Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any characters affiliated therewith. Neither do I own Riku, who I am using with the permission of AzNcHiBi.
"A month… It's been a month since she was taken from me; since I last held her in my arms…spoke to her…heard her sweet voice…" Kakashi woke with a start, panting heavily and covered in a cold sweat. He and Genma had been searching for Katsuki and Riku for a month. But to the two jounin, it had seemed like forever.
"… You can't sleep either, can you Kakashi?" The copy-nin's mismatched eyes pierced through the darkness of their hotel room to where Genma lay, his brown hair splayed out on the pillow, eyes closed and brows creased together in frustration. Kakashi shook his head and flipped the light switch next to his bed, bathing the darkened room in bright light.
"We've had a hard time even figuring out where their hideout is in general," he muttered, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. "But we do know it's somewhere near here. I wonder why these people haven't fled if they know criminals are nearby…?"
Genma opened his eyes and pulled a length of fabric from his pants pocket. It was a long white ribbon with a design of a dog, embroidered in gold thread. The dog had five tails and each tail was tipped with a different color. He caught Kakashi's gaze looking inquisitively at him, and the brown-haired man sighed as he draped the ribbon over his eyes and mouth.
"Houkou, the five-tailed dog. Don't ask me why, but Riku said she had thought it was pretty and her mother bought it for her. She was only four at the time, and she would wear it everywhere, even to the Academy." The ribbon shifted and showed Genma's eyes as he turned his head to look at Kakashi. "Don't you think it's about time we used… him?"
The copy-nin said nothing as he got up and opened the blinds of the window in their room. The sky was already turning orange, promising a sunny day. Kakashi felt a wave of anger at the weather; it seemed to be making fun of his seemingly fruitless efforts to find Katsuki. He turned back to his bed and rummaged through his pack on the floor. From it, he withdrew a scroll and a navy-blue head bandana: the one Katsuki wore on weekends and when she wasn't on duty. Kakashi lightly traced the embroidered moon on it, wondering when he'd finally get the chance to tell Katsuki how beautiful she looked wearing it. Genma sat up in interest, holding Riku's ribbon in his hand, as the other jounin pricked his thumb with a kunai and dragged it swiftly across the scroll, making hand signs. A puff of smoke and a few seconds later, there he sat. A sardonic little pug with Kakashi's sign on his cape; the Konoha leaf mark headband wrapped around his head. He looked up at the jounin with his sleepy eyes and said,
"Kakashi, Genma. Long time no see." The two men wasted no time in putting the two items of clothing under the dog's nose. The dog sniffed at each and nodded.
"Some hello… What's wrong with you two? Last time I saw you like this, you were in ANBU, Kakashi…" The copy-nin's eyes went hard as flint then, making the dog scratch his ear uncomfortably.
"Pakkun," he said, quietly, "Can you smell them?" Pakkun sniffed the air before leaping up onto the dresser beneath the window.
"Yep. They're nearby. The scent is strong… Wait. I smell something else…" the pug's sniffing became more pronounced. Finally, he stopped and faced the jounin.
"Be on your guard. There are two men outside the door. And they mean business." Kakashi and Genma threw on their vests and whipped out their weapons as the door burst open.
"So sorry. You won't be rescuing your precious little girlfriends," said a masked man.
"They belong to us now," the second man said, his silver hair slicked down as he unshouldered a three-pronged scythe. Kakashi and Genma cursed under their breath as they grabbed their packs and broke through the window, following Pakkun. The two men leaped out the window, following the Konoha nins.
"Great. Two Akatsuki on our tail, trying to kill us. How could this get any worse?" Suddenly, their pursuers vanished. Kakashi and Genma stopped in a clearing in the forest surrounding the village they'd stayed in. Pakkun wandered in a circle around the jounin, who were back to back, both holding weapons.
"You smell them, Pakkun?" Kakashi said, his eyes scanning the foliage around them.
"Nope. They've gone. To where, I have no ide-" Abruptly, Pakkun just fell over in his pacing, unable to talk or move in the least. Kakashi and Genma rushed over, only to see the pug disappear in a puff of smoke. They slowly looked at each other, eyebrows quirked in question. As one, they hurled the kunai they held at a tree some thirty-odd yards in front of them. They never even made it that far. Something invisible made the kunai immobile for a split second, before they fell to the ground, as if they were merely dropped there by accident. Genma chuckled and carefully picked up the kunai.
"Is that the best they can do?" he murmured, watching Kakashi, his Sharingan eye uncovered. The silver-haired man made a few hand symbols then threw another kunai at the same tree. This time, it struck the bark. Genma saw a smile start under the copy-nin's mask as he retrieved his knife. Tugging his headband back into place, he said to Genma,
"Let's go."