had killed gasped for air. His mask lay besides him, cracked in half from the impact. He had seen Meisiekai pick up Zanpaku and walk off, as well as seeing Paku walk off. He grunted as he made his way to his feet. "Don't think this is the end, criminal scum." He said with a pained expression as he began to make his way towards Paku's shack.

Hey guys…. Long time no see am I right? There's a long series of events that took place after the last chapter, starting with me getting very sick. I think I was in the hospital for a week or two. Once I got out, I was sort of depressed and had writers block forever.

I never forgot about my little story, just never got around to it as I started to become increasingly busy. I am back 100% full time now though.

Now, as for the story. You can see towards the end, Meisiekai has a bit of a soft spot. This will be explored upon further as the plot progresses. Next chapter won't feature any Meisiekai. Instead it'll be focused on Bolt. So, until next time, bye!

(Hopefully next time won't be a couple of months lol.)