A/N: Song (c) Yoko Kanno, Steve Conte (Heaven's Not Enough - Wolf's Rain)


"C'mon, just spit it out!" she hissed, shoving her belongings back into her beg as she got ready to set out once again.

"Fine, if it matters to you so much, then." Akisu had been with her for two weeks now, and they had decided to head to the Cloud in order for her to get some more money for a long journey.

"Orochimaru," he said. She had guessed no less, but...

"And?" she said, prompting him further.

"And Higure Ayame."

"Ayame!?"

"What is it? She is the leader of some group of-"

"She is the leader of the Akatsuki!"

"Wh-what?" he stammered, dropping his bag and looking over at her.

"She was my mother's best friend until.... It makes sense now. My mother used to be married to Orochimaru, and they had my brother, Sugi, but they divorced when she found out that he was with Ayame. And Ayame is the mother of my half brother, Naruto... Wait," she took a deep breath, slowing down her thoughts and making a few quick calculations.

"My mother and Ayame were friends until Orochimaru divorced to be with Ayame. I guess after they had you, Ayame must have gone to the Fourth and had Naruto, right? After my mother had Sugi, she had me with the Fou- Uh, nevermi-"

"You're father is the Fourth, is he?" he asked, looking her over with his odd, snake-like eyes. She bit her lip, before giving in and nodding.

"My mother has three children, each with a different man," he said slowly, thinking hard. "First she had a girl, Higure Tayuya, with a man named Inochi, then me with Orochimaru, and I suppose she had Naruto with the Fourth, then."

"I thought Naruto's mother died during the war with the Kyuubi... I wonder what he would do if he knew she was an S-ranked missing-nin?"

She paused to think for a moment before continuing on with her packing. They had spent the last two weeks wandering. She had taught Akisu more about thievery, and they had robbed a few travellers together, nothing too much. She had gotten him well-aquainted with the surrounding lands of the Lightning country, and today they were actually heading towards the Hidden Cloud itself.

"Doesn't that mean that your brother, Sugi, is my half-brother then?"

"Huh? I.... I guess he is.... That's bizzarre. He has the exact same eyes as you, like a snake's," she said, thinking of her brother.

"Ah, are we realted!?" she said suddenly, eyes widening. She turned towards him suddenly. "Are we?"

"What is it, then?" he said, eyeing her oddly again. "Why does it matter?"

"Uh... nothing, nevermind," she said, her eyes darting away.

"...If you really want to know, then no, we aren't related. I don't see why it would matter, though."

She slung the bag over her shoulder, carefully avoiding her left arm, which was still in a sling around her neck. She could barely move it, but it was slowly getting better, and the bleeding had stopped long ago. Akisu shouldered his own bag and they began walking again, not bothering to hurry. The Cloud was not far from there, only around an hour's walk, or half an hour if they walked quickly.

She closed her eyes and listened to her music, not bothering to look where she was going. As if to mock her, the cd skipped several times, the song going from its usual quiet to non-existant. She moaned, these were her last two batteries. For the first time in days, she took off her headphones, leaving them around her neck and speeding up in order to reach the Cloud faster for her to purchase new ones. It was fairly sunny out, although it had been pouring rain a few days ago, and she tried to keep to the shade of the trees to avoid the hot sunlight. After a few minutes of travelling, they broke out of the forest, onto a large, barren grassland. She walked out further into the field before stopping and taking a deep breath of the morning air.

I feel so close to the sky, she thought, looking up into the sky. There were only a few white, fluffy clouds floating around in the endless blue, drifting wherever they wanted. The Cloud was located on the tip of a peninsula, with the ocean on three sides and the grasslands on the other, and although the smell of the ocean made her sick if she was near it for too long, she still loved to gaze across the ocean. Someday, perhaps, she would sail across it to another land. She had read of other countries that lay across the ocean, other shinobi countries. There was the Hidden Snow far north, the Hidden Moon, the Hidden River, the Hidden Star, and numerous others that she had only read about. If she ever got ahold of a world map and a large boat, there would be no seconds thought of where she wpuld head next. Well, perhaps that was a lie. She was afraid of deep water, she couldn't swim, and if the boat sunk, she was doomed.

"Ne, Rei-san," called Akisu from ahead. She snapped out of her train of thoughts and turned to him, continuing on towards the Cloud. He always called her that, Rei-san, never just Rei. He seemed so polite to people, even to the people they were robbing blind. Adn she still could not get used to his odd way of speaking, adding 'then''s and 'ne''s to everything. The Cloud was not far, you could see it from here clearly, a raised, brown bloack against the black sea behind it. She looked over at Akisu, noticing for the first time the long, white scar that ran fron the corner of his left eye down to his jaw. She remembered he had gotten it in the war with the Sand and the Sound, but had not noticed it apperently. As she looked him over quickly, she noticed also that he still wore his Konoha hiate.

"Ah," she said, catching his attention. "I'd take that off if I were you," she said, indicating the hiate.

"Oh, right then," he said, reaching up and untying it. He shoved it messily into his bag and ran a hand through his now-free hair a few times to let it down fully. It reached almost to his chin in the front, although the back was cut considerably shorter.

They had reached the Cloud in fifteen minutes, and she led him over the wall, where she paused to let him view the village. It was more of a city than a village, vast expanses of buildings in every direction. There were very few houses in the Cloud, people lived mostly in apartments to save space. She had always thought that odd, since the Cloud-nin and Cloud citiznes seemed very antisocial, preferring to keep to themselves unless it came to fighting when they could work flawlessly in unison. But she had noticed, as she grew older, that there seemed to be a deeper connection that bound all people in the Cloud together, herself included. Looking out at it now, she noticed there were more people than usual on the streets, which wasn't very many to begin with. There were usually only ten or twenty people on the streets, but now there seemed to be forty at least.

"Before we head in, I need to warn you about a few things. People in the Cloud are not friend;y, no matter what was you look at them. They are usually selfish and do not consider other people's feelings when adressing you, if they decide to speak at all. They are quiet and reserved and prefer not to be disturbed. But another thing, if you say something to insult them or the Cloud, to which they are fiercely loyal, even if it is not directed at them, if they hear you you can almost guarantee a fight of some sort. And be careful, a Cloud villager or shinobi can hold a grudge for longer than any other. Just... try not to speak unless it is absolutely neccessary."

"Got it, then," he said, brushing his long bangs from his eyes. She dropped from the crest of the wall, landing inside the city and stretching, yawning widely before heading forewards and pulling on her Cloud hiate. As they moved slowly down the streets, they earned a few suspicious looks from the villagers, but no one said anything to them as they passed. In fact, no one said anything at all. The store owners said nothing to their clients, the clients nothing to the store slerks, the villegers said nothing to eachother, and even the few young children that were around, most with their mothers, said nothing to anyone. It was the perfect example of 'silent as the grave'.

"Is it always this quiet, then?" whispered Akisu, looking around curiously.

"Eh," she said loudly, not bothering to keep quiet. A few villagers glared at her angrily, but remained silent. "You get used to it. Most of the time, this place is thundering with storms and stuff. Loud things like that. We get a lot of earthquakes and tsunamis as well."

She led him down a series of winding streets until they came across the only house they had seen so far, which stood out among the apartments, although it was not gigantic like a mansion or anything. It was long, and looked small from the front, being wedged between two apartment buildings, but it had two floors above ground and one below, with plenty of space on the inside. Like the other buildings, it was unpainted, leaving it a light, straw-coloured brown.

"This is my brother's house. My house too, I guess, when I come to the Cloud."

She leaned against the frame of the door and knocked a few times, waiting patiently. It took a few moments for footsteps to be heard, then a lock turning and then someone opening the door.

"Aniki," she said. "I- huh? Who the Hell are you, lady?"

There was no brother there, but a woman with maroon, blood-coloured hair. She wore a pair of glasses with thin frames and small lenses over her brown eyes, and looked to be in her early twenties.

"I could ask you the same," she stated slowly. Her voice was a low, bored-sounding drone, but it sounded somehow musical and smooth.

"I asked you first," she said childishly. Having been spoiled as a child and suddenly switching to a life on her own had caused bits of her former vocabulary to slip into her speech against her will at times, like now.

"Hitomi," she said curtly, closing the door slightly and blocking their view of the inside.

"Tsukimi," she said, using the name people used for her in the Cloud.

"Sugi's sister?"

"What!? Did you say somethin' Hitomi?" came her brother's voice from inside. The door suddenly opened full to reveal a shirtless Sugi, his long black hair hanging messily in his half-closed, yellow, snake-like eyes.

"You!" he shouted, grinning and jumping out of the house. He grabbed her roughly and held her in a meant-to-be-playful headlock that was quite painful because of her injured arm, messing up her hair.

"Itai, itai, itai!!! Stop it, aniki!" She thrashed out violently, trying to loose his hold where her shoulder was, and it throbbed painfully in protest.

"Okay, okay, geez," he said, releasing her suddenly and letting her drop to the floor. She groaned in pain, holding her shoulder and rubbing the feeling back into her arm.

"Let us in now," she complained, still speaking like a little kid.

"Ah, who's this?" he asked. There was an ackward moment of silence as the two boys eyed eachother, noticing how alike they were- the eyes, hair, body, build. Akisu's eyes fell onto the small, black mark on Sugi's neck that signified he could be controlled by Orochimaru; his curse seal.

"I'm Akisu," he said finally, making the first move to break the ice.

"Uhh, sure. Right then," said Sugi, moving aside. Hitomi moved as well, allowing them into the house. Akisu noticed how Rei and her brother spoke in the same way, as if they were both five-year-olds, or as if they had no clue what was going on. Either that or they just plain didn't care.

The inside of Sugi's house was well-organized and spacey, all the furniture arranged in such a way to make it seem there was more space than there really was. There were very few framed pictures on the walls, but the few there were had been hung in specific ways in order for them to catch one's eye. Everything was the same colour as the outside of the house - unpainted- and the furniture was fairly light-coloured, fitting the room well. Despite how dark her brother looked, often dressing in black, with his black hair and snake-eyes, his house had many windows that allowed much light to enter and illuminate the light furniture. And the house was exactly how she remembered it, not one pillow out of place.

"Why don't you just stay in one place, like here in the Cloud?" asked Sugi, turning to her as he flopped back onto the couch and pulled on a shirt.

"The people from the Cloud are all so antisocial and quiet. They're mean too if you get too close to them."

"Keh," he scoffed, using one of her favourite noises. "That's such a cynical view; you're so prejudicial."

"What the Hell are you talking about? Speak normally."

"I said you're judging the people here too quickly. Don't jump to conclusions."

"Che... I lived here for eight years, I know what the people are like."

"And I've lived here for twenty-four... what happened to your arm?" he asked suddenly, as if noticing it for the first time.

"Ah," she said, glancing down at it. "Akatsuki."

"Again!?" She nodded, biting her lip. Her brother sighted and stood, facing away.

"Come here, Tsuki. I have to talk to you, this is getting too dangerous."

She sighed and glanced at Akisu before standing and heading after her brother, leaving her bag behind. She followed him upsatirs and into her old bedroom, where he closed the door behind them and turned to face her where she sat on her bed.

"This is just ridiculous. How long can you possibly survive with nine s-ranked missing-nin after you?"

"I can deal with it, I haven't been killed yet, have I." He wiped his face with a hand, massaging it for a moment.

"Just give it to them next time, they won't be able to use it."

"No," she said protectively, pulling the necklace from inside her shirt and examining it. It shimmered in an array of colours, twenty-four colours that bled into eachother to paint beautiful patterns across the stone's surface. "You don't know Ayame, she is incredibly smart and will not stop until she gets what she wants."

"And they want the Ikichi, not you, am I correct? The only reason they have to kill you is to get the Ikichi, right? If you give it to them, they will no longer chase you."

"But Demoni wants it too," she pointed out.

"Demoni is not nearly as dangerous as the Akatsuki. The only s-ranked shinobi in their group are the leader and the second-highest ranking."

"They are getting steadily stronger. I wouldn't underestimate them."

"Look, Tsukimi," he said, facing her fully. "If you will not listen to me, then it doesn't matter. By your next birthday, you will be forced to decide."

"Wh-what?" she stammered, trying to catch what he was saying.

"By the time you turn sixteen you'll be more mature, your mind will think differently. And it also makes you more of a threat to other villages. The law states that, while there are other children who belong to two or more countries, all of them must settle in a village by their sixteenth birthday."

"Keh," she scoffed, turning away slightly. "I still have a year."

Sugi sighed, wondering how his sister had managed to survive all these years. "And, who is this boy? Is he like... your boyfriend or something?"

"No," she said. "He ran from the Leaf. Now he's travelling with me. Oh, and he's your half-brother."

"He- What!? Half-brother? Then his father was Orochimaru?"

She nodded, wondering what Sugi was thinking at the moment. He suddenly reached behind him and pulled out a small, plastic bag with something inside of it, handing it to her.

"Happy birthday," he said as she took it. She reached in and pulled out a small, compact, silver walkman, complete with headphones that clipped onto her ears. In the bottom of the bag was a large package of batteries.

"Wow, thanks aniki," she said, jumping on him and hugging him with her good arm. She removed her old headphones from around her neck and put her other walkman on the bed, quickly putting batteries into the silver walkman and attatching the earphones to her ears. The sound was much cleared than her other headphones, and they fit much better. Sugi turned, but she stopped him.

"And what's up with this girl down there, Hitomi?"

"Uh... She's my girlfriend," he said, blushing slightly. She grinned and flipped off the bed.

"I'm gonna show Akisu around," she stated, brushing past him and heading back towards the stairs.

"How long are you going to stay in the Cloud? You know, if you stay to long, the Raikage will notice and force you to stay."

She paused at the top of the staircase, a far-off look on her face as she drifted for a moment, lost in her usual music. "I...I'll be fine," she said finally, forcing herself to smile. But she wasn't so sure anymore, it was getting harder and harder to keep moving forwards in her life. More and more things kept blocking the path she had chosen, and now this? But she had no one to speak with about it, no one who would understand what she was going through- a crisis. There was no way back, and if she kept on heading forwards, she would be forced to make a dicision that she would not be happy with. She was completely trapped, and it was suffocating her. The Cloud was almost like heaven for her, her brother was a great person to be with, but the memories in this village were too much for her to take, there was no way she would be able to stay here for the rest of her life. And she had told Akisu she would stay with him, which meant that they could not return to the Leaf, where he was probably regarded as a missing-nin by now. She felt like ripping out her hair and biting off her fingernails in frustration.


Rei had set up a futon on the floor of her room for herself to sleep on, while she gave Akisu the bed. he was already fast asleep, but it was impossible for her to even begin to think of sleep when her mind was in such a state. She had not told Akisu anything of what her brother had said to her about having to settle in a village at sixteen.

She was sitting on the sill of the open window above her bed, the curtains parted fully to allow the moonlight to filter in. She brushed the hair from her face as another breeze gently swept her way, gazing out across the town. The rooftops were illuminated in a silver-blue light from the full moon above, and the few, ever-present clouds were silver and whispy in the starry sky. It was cold, but she didn't seem to notice. She was busy fighting a mental battle, and it looked like she would be forced to stay in the Cloud in order for Akisu to be protected, or... she could leave him here and head to the Leaf. No! she thought, snapping at herself. I can't do that! He said he would stay with me, so what point would there be if I was the one to leave him? THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING!!! Can't someone, anyone, decide for me? I just don't want to make a big decision like this, if I choose the wrong path, there is no going back. But I'm already stuck, so what does it matter?

I...I can't take this anymore, she thought, glancing down at the sleeping Akisu. I should just run. If I run, and keep on running for the rest of my life, no one will catch me. I could sail across the ocean like I used to dream about as a child, head to the new land and get lost in another culture. I...I could step onto a boat and leave all of these stupid problems behind. Or, I could run north, and keep on running until I reach the ocean and I'll just stay there and hide, but... She fought back tears of frustration as she struggled with herself. But I don't want to live my life running or hiding! I want to live normally, just keep doing what I'm doing now, not change lifestyles like this. They... They have no right to force me into this, to force me into their stupid villages where I'm bound by their petty laws. I'm completely lost right now.... The Cloud... The Cloud is a great place, it really is. And aniki is here. But I'm sure he won't want me living with him now that he has a girlfriend, he'll want his privacy. I have money, I have my brother, which is all the family I need, but... I have no friends. I need someone who can listen to my thoughts and problems, someone who will follow me to the end of the earth if I wanted to go there. Her eyes fell back onto the sleeping form of Akisu. No, she thought, I can't bother him with my problems. That's just asking for sympathy. And I don't want that... Or do I? ARGH!!! I just want to scream right now... I could tell Akisu, but then he might get as depressed as I am, he's almost sixteen as well, closer to it than I am, and I assume the same rules apply to him. Her eyes darted away from the sleeping boy and towards her bag, where her dagger was leaning up against it. Or I could end it all, she thought. but she tore her eyes away from the dagger, she was not yet that far gone to commit suicide, especially not near her brother, let along in her brother's house. But what else could she do?

She pulled her legs closer on the window sill, shivering from the cold as she buried her face in her arms, refusing to cry. She had removed the sling before she went to bed at her brother's instruction, and her shoulder throbbed (A/N: Sorry to put a stupid note in, but HAPPY NEW YEARS!!! 2005 (as of now)!!!) painfully as she did this. The tears threatened to overflow, but she would not cry, not again, and especially not anywhere near Akisu. There was a soft whoosh of air, and she peeked out with one eye to see Akisu standing on the bed with his arms folded in front of him and his head resting on the window sill at her feet.

"You're still awake?" she asked, trying in vain to keep the pain from her voice.

"So are you. Why are you still sitting here?" he asked softly. She had her face buried up to her eyes in her arms, staring out at him with her crystal blue eyes.

"...It's nothing," she almost choked out. That was a big lie. She wanted to spill everything to him, to anyone who would listen, and she no longer cared whether or not she got any sympathy from them.

"Rei-san, it isn't nothing if you're crying," he said slowly, keeping his eyes fixed out the window on a far-off place.

"I'm not crying.... I'm not.... I'm not.... I said I wouldn't cry anymore," she whispered, wiping at her eyes angrily.

"You were crying when I met you as well, you were. What's wrong?"

That was the question that she had been waiting for, an excuse to let it all out. but before she did, she spent a few minutes wiping at her eyes until they were dry, not wanting to cry in front of the other boy. "I don't know what to do. Next year, I have to settle in a village, but I can't just simply stay in one place, not when I've spent my entire life wandering. It's not right, I couldn't live like that, I'd get sick and die."

"You'll be worse off sitting here and feeling sorry for yourself," he said, not meaning his words to be harsh. But that was what she wanted, a two-sided conversation, not her doing all the talking.

"I have no where else to go, nothing else to do. I can't... I can't stay in the Cloud because it hurts to look around here, and I can't go to the Leaf because you're wanted as a missing-nin there."

"And why would that stop you, then?"

"Because, that would be betraying you. I'm not selfish enough to do that, it would be worse living like that. I just don't want to live my life running and hiding."

"Then," he said, smiling as he looked over at her. "Just keep doing what you do. Go wherever you want, don't worry about things like that until the time comes to worry about them. Live in the moment, go where the wind goes, and don't listen to what other people have to say about you. You seemed happy living like that, ne? So just keep doing that and being happy, instead of sulking in the dark and being so depressed."

She lifted her head fully, looking out at his smiling face. It was contorted from the built-up tears in her eyes, but she could see he genuinely meant what he was saying. There was a long silence as his smile faded and he cocked his head.

"Your face looks like a marshmellow, it does," he said suddenly, in a dead serious voice. There was another moment of silence, before she burst out laughing at the expression on his face. He was dead serious. She leaned back as she laughed and suddenly slipped from the sill onto the bed, where she rolled off onto the floor, landing hard on her head.

"Itai..." she muttered, wincing. It was Akisu's turn to laugh at her, but it didn't last long as she jumped up and whacked him over the head, where he, too, fell back onto the hard, wooden floor. Someone banged on the wall from the room next to them, and they both shut up immediately. Rei pushed Akisu away from her and rolled on to her futon, slipping under the covers. Akisu was right, she shouldn't get so stressed over things like this, it wasn't healthy.

"We have to leave tomorrow to avoid being noticed by the Raikage," she said after he had crawled back into his own bed. There was a long silence, before she voiced her last question before she fell asleep.

"Akisu, are we... are we friends?" She felt stupid asking such a flat-out, straight forward question, but it didn't seem to bother him.

"Of course," he said quietly.

"Then... why do you always call me 'Rei-san'?"

"...I don't know, it's just polite."

"But it's so formal. Just call me Rei, alright?"

"...Okay. Rei." he said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. She finally let her eyes slip shut, and she blindly reached for her earphones, slipping them over her ears as she fell asleep. She doubted she would be seeing her brother anytime soon, perhaps she would never see him again at all. But... she would live in the moment, and leave the Cloud, leave her safe-haven to continue on with her travels.

Heaven's not enough,
If when you get there
Just another blue.

And Heaven's not enough,
You think you've found it,
And it loses you.

You've thought of all there is,
But not enough,
And loses you in a cloud.

There, most everything is nothin',
That it seems,
Where you see things you only wanna see.

I'd fly away,
To a higher plane,
To say words I resist,
To float away,
To sigh,
To breathe... Forget.

And Heaven's not enough,
If when I'm there I don't remember you.
And Heaven does enough,
You think you know it,
And it uses you.

I saw so many things,
But like a dream,
Always losin' me in a cloud.

'Cause I couldn't cry,
'Cause i turned away,
Couldn't see the score.
Didn't know the pain,
Of leaving yesterday,
Really far behind.

In another life,
In a another dream,
By a different name.
Gave it all away,
For a memory,
And a quiet lie.

And I felt the face,
Of a clod tonight,
Still don't know the score.
But I know the pain,
Of leaving everything
Really far behind.

And if I could cry,
And if I could live,
What truth I did then take me there?
Goodbye Heaven...


A/N: I guess you know the meanings by now, so I won't bother typing them out again.

Rikkii: Just to tell you, this fic revolves around the songs, not vice-versa. Right?

Chirakka: Sure