The sun's rays darted through Nagisa's open window as morning took its stand. Fortunately the female was already awake, however she was annoyed and for once it wasn't because her tatami mat didn't have any give under her futon. It had been a couple of days, however she couldn't stop thinking about the rejection she'd been served. How dare he tell her no! She was going to show him that she'd be a valuable asset and that he was wrong for refusing her request.

There was a knock on her door followed by a voice from one of the housekeepers. "Miss Uchiumi, are you awake? You're needed in the family meeting room."

"Coming."

Nagisa breathed a sigh before getting herself together for the day. Putting the matter on the back burner for the time being wouldn't kill her. As soon as this summoning was over, however, she was going to track down that shark man and say a few words of her own.

Leaving her room, the female passed by several corridors before stopping in front of the doors to the main family hall. She could hear her father's voice amongst the elders and, immediately, she felt discomfort radiate throughout her entire body. This would be the first time she'd see her father's face of utter disappointment since the incident. Swallowing her hesitation, she knocked on the door and waited for an answer before walking in.

"Take a seat, Nagisa. How are our guests faring?" One of the elders spoke as she closed the door behind herself.

"They're fine." She answered curtly. At this point, she didn't care how they were doing. The only one that hadn't sparked a negative reaction out of her yet was Hitoshi.

Her father wanted to speak about her attitude, however the elder kept talking, always having been the 'straight-to-business' type. "The reason why we requested you was to let you know that you have an arranged marriage meeting today, so you'll need to get ready. Your prospective partner will be here at noon."

"I already told you what I'm going to do. I'm finding my-"

Chief Enyo stood, ready to blow a gasket, only for the elders to cut him off. "I'd suggest you reevaluate your stance. The clan's future is of the utmost importance. Surely you would know that more than anyone else considering you aspire to be the clan head."

Nagisa frowned at the comments. Why was it that no one was bothering to listen to anything she had to say? Why were the elders so hung up on repopulation? Why was everyone's attitude towards her sister so dismissive?

"We expect great things from you, Nagisa, so represent our clan well. You are dismissed."

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She didn't want to be there and, all in all, she felt a bit defeated.

The makeup was a bit much for her taste. There were one too many pinned curls in her hair. Her kimono was too stuffy and way too hot for the weather. The list running through her head went on and on as she sincerely loathed traditional events. As she walked along the naturous trail, the man beside her carried enough excitement for the both of them.

"Miss Uchiumi, I saw you in your picture, but your beauty in person is unmatched." The male complimented her. She vaguely remembered him saying his name was Fuyu. When they met, he told her that he was a fisherman from Water Country. In her opinion, he was easy on the eyes with short black hair, pale skin, and dark brown eyes.

"Thank you." Nagisa answered politely. He seemed like a nice guy, however she wasn't focused on this meeting at all. It had been a few days since her sister disappeared and it was clear that any source of a trail was disappearing with each minute.

"I heard about your sister, so I know this particular time isn't the best for a marriage meeting, but I don't mind if we start out as friends if that's more comfortable for you." Fuyu stopped walking. "I know the elders were pretty adamant on rushing this, but maybe I could talk to them about possibly postponing and-"

The female stopped walking as well and smiled, the first time she'd done so since the meeting began. "Being friends would be really cool. I'm sorry, but I'm not ready to get married to anyone right now."

"Is there anyone that you have in mind for marriage?" Fuyu asked. "Sorry, I'm not trying to pry. I just wanted to see if I actually had a chance…"

Nagisa frowned as she thought of the question. Honestly, she didn't know and she probably wouldn't have an answer until everything else in her life was in order. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a familiar blue-skinned face. "If you'd excuse me for a moment…"

Fuyu watched as she ran around the corner and disappeared behind some greenery. There was a tuft of dark blue hair that he noticed peeking out from behind the leaves. He didn't know who it was, but he figured whoever it was, it was someone important to her. This probably meant their meeting was over, but honestly, he had known from the first impression that it was over before it had started.

"Hoshigaki-san, have you had any luck with the search?"

Kisame turned from what he was doing to see Nagisa run up to him. He hadn't seen her since that night on the beach and, truthfully, he was happy about that because he almost caved before he rejected her. Now it felt like he was seeing another side of her in traditional wear.

"Not here. I'm going to leave and check the other islands."

"Won't you need a boat?"

"I can just swim over there myself."

"And if you find my sister? You can't carry her and swim back. What about the rest of the girls?"

Kisame frowned as Nagisa stood in front of him adamantly. She wasn't going to let this go and he knew it. "Fine, I'll take a boat." His attention turned to a male who was slowly approaching the two. The female seemed to have noticed too as she nodded to him before grabbing the Kiri-nin's hand and leading him back to her clan's shore.

"I can get you any boat that you like. Would you like something with a sail or would you rather muscle it out with oars?" Nagisa grinned, excited with this change of pace. Kisame let the woman drag him at first before he quickly fell in step with her since his legs were longer. Her hand felt warm as she held onto his and while it was a bit off-setting considering the heat from the weather, he wasn't uncomfortable.

"Whatever is available is fine."

"Nonsense! If that's the case…" She grinned as she stopped on the docks in front of a simple boat with a sail that had a lower level compartment. "I'll have you use the best - my personal boat. She sails pretty smooth on the water, but she's no stranger to rough waves. I call her Lana."

Kisame tilted his head in confusion. "You named the boat?"

"She's not just any boat. Lana and I have been through everything!" Nagisa turned to him seriously. "You'll be thanking her when she saves your butt during a storm. One time when I was out to sea, I-"

"Fine, I believe you." He dismissed her tirade. "Lana should be good." Seeing that their hands were still connected, he tried to pull his out of hers nonchalantly. Noticing this, Nagisa immediately let go with an awkward smile.

"Now since you're using Lana, it's only fair that I get to tag along and-"

"I'm not taking you."

Nagisa narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I already told you I wasn't going to get in your way. What more do you want me to say? You can't keep me from trying to find my sister."

"No one's keeping you from doing anything. You just won't be looking for her with me."

"That's the stupidest reason! Two minds are better than one!"

"Then why can't you choose someone else to be your partner?"

"Because I feel like you're the best choice!"

Kisame was slightly taken aback by her statement. What made her think that he was the right choice for her? He made sure to take a step back from everyone, work by himself, and be blunt with his words. She was stubborn and annoying, but as long as he was in her sight, she was going to be persistent. In conclusion, he needed to finish this up as quickly as possible and disappear.

"Thank you for the boat." The male put his hands in his pockets and turned to leave the docks.

Nagisa gawked at his actions before reaching out to him. "Don't walk away after I just said that! I deserve an-" Forgetting she had a kimono on, her range of motion was limited and she tripped over her feet. Bracing herself to break her fall with her hands, she was surprised to see a pair of strong arms lift her back onto her feet. Her face met with Kisame's chest and she blushed from how close they were.

"Weren't you meeting someone earlier? Did your date not go as planned?"

"I-It wasn't a date!"

Kisame looked down at the female in front of him. Between her rosy cheeks and her fuming attitude, her facial expression was priceless. Letting her go, he covered his mouth with his hand as a loose laugh escaped his lips. It shouldn't have been as funny as he was making it since she was so serious, but he couldn't help it.

"What's so funny?!"

"You should change before you fall again."

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Later that night, Nagisa was walking to her room after leaving the bath when she heard something from the family meeting room. There was a light coming from the room as the door was cracked open. As she got closer, she could barely hear a conversation.

"Once the contract has been made, we'll have her out of the way and we can focus on the next step of the plan."

"But what about that main problem?"

"We've managed to keep it down for now, but it's out of control and needs to be eliminated soon."

"It's your fault that it got this far."

"You're in too deep to separate yourself now."

What were they talking about? Before Nagisa could listen in any more, footsteps were headed towards the door so she quickly ran off to her room. From those voices, she heard her father clearly along with the elders. Whatever it was, it sounded like they were hiding something big. Racking her brain without any other evidence wasn't going to do her any good, so she decided to focus on the plan of her own.

Nagisa snuck out of the house and ran over to the docks. Lana was still there, which caused her to sigh with relief. This time, for sure, she was going to find her sister. As she climbed into the boat, she slid into the lower compartment and hid amongst the storage boxes under a sheet of tarp.

She didn't know how long she'd been in the boat, but she knew it was long enough for her to have dozed off. She could feel the soft swaying from the sea, so it was safe to assume that she wasn't by the docks anymore. There were a couple of voices above her that she recognized as Shigeru and Hitoshi.

"How much longer until we reach the shore?"

"About thirty minutes. I've been thinking about it, but don't you think it's weird that the target hasn't shown itself since we've been here? All the accounts said the attacks were frequent and almost every other day."

"Maybe if you keep putting it in the air, it'll appear."

"Don't fuck with me, Shigeru."

Laughter erupted from the male for a moment. "Hey, Hoshigaki, get a load of this. Mr. Cool-and-Collected finally grew a backbone." There was a bit of arguing between the two men, then silence before Kisame spoke.

"We have a visitor."

The door to the lower compartment suddenly opened and Nagisa immediately clutched her staff in her hand. Footsteps grew louder as they came closer to where she was. It felt like her heart was beating out of her chest as the footsteps stopped and she knew she had nowhere to go. When the tarp was pulled off of her hiding spot, Nagisa took on a defensive pose with her spearhead uncovered as she faced her discoverers.

Hitoshi held his hands up in peace. "Miss Uchiumi, we're not going to hurt you."

"I'm sure you aren't." Nagisa didn't change her stance. "I'm just letting you know now, I'm not going back."

Shigeru smirked. "Princess… You just couldn't bear to see me leave, hm?"

"I'm not here for you. I'm here to find my sister myself."

"And get in the way of the investigation… Maybe cover up any evidence as you come across it?"

Nagisa glared at the male, her fingers itching to rip him a new one with the staff in her grasp. "I already told you, I didn't do anything to my sister."

Kisame turned around and headed up the stairs to the deck. "There's no point in arguing about it now. She's here so she'll have to tag along."

Post Credits Scene:

It was early in the morning when Kisame reached the boat. He was the first one there, which was his best scenario since he could enjoy the calm before the storm. Originally it was just going to be him out to sea, but once his two housemates found out his plan, they invited themselves along.

Lana was a simple boat with a full deck, sail, and a sealed lower compartment to store the morning's catch and supplies. She was kept clean, which meant that Nagisa took pride in her, much like how he maintained Samehada. As Kisame stepped on the boat to look around, he noticed a door on the back side of the boat. Opening it up, it turned out to be a second entrance to the lower compartment, but it was a lot smaller - too small for him to squeeze his way into.

As he took the main entrance to the lower compartment, he simply looked around. He didn't sail boats for a living so it wasn't like he knew all the safety things to check before going out to sea. One thing that stood out to him though were the soft breaths coming from the storage box area. Peeking under the tarp, he spotted the familiar violet hair and tanned skin of his frequent headache.

How was it that she was so tenacious despite all the warnings and threats?

Amused by this, Kisame placed the tarp back down and went upstairs. Everything she did seemed so interesting. The futility of it all… If she wasn't that scared of death, then so be it. He'd just have to welcome her aboard.