Chapter Ten: Good Intentions Part One.

Author's Note: Hey guys! Here's chapter ten! This was quite fun to write to be honest; except for the angsty/emo part at the beginning :/. I hope you all like it anyway :). As always, thank you guys SO much for all the reviews, favorites, alerts and views! I really do appreciate them all! Hope you guys are having a fun summer vacation! :D I know I am :)

Also…I know I haven't updated my other fan-fic in a loooong time. But don't worry! I will update it soon! I haven't abandoned it! :D

Dariru watched him storm off into the woods. She called out to him, wanting to make amends in case it was her fault for causing him to act this way; but he ignored her and soon she couldn't see his large form lumbering through the forest anymore. What had she done to make him upset? Was it because she had called him by his first name? Or was it because she had shown interest in joining that organization he was a part of? She had been serious when she had made the suggestion. After all, she had no where else to go. There was no way she could burden her parents by having them hide her, a renegade kunoichi, in their own home; in fact, it could get them killed. And since she and Kisame seemed to have a "friendship" of sorts, it didn't seem wrong for her to suggest joining the group that has helped keep him alive. Or was it something else…?

You're burdening him, Her mind scolded; you've been burdening him ever since you started traveling with him you greedy little bitch. He's probably fed up with you always there bothering him with pointless questions and conversations. You've been nothing but trouble for him. Hell, it's because of you that an oinin found the two of you! Why don't you do him a favor and leave in the middle of the night? Surely that'd be the only good thing you'd be doing for him.

Dariru hugged her knees close to her chest as she bombarded herself with hateful words and phrases. Maybe that degrading part of her was right…she was just a burden to him. She hasn't done anything useful at all. All she's done was cause more trouble for him…

Leaves rustled as the night's breeze slithered through the branches of the forest. The kunoichi lay on her side, her back facing the forest, and prepared herself for sleep. She would leave him during the night, even though it pained her to even think about such a thing. But as a way to say "sorry" for all that she's done, to say "thank-you" for what he had done for her, and to say "good-bye", she would stop by the town Kisame had mentioned and buy a balm that would soothe his swollen nose. It was the least she could do, even if it wasn't much…

When Kisame returned to the campsite, Dariru had already fallen asleep. Her back was to the woods and the stripes on her tank-top were given an orange highlight by the flickering fire. The S-ranked criminal sat on the opposite side of the fire, leaning his back against a tree, and let out a quiet exasperated sigh. He had decided what he would do with the girl. It had made everything inside of him either holler in disagreement or agree hastily. Both sides had argued inside of his head, in his gut, and even in his chest. There were so many advantages and disadvantages to the plan that he wasn't even sure if it would work. And yet, as he caught glimpses of the girl through the flickering fire, some part of him told him that it would work. It had to work.

His eyelids became heavy, his mind exhausted from trying to find a solution to this problem; and though the S-ranked criminal tried to fight the wonderful thought of sleep away, his eyelids closed and the darkness lulled him into sleep.

A god was on her side; she didn't know which one, but it was on her side. When Dariru had woken, the sun was just starting to peer over the tree tops and panic gripped her chest. Her nightmares had not woken her in the middle of the night like she had hoped. Surely Kisame would be awake by now…But then she had seen him, sitting against a tree…asleep. The girl started thanking every god known and unknown to man as she began to gather her small bag.

She started her walk towards the woods, but stopped next to the sleeping man. The girl didn't even know if he really was sleeping, but she was willing to bet that he was. And though she was, sort of, willing to go, to relieve him of her uselessness, she couldn't help but admire his features. Most people would probably be terrified or disgusted by his appearance; but she found it appealing. The blue skin and hair, the sharp shark-like features…in all honesty, it suited his personality very well. She couldn't imagine him with "normal" skin and hair without laughing at how ridiculous it looked. Plus, he had a very nice body which must have been developed by the years he had spent wielding Samehada.

Dariru shook her head and reluctantly looked away from him. She couldn't stay with him, no matter how much she wanted to. She's just a burden to him and his travels, that's all. After forcing her feet to step forward, the renegade Kirigakure kunoichi walked silently through the forest and left her friend to his blissful sleep.

"I'm sorry," a short old woman repeated to the four oinins that stood before her and the group of villagers behind her, "but ve 'ave not seen any blue man or girl come through 'ere."

Dai Mamoru was doing his best to keep his temper under control, and the gathering storm clouds didn't help keep him calm either. The older woman and all the villagers had been saying the same thing over and over again the minute he and his team had entered the tiny village:

"We haven't seen any one new come through here." And other words to that same effect.

These villagers knew at least something about Takeo Dariru, he was sure of it. After all, the girl's footsteps had led them to this village. She couldn't have gotten far…

Kunio grabbed Dai Mamoru's shoulder and pulled him back, trying his best to keep the lead oinin under control. "Are you sure?" the large man seemed to have growled to the group of peasants. The women in the group shuddered in fear at Kunio's voice, while the men took defensive stances as if they could stand a chance against the large oinin.

The old woman, who was unfazed by all the commotion, nodded her head again, "Yes. No vone new 'as come 'ere. Ve vould know if they did. This is a small village. Ve rarely get any outsiders."

Of course, even with the old woman's reassurance, the three older oinins still tried to get something out of her. The youngest oinin, however, was tired with interrogating this senile woman. It was obvious she knew nothing. And if she were lying, so what? They'd find the girl more easily now that she was traveling alone. As the boy looked about the tiny place idly, he caught a glimpse of red and grey stripes disappearing behind a straw hut. He vaguely remembered that the picture that Dai Mamoru had of the girl showed her in a red and grey striped tank-top. Could that have been her?

Very cautiously, Ryuu walked toward the straw hut and peered around its corner. Standing just a few feet ahead of him was a barrel of water and a girl with that silly striped tank-top on with her back to him. His grin hid the excitement that he was feeling inside. While the other oinin were doing everything they could to find this kunoichi, the least pro-active oinin was the one to find her; and she had no idea he was nearby.

The gods were on his side.

Ryuu made the tiger symbol and mumbled out, "Suiton: Mizu Bunshin no jutsu!" Two water clones of himself emerged silently out of the barrel. One leaped onto the roof of the straw hut with the expertise of a cat, while the other went to the left in preparation to flank her. The clone on the hut crouched down, tensed up, and jumped in front of the girl. She let out a surprised gasp before stumbling a few steps backwards. The second clone grabbed her from behind, grabbing both of her wrists and then pulling both of her arms across her chest like a straight-jacket. The real Ryuu walked up to the struggling girl and clamped his hand over her mouth, just in case she decided to cry out for help.

"You've been causing us a lot of trouble," he said quietly, not wanting his teammates to find out she was here yet. "That freaky partner of yours did a good job at covering up your tracks. We almost gave up looking for you. Good thing you decided to stray away from him." Her brow furrowed in anger and she kept struggling against the water clone; but every time she did, the clone just pulled her arms back even harder. "Now, now, now," Ryuu waved a finger teasingly at her, "behave little girl. Or your arms might pop of their sockets."

The girl glared at him furiously but her struggling ceased. Ryuu had to keep himself from laughing at this girl. How was this tiny little thing able to stay alive with one of the most dangerous S-ranked criminals? Perhaps she used her natural features to keep the creature under submission? It made the youngest oinin wonder how much of a relationship this girl and the blue freak had with each other.

With his other hand, Ryuu began to pet the girl's hair, just to piss her off. She tried to pull her head away, but the hand that was on her mouth jerked her back into place. "Don't worry," he said in fake reassurance as he kept stroking her dark brown hair, "it'll all be over soon for both you and your buddy. I might even try to convince the others to give you a quick death if you wish."

"Don't worry," the short boy said in fake reassurance as he kept stroking her dark brown hair, "it'll all be over soon for both you and your buddy. I might even try to convince the others to give you a quick death if you wish."

Dariru felt her heart quicken at his words and began to panic on the inside. Did they know where Kisame was? Or had they killed him already? No…no, Kisame's not an easy opponent. He wouldn't die so easily. But the boy said something about "the others"…how many people was he with? Were all them shinobi, or just this kid?

She had to get out of here. She had to run away from where Kisame's camp is. At least he'd have a chance to not get caught by these people…whoever they may be. The balm she had bought for the blue man rested in her little pack along with the rest of her items; and though it was a fairly light item, it seemed like the heaviest one in the pack as she leaned backwards against the water clone. The boy's hand released her mouth as she pulled her knees to her chest, and then shot her feet out, hitting him in the face. The water clone and the girl fell backwards and the fake boy dispersed into a puddle of water once it hit the ground.

Dariru rolled out of the way just as the second water clone went to punch the ground where she had been. The clone lunged at her and she rolled away once more. The foot of the real short boy kicked her back and she fell on the puddle that had once been a water clone face-first. She went to sit up but a hand emerged from the water, grabbing the collar of her tank-top and pulling her back down to the earth. A foot stomped on her spine and she had to grit her teeth to keep a pained groan from escaping her.

"Little bitch," the boy hissed as he ground the heel of his foot further into her back, "you'll pay for that!" Dariru closed her eyes in concentration, remembering the barrel of water that was nearby. With haste she made the tiger symbol with her hands and muttered to herself: Suiton: Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!

The foot on her back shifted to her head and began to crush it further into the puddle beneath her. "Quiet you!" he commanded just as Dariru's water clone grabbed the boy's face from behind and began to force its fingers into his mouth. The boy gagged and struggled just enough for the real Dariru to yank herself from the hand's grip and roll out of the puddle and from beneath his foot. The water clone's arm dispersed into water as half of it disappeared in the attacker's mouth. He began coughing violently as the water clogged his windpipes dangerously, but Dariru didn't stick around long to help him out.

As her clone began to hold off her attacker's clone, the real Dariru ran past the choking boy, trying to get as far away from Kisame's campsite as possible; until a large man stepped in front of her escape route.

"What are you doing over here Ryuu?" by the time his sentence was out, Dariru had already veered away from him, just barely missing his great arms as they tried to trap her. She kept running. She had to keep running. If any of these guys caught her, especially the big one, she would be dead. It was her job to be evasive and quick like a rabbit; their job, whether they knew it or not, was to be heavy and slow like some plodding beast. However, if they gave her an opening, she would take it without hesitation. And she knew that they would do the same with her.

Dariru turned right and skidded to a halt at what was before her. Two men were interrogating the whole village, but they had paused to look at the intruder. One man looked strangely familiar, as if she had seen him before when she was smaller, and the other looked sad even though his eyes showed surprise in them.

The familiar looking man grinned and said to his partner, "It's her."

God damn it…

Tadashi Tamotsu was an oinin who specialized in defense and had saved many lives because of his skill. However, no matter how many lives he saved, his paycheck never seemed to increase. In fact, he was barely able to pay rent every month with his payment. So, as time went by, he had grown to be a greedy man, but he never showed this part of him to anyone else. But as soon as his temporary leader, Dai Mamoru, told him that the girl they had been looking for was standing right in front of them, Tadashi Tamotsu came up with a plan that went against Dai Mamoru's.

Dai Mamoru just wanted to grab the girl and return to Kirigakure as soon as possible; and if Hoshigaki Kisame got in their way then they would handle it. However, if the blue man didn't get in the way then Dai Mamoru had told them to just "Forget about him and leave". But Tadashi Tamotsu wasn't going to have any of it. The greedy oinin knew of the large bounty that was on the strangely-colored man's head, which was the main purpose for him joining Dai Mamoru. And if that girl had survived this long with the criminal, then she must mean something to him. He didn't care about the details, but for whatever reason, the blue man wanted her alive. And Tadashi Tamotsu planned to use her as bait…

Until he saw her running in the opposite direction from where her footprints had lead them…

Was she trying to lead them away from Hoshigaki Kisame? Or was she acting out of instinct? Either way, he wasn't going to take any chances.

As Dai Mamoru ran after her with Atsushi Kunio, Tadashi Tamotsu went after Jun Ryuu. The sad-looking man knew that this kid would do anything as long as he gained something from it. He grabbed the short boy by the arm and pulled him back.

"Hey! What the--!? Tamotsu-san?" the boy looked at him in confusion, "What the hell man? We have to get her!"

Tadashi Tamotsu kept a firm grip on the boy's harm and whispered, "You do realize she could lead us to Hoshigaki Kisame, right?"

"Yeah, so?" the boy was impatient.

"If we bring his head to the Mizukage, we'll have more money than what we would get in ten years!" He may have been over exaggerating a bit, but the point was getting across to the boy.

Ryuu looked him up and down, trying to detect a lie of any sort. Finally, he asked, "What do I gotta do?"

Kunio and Mamoru had cornered the girl just then and were attempting to catch her, but she was quick like a little rabbit running from a fox. She was bound to escape the four of them soon.

Tadashi Tamotsu pointed at her and whispered, "Put a genjutsu on her. Make her think she's still running west, when really she's running to the east."

The boy furrowed his brow in confusion, "But her footprints came from the east…"

The man lifted a finger and smiled wickedly, "Which is where Hoshigaki Kisame is."

A grin of understanding covered Ryuu's face as he made the appropriate hand symbols for performing the genjutsu. The girl escaped Kunio and Mamoru and stumbled for a split second, shook her head and ran in their general direction. Tamotsu pulled Ryuu behind a stack of broken wood with him as the girl ran past them. They both peered around the stack and watched her run towards the east; towards Hoshigaki Kisame.

When Hoshigaki Kisame woke up the sun was blocked out by dark grey clouds. He immediately stood up and looked about the campsite, cursing to himself for falling asleep. The fire had died down to a few glowing ambers in a pile of black and grey soot. And there was no sign of Dariru anywhere. The S-ranked criminal looked about the campsite hurriedly, wondering where the girl had gone off to. Perhaps she had gone to the village to buy something? But there was nothing of hers that she left behind at the campsite. Did she leave with the intention of never coming back? Or maybe…she was expecting to meet him at the village…?

He shook his head at the stupid hopeful thought. All signs pointed out that she had left him and didn't plan on coming back. If that was what she wanted then so be it. It definitely made his job of getting rid of her easier. And yet, as the blue criminal gathered his things to leave for the hideout, he couldn't help but notice the little pang in his gut and the slight sinking of his heart. He really was attached to her…and he had started to believe that she was attached to him too when she told him that she wasn't afraid of him.

So much for that…

The large blue man walked out of the forest, with Samehada secured on his back, and began to go west towards the small village the Akatsuki protected in exchange for goods. The road curved to the right around a large boulder, but before the man could go right, the sound of running footsteps filled the quiet air ahead of him. He pressed his back against the boulder in case the approaching being was hostile. But as the footsteps got closer Kisame could tell they were light and feminine. Could it be Dariru…? If it was her…why was she running so frantically? Without thinking, he stepped out in the middle of the road just as a girl rounded the corner. She shrieked in surprise and tried to skid to a halt, but fell on her butt instead. Kisame looked down at her and saw the familiar red and grey tank-top, short dark brown hair and black leggings beneath tan shorts. It was her.

When Dariru looked up at him, fear and shock took over her face as she asked aloud in disbelief, "K-Kisame?"

He looked down at her with a stern face, "You don't seem too happy to see me."

The girl stood up and shook her head. "No! H-how did I—I was going west! Unless…" she was speaking complete gibberish but the fear was obvious in her voice. Had she been lying last night? Was she really afraid of him?

"What are you talking about?" He meant to sound bored; it was the best he could do to keep the anger out of his voice. It was then that she started to push his chest hurriedly.

"You have to go! Right now! GO! Get out of here! RUN!" she kept pushing him, trying to get him to run away. But from what? What got her so scared that she wanted him to run from it?

A needle shot through the air and pierced cleanly through the webbing between Dariru's thumb and index finger before landing straight up in the dirt road. The sudden attack took both of them off guard and even a small squeak of pain escaped the girl's mouth as she pulled her hand back instinctively, cradling it for a moment against her chest. It was then that Kisame felt the presence of strong shinobi auras. He looked up and saw four masked oinin standing atop the boulder. That's what she was warning me about, He mumbled inside of his head.

The oinin with two red markings over the "eyes" said to his teammates, "Kill Hoshigaki Kisame. Keep the girl alive if you can."

Immediately the shortest oinin jumped at Kisame, with a kunai knife gripped in his hands.