"We're going to Hahajima, then move on from there." Hitoshi announced as he opened a scroll on the deck, revealing a map. "We start big and work our way down."

"It would make more sense to go somewhere like Jiro or, hear me out… Demon Island?" Shigeru shrugged. "Seems like it would fit the vibe better."

As Hitoshi murmured something under his breath, no doubt to release his irritation, Nagisa looked out to the sea. It hadn't been long since the quartet departed from her home island and the neighboring islands weren't too far - just about three quarters of an hour away by boat if the weather was decent. As far as she was concerned, she was just lucky enough to get this far considering the obstacles that she'd already faced.

"Since you're the native, answer me this. Which island has the most forestry, particularly trees?" Hitoshi turned his attention to the female, ignoring his partner's incessant commentary.

"Hahajima. Naturally, it's the biggest island and it has a few mossy covered mountains for potential caves." Nagisa answered. "But, it's also the most predictable place to go, so it's already been searched to no avail."

Shigeru smirked. "Then it's settled. You can go to Hahajima and scope out any missed spots while I take the princess with me to a more concrete solution to our problems. Sharky boy can go wherever his heart's content."

"And why do I have to go with you?" Nagisa narrowed her eyes.

"We've been through this everyday, princess, and yet my answer stays the same." Shigeru sighed. "Try to keep up, okay?"

Hitoshi pinched the bridge of his nose as he grew more and more agitated. "There's only one boat. Why would we split up like that? We can just go to Demon Island once we're done here-"

"You're contradicting me a lot today, blondie. You got something against me?"

Nagisa turned to Kisame, who seemed like he wasn't paying attention to the conversation. She had allowed him to use Lana, so the least he could do was speak up for her. Seeing as he hadn't made a move to do so, she decided to leave the conversation and go to the back of the boat. She guessed she could deal with the harassment for the bigger picture.

Once they reached Hahajima, it was 'collectively' decided that they would stay on one island and split up in pairs to make the process quicker. Unlucky for Nagisa, she was lumped in with Mr. Jackass Detective as they roamed the forest together. There was a bit of silence, which Nagisa enjoyed, before the male opened his mouth.

"So, tell me why I should believe you have nothing to do with your sister's disappearance."

Nagisa stopped in her tracks and crossed her arms. "I'm not going to repeat myself when I know you're just going to undermine me."

"Relax, princess." Shigeru laughed. "I won't cut you off this time, I promise."

She eyed him for a moment, still not believing a word he said. Nonetheless, she decided to talk since she knew he was going to keep pestering her about it. "I've always been my sister's protector and I made that promise to my mother. My sister inspires me and I would never wish any ill will towards her. I don't know what day will be the last one we share together because of her sickness so I always made sure she was never too far from me."

"Say I take that all at face value and rule you out. Who would be the next in line to take the blame?"

Nagisa thought over his question. After overhearing the snippet of the conversation in her family's meeting room, she had some suspicions, but no concrete evidence. Did the elders have a hand in this? Even worse… was her father the culprit?

"Your face is telling me you know more than you're letting on."

Snapping out of her thoughts, Nagisa realized that Shigeru had her cornered. She was prepared to grab the staff that was clasped onto her back, however the burly male grabbed her wrists and held them above her head.

"What do you know, princess?"

"The same information that you know." Nagisa gritted out as she tried to pull out of his grasp. Unlike him, she wasn't going to sell anyone out until she collected irrefutable evidence.

"You're lying." Shigeru smirked. "I'll let you in on a little secret, Nagisa. I specialize in sensory techniques and I'm quite knowledgeable in torture and interrogation. You can either voluntarily spill your guts, or I'll rip them out myself."

Nagisa stared into the man's eyes. Unlike his cocky gaze, she knew hers was filled with irritation and fear. In one move, she twisted around and kicked the bottom of her staff as it swung at him. Once he deflected her attack and subsequently let her go, she took the opportunity to grab her staff and release the spear head. If he wanted a fight, she was just going to have to give it to him.

"No need to get hostile." Shigeru held his hands up with a smile. "I just want to talk."

"Well I don't."

Nagisa lunged at the shinobi and tried to stab him with the spearhead. Evading the attack, Shigeru tested the waters and launched a couple shuriken in her direction, only for her to knock them out of the way. The two danced around each other for a while before a familiar figure appeared between them.

"Ah, Hoshigaki-san. Finished already?" Shigeru greeted the newcomer. "You're in the way, so I'd suggest you move."

Nagisa, however, didn't acknowledge his presence as she had tunnel vision for one person only. She lunged around the male and readied herself to launch the spearhead, only for Kisame to grab the staff and subdue her.

"I'll take over from here. You can leave." Kisame looked at Shigeru. The males eyed each other before Shigeru shrugged in defeat and went to find Hitoshi. The girl was going to crack sooner or later so he'd be patient for now.

Nagisa waited until her harasser disappeared before glaring at Kisame. "Let go of me and give me my staff back."

"That's no way to speak to someone who just saved you."

"I didn't need to be saved."

"Clearly you didn't think you had the upper hand in that fight."

Nagisa broke free of his grip and rolled her eyes. "I don't need to be lectured by someone like you. Just give me back my staff and go back to being a selfish, lonely prick."

Kisame raised an eyebrow. "Wow, you don't mince your words, do you? Someone who's selfish wouldn't have let you go on this trip."

"Let me?" The female stepped up to him and looked up into his eyes. "I'll have you know that I was going to go on this trip regardless of if you were on it or not. I don't need you to babysit me, nor do I need your protection. Why are you even here anyway? You never wanted me around in the first place. This is all so damn frustrating!"

"You-"

"No one thinks I'm capable of anything and I'm sick of it! I've been doing everything - from being an overachiever in my clan's eyes, sucking up to the elders for nothing, being a mother and sister at the same time… It's fucking tiring do the same thing every day but somebody has to do it. Now everything's gone to shit and while I'm actively here trying to pick up the pieces, I'm getting patronized, accused, ridiculed, brushed off…"

"-If you would-"

"Then there's you! You're so wishy-washy, it's ridiculous! One moment you're ignoring me, then the next you're amused by me, then you're back to being infuriating. It's making me wishy-washy and I don't like that! You showing up so conveniently right now pisses me off even more and I-"

The female would've continued her rant if Kisame hadn't pinched her cheeks and stretched them, annoyed with her constant rambling. Never did he think fishermen were required to have strong lungs like hers.

"Did you get it all off your chest?" He asked her. Obviously his actions only seemed to rile her up even more as she squirmed and smacked his hands. Once he let go, she picked up her discarded staff and rubbed her now rosy cheeks.

"I'm not sorry for being bothersome and doing what needs to be done." Nagisa frowned at the lingering stinging she felt from her nerves. "But I am sorry you have to keep seeing me like this."

Kisame watched as Nagisa recollected herself. The more she showed these sides of herself, the more he realized she was similar to him. Maybe this once, he could allow someone a glimpse into his mind - someone who could understand.

"I know what it's like to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders." Kisame started as he began walking back the way he came. "It's hard, tiring, and, at times, makes you question your purpose."

"Exactly!" Nagisa chimed in as she fell in step beside him. "It makes me think about what I was doing in my past life. Did I commit a terrible offense or something and now I'm paying for it?"

Kisame chuckled at her analogy. "Something like that. Once you've dealt with it so long, you start to get desensitized to it all. Then, you just stop caring."

"Have you stopped caring?"

The male stopped and looked at the female beside him. Nagisa frowned as she tried to read his facial expressions. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, but she hoped that wasn't his reality. No matter how hard everything seemed to get, she continued doing the things that she did because she cared. She cared about her sister's health, her family's connection, and her clan's wellbeing. If she had to do everything all over again, she wouldn't hesitate.

"I-"

"You can't!" Nagisa unconsciously took his hands in hers. "You're not a robot. You have to find something that you care about and hold onto it tightly, never letting go. If you didn't have anything, then you wouldn't be here."

She was passionate and had a lot of assurance for someone who was on the outside looking in, but there was some truth to her words. What was really keeping him here? Was it his village? Was it the guilt of surviving his former comrades?

There was some commotion close by and the two turned away from each other. Nagisa automatically let go of Kisame's hands, and the male instantly felt her warmth fade away. For some reason, the feeling was a bit melancholic and… regretful?

"Look Hoshigaki-san! They're having a festival!"

Kisame turned to see that Nagisa had ran ahead and stopped at the opening to the forest. As he moved closer to her, the festival she mentioned came into view. There were paper lanterns strung around along with food stalls set up by the locals and a huge bonfire illuminating the center of the village.

"Let's check it out while we wait!"

Before he could protest, the female disappeared into the crowd and he seemingly had no choice but to follow behind the lingering trace of her violet hair.

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

Hitoshi had been enjoying the peace and quiet of being by himself as he surveyed his portion of the island. Kisame had long since abandoned him, which was something that he expected, so he wasn't concerned. The male always seemed to disappear and he wasn't going to be the one to interrogate him as that wasn't his job.

As he walked up the path along his second mountainside voyage, he noticed a bit of rustling in the bushes beside him. Not taking any chances, he launched a few kunai in that direction to edge his stalker on. There was a grunting sound among the clashing of metal against metal before someone stepped out.

"So much for scaring you, blondie."

Hitoshi sighed as he immediately recognized Shigeru and continued along. There was no reason why he had to be this unlucky… Perhaps he needed to visit a shrine or something and be cleansed since there was an obvious curse over his head.

"You got bored of her already, Fukushima-san?" Hitoshi spoke politely. At the end of the day, Kisame and Shigeru were his seniors.

"Nah, the shark got in the way." Shigeru stretched his arms and followed behind the taller male. "Doesn't mean I won't have another chance later though."

"You have a strong fixation on her."

Shigeru watched as Hitoshi brushed him off and continued his search. His partner was only two years younger than him, however he never held back with sharing his thoughts and usually stayed even-tempered, until he managed to piss him off.

"I'm just being thorough with my work."

"It's misguided. She has nothing to do with it." Hitoshi stopped in front of a cave opening and peered in. "Your sadist tendencies always seem to come around and bite me in the ass, so you should go ahead and stop now."

"Seems like I pissed you off again." Shigeru laughed.

The two walked into the cave and looked around, making a small torch out of a spare branch. As they traveled deeper into the dark abyss, Hitoshi frowned as he looked at the ground. At first, there were a couple of leaves scattered, however the further they went back, the more leaves became apparent. What really caught his eye were a couple of loose black feathers.

"It's been here…" Hitoshi whispered.

Shigeru glanced at his partner, but before he could say anything, a strong gust of wind blew the two men out of the cave and a big black shadow quickly exited the mountainside.

"Oh fuck! It's fast!" Shigeru flipped himself over so he could land on his feet, then immediately jumped into the trees to follow his target. "But it's all mine!"

Hitoshi narrowed his eyes as he followed behind and stopped to get a higher view. He wanted to assess how lethal the target would be, considering that it seemed like it wasn't paying them any mind. Suddenly, the bird dove down and there were a lot of screams and commotion. It was quick though, as in the next moment, the bird was back in the air with a female body in its claws. Since it was traveling in the opposite direction, it was safe to say that this cave was not its permanent nest. Their target was headed to the mainland.