Rikou slowly opened her eyes, grunting as her muscles screamed at her. She must have accidentally fallen asleep sometime during the early morning, but she was no longer in the tree, but on the cold, hard ground.
Cold...? Rikou shifted slightly, pushing her body up and freezing. Mist hung around her so thickly that she could not even see her own hands. It was suffocating. No sound, not smell, no visual, and small droplets of water were clinging to her eyelashes and her black, feathery strands of hair. She shook her head flinging the droplets in every direction as she pushed herself into a crouch, crawling forward and squinting.
Her hand touched something slightly warmer, and she lowered her head close enough to make out Kirema's face, he was still unconcious. She grunted again, stretching her muscles and closing her eyes, they were useless anyways.
This mist, this cold... in the middle of summer? But yesterday... there were barely even any clouds, and last night was warm. She lowered her body, opening her eyes again and hovering protectively over the two other gennin. She brought her hands into a seal.
"Kai!"
Nothing happened. This isn't genjutsu? But...
"...Kai!!!"
Still nothing. She released the seal, squinting around at the gray haze around her. She heard footsteps suddenly, and dropped to the ground silently, on all fours beside Kirema as she squinted towards the mist ahead. The mist darkened slightly as two shapes paused.
Rikou stifled her breath, muffling any further noise as she stared wide-eyed at the shapes, which soon multiplied. There were now four, facing eachother.
"Itachi, where's the kid?"
The rough voice of an adult male reached her ears, slightly muffled by the mist. She nestled deeper into the ground beside Kirema.
"We had to call it off, we were attracting too much attention. We were confronted by the copy-ninja Kakashi, Asuma and Kurenai," came another's voice, who Rikou thought she recognized as that of one of her interrogators.
"They're only numbered three, why didn't you just deal with them?"
"...Another arrived, saying he had called the Anbu. But, on top of that, Kakashi knows something of the organization. Perhaps that little rat heard more than she was supposed to and news got out about us."
"He's not going to be happy, order are orders," came the anothers voice.
"We are not done yet, we'll cut them off if we get him alone again," this time it was another's voice. Four ninja, thought Rikou, swallowing hard. This seems familiar...
"What about you two? I see no little brat. Or did you accidentally kill her?"
"Unlike you, Kisame, I don't mess around on missions. We looked for her, but she wasn't there after the war."
"The war's over?"
"Yes, Kagi, pay attention."
Kagi!? What is...?
"Shut up, Tatsu."
"Ugh... We just couldn't find her, maybe she went on a mission."
Rikou heard the sound of something metal jingling slightly. "If we come back empty-handed He's gonna kill us, ya know." One of the figures opened an umbrella, the sound of jingling reaching a climax before dropping off and disappearing completely.
"Yes, Kagi, we are well aware of that," came the bored drawl of the one he was apperently travveling with.
"...We've also been called together. Do you think it has to do with the reappearance of Orochimaru? We should simply kill him off now, he betrayed the organization. He is weak, we can easily deal with him."
"...No... We should concentrate on one thing at a time. We've haven't been sent out in pairs for nothing, we were ordered to find new sources of power. We also shouldn't underestimate Orochimaru, what he lacks in power, he makes up for in brains and resourcefulness"
There was a moment of silence as the one with the umbrella twirled it thoughtfully. Rikou could make out a large sword strapped across the back of the one she assumed to be Kisame.
"The Akatsuki have not been productive lately, we need to pick up the pace. The two currently in the Rain have captured one of their targets, but the other two in the Cloud are doing even worse than us. The only one making any progress id Him, and that's because he's working by himself. This sucks..."
"Ugh, shut up Kagi, we get the point. Let's get out of here, we need to work faster."
"I just said that, idiot."
"Please, just shut up. Nobody cares when you state the obvious."
"Let's go," came the dangerous voice of one of the figures. The two figures, him along with Kisame, disappeared, leaving the other two alone in the mist.
"We should move as well," said Tatsu.
"Aww, but I like the mist..."
"Just release the genjutsu and let's get going, Kagi. We don't have time to play around."
"Fine... Who are we after anyways?"
"Argh! Do you pay the slightest attention to anything ordered by Him? You of all people should know, we just killed her father at her own house!"
"Oh, right," said Kagi, folding his umbrella as the jingling came once more.
"...I can't believe I got stuck with you...This is so annoying...You're so annoying. Let's get out of here... And I told you to get rid of the genjutsu!"
"Shut it, Tatsu. It's not like I wanted to be stuck with you either. Kai!"
The mist vanished, leaving Rikou exposed, but partially hidden in the bushes as her eyes remained frozen on the two ninja. They vanished suddenly, Rikou catching a glimpse of black and red Akatsuki robes and two pairs of cruel, wild eyes.
They...They weren't referring to me, were they? Akatsuki... In the Leaf... Right now!? I...I have to get back to the Hokage and warn them. Four Akatsuki will be hard to deal with...
She remained hidden for a moment before shifting slightly, digging in Ken's weapons pouch and producing a soldier pill, swallowing it quickly.
"Kage Bunshin," she wispered, making two clones. They each picked up a gennin and stood as she replaced her racoon mask, taking off into the forest towards Konoha. The sun had recently risin, bathing her in it's warmth as her frozen body slowly thawed.
It took her another hour and a half, and four more shadow clones, before she finally reached the walls of Konoha, quickly jumping them and heading to her brother's apartment, bursting through the door as the clones lay the two unconcious gennin on the bed.
"Get them back into their other clothes while I find some more bangages," she said quietly, dashing off into the closet. She stepped on something, and looked down to see the old book. Picking it up, she flipped through the pages, looking for a name.
'The first born child of the Gekkou clan. Gekkou Midori, was cursed at the age of five by the Key Keeper, Yami Kagi, an 'S'-class missing-nin from the Hidden Rain. Kagi bribed her with three wishes, which he had promised to fufil if she gave stole two things for him, a legendary sword from the Hokage and a key. Once she aquired these items, he betrayed her, placing a curse upon her that promised an early death. The curse came in the form of a deadly disease, causing great pain before death.'
Yami Kagi? ...Kagi? This book is old and it covers many different generations... A man who was written about in the first generation should be long dead by now, she thought, closing the book. She removed her mask and hung it carefully on the wall in the back. She cast around for bandages, but found none and moved to the bathroom.
Glancing at the other two gennin, she found the clones gone and Kirema and Ken back in their normal clothes, trenchcoats hung over the back of a chair. She opened the bathroom door and began searching the drawers, which were full of pill containers, until she found a roll of white bandages.
Rushing back out, she began ripping off their old dressings, tightly wrapping the clean ones over their bodies until they were fullt bandaged. She sighed, coughing a few times and looking them over. Kirema's shock blue hair was badly dishevelled, hanging loosely across his feverish face. Ken looked even worse, beads of sweat covering his face, his eyelids twitching slightly, his breathing shallow.
"I need to get you to the hospital," she muttered, digging in Ken's weapons pouch. She found no more soldier pills.
Shoot, she thought. How am I supposed to carry both of them there?
She sat back for a moment, feeling drained as she looked at her team mates. She moved back to the bathroom, quickly changing, before coming back out and lifting Ken from the bed.
"I'll be back, Kirema," she muttered, slinging Ken's arms around her neck and dashing from the room, out onto the streets, the afternoon sun berrating her. The streets were oddly empty, doors locked, windows shut. She dashed across the rooftops towards the hospital, landing in a crouch before the double doors and standing, breathing heavily.
She pushed past the doors to find the hospital bustling with nurses, doctors and medical-nin, although there were no other ninja or visitors. A group of medical-nin who were going over something on a clipboard noticed her enter and rushed over immediately, lifting Ken from her shoulders. Before they could ask her anything however, she had rushed out of the building, back to the apartment to retrieve Kirema.
She lifted him in the same manner, struggling slightly more because of her breathlessness and because he weighed more then Ken. It took her slightly longer to reach the hospital, but she arrived back in the lobby, gasping for breath as she slumped to the ground, letting Kirema slide off her back.
"What's going on here?"
Two jounin appeared from a hall as the medical-nin took Kirema from her, rushing him off and barking orders to another group of ninja. Rikou caught her breath and looked up, shaking her head as she remembered what she had seen in the forest. She suddenly stood, glancing towards the two jounin who she didn't know.
"Ugh... I have important news! I need to speak with the Hokage-sama right away!"
The jounin closest to her eyed her suspiciously, before dropping his head. "The Hokage-sama... He was killed in the war by Orochimaru."
Rikou froze. "Wh-what!?"
She broke down coughing, clutching her stomach. The Hokage-sama is gone? Now? But...
She struggled up again, facing the two jounin. "Then... Let me speak with the Jounin Hisui Kanzu."
The jounin muttered something to the other shinobi beside him, who nodded. "He's here in the hospital, follow me."
Kanzu-sensei was injured as well? ...This is bad...
Rikou followed the Jounin through the busy halls, weaving through the swarms of doctors and turning left into another room. As he opened the door and moved aside to let her in, she found her sensei sitting up in bed and staring out the window. The door closed behind her.
"Kanzu-sensei!"
His head spun around as he stared at her in suprise. "Rikou!? What happened? I looked everywhere for you guys!"
"I have to make my report, I found out something important, but the Hokage-sama..."
Kanzu stared at her for a moment longer, before indicating a chair beside him. She sat down, fiddling with her hands and looking around before beginning her report.
"...We followed the three Sand gennin out of the village and persued them until around sunset when we confronted them. They were in bad condition after fighting Team Seven, Naruto fought with a giant toad summon against Gaara as the Shukaku, but he somehow turned into the Kyubi. When we fought them, Ken fought Kankuro, Kirema fought Temari, and I kept track of them as Gaara was unable to fight... Until their sensei came.
"He thought I was an Anbu because I used Henge to make myself look like one to bluff against the Sand, so he fought with me and knocked me off of a cliff. But I used the crow summon and managed to get back up, only to find Ken and Kirema unconcious. I ordered the crows to kill them or at least occupy them as I carried the others away...."
"Wait a second... actually, explain after. I have some questions, but keep going..."
Riku swallowed, going on. "But that wasn't what was important. I wasn't able to make it back here by the end of the day, so I set up camp in the forest and kept watch...but I guess I fell asleep. When I woke up the next morning, I was surrounded in a thick mist that I thought was genjutsu, but no when I tried to cancel it, it didn't work.
"Four shapes appeared, having most likely set up the place as a meeting place beforehand, and I his in the bushes as they spoke with eachother. But... I recognized one of them, and it was confirmed when they mentioned that they were from the organizationg Akatsuki..."
Kanzu's face paled slightly, but he said nothing. Rikou went on. "...There were four of them, I managed to pick up their names. One was Itachi, he was the one I recognized. I think he was one of the people who tortured me, I don't really remember, but he was from this village I think. The one he was with was called Kisame and he carried a giant sword. The other pair were called Tatsu and a man called...Kagi... He carried an umbrella and I think he was from the Hidden Rain.
'I also heard some of their plans, but I don't really understand all of it. They said 'He' had sent them out in pairs to other villages to find something... I think they said a source of power or something... But there were two in our village, and one was a boy, the other a girl... But, the girl... I think it might be me and... I'm scared...
"They said something about a 'rat' hearing more than she was supposed to and telling the rest of the Leaf, and that they killed her dad in her own house... Sensei, I think they're going to capture me and torture me again... I don't want to go back there..."
Kanzu's face was serious as he looked her over, her wet, tangled hair, her cut up skin, her striking green eyes that were constantly darting in every direction, reacting to the smallest noise. He sighed in frustration, looking back out the window.
"...Konoha is going through a rough time right now, the last thing we need is four 'S'-ranked missing-nin stalking the streets... As soon as we find a new Hokage, we will have to deal with this immediately. It's more serious than you think, Rikou.
"The number of shinobi killed in the war was a hard blow to our village, and the demand for ninja has grown. Everyone is on missions, we need the money to rebuild the village and yet we can't show weakness by refusing them. It will give other countries a chance to attack. But... These Akatsuki you speak of... There was another incident while you were gone, just this morning...
"The two you mentioned first, Itachi and Kisame, they were confronted by Asuma and Kurenai and they fought on a bridge. Kakashi even had to step in, and all three would have been killed if Gai hadn't shown up. He told them he had called the Anbu, and that was enough to deter them... But what's worse, Kakashi is, aside from the sannin and the Hokage, the strongest shinobi in Konoha. For him to be so easily beaten into such a state by Itachi... His power is almost unimaginable."
Rikou was still fiddling with her hands, glancing at her sensei's face every once and awhile. It softened slightly as he turned back to her.
"How are the other two?"
"...I'm not sure. I carried them here, they're both unconcious and poisoned..."
"What!? Geez, I hope they're okay..."
"I think they'll be fine, I managed to get most of the poison out and stop the bleeding."
Kanzu glanced back at her. "What were you talking about when you said the Kyubi and the Shukaku were fighting?"
"Umm... I'm not quite sure... I'm pretty sure the Kyubi was just created from the Henge no Jutsu. The Shukaku is the demon sealed within Gaara. I'm not quite sure about it though..."
Kanzu looked as if he wanted to ask her something else, but her closed his mouth and smiled instead. "You should get some rest, you look beat. Be prepared to be interviewed by the other jounin later on, they'll need more information."
Rikou stood thankfully, coughing once before leaving in silence, heading back to her brother's apartment.