Chapter 2

It was too short… Fuu let out a small sigh as she replayed the events of the previous four days in her minds, not wanting to miss the tiniest detail of her stay in Suna. She had to keep everything in mind so that she could re-tell her journey to Shibuki as if he had been there, and he would finally see that she was trustworthy enough to leave the village and have missions outside their country. Her chest filled with joy as she imagined how proud Shibuki would be after hearing her story. She even managed to meet another jinchuuriki like her, and even if she didn't befriend 100 people like he had told her (she realized afterthought that they were quite a lot), it was far more than what he had had in her whole life.

But another image suddenly crossed her mind. The weird expressions on the faces of the other participants as they left her alone when she had barged into the living-room and the sound of their laughs when she asked those Konoha-nin mixed-up and twisted into a knot that settled on her throat. She was different, she was strange, she was… Fuu closed her eyes and shook her head to chase away those brooding thoughts.

"Fuu, don't listen to the devils' whispers. You did great and many appreciated your company. Did you hear what the Kazekage said? There is another jinchuuriki just like you who believes he can change the people's minds, and he will. And you will too, Fuu."

"You're right, Chomei! Let's-" Words froze in her mind as two presences with an awful amount of chakra she hadn't felt before appeared not far behind them. Yoro and Kegon moved back so that Fuu was flying in front of them. They had decided not to take the main road on the way back to avoid being ambushed, but apparently they got it wrong. The two strangers kept following them for a while, leaving no room to interpretation. Soon, Yoro turned to Kegon, and after getting the silent approval of his companion, he turned to Fuu and said:

"Fuu, on the rocky spot over there." It was time to face the threat head on. They were three of them against two – actually four with Chomei – there was no way they could lose against their pursuers although it still annoyed her to fight after three days of intensive challenges.

"Uh, what a bother…" she whispered under her breath before obeying and landing on the rocky surface.

Two tall men in a black cloak appeared from the shadow of the forest. The silvery haired one who was standing in the front spoke first:

"I told him to stop since not being able to kill you it's just a pain, but he wouldn't listen" he said in an ironic tone. Everything about him was putting her instincts on alert, but her attention was already drawn towards the other man who was wearing a forehead protector with the symbol of her village

"Hey Mister, are you a former Takigakure-nin?"

Curiosity took it over. She knew what the slash on the forehead protector meant, and Takigakure was known to be one of the Hidden Villages with the least desertions in its history. And yet, there he was. But who was he?

Soon, a name popped in her mind and sent shivers down her spine.

Everything about him was reminding her of a folk legend of her home country. The head attire, the peculiar heterochromia, the shape of his eyes so similar to hers… There was only one person who could fill the description and that was the fallen hero of Taki, Kakuzu.

Her eyes widened in amazement. She was standing in front of a living legend.

"I know you! After failing the assassination attempt on the Hokage, you stole the hearts of the elders. You're Kakuzu!" There, it was said and done and she could see from his expression that she got it right.

The silvery haired man looked at her with a baffled expression and mumbled something to Kakuzu she couldn't hear clearly as she was completely absorbed by her emotions. Ignoring all the stares in her direction, she walked to the older man, giving her hand over for a handshake – because that was what book characters did whenever they met the first time. Her heart was pounding against her chest as she approached him and kept her head low, unable to meet the man's eyes.

"I always wanted to meet you! What about discussing around a cup of tea?" Words poured out of her mouth without much thinking, and the second of silence that passed after that seemed to last forever. But instead of taking her hand, the man took a step back.

"I didn't come here today to befriend you." Fuu refrained from flinching and kept staring at the floor as she tried to hide the shaking of her lips. What was she expecting? He didn't even know who she was and everyone knew very well that he hold a grudge towards the village. Her hopeless optimism this time didn't work and instead she put herself within their reach. But they didn't know in front of whom they were.

"Well, that's too bad." Fuu summoned Chomei's chakra on her hand and swung up the green glowing blade on the man who immediately crossed his arms in front of him. Instead of cutting through the flesh, her hand bounced back and the other man grasped her wrist and locked her down.

"Oih! No need to be so ang-" A strong blow of chakra thrust him against a tree trunk as perimeter of only naked ground and dust was drawn around the teenager.

"Fuu, calm down. It's alright."

"No Chomei, I acted like a fool and because of that, I was about to being captured. You heard the other guy, they need me alive. They must know that I'm a jinchuuriki..."

"Fuu,I'm with you so there is nothing to worry about. But now you need to focus. Yoro and Kegon are here too. You must take care of them. Look behind you…"

Chomei's voice faded as the dust settled and unfolded the scenery. Yoro was holding his right side, crouched next to his companion who was lying on a puddle of blood. Fuu felt her body froze. That wasn't what she had meant when she released the chakra. Panic overwhelmed her until a scream snapped out of her thoughts:

"FUU! BEHIND YOU!"

She instinctively turned to the side as a figure she recognized as Kakuzu was looming over her. Fuu released her Hinding in Scale technique and jumped back to where her companions were, hoping she wasn't too late.

"Yoro-san… Kegon-san… Are you alright?" she whispered as she tried to reach the place she could feel their presence. Wasting no more time, she let a chakra strings connect to their bodies as she came in close range in order to heal their wounds, but three red blades cut through the fog and brought their owner along.

"Hey, don't make things hard uh? I'm already pissed off because I can't make any sacrifice, and I don't think the old man wants to spend any longer in this mission." The man appeared relatively unscathed, only his cloak was torn here and there, but his flesh did not show any sign of lesion. Fuu gulped in disbelieve and her mind rushed in all directions to find a way from this impossible situation. Suddenly, Yoro tugged her to his side while Kegon was leaning on the other. In no time, he formed the signs of the shuriken shadow clones and seeing it as the right moment to take action, a layer of red wispy chakra surrounded her body and the two men were immediately dragged away as a rain of shuriken fell over their enemy.

Fuu jumped beyond the massive rock and then down a small creek she spotted hidden behind some high bushes. She gently put down Kegon and Yoro then rushed to their sides to check on their health, but Yoro hold up a hand to stop her from coming any closer. He was panting heavily and Fuu felt the urge to sit at their side anyway to check on his pulse, but he pushed her away instead and in between two breaths he said: "Run…"

Fuu ignored him and laid her hands on Kegon's thigh where blood already became dark and sticky, but Yoro kicked her back with his remaining strength and she slid on the wet clay.

"Just… get away…" he spitted as he tried to inhale as much air as he could. "They… They are after you. You can't… disobey our leader…"

Fuu glared at Yoro as she crawled back to the two men: "I'm not leaving you! You're too weak to fight back!"

"Do you know how much energy that technique required?!" Yoro yelp as he bent to the wound on his rib cage. After taking in a couple of breaths, he said: "Listen... Fly above the forest and look for a village towards the south. It's in our territory… From there you can ask reinforcement from Takigakure… Understood?"

"O-okay, I got it. I swear, I'll be back in no time!" She didn't dare glance back at the two men as she took off. She had an important task at hand and if she wanted to bring everyone back alive, she needed to be quick.

The rustle of leaves should have had an appeasing effect on his mood, if it wasn't for the current situation. He wasn't one who could ask for peace after all, not when he was about to commit the biggest sin of his life since that day. Although a part of him was convinced it was the best option, forcing someone into a life-style because of something she wasn't responsible for seemed as much wrong to him, especially knowing that her current status and the terrible consequences it had on her life were because of him. Hidan had soon joined him on the branch behind him, and groaned in anger as he took out a shuriken from his forearm. Kakuzu winced behind his mask at the grotesque scene and turned his eyes back to the teenager who finally came into view. She was definitely out of reach, but there was still a way to put an end to her escape.

"Hidan, get your spear ready."

"What now? Did it bother you so much that she knows your past?" Hidan raised an eyebrow at the odd request.

"You'll have to aim at one of her wings," Kakuzu said, clearly ignoring the latter's comment. Hidan rolled his eyes but didn't let it slide easily.

"You're pretty much conscious that if she falls from this height she won't survive."

"No, she will. She's a jinchuuriki."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Then you'll take responsibility for any damage." Hidan took the spear out and infuse his chakra in the metal. For a split second, he felt his heart twich for the girl but shook his head to get rid of the feeling and focused on the target.

In mid-air, a sharp sound cut through the noise of her wings and in no time Fuu found herself swirling down to the forest. The last thing she saw was the sun shining through the hole she left between two trees.