40 In the dead of night

After such a peaceful night with Hibiki Suigetsu was well-rested and in a good mood. Until he reported to Orochimaru that is.

"I need you to retrieve something for me…"

Those were never good words, he had just gotten home and now he was going to be sent off again. Just his damn luck.

…

Overall Suigetsu had a good trip, sure it took a month to complete but he did get into a few good fights. He was using a sword he 'acquired' from a guy who dared try and mug him from a while back. While he has to be careful about his actions nowadays, so long as it was self-defense most times he didn't get any grief. He got to revel in the blood of his enemies, and go home to Hibiki. This is something he's wanted for a while, and now that he has it, he never wants it to end. Things were peaceful, life was calm and not boring.

He often drifts into daydreams when moving between places, he imagines seeing Hibiki at the apartment, getting scolded for being hurt, and taking a hot bath together. Her cooking was always good, now that she had a home she knew where everything was. It was getting colder recently, he thought of making her Torijiru. He learned how to make it for her. While she was the one who cooked most of the time. He did cook for her too. He loved the look on her face when she ate the food he made for her. Always a bright smile. He loved being welcomed home and welcoming her home.

The village was busy as it was noon. While not as populated as Konoha or Kisagagure, it still had enough people to create soft hums of sound to travel through the air. His memories of Kisagakure got fuzzier with each passing year, but the memories that did stick were of Mangetsu. Odd details were clear in his head, like how his brother would praise him whenever he did well in training but others were a blurred mess. He hadn't thought about any of this before, but now that he has a village again, it was coming back. It felt kind of nice to have a home again, but then again most of these feelings came from Hibiki being here. Hibiki wanted a stable home, so she built one for herself. And now it was not only her home but the home of other lost souls.

Suigetsu finally makes it to the main lab, it's a large circular building built into the cliffside, He casually strolls through the door and deep into the building to find Orochimaru's main workroom. There the man was going through some files hearing the sound of footsteps he looked up.

"Here," he sighed exhaustively as he handed Orochimaru the small pouch he had obtained.

"Ah, excellent." he smiled.

"I've done enough work recently, I'm taking the next damn week off, probably even two." he complained.

"Yes, yes." Orochimaru dismissively agreed as he turned all his focus onto his newly acquired goods.

With the snake man appeased, Suigetsu felt a weight lift off him. Happily, he exited the lab and returned to the streets. He considered getting lunch, but when he saw the administrative office in the distance he couldn't stop his feet from walking towards it.

It shouldn't be too much of a problem to check in with her, Maybe we could even eat together. He thought with a sly smile forming on his lips.

He walked inside the administrative building as casually as he did into Orochimaru's lab. While he didn't come here often, everyone there knew who he was, and scrambled out of his way. They anxiously waited for the frightening man to pass, breathing a sigh of relief before continuing their day. As one of Orochimaru's dogs, he was greatly feared. This did not bother Suigetsu in the slightest. The fear they felt made him feel great, like a powerful predator. Like Hibiki once said, he liked the hunt.

He opened the door to her large office and found her little assistant rushing around the room like a squirrel.

Must be a busy day.

He didn't see Hibiki anywhere in the room, so he grabbed the girl by the collar as she hurried by. She squeaked in surprise,

"Suigetsu, what are you doing here?" She asked.

"Where's Hibiki?"

"She's at the lab, it's time for the monthly consultation with Orochimaru-san." She explained, struggling to get out of his grip.

"No she's not, I just saw the man."

"Oh, then maybe at lunch, although she would have told me, To be honest, I haven't seen her at all today." she thought aloud.

Suigetsu dropped the girl in surprise, Worried he turned and rushed out of the room.

"Don't run in the Halls!" She called out to his back. "Always so rude, I don't know what Hibiki-san sees in him,". Then she turned and got back to work.

The panic in Suigetsu drove him to move at lightning speed. He soon arrived at the apartment door, he pulled out his key and threw the door open,

"Hibiki!" he called.

His eyes searched frantically, She wasn't there,

Where is she? He frowned. Then a flicker of light reflected into his eye. He looked at the source and his blood ran cold. The bed was unmade and more disheveled than it should be, he stepped forward. The normally tidy place had small traces of a mess as if someone attempted to make it seem untouched, but he knew Hibiki kept things neater than this, everything had a specific place so that she could find anything she needed. But everything was off. Cold fear drained the blood from Suigetsu as he spotted the shining object on the floor. He picked it up gently, holding it in his palm. The plain gold oval-shaped locket was cold on the floor, the chain broken. His worst nightmare was coming true.

Somehow he was at the lab again, cold sweat pouring down his face and neck, in one move, he kicked the door down.

"What the fuck? Suigetsu what the hell is wrong with you!" Karin shouted at the sudden disturbance. However, her anger subsided as she saw the look on the idiots face,

"Whats…"

"Have you seen Hibiki?" he pleaded.

Karin's eyes widened, if Suigetsu was this upset something bad was going on. Panic filled her as they both ran out the broken door, scouring the entire village, but came up with nothing. Finally, they came to their last resort, they came before Orochimaru, panting heavily.

"The… snake… " suigetsu gasped.

Orochimaru gave them a strange look, before taking notice of the small locket in Suigetsu's fist. Knowing it belonged to Hibiki, he quickly checks but is quite surprised.

"Hmm it seems someone has killed the snake I had on Hibiki." he tells them. He began to ponder when this took place, surely he would have noticed.

As Orochimaru became lost in thought Suigetsu turned to Karin,

"Where the hell can she be!" he shouted,

"I have no idea, that girl doesn't go anywhere without that locket, so obviously something bad has happened to her!" Karin shouted back.

"Why the hell didn't you do anything about this? Why didn't you protect her!"

"Hibiki does not need a babysitter, she is strong, and with her premonition...she would have told me if something was wrong!"

The two continued their fight that quickly delved into personal insults and accusations.

"I suggest going to Konoha, They could track her scent…" Orochimaru chimed into their heated argument. With urgency and not even the courtesy of saying goodbye the two disappeared. Orochimaru stood in the lab and thought over the possible culprits, there were a few, but none of them had been making any strange movements lately, it had to be some factor he was unaware of. With this knowledge at hand, he wrote a quick letter and sent a snake off with it. If anyone had information about this it had to be him.