AN: Chapter 14! Especial thanks to Cloud Djinn for acting as my beta (again)!
WARNINGS: Violence, language, death, blood, gore (nothing overly graphic) and brief (very brief) mentions of attempt rape.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Dark Waters
Chapter 14 - Of Royalty and Red-eyed Women
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They were nearing Zenpaku Town when they were first ambushed.
A band of half-starved fishermen turned thugs, nothing that would offer them any trouble. Kurai easily dispatched three out of the ten, and Kisame was already going to his fifth victim when she realized that their teacher had disappeared. She didn't panic, Ao was a jounin for a reason, but she gave a subtle look around to see where their errand sensei had gone off to. Movement in her peripheral caught her attention, and she turned to see the blue-haired man calmly resting on top of a tree branch, holding his little book with one hand while the other one was gripping their client's shirt collar. The poor man seemed scared out of his wits, half of his body hung from the branch. The tree they were up in was high enough that he would certainly break something (possibly his neck) should he fall.
Kurai didn't really think that was the best way to protect their client, but who was she to say anything? As long as the man was relatively safe, and out of the line of fire, they would still get their pay. So who cares? Still, a part of her couldn't stop from snorting.
Typical, she thought. He left us to do all the work. Again.
She whirled around and sent a punch to one of the thugs' diaphragm and watched in vicious satisfaction as the man was sent stumbling backwards, moaning and gasping for breath. A moment later, wheezing stopped, the tip of Kisame's kodachi buried in his chest.
"That," he said, removing his short sword from the man's heart. "Was the last one."
Kurai frowned at him, making a quick head count in her mind. Between them they had taken out nine men. If she was right, they had missed one.
Just when she was about to point out that fact, a choked sound came from behind them. Kurai turned to look what was happening and noticed a wide-eyed Akihiro. His breathing was ragged and he stood over the missing thug. Her eyes traveled downward, taking in the sight. She saw blood seeping through the hand he used in an attempt to apply pressure, but it did little to prevent a crimson puddle growing beneath him.
Silently she approached them, pink eyes watching the writhing man choke on his own blood. She stopped when she was standing next to her brown-haired teammate.
"Aren't you going to finish it?" she asked him, tilting her head to the side.
Akihiro turned to look at her with his wide dark brown eyes, the slightest hint of fear hidden inside them.
"What do you mean?"
She motioned to the dying man.
"Aren't you going to kill him?"
"He's already dying," he replied evasively, unwilling to look at the soon-to-be dead man on the ground.
Kurai looked at him, disappointment growing inside her. He really is nothing like Kisame, is he?
Tsking, her hand gripped the sakura dagger her Father had gifted her with and a moment later the last man was dead and she was her weapon clean to prevent the blood from rusting the blade.
Akihiro only watched her with his dark eyes, bloodied hands trembling.
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After the thugs' attack, Ao decided that it would be best if he went scouting ahead, leaving his students to watch over the client.
Or, more appropriately speaking, leaving his students to harass the client.
"So, who are you?"
"Yasushi Eto."
"And what do you do?"
"I'm a merchant"
"What do you sell?"
"Many things"
"Like?"
An irritated glare. Kisame only grinned.
"Like clothes."
"What type of clothes?"
"Why do you want to know?"
A shrug. "You're our first escort mission. I'm a little curious about you. Indulge me."
"I'd prefer not to."
"Too bad. So, where do you come from?"
"A city."
"What's it's called?"
"Utakashi City,"
"Where is it?"
"In Mizu no Kuni."
"How long have you been away from there?"
"Some years now."
"Is your entire family from there?"
"Yes."
"Why are you traveling to Zenpaku Town then?"
"I'm going there to do business."
"With who?"
"People."
And on and on it went, Kisame interrogating (because that couldn't be classified as a polite conversation) their client, who grew more and more annoyed with the boy's endless questions, until the man was on the edge of standing up to follow Ao, possible danger be damned.
"I feel kind of sorry for him."
Kurai turned her head to look at Akihiro, who was watching Kisame and Yasushi's interactions.
"Who?"
"Eto-san. Who would want to be interrogated by Hoshigaki?"
She looked again at her friend and their client. Yasushi was already red in the face, his light blue eyes narrowed in annoyance as Kisame asked if he had a family (he didn't).
"I get your point," she acknowledged him.
"Do you know why Kisame's so interested in him?"
Kurai nodded her head sadly. "He's bored. Annoying Eto-san is just a way to kill time"
"Ah. Still, Eto-san looks very distraught. Shouldn't we go save him?"
Before she could say anything, Ao returned.
"Good news," their sensei said. "We have just more half a hour of walk to reach Zenpaku Town, with no dangers ahead. So I suggest you all fill your canteens and do your businesses because we won't make any stops until we reach the town. Pack up everything and let's move on."
Yasushi looked incredibly relieved by Ao's return, and stuck with him the entire time they were packing things up, staying as far away from Kisame as possible. That seemed to bring a great deal of amusement for the boy, who wouldn't stop sending Eto smug smirks.
Kurai just sighed at it all
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Like Ao had said, they reached Zenpaku Town after another half a hour, and Kurai couldn't be any more glad. She was tired of Kisame's incessant questions towards Yasushi.
Looking at Ao and Akihiro's faces, she wasn't the only one.
"Very well. We will stay here for a few more days to rest and make sure Yasushi-san is safe. Then you three will go back to Kiri," their sensei said after leading them to the local inn.
"And what do we do while we wait?" Kisame asked unhappily.
"I don't care, as long as you don't cause any problem" was Ao's dismissive reply.
Kisame gave the man a scowl. "You're a shitty sensei, did you know that?"
"I'm an excellent sensei."
"You are not."
"I'm still your teacher who can order you to run a thousand laps around this town. On your hands."
That quickly put a stop to Kisame's complaints.
Kurai stared at her jounin teacher. "You are a cruel, cruel man."
Surprisingly (or not so surprisingly now that she thought about it), Ao smiled at her. "I know," he said proudly.
And then he was gone, leaving them behind in their room at the inn.
Sighing once more, Kurai went to one of the two beds and began to sharpen her kunais, imagining all the better things she could be doing with her Father at home.
Meanwhile Kisame stared at the closed door for some minutes before marching out of their room with a determined expression.
Almost instantly, Kurai felt a chill run down her spine. She had a very bad feeling growing in her stomach while she watched Kisame leave the room.
Whatever it was that he planned on doing, Kurai should probably go and try to do some damage control.
Without saying anything to Akihiro, she jumped off the bed and followed after Kisame, her dagger securely strapped to her waist. Behind her, Akihiro gave the bed a longing look before coming after her silently.
Internally, she sighed. Couldn't Kisame stay put for more than a minute?
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"What are you doing?!"
The half shouted, half whispered exclamation made all three gennin freeze and strain their ears trying to see if the noise had attracted any unwanted attention. When it was clear that no one was coming their way, Kurai went back to drill holes into Kisame's head.
"What do you think you're doing, Kisame?!" she whispered furiously, pink eyes burning with rightful indignation.
The blue-skinned boy didn't even had the decency to appear ashamed. He stared back at her boldly, hands still rummaging through the backpack.
Eto Yasushi's backpack.
Behind her, Kurai heard the by-now-familiar sound of Wazashi's long-suffering groan.
"Investigating," Kisame answered lazily.
"'Investigating'," she repeated blankly. "Tell me Kisame, have you ever heard of a little something called 'client's confidentiality'?"
"Can't say I have."
She growled. "What about 'privacy', have you heard that one?"
"Chill, Sukoshi. I'm just trying to figure out why Eto is lying to us."
That made Kurai stop. Akihiro asked what was in her mind. He sent the younger boy a confused glance.
"What do you mean?"
Kisame casted a disdainful look at their teammate before turning to look at her.
"He told us that he's a merchant selling clothes and searching for business. But what type of merchant travels without their goods? Furthermore, he told me that he didn't have any family, but then what is this?"
He shoved a piece of paper at her face before she could utter another sound. Holding it away from her face, she took a look. Akihiro leaned behind her to see what the paper was about as well.
Kurai was looking at a photo, she saw instantly. It was what appeared to be a family picture with seven people in it. An elder couple with white hair and age lines on their faces stood next to each other holding hands. Another couple, younger this time, also stood holding hands, with the woman holding a baby to her bosom, who was waving it's chubby hands in the photo. In front of the woman, a little girl younger than Kurai was scowling at another boy who appeared to be her older brother and was making faces to the baby in the mother's arm. But it was the man standing next to the mother that drew Kurai's attention.
He was tall and lean, with light blond hair and even lighter blue eyes, a soft expression on his aristocratic features and a small smile... Though his hair was now cropped short and painted dark brown, they eyes and face were still the same, and Kurai easily identified the man she had traveled with for two days now. It was Eto Yasushi, their client.
"Well," Akihiro began from behind her, scratching the back of his head uncomfortably. He had obviously seen what she had, but still appeared unwilling to accept it. "Maybe they are dead, and he didn't want to speak about them?"
Kisame only rolled his eyes at Wazashi. "Look at the date behind it. Unless his entire family died barely four days ago and his mourning period ended as soon as it began, I don't think he was speaking the truth."
Kurai turned the photo around and, surprise, surprise, Kisame was right. The date was of four days ago, and someone had also written the location where the photo had taken place. Midori District, Utakashi City.
Kisame turned around and pulled a map out of Yasushi's backpack, laying it on the ground and spreading it so that all of them could see. He pointed a blue finger at a black dot labelled 'Utakashi City'.
"The journey between Utakashi City and Kirigakure lasts, at the very least, three days, so he was probably out of the city as soon as the photo was taken. Which begs the question, why would he lie about his family, or about the fact that he hasn't been in Utakashi for years when he clearly was there to take a photo with his supposed non-existent relatives? What is he hiding?"
Kurai looked at Kisame. The only time when she had seen him so excited was when a fight was about to break out. She didn't know what to do with that gleam in the boy's dark eyes. If it was about a fight she would let him have his way and break some bones to his heart's content.
But the problem was it wasn't about a fight. Kurai couldn't let Kisame have his way about the matter, they could be meddling with things that should be left well enough alone. Who knew why Yasushi was lying? The answer to that question could bring troubles bigger than what they could handle.
Probably seeing that she was indecisive about the matter, Kisame spoke, trying to convince her.
"Come on, Sukoshi. This is the most exciting thing that has happened to us in over a month. Playing with the other gennins was fun for a while, but it didn't last. This though, I know we will enjoy this."
"Why do you want to investigate the guy's life?" Akihiro interrupted, frowning heavily at the other boy. "Why are you so invested on it?"
Kisame probably wouldn't bother answering Akihiro had he not seen her face. She too wanted to know why her friend seemed so intent in finding out the truth about Eto Yasushi.
"Because he lied to me. To us. And I want to know why."
Akihiro stared at Kisame disbelievingly.
"Because he lied to you? That's your reason? Only because some guy that is virtually a stranger decided to lie to you, a kid that he has never met before?! That's it?!"
Kisame scowled at the brown-haired boy. "You don't understand. I didn't expect you to."
While Akihiro spluttered and grew red in the face, Kurai glared at Kisame.
"I hate liars. I hate them."
Kisame's words from what seemed centuries ago, but was actually just a little over a year, came back to the forefront of her mind. She got what he was trying to say, even if only a little.
Kurai sighed, drawing the attention of her two teammates who appeared to be ready to jump at each other's throat at a moment's notice.
"Alright," she whispers, part of her dreading what they were about to do while the other part struggled to contain her growing excitement. "Let's do this."
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They find a letter hidden at the bottom of Yasushi's backpack.
T.K, it read.
I must remind you that he has not forgotten the insult your brother has given him. All the preparations to ensure you and your family's survival have already been taken care of. Go to the place we discussed in our last letter and await the next orders.
Y.
Simple and to the point, without mentioning any names, be them a person's name or a location.
Almost absentmindedly, Kurai traces the brush strokes that form the letter 'Y'. She knows those lines. She knows this penmanship. How could she not, when it was those words that helped her learn how to read and write?
"Otou-sama..."
"What? What does Yagura have to do with this?" Kisame's waves a hand at the short letter, and the grimace that takes place on his face at the mention of her Father makes obvious his less than positive feelings towards Yagura.
"He wrote this. I can recognize this penmanship anywhere."
"So your dad knows Yasushi-san?" Akihiro frowns at the piece of paper before sending her a questioning look.
Kurai nods, her finger still tracing the brush strokes. A lonely pang goes through her heart. How long has it been since the last time she and her Father spent an evening inside his small and cozy office, reviewing her handwriting and works, receiving praises and scolding, all lightened by the fact that they were in their sanctuary, their haven, the one place where they could relax and spend time as father and daughter.
She misses those times. She misses them so very, very much.
"I don't think he knows Eto Yasushi," Kurai points at the top of the letter, T.K. "I think he knows T.K. Whoever T.K is, Eto Yasushi is only an alias, a false identity."
"So I was right. He is lying to us!" Kisame grins sharply, sending an unbearably smug look at Akihiro, who only frowns heavily.
"I think Ao knows the truth. That's probably why he told us that we will spend some days here. To make sure that T.K (aka Yasushi Eto) is safe," Kurai concludes, setting the letter aside and watching as Kisame carefully put it back where it belonged.
"Now that we know that our client is lying to us, what are we supposed to do?"
Kurai thinks about it. The most logical decision would be asking Ao, but she didn't know the consequences of what that could entail. What if what they had discovered was confidential information only privy to selected individuals? Again, a part of Kurai nagged at her, telling her that it would be best to forget about it all and continue to act like before. She shook her head; by now she was too curious to back down. She wanted to know the truth.
Before anyone could offer a course of action, a sound outside the room caught their attention. Eyes widening, Kurai quickly signalized to the other two to hide before doing the same, using chakra to climb the walls and sticking herself to the ceiling.
Seconds later, Eto Yasushi came into the room, his light blue eyes immediately noticing his open bag. Frowning to himself, he slowly made his way over, searching for something in the bag. Apparently not finding anything new, he went to the open window, looking around before closing and locking it. Kurai watched it all from her position, praying he didn't look up and spot her.
After three tense minutes, Yasushi, still frowning to himself, walked out the room. It wasn't until she heard his footsteps walking down the inn's stairs that she allowed herself to let out a deep sigh and fall from the ceiling. At the same time the soles of her feet touched the ground, her brown-haired teammate rolled away from under the room's single bed.
She frowned at him. "Where's Kisame?"
Akihiro pointed at the closed window.
Eyes wide, Kurai ran to the window, unlocking and opening it. She looked up, down and at the sides, but there was no sign of Kisame.
"Where..."
A loud growl and high-pitched yelp caught her attention, and she looked down at the dumpster flat against the inn's side. The lid of the trash can was thrown open and a street cat came flying out like a bat out of hell, screeching loudly. A moment later Kisame, face all red and displaying claw marks, emerged from all the trash, gasping and coughing like a drowned man, and cursing just like a sailor.
"I F****** HATE CATS!"
Kurai leaned against the window sill and let out a relieved sigh.
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They followed Yasushi out of the inn, and spent the next hour watching the man wander about the village seemingly aimlessly. Kurai thought that Kisame was going to explode soon if Yasushi didn't do something remotely exciting in the next five minutes.
"You need to calm down. You will blow our cover if you don't stay still. Do you want him to notice he's being followed?" Kurai hissed at him, careful not to draw Yasushi's attention.
Kisame threw her a frustrated glare. "He's done nothing in over two hours! How are we supposed to find out the truth if all he does is talk with random people and waste his money on food?"
"Maybe if you have some more patience..." Akihiro trailed off in an indignant squawk when Kisame flipped him the bird.
Kurai looked at him amazed. "Where did you see that?"
He shot her a grin. "Drunk bar fight. The big one completely obliterated the man who did this to him. That's how I learned that, whatever it means, it was probably very offensive,"
"Can we go back to the matter at hand?!" Their teammate hissed, subtly pointing at Yasushi, who was walking again.
"He better be doing something interesting now..." her blue-skinned friend mumbled to himself.
"It seems that your wish is about to be granted Kisame," she drawled.
Ao had appeared beside Yasushi, and was subtly herding him to a path that was definitely not leading back to the inn.
"Finally," Kisame let out a relieved sigh. "Now we can demand some answers"
Akihiro wet his lips and spoke up before any of them could move. "You know guys, we could still back off, right? I can still pretend we know nothing-"
Kisame turned away from the brown-haired boy. "Stay if you want Wazashi. I'm going," he gave her a look. "What about you? Going to back off like a frightened little kitten like our illustrious teammate?"
He was teasing her, dangling a piece of meat in front of her face that screamed 'Bait!'. She knew that. But Kurai couldn't resist the challenge present in Kisame's voice, she simply couldn't.
And he knew that.
She lifted a brow at him. "Do you have to ask?"
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They were stopped from going any further by a woman.
A very... strange woman.
She saw in the corner of her eye the way Kisame stiffened beside her, and his dark eyes became guarded and wary.
The woman was on the short side and appeared to be in her mid-twenties with a fully developed body. Her hair was a silvery gray that shone under the daylight, and with her delicate features she looked like a beautiful angel that had come down from Heaven.
But then you would look at her eyes, and know that she was no angel. And if she was than she had fallen from grace a long time ago.
The woman's eyes were red. Not just red, but the color of freshly spilled blood, redder than her own Sharingan, redder than anything she has ever seen before. Those were eyes that shone in the darkness, eyes of monsters that lurked in shadows. In those demonic, blood-red eyes, Kurai could see the fiery pits that had to have come from Hell itself.
That was what Kurai thought of when she saw those eyes. It seemed like she was staring at a giant pyre where a thousand souls were burning and wailing.
What type of human being had such torturous eyes?
The woman looked at her as though she knew... everything. Everything about her; from the circumstances of her birth all the way to the awakening of her kekkei genkai, up to the Graduation Exam and beyond. Every detail, every moment, she could see it all behind those strange, unnerving fiery red eyes.
Kurai immediately hated the woman blocking their way. She disliked anything that reminded her of the Sharingan, and that woman did that and so much more. She made her think about things she would rather not dwell on. She made her remember things she never wanted to be reminded of.
(A car speeding up on a bridge, cold water forcing its way into her lungs, the sensation of burning and she couldn't breathe, just could not breathe. And then there is only darkness before light fills her vision, the sounds of a baby's wails, and peoples' shouts surround her- Now she stands in a clearing and she's drowning once more, and it burns again- My name is Elyse- I am Kurai; Kurai!- An arena filled with scared and damned children and the blood- so much blood, so much- falls on the muddy ground- a light blue-haired man standing near a wall made of glass with brown eyes that reminded her of the cold bite of Death- A man standing in front of her, grinning maniacally with half of his face melted off and he's pulling at her clothes, wanting to touch her, hurt her, make her scream, and there's a burning in her eyes that aren't from the unshed tears before rage clouds her vision and she snaps her red, red eyes open-)
Kurai blocked the memories and shoved them into the deepest corner of her mind she could find before glaring hatefully at the woman. Who the hell was she?!
"Who are you, lady?" Kisame asks the question in her mind. There is an edge in his voice that tells Kurai how unnerved he has become with the woman standing in front of them. He too, had seen her eyes.
The woman tilted her head to the side and let out a soft sigh.
"Just a friend, Hoshigaki-san. I'm here to make sure that you and Kurai-chan don't end up into problems you two can't handle."
Kurai narrows her eyes. "You say that you are a friend. And yet, you seem to be the only one that knows our names while we remain in the dark. Answer the question. Who are you?"
Red eyes clashes into pink and Kurai has to struggle not to accidentally activate her Sharingan. She has never felt the urge to do so as strongly as she does now, not even during the Exam, with all that death and fear.
"As I said, I'm a friend. You need not know my name. All you need to know is that you can trust me."
"How can I trust in someone I don't know?"
"The same way you decided to trust and serve a man that simply gave you a name."
No. Impossible. She did not just say that.
But she had, and Kurai can feel the blood in her face vanish, leaving her pale and shaking. No one knew that apart from her, her Father and Kisame. No one.
So how could a woman they have never seen in their lives before know about that?!
"Do not fret child. Your secrets will always be safe with me. I will take them to the grave," she smiled crookedly, as if there was something funny within the sentence.
"Who. Are. You?" Kurai hisses, hand going to her dagger. She sees the woman's red eyes follow the movement and watches the way many emotions fly through her face, all of them too fast for her to discern. But she's sure she saw something that can only be described as a deep, deep longing. She doesn't know what that means and a part of her is afraid of finding out.
"If I give you a name, will you promise to leave this place, return to your inn, and forget about the letter you found in Toranosuke-san's bag?"
'Toranosuke'?, she thought. That must be Yasushi's true name. But then, what does 'K' stands for? A family name probably.
But there were so many beginning with that letter. Which one was his?
"If you also tell us who Yasushi Eto truly is and why I found a letter in his bag, then yes, we have a deal."
Kisame looks at her sharply but she shushes him before he can contradict her. She wants to find out who this woman is more than unveiling some dark truth of Yasushi/Toranosuke's life.
"As I'm sure you've discovered, Yasushi Eto is only a fake, a disguise created to shake off anyone trying to track down the man behind the mask. Kimura Toranosuke, the head of the Kimura Family after his brother's death, is running away from Mizu no Kuni. He and his brothers are the nephews and the only male heirs of Miyagi Shuuha, otherwise known as the Water Daimyo. Consequently, both of them received a large quantity of the many islands around Kirigakure. Your Sandaime Mizukage wanted them to sell their lands to Kiri, or at the least let the village's shinobi build establishments there. Toranosuke and his brother refused."
"Why?" Kisame asks, interrupting the woman.
"Because the islands belonging to the Kimura Family are one of the most fertile in the whole of Mizu no Kuni, much more than Kiri's Island will ever be. Hiyasu wanted to steal the control from the Daimyo's family, so that the Mizukage of Kirigakure and his clan would have unlimited access to the rich lands."
"But what about the rest?" Kisame again interrupted, raising his brow. "You said the Mizukage and his clan. What about the rest of the ninjas? What about the hundreds of orphans that goes hungry every day?"
The woman gave the boy a levelled look. "Do you think Kaguya Hiyasu cares anything about orphans?"
He gapes at her and then his mouth closes with a loud click. Kurai watches, morbidly fascinated, as Kisame slowly becomes an odd mix of blue and red, not quite purple, but stuck somewhere in the middle.
Either way, there's no confusing the anger on his face.
"That bastard-"
"Kisame," she stops him before he can go on a full rant. Kami knows that she wouldn't be able to stop him if he got to that point. "You can curse Hiyasu tomorrow. Right now, we have other things to worry about." She turns to look at the woman. "So this is why he lied to us? To escape from Hiyasu's wrath? Does Ao know?" Does my Father?
The woman cocked a silvery-gray eyebrow. "Ao was specifically tasked with this mission from his leader."
She said 'leader', Kurai thought nervously. Not Mizukage.
Father... Is this leader you?
The dark-haired girl shook her head. Maybe she was just over thinking things. And maybe the pigs would start flying tomorrow. She glared at the red-eyed woman.
"What happens to Toranosuke after this?"
"He will enter a ship that will sail him to the Land of Iron, where he will meet with the rest of his family. Hiyasu won't send any of his ninjas there. He knows better than to try."
"There's still something I don't get it," Kisame waves his hand at her and himself. "Why would Ao be assigned a mission as important as this one when he has a gennin team to look after? What if we had let Yasushi die while he was away?"
"Don't you understand? It was a test, to see how far you could go."
"A test?" he repeats doubtfully. "From who?"
The woman only turns to look at Kurai.
Father..., Kurai thinks, but says nothing. There is nothing more to say.
But.
The woman was walking away.
"Wait! You still haven't told us your name."
The red-eyed woman turned and smiled at her sardonically. "Persistent little thing, aren't you?"
"Ha! You have no idea..." Kisame trailed off when he felt her glare on him and meekly lowered his head to stare at something truly fascinating on the dirty ground that had suddenly caught his attention.
Satisfied, Kurai turns back to glare at the woman before grounding her teeth at the older female when the silver-haired woman looked close to walking away without answering her question. "We had a deal."
"And I always fulfill my end of a bargain. Very well. I told you I would give you a name, and that is exactly what I will do." The crazy woman pointed at her with her index finger and a demented grin. "From this day forward, I name you Shira!"
Utter silence. Even the breeze seemed to stop around them.
And then Kisame doubled over laughing, tears streaming down his face while Kurai's dumbfounded brain struggled to catch up to what the red-eyed woman said.
When her brain finally did, her face grew warm and she knew that everyone on the street could see her blushing, which only made her angrier, prompting her face to turn even more red. With an angry shout, the girl jumped ahead, her hands itching to grasp the woman's pale neck, only to stop short when she realized that there was no one there.
She had disappeared.
Kurai's scream of rage could be heard from kilometers away.
.
.
"So, how did you end up re-named?"
"I don't want to talk about this."
"Ah, come on Shira-chan~! It's not so bad! Better than 'Kurai' anyway, though it's still subpar to 'Sukoshi'."
The dark-haired girl gritted her teeth and fumed in silence. Two days had passed and not once did Kisame stop calling her 'Shira-chan'. Never had she thought that she would one day miss him calling her 'little one', but she now knew she preferred to be called a midget instead of 'Shira-chan'.
Kurai could still feel her blood boil at the mere thought of that silver-haired woman. The girl swore she would stab her in those damned eyes next time she saw her, even if the woman was there to offer free information again. And wasn't that suspicious anyway, giving free info for two kids she had never met before? Or at least two kids that had never met her before, if her earlier words could be believed, which was something Kurai doubted. What reason would the silver-haired woman have to tell them the truth?
And if she really was telling the truth then that meant that their Mizukage was threatening the lives of royalty. He was willing to go against the Water Daimyo, commit treason for something that wouldn't even benefit Kiri as a whole, but intended only for himself and his clan. If that didn't say something about that Kaguya bastard they had the misfortune to call their Kage, she didn't know what did. And then there was that tiny little fact of her Father's role in all of this. What was he doing going against the man who held the title of the most powerful ninja in their village? The same one that could lock him up in a tiny, dark cell for the rest of his life if Hiyasu happened to be on a particularly good mood?
There were just questions upon questions piling in her mind and Kurai was starting to get a terrible headache. She preferred to, as always, blame Kisame for it. After all, it had been his idea to investigate their client. If it had been left to Kurai, they would have stayed clear of Yasushi, or Toranosuke, or whatever the hell his true name was, received their payment and go back home.
But no, they simply had to because they were bored!
Kurai cursed herself for going along with that blue idiot.
Kisame's taunting voice pierced her thoughts. "Shira-chan, what do you think your dad will say when he learns about your new name?"
A knock on their room's door made all three gennin snap to attention and the next moment Ao strode in, unwittingly saving Kisame from a carefully-aimed kunai at the back of his head.
"What's up, sensei?" Kisame waved a one hand in greeting.
"Pack up your things and go to your beds. You will head back to Kiri at first light tomorrow, and I don't want anyone complaining about lack of sleep," their jounin teacher ordered, half-lidded blue eyes staring at them.
That caught Kurai's attention and she asked "So our mission's over?"
Ao nodded at her and the pink-eyed girl let out a relieved breath. By this time tomorrow they would be back in the village and she could forget everything about this mission.
Or so she hoped anyway.
Too bad that her hopes were crushed barely a hour later.
.
.
Kurai woke up with the unmistakable feeling of an unknown chakra signature tickling at her senses. She would have moaned in despair if she didn't have to worry that it could draw the enemy's attention to her.
Whoever the person was, they were in the hallway and Kurai took the chance to slowly roll out of her bed and tiptoe towards Kisame's, stopping on the way to gently shake a sleeping Akihiro, who after being booted out of the second bed by their other teammate, had to content himself in spending the night on the floor.
Akihiro's startled brown eyes snapped open but a hand over his mouth stopped him from making any noise. After getting a inquisitive look from him, Kurai used the hand signs to spell out 'enemy-nin'. The boy grew pale but nodded and, together, they went to wake up the last member of their team.
After silently informing Kisame of the situation, Kurai told them her plan.
"No."
The dark-haired girl suppressed the urge to groan. They couldn't afford to waste any time!
"Kisame, it's necessary. I go there, confront the enemy, and you and Akihiro come from behind to take him out. I just have to be the distraction."
"You are you going to be the bait, you mean. We don't know who this guy is or how strong he might be. He could kill you the second he notices you."
"This is not up for debate Kisame. Unless you have a better plan, we are doing this my way," Kurai finally hisses, losing her patience and silently walking towards the door, ignoring Kisame's dark scowl.
Thankfully, neither Akihiro nor Kisame tried to stop her. They knew that the extra noise could attract the enemy's attention, so they stayed back while she opened the door wide enough for her to pass through.
The corridor was dark, which didn't surprise Kurai since it was the middle of the night. She crept down the hallway, feeling for the unknown chakra. The ninja was just at the corner, and Kurai felt her heart increase in speed when she realized that the chakra signature came from right outside their client's room.
Was this shinobi an assassin sent by the Mizukage? But how could they have discovered the truth behind the mask of Eto Yasushi so quickly?
Deciding to throw all caution out the window, Kurai sped up and turned the corner, jumping on the wall and using focusing chakra to the soles of her feet to allow her to stick. She avoided a barrage of kunais aimed straight for her. Snarling, she ran towards the masked man, launching her own weapons at him along the way, not surprised when all of them missed. Running faster, she used the momentum to launch herself to the air, aiming a kick at him.
The man jumped back to avoid her leg before sending a punch to her face. Barely managing to dodge it, Kurai bent low and, charging chakra to her hand, sent a punch directly to his ribs. Her lips twisted in satisfaction when the man stumbled back with a gasp escaping his throat. She may have bruised more than one of his ribs. A little more and she would break something.
The small moment of satisfaction had cost Kurai. The next second she was sent flying down the hall, hitting the end wall hard from a strong punch to the stomach. Her head and back hurt terribly and she could feel blood in her mouth from where she had bitten her tongue on impact with the hard wood. Blinking, Kurai was disoriented for a second. She rolled herself away from her sitting position, just in time to avoid having her body pierced by multiple shuriken. Wincing as she righted herself, Kurai fell back on her starting taijutsu stance, pink eyes narrowing in suspicion when the man just stood still in the middle of the corridor.
Where the hell were Kisame and Akihiro?
Just then the man fell forward with a heavy and undignified 'thump!', falling face-first on the ground with a senbon sticking out of the back of his neck. Kurai looked up, and she really shouldn't have been surprised to see a grinning Ao behind the man, waving merrily at her.
"You're late, sensei," she bit out, spitting a mouthful of blood. She was surprised that all the noise hadn't woke Yasushi up, but then again the scuffle had only lasted few minutes. He could have decided to simply ignore the sounds and returned to sleep.
"I'm never late," her sensei chided her gently. "I was just waiting to see if you would need me. Which you didn't till the very end. You did good, Kurai-chan."
The girl didn't know why exactly, but his words made her feel unbearably proud for a moment.
Then she remembered something.
"Where are Kisame and Akihiro?"
"Currently they are in a Genjutsu where Kisame-kun's still trying to convince your illusion not to go alone against the unknown enemy."
She held up a hand. "Wait, wait. You're telling me that the boys have been in a Genjutsu since before I left the room? And you were the one who casted it?"
"Aa. I wanted to see how well you three would fare against this man. Of course, I had to intervene a little otherwise Kisame would have eventually alerted the enemy with all his protests. They've been in there for almost two minutes now. I'm a little disappointed actually. Have you three not learned anything from me?"
She gave him a deadpanned look that spelled out exactly what she thought about that question.
"The only thing you've taught us is how to dodge senbons."
"And not even that you learned! If you had paid attention you would have been able to avoid that punch," Ao pointed out dryly.
Rebuked, the young kunoichi lowered her head. Ao was right. If she hadn't got so cocky she could have seen that fist coming from a mile away and been able to avoid it. She would have to return to her rigorous training pre-Academy Exam if she wanted to get any better. Obviously months of doing D-ranks and wandering aimless around the village did nothing good to her spatial awareness.
Then Kurai groaned and burrowed her face in her hands. If her Father heard about her doing such a rookie mistake as getting over-confident...
As if reading her distressed thoughts (or perhaps seeing the way her face paled considerably), Ao said while smirking evilly. "I'm sure Yagura-san will be simply elated to hear about this."
He cackled and Kurai wanted to cry.
She was so dead.
Speaking of dead people...
Kurai, desperate to avoid thinking about her Father's punishment when she went back home, pointed at the unmoving body resting at Ao's feet. "Is he dead?"
The smile her teacher sent her was as much radiant as it was creepy.
"What do you think?"
A cold feeling went down her spine and she shook her head. If the man was dead than there was no more threats coming from him. If he wasn't...
Well, looking at Ao's brilliant smile it was better not to ask what was going to happen to the man if he was unlucky enough to still be breathing. Sometimes Kurai forgot that her teacher was a ninja of Kirigakure. She really shouldn't forget that fact so easily. It could end up being the death of her.
The next morning there was no sign of the man (dead or alive) and both her and the boys had enough sense not to ask, though that didn't stop Kisame from giving Ao the stinky eye. He had not liked a bit discovering that he had been trapped in a genjutsu for half the night when Ao decided that it would be best to let the boys try to break away from it by themselves.
It took a long time, and neither of the boys managed to have a good night's rest. So now they looked more like cranky zombies than ninjas. Though she would never admit it to his face, it was a little funny seeing Kisame's hair sticking out in all directions with black circles around his eyes that made him resemble a disgruntled blue panda.
Really, really funny.
Kisame turned to look at her oddly when half formed snorts of laughter tried to claw their way out of her mouth.
.
.
"Thank you for taking care of me. Your efforts to keep me safe are very much appreciated," Yasushi Eto (or Kimura Toranosuke , if that creepy red-eyed woman was to be believed) beamed at them, bowing his head slightly.
"Are you sure you don't want us to see you off to the ship? We can afford to waste some time for that," Ao pointed out helpfully.
Their client only shook his head. "No, no. Your mission was to escort me to Zenpaku Town and the ship won't sail for another week. From then, I'm on my own," and then he said much more quietly, shooting discreet glances around their small group. "Your Mizukage was very clear about that."
Team Thirteen's jounin sensei still looked resolute.
"I have my own orders, Eto-san. I will stay. My team is capable enough to go back to the village without me to guide them."
"No, no, no, Ao-san. You truly don't need to. I appreciate all the help you and your... leader has given me but I-".
And on and on it went, like a tennis match, each trying to out stubborn the other.
Kisame resisted the urge to snort and instead looked around the street, hands behind his back. They were standing at the town's main gate at an unholy hour of the morning, the time any sane person would be asleep in their warm and comfy bed, proved when the boy saw how few people were milling about.
The young Hoshigaki had to suppress another yawn, and, irritated, turned to glare at the responsible one for his less than pleasant mood. He had spent half the night trapped in a genjutsu, and when he finally got to sleep (after making sure that his Sukoshi was alright, of course), he had been shaken awake by his tormentor (also known as Ao-sensei) less than three hours later.
He knew that ninjas had to adapt to few hours of sleep, but this a ridiculous! They were only gennin with a C-rank escort mission (even with their client turned out to be royalty going into exile).
Really, there was no need to start the sleep-depriving training so early!
Grumbling to himself, Kisame reasoned that at least this mission had been much better than all the previous ones combined. He shouldn't complain so much. Who knows when they will be able to stretch their legs like this again?
Kisame didn't notice the four shadows watching them from atop the rooftops. But he did notice when Sukoshi tensed next to him.
And he definitely noticed when the ground exploded beneath their feet.
Faster than he thought possible, Kisame shot out a hand and grabbed Kurai, before leaping away just in time to avoid being exploded into nothingness. He could feel the fire's heat dancing on his skin just shy from causing serious burns and smoke clouded his senses, making his eyes water and lungs cry out for fresh air. He could hear the few people on the street screaming and he was sure he heard Ao shout at them too.
But Kisame didn't care for any of that, because the only thing he cared about was the precious girl crushed tight against his chest and he looked down to make sure that his Sukoshi was safe only to stare horrified at who was in his arms.
Akihiro dazedly looked back at him, brown eyes slightly out of focus as he tried to understand what was going on.
Substitution Jutsu...
Snarling, Kisame threw the shorter boy away from him, not caring when his teammate yelped and landed painfully at the hard ground. Kisame was too focused trying to see through all the smoke.
He felt his heart stop when he saw the small body lying on the rubble.
It was only when he noticed the feeling of chakra and plain wrongness (because his Sukoshi wouldn't die so easily, not this way, she would go to the Shinigami kicking and screaming, just like she had always done in life), that he realized what was happening.
Slamming his hands together, the boy yelled out "KAI!"
Instantly, the genjutsu broke, and Kisame found himself staring at a masked woman.
"Well," he heard her drawl. "That was quick. You like genjutsu boy?"
He snarled, his eyes sweeping in all directions trying to find a head of curly dark hair. Where was she, where was she, wherewasshe?
"I'm more of a physical man, me afraid. You know, up-close and personal? Always thought that those pretty illusions were for people who couldn't pack their punches," he paused for a moment, mentally apologizing to Takara. Sorry Princess. But you really need to better your taijutsu.
It was with satisfaction that he saw the way the woman stiffened at the insult, before drawing out a kunai. "I will show you how 'up-close and personal' I can get, boy."
He smirked as he drew his kodachi from its strap at his back. "Name's Hoshigaki Kisame, miss, also known as Kirigakure no Kaijin. You should know the name of the kid that's going to kill you."
She snarled and went at him at full speed.
Kisame let out a loud and disturbing laugh when their blades crossed.
.
.
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit...
Kisame's going to be so pissed at me after this...
Those were the thoughts running through Kurai's head when the kick caught her solar plexus and sent her kneeling at the ground, gasping for breath. Her hands dug at the hard earth trying to keep herself stable, even when tremors ran through her body. They were at it for more than ten minutes now, and it became increasingly obvious that he had been playing with her up until she managed to dig her dagger on his arm, carving a large jagged, and very painful-looking wound that made his left arm useless. Since then he had came at her with the intent to kill, and though Kurai was ashamed to admit, she barely was able to hold her own against him. Her Father will be so disappointed...
The thought of her Father's reaction to this pitiful show she was putting on was enough to make Kurai grit her teeth in concentration, re-focusing herself into the fight and stubbornly ignoring the pain on her body. Like hell she was going to shame her Father this way, not when he had sacrificed so many days training her to be a kunoichi worthy of being called his daughter.
Not a chance in Hell.
So she launched herself at him, twisting under his hands and legs, lashing out with everything she got. A grim satisfaction rose up in her chest when she saw the way the man winced under every punch and kick she managed to land on him.
She was stalling for time, until Ao-sensei or Kisame appeared so they could dispatch the enemy together but her plans were ruined when the man pinned her to a wall, one of the few that hadn't crumbled when the explosion happened. The sword he had used (and where did that thing came from?!) to pin her to the rock pierced right through her clothes and flesh, leaving her only thankful that it hadn't run through her bone too. Still the amount of blood she was losing was a little worrying.
And this was to be a simple escort mission...
She wanted to laugh so hard at that. A part of her briefly wondered if she was going hysterical.
"Tough luck kid," the man said pitilessly. "But I'm not a jounnin for nothing."
Well, at least she could say that she managed to wound a jounnin when she went to the afterlife. Not many gennin could do that, huh?
She closed her eyes, trying to think of anything that could help her. Her hand was brushing the handle of her dagger. If she could just reach it-
Fast as a viper, the man gripped her hand and twisted, making her give a shout, more surprised than in pain.
The pain came later when she realized that he had broken her wrist. Things were looking grimmer by the second.
Understanding that she would have to save herself or she would really die, Kurai snarled and kicked the man where the sun doesn't shine as soon as he was within reach. While he grunted in agony (it was a fairly strong hit. If he wasn't trying to kill her she would feel sorry for him.), the young kunoichi twisted her body from one side to another, ignoring the way the movement further aggravated the wound. Finally, she managed to grip the handle of the katana and without ceremony, wrenched it out of her shoulder.
Kurai would have fallen to the ground, tired and bleeding as she was, if someone hasn't caught her first.
Looking up, she was ready to thank Kisame and ask sarcastically why he couldn't be there sooner, only for the words die in her tongue.
A head of silver hair with red eyes cheerfully winked at her stunned face.
"No…" she growled.
"Nice to see you so soon again Shira-chan!"
What had she done to deserve this?
The crazy woman gently laid her on the ground before turning to the enemy, who in the meantime, had already recuperated from the crippling pain in his balls. And he looked more murderous than ever. It was also then that Kurai noticed the freaking black and silver scythe strapped to her back. Where the hell did the woman found that thing? It looked wickedly sharp with a decidedly foul aura around it. Kurai felt sick just looking. The scythe reminded her of Suikazan's Samehada, sentient that is, but more… eerie. More malicious, more evil. Simply more than Samehada ever was.
Cold sweat broke across her forehead. What the fuck was that thing?!
The man must have sense it too, because he took a wary step back.
"You shouldn't have done that, ninja-san. Shira-chan is very important."
The masked man snarled and spit on the ground. "And you think I care woman? The civilian I was sent to finish off is also important."
"Aa," she agreed easily. "But not nearly as important as this girl."
And then she attacked.
Now, Kurai lived her entire life, even if it was only seven years so far, in Kirigakure, a place where it wasn't unusual to see a person being tortured just for fun.
And still, she had never seen something quite so brutal in her life.
The red-eyed woman fought like a wild animal, and it wouldn't be much different from the way Kisame fought, if it wasn't for one tiny fact.
While Kisame wasn't usually careless, he did more often than not lost himself in the fight, becoming blind and deaf to anything more than his opponent.
This woman did not.
She fought like a cornered wild animal, but she never let herself lose sight of the surroundings. She never let herself become blind and drunk with all the violence and adrenalin like Kisame and so many others did. She was literally ripping the man apart, and still she appeared completely unmoved by the agonizing pain she was inflicting upon him, like she was just appreciating the scenery instead of dismembering a man with a scythe that seemed to suck all the light from the sun.
It was the most terrifying thing she had ever seen in her life.
Thankfully, it was then that she fainted from the blood loss.
At least she had managed to save Akihiro and Yasushi. Her team would probably still get paid.
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…
AN: So... Reviews?