I'm alive I'm alive, and I would really like to thank all my reviews, alertereds and plane people who read this [but don't review?] anywho anothother chapter and the others storys will be finished, Bujii [sp?] care is being edited accually and Pharaohs hound is underway so...yeah
Don't own Naruto, but I do own Mamoru and Kaisen...
Chapter twenty-one: New Roads
Deep in a cave somewhere in an unknown location black images began to buzz into the air, human like shapes flickered in out as the members of the Akatsuki gathered.
"We've haven't done this in seven years, not sense Orochimaru left the organization" said a large hunched over shape.
The leader, with his grey spinning eyes turned to one of the members who had a pair of familiar red eyes
"Orochimaru failed in gaining your brother, he is still in Konoha."
Itachi just shrugged not showing any other emotion. He tuned them out as they discussed the plans for the Jinchuuriki. After they were dismissed the images faded.
Itachi stretched his stiff arms as he and his partner released the image jutsu. He stood and looked at his blue skinned shark partner. The man grinned showing his sharp teeth.
Itachi turned and walked down the road, placing his straw hat on his head; he and Kisame walked before he sensed something. It wasn't really chakra so they knew it wasn't a person. They walked a couple more minutes, the thing following in the shadows. Just out of sight range.
Itachi and Kisame came to where the woods got thicker and Itachi nodded to his partner, it was a flick of the head, barley even a twitch but the shark man caught it and walked in a separate direction then Itachi. The thing following them went after Itachi.
Kisame went around the trees till he was behind what was following them. Itachi had stopped at the fork in the rode and was pretending to decide which way to go. Kisame walked carefully through the bushes, something white was hunched over in the underbrush watching Itachi. It had pointed ears on its head.
Kisame reached his hand out till it hovered over the animal's neck then with quick reflexes grabbed the animal by its neck and hauled it out of the bushes. The animal squirmed and yelped as he walked over to where Itachi was waiting.
"It's some kind of dog" Kisame said trying to keep the animal from clawing at his chest.
Itachi eyed the animal in Kisame's hand before saying "that's a wolf"
Kisame blinked before dropping the snarling animal
"You let me go and pick up a wolf" the fish man complained eyeing the animal
"And you just dropped her allowing her to have the chance to bite you" the Uchiha said also staring at the wolf.
Kisame blinked and backed up a moment. He noticed something that stood out on her all white fur, a silver band around her back left foot. He gave a grin then hid it and said
"So what are we going to do with her?" Kisame asked
Itachi just turned his back on the she wolf and walked to the left side of the road, Kisame shrugged and followed. A couple feet later Itachi glanced back to see the wolf following. She stopped when he did. He frowned, and while still looking at her, took two steps forward. The she wolf did so as well then stopped. They repeated the process several times till he turned on his heel and stalked up to her. He bent down to her level and activated the Sharingan, full intended to trap her in a genjutus. Red eyes met blue and silence ensued.
The she wolf looked in to his red eyes then her tongue came out of her mouth and she licked his nose. Itachi blinked several times in shock as his eyes turned black again. He stood silently and turned and continued walking, this time the wolf bounded up to his side and walked next to him.
Kisame watched for several minutes before shifting the weight of his sword and walking after them. This was going to be interesting.
Mamoru sighed to herself as she hunched low in the sand waiting. They were on another mission with Kansu and his team. Matsuri had joined them on Gaara's request, she needed practice.
Gaara was somewhere buried under the sand with her. Kankuro to be somewhere out here, but that wasn't her problem; her problem was the waiting. Mamoru was not a patient wolf. Finally something came into the group's radar; it passed over her and she felt the chakra flare that was the signal.
She and the others burst out of the sand near the oasis the caravan had stopped at. There were some wanted criminals hiding in there. Of course being criminals that had never been caught didn't make you smart. The criminals burst from their hiding place ran to attack the ninja. Gaara's sand rose up and wrapped around them preventing them from moving.
As Kansu and his team mate secured the prisoners and Kankuro apologized to the caravan leader, Gaara walked over to her. She was shaking sand form her fur.
"Mamoru" said she wolf looked up at him and an understanding past between mother and child as he pats her on the head.
Kankuro came over, ruining the moment and shouted
"Kami these damn elders, sending us on these… Genin missions so they don't have to name Gaara the Kazekage."
Gaara shook his head at his brother but Mamoru agreed with Kankuro. The elders were afraid that if they gave the title Kazekage to Gaara he would lose control and kill whenever he wanted with no one to stop him; despite the fact he had proven to many people he wasn't like that anymore. She looked out into the desert wondering how Kaisen was doing. She shook her head, she shouldn't be thinking about him.
Matsuri sighed as she tied the knot on the prisoner; she was tuning out his rant and was looking over at Mamoru who was staring off into space. Something about Mamoru made her wonder. A wolf like her normally wouldn't have been able to live in the desert with all that fur. Or be able to keep up with ninja for that matter. But Mamoru pulled if off well. She had heard rumors from the other students that she had always been with Gaara, she was never seen without the boy, or he was never seen without her.
Matsuri found that to be true, where ever Gaara was Mamoru wasn't that far behind.
"Matsuri?" she heard a voice behind her and she looked over to see Gaara.
"Yes Gaara sensei?" she asked
"Are you ready to go?" he asked turning away from her.
"Yes" she said after realizing by turning from her he wasn't able to see her head shake.
He nodded and moved over to where the criminals were being hauled to a walk. She walked forward to when something brushed against her. She looked down and saw Mamoru was walking beside her, looking up at her with intelligent green eyes.
She smiled at the she-wolf whose eyes seemed to smile back. She then ran up to where Gaara was and continued the journey to Suna with him.
Kaisen sat in the sun stretching as Sasuke hit a tree over and over again with his Katana. Kakashi was taking him around the world to different swords man to show him thousands of styles and uses, he was also showing Sasuke some people who used animals as partners, to work on his and Kaisen's partnership skills.
Kaisen gave a yawn and thought about Mamoru in her desert. If he were human he would have blushed, instead he shook his head at his thoughts, there was no need to think those things right now, and he had too much to worry about.
He frowned again, there wasn't much information on Okami Iki's Kakashi could get a hold off, most people really didn't know about the wolf spirits. He also couldn't find anything on the person making the Okami weapons.
He stretched and noticed Kakashi had appeared, as much as he would love to watch those two practice, he needed to check this town for anything. He stood and gave a bark, the two humans looking at him. He nodded and walked off.
The ninja watched him before going back to their training.
Kaisen was walking along the path to a village when he sensed a pack of Okami's except they were smaller than a normal pack.
He branched off and went sniffing through the woods. Finally he found about ten Forest Okami Iki's sitting by a lake.
They all looked up and noticed him. He bowed his head to the leaders and said
"What happened, why you are so small?" he was being blunt but his patience was rubbing thin.
The leader gave him a strange look before saying
"All the Okami Iki's are vanishing"
Kaisen looked surprised
"Where"
Another wolf walked forward, younger than the leader
"We don't know, they go out to hunt and don't come back, we've avoided a few traps ourselves, we think someone is capturing them"
Kaisen frowned, if to many Okami Iki's vanished then…
He trailed off as the Okami Iki leader gave him another look
"Why would a forest Okami of the land of fire be way out here; and why the interest in our packs disappearance?"
Kaisen growled and said
"My reasons are my own, just be careful"
He then turned and fled before they could ask him more about the weapons or about Sasuke, the last thing he needed was Okami Iki uproar. He also knew that some Okami Iki's didn't take to kindly to the ones who left the wild for the humans.
He made it back to the woods his son was at and sat down. No matter what, he was glad he had found something, even if it was small. Someone out there was purposely trapping and capturing the Okami Iki's, the questions that remained were who, and why."
Itachi sighed as he and Kisame stopped at a river to rest. The wolf could keep up with them quite well. He supposes she was going to follow him quite far. Kisame eyed the wolf lapping up the water and said
"You know, if she keeps following us, we are going to have to name her"
Itachi dreaded that, naming something meant creating a bond, and bonds meant attachment, but he nodded anyway. He turned to the wolf that was now looking at him. Her blue eyes were more intelligent than any wolf he had ever come across. She seemed to know who he was, where she was. The silver band on her leg was strange, did it mean she belonged to someone, or did it have some other meaning to it, he had to admit there was something other worldly about her.
He frowned and tried to think of a good name, his thoughts almost strain to happier times before he shook his head. He frowned and looked at the wolf that followed him. He blinked then said
"She is now Teishi, the follower" he said
The she wolfs tail wagged happily and she bounded over and gave the man another lick on the nose. He blinked again and stood, walking off, Kisame behind him.
Kisame made eye contact with the wolf and smiled a smile that said I-know-what-you-are.
She growled at him and her eyes said so-what-are-you-going-to-do-about- it.
The wolf snorted again at the fish boy and caught up with Itachi, her blue eyes sparkling in happiness.
Teishi smiled to herself. She finally confronted the boy she had followed out in the wild sense the horrible night he committed a horrible act to save others. She remembered him fleeing his unconscious brother, leaving Konoha forest and finding some place secluded in the forest. The boy had sat down at a tree, covering in his family's blood, tears in his eyes.
She watched him in the darkness as he screamed and cried and shouted to the sky in utter agony and her heart broke for him. She decided then he would be her human son and she would watch over him. And so she did. She saw that his little brother to had an Okami Iki watching him.
She smiled a bit at that, maybe the two brothers wouldn't be destined to kill each other after all. Her smile vanished as she looked back at the fish boy, he smelled of that man the man who killed Okami Iki's for power.
She growled softly, she would have to keep this one on guard of her. She smiled, and she knew just how to do it to. She licked her lips; this was going to be amusing.
A little bit later, the sun had sat and they were again by river. Itachi watched Teishi catch her meal, a fish. At least he wouldn't have to really provide for the animal, she seemed to be able to take care of herself. He leaned against the tree, staring at her. She seemed familiar to him, like he had seen something similar to her before.
He thought back and could only think of two incidents. One was the night he rather not dwells on, but in the mist of his…break down, he had though he saw a shape in the darkness, a wolf shape. He chalked it up to deprived hysteria illusions and moved on.
The second one seemed to fit more. It was when he went to the village to get the Kyuubi; his brother had shown up, with some kind of wolf with him. The male wolf was all white, went to Sasuke's elbow, just as this she-wolf when to his forearm. The wolf had a green band on its front paw.
He frowned, were the two dogs from a breeding ground that marked gender, or ownership with the bands. That theory seemed farfetched even to him. He shrugged and made a mental note to look up all he could on these white wolves with bands, maybe he would get something.
Teishi watched as Itachi fell asleep next to her. She had crawled up the bank after eating and had lain down next to Itachi. The man eyed her for a few minutes before shrugging and going to sleep. Kisame had the first watch.
Teishi waited till Itachi fell asleep to begin her plan. There was a fire separating her and Kisame. The light made her fur glow, her eyes brighter in the shadows edge.
Kisame felt a shiver go down his spine, he felt as if something was watching him. He looked around before glancing at the wolf asleep next to Itachi across the fire. Only she wasn't sleep, she was the one staring at him.
For what seemed like twenty minutes they stared at each other. Kisame was getting a creepy feeling down his spine. The wolf seemed like she wasn't blinking.
He looked away then back again only to see her still staring. He looked away and looked back to see her still staring at him. He shifted uncomfortably and his hands tighten on his swords handle. He looked away and stayed that way for five minutes before looking back.
She was still staring at him, but she did something else, she licked her lips. He had seen dogs do that when they were hungry and were eyeing something they wanted to eat.
He thought back to her hunt, she had torn through those fish like there was no tomorrow. He shifted again. She didn't think he was a fish did she; that he was on the menu. He looked at her seeing her lick her chops again, a little drool on her teeth.
Kisame came to the couple of conclusions that night. One: Itachi's new pet wanted to eat him. Two: she thought she could, and three: she was going to try. He also knew he would never, could never be alone with this hungry thing.
Itachi awoke for his shift to see Kisame sitting as far from Teishi as he could, clutch his sword like a life line. As soon as Teishi noticed him, she laid her head down and went to sleep. When Kisame went to sleep, he slept as far as possible from the wolf.
Itachi had to wonder, what the hell happened why he was asleep?
Mamoru sighed from her spot on at the training grounds. Matsuri had come earlier to train and was swinging the rope dart. They were both waiting for Gaara. She had come out here earlier than was normal because she wanted time to think.
Before Mamoru could continue her musing, some of Temari and Kankuro's students walked into the area. Mamoru ear's perked up at attention; these people were the ones who thought Matsuri was strange for picking Gaara as a sensei.
"Hey Matsuri" the leader called, he had blonde hair and a head band bandanna over his head.
The girl looked up at him and nodded before rewinding her dart for another throw.
"Where's the weapon" he asked her and Mamoru noticed the very evil look Matsuri gave him.
"Gaara-sensei is not here yet"
She said putting emphases on Gaara's name. The boys grinned at one another
"I don't understand Matsuri?" the boy asked
Mamoru narrowed her eyes at this boy, he and the others hadn't noticed her yet. She raised her head and her ear twitched as she watched.
"What don't you understand" Matsuri said in an annoyed tone.
"I don't understand, why choose our ultimate weapon as a sensei, my dad said he is just monster who kills people and can't be controlled"
Matsuri hurled on the boy and said
"Don't talk about things you don't understand, you don't know Gaara-sensei, so you can't judge him"
Mamoru smiled at the small girl, the boy sneered
"Well my dad says to stay away from Gaara"
"Do you always do what your daddy tells you" the girl said folding her arms and turning away from the boy to keep practicing.
"You know what I think" another one of the boys said "I think she is just as much of a freak as Gaara, only freaks could get along with freaks."
Matsuri picked up her rope dart, her head still held high and Mamoru smiled sadly at her. She took the others torment with dignity. Mamoru looked around; she hoped that Gaara would come soon, before something else happened.
Matsuri turned to the boys and said
"I may be a freak, but you're a jerk and I don't understand how anyone could stand to be around you. If anyone is a monster, it's you guys."
She then turned away from the boys who scowled at her. For the first time she noticed the other boys were holding their hands behind their backs and had bags around their shoulders. She frowned, what did they have in those bags and behind their hands?
The leader growled at Matsuri and nodded to his friends.
The boys finally pulled their hands out from behind their backs, Mamoru frowned in horror. She watched as rocks sailed towards Matsuri, three of them actually hit her. The kids took some small pebbles out of their bags and through them at the girl. Matsuri just raised her arms shielding herself from the rocks. The boys began to call her names like freak, and monster lover, and orphaned.
Mamoru snarled drawing attention to herself. The kids dropped their rocks as she stalked over to them, they stood frozen in fear. Her snarling grew louder and grew into small barks/growls.
Mamoru stood, half of her body over Matsuri who stared at her in wonder. The leader looked a little braver and went to through a rock at Matsuri and the 'demon dog'. The rock sailed through the air but was blocked by a wall of sand in front of her.
About damn time, Mamoru thought as Gaara appeared in front of his student and companion. She looked behind her to see Temari and Kankuro running to where they were.
The boys cowered together as their own teachers walked to stand by their brother. They looked at Matsuri, who's skin was cut open and bleeding then at Mamoru standing over her, and then at the rocks laying on the ground.
"What happened?" Kankuro asked looking at the boys.
Before the boys could stutter out a response, Gaara spoke.
"Leave" he growled out
The boys glanced at his narrowed eyes and took off to the other areas of the training center. Kankuro and Temari stared as Gaara turned to help his student up. The girl winced when his hand brushed her wounds but was otherwise fine. She thanked Mamoru by patting her on the head.
The two narrowed their eyes and stalked off to find their own students. This would not be tolerated.
Once Matsuri was standing, Gaara let go of her, he began to walk away with only one word
"Come". Mamoru and Matsuri ran to catch up with him.
"Where are we going Gaara-sensei?" she asked him.
"To find you medical treatment"
She looked at her cut up arms then back at her teacher
"But they are fine…"
He didn't say anything just kept walking so she had no choice but to follow her sensei.
"Why?" he asked after a moment
She looked confused and asked
"Why what?" she said
He looked at Mamoru before saying
"Why did you not defend yourself, why let them throw rocks at you"
Matsuri seemed to think about her answer before saying
"It would have been a pointless fight; I don't think one should fight unless it is absolutely necessary."
Gaara nodded to the girl as they approached the home he and his siblings lived in. it was an apartment Baki had got for them when they became a team and Gaara couldn't be 'trusted' to live in the same house as the Kazekage.
Mamoru bounded up the stairs in front of them as Matsuri tried to protest again. Gaara ignored her and led her to the kitchen where the medical supplies were located.
"Sit" he ordered her, pointing to a chair.
The woman sighed and sat as Gaara put the medicine on her cuts and bandaged them.
"Thank you Gaara-sensei" Matsuri whispered as Gaara looked up at her.
"For what?" he asked
"For everything you done for me…I think…you would make the best Kazekage Suna's ever seen. Though I probably not the best person to say that as I've only lived in Suna for a couple of years…"
Gaara stared at the girl as she trailed off sheepishly, he nodded and Mamoru noticed his lip twitched in the corner, like he wanted to smiled by didn't remember how. Mamoru stretched from her spot as she smiled at the two talking. Those two…she couldn't put her finger on it, but something…
another Okami added to the mix, maybe more will be thrown in...who knows...review now please