Lust and Love

The only sound you could hear was ragged breathing as the dark haired man licked his way up the woman's thigh as the other man watched with bored brown eyes.

"Is the plan in place?" he asked.

"Yes," the woman gasped as particular attention was being paid to the inside of her thigh, "Everything is working out even better than we hoped. Both of them are falling perfectly into our trap, we'll be able to collect..." she paused for a moment to bite back a pleasured scream.

"Good," the red-headed man went over placing his arms around the woman who's orgasmic moans only escalated, "I knew that you would be my best," he tilted her head up and captured her lips, "And soon we'll destroy this foolish village."

"What makes them think love is so special anyways," the woman said bitterly as they parted, "If it weren't for that, they wouldn't be so damn laughably easy to manipulate."


Mira sighed as she leaned against the boat railing, ignoring the sailors that were manning the boat taking her to Lightning Country, where she could tell that Shane was heading.

"That bad huh, I haven't even tried to come here since..." her voice trailed off and she shook her head, "Kei did. He disappeared here. Shane what are you up to?" she found herself absentmindedly grasping the small red pendant hanging around her neck.

"Oh it's pretty!" Mira exclaimed, "There's a little bird in it!"

"It's cracked and useless," Kei had said, "Shane's brother was throwing it away, but I knew you liked things like this."

"It's not useless," she argued, "And the crack makes it look like a bird is flitting around in there."

"I don't see it at all, but if you say so," Kei shrugged, "Keep it."

Other than the silver ring on her finger, it was the only piece of jewelry he had given her, so she never took it off. It felt warm today, had been getting warmer since she had set out on this journey, but she wondered if that was because she kept playing with it as the ship sailed closer to her destination.

Because after all, it was only a pretty red stone with a crack, a memento of her husband and friends and the life they had before everything had gone terribly wrong.


"Karin, you stay where I can see you!" Tenten called out as the small girl ran into the playground. The brunette girl turned back to Lee and Umbra, "I don't like that she got sent out so damn soon."

"But she has to show her friend that the feelings of youthfulness still exist!" Lee exclaimed, "I understand her feelings completely!"

"We only met after Kei disappeared, so I have no idea what happened between Mira and Shane before they came here, I think besides them, Dyzzi's the only one that really knows." Umbra wrung her hands, "But I agree with Lee, they've got to become friends again."

"Well, I sent out a message to Neji and Gaara to get back here after everything calms down in Suna," Tenten looked back at the playground to where Karin was playing, something in the air was making her uneasy about the small girl, "But that could be another week..."

"Mira will be back with Shane before then," Umbra assured her and Lee nodded his agreement, "And then they can all rag on her for being stupid with those pills together."

"Sure," Tenten agreed, "I'm worrying for nothing." the other two left for their training and she sat down on the bench, still keeping an eye on the small girl.


The boat landed at the Land of Lightning's port, and Mira pulled her cloak a bit closer to her as she walked down the plank, eyes searching for some sign of the three she knew to have passed through here.

There, she didn't know why, but Haru had left his small scratched mark in a post a sign to other anbu that he had passed through there, placing her hand on it she smiled sadly, Damnit, I'm making them suffer too aren't I?

A hand pulled on her cloak, and she looked to see a bald man, "Shinjitsu..." she breathed, remembering well the man who had led them to Uragiri so long ago.

"Then you do know me... are you looking for that man? The one who was searching for his brother so long ago?"

She nodded, "Please... I've got to make amends with him, I've done something..." she chewed her lip, "I did something terrible and it seemed to shatter everything further than it was. Have you seen him?"

"I'm surprised you don't know, he came looking for your lover after all."

Kei?! Mira's eyes widened, and she felt she had an inkling of what Shane's plan was, "Did he really fall that far?" she whispered.

"I don't know why I'm telling you this," the bald man said, "But you should head off to the sky golem. That's where I sent him and the two men with him," he stared hard at her, "I don't know what you did to get him to hate you so much, but you better do what you can to save him."

She had already turned, running towards the gates of the village, towards the mountain that had scared her the previous time they were here, something seemed to disturb her about that particular peak.

"Don't let me be too late," she whispered to herself, but she couldn't understand what it was she thought that she was trying to prevent from happening. She was coming to let Shane have his revenge on her without hurting himself or his two lovers further, what else could happen, even in the place where all of their troubles began?


Karin yawned as she rose sleepily from her bed and swung her legs over to head to the bathroom.

She came out, and peered down the hall, she could have sworn that she saw the flitting of movement, "Mommy? Have you brought Uncle Shane and Uncle Haru home already?" she walked towards the movement, green eyes looking around in wonder.

A hand came from behind her, dropping a cloth over her face, and the green eyes went foggy as the girl collapsed.

"Too easy," a voice said before disappearing from the hall.


"Lady Yaoikage!" Tenten yelled, slamming open the door to her office.

"DAMN!" Dyzzi yelled as she got up from where she had fallen, "Will this week get any better?!"

"Karin's gone!" Tenten exclaimed, not willing to wait on the silver haired woman to go through her litany of complaints.

"What?!" eyes wide the woman crossed the room in an instant, "Send Umbra, Yuko, and Allora in here now!"

Umbra and Allora showed up, but Yuko didn't. Dyzzi stared for a moment, "Where is she?"

"She wasn't at the hospital," the messenger nin said, "There was this scroll in her place."

The Yaoikage broke the seal on the scroll and hastily read it, she took a step back and it fell from her hands, "Send a message to Mira, Shane, and Haru," she ordered, "Tell them to stop this foolishness and come home now."

"Lady Yaoikage?" Umbra asked tentatively, "What happened?"

"She never quit them... this whole time she was working for..." Dyzzi's voice trailed off, "Karin has been taken by the Akatsuki... and Yuko is the traitor that took her to them."