Kiba's POV

Shino and I walked up to the gates of the village after the painfully long boat ride there. I hadn't brought Akamaru becuase he would just get in the way where i we /i were going.

"You sure she's here?" Shino asked. I shrugged.

"The article just said 'Mist village.' He could really be anywhere, but Glaciero would definitely come here first." We looked around at the chaos that was brought here with Markan: gambling halls, Icha Icha Paradise book parlors, bars on every corner. Everyone looked either drunk or really happy. Or both, I couldn't really tell.

"I don't think we should split up for long in this kind of town," I stated as I ducked from a man with a bottle running past us, almost hitting me in the head with it. Shino nodded.

"We'll meet at the fountain in the middle of town in 30 minutes," he said and walked off down an alley. I sweatdropped.

"That's still a long time!"

I shouted after him, but he was already gone. I sighed and made my way down the glass encrusted street.

Glaciero's POV

FF 30 minutes

"Thanks, sir," I said to the bartender as I got the hell out of that bar. I looked down at my watch.

'Man, I've been snooping around for like half an hour and i still /i no usefull information!' I needed to get out of that town, though. It was no place for a girl my age. Plus the enitre town seemed to smell like a combination of alchohal, vomit, and shame. As I looked in a store window, I saw the reflection of a man leaning against a lightpost... staring at me. He reached into his shirt to pull something out, but I didn't give him a chance.

Kiba's POV

I waited at the fountain for Shino, him finally appearing in a tornado of bugs.

"Dude, lay off the ninjutsu, okay!" I half whispered, half screamed at him. "No one knows we're ninjas; you're gonna blow our cover!" He smirked.

"Please, more than half these people don't even know where they are right now. I doubt i any /i of them will remember us or even notice us." I sighed as we began walking down the street.

"Any luck?"

"No, but I will confirm that Markan is in this town. I've seen some of his goons trying to trail me a couple of times."

"Me, too! A big with an eye patch?"

"I got him a couple of..." Suddenly he stopped, putting his hand on my chest making me cough and stopping me as well. I looked up to see Glaciero looking in a shop window. I was about to run over and beat the crap out of her for all the trouble she's caused us when I noticed the large man with an eyepatch watching her.

'That's the same guy that was following me!' He reached into his shirt to grab something when Glaciero took off running down the street. I jumped in front of him, preventing him from following as Shino came around the back.

"Don't you think it's rude for a man to stare at a girl in such a manner?" I asked him as he smiled greatly at me.

"Is she a friend of yours, runt?" he asked pulled out 5 heat- seeking shuriken from his shirt and...

You: --' (Heat... seeking... shuriken?) Me: Hey it's i my /i book! I can do whatever I want, okay! You: --' (... dumbass.) Me: I heard that!!!

... and threw them all at Glaciero with one hand. Shino's bugs quickly whipped around and formed a wall, shuriken scattering bugs as they dug into the barrier.

'Hope that was all of them,' I thought as I tried to see around the insect wall. I looked back to the man.

"You i snake! /i What do you want with her?" The man began laughing.

"I don't think you're in any position to be asking the questions, kid!" he said with a large grin on his face.

"Actually, I was about to say the same thing to you," Shino finnally spoke up as the man tried to move his arm. It didn't move. He slowly looked down to see his body coated in insects, securing his body.

"It's useless to try and escape," Shino said as the man grunted and struggled. "My bugs won't finish feeding until they're satisfied. There'll be nothing left." The man started yelling and screaming as he struggled against the bugs with no result. I looked around to see that, unsurprisingly, no one was looking at the man screaming in the middle of the street, nor did they seem to notice us at all.

"Aaaaaauurrggh! Y-you won't get away! I alerted the boss the moment I s-saw her; he said that he'd deal with h-her i personally! /i Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!" Then he was gone, nothing but a puddle of insects.

'His boss? Who...' Realization hit us.

"Glaciero!"

Glaciero's POV

I ran as fast as I could with the shuriken still embedded in my arm. I didn't see why the man had stopped chasing me, so I stopped and pushed my back against a tree. I couldn't hear anything, quite the opposite; it was completely silent. I ripped the weapon out with my right hand and heard it drop to the ground with a soft clink. Blood immediately began streaming out of the wound and down my arm as I went into my bag a pulled out the roll of gauze I had taken from the hospital room. Seeing it made me smile.

'They never said it wasn't free.' I wrapped my arm tightly with the tape and cut the end with my teeth.

"Tired already, are we, Deary?" a voice came from in front of me. It was so familiar it mad me shiver.

'T-that voice... where have heard it before?' I slowly looked up to see a man with green hair and tattoos scattered on his muscular body.

"D-do I know you?" I asked as I put the gauze back in my bag. He crossed his arms and frowned.

"Glaciero! It makes me sad that you don't remember your own father's dearest friend!"

'N-no!'

Kiba's POV

We hurridely jumped from tree-to-tree, searching for Glaciero.

"She's dead if Markan finds her before we do!" I said sniffing the air for her scent.

"Yeah, Kiba, but there i is /i something I should tell you. In the event that i he /i finds her first..." Suddenly he stopped on a branch, grabbing the back of my collar and pulling me back as well.

"(Choke) Dude you gotta stop doing that!" I said rubbing my throat, anime veins popping out of my forehead. "At least give me a warning or..." I was cut off by his hand covering my mouth.

"Shhhhhhhh..." he said. I looked ahead to see Glaciero and a tall, muscular man with green hair.

"Glaciero! It makes me sad that you don't remember your own father's dearest friend!" Her eyes became wide.

"M-Markan?" she asked, falling on her butt and backing up against the tree. "But... you... you're the same Markan ... as Markan Obawazu?!" He put his hands on his hips and began laughing.

" i That's /i Markan Obawazu?!" I half whispered, half yelled at Shino. He nodded and removed his hand. I looked back to Glaciero.

'We're to late!'

"There, now that's better!" Markan said folding his arms. "You always i were /i the slower of the Nowack siblings. My how you've grown, though! I almost didn't recognize you!" She reamained silent, looking down at the ground. "Now my gaurds tell me that you've been snooping around my town, uncovering stones that should never be turned. I know we're old aquaintences and all, but I simply can not allow this. I have to make sure that you never tell..."

"Shut up! How i dare /i you talk to me, you evil, twisted man!" Glaciero snapped, suddenly shooting her head up. "Do you have i any /i idea what you did to us?!? You framed my father! You tore what little of our family we had apart!" Markan looked shocked that she had finally spoken, but then smirked.

"Please, Deary, you're father was soft. He deserved what he got."

"My father was a kind and just man! He was nothing but kind to you and i this /i is how you repay him?" she asked, rage filling her voice. He laughed again.

"We're straying from the point a little, aren't we? You are someplace you don't belong." He cracked his knuckles and smiled. "Maybe I should do you a favor and reunite you and your father? Would i that /i satisfy you?" She growled at him.

"You i snake. /i "

"Come on, Shino, we gotta help!" I whispered beggining to jump out of the tree, only to be caught by my hood and raised back onto the branch.

"No, Kiba, this is what I was trying to explain to you," he stated pointing to Markan. "You see that man? He is one of the most powerful crime bosses in the entire world. He works for the Wasaragi family and is a vicious leader who will stop at nothing to win. Glaciero can't be saved this time, and if you get involved you'll only get us both killed!" My eyes widened.

"B-but... she..."

"When the fight is over, we'll wait a while then collect her body for Tsunade." He looked to her. "All we can do is wait." I looked at the anger in Glaciero's expression, her fists shaking at her side, her clenched teeth. Those eyes that I had learned to avoid, however, were filled with fear and pain.

'N-no...'