Chapter Thirty-Six: Temporarily in Hiding
~Part II~
The sun had long before set, and the moon had made it's mystical appearance over everyone and everything. The light the moon shed was indeed helpful, but it helped both parties, captor and prey. Hidan and Kakuzu hurriedly made their way through stealthily through the forest. They both could sense the strong chakra of everyone from the group. They were no longer running low.
"Damn it!" Hidan swore loudly, not caring who heard him (most of which were just nocturnal animals that took residence in trees). "They used soldier pills or something." For once, Kakuzu didn't bother telling his partner to shut it. In fact, he was actually grateful for the information. "There's one person who's chakra is still low." Kakuzu corrected in a monotone. Hidan gave him a quizzical look in response. "They'll be the weakest, and the easiest to attack."
Hidan finally understood and nodded knowingly. Adventure and malevolent sparkled in his cerise-colored eyes. The Jashinist was not above relishing a good battle. A good, bloody battle to be exact. He stepped forward grabbing his three-bladded weapon that was attached to his back. "How far away are they exactly?" Kakuzu thought it over for a while but failed to answer. He shook the question off, and the two flung ahead through the dark trees.
"Keep your guard up, Hidan. Don't be reckless. Remember what happened with the Nibi?" Kakuzu lectured Hidan, his voice lined with boredom. He couldn't help but feel like a parent. Hidan sneered for a second sneaking a peek at the masked-nin's face. "I thought you said we'd never talk about that again?" Kakuzu didn't answer or didn't even attempt to. So with that, the two traveled on in silence.
"Ouch, damn, shit..." Ritsuki muttered profanity after profanity as he crawled on his stomach through the spiky bushes. 'Gimme a break,' he thought to himself wearily. Only hours before, he had almost lost complete control (okay, he had lost all control) of the Rokubi, he had collapsed, and had been out cold for more than three hours, now, he was still a little tired -not to mention sore- and was being forced to crawl through the bushes with his least favorite person in the world.
"Ritsuki, if it hurts so much, why don't you just crawl on your hands and knees like me? Not on your stomach." Shuuko pleasantly chirped behind the black-haired jinchuuriki. Ritsuki chose to ignore her. But suddenly took a double-take. Making an impromptu jerk of his head, he whirled around to see Shuuko straight in his face. Without a second thought, he slammed her head, face-first, into the ground. "You're supposed to lay low, idiot!" A red-face Ritsuki sputtered.
"Sorry..." Shuuko grumbled through the dirt. Only, it sounded more like "swaree". The two crouched low again and continued crawling through the bushes. It wasn't long before Shuuko began whining. And to make matter worse, crawling through spiky bushes with an open shirt wasn't the best decision.
Elsewhere, Gouta and Killer Bee where having better luck tolerating each other. Why-- because they weren't talking to each other. Jumping through what seemed like millions of trees, Gouta was in the lead.
"I don't feel their chakra as close." Gouta reported the obvious. Killer Bee only nodded. Gouta stopped abruptly on one of the tree limbs and looked around vigilantly. "Something wrong?" Killer Bee asked tweaking an eyebrow. "They turned the other way; they're going east." Gouta reported.
Killer Bee gave him a quizzical look that clearly said 'And who is in the east?' Gouta caught the look and frowned a bit. "That means Ritsuki and Shuuko are in trouble. They're obviously the weakest ones here." Gouta said, noting the fact that Ritsuki was most-likely still wounded, and was the only one who hadn't received a soldier pill. "There's no way Shuuko can protect him herself." Killer Bee thought it over. Even if Shuuko had a bijuu that was one tail stronger than Ritsuki, that didn't mean she was going to use chakra from the Shichibi.
Killer Bee nodded making more sense of the fact and followed Gouta as he turned around rapidly to get to Ritsuki and Shuuko.
Ritsuki didn't seem to be the only one in the forest cussing up a storm. Trouble was tree-jumping as well, in the form of short and silver-haired masochist.
"This is ridiculous! Leader is such a bitch --sending me on mission after mission and letting the other members go on back to the hideout. Why the hell did the bastard even put me with Kakuzu?! He knows we're not compatible!"
The lavender-eyed shinobi continued searching for two weak chakra signatures. So far, he wasn't having any such luck. A while before (it had seemed like ages to the albino), he and his money-loving partner had separating.
Obviously, Kakuzu was underestimating him by giving him the two weakest jinchuuriki. And yet, Hidan hadn't argued-- all that much. Did Kakuzu seriously sell Hidan that short? The Jashinist mused over the thought a while longer until he was taken by surprise.
Tension... light and weak. Not tension-- chakra. He had stumbled on the two jinchuuriki he had been looking for. Lack of his partner's recognition forgotten, a grin pulled on the man's lips. Absently, a hand fell inside his pike. Surprisingly, he was already planning on a surprise attack. First using his pike, then he's make a swift switch to his scythe.
He landed as silently as he could, he stealthy crept around waiting for the right moment to attack.
Shuuko and Ritsuki were still crawling through the brush silently. Both of them were still unaware that they had been spotted (What do you expect? Ritsuki was only half-awake, and Shuuko was just a genin more or less.).
Out of sheer luck alone, a small jab of unfamiliar chakra poked at Ritsuki's senses. Looking around cautiously, he tried to sense where it was coming from exactly. For added effect, the jinchuuriki stopped dead.
"I don't think we're alone anymore." Ritsuki murmured, searching around the bushes. At this, Shuuko brightened a little. However, in Shuuko's mind, the comment was misconstrued. 'So Ritsuki wanted to be alone with me all this time....' Shuuko figured dumbly. That's when and how a large smirk spread across her lips as she scooted closer to Ritsuki. He was unaware. Leaning closer to get his attention, Shuuko let blush cover her cheeks.
The scarlet-eyed girl puckered her lips, and leaned over and kissed her partner on the cheek-- or rather, she would have if a hand hadn't clasped against her mouth. Her eyes cracked open to see Ritsuki was absorbed in figuring out who the strange chakra belonged to. It felt like eternity until Ritsuki finally dropped his hand from her mouth and sighed. "We're safe."
The black-head crept a little further with a disappointed girl close behind. Ritsuki popped a head out of the bushes. In front of him were two pairs of sandals. Those were attached to legs, and that was attached to the silver-haired Akatsuki member. "Shit." Ritsuki inwardly cursed.
Hidan just smirked devilishly. "You had half of your body in your grave as soon as you stepped out of the bushes, bastard."