Chapter Seventeen

"Seems like we're actually getting somewhere now hm." Deidara commented, Nakiro nodded absentmindedly.

It was well passed dark and the pair were sitting across from each other in a bar called The Ripple, it wasn't the quietest place but it was most definitely the safest place for them to talk out in the open. Their day had been a rough one, especially with how it had started out but at Deidara's suggestion, they'd decided to celebrate their small victory with a few drinks. The blonde was all but chugging his drink, playing with some clay in his hand while Nakiro looked over their map, charting their course for the journey at hand.

'It looks like we have a good amount of ground to cover. If we're going to make it to Tanigakure (The Village Hidden in Valleys) in six days then we should leave by midday tomorrow at the latest.'

"How's it looking?"

The greenette shrugged at the question and put her pen to the paper, focusing her attention on her calculations. She'd need to properly calculate the kilometers between Kirigakure and Tanigakure, from there she'd have a better chance at determining how many hours the journey would take them. Being on foot the entire journey would be problematic, she was thankful Deidara's art gave them the option of flying, it could cut their journey time nearly in half. She was sure depending on what type of creature he formed for their journey, it could speed things up or slow them down. For now, she'd go ahead with calculating the journey on foot and go from there.

'So if we travel at this consistent speed on foot, taking breaks into consideration, then it would take us-'

"Ooi Kiro." She pursed her lips at the interruption, looking up through her bangs at her partner. The impatient expression on her face gave her away, he grinned sheepishly back at her. "Gomen...I know you're really focused."

'Then stop interrupting me.'

"It's just." Her red eyes met his visible one, he swallowed nervously. "You've been going nonstop since we got here hm. You've barely touched your drink."

She raised an eyebrow at his words, a short (possible nervous) laugh passed through his lips. She could've rolled her eyes and took hold of her glass, raising it to her lips, taking a few gulps. A familiar warmth moved through her as she set the glass down but she shrugged off the feeling as best she could, returning her eyes to the paper. She knew this was supposed to be a celebration and she wasn't trying to upset her partner, however, they had to be ready for anything. Planning the journey and figuring out a game plan for the battle ahead was vital to surviving, to finally achieving the goal; didn't Deidara understand they needed to take this seriously?

'Okay, if I divide these numbers by-'

"Nakiro."

Her head snapped up at the sound, her eyes narrowed into a glare as she met Deidara's blue one. Why was he continuing to interrupt her, after everything they'd been told, why couldn't he let her finish, he knew this was important so why wouldn't he give her a few minutes of peace to work this shit out?

"Please." She blinked dumbly at his tone, loosening her grip on her pen; she hadn't even realized she'd almost snapped the pen out of rage. "Just take a second hm. That's all I'm asking." Again, she pursed her lips and turned her attention to her book, writing.

I can't afford to take a second Dei, they're going to be there in six days. We need to know how long it'll take us to get to Tanigakure so we can get there in time.

She watched impatiently as he read over her words, his visible eye finding her red ones.

"We have plenty of time hm." he said easily, she scoffed silently.

How do you figure that when we don't even know if we'll manage to make it?

"We will make it." he assured. "We've got my art so we'll fly there hm."

Are you even taking into account the fact that you'll be expending chakra the entire journey so we can fly there?

"Of course." he all but scoffed.

Or that you'll need to recover the chakra you've lost?

"Obviously hm."

All the stops for food, bathroom breaks, sleeping?

"Kiro." His hand was on hers, he squeezed it once reassuringly. "We've got this, you're over-analyzing everything hm."

'I'm over-analyzing? He's the one acting completely unbothered by this whole ordeal.'

She could feel anger bubble up inside her at the thought and slipped her free hand out from under his, moving it back to her glass. She raised the glass to her lips and all but downed her drink in a few seconds, the glass met the table with a quiet click. She knew she was on edge, ever since their meeting earlier in the day.

"You kids ain't from around here huh?"

Nakiro gave an impassive expression at the man, side-glancing at her partner. Deidara didn't look the least bit impressed, almost as though he would rather being dealing with unreasonable clients and that in of itself said something. As much as the blonde enjoyed showing off his art, the teenage girl knew he absolutely loathed talking with potential clients. It was one of his least favorite things because most of them were arrogant but to see her partner look this distasteful, she knew he'd rather being doing that than dealing with this kind of guy.

Shuhei Minoto was far more than arrogant, he was a lowlife business shark. The pair wasn't sure what he was up to that particular day in Kirigakure but his smug attitude was going to get on their last nerve, she was sure of it. She watched as the man paced around the pool table in his overly expensive business suit, examining the shots he could make from where his cue-ball was positioned. A pair of thugs were guarding all the exits, standing quietly but also on high alert, she wondered if they even got halfway decent pay for dealing with this type of thing.

"Tch, what gave us away?" Deidara scoffed.

'Oh yeah, he's about to get pissed.'

Shuhei laughed heartily before leaning over, lining up his shot.

"People know to stay on the main road this time of the month, was pretty obvious."

"You seem to know everything that goes on around here hm." Deidara commented after a minute, his free hand was molding some clay in his palm.

"I get a lot of intel I suppose." Shuhei responded, taking the shot; two ball, corner pocket. Nakiro pursed her lips and squeezed Deidara's hand, encouraging him. She knew people like Shuhei were the type that had unlimited sources, information, scavengers and the like; he had to know something of value about Orochimaru.

"What's your price?" the blonde questioned, Shuhei looked up.

"Depends on what you're after."

The greenette arched an eyebrow at the statement and tugged her sketchbook out from under Deidara's arm, releasing his hand. Deidara stood there silently as she flipped through the pages before finally coming across the sketches she was looking for, her eyes meeting Shuhei's golden ones.

"What ya got there missy?"

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at his tone and slowly made her way across the floor, holding her sketchbook out to him while maintaining a safe distance. She watched as his gaze moved between the two images, intently studying her sketches before grinning widely.

"Quite the talent ya got there." he chuckled, her lips tightened into a frown.

"What can you tell us? Do you know anything hm?" Deidara pressed, an irritable tone in his voice.

"This ain't free boy." Shuhei chuckled again.

"Whatever, talk hm."

"The cloud is tied to the Akatsuki organization." he began, lining up another shot; Nakiro took a step back to stand next to Deidara. "Not too long ago the Akatsuki appeared, they were formed in Amegakure. I don't know specific details of who started it, demo, they're a band of shinobi mercenaries."

'It's no wonder we've had trouble finding information, Amegakure has been nothing but a war zone for the larger villages for years.'

"Not long after it was formed, Hanzo of the Salamander was murdered and the Akatsuki took reign over Amegakure. Bet they're the ones who did it too."

'They managed to kill Hanzo? Demo, he's a legend. Not even Orochimaru could stand against him with the other two Sannin.'

"Their leader must be something special for Orochimaru to take orders." he continued. "From what I was told, the battle would've ended in blood if the Sannin hadn't surrendered."

'No way.'

"You mean-"

"Aye." Shuhei agreed. "Orochimaru submitted to the leader, offered his services. Must've been quite the astounding shinobi."

Nakiro couldn't believe it, there was actually someone out there in the world that made Orochimaru surrender, someone far more powerful than the Sannin. Who could it be though? She'd never heard anything during her time in Anbu about a shinobi such as this, nor during her time on the road. Whoever it was, he/she had made sure not to draw attention to themselves for a long while and it seemed plausible that they would continue to move in the shadows as long as they needed in order to achieve whatever goal they had planned. Perhaps this unknown person was a native of Amegakure or one of the smaller villages throughout the world, that would account for why none of the Great Nations knew anything about what was happening under their noses.

"From what I understand..." Nakiro's eyes flicked to Shuhei's, he grinned widely. "There's bad blood brewing in Akatsuki, Orochimaru was never trusted to begin with, for obvious reasons. Don't think there's a shinobi alive that does."

"What are you getting at hm?" Deidara pressed, the shark chuckled.

"He ain't gonna be in Akatsuki much longer."

'No, if this leader kills him then I'll never find my people.'

The greenette turned to her partner, unable to hide the worry she was feeling. What were they going to do? They hadn't found him after all these months of searching, if he was going to be killed by this Akatsuki leader then they'd need to get to him before it happened but how? From what they'd learned, the Akatsuki had always been seen traveling and not staying in one spot. How could they find someone that was always moving around, especially when they didn't know what type of movements were being made? Deidara nodded, seeming to understand how concerned she was and turned his attention to Shuhei.

"Double." he said easily. "Provide us with a location and I'll pay you double of whatever you were originally asking hm."

"Heh, that's what I'm talking about kid."

All she could think about was finally finding Orochimaru and facing him for the first time in close to two years. It was the only thing she could focus on, after months worth of going in circles she finally had something solid, something that gave her a ray of hope for her future. Things could go a number of different ways and she knew that, she wasn't naive, she knew facing one of the legendary Sannin could end in disaster but it was the only move she had left. Facing Orochimaru, finding out the truth, having all of her questions answered...it was one of the only things that had kept her going and assuming she managed to defeat him, it would all be worth it.

She had once told Deidara what she wanted if things went south and he'd grudgingly agreed after persuasion on her part, but he'd sworn to her that it wouldn't come to that. How was she to know that though? After everything she'd witnessed that night, things could go horribly wrong if she messed up and it wasn't a risk she was willing to take, not after what had happened to her people. Her clan had been a smaller clan from the beginning, nothing close to the number of Uchiha or Hyuga in Konoha so the disappearances had quickly become apparent...but not quick enough. At first, no one had thought anything of it. People had assumed some of the Hontaru shinobi had gone out on missions and the like so it wasn't a top priority to investigate, until weeks passed without word from the missing shinobi.

In the absence of the head of her clan, her father had taken on an emergency leadership role to quell any worries from her people. Her father had always been skilled when it came to communication, he'd been one of Konoha's top peace negotiators before his untimely death and was able to calm all of the Hontaru during the disappearances. Time passed though and no word ever came from her missing people, her father made it known that he would be speaking with the Third Hokage to try to figure things out. However, that ball never did get rolling and the Hontaru were wiped from Konoha. That night, that dreadful night had changed everything. Everything Nakiro had wanted, all the work she'd put in to ensure a happy future for her family, the steps she'd taken to try to heal herself after the massacre, it was gone in an instant.

Now, her goal was a simple one in theory; find Orochimaru and get him to talk, make him tell her where her people were and save them, get them all back to Konoha in one piece. Easier said than done. There were so many different factors, so many possible outcomes, one wrong move or word could change the course of the encounter. What was she supposed to do if she screwed up? It could mean the end of her life, the end of her people, the complete end of Senshi; if it wasn't the end already. They could all be dead at this point, it had been over two years since they'd started disappearing and ultimately, the odds weren't good. If any of her people were still alive, they were running out of time and if she was going to do something, it needed to be now.

"Kiro?" The greenette was on her feet, she spared a glance over her shoulder at Deidara, not bothering to hide the annoyance she was feeling in the moment. His brow furrowed at the impassive look on her face, her eyes rolled in response. "Where are you going hm?" She easily pointed to her empty glass before heading across the floor to the bar to get another drink, he'd wanted to celebrate after all.

"Ready for another one dear?" the brunette woman guessed, she nodded in agreement. After quickly scanning the drinks menu, she pointed to a mixed drink and then tapped the image of sake, the bartender nodded in response. "I got ya dear."

She waited patiently as the woman mixed her drink of choice, taking hold of it once she had finished and grabbed the sake with her free hand, they had shot glasses from earlier back at the table. She nodded her thanks and gave a polite smile before heading back in the direction of the table. She took her seat across from Deidara and gingerly placed the sake between them, trying her hardest to clear her mind. The last thing she wanted was to fight with her partner simply from being on edge but he wasn't making it easy with his cocky attitude, the constant interruptions made her all the more impatient to get the mission started. Nakiro avoided his gaze as best she could and took a few gulps of her drink, turning her attention back to her calculations.

'Alright, just divide these numbers and I should be able to get a good estimation for the journey on foot. From there if I can guess the speed of flying then I'll have a more accurate time frame for our arrival. He usually crafts the same type of bird each time we fly, so taking that into consideration-'

"Kiro."

'What now?'

Her brow had furrowed at the sound of her name, she took a slow breath to try and calm down her irritability before meeting Deidara's visible eye. The annoyance melted into confusion when he reached across the table and cupped her cheek, his thumb running across her skin soothingly.

"Look hm." He stopped, taking a breath. "I know you're probably looking at me like an annoyance right now but like I said earlier, you've been going nonstop. I'm just...worried hm."

'He's worried? I don't understand.'

"Maybe this is a side of you that I don't know hm." Deidara admitted, his thumb ran across her cheek again. "Demo, I care too much about you to watch you stress yourself out hm."

'I'm just trying to prepare. I know I'm stressed about what could happen but that's a given considering the situation we're about to be in.'

"Nakiro, I'm scared for you. I can't afford to lose you hm." he said, almost too quietly for her to hear.

Her heart lightened at the words, finally realizing what he'd been trying to say for the past hour; he was afraid of losing her. He was trying to be strong for her, saying things in a way that made no room for doubt in his mind, and trying to assure her that everything would go in her favor but deep down, he was just as unsure as she was. She'd been so caught up in planning for this mission that she hadn't really let herself feel, she'd focused all her energy and attention on the outcome she wanted whereas Deidara, he'd been thinking on the opposite end of the spectrum. It was no wonder he'd been trying to gain her attention, he knew there were only two outcomes; victory or defeat. Their meeting earlier had made it apparent that anything could happen but it hadn't truly sunk in until this moment, she could die.

"I love you."

The words were barely out of his mouth before the greenette grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him across the table to meet her, their lips colliding in a rough kiss. His taste was even more intoxicating than it'd ever been as he greedily moved his lips against hers; was it the alcohol, the tension, stress? She wouldn't know but she hoped, prayed, with all her heart, that he knew just how much he meant to her, that she loved him. Her lips were moving back against his just as hungrily, her fingers still knotted at the front of his shirt; she was almost afraid he'd disappear if she released her hold on him, like he once had. Red eyes snapped open when the blonde broke the kiss, his forehead made contact with hers.

"I've got your back hm." he murmured, his thumb ran across her cheek. A small smile came to her lips and Nakiro nodded into his hand, a small blush tinting her cheeks. "Alright, we'll have a shot then I'll leave you alone to do your math."

She could've rolled her eyes at his tone but nodded, releasing her hold on him and settling back into her seat, watching as he filled the glasses to the brim. Her smile widened and she took hold of her glass, a curious look was quick to follow when he raised his to eye level.

"To victory hm." he toasted, she nodded in agreement.

'To victory.'

Author's Note: Another chapter finally complete!