Kiri woke to another loud gurgle from her stomach. She groaned as she rolled over in the creaky bed and slowly opened her eyes. Right in her line of sight was a pouch of water and cubed melons on a plate sitting on the bedside table. Kiri reached out grasped at the water pouch. Her fingers fumbled to screw the cap off and she was panting from the scratchy feeling and dryness in her throat and mouth. Cool, clean water gushed down her throat as she emptied the pouch. When the pouch was empty, Kiri gasped, grabbed a handful of the sliced melons, and began to gobble them down.
"Hungry, eh?"
Kiri froze mid-chew and turned toward the voice.
Kisame stood, for the first time in years, only a few feet away from her. Kiri examined his face as she quickly finished chewing her melon. His face was still young, but more defined than when she last saw him. There were more lines than she remembered, and his eyes looked tired. He no longer wore his Jonin vest from the Mist, instead just standard ninja pants and a black shirt under an unbuttoned Akatsuki cloak.
The room began to feel small, cramped, and stuffy. She swallowed the last of the melon and silently nodded.
Kisame tossed her a small glass vial. It landed in her lap and she saw a couple soldier pills rolling around inside. Kiri popped open the vial and downed both pills with more water and melons.
She glanced over to her former sensei. His gaze was fixed on her as he seemed to be studying her face, remembering familiar features and discovering new ones.
"Take a picture, sensei, it'll last longer," she managed to mutter in between melon bites.
Kisame's eyes hardened. "You shouldn't have come looking for me."
Kiri snorted. "Yeah, because your obscure letter was so convincing."
"Dammit, Kiri, I mean it. These are dangerous ninja and you just waltzed in here like you're invincible and you're not."
"And you are?"
Kisame sighed. "I'm here because I'm working with them."
"Yeah I gathered. Why though? Surely an organization full of S-Class missing-nin is just as corrupt as Kirigakure. That's why you left right?" Kiri's eyes searched Kisame's for an honest answer, for familiarity, for an emotion that didn't make her want to slap him.
His brows furrowed and he frowned. Nope, still kind of want to slap him.
"Are you-?"
"Yeah I defected a few years ago. Been a missing-nin for about three years now." She shrugged nonchalantly. "I know we aren't exactly angels, but after my first mission as a jonin, I realized how messed up the Fourth is. I don't know how you managed it all those years."
Kisame chuckled darkly and sat in the chair near the bed. "Not sure if you noticed, cupcake, but I didn't manage."
Kiri rolled her eyes at the pet name and retorted, "I just mean you could have killed all those corrupted shinobi sooner, right?"
"Yeah and abandon the only person outside of the Swordsman who didn't cower in fear before me?"
The annoyance from earlier bubbling up, Kiri loudly countered, "You could have taken me with you, Kisame!" Her hands clutched the sheets around her in tight fists as she glared at him.
His eyebrows narrowed as leaned forward and momentarily rested his head in his hands. His chest expanded with a deep breath and he raised his eyes to meet her glare.
"You're too damn independent, Kiri-"
"Excuse me?!" Kiri's blood was beginning to boil.
"Listen to me dammit," Kisame growled dangerously. Kiri clamped her mouth shut reluctantly.
"The man I take orders from is powerful. He punishes disobedience with death. He would have snapped your 14-year-old neck if you had said one word out of line."
Kiri's boiling blood instantly cooled as she registered Kisame's serious tone and his somber face.
"He has… big plans for this organization. But those plans have to be kept under wraps for now. It's dangerous even being his ally, just imagine what it's like being his enemy. I couldn't risk you learning too much and acting out."
Kisame rested his chin on his interlocked fingers, staring at Kiri.
Frustrated and lacking a retort, Kiri threw off the covers and got out of bed.
"Do you have my pack? Or some spare clothes? This kimono is stuffy."
Eyes on her face, Kisame nodded and reached for his pack in the corner. He tossed a large shirt and some bandages on the bed.
Kiri snatched them up and strode toward the bathroom.
After cleaning up, she wrapped some bandages around her chest and threw on Kisame's shirt. It was navy blue, baggy, and hung just above the middle of her thighs. She wrapped bandages from her mid-thigh up to meet her ninja shorts she had been wearing under her dress. Thankfully, she had worn simple black shoes with a chunky heel; pretty enough to flatter her calves and practical enough to fight and run in.
Kiri's fingers began to prickle as her chakra began to surge through her body.
Those were some shitty soldier pills if it took this long for my chakra to come back.
She tossed her messy auburn hair into a ponytail as she exited the bathroom. Kisame was now standing at the window, cloak thrown across the chair. One of his muscled arms was reached out, hand pressing into the window as he stared at the streets below.
Feeling the awkwardness of her current situation, Kiri cleared her throat uncomfortably. Kisame peered over his shoulder.
"Yes, kunoichi?"
"Well... now what?"
A beat passed. Kisame sighed. "Now that you're here, and now that you know, you'll have to speak to Leader."
Averting his eyes, Kisame turned around and walked toward Kiri. She looked up at him, waiting for eye contact and for a real answer.
"Now you either join," sad eyes flashed to meet hers for a moment, "or you die."
