Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, any related characters, settings, or stories. I own only Seyeon, and the story you are about to read.

It had been almost four weeks since Kisame and Seyeon left for the land of Water, and Valhalla was beginning to get worried. Normally, it was uncharacteristic of her to be as upset as she was, but her relationship with her sister was still one of a pair of siblings who had only had a few short months together, and the overprotective edge hadn't quite faded.

"What's wrong?"

Val shifted slightly to look at the figure of Kakuzu, seated on the low couch beside her. His bright green eyes were viewing her with a sort of apprehensive mixture of concern and curiousity.

She sighed. "I guess I'm just worried about Seyeon, that's all. I mean, I only just found her again after all these years. To have her leave my sight again so soon is just… it's a bit jarring."

Kakuzu nodded. "I'm… I'm sorry you feel that way." he attempted awkwardly to reassure her; given his general path in life, social skills had been somewhat far down the totem pole of importance for the ex-Waterfall ninja.

The dark-haired girl simply sighed and closed her eyes, one hand resting on the couch cushion between her body and Kakuzu's. The now-unmasked man glanced down on it, steeled himself, and slowly placed his own hand over hers. She jumped slightly, then seeing her companion's large, dark hand placed over her own small, pale one, looked at him with surprise.

Kakuzu swallowed briefly; he really hadn't thought this through, but there was no turning back now. "She'll be fine. She's a resourceful, skilled ninja; and not only that, but Kisame would never let anything happen to her."

Valhalla's body relaxed, slightly but visibly, and she flashed Kakuzu a relieved smile. "Thank you, Kakuzu. That means a lot."

The stitched ninja felt an answering smile tug at the organic threads crisscrossing the corners of his own mouth, and for once, he didn't resist.

"You're a good friend, Kakuzu. I'm lucky to have you in my life, and I hope you stay there."

Kakuzu's lime eyes widened, just slightly, but Valhalla didn't notice- yawning widely, she leaned back on the couch, her eyes sliding closed. Then, almost as though she changed her mind, she leaned sideways to come to a rest with her head placed on Kakuzu's shoulder.

And, at that moment, Kakuzu felt something he hadn't felt in a very, very long time. For the first time in his waking memory, he had a strong desire to come back from his next mission; but this time, it wasn't for his own interests.

If he had anything at all to say about it, he would make sure Valhalla's hope remained reality as long as he could.

Upstairs, one of the many rooms in Pain's tower was burning with bright light. Outside, the solitary window exposing the interior of the room to air was shining against the blackness of the night sky like a low-lying star. Inside, the room was playing host to a gathering consisting of Pain, Konan, Itachi, and Hidan.

Pain was standing at a low table, covered with scrolls. The contents of the scrolls were largely ignored, being scrawled with various lists, invoices, and hurried orders.

"Have there been any reports from Deidara and Tobi?" Pain asked the gathered ninja.

Konan extended a hand and removed a small clay block from her cloak. Placing a hand over it, she narrowed her eyes and drew a small, tightly rolled scroll out of it. "Last correspondence was 7 hours ago. Deidara reports positive on their infiltration of the facility, with minimal casualties as of now. Though", she smiled wryly "He expects that to change very soon."

Pain nodded slowly, his facial expression not betraying his thoughts on the news. "And Tobi?"

Konan studied the scroll again. "Deidara reports that he is serving about as much purpose as he usually does. Although, I feel like that may not be an especially fair assessment, since Tobi is, by nature, much better-suited to this kind of mission than Deidara."

Pain then turned to Itachi. "What news from Kisame?"

The Uchiha's deep black eyes met the pale grey of Pain's Rinnegan. "I received a message this morning; he and Seyeon had completed their intended acquisition raid in the land of Fire, and are in transit to return now; however, ANBU activity has increased drastically due to their actions, and they've been forced to maintain a fairly slow pace on their way back here. Apparently the villagers that remained alive after their entry reacted much more quickly than they intended."

Pain shifted slightly. "Trouble?"

Itachi shook his head. "No, I doubt anyone living in such a small community, especially so far from Konoha, could have hindered them in any significant way. It's more likely that the citizens were fortunate enough to have contact with Leaf ninja very soon after the raid, and their ANBU were stirred up before Kisame and Seyeon could clear the border.

Pain nodded again, the slightest hint of a troubled look beginning to drift across his impassive face; but then, the land of Fire was the last place he'd expect Mist ninja to find Seyeon, and even if they did, it's be a tossup who the Leaf ninja would attack first. Kisame and Seyeon could handle themselves, at least for the time being.

Even as this thought was passing through his head, though, a shock passed through him like a small bolt of lightning. Even as he abruptly turned, to the surprise of the others in the room, the stone floor rippled like a pond and Zetsu's flytrap-like head covering emerged.

"Leader-sama-" Zetsu began before his face had even been exposed. By then, however, Pain had already started toward the door.

"I know. I sense him."

Hidan reached up to scratch his head. "Umm… Mind filling us in one what's going on?"

Pain levelled his gaze at the silver-haired immortal, then turned to look at each of the others in turn.

"A hostile force, nearing the borders of the city. Travelling fast, and displaying enough chakra to level a mountain."

Without another word, the Akatsuki leader strode out the door. "Stay here. Be prepared to defend."

Seyeon bent over, panting heavily. Kisame stood before her, Samehada extended in his outstretched hand. Sitting on the ground, the shark ninja began carefully wrapping his sword in fresh bandages he removed from his pack. As he wrapped, he surveyed the clearing surrounding him; most of the trees had large chunks ripped out of their trunks, with many of them being ripped from the ground entirely. Deep gouges were torn into the surrounding ground, like deep cracks in a vast eggshell. The air was silent except for the sound of dripping water, as much of the surviving landscape was covered with water, as though a heavy rain had just passed.

Kisame finished wrapping Samehada and looked back at Seyeon with a lopsided grin. "Well, that was… something." Reaching a hand up to his face, he applied a small medicinal packet to a rather wicked-looking gash on his cheek, wincing slightly as he did so.

Seyeon took a deep breath before replying. "'Something' isn't exactly what I'd use to describe the experience, unless the word 'unpleasant' was also involved. You have NO idea how disgusting that felt."

Satisfied that the bleeding of his lacerated face had been stemmed, Kisame walked forward and sat next to his lover. "Well, I'll admit it was impressive, for certain. Also, much less frightening than the first time, since you weren't trying nearly so hard to kill me this time."

Seyeon buried her face in her hands, almost looking like she was trying to stop herself from falling asleep. "It still disturbs me, the fact that I'm willingly doing this; triggering something that was branded to me against my will, and becoming something that's caused me to unintentionally take so many lives."

Kisame, lost for a response, simply placed his hand on her shoulder. Finally, after a few moments of silence, he spoke. "Well… I wouldn't expect you to like it. But it's something you can do, and quite possibly ONLY you can do. If you can learn to control it, then maybe- just maybe- you can use it for your own intentions, and erase what you've done with it in the past."

Seyeon sighed and rested her head on Kisame's chest. "I suppose you're right. When you're like me, I suppose every bit counts."

Kisame stood up suddenly, causing Seyeon to yelp with surprise as her support was removed from under her head. Grumbling slightly, she looked up at his tall, imposing form. "What was that for?"

Kisame just grinned. "Come on, now-" he said, reaching down and grabbing Seyeon's hand. Lifting her up, he set her carefully (more or less) on her feet. "We're going to work on something else, to get your mind off of it. Turning around, he removed two kunai from his belt and stabbed them into the ground, one on either side of a fairly straight line of six small trees.

"So, remember how you told Itachi and I when we first met how you were distributing your chakra throughout your body so you could hide your low levels?"

Seyeon's blue cheeks turned slightly purple at the thought. "Yeah, so?"

Kisame placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face the trees he had marked. "I want you to try this. Take that same chakra, but this time, I want you to focus on emitting it in waves, out of your body."

Seyeon's face was a picture of confusion. "What exactly am I trying to accomplish here? I don't have anywhere near enough chakra to cause any damage to anything."

Kisame smiled again. "I know- in fact, I'm counting on it." He stepped back. "Anyway, give it a try; just focus your chakra in a wave in the direction you're facing, and see what happens.

Seyeon nodded, still with an air of not-quite-understanding, but did as he suggested. Setting her teeth, she faced the direction Kisame indicated. For a second, there was silence. Then, a small rushing sound emerged from her direction, followed by a pale blue aura that was just barely visible as it streaked out of her body.

At first, it seemed as though nothing had happened. Then, just as Seyeon was about to turn and berate Kisame for his failed experiment, she jumped. Her chakra had come back! But not all of it….

And with that, she turned to Kisame, a knowing smile spreading across her face. "I can feel where the chakra came back, and the gaps where it kept on going… you're making me echolocate!"

Kisame laughed. "That was more or less the intention, yeah. I figured, if nothing else, it was worth a try."

Seyeon turned back in the same direction. "Well, interestingly, it seems like it worked…" She then shot Kisame a cheeky smile. "About time you had an idea that worked."

Kisame waved his finger at her. "You'll pay for that, pretty soon. But first, time for an acid test. I placed two kunai on the ground, directly in front of you. Between them is a line of trees." He paused, almost as though he was waiting for dramatic effect in asking his question. "How many trees are there?"

Seyeon frowned, ever so slightly, then took a deep breath. Focusing, she sent multiple chakra waves in the indicated direction, carefully measuring her pace to ensure she didn't exhaust her meager supply of chakra. It took significant concentration, reading the returning chakra waves with her hypersensitive sense of touch and compiling them into a rough image in her mind, but finally…

A satisfied grin appeared on her face. "Six."

Kisame clapped. "Excellent! You got it!" He stepped toward the blue-skinned girl. "So it's nowhere near precise enough to identify extremely small objects, but with time… who knows?"

Seyeon felt a genuine warmth spreading through her body. "Thank you, Kisame."

Kisame closed the distance between them, coming to a rest right in front of her. "Don't thank me just yet…" he said, his smile turning slightly devilish. "Like I said, you have to pay for that comment about my ideas."

Without warning, he leapt forward, tackling Seyeon to the ground. With a surprised cry she fell back and hit the ground, Kisame landing on top of her.

"Fuck you Kisammmmeeeeeee!"

Pain was running across the vast body of water surrounding the Hidden Rain Village, his chakra-encased feet making no sound as they padded across choppy water. The ever-present rain was running down his face and cloak, but he took no notice, as he always did. His mind was focused on his destination; a dark figure situated just north of Amegakure.

The Akatsuki leader came to a halt before the figure, studying them intently. The other person was clad in a long brown cloak and hood, shrouding their identity completely; however, their general bulk made Pain sure that the figure was male.

Pain straightened and stared silently at the man. For a moment, there was no sound but the light pattering of rain against the water. Then, without warning, the figure raised a pair of gloved hands and removed their hood.

The man's face was unremarkable, with a defined jawline and a head of slicked-back, silver hair. The one defining feature was a polished black metal triangle with rounded corners that seemed to be set into his left eye socket. A few mysterious symbols were engraved into its surface, but as for its purpose, Pain had no means of determining what it was used for.

"Speak." Pain said, finally breaking the silence. When the man gave no reply, he continued. "You are of the Hidden Mist Village. You are pursuing a member of my organization, for what intentions I can't know. However, when we last spoke- or, at least, one spoke on behalf of you- you threatened us with war. And the Hidden Rain Village does not take such propositions lightly."

The man studied Pain's emotionless face for a few seconds, then smiled crookedly. "Firstly, as to my identity… my name is Chira, of the Mist. I don't expect ya to have heard of me, most people haven't; in fact, it happens to be part of my job that they don't." The man spoke with a generally unkempt, unprofessional air, but Pain wasn't fooled; clearly, there was more to him than meets the eye. "The girl I'm lookin' for is property of a top-secret experiment being performed by Kirigakure, so we're here to take her back, if you understand my meaning."

Pain wasn't impressed. "I'm afraid that whatever her past, that girl is now a member of the Akatsuki, and no longer related in any way to your project- if such a project even remains under the "official" jurisdiction of the Mist, which I doubt. I advise that you go on your way and forget you ever came, before I am forced to do something you will not live to regret."

The Mist ninja's face darkened and he grinned dangerously. "To be honest, ah hoped you'd say something like that. Now you've rightfully earned what my friends are about to do."

Pain's eyes widened as he sensed multiple chakras emerging, seemingly from nowhere, in the direction of Ame. Even as he turned around, the landscape shook, and a large explosion shook the tower.

Under the water! They hid their chakras…. Pain cursed his own stupidity, realizing far too late how his adversaries had managed to get so close to his city without being detected. He turned to make his way back-

And swung his arm, almost too fast to see, a pointed black rod extending from his sleeve.

Clang!

Chira had leapt toward him, his hand extended; Pain had only just acted in time to block the attack with one of his chakra weapons. However, he realized with a start that the Mist nin wasn't carrying any blade; his own hand had turned dull and grey, and had clanged against Pain's weapon with the sound of metal clashing metal.

The surprise must have showed on Pain's face, because Chira laughed suddenly. "Never seen anything like this, have ya?" His other arm swung around toward Pain's head, the edge of his arm sharpening and tearing through the sleeve of his cloak.

Pain leapt backward and landed a few meters away. He realized now that there was no conceivable way to return to Ame with this foe at his back.

And, to be perfectly honest with himself… he was more than willing to battle this particular ninja himself.

Konan and the others can hold the tower. This one… this one is mine.

In front of him, Chira had shed his cloak, revealing that both of his bare arms had become silver and bladed.

"They say you're a god in this here little city of yours. I've always wondered what it would feel like to kill a god."

Pain readied himself. "Come, then. Now you truly will not live to regret your decision."

One more down….

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