Chapter 6: Agnation

After a week spent tracking through the backwater, worthless lands of Rice, Iron, and Waterfall, the immortal trio passed a checkpoint in to the land of Earth, on the north western border near the sea. Alright, so they didn't really pass it, they more like went up and over, using the cover of night to walk up the wall, back down, and disappear into the nearby forest before anyone noticed.

Sika wasn't exactly sure how the men were seeing anything. The path through the forest was not at all lit, and Sika found it difficult to see the branches beneath her feet as they used the trees as a highway. She could make out Hidan up ahead and sometimes she saw Kakuzu's cloak flutter in the breeze. She had no other indicators she was going the right way besides the sparse reoccurrence of two shadows. Sika could see an end coming to the tree line when the silhouettes of the men fell from the path of branches and on to the forest floor. As she emerged, a minuscule amount of light the moon beams provided helped focus her vision just enough to see about two feet in front of her face.

Kakuzu bounced once off of the ground, his heavy chakra summoned, and dirt and gravel flew, spraying away from the intruding energy, and he jumped, off into the darkness ahead of him. Hidan mocked him, fine dust flying and clouding the air as his much lighter feeling energy crowed his feet, and he sprung forward in the same way. She felt their chakra disturb the air around them, and thinking this couldn't be good, Sika summoned her own chakra.

When she sprung, following blindly in the footsteps of her protégés, she thought maybe she was going to land on a low branch where she'd vault up into another tree. At least, she suspected she was going to jump a log or a rock, but that was much to simple.

Much too simple, Sika decided, biting her lip.

Because as soon as her foot left the safety of the earth, she was falling. She'd followed her traveling partners off of a cliff.

"You assholes have got to be fucking kidding me!" Sika screeched, falling into the inky blackness of the ground below. She couldn't see anything, not even the boys, not even her nose in front of her face.

And then she heard a splash down below and she realized the sound if the waves crashing, the sound they'd been wandering with for hours, was getting closer. She hurriedly summoned chakra to her feet once more and tried to tell herself she'd be safe. There wasn't any use being afraid because she had to skills to save herself.

Her splash was much louder. She felt her feet come into contact with the water and she felt it part, she sunk, up to her calves, and the resulting splash covered about three feet. Her chakra repelled her back to the water's surface and though it was a bit more difficult than walking on stagnant water, she stood on top of the mighty ocean, blind, but dry. Dry and not injured.

Sika didn't like how she was so much clumsier than the other two ninja she traveled with. She didn't like how she tripped when she stopped focusing or skidded when she should have landed flat. She shouldn't have had any trouble landing and staying on top of the water. She especially didn't like how slow she was. Everybody that'd ever give her trouble was faster than her. The list was short, but the reason still stood.

"Do you think you fucks could give me some goddamn warning next time we, I dunno, plummet down the side of a son of a bitching cliff?" She was screaming, but she couldn't exactly see in which direction. She hoped it was in the general direction of her traveling partners.

"Would you shut the fuck up? Holy shit, you're so goddamn loud!" Hidan was closer than she thought he was.

"As if you aren't?" She accused, scoffing.

"Both of you shut up," Kakuzu growled, a little farther away than she pegged him to be. "You don't have any room to scold her," the oldest of the group chastised the Jashinist. Hidan would probably be looking pretty pissed right about now, but Sika couldn't see him.

"Sooo, okay, now what?" Sika asked, shifting her weight. Her sword shifted with her.

"We walk," Kakuzu said gruffly.

"How do we know we're going the right way?"' Sika retorted.

"We," Kakuzu said sharply, "are going north west. The moon, as I'm sure you know, rises in the east. It's past midnight, the moon is arching down, that way," he said, sort of dramatically, and she was sure he was motioning, "is west. We're going to follow the coast in that direction, and it will take us north west. That's the natural scope of this country's coast, it runs at an arch north."

"You don't have to talk to me like I'm stupid," Sika grumbled. Rolling her eyes, not that anyone one could see it. But really? Why couldn't she have seen that? She rubbed her arm self consciously and sighed, putting one foot blindly in front of the other. Kakuzu didn't respond, and the only sound for hours was the soft "pat, pat" of their feet on the water.

Five hours of walking on water was strenuous. Sika did not have deep chakra reserves, and using it for long periods was taxing. She felt the heavy pull on her as it drained, pulling her shoulders to her stomach where her chakra coiled and withered under demand. Sika bit her lip. She didn't want to say anything. Kakuzu already had a low opinion of her.

She thought for a moment longer. It was near six in the morning, the sun's rays were crowning the horizon. As the sky pinkened and yellowed into gold with the rising sun, the washed out colors that made up her companions became clearer and clearer, their outlines giving way to pastel colored bodies. They'd been traveling all night. Maybe they could sleep during the day. Probably not, but it was worth a try.

"Do… Do you guys suppose that we could take a break?"

"No," Kakuzu said bluntly.

"Alright, well who's gonna carry me when I pass out?" She retorted. It earned her a hard glare.

"Here," Hidan grunted, digging a baggie of something out from his weapons pouch beneath his cloak. "Eat one. They're energy pills."

"Soldier pills," Kakuzu corrected.

So Sika took one, and ate it, and it only took a few seconds for her body to convert it straight to energy. She don't care how, but honestly this is the best she's felt since, since, well, she wasn't sure when. Best of all, she wasn't hungry. She'd been hungry for so long.

"Can I take more?" She asked, stepping closer to Hidan so they walk abreast.

"Yeah, I guess. Your gonna pass out later though," he says, and she ignored him, grabbing three more pills and munching on them. Her throat contracted as she swallowed, and the pills hit her stomach.

Passing out was worth this feeling. It was like an immediate sugar high. A shit eating grin plastered itself on her face.

"Hey, what do you call somebody who points out the obvious?" She asked, sort of sly.

"What?" Hidan asked, taking the bait after realizing she was trying to tell a joke.

"Somebody who points out the obvious," she replied, amused. Hidan eyed her. That was so bad it wasn't even funny.

"What do you call a cow with no legs?" She followed up. He narrowed his gaze.

"Ground beef," she answered herself. She was getting a rise out of this. Hidan tried to ignore her. She kept on.

"What's brown and sticky?"

"Oh my god, Sika!" Hidan shouted, she ignored him.

She sneered, "A stick."

Hidan face palmed and groaned "oh come on!" Sending the girl into a fit of giggles. They were horrible jokes, really horrible, but his reaction was the funniest part of it. Kakuzu was downright ignoring both of them. The banker lived in a state of almost constant annoyance with them around anyway.

"Okay, okay, I'm done," she snickered, waving him off.

"But hey, Kakuzu, you know, I've been reading," Her voice was just a little bit hesitant. Just an itsy bit hesitant, like a bull in a china shop. She didn't usually address him directly like that, usually she beat around the bush, politely, because she was afraid of him. "I've been reading your bingo book. I read your entry. You have a lightning style jutsu?"

Sika had never seen him in combat. She'd never seen the Lightning mask emerge from his body in an eldritch form of tangled threads, and spit lightning from its mouth. He could lie to her. It'd be easier to lie to her.

"I have several," he informed her.

"I want them all," she grinned, looking just a bit wicked. He didn't look back at her.

"One does not receive skill from pure want," he said, very condescendingly. She ignored his tone.

"Your right. They receive it from their traveling partners." This time he did look back.

"You have a loud mouth," the older man remarked with contempt. Sika didn't waver.

"Go back to Kisame," Kakuzu instructed, "he's your teacher. Not me."

"You keep acting like I'm so useless, teach me something. You know, I really don't see Kisame around here. Apparently what I learned from him wasn't enough anyway," She challenged.

"Apparently." He growled.

Thinking about arriving at the port city where they'd catch a boat to their island destination was different than actually arriving there. Hidan supposed it would be quiet there, it was only a small village, no large ships, but he was wrong. The village was actually quite large, with its own market and seafood cannery. The ships weren't huge, but they also were nothing to shake a stick at. It was quiet though, and he brought trouble with him.

Sika had been awake for close to two days, the effects of the soldier pills were pulling on her physique, but not her energy. She repeatedly told her traveling partners she wasn't tired, and that she wasn't hungry, but she then scarfed down any food put in front of her, so she may or may not have been lying about being tired. Hidan wasn't really sure, he just wanted her to stop pestering him. He didn't remember the first time he took soldier pills, but he hoped he wasn't as obnoxious as she was.

Sure, she was usually brazen and transparent, but she was downright annoying with all that energy.

Hidan had imagined the girl calm and contemplative, the man they pursued might know something about her father, but instead she seemed uninterested and unfocused.

He decided, deep down, she was hiding her fears under the sugar rush. She twitched a little too often for it to just be the pills.

Hidan watched Sika from afar, the kunoichi was standing at the end of the dock, ducked down looking at something he wasn't sure belonged in the ocean when Kakuzu approached him. The banker had just finished securing their passage to the island with blackmail and death threats, just like always. They stood together, watching her for just a moment before Hidan spoke. "You know, I tried to make a decent sacrifice out of her and it came back and bit me in the ass."

"Next time make sure it doesn't come back to bite me in the ass too," the older man sneered. "She'll pass out on the boat."

Hidan clicked his tongue. He sure hoped she would.

Sika did pass out on the boat. No sooner had she got on did she lose consciousness in the middle of a sentence, mid blink. The bottle of water she was holding clattered to the floor as she slumped over and her limbs went limp. She was standing in the middle of the main deck, the small ship's five man crew buzzing around and darting every which way, nearly tripping on her as she fell. Hidan caught her before her head hit the ground.

Kakuzu threw him an Interested glance.

" 'ey! Take her below deck, would ya?" the second in command (the first mate?) shouted, throwing a rope to another man and they both heaved ho to pull the anchor from the sandbar they were docked on. He understood, couldn't have a half dead body laying around, complicating things and tripping people. Hidan liked these guys, they didn't ask a lot of questions, like why she'd just fell unconscious.

"Go, Hidan," Kakuzu commanded, sharing a wrinkled map with the captain nearby. After some intense bickering, he lugged her body carelessly down two flights of stairs, grumbling all the way. Seriously, since when was she his problem?

The third level of the ship was below the canon deck, and was made up mostly of the galley, dining room, and bunk rooms. Hidan had very little knowledge of ships. He didn't know that all the compartmentalizing of rooms was to help protect against flooding in case of injury to the haul, to him it was mostly just annoying. Having to haul a body though so many doors just to get to the god damn dining room was stupid.

He put her down next to a stack of potatoes laying against a wall and pulled out a chair. He seated himself at the long crew table and rested his arms on the top. Kakuzu thought they'd be at sea, tops, maybe four hours. They were headed to another port town, from there they'd just catch a ferry over to the Island of Spring, where that Isao guy was hiding out or whatever. He wondered if Sika would wake up before then.

It'd be kind if awkward, towing her in there passed the fuck out and asking the guy, "hey, are you related to this prostitute or nah?" Besides, she'd be tolerable to talk to again when she woke up.

If he was going to be real with himself, which he probably wasn't because he didn't really want to think in that direction, he was going to be kinda bummed when this was all over.

Kakuzu joined him a half hour later and they sat in silence for the remainder of the trip.

When Sika woke up, the uneasy feeling of dread was still in her guts. She was again in a place she didn't recognize, but the familiar arguing of her traveling partners set her at ease.

"Look, all I'm saying is that your sinning, and two out of three of us don't want to be around it."

Kakuzu scoffed, "I don't remember this being a democracy."

She was sick to her stomach. It rolled over and over in an uncomfortable ache fueled by emotion. Her chest hurt too, and she was nauseous. She was so fucking sick, she couldn't remember being this sick in so long.

Sika rolled over, squeezing her eyes shut once more and feeling around for the off chance of another pillow next to her to cover her head to silence the voices. Her hand hit the cold wooden floor outside of her bedroll with a definite smack and she groaned. Nothing.

"Hey, get up off your lazy ass, fucking idiot," Hidan projected from across the room.

"But I don't feel good," she complained.

"Get up," Kakuzu droned in that calming, deep voice of his. Sika refused, choosing to lay still and listen to her surroundings. She could hear the constant "pat pat pat" of rain though an open window nearby, in fact, she thought she might be under it. That was strange, it had been so clear when they boarded the boat. Sika thought maybe it might be because of a jet stream or something meteorological she didn't fully understand.

"You've been out for two days. Your setting us back, get up," Kakuzu demanded.

Sika groaned again.

She debated not getting up. What was the worst he could do, honestly?

Actually, you know what? She was gonna get up now.

"Are you gonna teach me that lightning jutsu?" She asked, sitting up to run her fingers through her matted mass of hair.

"Are you honestly still on that?" The banker asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

"A broken clock is still right twice a day, right?" She asked, countering his statement. He didn't respond.

She was surprised to see that they weren't on the boat anymore, but the stillness of her body should have keyed her into that. The hotel room was very traditional. It didn't even have a bed, just three bedrolls laid out on the floor, not yet folded and packed away for the day. The floor was wood, and comparing the traditional screens to the floor was strange, they didn't match. The floor was very dark, but the screens were bordered by light wood, pine maybe, like they were trying to cut costs last minute. The space was big though, big enough for two skinny, horizontal windows to border the north side and a tea table to the west and an armoire pushed up against the wall.

Hidan and Kakuzu sat at the table, morning tea brought to the room for the three of them to share. Hidan had his legs sprawled out like a four year old, his elbow on the table and a sour look on his face, contrasting Kakuzu who sat cross legged, holding his cup if tea off the table.

Sika got up, throwing the covers off if her and moved to the table, folding her legs under in a very lady like manner, and pouring herself a cup of tea.

"I need somebody to help me bind my chest, if you don't mind," she spoke, taking a quick sip of the hot liquid, "I'd rather not go around possible family with my tits hanging out. This shirts trashed anyway."

"Hidan," Kakuzu volunteered. The immortal spat out his tea.

"What the fuck!" Hidan shouted, spraying the other two at the table with liquid, "I fucking carried her ass here! I baby-fuckin'-sat her! It's your turn!"

Sika cocked an eyebrow. What? Like she was heavy?

"Okay, okay," she huffed, "can I just borrow a shirt? God, you two are like pulling teeth."

"Yeah, whatever," Hidan snarled, leaning back away from the table. He was pissed.

"I really do want to learn that jutsu," Sika pressed, changing the subject.

Before the Akatsuki Organization treasurer had a chance to refuse her, Sika literally up and vanished. In a cloud of white smoke she was just gone. That was a mistake. Kakuzu swore. Whoever was responsible for this was going to be in a shit load of trouble.

Sika wasn't gone gone, she was just, for lack of a better word, moved. She was halfway across the continent in another time zone, one where the sun hadn't risen, sitting on the ground.

There was another pair of Akatsuki where Hidan and Kakuzu had been sitting. When she looked up, following the white stockings and dark shrouds up, she meet the faces of Sasori and Deidara.

"Oh shit, we got the noob, yeah," Deidara rolled his eyes. Sasori looked unphased.

You know, something certainly smelled it it was burning.

Sika looked behind her, turning her torso with her. There was a large building behind her, on fire.

Huh. Well would you look at that.

Sika chewed her cheek, turning back to the two half pints in front of her. She stood up, and had to look down. "So uh, 'sup?"

"Put the fire out," Sasori droned, looking at her void of emotion. She shrugged. Sure, okay.

Sika spun around, already weaving hand signs, and pulled her chakra from the depths of her system where it dwelled after a two day recharge. The shark water bullet sprung from her lips, flung through the air like it was shot out of a canon, and extinguished the rightmost part of the Flames with a tell tale hiss. Three more water bullets reduced the flames to nothing more than smoking ashes. The building's skeleton and what was left of the exterior and interior stuck out as blackened charcoal bits contrasting against the graying grass as the horizon began to lighten.

Sika stood away from the artistic pair, having moved to angle her jutsu to utilize it best, hands on her hips and admiring her work. She beamed. This was a very worthy mission for her, she'd been very useful to her co-workers. The smoke might have tipped off the enemy, or the fire might have sent the forest up, she'd helped out majorly in all actuality.

"We've got one other task for you, yeah," the slightly taller, blond Akatsuki member smirked, "you do those sacrifice rituals too, don't you?"

"Who's asking?" Sika replied, turning to walk towards him, folding her hands behind her head.

Deidara leered at her with his visible eye and grinned, leaning back to relax. He didn't look like he wanted to tell her, but Sasori wasn't moving either. Finally he spoke. "We got a guy that knows something, and Sasori's done everything short of murder him and he won't talk. We want you to kill his partner, yeah."

"In the most gruesome way I can?" She retorted, cocking an eyebrow.

"That'd be helpful."

Sika scoffed, shrugging, "I'll see what I can do."

Sika arched her back off the blood stained dirt, gasping as her toes curled and she repossessed her own lifeless body. The hurt was so worth it. It was worth it every time she cleaved open her chest. Moaning out loud, her fingers dug into the dirt in a desperate search of something to hang on to.

She hadn't thought she'd been able to do it, sacrifice one man and then another, but when the guy they grilled finally spoke up, well, it was a sin to leave someone half dead anyway.

"You gonna lay like that all morning, yeah?" Deidara smirked, "it's a pretty compromising position."

"Fuck off," Sika panted, her eyes heavy, "it's a dirty shame you're never gonna feel this."

"Wouldn't want to," the blond scoffed.

Sika tried to ignore him, and she didn't have to try very hard. Everything felt so good.

"How do we get rid of her, Danna?" Deidara asked, turning around to face the redhead who was in the process of working on a nameless, faceless puppet. He'd been working on it nearly the entire time Sika had been working on those men.

"I'll dismiss her in a moment," Sasori droned.

"Danna," Deidara said, just about to whine.

"In a moment, Deidara," the red head's tone was much more menacing that time. Deidara huffed.

"My two aren't any better if it's any consolation," Sika offered, her muscles starting to relax.

"They fight like a married couple," Deidara snickered, "but I'd rather have Hidan than Mr. Professional Wet Blanket here, though."

"And just why is that?" Sasori asked, his tone hinting he was mocking the younger man. "He stands for everything you're against."

"Because he's more fun, yeah!" The blonde shot back, seating himself in the dirt between the two. Sasori tisked loudly.

Sika flexed her fingers, then her toes, then rolled her ankles around, and finally deeming herself able, she sat up. "What's that mean?"

"What's what mean?" Deidara asked, cocking an eyebrow as the girl scooted closer.

"Hidan stands for everything you're against. What, you don't like religion?" Sika asked, ending up about five feet from him. She remembered the last time they'd meet.

"No, immortality," the blond replied bluntly, "you, Hidan, Kakuzu, hell, even my own partner. All of you, too blind to see the beauty of a short lived, poetic life. It's what life is supposed to be you know? The ideas artistic."

"He thinks he should die," Sasori remarked, snide.

Sika raised her eyebrows.

"I do!" The blond rushed to defend himself, but immediately calmed and rolled his eyes upon realizing his partner was out to get his goat. "I think everyone should."

"Alright, what do you think about suicide then?" The tawny haired girl asked, running a hand through her once clean hair.

"Suicide? It's stupid. All of it. Your kind, the real kind, all of it. People are meant to live short lives, yeah, but it defeats the purpose if you end it yourself. Shouldn't make it too short now," he smirked.

Sika shrugged and drug her fingers into the grass, feeling every inch of the stems and the plush, collective softness. She honestly didn't care much about his opinion, she was just trying to make small talk. "What if you accidentally killed yourself, that time, back at that meeting house?"

Deidara scoffed. "I wouldn't do that. My bombs are precise. They don't reshape the landscape, they don't make a show out of it, they get their jobs done. The explosion shouldn't be too long, or too big that remnants remain, got me, yeah?"

"Yeah," Sika agreed. She'd decided about two minutes ago this guy was a loon, even if it was only the second time she'd meet him.

"You know, there's something I don't get," the blonde began, and Sika knew he was going to start picking her brain. "You scream bloody murder and die, and it delights you, I don't understand."

"You know," Sika mused, trailing off a moment to think, "I don't either, but-" she paused again, "it's really difficult to describe. But when it's over, and it starts to feel good, so good it's like I can literally reach out and touch my faith. Like I can hold it in my hands."

"How much scripture did you have to read to get that?" The bomber snickered.

"None."

His smirk fell from his face.

"I read one book on lesser sins, but it was more of a bound essay, er, a list. Every nerve in my body feels like I'm being touched by God," she continued. He didn't care, she knew that, but it was conversation.

"What's that feel like, yeah? Being touched by God? How do you know it's Him?" The man followed up.

"You're an atheist, I bet?" She asked, he nodded, "I used to be too. I know, now, if nothing else, Lord Jashin exists. I know it's him because it's the first thing I feel after death. You know, heaven?"

Deidara's laugh burst from his throat. He threw back his head and his chest rumbled deeply. He was laughing at her faith in her face. Sika shrugged again.

He was a godless heathen, what else did she expect?

Okay, whoa, now she was starting to sound like Hidan.

"You sound like Hidan," the blond bomber smirked, letting his last few whole hearted chuckles out, "oh, man, all you immortals got a shtick don't you?"

"I wouldn't know," Sika huffed. This loony moron was getting on her nerves now. He was sort of an asshole actually.

"Hey, Sasori, you tell her about you yet?" Deidara asked over his shoulder. Sasori ignored him.

"Come on Danna, tell her," He urged again.

"He told me he was a puppet," Sika offered.

"Nah, he's got a whole thing," Deidara brushed her off, "come on Danna, tell her!"

"I will if you'll shut up," Sasori hissed. He didn't look up from his work.

"Sure," Deidara rolled his eyes.

Sasori tinkered a bit longer on a broken arm piece and used his chakra to flex the puppet's fingers before he spoke. "You know, I don't make a point to get into deep philosophical discussions with people I've meet twice."

Sika shrugged. She was a pretty open person to begin with, not exactly friendly, but she never got anywhere being closed off. Deidara certainly didn't seem shy. "You don't have to share if you don't want."

The redhead sighed and picked up the arm, slung it over his shoulder and picked up his screw driver. He came closer, the lazy gaze he held unwavering. He finally settled down next to them, on a fallen log that was still a few feet away. He sat farther away from Deidara than she did.

"I want to live as long as I can, but even I am not so stupid as to think I'll be alive forever," he spoke evenly, "I believe a life as long as you can make it is best. Think about people who die young. Surely coming from 'The Bloody Mist' you understand."

Sika nodded. She thought immediately to her mother. She had been dead since Sika was thirteen.

"I believe that a person should live to the best if their ability, and that includes leaving a legacy for others," the red head's face remained empty, "because the memory of a person will outlast any body, even this artificial one. Immortality means a longer legacy."

"I like that," the tawny haired girl replied, "I like that a lot."

"Oh come on," Deidara moaned, "that's horrible, yeah! I can't believe you!"

"Hey man," she defended," if I disagree with stuff that supports my own existence, you know, immortality? It creates cognitive dissonance."

"Literally, what the fuck is that?" He asked with a straight face. She rolled her eyes.

Without another word, Sasori made a hand motion and dismissed her. Sika disappeared in a puff of smoke, put back where she'd come from.

"You know, you could have dismissed her any time too," the redhead pointed out.

"Fuck off, yeah."

"You lousy, goddamn stupid bitch!"

"I'm glad I'm back too, Hidan," Sika huffed, sitting up from her uncomfortable position on the floor. Somehow she'd ended up on her upper back, upside down, with her legs twisted over her shoulders and her hips angled uncomfortably in to line with her head. She'd apparently been deposited back into her original spot at the table.

"Who summoned you?" Two large hands seized her from her spot, bringing her within inches of the accountant's masked, scowling face.

"Sasori and Deidara," she replied, trying to seem unphased. On the inside she was screaming. He dropped her back on her ass and stormed out if the room in search of a phone.

"Somebody just might lose a limb over that," Hidan scowled too, taking a big gulp of his tea.

Sika poured herself some new, seeing as hers had gotten cold. "How long was I gone?"

"About an hour," the Jashinist replied, holding out his cup for more. Sika served him with whatever tea serving manners she still remembered.

"What are you so pissed over?" She asked, looking up at him.

He didn't meet her graze. "Nothin'."

"Not jealous, are you?" Sika smirked.

"Absolutely fucking not!" The silver haired man shouted, spitting a little in the haste of his speech. Sika snickered.

"You! Bitch!" The door flew open, well, more like shattered on impact, the outer edge crumbling under Kakuzu's grip as he reentered the room, "go take a fucking shower! We're leaving in five minutes with or without you!"

Sika fled for the bathroom like the coward she was. Kakuzu was mad and she did not want to feel his wrath. Besides, she was, you know, smeared with rust colored blood.

The only problem with Hidan's shirt was that Sika couldn't get the smell of his hair gel out of her nose. They were relatively the same size so it fit alright, but the collar of the garb smelled like 'Phoenix' or whatever sent his gel claimed to be, despite the man claiming he'd washed it. Sika tied the bottom of the black fabric at the bottom, taking up any extra slack in the shirt as she walked after her traveling partners. The town was mid sized, but especially busy this Saturday, with people bustling up and down finely groomed brick streets.

The road to the port was long and hilly, but it was a straight shot. Even though Sika couldn't see the water, she could see big white ship sails in the distance and seagulls cried overhead. It was only supposed to be a ten minute walk, and they'd already been walking for five. The street was easy. People stayed out of each other's way.

Crossing the village square was like crossing a threshold. On the way to the water they passed though, and as soon as they exited the space, political propaganda covered every free space. Springing up like weeds in the garden patch. The group came around a tree obstructing their view and there it all was. Shop windows let themselves be covered in paper, painted a dark blue with the words "death to Isao" and like slogans in bright white letters. As they continued down Main Street, posters became more and more abundant, taped and stapled to every available place.

"What's this all about?" Sika asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

Kakuzu ignored her, still angry about that morning's delay, and Hidan seemed to be lost with his thoughts, so she grabbed one taped to a lamp post as she walked by.

"Wanted Dead, Isao Takano-Otori," she read allowed. She turned the page over and then turned it back, looking over a much more detailed picture of the Isao fellow. This was pretty much a better version of the wanted poster Kakuzu had. Sika pocketed it.

"These people really hate that guy," Sika said, loudly, hoping to attract some attention.

She failed, the men continued ignoring her.

They reached the docks not long after. Kakuzu set off to look for their ride and Hidan parked himself on top of a crate in an unloading area, where like crates were being shoved off of a ship. The pair of Jashinists didn't speak, but both focused their eyes on their unofficial leader.

Kakuzu stood near a group of sea captains, grizzled, worn out old men who wore trashed clothing and each used a different form of tobacco product. He towered over several of them, but one man smoking a pipe was near his height.

They were out of earshot but it was plain to see by their body language that they weren't having any of this newcomers bullshit.

The man with the pipe puffed out his chest and began talking with his hands, trying to make himself look bigger, more authoritative, while Kakuzu's shoulders tensed, like his hackles were raised.

The argument continued a few moments longer and then Kakuzu shouted "Well fuck you too buddy!" And he tore away from them, stomping back towards his partner and their ward.

"Come the fuck on," he snarled, and lead the way back up the dock, towards the mainland. Sika didn't dare not follow him, and Hidan brought up the back, his hands shoved in his pocket.

"Kakuzu, what happened?" Sika asked, from far enough away she was out of his immediate striking range.

"I don't know what this fucker did," he snarled, "but not one of those jerk-asses will set foot in a boat headed in that island's general fucking direction."

"What?" Sika asked, jogging altitude to catch up to him.

"He's seriously pissed these people off," Kakuzu spat, and the group stepped off of the wooden dock and on to the brick port. They followed Kakuzu around a stack of crates and barrels and on to an alternate dock.

The trio had better luck on the next dock. There was a man on a dingy that was delivering supplies to the island, they meet him by chance just before he shoved off, and bought their passage across fairly cheaply.

Docking the boat was sort of a chore. The man fumbled and dropped the room in the drink twice before he finally tied it off to a post on the dock and let the trio off on grounds they each carry something off the boat on to the dock.

Hidan not so politely told him to go fuck himself.

The town on the island is filled with very old but well kept up buildings. Every shop here is mom and pop, and there's nothing extra about it. There's no store that isn't an absolute necessity and no item is carried that doesn't sell. The people are friendly. It's an old farming village after all, they don't get many visitors.

Sika notices that the majority of the people in town are women and older people. The theme continues after Kakuzu asks for directions and they have to walk down though a rice patty. The absence of men like that is usually connected with war, or with a dictator, and Sika hasn't heard about any wars. If her traveling partners notice at all it doesn't show.

The home of Isao Takano-Otori is a fortress. It has high walls made of stone and the roof tiles are new, a navy blue that hasn't begun to fade. There are no guards, just one large, brass knocker in which to beat on the gate.

"I'll handle this," Hidan said, too confident in his own skills. It wasn't that difficult to knock on a door.

"Try not to strain anything," Sika huffed, smirking as he threw her a dirty look.

Hidan drew the knocker in his hands and smacked it, as hard as he could without using any of his superhuman ninja strength. The noise echoed on the wood, and Hidan took a step back after three loud rasps.

They waited, but no one ever answered.

"What the fuck?" Hidan shouted. Sika hoped the people on the other side heard him.

Kakuzu sighed and took the door knocker himself, shoving Hidan out if the way.

"Excuse the fuck out of you!" The Jashinist protested.

"Be quiet," Kakuzu commanded, but it fell on deaf ears.

Hidan scoffed. "You wish!"

"I wish you'd shut up you incompetent whelp."

"You stupid bastard! There's nothing wrong with the way I did it!"

Sika groaned and turned away from the pair to look out over the landscape. This area was sort of hilly, and trees grew high here, as opposed to the scraggly ones near the coast. They could be more than half a kilometer from the sea. The island wasn't even half a kilometer long.

Sika didn't turn around when the gate clicked behind her and the hinges screeched open.

"Could I help you?" A man's soft voice asked.

"We're looking for Isao Takano-Otori," Kakuzu's gruff voice replied.

"And what is your business with him?" The voice countered. He sounded guarded. Sika wondered if he had a weapon hidden on him. For his sake she hoped so.

On second thought a weapon might not do him any good.

She wondered, still looking at the foliage, if hanging was an acceptable way to sacrifice oneself. She was so bored she'd take it. She was beginning to doubt anyone on this waste of space island could help them at all.

"We're looking for information," Hidan's voice replied, "we think he knows this girl, and vice versa."

The stranger considered it for a moment in silence. The group counted on this guy's pity. Even with her back turned, she didn't look healthy, just a wreck of muscle and skin thrown together without any base. It counted in her favor she was traveling with two shady men.

"I'll get him. Wait here," the man said, still quite guarded and she heard his footsteps leaving.

It was then she choose to turn around. She wanted to get a look at him. That voice was sounding more and more familiar. His back was already to her, but she'd know the back of that dirty blonde head anywhere.

Her mouth fell open.

"Hey, clam up before you attract flies," Hidan taunted, "he says he's going to get our guy."

"We don't need him anymore," Sika stated plainly. Kakuzu narrowed his eyes.

"Whys that?" The Jashinist questioned.

"Because that's my father."

There's nothing significant about her passing out, or taking the pills, by the way. I just thought for realism's sake that she was using too much chakra for a shinobi with seven or so weeks of training. Also, comic relief. She passed out 'cause the (mostly reliable) wikia entry for soldier pills said they keep you up for three days but then you pass out from exhaustion.

For the record, Deidara, who has a 5/5 intelligence score, knew he could dismiss Sika any time. He choose to let Sasori do it.

I never wrote this with no need for the reader to have to have seen the Road to the Ninja movie to read this, I think I explain things pretty well enough, but below I have some observations.

Writing this chapter was a little difficult, because this is the road to the ninja universe. A lot of the characters are complete opposites, but some of them just have little personality tweaks.

Take for example, Shikamaru, who turned into a total idiot, and Minato, who just changed values but his personality remained the same.

In this story, I.e., Hidan not murdering Sika and instead choosing to convert to to Jashinism, or Deidara and his reverse relationship with his clay and high worth for his life and Sasori with the opinion he has on eternalism. In canon he didn't accept his legacy would live on until he was Edo Tensied, but here he's already accepted it, and actively strives for it.

Also, Sika knew Deidara was an atheist because the main religion in Japan, where the Naruto universe is based, for lack of a better term, is a mix of Shinto and Buddhism. Neither of those religions worship a god.

Today's chapter name means Kinship