A/N: I hope the way I've described Mika's ability is clear enough, it's not a Kekkei Genkai, but it is something she developed herself.

Answer to question: A slug has 4 noses, believe it or not!

And the riddle answer is silence! I like that one :)

Disclaimer.

Her Neighbour's Brother

'OW. BE GENTLE!'

'Shut up, you baby, I am being gentle!'

'Just leave it, already!'

'I'm almost done, for God's sake!'

Hidan continued to complain as Mika dabbed his arm again, watching in mild fascination at how quickly the burn was already healing by itself. No normal human should be able to regenerate this fast, surely? But then, not much surprised her anymore. She'd seen her fair share of oddities in the world, being an orphan with over seventeen different foster families in life would do that to you.

'There. See that wasn't so hard, was it?'

He shot her an icy glare as she smirked, moving to wash her hands in the river she had previously been using to soothe his singed arms. They elapsed into a mildly comfortable silence as Mika sat back from the water, wafting her hands in the air to dry. She stared at the waves as they sparkled and lapped against the grass, losing herself in thought as she wondered how long they'd been out for.

Hidan had won in the end, he always did, but she had definitely improved. She had to admit she had been practicing her taijutsu a lot recently, annoyed with her severe lack of skill in that area. It usually left her at a massive disadvantage in combat, especially when her flame wall of defence failed her.

'You rely on that jutsu too much, seriously.' Hidan suddenly commented, pulling her out of her trance as he regarded her with calculating eyes. 'It's not hard to figure out its weaknesses. Then what happens when your enemy breaks through? You're screwed, that's what.'

'…I know.' She mumbled, letting out a breath as she turned back to the river. She had always liked this country. It was green and fresh and unpolluted. Even the visiting ninja and tourists made an effort to keep it clean where they could. She tore her eyes from the serenity and met his uncharacteristically calm gaze. 'It's too expensive to train officially, so I guess I just make do with what I've got.'

'Geez you sound like Kakuzu…'

She raised an eyebrow in question, but he ignored her in favour of asking, 'don't you work?'

'…I sing.' She smirked at the odd look he threw her before she elaborated. 'In a bar every Saturday night. The pay's pretty shit but it's enough, besides, who wouldn't want a job that you loved doing?'

'Hm, I guess.' He mumbled, suddenly seeming distracted. He opened his mouth to speak again but a deep, gruff voice cut him off from behind.

'There you are, Hidan.'

Mika flinched, jumping to her feet and whirling around to face the culprit. It was that same stranger from the other night, the one she hadn't sensed approach, like she hadn't this time. Her wide eyes relaxed slightly upon remembering that he was a colleague of sorts to her companion, but she remained on her feet all the same, body tense and untrusting.

'Oh great, how'd you find me?'

'Enough, Hidan. We leave for Rōran in the Land of Wind immediately. Time is money, after all.'

'Fuck that, why would I want to go to that shitty place?'

'Because, you fool, there's a particularly oblivious Lord hanging around there with a rather hefty bounty over his head. Akatsuki would benefit greatly from this kind of… investment.' Mika supressed a shudder at the way his gravelly voice stressed that last word, her attention never leaving his strange two-toned eyes.

Hidan scoffed irritably. 'More like you would benefit. No way am I getting sucked into one of your damn bounty hunts again. Go by yourself.'

The older male just glared, and Mika spared a moment to be annoyed that during the whole exchange he hadn't even batted an eyelid in her direction. Was she really that unworthy? A scowl had crept over her features before she could stop it, and it failed to go unnoticed by the Jashinist.

'See look at that, you're even pissing Mika off.'

Her eyes snapped to his, silently warning him not to bring her into this. Hell, she wasn't going to get involved with the likes of Akatsuki any more than she had to. One member was enough, thank you very much.

'Very well.' Kakuzu replied eventually, turning his cool, hard stare to the redhead. 'I shall return in three days.'

One final, long moment passed, before he tore his gaze from her petrified state and left as silently as he'd come.

'Fucking old miser. To hell if he thinks I'm trekking through that damn desert for the sake of one guy.'

'Who is he?' She asked, still staring off in the direction he'd disappeared.

'Kakuzu? He's the partner I'm forced to work with under Akatsuki. Could be worse though, I could be stuck with Tobi.' He smirked as he thought of the persistently perky member pestering the life out of his beloved Senpai.

Standing up and stretching, he picked up his hitai-ate that was laying on the ground after his healing session and switched topics. 'So who are you on the run from?'

She spluttered incoherently, choking on air in shock at his casual way of bringing that up. 'N-no one you'd know.' She managed awkwardly.

'Aw, come on, you can tell your old buddy!' He teased, grinning as he tied the material in a tight knot at the back of his neck.

'Why are you such a pain?' She grumbled, reaching up to rub her temples. He just chuckled in response, waiting encouragingly for her to reply, but she held her ground.

'I should get back. I promised Nagisa I'd go with her to visit her brother later.'

'Why does she need you there?' He questioned, somewhat peeved.

'Because her brother is a psychopath. I told her not to go but she somehow feels an unwavering need to visit him since he's her only living relative, so I guess I'm her moral support.' Rolling her eyes as she prepared to leave, she pulled tied her jacket around her waist and started towards the village.

'Hey Mika?'

She paused mid-step, glancing over her shoulder to where Hidan was still sat by the river. He didn't know what it was about the situation, but something niggled in the back of his mind uneasily, so he spoke as seriously as he could.

'Be careful.'

She started to respond with a sarcastic remark, but upon seeing his oddly concerned expression, settled with a nod before turning on her heel and continuing her journey home.

********** Later **********

'Are you sure it's not too much? I mean, it's only a little café…'

'Nagisa. You look fine. Don't worry about it, you're just going for a coffee!' Mika did her best to offer her a reassuring smile, but it faltered considerably as she took in her friend's miserable expression. 'Nagisa?'

Finally meeting her gaze, her neighbour gave a brief smile that failed to meet her clouded honey eyes. 'It's nothing. It'll be fine, you're right.'

Unconvinced, Mika placed one hand on the shorter woman's shoulder. 'You're worried he's up to no good again, huh?'

She nodded after a moment, her dark chocolate locks bobbing with the motion. Unable to think of anything to counter her worry, Mika held out an arm for her friend to link. She did so gratefully, lifting her chin and plastering a brave expression across her face, indicating that she was ready.

The pair walked solemnly but determinedly down the stairs of their apartment building, descending out onto the street and following the cobbled roads until they reached the café Nagisa had arranged to meet her brother in.

'You ready?' Mika glanced at her one last time, willing to turn around and run back to their home should she change her mind. It slowly dawned on her that, somehow, she seemed to have developed a sort of soft spot for the girl that now clung to her elbow, even if she was a complete ditz.

She gave one short nod, and they entered the building, the bell overhead dinging quietly as the door swung open. They located him easily enough, his large, angular frame sitting calmly at the back of the room.

Mika had never met the man before, but she had heard a lot about him. How he'd abandoned his younger sister to fend for herself at the age of seven, while he went off into the world to chase his own wild dreams of power and destruction. How he was wanted in over eight lands for the murder of various blacksmiths and artisans, who had all failed to make a creation as strong as he had hoped. She also knew about how he quite often returned now that Nagisa was working and bringing in a reasonable income, how he scrounged off her like there was no tomorrow.

He looked as power-hungry as he sounded. With a square, well-defined chin and small narrowed black eyes, Mika couldn't hold back her glower as they made their way over to his table.

'H-Hōki…' Her neighbour greeted him, nervously sweeping some loose bangs behind her ear.

'Nagisa,' His eyes swept over the girl beside his sister with undisguised suspicion. '…and friend?'

'Oh! Right, this is Mika. She's my neighbour.'

'Pleasure.' She muttered dryly. She didn't care if he knew what she thought of him. He deserved all the hatred he got.

'No, no. The pleasure is mine.' He smiled a dark, amused smile, the sort of smile you'd see on a sadistic, backstabbing murderer just seconds before he turned and slashed your neck. It gave her chills just looking into those cold, dead pupils, but she refused to let him see her fear and threw back her own, 'polite' smile.

They sat quickly and Nagisa fumbled with the menu, picking at one of the peeling edges until a waitress came over and took their order, thus saving the menu from her torture.

'So, little sister. I hope life is treating you well.' Hōki conversed casually.

'No more than usual.' Mika snapped before Nagisa could reply, not missing a beat. She knew his game; he was after money again.

'Ah, forgive me, but why are you here?'

Nagisa blanched as her friend replied calmly, 'I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to meet the brother that Nagisa here speaks of so… regularly.'

'…I see.' A sly smile flickered across his face. So, he knew that she knew.

The rest of the meeting passed by quickly, with Mika only dropping the occasional subtle comment that suggested he had an ulterior motive for his visit. When the time eventually came for them to part, she couldn't have been more thankful. It must have showed, because as they were walking away, Nagisa mentioned it.

'You're in a good mood all of a sudden…'

'Hm? Oh I'm just eager to get home, I suppose. Long day.' She knew her neighbour would probably see through the lie, but she didn't care. Her hatred for her neighbour's brother hadn't exactly been disguised. They rounded a corner onto another street when Nagisa suddenly piped up.

'Oh no! I'm so sorry Mika I promised work I'd cover the evening shift, you don't mind if I leave you here do you? I would have said no, but they're down by three staff members and I'd feel bad if the remaining few were left–' She babbled guiltily, only pausing when Mika's chuckling interrupted.

'Nagisa, its fine. I'm a big girl, I think I can make it home on my own.' She grinned when her neighbour breathed a sigh of relief.

'Thanks again for coming with me, I'll see you tomorrow maybe?'

Nodding and waving goodbye as Nagisa hurried away, Mika turned to continue her walk home, but was surprised to find someone blocking her path. Her eyes widened briefly before her expression turned into a grimace as she snarled, 'What the hell do you want?'

A/N: Anyone care to hazard a guess as to whom exactly Mika is on the run from? Or who's giving Mika trouble now. She just can't catch a break, can she?

Question, a bit different this time: Alaska law says that you can't look at a moose from an aeroplane. True or False?

And a riddle for you: A horse is on a 24 foot chain and wants an apple that is 26 feet away. How can the horse get to the apple?

Over and out.